Too often are works of historical note written with cold dispassion. You won't find any dry writing here. Hinton manages to encapsulate the drama and tension of the period in grand style. To those looking for simply a overview of the Harpers raid, be prepared for an information overload that includes biographies, primary excerpts and a rousing tale of cathartic proportions.

I was searching for my ancestors through the Keagy line and found this book. In it, I discovered that John Henry Kagi, an earlier form of the spelling "Keagy", was one of John Brown's men. Later I found another book about John Henry Kagi entitled, "John Henry Kagi and His Old Log Cabin Home." I am interested in learning more about Keagy Family Line and especially John Henry Kagi. My wife and I traveled to Harper's Ferry, VA to visit the site of John Brown's raid. Unfortunately, the papers and photographs of John Henry Kagi were damaged in the Spring flood. It was a great disappointment to us. The only records that we have are the information that I gained through those books, "John Brown and His Men," and "John Henry Kagi and His Old Log Cabin Home." Both of these books covered the raid on Harper's Ferry and gave me a wealth of new facts about John Henry Kagi. It brought history to life and presented a hero to my family.

Divided into seven sections (The Early Years, At Los Alamos, The Cornell Years, The Research Physicist at Caltech, The Teacher at Caltech, The Public Physicist and Consultant, and Feynman--The Man), this fine book presents Richard Feynman as he was seen by those closest to him--his friends and colleagues. To their credit, they present him as they knew him, the qualities with the flaws.

The book is especially successful in communicating Feynman's way of thinking, the processes he used in attacking problems. The essay entitled "Richard Feynman and the Connection Machine" by W. Daniel Hills is notably successful in this regard, and by itself justifies the purchase of the book. I found it especially interesting that Feynman was fascinated, as I am, by the potential of cellular automata for modeling fluids. Readers with the same interest should also consider purchasing Seek! by Rudy Rucker.

Five or so essays by other physicists who knew Feynman contain mathematics that is proably beyond the ability of the average reader (certainly mine), but even these contain gems of insight that reward readers who wade through them.

All in all, a most satisfying experience.

Fascinating and insiteful lectures from many of the great people in the world of physics. Amusing anecdotes, touching tributes, and glimpses into the private life of a genius who was also extremely human and persevered through very painful personal problems to help create the atomic bomb while his wife was seriously ill, yet keeping his spirits up and his sense of humor. Never a person to rest on his laurels Feynman is shown in this book as a person who listened intently to other people's theories, no matter how odd they sounded and never assumed anything was right or wrong until he worked it out for himself from first principles. It's all here, his life, his work, his friends, family and colleagues - but most of all his spirit.

I have used this book in my Geometry classes for the past 2 years plus my student teaching. It gives a fairly thorough explaination of ideas and the resources that go with it along with the practice problems in the book give you enough problems to decide how in depth you want to get with each topic. My only complaint is that the way the book is set up, it encourages memorizing the theorems and ideas more by number than just by the idea, which is really important. Most of the topics are presented in a manner that is easy to follow when students go back to use the book as a resource. My school will continue using this book for a few more years.

I am using this book for the first time and I am loving it. No topics are left out. There is a logical flow from one chapter to the next. But, more importantly, I have not found a single mistake so far after having gone through chapters 1,2,3,4,5,&7 with a fine tooth comb.

I have been using Geometry as the primary text in both my Geometry and Honors Geometry classes for several years. The book is very well organized and has a logical flow of topics. I have been able to teach from this book without changing the topic order. Geometry is a very traditional book, giving a substantial amount of time to the art of writing a two column proof. To me that is one of the objectives of my course; to help students to think logically. If I were to cite any objection to the book it is that I have to work hard to integrate technology into the course since the book does not readily lend itself to that. All in all however, I highly recommend the book.

This short story collection is a worthwhile read, and I will be looking up some of the authors featured. In particular, Andrew Sean Greer's story is heartbreaking; William J. Cyr's story has an interesting conversational, matter-of-fact tone; and the curiously named author "wormser" has a short but sweet entry. The best part of this collection, for me, is the interview with author Richard Bausch. I found it thoroughly inspiring, as it touches upon such problems as writer's block and having the confidence and determination to live a writer's life. The best part about Glimmer Train collections as a whole is that they give unpublished writers their first break, in addition to publishing established writers. More literary magazines of this caliber and spirit of inclusiveness are sorely needed!

This is an enjoyable collection of short stories; although, as with other collections, there are a couple of weak links in the chain. Nevertheless, it's worth buying for Andrew Greer's story alone. Others are also quite good, such as Karen Outen's fictional debate on whether to have a baby, Wormser's story about a childhood friend, and William Cyr's original and witty (and, at the same time, chilling) story of a bad stepfather. I also enjoyed the whole presentation--with baby photos of the authors (as well as current shots) and their personal comments. Established author Richard Bausch talks about writing, racism, and life in general in an engaging interview. Definitely worth a read!

I have always had a fascination for why people believe the way they do. I could not put this book down. It is interesting that all of the priests kept thinking that the next event (entering seminary, becoming a priest, saying the first Mass, becoming a missionary, etc.) would provide them with peace with God. Yet, at each turn, they found no answers to their questions, no peace. Each of them stumbled across the Bible under differing circumstances, but had trouble justifying Catholic dogmas with what they read in the Bible. Most of them had to sacrifice everything in order to leave the priesthood. Some testimonies were very insightful, others repetitious, but all provided me with an insight into the difficulties many priests must be faced with. Anyone opposed to Catholicism should first read this book to gain a greater sense of compassion for the person on the other side. The author should focus on organization of the testimonies (perhaps chronilogically), add dates where missing, and add transitions where it seems to jump.

This book puts a human face on the number of those who eventually had to leave the Roman Church priesthood because they could no longer reconcile their changing beliefs with those that they were required to practice...and it does this via fifty testimonies of the over 100,000 men who have left the Roman Catholic priesthood since 1970

As these priest tell their stories, we are educated in a number of ways.

One, we learn a great deal about Roman Catholic Church theology, including the Mass, confession, justification, etc.

Two, we are provided fascinating insights into the various trainings, practices, duties and obligations of priestly and monastic orders. Some of these practices seem barbaric by our contemporary sense of spiritual awareness. It is appalling, for instance, to think we have Roman Catholic orders of monks who still practice medieval, physical forms of cruelty upon themselves (like flagellation) and their fellows (blows to the face) in an attempt to be right with and pleasing to God.

Since the spiritual journeys of these priests are internationally and ethnically diversified, we are also educated in terms of the Roman Catholic Church's role in various countries and cultures. In some countries, it is apparent that the RCC has a power that is every bit as dominant politically as it is religiously. Many of these priests feared for their personal safety as well as their future careers when they entertained notions of leaving the priesthood, because of the Roman Church's vindictive representatives in government, in the police forces and in the business community. Some of these priests, after having left the priesthood, were forced to leave their countries to find hospitable refuge elsewhere. Evidently, in some parts of the world, leaving the priesthood is not like quitting a job.

For these reasons, and the fact that many faced the potential of a cultural stigma as well as intense disappointment of friends and family, we learn that leaving the priesthood required a good amount of courage. The fact that all the ex-priests in this book left because of a crisis of conscience or belief, as opposed to yearnings for worldly or physical desires, make their stories even more compelling and credible.

We also learn the extent to which the Roman Catholic Church, despite calling Protestants "brothers," in actual practice in various locales considers Protestantism its number one enemy. Many of these testimonial conversions are remarkable considering the fact that the priests relating them were raised and educated to hate Protestants. Many actually were led to believe that Protestant Bibles were radically different than Catholic Bibles. Protestant literature, in one man's story, was kept in a forbidden, locked closet in a church library.

When reading this book, anyone who considers himself a serious Christian will be shocked by how little the theological training of Roman Catholic priests involves the study of scripture. One man testifies in this book that in thirteen years of training to be a priest, he had twelve hours of studying the Bible. Another stated that he was not allowed to even read a Bible until after he had turned 21, despite the fact that he had been trained to be a priest since he was a ten. One is left with the impression that since so many Roman Catholic Church dogmas (like the sacrifice of the Mass, the Marian dogmas, confession, transubstantiation, purgatory, the priesthood itself) have questionable or no scriptural basis, the Roman Catholic Church prefers to train its future priests with literature on what they say about the Bible, rather than risk having seminarians question Church teaching by reading the Bible itself.

Despite this effort, the constant thread throughout many of the narratives is how God brought the truth to anguished, confused, and troubled souls in spite of Roman Catholic "brainwashing" as one ex-priest phrases it. Many times the seed of God's truth was sown as priests were required to perform actions that in their hearts they knew only God was capable of, such as absolution. Many more times conversion occurred as a result of studying the Word of God and learning that the Gospel message of God's love and forgiveness, and Christ's one time perfect sacrifice blatantly contradicts the Roman Catholic view.

We cannot simply dismiss the conversions of these brave and intelligent men as being a result of ignorance. In some cases, these men experienced decades of training and learning in Roman Catholic teaching. An objective reader, regardless of denominational affilliation, must conclude that there is something wrong with a Christian church that shields not only its laity, but its clergy from the Bible...but when one sees how a thorough grounding in the Word of God can lead to exodus from that church, we can at least understand why.

A quick read: informative and surprisingly entertaining as well.

I'm a former Roman Catholic. I got this book as a recent Christmas gift from a friend. I must admit, the evidence in this book is very compelling. If you're a Catholic struggling with your faith, you need to read this book. Or if you're thinking about becoming a Catholic, you need to read this book. God is found in the Bible and in its teachings. I must warn you-you'll find a lot of differences between the Catholic Church and the Bible if you read this book. As you read it, I'd suggest keeping a Bible close by. You'll find that all of the information these former priests give is 100% accurate. Excellent book!!!