Jacques Condor is a spellbinding weaver of tales. Condor Tales brings to life a time long-past when Native American Storytellers sat beneath a star-filled sky, with the warmth a fire to chase way the evening chill, and young child seated waiting for a story--Welcome the Magic this novel brings.
--Connie Vines, AKA Addison Murrary, award-winner author of "Whisper upon the Water," "After the Rain," and "Rachel and the Texan."....

I am a Native American and I was just thrilled to read Condor's book. Not only did the author make me feel like I was sitting with Elders and hearing the stories. But, he "drew me in" and I felt like I was experiencing the story first hand. His command in being able to translate the different cultural's analogies into something that all people can read and understand is exceptional. The phrase " it looses something in the translation" dose not apply to these stories. All ages and all people will find this book entertaining, enlightening, and exceptional!I have recommended this book to everyone that has asked me how I can better understand the Native American people.I have recommmended this book to my local library and Boy Scout and Girl Scout organizations. It was the best birthday present I have ever recieved.

Condor has written a wonderful book of Native American stories that are very hard to put down until you have finished each individual story. The stories are written with great clarity so that you can experience the sights and smells of the Alaska and Canadian area in which they take place as though you are actually there around a campfire or in long-house, at their FIRST telling! Each story has an illustration of a character from the story that brings the story to life, some stories have several illustrations. The stories contain an introduction to help set the background for the story. Condor, a Native American, has lived for many years in the area he writes so well about. I highly recommend this book as a very enjoyable read and anxiously await to hear more from this author!

Donbas.com This book is available to read on the net. Please find the time to read it.

I had to read this book in my English class back in 1973. I thought it was quite a story. The author even came to our class and spoke to us about the experience. You can imagine the impact that had on me. I am thrilled to have found the book here and am so looking foward to reading it again as an adult and for my children to read it also.

Fans of "The Long Walk" will love this book also; it has the same deep humanity shining through incredible adversity and cruelty. A great thump for the heart!

Amazon.com seems to have no record of it, but I found an old paperback reprint of this book under the title, "A Man Never Dies." Probably also out-of-print.

Like too many others, my journey to becoming a Barzun addict was a slow, steady build. Yes, it was through first reading 'From Dawn to Decadence' that I came to admire his electrifying prose and sparkling wit. And his books on culture and education...my gosh, man!

So there I was in the neighborhood bookstore and I see a brand spankin' new Barzun reader. Since I read in tangents, the format seemed a bit scattered but I bought it, knowing that I would always, no matter what tangent I was on, find something of interest in this volume.

I couldn't have been more right!! I've had the book for, maybe, nine months now and I'm STILL finding, savoring and rereading these excerpts. So many topics covered- from baseball to Berlioz, crime-fiction to higher education, race to romanticism. These days, whenever someone writes about so many subjects, there's always a suspicion that we, the readers, will find ourselves slighted- how can one person actually EXCEL in so many areas and still retain quality and grace. Barzun is a stunning example of someone who can and if you're anything like me (not reading all the way through, but reading each exerpt as it strikes your fancy), this book will rank on your 'most rewarding purchases' list

Michael Murray, editor of "A Jacques Barzun Reader," has compiled a beautifully varied collection of the great cultural historian's essays -- many of which even we hardcore Barzun admirers have never read & never thought we'd have the chance to read. For example, Barzun's provocative distinction between the "craft" of criticism & art in literature is a seldom-seen essay, & shed light on an aspect of Barzun's thinking that was unknown to me.

Is the book too small? I don't know -- perhaps any such compilation of Barzun's extraordinary & humane writing would be too small, too exclusive. These essays are (presumably) Murray's choices, & I have no quarrel with them per se. But where are other long-treasured & fascinating Barzun essays, such as "James the Melodramatist" or a thoughtful (& negative) critique he wrote decades ago on Eric Partridge's "Usage & Abusage"?

I begin to see that, in fact, a complete collection of Barzun's written work -- all seven or eight decades of it -- is called for. It would, of course, require numerous volumes. "A Jacques Barzun Reader" is an excellent start. I am happy to learn from the dust jacket that Michael Murray is writing a biography on Barzun.

A minor cavil with Murray's method: He chose not to footnote or otherwise indicate his alterations to Barzun's original text for a fairly sensible reason. However, I found myself wondering just which passages or what information was omitted from the reprint of various essays in the book.

Barzun is one of the best thinkers of our time. It is great to have his thoughts on so many subjects assembled in this collection.

It is especially valuable since some of Barzun's most famous commentaries (for example, on baseball) are now out of print and hard to find. Buy this book, you will profit from having it on your bookshelf!

This volume is beautifully presented. Lartigue viewed the world.. not only through the camera lens.. but through the lens of happiness. I feel inspired to pick up my camera more often and have a positive and happy attitude. What a gift to the world Jacques-Henri Lartigue has given in the body of his photographic work!

This book is amazing. This is, by far, my favorite collection of photos. Lartigue's concentration on motion is especially featured here. He has inspired my work more than any other still photographer. Buy it here and save the dough for your own photography.

This photographer mastered photography at such a young age, it made his photographs amazingly unique and absolutely beautiful. a priceless book.

This is a great book for anyone who loves nostalgia and the way the old parks used to be. For those of us who grew up in the area and who have treasured memories of Kennywood, this is like having a family album around the house.

This is the essential book for avid lovers of the park, visitors, or anyone. Pittsburghers especialy will like the old pictures and references to the days of old.

Any coaster enthusiest, history buff, or Pittsburgher will love this book. The pictures of the old rides, coasters, and swimming pool bring back fond memories of warm summer nights and afternoon thrills. A little dated since a lot has happened at Kennywood after 1982, but its a perfect companion for Jacques new book.

Don't be put off by the fatuous and juvenile comic-book type illustration which adorns the jacket of 'Messengers of Deception.' This is a serious book, and Jacques Vallee is that rarity among scientists, one who is prepared to brave the scorn of his more timid colleagues by giving the subject of UFOs the serious consideration it deserves. The new point-of-view he brings to this subject is startling.

For Vallee, UFOs are real, and the people who claim to have seen them and even to have been abducted by their occupants are, for the most part, serious and responsible persons who are telling the truth. But as to just what UFOs are and where their occupants come from, Vallee honestly admits that he doesn't know. He does not, however, think that they are spaceships carrying "Space Brothers" from an advanced galactic civilization who have come here to miraculously resolve all human problems, and to help us clean up the mess that we have made of the planet and our lives. But he is seriously concerned that so many people, and not just UFO cultists, are beginning to embrace such a naive and simplistic salvationist belief. In this belief he detects the beginnings of a religious movement which could end up sweeping away existing institutions and lead to very grim consequences for mankind, not the least of which would be the loss of all freedoms.

People to day are tired of the lies and coverups and corruption of government. They are tired of the arrogance and hypocrisy and evasions of official science. They are tired of the wastefulness of the military. They are tired of the depredations of big business. They are ready for change, and many would be only too happy if a tall, handsome, and golden-haired "Space Brother" were to land on earth with the message: "Follow me, and all will be well."

In his thorough investigation of the UFO phenomenon, Vallee seems to detect a pattern. UFOs have made complete fools of our governments, which seem to have nothing meaningful to say about them; of our military, which cannot catch them; and of official science, which cannot provide any explanation of the advanced science at work behind them. All three authorities are furiously pretending that UFOs do not exist, while desperately wishing they would go away. It is, Vallee feels, almost as if we were being conditioned by UFOs to despise earthly authorities of every kind, and to ready ourselves to embrace a new Alien leader or 'Messiah.' But where would this 'Messiah' have come from?

For Vallee, the occupants of UFOs, although they might be Aliens, could just as well be humans, humans who have somehow acquired an advanced technology, humans pretending to be Aliens who are following an agenda created by a secret cabal of "Manipulators." The ultimate aim of these "Manipulators" would presumably be to topple the existing world order and take control themselves, an act not without precedent. If the Christianity of the ancient world, a religion of despised cultists and the uneducated lower orders, could sweep away the Classical world of Greece and Rome, destroy its finest achievements in thought and art and science, and plunge the world into a barbarism from which it has not yet completely emerged, what is there to prevent a new cult, the cult of an Alien and miracle-working Messiah, from doing the same?

'Messengers of Deception' seems to me to be a book that everyone should be reading. The UFOs have not gone away. And Vallee clearly demonstrates that the UFO cultists he has studied, people who "believe" that UFO occupants are good guys, benign Aliens who are here to help us, tend in their thinking to be naive, racist (alien blood is superior), fascist, puritanical, and hostile to human freedom. The dangers of their belief system should be obvious to anyone, and Vallee feels that the continuing refusal of official science to undertake an honest and serious investigation of the UFO phenomenon can only serve to increase the dangers.

Vallee's thesis is, to say the least, startling, and I haven't really been able to do it justice here. He is a well-qualified, thoroughly objective and sensible person, and he has brought forward much interesting evidence to support his case. His book is thoroughly researched, well-written, well-illustrated, and well-documented, and, apart from certain rather abstract theoretical speculations towards the end, is both gripping and easy to read.

UFOs are real. Their occupants are real. But are their occupants Aliens? Or human "Manipulators"? Or an alliance of Alien and human "Manipulators?" Who knows? But whatever they are, it is doubtful that they hold quite such a high opinion of humans as cultists would have us believe. Perhaps, as Jacques Vallee says, "we will get the visitors we deserve."

Vallee is a true visionary in the UFO field, asking the big questions and nearly always taking the larger view. That UFOs and the "contacts" they make will humans do not fit well into the current picture of interstellar Space Brothers, based purely on observational evidence is a view that most, if not all, UFO buffs will initially reject. However, a careful reading of this book reveals Vallee's painstaking thoroughness in investigating a baffling phenomenon- a phenomenon of contradiction and deception.

The deception goes further than the oft-contradictory message of the aliens: many on Earth are willing messengers of deception as well. The information gap caused by scientific, military, and governmental refusal to seriously consider the phenomenon's true nature have caused all manner of charletons and manipulators to fill the vacuum created by the willful refusal to acknowledge the reality of UFO incidents.

Many of Vallee's fears have already come to pass- the leaders of the Heaven's Gate suicide cult are chronicled nearly twenty years before their mass death. Vallee's observation that whoever is able to eventually control the UFO phenomena may well be coming true before our eyes, yet tragically most are unwilling to see the truth objectively.

This is a complex book that really needs careful reading more than once. If you do this, you'll never look at the UFO phenomena in the same way again.

I have read several books on this subject and by far, this is the best I have read so far. This is not your typical ufo book with just information about the subject. This book goes very deep into every aspect of it. It demostrates not only what ufo's are trying to show, but also what they are trying to hide. This book is excelent. I would recomend it to serious readers.

Illustrator Christopher Denise does a superb job of bringing a visual feast of animal characters to life in Brian Jacques' "A Redwall Winter's Tale." Amazingly talented artist.

A traveling group of entertainers arrives at the Redwall Abbey on the last day of Autumn. The travellers put on a big show, and the Redwallers provide a huge feast. When it is time to put the Dibbuns (youngsters) to bed, Mighty Bulbrock Badger tells a bedtime story. Who brings the wintertime snows? Why, the Snow Badger, of course! But is the Snow Badger real, or just a fairy tale told to the Dibbuns? You'll have to read the book to find out. The pictures are wonderful, perfectly complementing the story. Like Brian Jacques' previous picture book The Great Redwall Feast, also illustrated by Christopher Denise, this is a perfect introduction to the Redwall series for younger readers and a great book for all ages.

I got this book during the christmas season thinking it would be a regular chapter book. This is not a Chapter Book!!!! This only has a few words per page but the illustrations make up for everything. Don't get me wrong though, the story is written very well, very poetically in fact. This is great read, especially for younger people who may have a hard time reading some of Jacques other longer books. Definitely worth it!

Sergeant Major, U. S. Marines is the biography of Maurice Jacques, who rose from the rank of Private to Sergent Major of Marines during his 30-years of honorable service to his Corps and Country. Written by Major Bruce 'Doc' Norton, who served in combat with Jacques during the Vietnam War, this book follows Jacque's life from his upbringing in Massachusetts to his days at Parris Island. His post-World War II learning was handled by Marine veterans such as Colonel "Chesty" Puller and General Edward A. Craig. His three tours of combat during Vietnam tempered Jacques into a true combat veteran and teacher. Unfortuantely, there are no Marines with Jacque's experiences serving in today's Marine Corps, but his "lessons learned" and his documented dedication to his Corps is the stuff that legends are made from. Segreant Major is a great book; well-researched, well-written and totally accurate. Credit to Major 'Doc' Norton for a great story about one of our Corps true heroes. 5 Stars for this one!

If I had to select one book that accurately defines what it takes to become and stay on as a career Marine, this is the Book. Jacques grew up poor and uneduacted, like so many Marines, but he found a home and his "calling" in the Corps. Norton does a masterful job in describing Jacques' career, to include wonderful descriptions of Marines (and Jacques) in combat during the Korean War and during his 3 tours of duty in Vietnam. I would make this a "must read" for anyone considering a career in the Corps, enlisted man or officer. Well done!!

If Maurice himself were writting this book himself he could not have done a better job. Its a wonder why this book isn't at a higher rank. This book gets five stars all around.

If you grew up watching the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau one night a week, you must read this book by Mr. Cousteau. I read the first chapter of this delightful little book in a diving collection and was instantly drawn to Cousteau's narrating style. Modest and touched with humor, he describes the creation of the aqualung (scuba) and his early exploits with it. Early photos of underwater creatures are amazing. My copy is from the late 1950s and I hold it carefully. It is a physical and figurative jewel to me.

I first read this book when I was about 15. I begged my mother to sign me up for a SCUBA class shortly after and I am still diving 25 years later. I have re-read it about 3 times since then and still keep a copy on my shelf. There is still something very captivating about the early days of diving and Cousteau's descriptions of the silent world. The explorers in his book indulged in a pioneering activity under the nose of the occupying Nazi regime and set in motion the evolution of underwater adventure that millions enjoy today.

The Silent World is easy and enjoyable to read. Most of the photographs are hard to see compared with the vast amount of underwater shots available today. However, when you consider the time period these photos were taken combined with the daring of these early pioneers, you can't help but be impressed.

This book produced an enjoyable influence on my life and I am sure it will on anyone willing to learn about the early history of underwater exploration.

This griping tale of the early period of under water exploration begins in late WW II and is set of the most part in the south of France and Mediterranean Sea. Most clearly it is not a NOVEL (see previous review). In it you will find Jacques' characteristic outlook in the germination stages. Especially interesting to observe is the beginnings of environmenal concerns in his misc. comments about mans impact on the health of the Mediterranean Sea. There are accounts of the effects of Coral dredging and drag netting clearing documenting the destructiveness of these technques coupled with descriptions of his own crew on his aboard the French Naval vessel he commanded harpooning of sea mammals for questionable "scientific" experiments.

All in all it is a good read for individuals interested in the history of exploration of new worlds by this sensitive innovative explorer. Not to be missed are the numerious accounts of early ship wreck exploration. My copy was published in 1953 and includes some of the earliest published color underwater shots. Highly recommended.

I'm not a little kid, just one heavily into middle age. I
enjoy books with great illustrations. This one is fun...
absolutely delightful! I love the ghosts with binoculars and
MacGhost is marvelous. Kids of all ages will find themselves
smiling as they read.

My 3 year old and I happened upon this book at the library. We have checked it out continually ever since while waiting for out copy to arrive. She has memorized the words to this book and to "The Ghost's Dinner". It's a fun book that I enjoy as much as she does.

So does my daughter, who is 2 years old. This is a delightful, cute comedy of errors and mishaps that ends in a happy discovery for this marvelously inept family of ghosts. If you like Scotland or Nessie you'll love this book.