Some Leakey peccadilloes, never secret, are fully documented here: Louis's constant womanizing and his "adoption" of young female researchers, such as Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birute Galdikas; Mary's scotch-drinking, her cigar-smoking, and her intolerance of those on her Stinker List, some of them other researchers; and Richard's boyish brashness and arrogance, along with his health problems and dislike of Donald Johanson. Less appreciated, however, is the fact that before Louis's work and significant discoveries, people still believed that early man was from China or Europe, not Africa. Mary Leakey was the first person ever to excavate a Paleolithic site, and her meticulous care about documenting the tools and animals found in the same stratae as her hominid fossils, told here in detail, revolutionized the way fossils were recovered and catalogued. Richard found as many hominid fossils in two years (1971 and 1972) as Mary and Louis found in 36 years, and his level of dedication to research since finding his first hominid fossil at age 6, his mentoring of young researchers, and his creation of museums and foundations in Nairobi have perhaps received less attention than they deserve.

The Leakeys believe at least two and perhaps three or four different hominids may have lived in certain areas simultaneously, sharing space for a million or more years, and that the exact line of descent to modern man is still unknown. Tens of thousands of extinct, fossilized species of hippos, elephants, saber-toothed cats, crocodiles, antelopes, and even insects, unearthed by the Leakeys, are overwhelming evidence that if species, including hominids, do not change and adapt, they die. While some may argue about how certain hominids are labeled, no one can argue with their existence in the historical record, and nearly all of them have been unearthed by just one family. These contributions continue beyond the purview of this book into a new generation: Dr. Louise Leakey and her mother Maeve (Richard's wife) found yet another completely new hominid species in March, 2001.

Who knows, if any of us appear on a TV quiz show, it might save the day to know that Richard Nixon ate cottage cheese with catsup, or that Harry Truman considered himself a sissy when he was a child!

The writing is crisp, clean, and relentless; the characters deep and fully realized.

THE BIG PUNCH is a novel you will not soon forget.

She is one of six cabin boys - mostly street kids who are thrilled to have a chance to eat regularly. They can't believe their luck to be paid as well. During their three year voyage - a mission to chase down pirates, they learn to climb rigging, work as powder monkeys in sea battles with pirates, do all kinds of work on deck and hope to improve their lot by becoming able-bodied seamen and regular members of the crew.

At the same, Jacky has to figure out how to keep her secret while her breasts are developing and she starts her period. She also develops a serious crush on the oldest of the cabin boys - a quiet lad who is the younger son of a real family.

In the process she has all kinds of adventures. The crew battles pirates. (She gets her nickname from shooting a pirate during a battle.) The boys have to learn to handle the discipline of the British Navy where they are junior to everyone including the 14 year old midshipmen - one of whom is a complete bully. They get shore leave in exotic ports like Jamaica. Their conversations about religion and education as they puzzle out the ways of the world are hilariously funny.

Jacky has to use all her ingenuity to keep her secret and survive on board ship. She is courageous, smart, strong and a natural born leader. And she has a sharp, funny voice of her own that tells the story in the manner of a girl who has learned to express herself from London street talk, ballads, newspapers and cheap novels.

One of the best aspects of the book is its portrayal of an adventurous girl who likes being a girl - not a girl who has always wanted to be a boy. There are too many stories where femininity is a synonym for weakness and the girl prevails by adopting male behavior. Not this one.

Jacky acts like herself and - because everyone THINKS she's a boy, they simply deal with it. She likes to sew and decides to make herself a uniform when she starts growing out of her clothes. Do the officers and crew think she is a weak sissy? Nope. Sailors had to sew. The captain issues her more fabric and gives her the job of outfitting the rest of the cabin boys.

In one of the battles, the ship takes a cannon shot that blasts a hole in the side of the vessel. The whole crew is put to manning the pumps. Jacky simply doesn't have the strength to manage. Is this a problem? Nope. Some boys are smaller than others, so they send her up to the top of the rigging because she is smaller and lighter and can get a better view farther up.

In fact, there is no problem with her being a girl - until they discover she is a girl. This is a subtly political point which Meyer makes over and over again - but without preaching or politics. Instead he has created a brilliant character and put her in a hugely entertaining tale and lets the story speak for itself.

This is a fabulous book. Don't start it late at night. You won't want to put it down until you are finished.

Bowdrie's Law (along with "Bowdrie") are collections of short stories from L'Amour starring this great character. These were the first L'Amour books I read (short stories are easier to experiment with) and they kicked off my fandom.

If you like a good adventure story about the frontier, or if you are simply interested in the Texas Ranger modus operandi (L'Amour is famous for his historical accuracy and amount of research that goes into his books), you can do no better than beginning with the tales of Chick Bowdrie.

Was the West really "Wild?" What did it take to be a Texas Ranger in the mid-nineteenth century?

Let Louis L'Amour tell you in this story about Chick Bowdrie, Texas Ranger. He uses Bowdrie in some of his other stories, just as he used the Sacket brothers in another series. When he created a good hero, he used him!

Typical L'Amour heroes were dependably tall, broad of shoulder, narrow of hip and tough as whang leather. His stories were filled with action, and his protagonists were unfailingly "good guys" who sought to correct injustice and right wrongs. The kind of man with whom you like to identify.

The late Louis Dearborn L'Amour (originally Lamoore) wrote a hundred stories, and more of them were million copy best-sellers than any other author. Furthermore, he knew about the environment and people of whom he wrote. His details were therefore accurate. He was a Westerner, and had traveled the world as a circus roustabout, boxer, merchant seaman, army officer in WWII, cowboy, miner and logger. He was a man's man, and he wrote great stories. I always looked forward to his books, and have derived hours of pleasure from them. This one is no exception.

Joseph H Pierre
Author of The Road to Damascus: Our Journey Through Eternity

After an introduction that recalls how reading Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" changes his life from a budding hooligan of fifteen into an artist, this book is divided into two sections. Part I consists of Raps, Rants, and Wrenching Times. We are treated to The Chris Stevens Story, culled from his walks down memory lane, and then Chunovic tries to get thematic, with mixed results. Remember, for the most part these observations are divorced from the original context of their respective episodes. Part II is a catch-all section that offers Opinions and Observations, A-Z, which would be from Aging ("People impose all these chronological imperatives on themselves") to Zen ("See Carpentry; Mathematics; Plumbing; Technology") for those keeping track. As I said, I appreciate the attempt to present this collection of observations made by Chris Stevens as an articulated philosophical position, but this is more of a cultured and idiosyncratic weltanschauung. The key thing is that Chunovic is not trying to create consistent ontological, epistemological, or axiological positions. These are just scattered seeds of wisdom, embedded in Chris's recollections, speculations, dreams, and philosophies. Besides, the pleasure here is just getting a chance to re-read those big long speeches Chris used to unload on "Northern Exposure." The meaning, dear reader, lies not in Chris's words but in ourselves. Pick and choose as you desire.

My one minor complaint would be that the writers who came up with these great speeches and choice epithets are not credited. Allow me to rectify that with a list of all the writers who wrote on "Northern Exposure": Sybil Adelman, David Assael, Kate Boutilier, Joshua Brand, Henry Bromell, Jordan Budde, Mitchell Burgess, David Chase, Sean Clark, Denise Dobbs, Sam Egan, John Falsey, Diane Frolov, Robin Green, Barbara Hall, Karen Hall, Ellen Herman, Jessica Klein, Dennis Koenig, Jeff Melvoin, Geoffrey Neigher, Mark B. Perry, Robert Rabinowitz, Sy Rosen, Charles Rosin, Martin Sage, Andrew Schneider, Jed Seidel, Jerry Stahl, Meredith Stehm, Rogers Turrentine, Jeff Vlaming, Craig Volk, Steve Wasserman and Christian Williams. Thanks you very much, worthy scribes.