This is the fourth book of Derek Raymond's (deceased unfortunately) acclaimed (and rather scarce) Factory series. The narrator becomes increasingly obsessed with the horrific life of the victim whose death he is investigating. The perversity of the life and death of Dora Suarez will shock any reader, no matter how hard-boiled your tastes. But the perversion isn't gratuitous and the story not without redemption at some level. As the subtitle of the book says:"The tragedy with help is that it never arrives." So if your tastes runs to hard-boiled, and you want to stray pretty far off the beaten path and you are willing to make the effort to slog through English english,find this book and read it, you won't regret it and you won't forget it.

This book brings us to the same dark, gritty, ignoble London that we know from movies like "Naked'. A bag lady, Dora Suarez, is brutally and shockingly murdered, and seedy, down-at heel cop Frank is the only person who thinks it matters. Plodding the dismal streets and speaking to people who do not care, he researches her life and death, becoming, because there is no-one else, the only person who ever cared for her. A compassionate book, a shocking book, an unjustly neglected book and one that will delight followers of detective and police fiction. One of the most twisted and evil villians in all literature.

In an age where post-modernism is, pathetically, worn on endless worthy, fashionably distressed sleeves, the contemporary novel would seem to have lost its capacity to shock. However, this novel might serve as a possible anodyne to such complacent musings. Inexorably disgusting, depressing and nihilistic...and yet... utterly compulsive...

The Holy Bible of bare-knuckle karate has arrived. I took the book on the plane last week and had such a great time reading it! First sleepy, I soon wanted to do push ups, run, kick, punch! I see three main reasons why this book is a gemstone for an martial artist: First, the concepts are explained sharply in concise sentences with the scientific, almost surgical precision that makes Ray the exceptional teacher and master he is. They don t need to be explained again nor illustrated: the essence of the movement or concept is imprinted in your mind, ready to guide you in your next training. The book of kicking exemplifies this quality very well. It seems Ray is talking! Second, the structure is a parangon of precision and originality: organized by "books": the books of hands, of grappling, of kicking, of evasion... it guides you logically through the foundations necessary to become a well-rounded fighter. Third, it rings true, relying on what looks like common sense, but is actually the quintessence of years of practice and mastery. Like his author, the book is straightforward, honest, having removed the unnecessary and synthesized the very best from Ashihara and Uechi-Ryu karate, boxing, western fencing.

I have only one regret: why have I moved from Boston? OSU!

The Holy Bible of bare-knuckle karate has arrived.

I took the book on the plane last week and had such a great time reading it! First sleepy, I soon wanted to do push ups, run, kick, punch! I see three main reasons why this book is a gemstone for an martial artist: First, the concepts are explained sharply in concise sentences with the scientific, almost surgical precision that makes Ray the exceptional teacher and master he is. They don t need to be explained again nor illustrated: the essence of the movement or concept is imprinted in your mind, ready to guide you in your next training. The book of kicking exemplifies this quality very well. It seems Ray is talking! Second, the structure is a parangon of precision and originality: organized by "books": the books of hands, of grappling, of kicking, of evasion... it guides you logically through the foundations necessary to become a well-rounded fighter. Third, it rings true, relying on what looks like common sense, but is actually the quintessence of years of practice and mastery. Like his author, the book is straightforward, honest, having removed the unnecessary and synthesized the very best from Ashihara and Uechi-Ryu karate, boxing, western fencing.

I have only one regret: why have I moved from Boston? OSU!

I find Mr. Geraneo's work very insightful. A must have for any and all bare knuckle fighters! I found that it helped me tremendously and it's honest approach is a great way to enhance one's knowledge.

Throughly intellegent comprehensive technical but good for non chemical reader.

For twenty five years, the Kirk Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology has been a very valuable reference source for a non-chemist. As a toxicologist who must have some basic knowledge of chemical technology on a wide variety of subjects, this reference has been invaluable.

Any one single topic if put into a practically operating production unit, the total cost of book will be just a token value. Well done. Accept compliments for such a sincere work to be remembered. Mahmood Ahmed, A chemical Engineer from Pakistan. Chief Executive,Techni-Chem. International E-213 St.6 Cavalry Ground, Lahore-Cantt. Pakistan Sept.7,1998 .

Living Large shows you how to choose your standard of living, the basics of money management, giving strategies, saving and investment planning, simple budgeting, and last but not least, how to live joyfully on the rest!

J. Raymond Albrektson shows you how to truly injoy your money with biblical common sense on how to give, spend and save. A good read for those with large or small incomes with principles directly derived from scripture.

As a father of three sons - no they are not heading off to college either - this is a wonderful book. As a son this is a great book for my parents to read as they approach retirement years. In a very user-friendly approachable style Ray has written a great book for all those who break out into a cold sweat when you hear the words "finance," "management" or "budget". A must read for anybody, teens on up!

The books I've read on finance seem to fall into one of two categories: either the "how to satisfy your greed and get rich quick" or the "deny yourself and live on a strict budget" types. (Not to mention the occasional, "the world is about to end so put it all in precious metals" hyperbole.)

"Living Large" is a refreshing change from the norm. It is easy to read, filled with enjoyable personal examples, and contains practical advice for both young couples starting out and more advanced investors. I had the feeling that I was listening to the "sweet voice of reason" on every page.

And this book contains a dimension I've not seen anywhere else. Dr. Albrektson gives wise counsel on how to be genuinely contented with the income you have. Frankly, I don't know many Americans who can honestly say they are content with what they make. Perhaps with the help of "Living Large" we can start a new trend!

Last year my wife and I paid a certified financial planner $500 to do some retirement planning for us. After I read "Living Large" I was surprised how much of our planner's expert advice was exactly the same as Albrektson's in this book. If I'd bought "Living Large" a year ago, I could have saved myself $490.00!

I was on my way to pick up my parents at the train station when I turned on National Public Radio and caught this reading of "Masque of the Red Death." I was instantly mesmerized (remarkable for a station surfer such as myself). In fact, I immediately called my husband on the cell phone and made him turn it on at home. And, when my parents finally made it to the car, I shushed them and we all listened to it, with rapt attention, on the way back to my house. I can't remember the last time radio has caught my attention in such a fashion. I am going to buy several of these to play for my daughter when she gets older.

the book was awesome! I have a question to anyone out there who will answer it. In the story certain words are capitalized that really shouldn't be. Such as Time and Beauty. WHY? If anyone knows, drop me a line. NIKKICELLO@excite.com

I love Edgar Allan Poe's work, but this would have to be the best because of all the symbols he uses in his style of writing. Most of his work deals with the dark-side of reality and fiction, and I love it.

Raymond Aron was unique among intellectuals: at once a journalist and scholar, he was a prolific writer on, and noted expert in, a huge aray of subjects from philosophy to military strategy to economics. As it turns out, his life was also fascinating: he was a classmate and best friends with Sartre before becoming his great adversary during the post war debates on Marxism, was in London for the French resistance during the war, and became a television personality late in life.

In French, Aron writes with a grace and clarity that are astonishing. Now I have finally read his memoires, one of the last things he wrote. When you compare any contemporary intellectual to him, they simply can't measure up.

Simply put, Rayomd Aron's memoir is proufound and interesting. Those who want to affect society in terms of knowledge should read this book. Aron just before his death tells us what intellectual ethics is, how unconscious intellectuals can be far from mass, and why we need philosohpy to understand society. Through the entire of the book, there is a specter of Sartre who used to be Aron's "little comarade" but turned out to be his ideological enemy. In contrast to a Sartre's monstrous genius who declined a Nobel prize, Aron commits himself as a humble humanutarian. This book is a critical review of the French intellectual history.

Raymond Aron is one of the most interesting intellectuals of this century. His writing is deeply appealing. He is not just telling the political history of the century he lived. The pages are like a wave that drifts from the right to the left inside the parties, from his childhood to poetry, passing through comunism, nazism, the wars, the fall of the ideologies, till reach the decade where the giant (USA) starts its fall - the seventies. He throws you into the political sense, into the racionality of the inteligentsias throughout Europe. It's not just about past, present and future. It's a different history. It's a guest for reason, it's a guest for the most challinging steps of man.

Mountain Ice is R.E.Derouin's third David Dean mystery novel, Time Trial and San Juan Solution being the first two installments. Derouin is a resident of Ouray, Colorado, where he writes and occasionally works in the family toy business.

David Dean, ex-cop from Pennsylvania, has relocated to Ouray, Colorado where he and his wife, Cynthia, have recently opened a bed and breakfast called Bird Song. Dean's stepfather Fred also lives at Bird Song. Fred has started an online resale business of auction items. To date, life has been idyllic, until Edith Shipton appears. She and her son Donnie have obvious problems, including hiding out from Edith's abusive husband. But when a 100 year old journal turns up in code, chaos begins to unravel what should be a peaceful vacation paradise:

"Dean looked up at his wife after reading the strange lines. 'Damned! That doesn't sound like any minister's wife I ever knew!' 'What do you make of it?' Cynthia asked cautiously. 'It's obvious. She's a hooker. A prostitute. A lady of the night.'"

Derouin writes a lively mystery chock full of interesting characters, several levels of action, and a grand denouement. He covers a range of subjects from the running of a bed and breakfast to the thrills of ice climbing. His characters range from the quirky Gladys Turnbull, a wannabe writer with a head full of imaginary planets and people with a romanticized version of herself as the heroine, to the sad and tragic figure of Edith Shipton. He creates nice polar opposites even in his character of David Dean, as he struggles with issues he thought disappeared with his career change. David is an admirable hero, though, even as his wife Cynthia puts him through his paces. Dean takes on such subjects as abuse and marital stress in this rich and satisfying mystery.

For anyone who loves a ghost story, Derouin doesn't disappoint. Even while there is an actual murder being planned and executed, Derouin keeps the reader pointed in the direction of an old story that is resurfacing, complete with the shadows of past events. Mountain Ice is a most enjoyable story from a writer who is gaining more and more expertise.

Shelley Glodowski
Reviewer

On the cover of "Mountain Ice," Derouin's third David Dean Mystery, there's a picture of an ice climber in action, and what he's doing looks so dangerous that if he took a careless step or two, his life might suddenly be over. To make his situation even more hazardous, he's in Ouray, Colorado, which, for a small town in the mountains, seems fraught with perils. When Dean retired from police work in Pennsylvania and bought a bed and breakfast in Ouray, he, his new wife and his stepfather thought they'd be settling into a basically restful routine, but as things have turned out, he probably wouldn't have encountered half as much intrigue if he'd been doing drug stakeouts for the Philadelphia police.

Of course we don't know what happened to the climber in the photo (although I have it on good authority that he didn't fall), but someone in Derouin's latest tale does take a nasty dive. At first we aren't told whether or not he survived, but there seems to be another urgent question: since his climbing rope was cut with a knife, who is the culprit? It's a nice, neat question, because all the prime suspects are guests at Dean's establishment. To heighten the tension, the victim is a thoroughly unpleasant gentleman who has managed to arouse the enmity of all concerned. In fact, in this third adventure Dean actually finds himself being investigated by the local police after scuffling furiously with the troublesome guest over a tasteless pass he's made at Dean's wife.

As in his first two books, Derouin presents a cast of colorful, eccentric characters, and gives us still another glimpse of Colorado's history and terrain. I'm just a little worried about the emotional state of David Dean and his family. Before the next suspicious looking guests check into their bed and breakfast, they should probably get away from Ouray for a little R and R of their own, in some quieter, less ominous place - like maybe New York or Miami.

Good News for mystery fans!
Ouray, Colorado resident and prolific writer Ray Derouin has just published his third David Dean mystery and it's a keeper.
For the legion of readers familiar with Derouin's earlier works in this series (Time Trial & San Juan Solution) rest assured all of your favorite characters are back and better than ever. For the dwindling number of readers not yet aware of this wonderful series, you are in for a reading delight.
The protagonist retired police detective David Dean, his wife Cynthia and stepfather Fred O'Connor have settled into running their Ouray Bed & Breakfast, Bird Song, and enjoying the incomparable mountain scenery and ambiance of this premier mountain town. After a six-month shake down period Bird Song is generating a respectable profit and is booked solid in anticipation of the upcoming mountain Ice Festival for which Ouray is world famous. So far, so good. Ah, but the plot thickens and in the usual Derouin fashion it involves Bird Song guests which his wife describes as "a conflated collection of crazies." A bit of an overstatement you might think? You be the judge. The eclectic mix of guests include a woman and son who claim to be hiding from her abusive husband; a science fiction writerr (sort of) that is a bit unusual; a man from Grand Junction, CO that claims to be the father of the son that is in hiding with his mother; two sisters from Boston that answered an Internet bulletin board message. It seems that Fred O'Connor has some clothing and other items that belonged to their long deceased great aunt that was possibly a former prostitute and lover of a married clergyman in Ouray some 100 years ago. Add in the appearance of the alleged abusive husband, the woman and daughter that help clean the rooms at Bird Song, an apparent suicide, an attempted murder at the Ice Festival, the possibility of a white-clad, ghost like figure that inhabits the Inn and you have the makings of a vintage Derouin mystery. Oh, did I mention the codebook and the suspicion that David Dean is a murderer and the fact that I was positive, three times, that I had figured out who the murderer was only to discover I was wrong after the murdered man appears at Bird Song?
This is by far Derouin's best book and that is saying something given the highly acclaimed first two in the series. The characters are believable, the text highly readable, and the setting is both authentic and a credit to Ouray and the surrounding area. Derouin knows his stuff and it shows. Having lived in the area I was delighted to again visit Ouray; have coffee with Priscilla at Cimarron Books in Ridgway; visit the ski slopes of Telluride, and otherwise spend a wonderful time in a beautiful area with an incomparable writer on Mountain Ice. Highly recommended.

Took a chance with this book on a recommendation from a friend. Finished it in a day and I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. Radner immerses us in the diamond world and offers us insights into just how "valuable" diamonds are. Looking forward to reading other from Radner.

Some books are capable of taking you into another world, where you feel as though you are learning secrets the average reader shouldn't know. The Netanya Cache is in that category, as the clandestine diamond industry is revealed to be much more ominous than the jewelry store image would lead you to believe. As the story goes from the sinister plans of Derek Venray to deep-sea adventures and more, we are given characters that we can enjoy in relationships that Radner has carefully developed. If one good item can be called a gem, then this book, with it's many virtues can truly be called a cache.

I loved it! This book is a thrilling read from start to finish. It keeps a great level of suspense throughout. There are a number of subplots in the book, and all are exciting and unpredictable. The context of the book makes it read more like a historical thriller than fiction. With such high stakes in diamonds, you end up believing that this could really happen!
Radner does an excellent job of developing the characters. You get to know each one as a real, three-dimensional person through their innermost desires, fears, and motivations. Ordinary people are wrested from their daily lives and find themselves in extraordinary situations. Their nightmare is real, and now they must react. Even after I was done with the book, I found myself thinking of what happened to each of them, and how they could get on with their lives.
I strongly recommend this book.

The BEST feature of the New Oxford Picture Dictionary is that the workbook and textbook pages are correlated. It is SO much easier to teach a class of non-English speaking clients and SO much easier for them to experience success. They LOVE the format and the information is pertinent, with necessary language skills taught first. The pictures are EXCELLENT, and the content superb. Because I teach for 8 hours a day before teaching an English as Second Lang. class, I have little time to prepare. This series offers a simple, direct approach that is easy to reference, and easy to work with independently for the novice English speaker. BEST picture dictionary/workbook on the market. Please publish one in Norwegian! I will buy it!!!!!

It's impossible to overstate how useful this book is to students struggling to learn English. Although many entry-level learners have no patience with using a standard bilingual dictionary, they are reluctant to put this book down.

The scenes from daily life (with the possible exception of outer space) are extremely helpful, particularly those dealing with work situations and vehicles.

I have only two criticisms of this book: 1) Adding relevant verbs to the actions in each scene would be very useful (granted, this is asking a lot from a dictionary); 2) Phonetic transcriptions, particularly of the English words, would help enormously in pronunciation.

For someone able to buy only one self-study book, I would say, "This is the one!"

The book is very helpful in teaching beginning non-English speaking students. The teacher's guide is a useful tool with the Dictionary.

My wife and I are volunteer teachers in a program for Latino workers in the Santa Ynez Valley Calif., We give these books out without charge to the students, can you do any better on the price in quantity? Your response and consideration would be appreciated. Thanks, Robert E. Weiss

I agree with Dana (see review above).

Nuggets is a great book to read over and over again.

Sensei Castilonia will capture your attention in all chapters (Attitude; Etiquette and Protocol; The Dojo; On Style; Aspects of Karate; Gasshuku; Sensei; Kohai, Sempai and Seiretsu; Historical Perspectives - just to name a few chapters).

Personally, I find that one characteristic of a great book is that it "grows" with you. Nuggets is such a book. As you read it at different time through your martial art journey, you discover more gems. I will keep on reading it!

OSS!

Thank you Sensei Castilonia for one of your great gifts to us: Nuggets.

Nuggets In The Ground is a beginners guide to Aoinagi karate. It is written by the founder of Aoinagi karate, Sensei Raymond Castilonia. Nuggets is written with clarity and understanding, filled with helpful information about training as a martial artist that draws on Sensei Castilonia's experiences. In one sense this book is a handbook for all practitioners of Aoinagi as it includes many of the 'nuts-and-bolts' about how to practice martial arts. There is practical information on etiquette, protocol and the uniform for the Aoinagi practitioner. Basic stances, blocks, strikes and kicks are described and the many aspects of kata are explored. The various levels of kumite are discussed along with the relationship between personality and kumite. A scoring system is clearly defined for use in tournaments and belt testing. There is information on different types of training that a student might experience through Aoinagi. Nuggets may also be considered a discussion on how to learn and grow on the martial path, which may be of interest to all martial artists. The insightful description of the dojo resolutions, along with observations on when and how students experience difficulty in training, are important lessons in themselves. Additionally, information on the different styles of karate is available, along with a brief historical perspective, to lend insight on the origin and background on this particular martial art.

Nuggets In The Ground is a beginners guide to Aoinagi karate. It is written by the founder of Aoinagi karate, Sensei Raymond Castilonia. Nuggets is written with clarity and understanding, filled with helpful information about training as a martial artist that draws on Sensei Castilonia's experiences. In one sense this book is a handbook for all practitioners of Aoinagi as it includes many of the 'nuts-and-bolts' about how to practice martial arts. There is practical information on etiquette, protocol and the uniform for the Aoinagi practitioner. Basic stances, blocks, strikes and kicks are described and the many aspects of kata are explored. The various levels of kumite are discussed along with the relationship between personality and kumite. A scoring system is clearly defined for use in tournaments and belt testing. There is information on different types of training that a student might experience through Aoinagi. Nuggets may also be considered a discussion on how to learn and grow on the martial path, which may be of interest to all martial artists. The insightful description of the dojo resolutions, along with observations on when and how students experience difficulty in training, are important lessons in themselves. Additionally, information on the different styles of karate is available, along with a brief historical perspective, to lend insight on the origin and background on this particular martial art.