It isn't often that I here a fact or a story about Paul Molitor that I don't already know. He was my hero when I first saw him play on my 7th birthday, and as I graduate with a Master's degree 20 years later, he is still every bit the hero I remember. That is why it was such a nice surprise to find several tidbits brought to light by Broomer that I had never been aware of. There is no question that Molitor is the last of a dying breed of players who play the game the way it is meant to be played, and a review of his career from American Legion to his World Series MVP performance would be interesting for any baseball fan. Broomer's writing however, lacks imagination. The text of the book reads like a laundry list of where Molitor played ball during his life, and is all too briefly interupted by short quotes from the people who knew Molitor at various times during his life. I believer Broomer expended very little energy writing this book. However, any baseball fan would be excited to review the evidence of Molly's dedication to baseball, and his class on and off of the field. For the true Molitor fan, there are several outstanding photos of Molitor in his Golden Gophers uniform and throughout his professional career.

Interesting book -- Renner, along with Herbert Bayer and others of his era, created typography and design that still looks modern decades later.

Authors Cynthia Klingel and Robert Noyed have teamed up to bring an excellent resource for very young children to explore history at a level they can understand. Paul Revere's Ride is beautifully written for beginning readers. Paul Revere's Ride examines Paul Revere, including the significant events from his life and the role he played during the Pre Revolutionary war. The book, in a short span, encompasses these significant details of his life. Contrary to what the title suggests, it speaks little of the famous ride. However, it is a great introduction to Paul Revere and his place in history. Written in a lively style, it is clear and concise. It contains excellent illustrations including paintings and photographs that represent Paul Revere's life. It also contains, in the opening pages, a small map of the general area Mr. Revere operated within. This provides the young readers with an excellent initial feel for where the events described took place. An added bonus to this book is the high quality index, glossary, bibliography, and recommended web sites to further enhance knowledge of Paul Revere. This book is only one in a series of books that include other historical events and places written at reading levels appropriate for young children. This will make an excellent addition, especially to elementary schools.

Paul Temple is returning home. on the plan he conversates with a man telling him about a problem he's got. the daughter of a rich man has taken an interest to a man not of her father's liking. back home Paul has to face an organization specializing in stolen goods. D has his flaws, but he's okay, if you can tolerate it. his plots are very strange to me, but i can take it. easy read.

Ben Witherington sets out on a rather ambitious journey. To chart the Apostle Paul's thought world from a big picture viewpoint. He begins by rejecting the approach used by systematic commentaries on St. Paul's theology, with all their limitations (i.e., dividing Paul's thought into Soteriological or Eschatological or by the evolution of his theological world view).

So Witherington instead plots Paul's theology in a narrative fashion. Of course, systematic referances concerning theology are so engrained into our western thinking that they are impossible to avoid entirely, but he does a wonderful job of taking the reader through Paul's theology as if it were a narrative -- which in fact, it really is. From the Fall, to Israel and the Law, to Christ and the New Covenant, it is story rich with dramatic tension, wonderful characters, and a heck of a plot.

Two complaints, though. One, Witherington does not write for the layman in mind. This book delves too far into certain topics which could have been condensed in order to alleviate the theological "jargon" so often emlpoyed by scholars.

Two, Witherington seems to compromise on his own personal beliefs about Pauline authorship in order to gain acceptance for his work in the scholarly community. Pauline authorship of the Pastoral Epistles and Ephesians or Colossians is a hot topic within some circles, but has cooled off in others. That latter circle would have frowned on Witherington including the disputed epistles, so Witherington simply does not. In my opinion, if he feels there is some merit to their inclusion, he should state his case, include them, then move on.

All in all, this book is a helpful guide towards seeing Pauline thought as a grand narrative story, and not some odd collection of theological maxims. Just don't be afraid to skim if your mind begins to wander or your eyelids start to droop.

Learning about Paul's views by reading only the Bible or a commentary is too much work for most. This book is for some of those people: it provides a single source analysis of some fifty odd themes in Paul's view of Christianity. "Some" because while it aims to readable by the non-scholar, it still lies somewhere between scholarly and popular in readability. Though only 157 pages, the book is difficult to finish because of the wooden, analytical approach taken. It may be most useful as a theological reference on Pauline Christianity.

It struck me overall as consistent with mainline, evangelical Protestantism. While there were no dramatic new insights in the book for me, it did provide some useful insights. For example, Ziesler does a good job of responding to those who say, "Paul unnecessarily complicated the simple teaching of Jesus". Jesus was the message. The author points out that Paul's huge and singular achievement was to "... work out what this meant for the individual, the church, and the universe." "It obviously could not have been done by Jesus himself, because the materials for it were not available until his mission was accomplished." Well, obvious enough once stated. It fell to Paul to play the part of Supreme Court Justice, to work out the messy details of original intent and application in a changed and complicated humanity.

An author's work does not have to be exciting to communicate sound reason and insight, but there is a partnership between the writer and reader in this exchange. In this regard, I felt I was doing more than my share of the work in understanding and completing this book. It reads more like documentation of Paul's thought than it does a dynamic consideration of it. And this is where Ziesler lets Paul down: the passion of Paul is missing. The centrality of suffering in Paul's life is the evidence of Paul's passion, and it does not come through. Why does that matter? It matters because that passion, as much as any other theme, is a major part of Paul's "Pauline Christianity".

The New Kids on the Block as civil rights workers in teen fiction??? Yes, it is possible with this book.

En route to a show, the Boston 5 help a Native American reservation and use their star power to bring the plight of this group to their predominately Anglo target audience.

Although I intially bought it when I was in Junior High because Donnie had a staring role in this predictable adventure, some parts of this book are really incredible when it is understood that the New Kids were a very early and original version of the boy bands of today. Yet, because the author's attempt does not create a modern day Billy Jack (where a peace activist provides shady justification for his use of violence while helping Native American children) it is far more interesting than it could have been.

Throughout most of the story, Donnie and the others act as mentors to the American Indian youth and learn about their friend's lives. Although the mentor plot is some what condescending in parts (after all, the book does not mention that Native Americans such as Lenoard Peltier and the American Indian Movement have long been at work on these issues) it also is a good attempt at trying to reach young minds.

While not at all known for writing political books, the authors are careful to avoid preaching to the target readers, and enough material is woven into the otherwise flimsy storyline to encourage children to think about others who may be different from themselves. Since the 1980's was filled with doomsday reports that 60's style activism was all but dead in the age of greed, this remained a nice suprise.

At the same time, there are moments where older readers (even those who grew up with NKOTB) will detect the saccharine plot and wish for something more substantial. Duh, of course the New Kids are going to help the less fortunate and help expand the conciousness of their fans.

Still, not bad for a pre-teen marketed group. Donnie's not Abbie Hoffman or Martin Luther King, but he is given some nice lines in the blook.

Peterson's guides are usually exceptionally helpful, but this one has distinct limitations. It presents brief narrative data (usually one short paragraph) on 178 boarding schools and 78 summer programs in the U.S. and Canada. Each school has the narrative data repeated in English, Spanish, French, Japanese, and Chinese, all on one page, and followed up by 19 graphical icons to give additional data (dress code?; student-computer ratio?;boys:girls?; percentage of international students?). The icons have to be memorized, or the reading is very slow going. Clearly designed for foreign readers, it is less useful to US readers than other boarding school guides.

This is a typical Osprey book. A great introduction to a specific topic. It has many color illustrations and maps. Not many books written about the Picts. This is a good introduction to the style of warfare in Great Britain toward the end of the Roman Empire. I like these books because they give you a general background and then suggestions for further reading. The book is only 64 pages so it will only take an afternoon to read it. Very little detail, but enough info to get you started and give you the ability to talk about the subject. The following is an "About This Book" quote from the Osprey website which is not included on the Amazon.com site. It is helpful. "First mentioned by name in AD 297, the Picts inhabited Northern Britain from the end of the 3rd century AD to the 9th. They rose to power in the devastation following Emperor Septimus Severus's repression of the Caledonians in AD 208, and dominated Northern Britain for over 500 years, before vanishing mysteriously. The Picts represent a high point of Celtic civilisation, remaining free and unconquered beyond the borders of the Roman world, and rising to become the first barbarians to form a recognisable 'nation'. This title takes a detailed look at their origins, and examines Pictish heroic and warrior society, covering education and training, appearance and equipment, the status of women, and the experience of battle."

This book has been criticized for not getting all the facts straight and not telling both sides of the story...or all sides of the story, because there appear to be more than two. Still, it is the most comprehensive treatment, to date, of the scandal that was called Operation Falcon.

During the 1970's, the governments of Canada and the U.S. spent millions of dollars setting up a sting operation that would bust wildlife smugglers and blow the lid of the illegal international trade in valuable falcons. Rare, and protected, North American birds were supposedly stolen from the wild and shipped to wealthy Arabs. By the time this ended, many law-abiding, licensed falconers had been investigated, their reputations put on the line, and, in some cases, their (legal) breeding projects imperiled. But the smuggling ring itself was never exposed, because, when all was said and done, it never existed. Only a few sleazy characters were involved, people with tenuous ties to the falconry community who nonetheless cast (no pun intended) all falconers in a bad light.

This book is a good, interesting read--whether it includes all the data or not--and it is worth noting that a high-profile issue (like smuggling falcons) can eat up a lot of tax dollars and can also affect people who are not even involved in the alleged activity. The bad guys in this book are a couple of sleazy characters: one, a falconer who is trying to cut a deal on separate charges and offers to set up a sting, and the other, a greedy yuppie-type who just wants to get rich quick, but can't quite get it together. But the real villain is the bureaucracy that grinds along and chews up everything in its path. Some of the wildlife officers who had always played fair (protecting natural resources and falconers alike) are even harmed.

Operation Falcon's legacy to the sport is a residual paranoia and suspicion of non-falconers. This concern is, all too often, legitimate. It's too bad, because falconers have made significant contributions to the welfare of our wild raptors, particularly in the huge role falconers played in the peregrine's recovery.

Every falconer who began practicing the sport after Operation Falcon has heard all the rumors, but the answers remain elusive. This book may not have all the answers, but it fills in a lot of the blanks.