Survival Rule #1 Watch Where You're Driving and that doesn't just mean at the tee off! Like all the Worst-Case Scenario Books in the series, this one has the familiar, easy to read layout with step-by-step instructions that are brief but informative. Nice how this sport edition gives a few words of advice on playing the game and explains how the official rules of golf apply in the unique situations, plus highlights a few guidelines to keeping good golf etiquette, which is all helpful for preventing confusion and heated debate among players.

The topic is divided into just a few chapters called: Bad Lies, Equipment Disasters, Dangerous Animals and Golfing Emergencies. The scenarios covered range from how to retrieve a ball lost in the ball washer, retrieve a ball from a gopher hole, how to keep score without a pencil, how to spot a cheat, disarm an irate golfer, start a dead cart, stop a runaway cart or free a cart from a sand trap. How to prevent a club from flying out of your hand and how to retrieve a golf club or golf ball lodged in a tree [they recommend wearing a hard hat to protect your head during this operation, imagine that!]. How to drive with a putter or putt with a driver, how to survive if you run out of tees, how to treat a sprained ankle, a blister, poison ivy, sunburn, heatstroke or dehydration. How to deal with a brush fire, alligator, snake, rabid animal or an attack by birds, not to mention how to deal with a fashion emergency or recognize a golf addiction. There is even a little over view on gambling bets and some translation of golfspeak. Also advice is included for avoiding lighting strikes and tornados while you're outside in open areas.

This book is a riot and the illustrations are great, they add so much and they truly are hilarious. A golfer at any level or interest will love it and even those who make fun of the sport and hate it, might find the book enjoyable too. It has an answer for nearly every golfer's nightmare, giving tips for surviving a life and death situation that probably will just end up being all par for the course.

This is THE present for someone in your neighbourhood that's always boasting about his (or her) golf relations... Seen the beautiful greeeeeen cover? Me too...

I picked this book up for my parents as an afterthought and a joke (one avid golfer for life, mother just picking it up) and they LOVED it! Both sat down and read it straight through, laughing out loud and enjoying it. Now I wish I had saved it for the holidays!

"Audubon's Watch", by John Gregory Brown is the first book of his work that I have read, and I intend to read his previous two books very soon. While reading this tale I often thought of the work of Wilkie Collins, one of the great writers of the late 19th century, and the man widely credited with the creation of the modern mystery genre. The Audubon of this novel is the famous artist who documented the birds of America, and while knowing some of the man's history is helpful it is not necessary.

A great mystery work maintains the suspense, the tension of the story to the very end. The tale itself sustains and lures the reader throughout the book without the need for blind alleys or misdirection. The facets that I mention can be great fun when used by many authors. Mr. Brown did not use them here, and I think the work is all that much better without the devices.

A young woman dies and Audubon is asked to sit watch with the husband the first night following her death. There is a second watch that has three owners, a watch that works or doesn't, a watch that appears to have a mind of its own. A common ritual in this instance has immense importance, for the husband is considered a notorious anatomist/resurrectionist, and Mr. Audubon has knowledge that drives his guilt for 30 years, when on his deathbed he summons the man he sat with that evening. But what is he guilty of, why does Emile, the deceased's husband, make a month long trek dealing with his own failing health to hear what Audubon wishes to say? And what could possibly be haunting Emile for these now past 30 years? The answers are all in the book, and they are not what appear to be obvious or even high probability predictions. The author is brilliant at manipulating what he shares and how he shares it, so that what you may take as a conversation among characters is something very different.

The author seems to play with the reader's need to know and the reader's willingness to make presumptions before the tale is complete. The effect he produces is really marvelous and entertaining. When he digresses from the specifics at hand to share the imagery of a roaring fire, a hurricane, and the flashing blades of the cutters of the cane as they work in his inferno is great reading.

John Gregory Brown is another writer that seems to have yet to be discovered by large numbers of readers. His work will now be on my reading list going forward.

I loved Brown's first two novels, "Decorations in a Ruined Cemetery" and "The Wrecked Blessed Body of Shelton Lafleur", but I think this new one is his best. As with the others, this is a terribly sad and rather disturbing story but the writing is glorious and the observations about John James Audubon completely fascinating. Brown takes us into the minds of Audubon and the anatomist Emile Gautreaux not just as artist and scientist but as men. He examines them the way they examine their subjects. The novel's real subject seems to be grief and passion and the way both can take hold of us. I think John Gregory Brown's books deserve to get much more attention than they do.

An eminately scientific book. Uses phenomenological and imaginally accurate approaches to its topic, and offers rarely quoted material from psychoanalysis which will provoke irritated responses from those supporting the "accepted canon" of psychoanalytic literature. Little known (though accurate) citations of Freud and Jung broaden the discussion of psychology to include environment, to the chagrin of the traditional psychoanalytic establishment which gives little value to environmental influences on psychological health. Views presented here describe how an empathic relation with the environment is being dumbly, and politically, grandstanded as a regression to "the noble savage". Contrary to this "regressive" view the authors offer a vision in which person and environment are mutually effected. The book will prove its value with its revolutionary conceptual vision, and its practical application of ideas.

This is a highly informative book. It tells about people's different points of view on the highly volatile and up-and-coming field of ecopsychology. This book is a great source of information and knowledge of the field as well as it's a pretty easy read. I used this book as a jumping off point for research for my undergraduate thesis. If you are interested in environmental issues and psychology, read this book.

Assembled here are some of the leading lights of ecopsychology, with papers and excerpts from the books they've written: Roszak himself, Aizenstat, Hillman, Gomes, Glendinning, and on and on. A rare collection of important voices.

The idea of ecopsychology is to open up awareness to the unheard voice of the Earth. "Animism" is a 19th century assumption that assumes the world lives only to the degree we project into it. The authors here realize that animism is a reductionistic and outdated concept that only serves to justify the ongoing rape and dematerialization of the natural world--a world that in fact projects her presence into those of us who can learn to hear her.

This is not a back-to-nature project but a necessity if we are to preserve what's left of the Earth from our greed, haste, and the global warming of the psyche endemic to a society of rapacious and immature consumers too bent on private advantage to do what our ancestors did for a million years of history and prehistory: recognize and respect her personhood. And today, we can do so with all our critical faculties intact and a bit of help from green technics.

James William Brown masterfully recreates the microcosmic atmosphere of warmth, closeness, suspicion and gossip that are intrinsic to any small place where generations of people have lived and worked since the beginning of time. The village, as divided into distinct dramatic choruses of "men" and "women", is as much a character in this story as is "Katrina", the citified, unaccepted archaeologist who marries the village's favorite son, and their silently rebellious daughter, "Amalia", who grows from childhood to womanhood as the story unfolds. Different life altering events trigger different reactions from the main voices; we see the action from the four above-named perspectives. Above all, one thing the inhabitants of the Island agree upon besides their absolute need for a continuance of and adherance to the island's old traditions, is their resistance to change as introduced by the stranger--in this case a young Scandanavian hustler. Intrigued, young Amalia finds herself attracted to what the stranger represents--freedom from her inevitable future as an island woman--escape from the island itself--her needs and desires as mirrored through her actions catapult the village into a whirlwind of reaction that drives the rest of the story and reveals secrets of the past and present that only such an isolated place can store up and preen over like a hoard of buried treasure.

I recommend this story as the four distinctive voices move it along brisquely--and yes, with some repetition necessary to complete the cyclical structure as represented by the blood dance itself. This type of tale succeeds in peeling back the holiday ambiance and charm of the white-washed Greek Isle to reveal real people that are true to the Homeric characters of old.

Blood Dance provides the reader with an outstanding glimpse into the lives and day-to-day transactions in a very isolated and unique setting. The tiny island and its people are portrayed in intricate detail. The author has obviously researched his topic well, for he has a rather personal understanding of the subject. Amalia, the young lady who is to marry Nikos, is a classic example of a woman who feels tied down to an existance which she does not want. She is on a tiny island, and it is evident that she longs for something bigger; something greater. Her mother, Katina, who fled from Turkish devastaion of her homeland, was and still is treated like a stranger who can never claim to understand the ways of this remote village. She has never been excepted by the people who live there, and she fears that Amalia, her only child, will be trapped as she is. She marries the son of a distinguished family with deep roots in island traditions, although her husband seems somewhat enlightened than most. He dies, and the story begins to focus on Amalia. After Katina's husband, Grigoris, passes on; she is even more isolated and tries to keep the family business going. It seems to her that she can never become part of village society, and now her daughter must endure the same fate. The many perspectives which Mr. Brown uses to get his point across make the book a unique mosaic of personal attitudes, conflicts, and opinions. This reader had a much better understanding of rural life in insular Greece after having read this book twice from cover to cover. On reflection, I wonder how many small communities like that exist anywhere else in the world at any given time. One can only hope that someone will show that community in the same light as Mr. Brown shows the island in Blood Dance.

Brown's novel focuses on village life on a Greek island. He uses a similar series of events that are told separately through the voices of the three main characters. This technique adds depth and shows truth from individual perspectives. He also brings in the collective voices of the village women and men. He has captured the essence and layered texture of village life and values, the beauty of the surroundings and the people, and the blood that unites and divides them. This specific ethnic portrayal of one small group of people reflects the universality of their ideals for all who read it. The novel is flawless and the voices are resonant

The Corporate Coach is a good book for all would-be and new managers. The book reinforces the idea that a manager is not so much a boss as a supporter of his employees. Every company should hope that each manager understands he has employees entrusted to him and he must be able to maximize their effectiveness. To do this, the manager must be able to be a supporter, a cheerleader and a corrector of problems in an atmosphere that is positive. The Corporate Coach explains all of this from the know-how of someone who has done it and proven it's success. I give it to all my new managers to read.

An excellent case study of a company dedicated to customer service. If you want to retain and add customers, and retain high-quality service people who know the value of your customers and the true value of team-work, this book is a must-read.

This book focuses on serving customers as the customer wants to be served not as the service provider wants to serve. The "Coach's Checklists" at the end of each chapter are each worth the price of the book. This book drives home the point that the ONLY difference between a business and sports team is the field they play on.

I am very pleased with my new Pitt Minion Bible. It is ideal size for travel and durable to boot. I have the Goatskin cover so I expect many years of use out of it.
I always "cringe" when I deliberate on buying a Cambridge Bible because of the price, but I do want exceptional quality and this is their specialty. I always search Addall.com or Bestbookbuys.com for the best price.
As for the small print, I am fine with it since I don't have to wear eyeglasses to read (yet!).

I don't want to rain on the parade regarding these new Cambridge Pitt Minion KJV Bible releases, because they are well made and most everything the professional amazon review says they are, yet.....too small print is just simply too small print. You open these slim little editions and the first impression is the dimensions of the edition shouldn't really call for that small a print. It just has to be said. I would also say that the bonded leather editions really look almost inferiour to much, much less expensive similar-sized editions from other publishers; and the French Morocco and Goatskin editions can look very different individually (I had the opportunuty to look through several of these editions). Overall, the feel you get about these editions, the first and enduring impression, is that they are not really that well-designed a Bible for their really kind of shockingly high price tag. The small print to me is their biggest downfall. (I should say too that I don't use reading glasses and have no problem with small text, but there is a point when text passes over into that area of just too small to be comfortable and the text of these editions are in that category. With a double-columned page like a Bible as well it makes for just too uncomfortable an experience for the price tag. Though, for somebody interested in a good leather Cambridge bible their other editions (that are actually very close in dimensions to these Pitt Minion editions, though with larger print) can be acquired for the same price or less as these editions. My advice is to look all their editions over at the Cambridge Bible site on the net and then come back to amazon and order the edition you want for much less...

My new French Morocco-bound Cambridge Pitt Minion is fast becoming my constant companion; not only is it ideal for travel, but it is so legible and pleasant to handle that it has become my standard for daily reading at home. Mind you, I am 62 years old and require reading glasses in any case, but this Bible is clearer and sharper than any of its several "portable" predecessors. The old calfskin Cambridge Cameo with Apocrypha is still preferable for study because more complete, a bit easier to read, and as well bound; and I do use the Logos CD for Greek, Hebrew and comparing translations, but my Pitt Minion is a joy to carry, hold, and read. Like the KJV it contains, it is a classic. It could only be improved by including the so-called "Apocrypha" in the same volume. This was integral to the Holy Scriptures as revered in the early Church, used by all Christians for 1,500 years, and by all Catholic and Orthodox Christians to the present day. But I'm dreaming. The Anglo-American Bible business is run by Protestants, so I'm lucky to have a well-bound, almost complete, classic translation of the Bible at all. And doubly blessed that the same great University on the Cam have now republished the best portable Bible available in English. Bravo!

I really enjoyed reading this book. I think that anyone who reads this will feel more comfortable in nowing that many people may love them and that it is okay to have more than one "family." Many love you just the same and they can care for you in their own special way. I think Oscar is unique and even though this is just a book I respect the characters.

Warm, homey illustrations that almost seem to glow are paired nicely with the sweet storyline. As always, James Herriott knows his animals, and can capture their essence on paper. I have known cats like Oscar, who is most definitely a "people" cat--he loves to be in the thick of things!--and reading Oscar's story was like a touch of nostalgia. If your little one loves animals, do get them this book. I have a hunch they'll like it.

I think I have not had a more pleasant reading experience than sitting down next to a burning fire place, listening to my favorite antique clock ticking.. the patter of rain on the window panes and reading James Herriott. It is a memory of that afternoon that all these years later I have never forgotten. James Herriott is the most pleasant, relaxing, refreshing writer. Forget all the worries and cares and escape for a few minutes into a quiet world where the animals speak their own language.. A wonderful book, a wonderful writer. Thank You James Herriott for the memories.

This book is interesting to read! It contains many insightful tips that can be useful not only to other managers. I would say that most of the contributing managers are well worth reading, but in a collection like this one some are of course better than others. All the business leaders have been choosen in a careful evaluation-process to find the best of the best. This process is also described in the book. After the recent developments in the US Economy, it can also be interesting to get the book from the bookshelf, like I did, and read what managers like Ken Lay (Enron), Bernie Ebbers (Worldcom) and Dennis Kozlowski (Tyco) have got to say.

Each chapter, somewhere between 10 and 20 pages, includes the managers career in short along with the key facts about the company they lead. I found it interesting to read about people who have made to the top, and these kind of publications normally includes information you won't find elsewhere. This book is no exception. It is also a book that you can read when you have a few minutes over since the chapters are so short, it is also easy to pick out the managers that find most interesting an concentrate on them.

I have read a lot of business books about leadership. While most of them have been interesting, they have also been a little dry because the references to real people have only been used by way of example. Therefore, I liked this book because it allowed me to spend a liitle time with 50 people that one has to respect and acknowledge for their accomplishments. They have had to do something right in order to achieve what they have. But, then the book takes these 50 real life experiences and distills it down into a framework and a few basic lessons that helps all these individual experiences make sense within the larger scheme of things. People might say that there is nothing new here, only common sense notions, yet until one sees things within a larger picture or framework that ties things together, these are just disjointed ideas with little context, synergy or power to change. I can apply these lessons for the top to my own life situation and career and that makes the book work for me.

I have seen an early edition of "Lessons From the Top". Remarkably, "Lessons From the Top" brings America's Corporate Board Room to the rest of America. As a former Assistant Corporate Secretary for what was at the time, America's largest outside Board of Directors, I had the unique opportunity to participate in strategy sessions and become acquanted with captains of US business.

Now, I am happy to say, the rest of America is provided this special opportunity with a glimpse into some of the country's finest corporate leaders. "Lessons from the Top" takes a look at what makes these 50 industry leaders tick and how their actions and skills have contributed to their leadership success.

The access afforded these authors is impressive, as is the statistical selection process utilized to select the participants.

The book is clearly organized and valuable lessons may be learned as we take this book with us on our business travels.

I recommend it for everyone who is interested further insights into leadership skills for work and extra-curricular activities.

I read the book My Brother Sam is dead for a school project. It only took me seven nights to complete this book I'm in 8th grade and I'm not a very fast reader. This book starts out when Sam comes home from Yahle and tells his family that he is going to fight in the war against his country( he wants to be free from England). Sam and Tim's dad was in a war and does not want his son to fight because he knows how hard a soldgers life can be. Sam and his dad get in a fight and Life (dad) kicks sam out sam went to live with tom he snuck back into the house one night to get the Brown Bess (gun) a couple of days later tim found out that Sam stole the gun adn tried to get it back but sam wouldn't let him. Well if you want to find out what happens, you will have to read this excellent book.

Victoria Schott
Sam Meeker is off to fight in the Revolutionary War on the American's side. His family are Tories and they live in Redding Ridge. His father is outraged by Sam's decision, but cannot stop him. This leaves his younger brother, Tim, and his mother ad father to work in the tavern and tend to the crops. Life is not easy with the war going on, but is manageable. Sam pays visits to Redding often.
British and American troops march into Redding frequently. This does not interfere with the Meeker family. Until, one night Sam was paying a visit to his family. He saw that the cows were being stolen, so he went outside to stop them. The men captured Sam...Find out what happens when you read "My Brother Sam is Dead." If you like historical fiction this is the book for you!

My brother Sam is dead is a outstanding story of the hardships of war. The main character(Tim) has to grow up fast. During this war Tim is torn between his father, a loyalist,or person who was loyal to the king of England, and his brother, a young ambitious man who supports the Rebel cause. His brother runs away with the family waepon to go haelp in the war, and his father is captured , and put on a British ship. During this time Tim has to run the family buisness. I highly recommend this book for you peolpe who love to learn about U.S history. I know I do

Confusion. This novel is for those of educated minds. Stream-of-conscious runs through this book and only stops as you stop to re-read each page to find out what happened. The book runs free from subject to subject, all seen through the mind of Stephen Dedalus. His imagination runs freely throughout the book and it is sometimes hard to pick up whether what your reading is reality or just a thought process. Symbolism. Every word, sentence, and page is key to understanding this novel. If your focus wanders away for one paragraph, you lose, game over and go back to the beginning to start reading again. The thick symbolism makes it hard to read, but Joyce is able to capture many feelings through the symbolism of birds.
I couldn't get into this book. Every time the book was about to pull me in, a sudden change of pace would leave me scratching my head. This novel seemed to drag me nowhere, granted it is a classic, my classic eyes, nose, and ears say "no" to this book.
This is a well-written novel told about a young boy's life as he grows up. You learn side by side as this young boy, Stephen Dedalus, learns of life. You see things as he sees them, experience things as he experiences them, and feel as he feels. Whether it's fear, loneliness, pride or remorse, the feelings are lived as Stephen's imagination and life intertwine themselves together through each page.
This is a great novel if you have a Joyce-code-reader that helps you understand the Irish slang, Latin and symbolism. Irish slang dots this book, Latin develops it, and symbolism flies through it. This plot-less book is very hard to understand, which conveys Stephen's attitude toward life. He, a young man, is very confused in life. There are five stages in which Stephen goes through in this novel. He goes through school homesick, and looking for an identity other than his father's. Joyce depicts the family through debate at the dinner table, showing the strong political views of Stephen's father. Stephen also finds himself in a growing situation at school. After being wrongly beaten by the prefect of studies, Stephen decides to go and tell the rector on him. Fear mounts as he enters the hall across from the rector's room, but joy comes as he excitedly runs to tell his friends what happened. As he continues to experiment with life as he finds himself wading through sin. He struggles with the lusts of the natural man, as he gets involved with the opposite sex. And then it hits him. A power sermon about death, judgment, heaven and hell chain his soul down as he wishes to escape the eternal torment that surrounds him. He wants his soul to be at peace. And so through a battle with his conscience he repents and frees himself from sin. He then devotes his life to religion and purity. Seeing his devotion to the priesthood, a Father offers him a vocation. However, he discovers another path to paint the picture of his life. He journeys away to find his freedom lies in being an artist.

If you're going to read this book, put your code-decrypter nearby and get ready for a ride through the mind of Joyce.

James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel is probably the most read of all his works, most likely due to the fact that it is less bizarre and easier to read than his other novels. Realizing this, most readers jump into "The Portrait" expecting it to be a simple and straightforward story only to find that nothing could be farther from the truth. It is extremely complex and ahead of its time and damn near prophetic. Many readers criticize it because the plot is so realistic that whereas other books are fantastical and overblown, the plot to "Portrait" is so prevelant that it could have happened to anyone, and indeed, similar series of epiphanies do indeed happen to many. Perhaps ironic is the fact that many of the same people who criticize this lack of action enjoy spending their time watching "real life" shows such as "Survivor" and "Big Brother" that are heavy in realism and light in action. The difference of course between those shows and this book is that while the shows are completely and utterly mindless attempts to quench the public's ever-growing hunger for drivel, "Portrait" is one of the most though-out, complex psychological testaments to the life of a human being ever put to paper. It is the story of a young man, growing up in Dublin in the same manner as all other boys, and how, along the way he became different than the rest. In this age, society is obsessed with peering into others' lives, in "A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man," we peer into someone's soul: an artist's soul.

I read this years ago in college and once or twice afterwards though I haven't had the chance to re-read it in recent years. Still it lives on vividly enough in my memory to allow a review, here, I think.

Joyce was a strange one, where writing was concerned, focusing as he did on language as a means to evoke the world rather than merely for telling a "story". Over the years I have come to conclude that fiction requires narrative requires storytelling . . . and yet Joyce successfully broke that rule and he did it first in this book.

PORTRAIT is a book which builds the world of its narrator in the telling, without really following any kind of plot or storyline or giving us a beginning, middle and end. From the opening lines of ludicrous baby talk, where we see the world through the young hero's infantile eyes, to the end where the young lad, after much intellectual wrestling in his school days, steps off into the wider world, this is a book which paints a young man's coming of age, through his very subjective experience of life, with words. Indeed, all good writing "paints" its world to some extent. But Joyce, and several of his contemporaries, set out to re-write the rules of writing by only painting the picture, as though the story (an artificial element in most cases) did not count at all. And they did what they set out to do. Joyce did it most dramatically of all with this book. Like Hemingway, Joyce was a literary impressionist, building the world through bits of language instead of merely describing it or telling us about it.

I think we need to get back to basic story in our day, as theirs was, to some extent, a false trail. But it was a trail worth following and of great value to all readers and writers alike. Aspiring writers, and anyone with a real craving to explore the literary world, ought to have a go at this one. It's an original.

SWM