Ralph Edwards of lonesome lake is a book about carving out a life for ones family in a remote wilderness. This book is such a contrast to our technical world with cell phones, internet, e mail "Big Box shopping" malls. Our lives are so full but really so empty. I felt an extreme feeling of sadness after having read this book. Ralph Edwards and his wife are now dead after having lived a hard but full life. We all struggle through life with different goals and yet we all have to face death. I felt the sadness of Ralph Edwards when he realised that he was too old to be independant and look after himself. This book has to make us all stop and concider what we are doing and what is the purpose of life. What could possibly be more important than these questions?

I've lived in San Francisco and spent time in New York, but you can't find a better red sauce than Ralph's in South Philly. The book captures the personality of the Philadelphia institution and delivers some of the best and most authentic Italian recipes.

Another superb medieval whodunnit from the master of the genre. The plot has the five central characters, Ralph, Gervase, Golde, Hubert and Simon involved in another investigation of land disputes in the doomsday book. In this case one of the claimants is murdered during a horse race. As usual the plot has many twists but it is the rapier witt diologue between the characters that makes this an immensely enjoyable read.

If historical mystery is part of your reading diet, then you cannot go wrong with Mr. Marston. If you read one, you will want to read all. The books show much referance done and well told stories...

Ralph Martin, also the author of a biography of Lady Randolph Churchill, among other subjects, weaves a beautiful portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor in "The Woman He Loved". This book is an absolute must read for anyone interested in the lives of the Windsors. Martin extols the strength of character and the genuine interest in the people around her that made the Duchess such an incredible woman - he does this without telling a lopsided story - we see the faults and downfalls of both the Duke and Duchess, but the author's skilled writing enables such flaws to humanize the Windsors, when most writings of them serve only to add to the myths surrounding the couple. "The Woman He Loved" successfully gives a thorough portrait of the life of Wallis Windsor without resorting to unsubstantiated gossip to fill the pages. The reader will come away from the book knowing a great amount about the private life of the Duchess, both before and after the Duke, and a good historical context of the times and circumstances in which she lived. A beautiful book that is well worth the time to read and re-read.

When I was in high school, my Dad called me up one night to tell me about a NOVA episode he'd seen. "This scientist wrote this theory called QED, and you'll love it!" he said. I got my hands on a copy of QED, but didn't understand a word of it! A year or so later, I spotted "Surely You're Joking" on a bookshelf at school, and recognized the name. Was this the same scientist who'd written about the photons and path-integrals and other confusing mathematical nonsense? It was indeed!

This book details, in Feynman's own words, various anecdotes which should more properly be termed 'misadventures'. This nobel laureate relates tales of lockpicking safes at the Manhatten Project, of stealing doors from dormitories, and leaning how to draw as an excuse to see naked women. It shows that even our greatest scientists can be just regular guys like you and me.

Feynman is regarded by the scientific community as one of the greatest minds of our time, on a par with Einstein. Yet amidst this, he managed to teach me a lesson that helped me become the man I am today: "What do you care what other people think?" I never knew the man, but his influence is there now in every aspect of my life.

This title is recommended for anyone who gets singled out, feels different from people around him, or simply likes a good story! Love you, Dick!

Recently, during a course in Quantum Mechanics, my professor suggested reading this book and I feel that my life has a new meaning now. Richard Feynman was a true genius and anyone remotely interested in the field or the man must read this book. Feynman's autobiography brings to light an amazing man who fixes radios since he was ten, who cracks safes, who can smell like a dog, does tricks like a conjurer and even picks rooms directly opposite to the girls' dormitory!!! One of the most brilliant minds of twentieth century, the autobiography also portrays him as a human being who didnt do extraordinary things but ordinary things extraordinarily well. A must read for students or even for ordinary people because the book also shows that human capability is in the will and the mind. We set boundaries and limitations to our abilities ourselves not bothering to think that we are capable of a lot more if we put ourselves to the task. For a more scientific approach to his work, you may wish to read the book, 'QED' which has a series of his lectures at Caltech for the general public and the famed 'Feynman's Lectures on Physics' his lectures in college physics at Caltech during 1965-66.

Feynman never said "I can't do that!" and gave up on something that he was interested in. This book shows how he didn't follow life's paths - he created new ones instead!

This book is a gem! It has taught me - through Feynman's eyes - that we should never give up on something that we truely want to do - just because we are conditioned to believe we only have one talent. Feynman was a good enough theoretical physicist and won the Nobel Prize, yet he did graduate work in biology, spoke about the Mayans, played in a samba band, learned to draw and sell paintings, learned Portugese - just because he wanted to!

Feynman's spirit really shines through this book without making the reader feel stupid about physics. Through Feynman's candidness about the world around him, he teaches all of us about living life to its fullest, and encourages us to try and do all that we can. In the middle of it all is the love of the learning about life and the world - the world of physics!

I found myself laughing many times and wondered how someone could have SO VERY MANY adventures that are all true. But, part of this comes with Feynman's natural ability to tell the story of his life through this book, and the amazing strength of character that Feynman has. I strongly encourage anyone who has ever had doubts about themselves to read this book, also anyone who just wants a good story about a VERY interesting person's life!

Two civil servants ride into 11th-century Wales on routine business and find themselves confronted with a diabolical murder. In a country chafing under Norman domination, murder turns out to be the least of their worries.

This skillful blend of mystery and action (and romance) held my attention so thoroughly that I finished it in one sitting. Fans of Peters' Brother Cadfael should find themselves at home with Marston's Delchard and Gervase

Edward Marston pens enthralling mysteries during an exciting and intersting time of history, the Norman Conquest of England and the ensuing "Domesday Book" I am only sorry to discover him when all his books are not readily available.

He provides incites regarding the relationships of Normans, Saxsons and Welsh for the history buff. For those who love mysteries he provides an interesting group of detectives a knight - Ralph, a lawyer Gervase, Canon Hubert and Brother Simon. Marston deftly combines mystery, action and romance in a historical setting.

Best of the series so far. Ralph and Gervase are two of the most full bodied dectives since Leaphorn and Chee. Red Herrings abound as they try to find out who killed a Saxon with claims to contested land. Golde adds a much needed twist to the foursome trying to settle land claims for King William.

Most authors of this genre of political thriller have trouble reconciling the epic heroism (good or bad) of religious fundamentalists in the former Soviet Central Asia with the image of mobs of AK-47-armed men tossing video tapes and foreign magazines into bonfires. In "The Devil's Garden", set in the region's decaying and polluted oilfields, the tables are turned and the ordered world familiar to us disintegrates under the feet of unlucky Westerners. Though author Peters has dabbled in techno-thriller before ("Red Army" and "War in the Year 2020"), he has also practically created his own subgenre of non-techno centered in and around the fringes of the foremer Soviet empire.

"Devil's Garden" tells the story of a young American kidnapped while working for a relief program in that troubled region. Because Peters' victim is the daughter of a US senator, consequences of the kidnapping go far beyond local problems and feed a growing maelstrom that threatens to destroy order already fragile with the collapse of the USSR. Among the unlucky Yankees caught up in the chaos are the Islamic fundamentalists who carry-out the kidnap, the local chieftains who can't be sure what their own role in the kidanpping is, the American intelligence officer sent to lead the rescue, his lover, her husband, the republic's leaders ready to tear their oil-rich state to shreds and an army willing to battle anybody to the death - if they can just learn how to shoot. As a good indicator of the managed chaos, our hero, the aforementioned intelligence officer, tries to determine who would kidnap the senator's daughter by trying to find who's responsible. Bit with the fate of the tiny asian republic's oil at stake, and the militant forces welling up in the population, it's soon clear that nobody is responsible for anything. Peters manages this chaos well. something I appreciate through all of Peters books is his resolute reluctance to point fingers and lay blame - his charachters do that, but are compensated with well nuanced faults that make their objectivity suspect. The guerrillas are fearsome, but not the murderous, callous warriors of god we've seen in other books (or on CNN for that matter). The region's warlords, despite sparking a war that threatens to explode beyond their own borders, are just greedy and - in a masterful anti-climax occurring when the factions meet - go at each other much as the corporate directors in a hostile buy-out. One wonders how the directors of Time-Warner and Disney would have settled their cable-disputes if they had to fight with guns and soldiers instead of lawyers, bloated stock prices and otherwise empty content. The biggest revelation is the hero himself, who, despite being an expert on the region, is actually more lost than any of his fellow Americans. It's all chaotic, but Peters keeps the novel from falling apart and the chaos only adds scale to a blighted country and those who live there and are set on destroying it.

Ralph Peters has done it again! He has woven a seductive, intensely captivating plot into an eminently credible narrative, one as enthralling as those of his earlier 'Twilight of Heroes' and 'The War in 2020'. Unlike the plastic incarnations who stumble incredulously across the pages of Tom Clancy, Dale Brown, and Larry Bond, Peters gives us real-life heroes akin to those of Frederick Forsyth -- those ultimately believable, poignantly human men and women who emerge from a crucible of tragedy and pain to make a veridical impact upon the world. As such, many contemporary authors of America's all-too pandemic and facile techno-thrillers could learn something from Peters, an author who underscores the reality that life is a little more prosaic than the inevitable triumph of democracy as secured by some smarmy fighter pilot-fornicator. Overall, Peters' haunting imagery recalls Edmund Burke's warnings about the metaphysical pretensions of the French Revolutionaries, while his human landscapes are as stark and as those of Cormac McCarthy's 'Blood Meridian'. In the end, Peters' works may very well be to our century what Dickens' 'Tale of Two Cities' was to the nineteenth...Herein lies an absolutely ineluctable read which will not disappoint!

Ralph Peters, whom I know professionally, is a modern-day Lawrence of Arabia who has actually walked hundreds of miles through the worst of terrains, and deeply understands--at both a Ph.D. and gutter level, the reality of real war. The Joint Chiefs don't want to face this reality because it bears no resemblance to their nice clean air-conditioned CNN version of war. Devil's Garden is the real thing, and it is also a great novel.

What struck me is that this book analyzes natural law within a legal context: many of the contributing authors are attorneys as well as philosopher. This is particularly helpful to our nation today, as I think more citizens will have to reassess the role of the judiciary these days.

For the latter half of the 20th century, worries over "judicial acitivism" and judges' making decisions that should be made by legislatures have been the domain of conservatives, with Roe v. Wade probably being the chief example. But now liberals have said similar things about the Supreme Court's Bush v. Gore decision. It is high time for intelligent discussion, and this book is a solid foundation for a dialogue.

By looking at natural law historically, legally, and philosophically, the authors of this book examine how natural law works and various challenges to it. This book is a very good introduction, and I have come away with a greater respect for natural law and its vital role in our nation, and also new questions to pursue (and more books to buy...).

The contributing authors are an impressive team of formidable thinkers, and while most of the writers clearly come from a religious background, the are pretty good about keeping what they say applicable to a secular society (the last two essays tend to be more theological than philosophical, and I thought that hurt their impact).

I think MacIntyre's essay on the role of the ordinary person in natural law is particularly valuable: if the American citizenry cannot execute sound moral judgment, our nation as a constitutional republic is in grave danger. Fuller's essay on Locke's struggles with natural law is an honest and challenging look at natural law's theoretical chinks. Riley's essay on tort law gave excellent lessons on liability, but with lawsuits being as common as they are nowadays, I would have hoped for more practical insights on today's situation, and possible remedies.

On the whole, this book is a good read and a good challenge. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in ethics or concerned about the present condition of the United States.

Common Truths: New Perspectives On Natural Law is a collection consisting of cogent remarks and prescient essays: Are There Moral Truths That Everyone Knows? (Ralph McInerny); Natural Law: The Legacy of Greece and Rome (J. Rufus Fears); Aquinas, Natural Law, and the Challenges of Diversity (John Jenkins); John Locke's Reflections on Natural Law and the Character of the Modern World (Timothy Fuller); Theories of Natural Law in the Culture of Advanced Modernity (Alasdair MacIntyre); What Dignity Means (Virginia Black); Natural Law and Positive Law (Robert P. George); Natural Rights and the Limited of Constitutional Law (Russell Hittinger); Natural Law and Sexual Ethics (Janet E. Smith); Contract Law and Natural Law (Edward J. Murphy); Tort Law and Natural Law (William N. Riley); Criminal Law and Natural Law (Ian A.T. McLean); and Natural Law in the Twenty-First Century (Charles E. Rice). Common Truths is scholarly, intellectually stimulating reading for anyone wanting to better understand and appreciate the permanent norms of human action and their relationships to a moral and political life.

William the Conqueror sent his Royal Commissioners throughout England to determine who truly owned the lands and how much taxes should be collected on the estates. Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret visit the King's nephew, the Earl of Chartier, Hugh d'Avranches, who rules his lands with an iron fist. Hugh has subdued the nearby Welsh, but has had problems with a stealth enemy attacking from nowhere.

While the Earl hunts in his personal playground of Delamere Forest, an unknown assailant kills one of his falcons. Hugh retaliates by murdering two Saxon peasants. The next day, Hugh hunts again and another arrow lands near him. In both incidents, a Welsh arrow was used. Hugh believes the Welsh is trying to assassinate him. As the warrior Earl prepares for battle, Ralph and Gervase try to keep the peace.

Edward Marston is an author noted for his ability to entertain while educating his audience. Focusing on the era following Hastings, Mr. Marston provides varying perspective of life from the viewpoints of Saxons, Normans, and Welshmen. The protagonists stay in character as expected from two members of the ruling class, which adds to the eleventh century feel of the novel. As usual from Mr. Marston, the story line is filled with exciting action, but the plot of THE HAWKS OF DELAMERE (and the previous six chronicles) belong to the cast.

Harriet Klausner

This is a great series. The setting and characters combine to yield a wonderful sense of historic place -- 11th Century Britain. This entry is set along the Welsh border, and Hugh,the Earl of Chester, has a Welsh prince in his dungeon to ensure the peace.

The Welsh, however, seem to be on the war path again, as a Welsh arrow kills the Earl's prize hawk, and a second arrow kills his favorite huntsman.

Protagonist Ralph Delchard, a Norman lord assigned to settle land disputes on behalf of the King, arrives to sort out some alleged land-grabbing, and finds himself in the middle of a simmering border war. As usual, the supporting characters -- an assortment of clerics and noblemen -- lend the novel plenty of twists and turns. A fun read.