After reading the reviews here on Amazon I decided to buy this book. It was extremely difficult to read the writing is blunt and has no flow to it whatsoever. The characters are shallow (although this is probably because of the writing style) and the language is bad making the characters seem unintelligent.

I have read three books about Wil Hardesty. I really like the character. That is the only reason I gave it a three. Did not really like this book. Not as good as the others I have read. A lot of this was totally unbelieveable. Also, I do not like flashbacks but am sure a lot of people do. Wil is someone I can relate to. He is not superman, he does make mistakes, he does get hurt. There are really two things Hardesty is trying to find out. Is Denny Van Zant still alive and who killed Carmen Marquez. Are they tied together??? Trina Van Zant, name is different after three marriages, leds Wil a merry chase. It all does finally get drawn to a close but I have read better by Barre.

"The Ghosts of Morning" is the second of the series by Richard Barre that I have read and I am totally hooked! As introduced in "The Innocents", Wil Hardesty is an interesting and complex character. In this new book he is struggling with his recent divorce and his lingering guilt over his lost son and his life. His struggle is very human and full of emotion. The action in "The Ghosts of Morning" is fast-paced and suspenseful.The mystery and the tension combined with great characters with full bodied histories makes the book fly by. As eager as I was to get to the end and resolve the mystery I was reluctant to let go of the story and Wil. I wanted to know what he was going the next day after the book ends. This book is terrific follow up to "The Innocents" but not as sad. It does evoke a retrospective feeling of the time we sent our young boys off to a horrible unknown called Vietnam. It is a reminder that we can never be so casual with a generation again. I can't wait till Wil's next adventure.

This book was helpful in giving me a taste of ballet before making a big commitment to classes, etc. It is helpful for someone just starting ballet, with steps they can practice at home.

Thalia Mara is truly a life saver. I have purchased all of her books and they are very descriptive and informative. 1st steps to ballet is a good introduction that can give a bit of a challenge without overwelming the young ballet student. I recommend it to all ballet students, beginning, intermediate, and advanced.

The Wilkes-Barre Attack in the Two Knights is one of the most complicated and devasting counter attacks in the open game. Yakov Estrin was a leading Russian writer on the Two Knights as well as other systems. In 1977, he wrote a book on the Wilkes-Barre called the Traxler Attack for Chess Enterprises. Traxler was a European who had played maybe 5 or 6 games with the opening. Kenneth Williams was a brilliant correspondence player with the Wilkes-Barre Chess Club who along with other members of that chess club did a tremendous amount of work on the opening in the 1930's that was published in Chess Review. Estrin's name change infuriated him and he proceeded to destroy the first edition of Estrin's book with his analysis, so much so that the 2nd edition (if there was one) was renamed the Wilkes Barre. The book is in algebraic, the typesetting is horrible but the analysis is absolutely brilliant. Williams was a Correspondence master of the first rank whose business interests did not give him time to play over the board. Great content but rotten typesetting!

That I know of, there are but 2 books on the Wilkes Barre. This one and the one by Estrin. This one mentions Estrin's book and picks some good and bad points made by Estrin. Having not read Estrin's book, I don't know but this book will bring surprise and horror to your opponent's faces.

Bearing Secrets is a superb novel. One has a tendency to ladle on accolades and fulsome adjectives until the feeling that no book can be THAT good becomes a barrier to readers. Expectations can be raised too high. But this is a superb novel. This complex, rhythmic, multi-textured novel reaches out to the reader and inexorably binds one tighter and tighter.

It starts with hard-nosed PI Wil Hardesty and an anguished cry for help from a prickly, vulnerable, twenty-year-old hardcase named Holly Pfeiffer. Hardesty's marriage is coming apart and he doesn't know how to stop it. Mostly to distract himself from his personal trouble, he agrees to see Holly. But when he gets to her cabin near Lake Tahoe, he is repeatedly, rebuffed. This woman is a product of her radical father's teachings. He was a veteran of Viet Nam, who then returned to Berkley and used his considerable intelligence and skill to harass the authorities and teach military tactics to a violent splinter group of dissidents. Naturally, his activities drew the attention of the establishment.

When Holly's father Max, dies in a fall from a high ledge in the mountains, Holly accuses the FBI of killing him. After all, the gospel according to Max had taught her that years earlier the FBI engineered her mother's death via a car bomb. In spite of her attempts to rid herself of Hardesty, in Holly's view just another establishment lackey, Hardesty begins a patient, earnest attempt to learn some truths. For a time, the only secrets he bares make Max look guilty. But of what? And then....

Read Bearing Secrets and you will be appalled, exhilarated, horrified and energized. This way lies death, explicit and terrible; here lies corruption and there is exploitation. You are quickly caught up in wheels within wheels. Barre builds tension and suspense cleanly and handles both with dexterity and believability. Fully-formed characters strive against insidious power, fail under the weight of crushing secrets, and strive again.

Yet author Barre does not dwell lovingly on the horror. This book is cleanly written, carefully plotted and very, very intense. It will require attention and careful reading, but Bearing Secrets will reward you in full measure.

Being from the Appalachians, I have always been fascinated with this sect of Christianity. Weston La Barre's academic prose and insight trace the sect in its relationship to greater society, the culture (through psychoanalysis and comparative symbols), and the individual. The style is interesting and succinct as it traces the origins of the practice in 1909 to the phenomenon in crisis in the 1950's; the writing does not offer insight into contemporary snake-handling traditions and may seem dated. La Barre does not humnaize the practioners as does Covington in Salvation On Sand Mountain, but his insights and parallels to the snake as symbol are stimulating. Referring to the snake-handlers as a cult is problematic for their beleifs, aside from snake-handling and poison drinking, are in allignment with Christianity. Good book to read especially if your are intersted in this phenomenon.

NO LAUGHING MATTER has some great moments. In places Joseph Heller demonstrated his ability to be funny and touching at the same time. The book was a great inspiration to me at a time when I needed the help it gave me. As the author of SOLOMON'S PORCH, a novel about a man with CIDP, the slow version of Guillain Barre', I was fascinated with this book about Joe Heller and his caretakers. Most of the material that I have read about GBS and CIDP focuses almost exclusively on the patient, but Mr. Heller wrote every other chapter of this book and had his friend, who became one of his caretakers, write the alternate chapters. At the time I read NO LAUGHING MATTER, I was beginning to formulate SOLOMON'S PORCH in my mind. NLM gave me some good ideas about structure.

Not exactly a laughing matter, but certainly one presented with plenty of humor. Author Joseph Heller developed a nerve disease called Guillain-Barre after years of seeming good health, and later wrote a book (coauthored by his pal Speed Vogel) chronicling his declining health and his fight back to semi-normality.

It was a day like any other, just before getting a divorce and starting a new novel (which became "God Knows"). But Joseph Heller found that his food tasted funny, his body felt abnormally heavy, and he was having problems putting on and removing clothing. He checked into a hotel, and sure enough -- he had had a problem. What's more, he had a nerve disease called Guillain-Barre, which could cause permanent paralysis.

While his mind remained sharp and unusually witty, Heller's body became paralyzed. His pals Speed Vogel, Mario Puzo (of "Godfather" fame), Dustin Hoffman and Mel Brooks all clustered around to help their friend as he began to regain control of his life.

The account is funny and kooky, full of eccentric people like Puzo and Brooks. But there are deeper undercurrents in "No Laughing Matter," in which the friends help keep Heller from sinking into a frenzy of displeasure and cabin fever. There are no gooey monologues about the power of love and friendship -- it would probably have made the authors gag, even if it didn't make the readers. But the accounts of an admittedly difficult-to-deal-with famous author being helped out, despite his eccentricity, is very touching.

There is a lot of serious content, with Heller's decline in health and the details of his time in the hospital. (Constantly lying in a hospital bed, mostly paralyzed, unable to grip a pen and with a tube in his nose) But he manages to give a funny spin to almost everything in the book, including his encounters with Valerie Humphrey, a beautiful nurse who became his second wife, and media-shy Mario Puzo telling him how lucky he was to be sick and paralyzed, since he wouldn't be require do interviews. Half the book is Speed Vogel's voice; he offers an alternate, somewhat humbler viewpoint. He also gives more entertaining anecdotes such as Mel Brooks painting his "SNORE! SNORE! SNORE!" message on the wall, or the lobster dinner, or just arguing with Joe about the thirty-person dinner.

Funnier and more heartwarming than most "disease diaries," this gives us two different viewpoints: The patient, and the loyal pal. Definitely an intriguing and interesting read.

NO LAUGHING MATTER is a very informative and entertaining piece of writing. Co-authored by Joseph Heller and Speed Vogel (who write alternating chapters) it details the effects of the rare debilitating affliction called Guillain-Barre syndrome. This autobiographical/biographical chronicle passes along a lot of information without once falling into obscure medical dullness.

Guillain-Barre is a disease that attacks the central nervous system, rendering the victim completely paralyzed. Although what Heller contracted was a mild form of the disorder, in an extreme case mentioned a patient was only able to move their eyes. Recovery is possible from this disease; if it's caught early enough, the patient can be hooked up to a respirator if need be and then slowly rehabilitated. NO LAUGHING MATTER is two stories. The first is that of Joseph Heller the patient who goes from being in (seemingly) perfect health to being utterly bedridden in a matter of days. The second part of the tale is told by Speed Vogel, a friend of Heller, who took care of virtually all of his financial, legal and personal obligations.

From reading some other reviews of the book, one might be under the impression that this is a light and fluffy feel-good story of friendship where one will be forced to read numerous passages on the deeper meanings of love and caring. People learning great life lessons by sacrificing much that they have purely in the name of camaraderie. Chicken soup for the soul and novocain for the brain. Fortunately, one couldn't be further from the truth. While the two authors obviously have a great fondness for each other, you won't find any obvious soliloquies on the healing power of friendship. What you will find are people who care a great deal, but aren't afraid to share a lot of good-natured abuse. While in sickness and on the road to recovery, this never feels false or sugarcoated. It's an honest account of what real friendships are made of.

Despite the title, much of the book is laugh out loud funny. Heller may have been bedridden but he didn't lose any of his trademark wit. Celebrity cameos of everyone from Dustin Hoffman to Mario Puzo to Mel Brooks help to liven up an already interesting narrative. Both authors have a warm and engaging style of writing that makes even the more incomprehensible medical jargon understandable. The jokes are great and serve also to counterpoint the feelings of desperation and of loneliness.

The book is extremely intriguing, though there are one or two sections that don't quite work. Heller was going through what appeared to be a fairly messy divorce and the legal proceedings got a little bit complicated. For a section, Heller even reproduces a few pages of the court transcripts in order to show his lawyer in the right. As justified as he may be in including these segments, they aren't nearly as interesting as the rest of the book and pale in comparison.

NO LAUGHING MATTER shows us illness from two viewpoints. From Vogel we see the outward appearance of the disease and its effect on Heller. From Heller we experience the sickness firsthand. It's a fascinating dual look at the nature of the affliction. Well worth a read.

I really enjoyed this well written book. Even though I'm not a fan of half the rockers Pamela wrote about, the book drew me in. The chapter on Chuck Berry was the best. This is definitely the sort of stuff Chuck left out in his own autobiography! The stuff on Gram Parsons brought tears to my eyes. I'm looking forward to any future books by Miss Des Barres, but for now I'll have to be content reading her column for E! entertainment online.

I found this to be a fascinating book and so did my girlfriend who borrowed it and enjoyed it so much she didn't want to give it back. It is so accurate and full of detail - real rock and rock history. The photos and the way it is written really evoked memories for me.. A powerful book worth reading.

(resubmitted; my name was deleted)

March 24, 1999

A huge chunk of history of the 1960s would have been lost if Pamela des Barres hadn't written about her exploits in her two previous books. "Rock Bottom : Dark Moments in Music Babylon" isn't a sequel to her autobiographies, however; it's a series of mini-biographies of some of our dearly departed musicians. Pamela manages to bring a personal aspect to the interviews -- while maintaining her true image as a friendly face and not a hanger-on. The book is well-written and witty at times, even though the deaths are heartbreaking. It's incredibly apropos that I received the book as a gift from a dear friend who owns a record store! My only slightly negative comment is that Pamela des Barres has never written about the Grateful Dead in her books. Her love of music isn't confined to any one genre, and she was in the same area of the country at the same time... I believe that Jerry's death was well before publication of this book. I'm looking forward to another history by Pamela des Barres. She brings history to life, and makes it more fun than any of my high school teachers ever did (no offense!) even when the stories are sad. Thanks for writing the book :) Cordially, Rebekah Sue Harris

This book is an inspiration to any who has had any major illness. Part of it hit home for me since I also have Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Ms. Wilcox is full of energy and never gave up during this horrible illness. She provides reference materials that I would have not know about. No Time For Tears was easy to read compared to other Guillain-Barre Syndrome books.

In No Time For Tears: Transforming Tragedy Into Triumph, Dorris Wilcox tells her compelling story of combining aggressive self-education, massive doses of positive thinking, a barrage of nutritional supplements, with an unshakable faith in God's healing power to over come Gulillain Barre Syndrome (a potentially lethal neurological disorder) and experience a 95% recovery. No Time For Tears also provides sufferers from any and all debilitating affliction the spiritual and emotional tools to acquire and maintain a positive mindset so necessary to triumphing over adversity regardless of any particular medical outcome. Highly recommended reading.

I have an aunt with Guillain Barre Syndrome and she couldn't wait to get her hands on this book. Dorris' story is hopeful and inspirational, appealing to those who think that the disease is necessarily a dead end road. In my opinion, No Time for Tears is an excellent book for the patient, friends and family members of anyone suffering from any kind of debilitating illness. Dorris teaches you how to fight back!

I was extremely disappointed with this book. I saw that it had won an award for best first novel and set my expectations on it. The book was extremely slow throughout, and dragged on more and more as the book went on. I honestly felt myself not caring how the book ended and put it down many times. The only reason I finished it was that my wife had bought it as a gift for me. Yes, the plot revolves around the morbid concept of young children being killed, but it isn't that in of itself that I consider the downfall of this book. The author has chosen to tell this story from both the hero and antagonist's side, but not to good effect. The suspense doesn't build as to how the two will meet. Rather it drags on as Wil Hardesty draws conclusions from the flimsiest items that he draws hunches on, so that you find yourself feeling the story isn't very credible. Furthermore, the interactions of characters, don't seem that realistic, as Hardesty easily puts his friends in peril throughout the book while clearly aware of the nature of the villains. Overall I feel that the concept of the book had great potential, but the characters and the story itself make the book undesirable. Don't give any credence to the fact that this won an award. I highly recommend that you move on to something else, rather than choose this book.

I understand this is Richard Barre's first book. He did far better than I could do. Wil Hardesty is introduced as a PI. There are seven children found in graves after a flash flood. The father of one of the seven hires Wil to find out who killed his son. Seems as people close to Wil either get killed or hurt. I really liked the first 179 pages (paperpack) after that the book seemed to really drag until the last 10-15 pages. If you read it you can see what happened on page 179. I don't want ot say as it would take away from the story. There was a lot of talk and more talk after that. The book does end well but it was a long read, nearly but it down several times.

Richard Barre is an incredible wordsmith. When reading about his California, I can almost hear the ocean, and feel the warm breezes. His main character, Wil Hardesty is man struggling with his own past, in particular, the death of his young son. This adds a depth to the charecter usually not found in books sbout PI's.

This book, the first in the series, starts with the discovery of seven bodies. Childrens bodies. Hardesty is hired to discover who they are and why they are there.

Barre writes with a passion, and it shows. The investigative technique is right on, and the book draws you in fast. This is a series any one who calls themself a fan of mysteries should read ...

I'm sure lots of people have bought this book, hoping for more name-dropping, drug-taking fun, and like me have been very disappointed. Des Barres is no writer, and this story of her more settled-down wifely days is duller than dirt. If you enjoy reading an ex-druggie's regrets and lamentations about her husband's continued use (until he too goosesteps the AA way),her abject failure as an actress, and her son's (surprise, surprise!) messed up adolescence, go ahead and waste your money. The only amusing episode in the whole book (or at least the parts I didn't skip over through boredom) concerned Des Barres' infatuation with Sandra Bernhard, but that occupied but a few pages as Bernhard had the sense to avoid entanglement with the self-styled "queen of the groupies." Des Barres doesn't seem to understand that what made _I'm With the Band_ entertaining was that the things she was doing were fun and outrageous. Must be hard knowing all the good parts of your life are over. I hear there's a third book -- think I'll pass.

Sure, it wasn't as wild as her first book, "I'm With The Band: Confessions of a Groupie", but she's starting to grow up! I guess it has to happen! I still enjoyed the book. There's a lot of growth here as a person. She's determined not to be a doormat and starts confronting issues head-on. Like her not so perfect marriage, her father's death, and past relationships. I love her description of Jimmy Page, how she started to see him in an entirely different way. IMO, he was a hypocrite to call her a "bimbo" and trash her book. Pamela is an excellent writer, even if the subject matter isn't quite as tittilating as her first book.

I just read this book, having recently won a copy on eBay. What a shame it is no longer in print; much as I loved I'm With the Band, I enjoyed this well-written sequel even more for its incisive, introspective look at evolving as a person and learning to make peace with the past. To all the hypocrites who condemn Pamela Des Barres as an immoral bimbo, I say, we've all had incidents in our past, sexual and otherwise, that we are not necessarily proud of or would have done differently had we been older and wiser. Des Barres was extremely brave to chronicle her failing marriage, becoming a mother, death of her father, search for spirituality, and learning to see her own shortcomings-codependency and avoidance of confrontation at any cost-with brutal honesty as well as a sense of humor and optimism. Details of Des Barres' Hollywood lifestle, such as being friends with such celebrities as the Zappa family and many others, also makes this book a fascinating read. However, what really hit home for me were the universal experiences that every human being goes through: the journey of finding one's sense of self-worth and purpose, learning to work through life's pain and setbacks to be strong and change for the better (always easier said than done!),and learning to find joy in every moment of every day. Pamela Des Barres, with her hard-won inner strength, sweet nature and spirit of adventure, is truly an inspiration.