I proudly declare that I am a long time fan of William F. Buckley Jr. and that this is a very good book. This story is a very enjoyable read. The writing is fine, as one would expect from reading Mr. Buckley's forty books. But this story also has an emotional tone that is, if not sad, at least elegiac. Its nostalgic melancholy sounds a new chord in Mr. Buckley's compositions. There was a touch of it in Tucker's Last Stand and Brothers No More, but this is softer and even a bit, well, if not sweet at least sweeter. I loved it.

Elvis is treated with respect and honesty while the character Mr. Buckley creates, Orson Killere, stands in for the Baby Boomers who were and still are fans of the King. This isn't the place for an analysis of all the ways Orson embodies my generation, but he is wonderfully drawn. You will enjoy getting to know him for his strengths and even his all-too-human weaknesses.

Thanks, Mr. Buckley for another gem.

Go figure: Bill Buckley writes a novel about ... Elvis Presley? And the book is ... great? But indeed, Buckley has taken on The King, and he has pulled it off, smashingly. I've read several of Buckley's books, and "Elvis in the Morning" is his best, by far. The entire plot and situation -- Elvis's friendship with Orson, a (historically fictional) young Army brat fan who is befriended by Elvis in Germany (when he was Corporal Presley), who becomes his confidante until Elvis's death, and who is the childhood best friend of Priscilla (who, as we all know, ends up in Graceland) -- are treated with a tenderness and a gentleness that I have never seen from Buckley before, or for that matter from very few other writers. Elvis is portrayed with depth, in striking contrast to the one-dimensional cartoon character treatment he now gets, and Buckley, better know as an Apostle of Bach, is unafraid to sing the praises of Elvis's glorious voice and love of music (and people .. and, sadly, pills). There are no glitches nor loose ends; there's nothing contrived -- it's just a very pleasant read that goes all too fast. The dialogue is superior: again, the best Buckley has ever done. This is a great vacation read for anyone, whether a fan of Buckley, Elvis, or just good writing.

It's a lot of fun to see debonair and sophisticated William Buckley drop his erudite (often pedantic) airs and just write for the fun of it (or as one fan noted, "so the rest of us can understand what he's saying!"). In "Elvis in the Morning," Buckley, the noted politico pundit, takes an unlikely subject (for him) and develops/presents it in a fascinating, readable, and enjoyable manner.

To say his prose moves rapidly is an understatement, as this clever--yet in places ever so poignant--novel moves with a real rock 'n roll upbeat, although hardly taking time for the traditional chorus rounds! Orson Killere is the young son of a German mother who works for the US Army in Wiesbaden. A devout Presley fan, he gets caught stealing Elvis records at the local PX. Elvis, stationed nearby, hears about it and arranges for a meeting. They become lifelong friends and confidents.

This is not the story of Elvis, but of Orson, or "Killer," as Elvis playfully calls him. Elvis, of course, is the pivotal point of the book, as like a proper musical recitative (or even leitmotiv), we keep coming back to him, continually until the King's death. This relationship between the two--often symbiotic, often close--make a fascinating story, whether one is an Elvis fan or not.

While this is a work of fiction, Buckley exercises literary license here and there, but his research is thorough and can't be faulted (after all, remember, this is fiction). His ability to capture the landscape and atmosphere is unquestioned and Buckley shows once again that reading (and in his case,writing) is also a fun undertaking. "Elvis in the Morning" is an odyssey or sorts and that said, don't expect to find the proverbial Trojan horse; just think of Orson as Cassandra, knowing what lies ahead but powerless to stop the inevitable. (Billyjhobbs@tyler.net)

This text is a reprinting of two books (written in 1926 and 1927) containing "pseudepigrapha" -- books which some considered to be scripture in the past, but which were not included in the canonical Bible that almost all Christian churches use. Some of these books were quoted in books in the Christian New Testament; St. Paul quotes from 1 Enoch. The "Forgotten Books of Eden" half of this book will be of interest to students of the Jewish scriptures. Anybody who takes Bible scholarship seriously and who can afford to spend $10 should have a copy of these pseudepigrapha.

The original publication dates are important here, because biblical archaeology and textual studies have progressed substantially in the past seventy years. For example, this book predates the discovery of the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas, and accordingly does not include it.

The paperback edition of this book is the most economical way I know to get all of this material together. Some critical notes describing the origins of these texts are included. If you have a larger budget, the current standard editions of these texts (also available through AMAZON.COM) are Charlesworth's "Old Testament Pseudepigrapha" and Schneemelcher's "New Testament Apocrypha."

You can pre-read a chapter of this book by searching for the words "Infancy Gospel" on the web. The "Infancy Gospel", included in this book, tells stories of the early days of Jesus's life. It presents Jesus as divine, yet also having the personality of a five-year-old boy. For example, one of his playmates maltreats him, so: "When the Lord Jesus was coming home in the evening with Joseph, he met a boy who ran so hard against him, that he threw him down; To whom the Lord Jesus said `As thou hast thrown me down, so shalt thou fall, nor ever rise.' And that moment the boy fell down and died." (I infancy, Ch. XIX, vv. 22-24)

A good book to put some of this in context is James Kugel's "The Bible a! s it Was" (also available through AMAZON.COM).

Liking or not liking these books has nothing to do with one's sociopolitical ideologies. As one reads the introductions of each book, clearly some have more credibility than others. Some were acutally canonical and then later were not--just like the Catholic and Protestant versions of the Bible differ by both not having all the same books. Does that make one "evil" and the other not? Of course not. Yet one cannot help but wonder what the rationales were how a book can be canon and then not. I mean, let's face it: Something is either the word of God or it isn't just like fire is hot and rain is wet. Thus some things just are, and they are not open to a popularity vote.
Along with this book I'd highly recommend "Mystical Life of Jesus" by H. Spencer Lewis. It will make some of the passages in Lost Books of the Bible more clear and provide a context since otherwise you end up reading this book in a vacuum accepting many of the popular assumptions about Jesus and His life and times perhaps without even being aware of it thus having your perceptions distorted. At all times think for yourself.

Let's start with the orgin to the bible, it was compiled by the ROMAN emporer Constantine to save his crumbling empire.He gathered all the Gnosis scholars collected documents containing ANY story of Jesus and EDITED the image of Jesus into what we have today.Any mention of him being less than a perfect person was destroyed or hidden!God let this happen...why you ask? He moves mysterious ways.These books are well translated and easy to read,and least we forget that books of the Bible have been removed or added for centries and WHOLE revisions of the books in the bible are as common as a hundred years ago.This book claimes to be lost stories of a forgotten past,one twised to conform to what a DEAD DICTATOR wanted.If you want to see some rewrithing look at a KJV Gen 49:6 than a NIV there is a hell of a difference between the two passages!But the word of God can't be wrong,can it? nope but people are.People are imperfect bags of bones we mess up and when we mess it up we hide books like this one.We cover up what we don't like to keep dogma alive.These are excellent books well worth the read.These texts come from a purer source than anyone of the Gospels could ever hope to be.We now have the back storie,which completes the whole picture.Now wouldn't you think God would want that,after all he would make sure that salvation would be found anyway nessisary?This book follows up where HIDDEN books like the Enoch texts leaves out.Read these books and decide for yourself are these really BLASPHEMOUS? or just lost historie?

Schaeffer is a talented writer and I did enjoy his portrayal of Italy and Switzerland, but I thought his recurring scenes of teenage petting and masturbation were annoying and juvenile and grossly repetitive. The author seemed to take perverse pleasure in using "naughty words" and pushing the envelope. This might have been fine if he'd managed to make the pleasure seem like 14-year-old Calvin's, but instead it smacked of author intrusion. A redemptive, satisfying ending might have salvaged the book for me, but instead it ended abruptly without resolving two main plotlines!

Given what I know about Schaeffer's family, and having read (though I didn't necessrily agree with) many of his parents' books, Saving Grandma and its predecessor, Portofino, seemed to be mean-spirited and vindictive. A disclaimer in the front of the book states "...any resemblance to persons or events...is entirely coincidental." I find it difficult to see how he could have included this with a straight face or a clear conscience!

Saving Grandma is a fascinating book. I read it practically in one sitting. Besides the fact that the book is fast-paced and humorous a la Adrian Mole, it intrigued me because I happen to know that the author is himself the son of Calvinist missionaries who established an institute similar to L'Arche in the same region of Switzerland that the book is set in. I do not know all the details of Frank Schaeffer's life as a young man, but I do know that some of the incidents in the book bear a remarkable resemblance to real-life events. After having participated directly in his parents' enterprise, Frank Schaeffer has rejected their Calvinism and converted to Greek Orthodoxy. Can we expect to see a third novel (Portofino was the first, and I can't wait to read it!) in this series in which young Calvin grows up and adopts the Greek Orthodox faith or something very much like it? I certainly hope so, for I am very fond of Calvin Becker, and I congratulate Frank Schaeffer for the progress he has made in his spiritual life. Nothing deadens the human soul like the Calvinist doctrine of predestination.

I read Portofino & really enjoyed it & was anxious to read the sequel. I enjoyed it, too, & even laughed out loud at a number of places. Grandma is a great character & a good addition to the Becker fictional family. But nonetheless, there's a disturbing note of bitterness in this novel that wasn't there in Portofino. The whole Becker clan -- except for the two non-calvinists, Calvin & Grandma -- have gone totally bonkers & Dad is getting more violent by the day. We know that Frank S. has rejected Calvinism & his parents' ministry & has gone to Orthodoxy. I guess these novels are Franky's revenge.

In May of 1982 our cable system signed off it's own weather channel that only showed the time, temperature, etc. and signed on The Weather Channel. I was hooked from day one and regularly tune in to see what's going on. The book is a fascinating account of what Frank Batten went through. BUT it's also a book-length advertisement for Landmark Communications as well. While I enjoy his personal accounts, I could have done without all the info on Landmark. His editor also could have done a better job as well as Frank repeats himself several times, sometimes even on the same page. If you don't care about weather or business deals, then don't waste your money. If you're a weather nut like me and enjoy a good bedtime story, then go ahead and buy it and enjoy!

This is an interesting book, using the Weather Channel as an example of the birth of specialized channels in the early cable market. Now we take the plethora of channels available to us as a given (57 channels and nothing on), yet in the early days it was a fight to get a new channel carried over cable systems. The Weather Channel succeeded through a strong idea, people that believed in it, and being on the cutting edge of technology. While I expected this to be a straight story of the birth and growth of the Weather Channel, I was surprised to find that it was that, as well as a musing upon communications, and what makes a successful channel, and a successful company. The actual history is only a bit over half the book. The rest looks at the technology involved, and the lessons of leadership, and new ventures. Finally it concludes with some interesting first person stories of experiences in the building of the channel. An interesting read. Not exactly what I expected, but still a fascinating glimpse behind getting a specialized cable channel up and running, and successful for 20 years.

I've been a friend and admirer of the author for almost thirty years. But I can be objective enough to say that you won't read a better business book this year than The Weather Channel. It tells an amazing story: how a very small company, centered around the newspapers in Norfolk, Va., and Greensboro, N.C., took a gigantic risk. Competing with the largest communications companies, Landmark Communications started one of the first national cable channels. And almost failed (you can't come closer to failing than this one). And, in the end, succeeded gloriously.
Though the impossibly modest author almost paints himself off the stage altogether, you will also meet one of the most decent and admirable executives in American business, Frank Batten. Because Mr. Batten's company is private, almost no one knows of this remarkable man. Although he's reticent about himself (a life-threatening and life-altering cancer that occurred at the time of the Weather Channel launch is dismissed in a paragraph),you'll understand how lucky the citizens of Norfolk and Greensboro have been to have him in charge of their newspapers the last 40 years.
This is a book about business, not weather. But if business interests you at all, it's a hell of a book.

Frank's work with the Baffler and the Reader has always been enlightening and entertaining. As essays for the casual reader, his writing can do a lot of eye-opening. However, I don't think he can sustain his brand of cultural criticism for a book-length work. The problem, after Frank's thesis is repeated for the umpteenth time, is you finally say "So?" I personally always wind up picturing Frank in clothes he has spun himself, living off beans he is cultivating in a backyard seed plot, entertaining himself by sneering from his garret's window at the shallow "lifestyles" of every human being on the planet (except his own). I've always disliked the hypocritical, distant stance people like Frank (whose views I happen to mostly share)adopt when they tackle these issues. The great problem is how to relate these kinds of ideas without pretensions of immunity to the dominant cultural malaise, without relentlessly stereotyping the middle class, and without the hopelessly easy targeting of lame ducks, ducks that Frank seems to consider strong and insidious. Tom Frank, what are the alternatives? Where are the solutions?

in fact, Frank's point is that advertising did NOT necessarily co-opt counterculture. if he labors over anything, it's his assertion that the Creative Revolution in business practically preceded the existence of a widespread counter-culture movement. as far as his scorn, it was rather obviously directed only at the baby-boomers and historians with bad memories...the ones who insist that 60s youth culture was completely non-commercial, the ones who need to believe in The Man (especially the man in the gray suit).

i thought that the book was extremely engaging. frank is very insightful, and his writing is entertaining. i laughed a lot, and said, "Right, exactly!" so many times. i did not get any sense that frank had any real trouble with the conquest of cool or even consumer culture. he develops his thesis so precisely that there was no room for censure. as far as offering a solution--the book doesn't present any Problem to be solved. it's an examination of the relationship between commercial and counter culture. Most importantly, it's a rethinking of that relationship through the lens of the late 50s and 60s.

An excellent examination of consumer culture and the way that corporate America has tried to deal with, understand, and co-opt youth culture (or did youth culture co-opt advertising?) Frank gets to the bottom of it all in an always entertaining look at advertising from the Madison Avenue years through the sixties. His examinations of various ad campaigns - such as Volvo who insisted in their ads that their cars were ugly and at least not as filled with defects as the cars they used to make - are insightful and well researched. In fact, this book is a necessary primer for anyone doing research on youth culture. It helped to change the way that I think about these issues and has become a text that I refer to often.

I happen to know from very reliable sources that Honshi Dux (Honshi is Japanese word which means founder of a fighting system), is about to answer all of the controversy and questions surrounding his reputation. During his competition days the Chinese nick named him 'Pha Ma', which means 'Flying Horse', so graceful, fast and powerful was and is his martial arts technique. And as far as anyone questioning his martial arts background, please, you don't acheive such status in the martial arts by not being able to back it up. He would've been physically knocked down from his deserved place of honor and respect in the martiasl arts long ago. I know, because many martial artist, elite martial artists mind you, have tried and failed. More than a number of them having been carried away by paramedics. There are reasons why certain things in this book were left out, like various documents which support his adventures as discribed in the book: 'The Secret Man', etc. One must take into account that Mr. Frank Dux was under a coma brought on by spinal meningitus (all more than variviable), when the book was being published and subsequently could not attend to seeing that his manuscript was left intact, and not over-edited by the editor. In this case, there are almost 200 pages that were excised from his originally intended version. A fact that is adressed on his upcoming website. So, to all his detractors and doubters, make no mistake about it, Frank Dux is an unsung American hero, not from any war, but in different areas that will eventually become apparent to all. I have seen the hard evidence. And I have seen private preveiws of his upcoming, not one, but several of his websites and I must tell you, there is a storm coming and its name is ...frankdux.com.

This book has a lot in common with great autobiographies I've read. Mr Dux deals with matters of conscience and circumstance that formed and directed his life. Everyone can relate to these things. He tells these things with an honesty you get in great autobiography, and seldom in everyday life. I wish he would do another book.

ONE OF THE GREATEST BOOKS I EVER READ,IT TALKS ABOUT THE LIFE OF THE GREATEST KARATE KUMITE CHAMPIONS.IF YOU WANT TO READ ABOUT ONE OF THE GREATEST FIGHTERS ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU.

I love Herbert, my favorite book of his being Dune with none of his others coming anywhere close. That being said, D: Void is my second favorite of his books. I love it that Herbert's characters seem to almost psychically be able to interpret each other's body language. I love the pacing of Herbert's prose, and I love the concept of this book. I like being walked through, step by step, what is necesarry to create an intelligence. It's like getting a crash course on the inner workings of the brain. It's fun, it makes you think, and the writing is so classically Herbert.

This book is obviously not for everybody. It's skewed to ideas rather than a narrative story (such as Dune), but the ideas are interesting, fun to think about, and I believe, still timely.

(8 out of 10)

Destination: Void centers on man's attempts to create an artificial mind, and the consequences its birth. The book has its strong points, and its failings, however small they may be. The most striking downside is how much computer technology has advanced since the writing of the novel. (A great deal of time is spent on detailed specifics of the characters' computer system, and it is central to the story.) There were a couple of leaps of logic in the plotline that seemed a little tenuous as well. However, overall the upside outweighs the downside. The most exciting thing for me in reading this novel was that it provided a fascinating view into Herbert's creative process. It felt to me as though Herbert was trying his hand at certain writing techniques, certain technologies, etc. There are also some very intriguing references to Axlotl tanks. Makes you wonder if Herbert may have had in mind an even wider sweeping expanse to the Dune Chronicles. This book is best appreciated by the devout Herbert fan.

Sure this book isn't gonna challenge anything by Michael Crichton in the excitement/suspense category, but that's not what Herbert is going for. This is an INTROSPECTIVE novel. It's about the interaction between three minds that barely even leave a single room.

If you want dinosaurs and car chases go somewhere else. If you want to expand your mind then read this. Obviously the addition of Ransom in the works that continue this saga was meant to make them more "User Friendly" ah well, what are you gonna do?

When her meat cleaver of a 'biography', "His Way," was first published in 1986, Kitty Kelley appeared on the Larry King show and claimed it was a "balanced" book.

Had King read the book and if he had some guts as an interviewer,
he would have laughed her off the show.

Claiming "His Way" is "balanced" is like the Grand Dragon of the KKK stating his group is racially mixed.

With a certain amount of glee, Kelley recounts every seamy story of Sinatra's personal life...the women, the brawls, the fits of temper, the mistreatment of employees (Frank allegedly dumped a plate of spaghetti over his valet's head, because the man didn't cook it 'al dente').

Nowhere, however, in this litany of horrors, real or rumored, does Sinatra, the musician,emerge.

"His Way" paints the man who many regard as the finest pop singer of our time,as a psychotic egomaniac, who sang a song from time to time.

Kelley completely misses the point of what made Sinatra so alluring to the public...the dichotomy of the public man and the private artist...that a man so capable of violence and ugliness could also produce such continually beautiful music through the years (Example: Kelley recounts the year 1965 without once mentioning Sinatra's record breaking tour with the Basie band).

By almost ignoring the music, Kelley has produced a book with the mentality of the worst of the supermarket tabloids...no Sinatra epitaph would ever use the phrase "Frank was a nice guy," but'His Way' portrays a man who was Adolph Hitler with a tuxedo and hand mike.

It's like writing a biogprahy of Picasso and adding as a footnote at the end.."oh, by the way, he could ALSO paint!"

One would not expect a Kitty Kelley book about Frank Sinatra to have any great profundity, but *His Way* stands as a major cultural and social document of our times. Sinatra is one of the most-worshipped gods of our age. His life story shows all over again how much misery goes into "lifestyles of the rich and famous," and how much corruption comes out. Sinatra's origins were unromantic. His mother was a neighborhood abortionist. This was an albatross around young Frank's neck. Symbolic of our age, he grew up to personify the "good life" -- the suave, wealthy, hyper-romantic, carefree, yet blues-ridden one -- in his art, while his life embodied many kinds of evil. His mafia connections are well known and, like other unpleasant details of his legend, the book removes all doubt as to their authenticity. The most remarkable thing about *His Way* is in fact the superb job Kelley does of writing and documenting it. She researches and writes like a seasoned college professor. Like most muckrakers Kelley's truthfulness has been called into question, but the book seems entirely trustworthy, especially at a time so many entertainment deities are revealing themselves as tragically flawed or worse. Sinatra, the king of musical romance, bullied, used, and abused women, including his gentle wife Mia Farrow. The worlds of entertainment, crime and politics came together when Frank and company helped get JFK elected President. Frank was supposedly king of the heap himself, but displayed a pitifully boyish awe toward his fellow rake Kennedy, even after he himself helped to "create" Kennedy as president. *His Way* is a chronicle of an egomaniac who knew no restraints. He cause endless harm to others, then wrote them a check to cover their suffering. The moral of the story (every good book still has one) is that we ought to be more careful in whom we elevate as our heroes and "role models." Even those not fond of Sinatra or his swank big-band genre of music will find the book hard to put down. People of discernment will learn much from it as to why life is the way it is in 1999.

This book is very readable. Pick it up at any page and go. A lot of Sinatras wild exploits are written about. Many are of a negative nature (as many interesting wild exploits are), but there are many references supporting them.

The long length of this book, combined with its interesting items, and its ease of reading, make this book great.

Truth or not? Who knows to what degree. Certainly there have been enough well documented incidents with Sinatra that the content of this book is not unreasonable to believe.

It does focus on his behavior, and life, more than his actual music activities. If that makes this book "tabloid" then fine, it also makes it interesting and readable.

For in depth Sinatra music related biographical information, there must be a better book than this.

This book is great if you are intersted in the wild exploits of his life. And oh they were wild.

The book keeps moving. Its fast (though long). Nothing in the book is uninteresting.

The best thing I can say about this book is that at least I checked it out from the library, rather than buying it.

The book is mostly personal anecdote (the authors' and stories of others whom they've met), which would be just fine if the authors weren't so self-absorbed that they couldn't draw conclusions, parallels, and sage advice from their experiences--as one would hope from authors who felt the need to communicate their wisdom to others. Consequently, the book reads more like a memoir without self-reflection. In one instance, the authors relate a several page biography about a doctor from Mississippi, then drop the story without even discussing what could be learned from him.

Maybe it is a good thing the authors offer no advice, since I also take issue with what they call "simplicity." I won't critique that here, since simplicity means different things to different folks, but I will say that one of the dominant tenets of simplicity is living one's life in accordance to internal, rather than external, values. There are several examples in the book which indicate that simplicity means no more to the authors than "doing what 'simple' farm-folk do on an orchard" and being self-congratulatory about it.

Moreover, I find their descriptive language loose and the prose uninviting in a way that is common of "professional" writers who use flowery language in an effort to seem erudite. Structurally, the book doesn't hang together very well and is often hard to follow.

Most readers would find books by Elaine St. James, and "Your Money or Your Life" and its sequel "Getting a Life" much more interesting as primers in this topic area. These books contain both the wisdom AND the personal anecdotes to be beneficial to everyone.

i don't know if i'm more thankful to wanda and frank for writing this book or to my friend kurt for passing it along to me. either way, it helped change my life.

the book tells the story of how wanda and frank transformed their LA lives. mixed in with their narrative are vignettes of other peoples' searches for simplicity in their lives. maybe the word "simplicity" has become overused and its definition washed out. for me, the book showed how different folks found peace of mind on a daily basis. how they realigned their goals and actions with their values. how they stopped competing and started living.

after i read it, i took a trip to Levering Orchard with my friend kurt. we wanted to meet the authors, to let them know that their book had touched us. so we took some time off from work, drove to virginia and found the orchard. when we arrived, frank was working at the pack house. we bought some apples and told him why we were there.

frank called wanda, who was up at the house, and told her that some "fans" had arrived at the pack house and wanted to meet her. and over time, kurt and i became friends with frank and wanda. we visited them on several occasions and kurt even helped them pick apples during the last week of the season that year.

i saw how they lived ten years after the move from california. i understood what they were writing about in Simple Living, and i began changing my own life. i wouldn't say that life has become "simple", but it sure is more peaceful than it used to be. my daily actions reflect my personal values and i have learned to live well with less stuff. i even moved from california to north carolina, in the blue ridge mountains, not too far from Levering Orchard.

so thanks, wanda and frank, for writing this book. and thanks, kurt, for letting me know about it.

This is undoubtedly one of the best books I have ever read, and yes, I have read many. Having grown up in a small town, moved away to several metropolitan areas, and then returned, I am well aware of the challenges which face those of us who do so. Levering & Urbanska do a marvelous job of eruditely characterizing those challenges, as well as providing insight into the paradigm shifts required to resolve them. Their detailed, yet lively, description of small town and rural life is masterful, honest yet not critical. While their circumstances are unique to themselves, they are/will be reflected in the experiences of anyone making a similar choice. Additionally, the work is more than just one dimensional. It provides insight into both simple living as well as small town living. The writing style was eloquently simple, yet above a third-grade reading level. It was entertaining as well as enjoyable. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in small town living, simple living, or both.