Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman is a story of short stories about a community that's full of diverse clutches. The people who do not really get along with one another live in Cleveland on Gibb Street where the story takes place. There is a lot full of trash. One day a little girl plants a few bean seeds as a woman watches her suspiciously. This gets the ball rolling. Soon the community's inhabitants cleared the trash and started gardens of their own.
In Seedfolks there were many strong points such as at the end when Florence walked by the garden in spring but no one was there planting or weeding; when Florence saw a little Oriental girl who was planting lima beans. It was strong because it was touching and also showed that a good thing can last. There weren't any weaknesses in the book. The story was written well. Its short stories gave it the edge it needed to get its point of community across.
My overall impression of the book was surprisingly better then I thought it would be. I've always liked hearing stories about people and their lives. A story like Seedfolks is very interesting for me with its many people and their different insights about the garden that did so much good for so many problems. The theme is of a community that comes together.

Through out the eara of the United States Racial segragation has been a part of culture. The story seedfolks tells the reader how people from every culture can come togther to show and make there common intrests. The book Seedfolks is about a comunity that has immagrants from all over the world. Some Spanish, some Chinese, some italian, and many more. One day a girl decides that she would impress her father in heaven by planting a small garden in a junk filled lot. Other people see the little girl. A man also decides that he would plant a garden of his own, but he is of another race. When other people see that two people of different races are planting gardens on the same land others come and plant gardens themselves. It was fun to read about all of the people merge togther to farm and plant as one race, the human race. After time the people get closer to ech other and realize that it really dosent matter what color there skin is but there personalities. This book gave me a different look to the way that I see other people. I has a way of touching you in a way that you may not have felt before. I strongly recamend it to Adults and children of all ages. You can certinally learn something from this book.

In Pacific Grove author, Paul Fleischman's gem of a small book, SEEDFOLKS, gardening plants the seeds of life in a run down, Balkanized Cleveland neighborhood. This miracle tale of a community garden spontaneously cultivated in a trash-collecting vacant lot is told in thirteen unique voices. Each story is a variation on a great longing fulfilled--a longing for a connection with the living world including the people in their own neighborhood.

The gardeners are inspired to cultivate their plots for a variety of personal reasons: connecting to an unknown father, impressing a girlfriend, or making some quick money. But the residents of Gibb Street harvest a newfound sense of community, and even rebirth, as they "find excuses to let their natural friendliness out," as Amir puts it.

SEEDFOLKS reminds us that growing things in harmony with the natural cycles of life is an international language, like making music. Whether they were growing cilantro, ginger or arugula, the gardeners were all subject to "the same weather and pests, the same neighborhood and the same parental emotions toward our plants," which stimulated the growth of communication and connections beyond the safe and the known. The book jacket puts it most eloquently: Fleischman has written a "hymn to the power of plants and of people."

James W. Huston has garnered a bunch of fans with his debut novel. Along with Rush Limbaugh and the thousands of others who have read this interesting story of a constitutional crisis between a dovish President as Commander in Chief and a hawkish Speaker of the House, I found myself liking this book.

Huston does some interesting things with his characters. His fictional President, like the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has no military experience. His Speaker of the House, unlike his real life model, Newt Gingrich, is a former naval officer who saw combat in Vietnam as a brown water sailor in the navy's riverine forces. As a veteran, I found both the President and the Speaker unlikable. The President was an un- realistic idealist and the Speaker a jingoistic opportunist. Mr. Huston did a good job of developing both of these figures well enough to make me dislike them and in that, I felt he did a creditable job.

Perhaps the most valuable lessons learned from this book, especially to the unitiated, were the descriptions of the workings of the various branches of the federal government. Despite the fact that the book is a novel, I think it could be used as a primer on federalism for high school students. If used at the college level, I would recommend that it be used in political science courses covering both the Presidency and the Congress.

Mr. Huston's credentials as an F-14 NFO and Intelligence Officer shines through. His training as a lawyer shines through as well when he discusses the various constitutional issues that develop as a result of his plot. I would like to correct some of the other critics who wrote here on a point of fact. Mr. Huston was not an F-14 pilot. The dust jacket points out that he was an F-14 NFO (Naval Flight Officer). That's the Guy In Back. Remember Goose in TOP GUN? Needless to say, while he may not have actually flown them, he was trained to fight in them and that background lends him a credibility not available with other authors.

Mr. Huston, like a lot of lawyers has taken to writing and I think his debut novel was a fine first effort. I look forward to his next effort because this one reminds me of the early Tom Clancy. I just hope that he doesn't run out of steam (or plausible story lines) like Tom Clancy seems to have done of late. While Mr. Clancy seems to have invented the techno-thriller as a genre, there have been many who followed his example and provided the reading public with hours of reading entertainment.

I wish Mr. Huston good fortune in his writing career. He may well be Tom Clancy's heir in the political-military thriller arena.

What if the President of the United States is unwilling to use the military to protect U.S. citizens, and defend the nation 's rights and ideals from attack? What if Congress used a hidden clause in the Constitution to authorize military action without the President's approval? That's the spectacular theme of Balance Of Power, the thrilling debut novel from James W. Huston.

For me, Balance Of Power's unique blend of the fascinating world of today's military technology with the intricacies of high-octane politics and legal maneuvering, makes it a new kind of intellectually-challenging, can't-put-it-down thriller. If you like military/political/adventure thrillers, you won't want to miss this book! It's like Tom Clancy and Stephen Coonts meet John Grisham on Patrick O'Brian's high seas. Balance Of Power's only flaw, albeit a minor one, is that it does not develop well enough the character of the bad guy, George Washington.

Huston has the potential to be a new master in this genre. I can't wait to read The Price Of Power,the sequel to Balance Of Power, to see if Huston can deliver a solid "one-two punch." Look over your shoulders Clancy, Coonts and Grisham-- there's a new player in town!

Truly fantastic political and military thriller, one of my favorite works of fiction I have read the last few years. Author James W. Huston, drawing skillfully both upon his military background as an F-14 fighter pilot in the US Navy and his legal background as a lawyer, has crafted a tightly woven yarn about terrorism in the South Pacific - Indonesia to be exact - and what the President and the US Congress do about it.

When terrorists capture the US flagged merchant ship Pacific Flyer, kill most of the crew, kidnap the captain, and then booby-trap the ship to kill potential rescuers, the world is stunned. Though the world expects President Manchester (a fictional president who serves after the President Clinton of this novel's timeline), to react, he does not order a military strike, instead announcing he is against continuing the "cycle of violence" and that while he will order a carrier battle fleet to help find the terrorist's island hideout, will not act militarily, instead seeing it as an internal Indonesian police matter.

Many are outraged as his reaction, none more so than Speaker of the House John Stanbridge. Furous over what he sees as a failure to act and accusing the President of pacifism, he tries to get around the President's orders regarding the terrorists, hidden on a foritified island which the battle group centered around the carrier USS Constitution under Admrial Billings locates.

Brash and brilliant aide to Standbridge, Jim Dillon, comes up with a little known provision in the US Constituion in Article I, Secton 8, relating to the power of the Congress to issues Letters of Marque and Reprisal. Researching it, he finds that the power was formerly used to grant legal authority to armed merchantmen in times of war, authorizing private ships to act as war ships. Instead, with Standbrige's support, it is proposed, voted on, and passed, the Letter instead issued to the Constitution battle group!

I won't comment much more on the course of the novel, other than to say it is great political thriller to see the constitutional crisis that comes to embroil all three branches of the federal government, and the struggle of Congress and the President to get the battle group to act how they see fit. It is also a great military thriller, to see a US carrier battle group, with fighters, attack craft, helicopters, and Marines operating against terrorists, a true joy to read particularly in the wake of the tragic and horrid attacks of September 11, 2001.

Highly recommend this work to all fans of military fiction, technothrillers, political thrillers, and fans of Tom Clancy. Pay close attention to the events in the novel, as there is truly excellent follow up in the riveting sequel, The Price of Power.

THE COMING STORM, like this author's earlier works, addresses the world where homosexual culture and mainstream culture converge. The characters, each of whom wrestles with his/her unique demons, interact in a cleverly twisting plot set at a stereotypical northeastern prep school. The reader finds an expected cast: an older, sexually-repressed man in an unhappy marriage; a young gay man, forced by his circumstances to maintain isolation while trying to succeed as a new faculty member; a troubled student, struggling with his own emerging sexuality; and a cast of lesser character each of whom seems to exist to act as catalysts to the plot, which tangles these four in a situation which will ultimately spiral toward conflict and eventual happy ending. One feels, while reading this book, that despite the often careful and convincing dialogue, and the frequent insights into each character's persona, that no single character has emerged "organically" from the author's imagination, but rather that each are props designed to impel the plot, with its conflicts and timely themes, forward. AIDS, repression, loss swirl around each character's consciousness, but the reader is never truly moved no matter how the drama--often melodrama-- advances, for no single character emerges as a complete person, more as a vehicle for Russell's meticulously-scripted plot. Certain minor characters are depicted as clichés so crudely that one is almost offended. All in all, a novel which has a plot which keeps one's attention; but this reader found himself frequently annoyed by the all-too-obvious simplification of the individuals and their relationships to one another.

Paul Russell's ambitious novel tackles a ticklish subject--a developing attraction and eventual sexual relationship at a private boys' school between Tracy Parker, a newly arrived teacher, and Noah Lathrop, a student. Events also involve Louis, the repressed headmaster of the school, conscious of advancing age and career failure, and his patient, searching wife Claire, who in the absence of a satisfying marriage has filled the void with her own teaching and writing. Russell deserves credit for his central assertion that a gay man and an underage boy could have a more or less equal, non-exploitative sexual relationship without lasting damage to either. He clearly is passionate about this stance and the characters of Tracy and Noah are the most clearly and finely delineated in the novel--the steps by which Noah comes to a realization of his own homosexual urges, by way of a fellow student, are particularly convincing. One grows impatient when the story dwells on Louis and Claire, who come off as dreary and indecisive in comparison. The presence of many vividly drawn subsidiary characters, such as Louis' hedonistic friend Reid and Noah's chillingly controlled father, captivates the reader but tends to distract from the main plot--too much is packed into a relatively small space for a satisfactory balance, though there is an unexpected and satisfying, though hardly happy, resolution to the central love affair at the conclusion. "The Coming Storm" is by no means a perfectly controlled or structured novel, yet somehow it haunts the reader afterward in a way that more polished pieces of literature do not.

I sort of knew what to expect from reading the book's back cover description, but I enjoyed this book more than I expected to. I thoroughly enjoyed Russell's prose, especially when used to reflect the characters' inner thoughts. I also enjoyed (though i didn't expect to) his choice to alternate each chapter from a different character's viewpoint. I'm always a little disturbed by books that seem to celebrate man-boy love, but that wasn't so much the case for me in this book. I think some of that was due to the constant references to Thomas Mann throughout the chapters dealing with Louis - Mann's Death In Venice is one of my favorite pieces of literature, and the character of Louis is a striking contrast to Mann's character of Aschenbach; indeed, one of the book's themes, especially in dealing with Louis and Tracy's respective dilemmas, is the conflict between the Dionysian and Apollonian spirits within all of us. This book wasn't so much a celebration of any particular kind of loving relationship, but a celebration of the concept of love in all of the forms it takes. It's also a book about regret and getting second chances, which made the novel's ending sort of bittersweet to me. These are characters I would love to see again, but in the meantime, I've picked up another Paul Russell novel.

The banning of "Dr Zhivago" in the USSR because of the main character's ambiguity towards the Russian Revolution - the Doctor was not actually against it - made this book a useful example of the absurd lengths the Kremlin was willing to go to impose censorship. Its reception made it a useful teaching tool in the West to help people understand this aspect of the Soviet Union. Unfortunately it got so overpraised during the Cold War that the weaknesses of the plot and the often pedestrian writing tend to shock those readers expecting another Tolstoy or Dostoevsky. Writers like Nabokov and Graham Greene tried to offer some sensible criticism at the time, about this novel, as literature, and their comments are worth looking up. Even today in Russia Pasternak is still revered for his poetry rather than this novel.

I remember as a Soviet Studies student in college (1980's), "Dr Zhivago" was always assigned in the History of Russia classes, not the Russian Literature courses. For literature we read (and thoroughly enjoyed) "The Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov. This darkly ironic satire of Stalin's pre-war Russia also works as a universal novel, a commentary on life that any sensitive reader can enjoy (I recommend Mira Ginsburg's funny, lyrical translation published by Grove Press - I've read it six or seven times). Bulgakov finished the book in 1940, when he died, and it sat in a draw until published in the 60's. Readers may also wish to try the short stories of Zoshchenko and the poetry of Anna Akhmatova, for some real 20th century Russian literature that can stand the test of time, not just the duration of the cold war.

There ARE enjoyable passages in the book, but after a while the poor conception and execution of the novel as a structure become apparent. I agree with the other reviewers who have noticed this. Keep an eye out for the reference to Stalin as a "pock-marked Caligula," and the single reference to Leon Trostky as "Lyobochka," both very daring at the time (they show how far we have come, too, since 1991).

This is a worthwhile read. After plodding through the beginning, I, too, fell in love with Lara. I could not put the book down any time her character and her relationship with Zhivago was discussed. The more high brow and intellectually challenging parts of the book that focus on the foredoomed defeat of a poetic free spirit by politics (and not necessarily Soviet politics)were, I felt, too tedious and plodding to qualify the novel among the genuine Russian classics. There is no real plot. The lingering impression is of a beautiful love story, set against a less beautiful and compelling but still profound philosophical and political background. The soap opera wins out.

Without intending to stereotype an entire nation, I don't think I'd be wrong to say that the Russian people seem to have a profound gift for literature. Many of the world's great writers were Russian: Tolstoy, Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Solzhenitsyn, Pushkin, Gogol, and countless others. These masters have created timeless works addressing universal issues. In Doctor Zhivago, Pasternak has created the definitive Russian epic of the 20th Century, and in doing so joins this impressive list of literary lions.

Without going into too much detail, the story traces the lives of Yuri Zhivago and Lara Guishar during the time of the Russian Revolution. The paths of these two exceptionally believable and distinctive characters cross from time to time, and their attraction towards one another is palpable. While this book is many things, it is also a love story, and so it comes as no surprise when the two stories become one.

The various qualities that make this novel so impressive are too many to list, but I will list some of the more notable points: the story helps to shed light on one of the most momentous political and social events in history (the ousting of the Tzar by the Bolsheviks through a series of revolutions), and goes a long way in explaining the effects of this political upheaval on the Russian people; while the story is a sprawling epic in the tradition of Charles Dickens, the characters are much more well-rounded and believable than those in most of Dickens's novels; Pasternak graces this book with some of the most beautiful passages in the history of literature (many of which describe the Russian landscape). This novel is at times mysterious, harrowing, uplifting, eye-opening, and introspective, and it goes farther in emotionally overwhelming the reader than most great works of literature.

The difficulties I had with Doctor Zhivago were small, but difficulties nonetheless. I found it irksome that Pasternak took the time to introduce us to so many relatively insignificant characters, giving us not only their names and descriptions, but their histories and ancestry. I was also bothered by the abundance of coincidences in the story. Everytime Zhivago ran into someone (even if he was thousands of miles into Siberia), it was a character he (and we) had previously encountered. One or two such incidents would be mildly ironic... forty or fifty start to stretch the limits of plausibility.

Despite these minor flaws, this book is breathtaking. It is the story of a butterfly-like individual who attempts to survive a thunderous storm of a revolution. You do not need any knowledge of Russian history to appreciate this epic story. All you need is a little imagination, and a lot of time (the book is about 550 pages).

I am of two minds about The Social Life of Information. John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid try to tackle several large topics, and end up somewhere in between them. Much of the book is spent trying to convince the reader, in short, that technology isn't all it's cracked up to be. As if we needed them to tell us that! The work also delves into some interesting and insightful discussions about where technology and social structures, such as education and learning, intersect one another.

The first portion of the book disappointed me. The first four chapters present a series of examples of touted technology "fads" and demonstrated how each of them hasn't lived up to its "promise" in terms of changing our everyday lives. However, the examples are, by and large, peripheral to mainstream applications of technology. As a reader, I just wasn't able to buy in to the idea that the failure of "agents" and "bots" to revolutionize contemporary life proves that technology in general is somehow "overblown." This part of the book was, in my opinion, quite weak, and didn't really draw me into the authors' message. In an age where technology innovations carry with them a host of important, and interesting, issues like privacy, encryption, and 1st amendment rights, the author's choices of topics for the early chapters seem almost trivial.

In fact, after I'd finished the first four chapters, I almost put it down and moved on to the next book in my "to read" pile. The second half of the book made me glad I'd finished it. The authors seemed to run out of ground in their original thesis and move on to more interesting territory. And, while I didn't feel like the authors succeeded in driving home any particular point in this part of the book, they did cover some new ground and make me think about topics I hadn't addressed before. Chapter 5 was a worthwhile investigation of learning in an organization, Chapter 8 painted an interesting picture of a possible future of education in a technology-driven world, and Chapter 6 was a fairly insightful and fresh (if cursory) look at how organizations are changing in light of the changes around them.

While the second half of the book doesn't redeem the first, to me it made the book as a whole worth the read. If you're thinking about reading this book, you won't be wasting your time. But lay down your expectations at the door, because this book probably won't be what you expected.

I liked this book, because it focused on many things that I don't normally think about, and raised important questions about my own use of information. For example, how can a software program find my preferences on the Web when I'm not sure what I'm looking for? How can I compare offers when I know very little about the people making the offers?

Many aggressive pundits who favor the development of electronic communication and information tend to project that certain products and services will be totally replaced. For example, I have read forcasts that predict the end of printed books, universities, and various kinds of retail outlets in the next few years. The authors point out that many solutions and institutions will continue because they offer a social context that makes information more valuable. A historical analogy of the telephone is described in the book. Bell first put telephones in hotel rooms so people could call the front desk, a convenience over walking to the front desk to have the conversation. Later, he put telephones next to the counter in diners so that people could watch others using the telephone to learn how and why people were using it. Many people who see distance learning as replacing the university are forgetting that much education takes place outside of lectures, writing papers and taking tests. The university's social context will continue to be helpful with these other types of learning.

One of the most interesting concepts in the book was the way that structure and structurelessness in information and uses of information can complement each other in creating bodies of perspective and experimentation.

The issues and examples are compelling, interesting, and thought-provoking.

If you want to examine how you should adapt your own actions and those of your organization to the Internet, this book is essential reading!

This book is a thought-provoking look at the limits of information. I liked the book because it focused on many things that I don't normally think about, and raised important questions about my own use of information. For example, how can a software program find my preferences on the Web when I'm not sure what I'm looking for? How should I compare offers when I know very little about the people making the offers?

Many aggressive pundits who favor the development of electronic communication and information tend to project that certain products and services will be totally replaced. For example, I have read forcasts that predict the end of printed books, universities, and various kinds of retail outlets in the next few years.

The authors point out that many solutions and institutions will continue because they offer a social context that makes information more valuable. A historical analogy of the telephone is described in the book. Bell first put telephones in hotel rooms so people could call the front desk, a convenience over walking to the front desk to have the conversation. Later, he put telephones next to the counter in diners so that people could watch others using the telephone to learn how and why people were using it.

Many people who see distance learning as replacing the university are forgetting that much education takes place outside of lectures, writing papers and taking tests. The university's social context will continue to be helpful with these other types of learning. How can that context to added to distance learning?

One of the most interesting ideas in the book was the way that structure and structurelessness in information and uses of information can complement each other in creating bodies of perspective and experimentation. Normally, each of use thinks that only by adding more and more structure can more be achieved. This book makes the case for a more balanced approach is a persuasive way.

The issues and examples are compelling, interesting, and thought-provoking.

If you want to examine how you should adapt your own actions and those of your organization to the Internet, this book is essential reading! After you finish enjoying this book, I suggest you consider how you can structure the way you communicate to be more accessible to others. In doing so, be sure to consider how to make things looser to encourage imagination, as well as tighter to ensure understanding.

One of the most influential books of 20th-century philosophy, Being and Nothingness, and others by Sartre, has probably been read by more beginning students of philosophy than any other. Sartre's approach to philosophy is eclectic, but he has unique solutions to some of the problems he is attempting to solve, particularly his treatment of the problem of how to handle the negation, a problem of great interest to Hegel, and carried over to a phenomenological setting by Sartre. His discussion of the "experiencing" of negation has to rank as one of the most interesting in contemporary philosophy. It is a topic also that Sartre apparently thought so important that he included it in the first chapter of the book. He does however prepare the reader for the analysis in an introduction to the book. Therein, he argues for the dissolving of the distinction between being and appearance, and to reject (in Nietzschean terms), "the illusion of worlds-behind-the-scene". This discussion also shows Satre's training in the phenomenology of Husserl and Heidegger. The move away from the dualism of appearance and essence, and appearance and being has its consequences of course, and it is these consequences that Sartre expounds upon briliantly in the rest of the book. One of these, interestingly, is the existence of an infinite series. The dualism of being and appearance is replaced by Sartre with the new dualism of finite and infinite. The appearance is finite, but to be grasped as an appearance of that which appears, says Sartre, it requires the series of appearances as infinite.

In addition, Sartre also discusses his reasoning behind his rejection of the idealism of Berkeley. Having reduced reality to the phenomenon, namely that the phenomenon is at is appears, he discusses why the Berkeley move to equate being with appearance is not a tenable one, in spite of the simplicity of such a move. His discussion expands on the famous Husserlian axiom that consciousness is always directed toward something. But Sartre goes beyond Husserl, and this is because he feels he needs to answer those who state that the requirement of consciouusness does not imply that the requirement is satisfied. He takes Husserl's notion of intentionality, and asserts that consciousness of consciousness of something is equated with intentionality, but that the object is what he terms a "revealed-revelation": it reveals itself as already existing when consciousness reveals it.

It is very interesting that for students of philosophy, this book is one of the first large treatises they read on philosophy, interesting because the hyphenated definitions that Sartre employs throughout the book can be opaque at times. But Sartre was one of the last "system-builders" of philosophy, and also one of the few philosophers who permitted himself to propagate his philosophy into novels and short stories. One can disagree with his politics, his anti-Americanism, and his Marxism, but he was a brilliant thinker and novelist, and philosophy in the 21st century is definitely experiencing-his-absence......

This is a book which takes constant re-reading and reading within context: that is, pick one theme, and read the entire book in search of all Sartre has to say about that theme. This book is completely indispensible to anyone wishing to deal in post-modern philosophy and existentialism: it is a secular philosopher's bible. Dealing in systematic brilliance throughout the experience of life, Sartre delves into psychology and theological ideas while remaining true to his own purely atheistic and philosophical roots.

Dense? Sure... but illuminating examples help to describe the deep thought, almost as parables in the Synoptic Gospels. The crag in the rock, the meeting at the cafe, all these verbal illustrations work into the text very well. Personally, I love the sections on the anguish of man when faced with the facticity of his own freedom. The dualism expressed by Sartre is a theme in philosophy which I usually don't enjoy (like any good post-Hegelian, I enjoy synthesizing opposites), he is able to pull it off with ease and magnificence. Though it is not as eloquent as the existentialism expressed by Albert Camus, it is every bit as enlightening and valuable.

Most people object to its density because they are used to the existential wanderings of the modern novel - Camus' The Stranger, or Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment - but this is the philosophical reflection of the situation of man expressed by such work. Sartre states early on that he is not performing an objective analysis of humankind, but rather a biased and understandably nuanced descriptionof ontology from the perspective of the modern man.

Brilliant and exciting, Being and Nothingness is an essential part of anyone philosopher's bookshelf!

I agree with those who complain about the book's verbosity, but the ideas in it more than compensate. There are some decent summaries of Sartre's philosophy but nothing that compares with the original. I disagree with those who say that it is necessary to first read the works of other existenialists. One of the great things about this book is that, unlike many other philosophers, Sarte is unashamed of acknowledging those who influenced his thinking, particularly Husserl and Heidegger.

My greatest criticism of the book is that it is unnecessarily pessimistic, with such statements as "life is a useless passion". This is not warranted by the general philosophy. I find the notion that we are creaters of meaning to be liberating. Sartre gives a brilliant philosophic interpretation of sado-masochism, but makes the mistake of assuming that sado-masochism forms the entire basis for human relationships. The greatest joys in life come from our ability to commuicate with and share experiences with others. Being the gregarious person that he was I am sure that in his personal life this was true of Sartre as well.

I read this book with a very open mind and heart and still just couldn't "buy it". Too many phrases that were used while under hypnosis that are 20th-century christian terms--such as, "witnesses", "the word", "salvation", "conversions" , "converting people" etc.--not terms used by the 1st-century church. This puts doubt in my mind of the credibility of it all and what I hoped would be unknown details of the lives of Christ and St. Paul. The fact that no personal details of the life of Paul were every "uncovered" and the "missing years" omitted the trek of Jesus to the East is also very disappointing, and making the "story" suspect of truth re: the real past life of Paul .The book also suggests that the healings were begun out of frustration by Jesus since the True Message of love and abiding with God was not being accepted by the crowds. However, IF it has any truth in it, the story confirms for me that is was the WILL and the VERY STRONG OPIONIONS of St. Paul that created the Christian religion, NOT the beliefs and message of Christ. So if this story is true, it confirms even more to me that the Messanger was deified and the TRUE messageof love, life and God was totally missed by the founder of Christianity.

Absolutely stunning, true story of communications with angels which finally result in scientifically-based, past-life regression sessions with Nick Bunick. As I perused the previous Amazon on-line reviews of this book it becomes painfully clear that readers either love the book (I certainly do) or hate it (and they're pretty darn vocal about it). Bunick, a very successful Oregon businessman, is today experiencing the very same "love it or hate it" response to his message that Paul of Tarsus also experienced in his time on earth. It is the most profound book of religion, spirituality, love and "real-life" insights into the teachings of "Jeshua" (Jesus) that's been published in years. If you're open-minded and enjoy religion and/or spirituality and/or mankind's relationship to angels and/or the divine spark that resides within each of us, "The Messengers" will hit you like a lighting bolt of powerful, love-filled, spiritual energy. It's more than just angels, more than stories of Paul, more than reincarnation . . . it's about that infinite, intangible, real part of God that lives within each and every one of us. Excellent book

This is a very interesting book, and must be read with an open mind. After reading about the 4:44, I awoke one morning and the clock read 3:33. Maybe I am getting closer. I enjoyed the part of the regression, and felt like I was almost there in those times. Paul was a very complex person, but he really did beleive in the message Jeshua gave. But just like today, egos, power, control and money get in the way of the real message. Today people still worship the man Jesus, and never pay attention to what he taught. I have always believed that the bible was written by men, who wrote THEIR experiences of that time ,and had never met Jesus. Like Mark, who was 8 when he heard Jesus speak, but later in his life, after much maturing wrote what he felt. The books were by some men that never knew Jesus, but were stories handed down through family. And all the letters from Paul, were written over many years, and he had changed his views many times over. I don't understand how people today can read the bible, and take eveything literally. I love this book. Good food for thought.

Richard Paul Russo here tackles two of science fiction's hoarier scenarios: The generation starship, and the mysterious alien ship which no one can understand. Although he writes a more engaging story than some of his predecessors (e.g., Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama, and John E. Stith's Reckoning Infinity), he doesn't pull it off.

The book is most interesting in exploring how the good ship Argyros works. The political machinations and tensions among the factions, the sense of sameness - if not ennui - which pervades their society, and occasional moments of desperation and revolt.

Unfortunately he sets this against a backdrop of the aforementioned mysterious alien ship, with the twist that the ship appears related to a dead colony on a nearby world, and is, well, far from safe to explore. As such Russo sets out to paint yet another picture of aliens so alien and mysterious that we can't understand them. Such stories are never satisfying, because when the aliens' (or perhaps their ship's) behavior is the centerpiece of the book, we need to eventually be told SOMETHING about them. Why are they behaving as they are? Why are they sitting in the middle of space, silent? Why are the rooms constructed the way they are? It's not that we need all the answers hand-delivered, but we need to be given something, and we're not. We can't even draw our own conclusions because there's nothing there to draw from. Worse, one is left with the strong impression that Russo himself doesn't even have an idea as to what it's all about.

The story ends up being - sort of - about how humans react to such an encounter, but the alien ship is so generic it's not even up to the level of, say, 2001, and the ending seems all-too-predicable, ultimately. The religious and spiritual overtones are not without interest, but they're at best the third-most-interesting element of the book and cannot carry it.

I suspect that I'll barely remember the details of this book a year from now, although I enjoyed it for most of the ride. Chalk it up as another novel which could have been much better than it is, if it had had a firmer direction.

"Ship of Fools" is set on the Argonos, a starship housing a small society which has been shipbound for hundreds of years. The story opens on the cusp of a proletarian rebellion and a potential theocratic coup d'etat, and the narrator, one of the captain's closest advisors, finds himself caught up in political affairs. At the same time, the society's ancient history and mission is called on: a dead human planet, and then a dead alien ship, are discovered, and the inhabitants of the Argonos must piece together the mysteries they offer.

The issues explored by "Ship of Fools" are many and varied: religious belief and its place in politics, class struggles, the nature and strength of friendship, the existence and religious framework of evil (and whether it can conquer the truly unwilling), and the ultimate power and legitimacy of self-sacrifice. Yet somehow, even while considering all this, the plot is gripping and fast-paced, the narration is enjoyable, and the book is impossible to put down.

The major drawback of "Ship of Fools" is that it tries to do more than is ultimately possible. Many of the issues the novel raises - physical disability and deformity, unrequited romantic love - are ignored entirely. Most of the issues that are discussed are not resolved; in fact, even the action of the story is only partially settled.

Lack of closure is not always a fatal error, however, especially in a book with so many satisfying narrative and thematic elements. Perhaps the author intends to complete the story in a sequel; if so, it will surely be worthwhile reading. Even if "Ship of Fools" is the complete story of the Argonos and its inhabitants, it is compelling and thought-provoking reading worthy of any science-fiction fan.

I think the problem the "editorial review" had with this book is the fact that it raises a WHOLE LOT of questions and leaves the reader to mull things over for him/herself. If you're one of those people who like your sci-fi in an hour TV show where everything is wrapped up neatly for you at the end of the hour, so you don't have to bother to think very much, then this is probably NOT the book for you.

That said, I loved this book for being brave enough to be unconventional. Bartolomeo, the narrator, paints a broad picture of life on the Argonos, a ship wandering the universe for centuries. History, sociology, and religion are all explored in his description of the society and bureaucracy on the Argonos. Bartolomeo wants to be devoted to his captain, embroiled in a power struggle with the church (who else?), but the social structure where the privileged few profit from the labor of the masses ultimately disturbs him. He is also distracted by his feelings (one couldn't really call it a romance) for Father Veronica, a female priest who ends up with him on the exploration team.

All of this becomes moot as the Argonos comes across first a massacred colony and then an alien spaceship that may or may not be responsible for it. The editorial review quote demonstrates just a bit of the horror and shock of the exploration crew that finds the remains of the colony. For the most part, though, the suspense is the exploration of the alien ship: it appears to be deserted, yet it is constructed oddly and even threateningly, and strange "accidents" and "illnesses" keep occurring among the crew. Yet this book never descends to the "jump out and say boo" level of B-movie aliens. It is mostly subtlety, which will keep you guessing until the end, and maybe even after.

A final word: one of the reviews below that says it won't give away too much about the story TELLS YOU ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS THAT HAPPENS!!! I am sad that I read the review before reading the book, so then I knew what was coming. Just thought I'd warn you.

When my son was two months old, I was trying hard to calm him before Dr. Fleiss came in to see him. As soon as Dr. Fleiss came in, he said, "I don't like to hear crying babies--put him to your breast!" And so I did. And I have been ever since. We are expecting our second child soon and I will be able to implement the natural methods that Dr. Fleiss suggests in his book from this child's birth.

As an adoptee, I was separated from my own mother at four weeks of age. I was bottlefed, "taught" to sleep, and all the other stuff that went along with being a parent or adopter in the 1960s and 70s. Fortunately, Dr. Fleiss has given some common sense advice in this book that goes along with what nature has done for thousands of years. Although I thought at one time that I must let my baby cry, I realize now how important it is to soothe my child and how wonderful it is to have all of us sleep in the same bed, just like when I was pregnant with my son. Thank you, Dr. Fleiss, for writing an informative book that helps us realize how important it is to treat our children with the respect that they deserve.

Very informative book. As far as I'm concerned, Dr. Fleiss and this book are a godsend. It taught me a lot about my baby's needs. This book is wonderful. It first explains a child's sleep pattern and why some children don't sleep through the night then gives you ways to help your child learn to put himself back to sleep. It worked wonders for us. I am finally getting some sleep after only 1 week of using these techniques. Our son was waking three to four times a night, although, nursing him when he woke in the middle of the night did not work for us. My baby has slept through the night for the first time ever! He can put himself to sleep without my assistance in less than ten minutes, and takes the longest naps he ever has (an hour or more each)! I've told everyone of my friends about this book...I couldn't reccomend it with more enthusiasm. It has changed our lives forever. I have one happy, well-rested baby.

My husband and I are committed Christians and we really appreciated the conservative, family-oriented approach that Dr. Fleiss takes. We also like that the book is packed full of information on sleep at all ages. He even provides helpful information on helping older children and teenagers to sleep! We really recommend this book to any parent who would like more sleep. It's a easy to follow program with a lot of information so you understand why it's so important for your child to sleep through the night.

I cannot praise this wonderful book enough. It seems that everything I heard and read before finding this book just said "Put him in his crib while he's still awake and let him fall asleep on his own." Ya, right, like that would EVER happen! This book is just great! There are many wonderful tips on how everyone can get some sleep. I like that there is no crying involved, and that Dr. Fleiss gives advice that includes nursing and co-sleeping. I think both of these things are very important to a strong bond, and it's nice to read a book that shows this is something that can work. I am still nursing my daughter at 2 years old and I love that special time together.

I have read Dr Sears books and if you love Dr Sears attachment style, you'll love this book also.

Of course, if your mind is already made up about how you want
to get your baby to sleep, this book is not for you -- no book is. This book is for people who are open to new ideas.

Finally some answers and some sleep!! Thanks!!

This "child" doesn't exist; I don't know who wrote this book or why they'd do such a thing, but this publishing house and anyone else who associated themselves with this project should be ashamed of themselves.

I read this book when it first came out. I am a survivor of child abuse, too and found the book too dificult to finish, thinking that it was a true story. Now I find it is a fake. How DARE you fake a story like this! We abuse survivors (and I am in my 40's) have fought long and hard to be believed. Then, someone
writes this. Do you know the harm you do when you write this type of thing??? If you (the author) are a middle-aged woman and have some kind of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, I hope you get help soon. I am infuriated!

Anthony Godby Johnson was one extraordinary youngster and his book reads like an adults. Just wonderful!! He brings to light the devestation of AIDS on not only the family but the victim itself. The boy suffered horrifying abuse, both sexual and physical, from both his parents and the people surrounding them. And yet the book is totally devoid of bitterness. This story is tragic, yet hopeful. I felt strangely sad and happy when I finished the story that I have told all my friends about it and am loaning out my copy! A copy that I will consign to my keeper shelf that is filled with only the truly extaordinary books I have read. I will tell you that few belong to this catagory.