Conley may know his stuff, but his writing style is boring and his book as a whole does'nt fit together in a coherent manner. Do not read this book.

Conley examines the subject in great detail and informs the reader very well with his easy style. If you are interested in the political system of Britain I recomend Conley's book.

This has to be the stupidest book I've ever read. It is so completely infantile, it could only have been written by a leftist academic. I am very glad I got this out of the library instead of paying for it.

Fantastic survey on the industrial and political conditions of the arms race of the 50's and the 60's. At the end, US and the Allies dictated the way the Soviets armed themselves, at the expense of world security and peace.

Primarily a history of an impressive project to analyse the layers of snow fall on the Greenland ice cap, the book suffers from lack of focus and from unfortunate efforts at being easily approachable and topical. It is strongest at revealing the influence of variation in earth's orbit on local Greenland (and nearby North American) climate, but even here the information is presented hurriedly and one comes away knowing little more of the various climaticaly significant orbital changes the data reveals.

At it's weakest point however, there is a sad attempt to relate the ice core data to global warming. This could be parodied as "there is no evidence of recent dramatic global warming in the ice core data, therefore global warming exists." To be kinder, the author feels "since I know global warming exists from other sources, the lack of data supporting global warming in my ice cores means this must be an entirely new sort of warming." There clearly is an easier explanation.

If you're interested in global warming and climate change, you're probably aware of how politicized the area has become, and how much hot air has been spewed by proponents and opponents of the idea that we humans are changing the climate, perhaps to a dangerous or catastrophic degree. In The Ice Chronicles, climatologist and arctic explorer Paul Mayewski and author Frank White bring cooler heads and cold, hard facts to the controversy.

The book, published in the fall of 2002, centers on the findings from the two-mile long ice core that Mayewski's team pulled from the center of the Greenland Ice Cap. This ice core, labeled GISP2, allowed scientists to track a wide range of climate variables in exquisite detail over the past 100,000 years. It produced many important findings that can help clarify the highly politicized climate controversy. The core reveals that Earth's climate is far from steady. Even without any contributions from manmade greenhouse gasses, ozone-depleting chemicals or particulates, regional and global conditions have swung from hot to cold and wet to dry many times, often with dramatic suddenness. Mayewski repeatedly makes the point that the climatologically calm, benign Holocene--the time period during which human civilization appeared and has developed--is a myth. The ten millennia or so since the end of the most recent ice age have been marked by two large global climate shifts, the Little Ice Age and the Medieval Warm Period, and many less drastic but still potent changes. He also presents intriguing evidence that some of these changes contributed to the downfall of several ancient civilizations, including the Mesopotamian Empire around 1200 BC, the Mayan Civilization around 900 AD, and the Norse colonies in Greenland around 1400 AD.

My only real criticism of the book is that it may present more of the nitty gritty history and findings of the GISP2 project than most readers want or need. Still, most of this is put into boxes which readers can dive into or skip as they choose.

While the research findings and their implications are fascinating, perhaps the most important contribution the authors make is their perspective. The data Mayewksi himself uncovered show that the climate is a complicated and sensitive system, pushed from regime to regime by a variety of natural forces. But Mayewski is equally clear that human activities, most notably the marked and well-documented increases in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses, have joined the party, and must be considered in order to understand current conditions or predict future climate change. And he is clear that unless we take sensible steps to reduce our impacts on the system, we risk not just global warming and whatever changes that would bring, but increased climactic instability and unpredictability. To the authors' credit, they attempt to bring some calm into the climate debates by propounding ten realistic, commonsense principles. The reflect that, "No matter what we do, the climate will change." But they also admonish, "We should strive more for climate predictability than control," and "If we cannot have global control of climate policy, we must at least have global cooperation."

The Ice Chronicles is well worth reading, both for the hard-won scientific facts it presents and explains so clearly, and for the constructive, down-to-earth perspective it provides.

Robert Adler, author of Science Firsts: From the Creation of Science to the Science of Creation. (John Wiley & Sons, September 2002).

By his unrestrained, somewhat suspicious condemnation of his biological father (not to mention his contempt for his mother) Niklas Frank suggests only that he would have emulated his Governor General father in all he attributes to the ruler of Cracow Castle. He was 6 when the war ended and cannot possibly speak of his personal experience. Reflecting the propagandist views of postwar "historians," he swallowed it all, perhaps to further his journalistic career while pleasing all enemies of the Reich. I find his interpretations of his father's diary entries typical of what twisting is done to form "popular opinion." I suspect that an adult N.F. would have made a fervent supporter of the Nuremberg Laws himself.

In case you make my comments available to the author, please inform him that I was 14 at the end of the war and my father perished at Auschwitz in 1942. My views, therefore, are not the views of a "revisionist."

Niklas Frank hates his father, and few sons could have better reason. Hans Frank was one of Hitler's goons and ruled Poland during the war. He was hanged at Nuremberg. Had I been his attorney at the war crimes trial, (And I am an attorney.) I would have argued that Frank was a figurehead and never had any real power for good or ill. He was no Albert Speer. While this line of defense would not have been likely to succeed, it would have been minimally better that his real defense, which was that he was really an enlighted ruler and did a great job for the Poles under difficult war time conditions. Unfortunately for Frank, his official diary and war time speaches were available. In one of them he said that he didn't care if the Poles were made into mincemeat after the war ended their usefulness.

The book is interesting both as a biography of Hans Frank, and as a psycological study of Niklas. So far as I can judge, it is accurate in its facts and opinions; but I cannot claim any expertese.

I would reconmend the book to anyone with a interest in Hans Frank, the Government General, or the psychology of children of German war criminals.

This book was full of typos and other mistakes, which made the reading difficult. The author does illuminate some theories, but not fully. He spends a great deal of time bashing the media and other sources for their perpetuation of the rape myths and fears. While I agree that his insights may be valid and certainly share some important views, the book is basically a collection of interviews from convicted sex offenders and their perspective. Most sex offenders will tell you that they rape for sex. Most people often don't realize the true motivation for their behavior. I don't think the offenders interviewed had the insight or the vocabulary to truly describe their experiences and cognitive processes, but their actions certainly reveal how they objectify women and use them to satisfy their own desires. Therefore, the book contains their own accounts in their own words with little commentary from the author on the psychological significance of their statements. Rather, the author spends more time arguing that we should base research on these sources rather than anything else. As a therapist, I didn't find this book particularly enlightening or useful in treating these individuals in therapy. The grammatical errors and misspelled words also made the book difficult to read.

This is a better book than Inside the Criminal Mind, but not as good as the works of Lonnie Athens. Stevens seems to have done his fieldwork by dispatching students with questionnaires to prisons. The result is an insightful guide into the mind of serial rapist with some compelling advice for potential victims based on his findings. The text is hampered by numerous typos (there is more than one reference to people "steeling" for example) and a few glaring grammatical mistakes. He does, at least, rely more on what criminals have told him than on vague statistical studies and he is no dupe. His strength is that he understands the complicated factors that go into making a predator, the difficulty of getting them to change, and the need for better programs to protect the public from the development of such hard core abusers. You will have a better, less slanted insight into how a rapist thinks after you read this book. Stephens, like Lonnie Athens, dares to look at the problem head on, refute the myths and political expediencies of the past, and suggest a program for both government and individual citizens that could go a long way towards reducing the incidence of predatory rape and pedophilia.

Baum (spitefully) portrays Santa as a child abandoned
in the forest,who grows up to be a parasite utterly
dependent on the elves for everything (including thinking),
thereby making him their mascot of sorts.

Claus' adventures here do not even approximate
one's daily battles in life. No imagination,
no challenges, no values, no creativity
no touching moments, no effort. Baum must have
had bitter Christmases in his day.

I'M GIVING THIS BOOK TWO POINTS FOR THE NUMEROUS TREES KILLED (AND HUMILIATED
IN THEIR DEATH) IN ORDER TO PUBLISH THIS
PIECE OF TRASH.

I've had to struggle with boredom, irritation, a
poor literary style, etc... in an efffort to give it
a fair criticism. It's an insult to classify it
as a novelette or any genre for that matter.

Baum must have had so much courage (borne
out of spite?) to write this; he should have
joined Dorothy in the yellow brick road in order
to acquire some brains, a heart... and maybe
even some magic from the Wizard of Oz
to make this worthy of being called a literary piece.

I recently read this book and really enjoyed it! So much so that I recommended it for my neices and nephews. I thought that it was a sweet and gentle story that was paced just right for young children. Children love make-believe, they love to imagine the scenes that Baum created with his words. Baum gives a simple explanation for Santa Claus, one that doesn't overwhelm or sound the least bit Hollywood. I enjoyed reading his descriptions of the events, children love to imagine these things. This book, if written today, might be a bit more "politically correct," but it was written just about 100 years ago. I still found it charming, and would really recommend it.

Boy this book must have been written by a committee. Not only was it written by 4(!) authors, but the first two chapters read like a huge advertisement for the services these doctors offer. They talk about how food should not be the only thing you think about, but then they go on to recommend that everybody diet, providing diets as low as 1000 calories, which is not good for anyone's metabolism. Their "best" example of gaining control over food, Ralph, was a totally unrealistic one, because he lost his weight in just four weeks. Some of the best parts of this book deal with helping the readers understand that they must first deal with the emotional issues before they can relieve themselves of the food compulsion. Unfortunately, they mix messages by early on talking about how people control food (by compulsive eating), and then later telling us we should follow a diet (controlling food!?!). This is not overall a good book. I strongly recommend books by other authors, like You Can't Quit Until You Know What's Eating You, but Donna LeBlanc, or anything by Geneen Roth.

I found the book "Love Hunger" extremely helpful. It helped me to better understand my compulsive eating, and gave me a realistic and healthy food plan that I could follow. When I first read this book and followed the plan, I lost 19 pounds in 9 weeks (which is what most health experts suggest). But at some point I thought I knew better than they did, and went off the plan. I'm now close to the weight I was when I first started, so I'm going back on the plan, and working the program suggested in the book. It's like anything, take what you like and leave the rest. There are some profound insights in this book. I highly recommend it to anyone who believes they may be a compulsive eater, as well as anyone who cares about a compulsive eater.

It's okay and has a lot of excitement and the judo lessons in the book is perhaps helpful but it has a few satisfying endings.

I think this book was okay, but it has some action like where Oliver is overboard, or where he is kidnapped, and I'd also be interested in learning Judo. As for the other parts, they're normal but still okay.

Camper has conflated two of the hottest topics in conspiracy theory: CIA mind control, and the assasination of JFK. Much of MK-ULTRA/Secret either contradicts some of the more established facts about the case, which would be fine (great actually) if the author could give us any documentation at all to support it, or at least give us more compelling reasons to dismiss the "official party line" Camper deliberately categorizes his research as sensitive, coming as they do from privileged sources. I find that rather convenient.

Who knows? Maybe everything in this book is the gospel truth. But I find none of these hypotheses more compelling, or plausible, than such obviously researched and documented accounts as Lane's and Garrison's. And the tendency here to dismiss long held questions (e.g. "Why does the body of the man shot by Jack Ruby not match the description of Oswald given on his Marine physical?) without substantial explanation makes it a truly unconvincing document.

The MK/ULTRA Secret opens with a fantastic re-creation of Kennedy's appointment with snipers' crossfire in Dallas. The author then takes us on a well researched trip of the background that leads us to that moment outside the Texas School Book Depository on November 22, 1963. From Lee Harvey Oswald's unknowing involvment with the CIA starting in 1959 and culminating with his role of scapegoat at the hands of rogue CIA agents in Texas four years later, the book takes us on a stranger than fiction ride with an inside look at the murky world of spies. How the Bay of Pigs Operation, begun under Eisenhower, was one of the key factors leading to JFK's death. How Kennedy's mishandling of another CIA operation in South Vietnam also helped seal his fate. But the look into CIA mind control techniques and Oswald's sojourn down that dark rode is one of the major investigations of the book. From his duties as a US Marine radar operator in Japan, to his "defection" to the Soviet Union, to his return to the US and involvment with the "Fair Play for Cuba Committee" we see how he was betrayed by the very government and country he'd sworn to protect. The MK/ULTRA Secret also does a very good job of documenting other aspects of the assasination and how they related to the CIA scenario. All in all, an excellent look at a watershed event in American history that may change your view of what really occured that day in Dallas, Texas.

My main concern with the book is that it is not a collection of notes from Frank Herberts Dune, rather it is a collection of quotes from the series. If you are looking for a book that gives you insight into the creative process of Frank Herbert, look elsewhere, because you wont find it in this book.

This book puts the nuggets of wisdom in Frank Herbert's Dune series all in one place. Compiled in a thin, paperback book, you won't have to search for the "litany against fear" or other wise sayings. Chock full of life truths and insights into human behavior, it's best taken a quote at a time, digested with a bit of thought afterward.