You know, when a graphic novel merits a mention in an Andrew Vachss novel, it's quality. It is a very simple noirish tale, set in a an ugly future Amerika. Hopeless urban sprawl, violent crime, gun-toting citzenry. Everyone walks around tattooed with brand-names and eating irradiated cheeseburgers. Corporate masters set killer robots on their competitors, and get away with it. The stuff of crappy cyberpunk, in other words.
What elevates this, however, is the wonderful, fantastically intricate art. "Vibrates like liquid poetry", I believe the Vachss novel said.
And it's true. Everything, from the skin folds of the characters, to the grafitti on the wall in the far background, is fully realized in great detail. I could go on in this vein for a while, but why bother? Buy it. It's worth every penny.

A must have.

by John and Frank Craighead

First published in 1939, HAWKS IN THE HAND was one of my favorite books growing up. Reading it (again and again) definitely fueled my passion for birds of prey and inspired my interest in bird photography. It's good to see this fascinating book in print again, now that most copies of the original edition have long since vanished from libraries and used book stores.

Although twin brothers Frank and John Craighead are perhaps most renowned now for their work studying grizzly bears in the Yellowstone region, they began their scientific careers as ornithologists. Indeed, their 1956 book, HAWKS, OWLS, AND WILDLIFE was a seminal work in the fields of raptor ecology, examining in detail the intricate relationship between predatory birds and their prey. But long before they became professional biologists, the Craigheads were studying, photographing, and writing about birds of prey. They were audacious enough, while still in their teens, to submit an article and photographs to NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine-and it was published. The recognition they received from the article led to commissions for more articles and eventually to the publication of HAWKS IN THE HAND.

It is interesting that HAWKS IN THE HAND was reissued in the same year that Kenn Kaufman's KINGBIRD HIGHWAY was published. In some ways, the books have a lot in common. They are both, in a sense, coming of age stories about young Americans who have an overriding passion for birds-a passion that they follow unbridled, crossing and recrossing the continent to study birds. And yet the birding travels that the Craigheads and Kaufman took occurred more than 30 years apart. It was a vastly different world in the 1930s. At that time, a native population of Peregrine Falcons still nested across the East, and the Craigheads visited many of their eyries, photographing the eggs, young, and adults-decades later this would provide vital documentation on numerous traditional falcon eyrie sites that had been lost due to DDT and other environmental contaminants. But all was certainly not well in those times. In a poignant 1933 entry in the boys' journal (which was added to this edition), they described an autumn day spent at Cape May, New Jersey. Unlike most fall days now, few bird watchers were present to witness the spectacular stream of migrating hawks passing over. Instead, scores of hunters stood shoulder to shoulder, shooting at every raptor that passed over. "Shells were piled all over the road and hawks were piled all over the running boards of cars and scattered throughout the woods, for no one bothered getting a hawk that fell anywhere but in the road," they wrote. "It seems a crime that they should be so slaughtered."

The equipment available for rock climbing and photography was also much different from what's available today. You won't see any helmets, carabiners, or fancy synthetic climbing ropes in this book. These guys rappelled down sheer cliff, dizzyingly high above the ground, using ordinary manila ropes to reach falcon nests or climbed massive tree trunks with telephone lineman spurs to reach Bald Eagle or hawk nests. One day some nervous spectators, who were viewing the boys climbing to a Peregrine Falcon nest on a lofty cliff, called an ambulance, which parked below them for the entire time they were there. Frank joked, "To heck with them. If we fall, a broom is what we'll need, not an ambulance." And for all their photography, they used 4x5 press cameras-which are about as heavy, awkward, and unwieldy as you can get-but the pictures they took were great.

When I read this book again recently-for the first time in 25 years-I was amazed how well it held up. I highly recommend it.

In this very engaging and beautifully photographed book, the front of the Wheaties' boxes that I remember as a child have come to life. The author, Frank Deford, has written great essays to allow us to better understand the underlying stories behind the athletic acheivements of these memorable champions of sports.

Interestingly enough, I am not a big follower of sports and originally purchased this book as an early Christmas gift for my brother. Sitting down for a cup of coffee, I became involved with the book and found myself enjoying the well written stories and great historical photos. I've decided to keep this copy, and I'll buy my brothers and nephews additional copies for their own use. I'm sure they will enjoy the great gift.

I highly recommend this book. Trust me, it is much better than reading the back of the Wheaties box while enjoying a bowl of cereal.

Reno acts as a guide in this journey in search of historical truth, explaining his methods and logic in evaluating the evidence, but he does not rigidly insist upon the absolute truth of his conclusions. Frequently, he explains that there are other reasonable answers to the questions than the one he favors. Sometimes, such as in his analysis of the locations of many of the battles fought by Arthur (as described in Reno's "Historic Figures In the Arthurian Era"), he concludes that no single "best" answer is really possible. At times, his explanations are complex and subtle to the point where the reader may have difficulty following the path Reno is laying out. That is perhaps a natural consequence of the type of evidence that must be used and of the detail in which it is presented. Usually, however, Reno returns to the same subject of investigation later in the book to again address the questions and to clarify his answers. Thus, attention to detail on the reader's part is required and patience must be exercised as the author slowly builds his case.

And what are Reno's answers to what above I termed the central questions? He believes that Arthur was of a Roman-British background, operating as a high king primarily in Wales and the adjacent midlands, although also in southern England and northern Gaul, from the middle of the Fifth Century AD through the early portion of the Sixth. Reno contends that many of Arthur's campaigns were waged not against Saxon hordes fresh from Germany, but against Saxons who had been settled in Britain for one or more generations, these "English" Saxons being in league with leaders and forces of native British. And Reno believes that "Arthur" was a man known otherwise to history as Ambrosius Aurelianus and as Riothamus and finally as Arthurex, not a name at all but an epithet connoting his status as a great leader.

I will not claim that I am yet wholly convinced of this "triad" equation of Ambrosius Aurelianus, Riothamus, and Arthur but, as the author himself points out, rejection of this total identity does not negate the validity of many parts of Reno's overall work. I found to be especial important Reno's conclusions regarding Cerdic, a "Saxon" king with a wholly Celtic name, and Cerdic's people, the West Saxons. If Reno is correct, our understanding of the Arthurian era must be substantially altered, with a consequence that the course of events becomes much more clear. I expect Reno's conclusions to be challenged - this is inevitable in a field where evidence is scant and subject to multiple interpretations - but at the very least he has provided us with a provocative, comprehensive portrait of man and era.

To my knowledge there is no other Arthurian study available to the general public that explores the ancient sources in such depth to provide answers to the old questions. If I might be critical of some peripheral features, I do wish that the index was somewhat more comprehensive and illuminating (given the complexity of the issues at hand, I found myself turning to the index again and again to go back to earlier points) and the maps, although numerous, sometimes lack the visual clarity that could have been achieved. Nonetheless, "The Historic King Arthur" and "Historic Figures In the Arthurian Era" are books that should be of great interest to anyone seriously interested in attempting to glimpse the real King Arthur.

Frank Selke's introduction is excellent as well. Here is a man that makes no bones about why this was hockey's greatest era. My favorite example - fights were seen as a gentlemanly way to settle differences, not as an indication of a sport gone awry with "violence". My only complaint is that his anecdotes are only a few pages rather than a few chapters.

But the photographs are really what this book is about. Sure, the statistics and history of each player featured are there, but I found my eyes continually wandering from the print back to the image - they're that good. It's tempting to cut them all out and frame them.

This book will be enjoyed by any hockey fan, but if your over 40 it will be a treasure.

The book starts with his examination into the background, and possible historical uses of the famous Mitchell-Hedges crystal skull, which he studied for six years. He is the one who brought the skull to the Hewlett-Packard lab to be studied. He documented his efforts and observations and it makes interesting reading. This led him to close his successful business and devote his time to researching the historic and traditional uses of electronic quartz crystals. What stands out for me, is how he ties traditional, shamanic / magical practices in with the modern 'scientific' usage of quartz in electronic devices, etc. He paints a convincing picture for there being a logical reason, (and not just superstition or placebo effect) why specific types of crystals have consistently been used the world over by 'healers and adepts' for augmenting and accelerating the effects of healing, meditative states, etc. If you have an open mind, but don't buy every idea that comes 'from the ethers' as being valid, this book will appeal to you. He makes a good case for all but the most dedicated of skeptics to take another look at how quartz crystals can be useful. For those people who already use crystals or are interested in possible 'metaphysical' properties this is a must read for anyone of rock quartz. You may learn a thing or two.

Finally an actual book without mumbo jumbo on ROCK CRYSTAL. How to use it and why it works.
Photos, examples and how to acquire one of the crystal carvings.

I have read it several times and find something new each time.

A touch of Mysticism with alot of fact should be the way a book is written on such an important subject.