Ever since I got Lily, my first cat ever, I've been buying kitten/cat care books and magazines like a madman just so I know that I'm giving the best to my Persian pet. In six months I have accumulated over a dozen books and this is the first time that I found one book with EVERYTHING I REALLY NEEDED to know about cats (care, health, playtime, training, behavior, etc! etc!) without sounding too clinical or boring. The money-saving tips were especially helpful and I'm sure you'll have a blast with the funny anecdotes as well. "277 secrets," they say? I didn't count, but it seemed to me there were more than 277 included in the book!

I have been owned by cats all of my life, currently by five of them. I thought I knew all there was to know about our furball friends, but Paulette Cooper and Paul Noble have managed to dig up many new things for me to ponder. The topic of "How to tell if your cat is hung over" is just one of the valuable pieces of information most people wouldn't think of, especially those who think it's cute to give their pets beer to slurp. Don't do it! If you don't believe me, read the book and find out why you might make your cat sick! I found something new and interesting on every page. The only problem I had reading the book was sharing the book with my husband who wanted to read it first. We both loved this book and will be giving it to our catty friends for Christmas, that's for sure!

This book was just awarded the BEST CAT BOOK award for 1998 in the category of "other books" by the Cat Writers Association. So obviously they thought it was great. Here is what some reviewers have said about this book:

"Spirited look at Fluffy packs a breezy, unassuming charm while veering smoothly between serious and charismatic...should prove a...big hit with feline fanatics. Seattle Times (& Knight Ridder News Service)

An informative, unique book about cats ...In easy-to-read segments guaranteed to enlighten cat owners. Pet Age

"Filled with information about all aspects of cat ownership -from behavior to nutrition to additional resources. "277 Secrets Your Cat Wants You To Know" is a useful guide that provides answers to cat owners' most common questions. Cat Fancy

"Pounce on "277 Secrets...for a whisker-tickling, fact-filed compendium of fascinating feline information....a lot of fun and made for browsing or sharing with another cat lover for a good laugh together. Cats

(refers to this & "277 Secrets Your Dog Wants You To Know" by the same authors) Two Great books for animal owners....filled with funny, practical and unique information you won't find anywhere else. Naples Daily News

"Packed, too, with useful and sometimes merely fascinating information on feline health, behavior, discipline, and feeding." Dallas Morning News.

Full of fun trivial about man's best friends...enjoyable pick-up reading. Dayton Ohio News

(online) This book is fun but loaded with helpful information....This is the book your cat would pick if he let loose in a bookstore. (Dr. Mike Richards, D.V.M., Tiercom.)

(online) The authors...bring readers a purrfectly bewitching "cat-alog" of unusual and useful information about cats. Freddie Street Cats

(online). This fascinating book answers many questions that most of us would never think to ask . . . If you want to consider yourself expert in all things cat, you MUST read this book. Happenings.

COVERS A WIDE VARIETY OF OUTRAGEOUS CASES,WITH REWARD AMOUNTS RANGING FROM THE SMALL TO ENORMOUS.......PROBABLY THE MOST SENSELESS MURDER COVERED IS THE MASS MURDERS OF SEVERAL EMPLOYEES AT THE RESTAURANT OF A TEXAS MALL..........THE WRITING HERE BY MISS COOPER IS PRECISE AND TO THE POINT,YET SHE AVOIDS THE LURID ''TRUE DETECTIVE'' APPROACH IN THESE CAPSULE SUMMARIES OF UNSOLVED CRIMES......RECOMMENDED.

I used this book to decide where to go for for my destination wedding and it was easy to look up the hotels (they were listed not only alphabetically but by area) so it saved me a lot of time. I had been trying to research where to have a destination wedding on my own when I found this. I was originally planning on marrying in Europe but found that it's very difficult to marry there if you're American. But this book had resorts in the Caribbean and Hawaii (and Florida in America)where it's easy to have a destination wedding. After looking at all the places in the book, we chose Couples in Negril (the book told us what we needed to know--including that weddings there were free!) and it was wonderful. It's a beautiful book with many pictures of resorts and I'm keeping it to see where we'll go for our first anniverary.

I'm getting married and I contacted about 10 resorts to find out what they included in their wedding packages and it took me so long and then I found this book and I went through the whole thing in a couple of hours and chose which places my fiance and I might go to for our honeymoon. It was great and saved me a lot of time and the book was inexpensive (and is large and looks beautiful.) My only objection is that it didn't include anything in Europe and we are still considering going to Italy to get married.

I just spent an hour going through this wedding book and I couldn't believe how much was in there. I had no idea there were many places where they would marry you for free with a whole ceremony, flowers, etc., if I stayed there. This book told me which ones were good for that and how long I would have to stay to qualify (most were only 3-5 days but a few required a week or more so I scratched those off my list) and who I should contact for wedding information. (I liked that they had e-mail addresses for the wedding people.) I also found all the comments from people who had stayed there interesting and I think they will be very helpful. I've gotten back the [money] I spent for this book back easy!

Set in upstate New York in colonial times, Cooper here tells the tale of the stolid colonial scout Hawkeye, nee Natty Bumppo (don't ask), who, with his two Indian companions Chingachgook (the Big Snake) and his son Uncas (apparently newly come to manhood), stumble on a party of British soldiers conducting two fair maidens to their father, the commander of British Fort William Henry during the French and Indian War. Under the watchful eyes of the young British officer who has the girls in his charge and led by a Huron scout, Magua, the party appears, to the indomitable Hawkeye, to be at greater risk than they realize as they trek through the wilderness toward the safety of the girls' father's garrison. And, indeed, Hawkeye's judgement is soon proved right as the scout Magua treacherously betrays the hapless girls in repayment, it seems, for a stint of corporal punishment inflicted on him previously by their absent parent. Since the Hurons, Magua's native tribe, are culturally akin to the Iroquois who are the herditary enemies of the Algonquin Delawares, from whom Chingachgook and his son hail and among whom Hawkeye has made his home and friendships, a natural antagonism arises almost at once between Hawkeye's party and the Huron and this proves salutary, when danger finally strikes. The tale quickly becomes a matter of flight and pursuit through thickly overgrown primeval forests, over rough mountains and across broad open lakes as the beleagured travelers first elude and then flee the dreaded Iroquois (allies of the French) who have joined the renegade Huron in an effort to seize the two girls. After a brief respite within the safety of William Henry however, the tables are once again turned as Magua's perfidy puts the girls once more at risk. And now the story shifts to a manic pursuit of the fleeing Magua who means to carry off his human prey in order to finally have his revenge on the girls' father, on the British and on the Europeans, generally, whose presence in his native country he blames (not altogether unjustifiably) for his myriad travails. Written in the fine tradition of the 19th century romance (which, of course, is what this book is), Cooper picked up where Sir Walter Scott (the venerable founder of this novelistic tradition) left off, creating a rich historical tale of adventure, nobility and marvelously sketched characters set against a brilliantly detailed natural landscape. If his characters are less keenly drawn than Scott's they are no less memorable for, in the quiet nobility of the scout Hawkeye lies the strong, silent hero of the wilderness which has become the archetypical protagonist in our own American westerns. And the Indians, Chingachgook and Uncas, are the very prototypes of the noble savage, so much used, and over-used, today. This is a tale of action first and foremost without much plot but so well told that you barely notice, as our heroes flee and pursue their enemies in turn -- until the very quickness of the prose seems to mirror and embody the speed of the action. Nor is this book only to be read for its rapid-fire rendition of flight and pursuit, for it touches the reader on another level as well, as the bold young Uncas moves out ahead of his comrades to place himself at risk for the others and the woman he loves. Although we never see Uncas at anything but a distance and never get to know the man he is supposed to be, he is yet a symbol of that people of whom he is the last chiefly descendant, the Delaware Mohicans. Nobly born into the finest of Mohican bloodlines, Uncas faces his final trial with heroic energy and resolve in order to defeat the nefarious and twisted Magua. Yet this struggle is also the final footnote in the story of a people, marking the closing chapter for all those Indians who, with the Mohicans, have, in Cooper's own words, seen the morning of their nation and the inevitable nightfall which must follow. If you give this book a chance and bear with some of the heavy nineteenth century prose, it will prove out in the end. An exciting and worthwhile read.

Set in upstate New York in colonial times, Cooper here tells the story of the stolid colonial scout Hawkeye, nee Natty Bumppo (don't ask), who, with his two Indian companions Chingachgook (the Big Snake) and his son Uncas (apparently newly come to manhood), stumble on a party of British soldiers conducting two fair maidens to their father, the commander of British Fort William Henry during the French and Indian War. Under the watchful eyes of the young British officer who has the girls in his charge and led by a Huron scout, Magua, the party appears, to the indomitable Hawkeye, to be at greater risk than they realize as they trek through the wilderness toward the safety of the girls' father's garrison. And, indeed, Hawkeye's judgement is soon proved right as the scout Magua treacherously betrays the hapless girls in repayment, it seems, for a stint of corporal punishment inflicted on him previously by their absent parent. Since the Hurons, Magua's native tribe, are culturally akin to the Iroquois who are the herditary enemies of the Algonquin Delawares, from whom Chingachgook and his son hail and among whom Hawkeye has made his home and friendships, a natural antagonism has arisen almost at once between Hawkeye's party and the Huron and this proves salutary, when danger finally strikes. The tale quickly becomes a matter of flight and pursuit through thickly overgrown primeval forests, over rough mountains and across broad open lakes as the beleagured travelers first elude and then flee the dreaded Iroquois (allies of the French) who have joined the renegade Huron in an effort to seize the two girls. After a brief respite within the safety of William Henry however, the tables are once again turned as Magua's perfidy puts the girls once more at risk. And now the story shifts to a manic pursuit of the fleeing Magua who means to carry off his human prey in order to finally have his revenge on the girls' father, on the British and on the Europeans, generally, whose presence in his native country he blames (not altogether unjustifiably) for his myriad travails. Written in the fine tradition of the 19th century romance (which, of course, is what this book is), Cooper picked up where Sir Walter Scott (the venerable founder of this novelistic tradition) left off, creating a rich historical tale of adventure, nobility and marvelously sketched characters set against a brilliantly detailed natural landscape. If his characters are less keenly drawn than Scott's they are no less memorable for, in the quiet nobility of the scout Hawkeye lies the strong, silent hero of the wilderness which has become the archetypical protagonist in our own American westerns. And the Indians, Chingachgook and Uncas, are the very prototypes of the noble savage, so much used and over-used today. This is a tale of action first and foremost without much plot but so well told that you barely notice, as our heroes flee and pursue their enemies in turn until the very quickness of the prose seems to mirror and embody the speed of the action. Nor is this book only to be read for its rapid-fire rendition of flight and pursuit, for it touches the reader on another level as well, as the bold young Uncas moves out ahead of his comrades to place himself at risk for the others and the woman he loves. Although we never see Uncas at anything but a distance and never get to know the man he is supposed to be, he is yet a symbol of that people of whom he is the last chiefly descendant, the Delaware Mohicans. Nobly born into the finest of Mohican bloodlines, Uncas faces his final trial with heroic energy and resolve in order to defeat the nefarious and twisted Magua. Yet this struggle is also the final footnote in the story of a people, marking the closing chapter for all those Indians who, with the Mohicans, have seen, in Cooper's own words, the morning of their nation and the inevitable nightfall which must follow. -- Stuart W. Mirsky (mirsky@ix.netcom.com

Set in upstate New York in colonial times, Cooper here tells the story of the stolid colonial scout Hawkeye, nee Natty Bumppo (don't ask), who, with his two Indian companions Chingachgook (the Big Snake) and his son Uncas (apparently newly come to manhood), stumble on a party of British soldiers conducting two fair maidens to their father, the commander of British Fort William Henry during the French and Indian War. Under the watchful eyes of the young British officer who has the girls in his charge and led by a Huron scout, Magua, the party appears, to the indomitable Hawkeye, to be at greater risk than they realize as they trek through the wilderness toward the safety of the girls' father's garrison. And, indeed, Hawkeye's judgement is soon proved right as the scout Magua treacherously betrays the hapless girls in repayment, it seems, for a stint of corporal punishment inflicted on him previously by their absent parent. Since the Hurons, Magua's native tribe, are culturally akin to the Iroquois who are the herditary enemies of the Algonquin Delawares, from whom Chingachgook and his son hail and among whom Hawkeye has made his home and friendships, a natural antagonism has arisen almost at once between Hawkeye's party and the Huron and this proves salutary, when danger finally strikes. The tale quickly becomes a matter of flight and pursuit through thickly overgrown primeval forests, over rough mountains and across broad open lakes as the beleagured travelers first elude and then flee the dreaded Iroquois (allies of the French) who have joined the renegade Huron in an effort to seize the two girls. After a brief respite within the safety of William Henry however, the tables are once again turned as Magua's perfidy puts the girls once more at risk. And now the story shifts to a manic pursuit of the fleeing Magua who means to carry off his human prey in order to finally have his revenge on the girls' father, on the British and on the Europeans, generally, whose presence in his native country he blames (not altogether unjustifiably) for his myriad travails. Written in the fine tradition of the 19th century romance (which, of course, is what this book is), Cooper picked up where Sir Walter Scott (the venerable founder of this particular novelistic tradition) left off, creating a rich historical tale of adventure, nobility and marvelously sketched characters set against a brilliantly detailed natural landscape. If his characters are less keenly drawn than Scott's they are no less memorable for, in the quiet nobility of the scout Hawkeye lies the strong, silent hero of the wilderness which was to become the archetypical protagonist of the American western. And the Indians, Chingachgook and Uncas, are the very prototypes of the noble savage, so much used and over-used today. This is a tale of action first and foremost without much plot but so well told that you barely notice, as our heroes flee and pursue their enemies in turn until the very quickness of the prose seems to mirror and embody the speed of the action. Nor is this book only to be read for its rapid-fire rendition of flight and pursuit, for it touches the reader on another level as well, as the bold young Uncas moves out ahead of his comrades to place himself at risk for the others and the woman he loves. Although we never see Uncas at anything but a distance and never get to know the man he is supposed to be, he is yet a symbol of that people of whom he is the last chiefly descendant, the Delaware Mohicans. Nobly born into the finest of Mohican bloodlines, Uncas faces his final trial with heroic energy and resolve in order to defeat the nefarious and twisted Magua. Yet this struggle is also the final footnote in the story of a people, marking the closing chapter for all those Indians who, with the Mohicans, have seen, in Cooper's words, the morning of their nation and the inevitable nightfall which must follow. The book is a bit short on characterization and plotting and the prose is heavy for modern tastes, but the action is richly visualized in the flow of the narrative and the images are compelling. In the end, despite its flaws, this book of Cooper's is, in fact, the classic we have been told it is. -- S. W. Mirsky

I originally bought this book hoping to learn more about the so-called "poison widows." What I got was a book that devotes more than two thirds of its pages to the trial. There is alot of extra info about the lawyers in this case that I really didn't think helped the flow of this book.
The author only briefly delves into what life was like back in the early part of the century. There is even briefer mention about the women's lives. You are told in passing that some of the men beat their wives, for instance.
The main portion of the book, the trial, isn't told very well either. I understand that there were alot of women that went to trial, but most of them get a few pages. Two of the trial lawyers get more coverage than most of these women.
Overall, more of a general synopsis of what happened than anything with real depth.

Really interesting story. Good colorful, funny characters. I learned a lot about life in the Italian community of Philadelphia in the 1930's. I especially enjoyed the funny "voodoo" that the killers practiced and victims believed in. Very entertaining. I can't believe they got away with so many murders before they were caught. A good "gang that couldn't shoot straight" type tale. And it's all true!

Sartre & two British psychiatrists might seem like strange bedfellows. But Laing & Cooper took Sartre's theory of practical groups to heart & produced the still-controversial social movement called antipsychiatry.

Reason & Violence is a compendium of three of Sartre's works published betw. 1950 & 1960. Saint Genet was the 1952 bio. in which Sartre mused that playwright-pervert-pickpocket Jean Genet had achieved something approximating a psychoanalytic cure by becoming what others said he was & producing similar fictional characters. Laing & Cooper also reduced to a few pages Search for a Method & Critique of Dialectical Reason, writings which shaped in part Sartre's philosophy during his last 30 years.

The intro noted that they were dealing with key ideas here; moreover, none of these works had been translated into English at the time L&C tackled them. Despite brevity (compared with the originals), this is often difficult material to wade thru. The editing leaves much to be desired, & the language is frequently awkward & stilted. But it remains an original & a highly literate work of first magnitude.

After all, who could write this today? The dung heap of pop culturalists all want to write fiction with a message. They want to write Moby Dick while they lecture Ahab on his political incorrectitude. They want to put Holden Caulfield in a 12-step program & scold his parents. But they lack any sense of drama or character development, so they write Winning thru Intimidation, The Se7en Habits, Cultural Literacy, & The End of History: metaphorical accounts of modern society. And if they're not writing for mass market, then it's for each other & more govt. grants to research, say, prison conditions for Mary, Queen of Scots.

Marshall McLuhan supposedly wrote that schizophrenia was a necessary consequence of literacy. If that's true, our pop commentators are safely sane.

Not so Laing & Cooper. Reason & Violence is maddening in its content. In a foreward, Sartre himself praises them for seeking an existentialist explanation to the mentally sick. And we shall not soon see its (or their) like again.

this book is a very good and philosophical book. i enjoyed it alot. anyone who is interested in Philosophy should read this book. it has many aspects that startle as you are reading it. every single paragraph has something to make you go really?

therefore you should read this book for sure.

I bought this book when it first came out and tried several of the psychics. Contrary to the experience of one of the other reviewers, I found Kim Allen to be the worst when it came to accuracy. I used her several times over four or five years, and maybe two of her predictions came true. However, she is a genuinely kind and caring person who really cares about her clients. Jill Dahne turned out to be on a star trip and she blew me off three times and I made her refund my money. Her mother, Micki, turned out to be a whacko who wanted me to change the spelling of my name! I have found other psychics not listed in this book who are much better.

I beg to differ with the other reviewers. I used this book and found the gretaest psychic of all, Joyce Keller. I was totally blown away by her reading, which was upbeat and positive the whole way through. It was as if she knew me and my problems, and answered each one explicity. When she told me I as going to marry someone I knew named "Ed<" I denied knowing anyone by that name. Nonetheless she was very sure. Sure enough, I did know an Ed, he was a coworker of mine. We kno longer work togtehr because I am expecting my first child, and Ed, is my husband. I love this book for helping me find Joyce.

The only important part of this book, is Kim Allen the "Love Psychic" based in New York. She is accurate, inexpensive, straight to the point and extremely friendly. If you buy the book she is in it. TRUST ME, if you want a psychic that will NOT disappoint, read about and contact Kim Allen.-JD

This book is about 460 pages and contains fives sections. He starts with the chemistry of explosives. The next section is on thermodynamics properties followed by a section on shock waves. The last two sections are on detonation and initiation. I was particularly interested in shock waves. I found the book inadequate in every possible sense. The notation is an absolute disaster. There is no saying what represents what and sometimes the same symbol has been used to represent several different quantities in the same place. One must try very hard to figure out what is actually meant. The mathematical treatment of shock waves is primitive and almost non-existent. I got the impression that the author does not have a good grasp of the subject. The book resembles an internal report or a collection of white papers as it is customary in some companies nowadays. The book needs a lot of editing, as some sentences are incomprehensible. Here is an example sentense form page 208 : "First we will look at the P-x diagram, a few diagrams in time of the shock presure and the interface, Figure 18.5. " If you know nothing about the subject, then this maybe a place to start because the book is very basic. Just be sure you are not confused by the inconsistent notation. If you are interested to learn about the shock waves and their interaction, I recommend "Physics of Shock Waves and High Temperature Hydrodynamic Phenomena" by Zel'dovich and Raizer.

Paul Cooper has done an outstanding job of detailing the diverse world of explosives engineering. Included is sufficient detail to get a researcher new to a topic started and enough background to help an 'old timer' teach. The last five chapters on Engineering Applications is an unequalled summary of the use and analysis of the practice of explosives engineering. I use this book as my 'carry along' reference for both R&D testing and systems analysis of explosive devices.