This was one terrific book! I am so glad I came across this author and I have every intention of buying all of Claire Kings books. I have never been so excited about passing a book along to get my friends to read it too, but this one is definetly going to get read again and again. Rafe Camayo was investigating a drug trafficker who also murdered Rafe's brother. Rafe's entire life has been centered around bringing down this man who destroyed his family. What Rafe did not count on was falling in love with the woman that he took 'hostage' to protect not only himself, but her. Olivia Galpas is no marshmallow. She can hold her own and is in no way a victim. Rafe meets up with his partner, Bobby, and the adventure that these three go on is filled with passion, danger, and lots of laughs. The sense of humor of these characters was without a doubt the best part of this book. There were so many laugh out loud moments. Even when the characters were in heated arguments with each other they had you laughing. The taco stand and taxi are not something I will forget anytime soon. Moments when the characters should be scared as heck and sitting on the edge of their seats, instead they were making me laugh. The intrigue of this story lasts from cover to cover. I loved the romance, adventure, excitement, and humor of this book. I guarantee that you will love it too.

This book is an amazing adventure that keeps the reader turning pages late into the night. Well drawn characters and a fast pace make this one a romance to savor. Buy and enjoy. You'll be glad you did.

_State of the World_ is the flagship publication of the Worldwatch Institute. When people want information on massive global trends, they turn to two places -- this book and the United Nations Development Report. In fact, the book was written as a guide for the upcoming UN World Summit in Johannesburg, and is even forwarded by UN Secretary-General, Kofi A. Annan.

Clearly, Kofi and the rest of the UN will have a lot to consider in Johannesburg, as many of the problems that were mentioned in _State of the World 2001_ have only gotten worse in the commercially intense and ecologically devistating -- albeit relatively short -- 365 day interim. If you are looking for the most up-to-date information on glObal food, water, health care, education and environmental trends, this is your book. Perhaps the most finely crafted information tool in our kit.

General Topics Included:

Science breakthroughs, climate change, politics, dysfunctional farming, world hunger (amidst plenty), rural areas, cities, ethical eating, the new chemical economy, metal poisoning, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), environmental democracy and markets, technology changes, glObal industry, development theory, environmental impacts of tourism/sustainable tourism, population, reproduction, healthy families, gender myopia, the relationship between resources and conflict, resource pillage, economic sanctions, international governance, and democratizing glObal governance.

Specific Items of detailed Statistical Consideration:

Infectious diseases, glObal pharmaceutical sales, legislative responses to recycling in the 1990s, greenhouse gas emissions and targets, land distribution and agribusiness lots, glObal chemical output, glObal atmospheric emissions, hotel "greening" success stories, gender disparity, Sierra Leone's Civil War, a progress report of the Rio Convention, small dams commissioned and removed in the U.S (1910-1999), regional deaths from AIDS (1990-2000), glObal average temperatures (1867-2000), glObal carbon emissions (1751-2000), carbon emission in U.S., China and Russia (1990-2000), per capita food production and commodity prices (1961-2000), world fertilizer use (1950-2000), glObal pesticide sales (1950-1999), certified organic and in-conversion land in the EU (1985-2000), toxic intensities of selected U.S. manufacturing sectors for the early 1990s, projected growth in world economy, population, and chemical production (1995-2020), international tourist arrivals (1950-2000) and projections for 2020, world population since A.D. 1 (yes, since year one!), cross-country analysis of contraceptive use and childbearing, official development assistance (1970-2000), foreign debt of developing and former Eastern Bloc nations (1970-2000), and private capital flows to developing countries (1991-2000).

You might also seriously think about subscribing to World Watch magazine. As with this book, it presents glObal environmental issues in the form of highly researched articles, useful for both policymakers and an informed glObal citizenry. Common topics include natural resource use, water and air quality, climate change, and human health issues. At six issues a year for something like twenty dollars, the magazine is a steal.

This is the latest annual edition of the indispensable "State of the World," and it should be at the top of your reading list. No coincidence, it is timed to correspond with the "State of the Union" address. The world we live in today can no longer afford limited nationalistic thinking -- we must learn to think and act globally, and this book is a key part of racing up that learning curve.

The 2002 edition contains 8 chapters, on topics including global warming, population, agriculture, toxic wastes, resource conflicts (such as wars over diamonds in Africa), and global governance. Beginning in August, the U.N. World Summit on Sustainable Development will be held in Johannesburg, and the lead essay frames an agenda for that meeting.

"The Skeptical Environmentalist," the book that is the current favorite of libertarian anti-environmentalists everywhere, is subtitled "Measuring the Real State of the World," a none too subtle dig at the Worldwatch Institute. Lester Brown and the others at the Institute have been addressing the most important issues facing the world for many years now, and they deserve our respect and our thanks! This is no time to surrender the fight for the future -- what do we want to leave for the generations to come?

I really found this book interesting from start to finish. There are the usual behind the scenes explanations and in particular the debacle between Michael Grade and the programme is explored in detail.

Personally I found the Colin Baker years some of the most interesting times on Doctor Who. Probably because of when I was growing up I suppose! The stories are described in detail and reviewed by the authors. Revelation of the Daleks (my favourite all time story along with Trial of a Timelord) is chosen for an in-depth analysis.

An interview with Nicola Bryant (Peri) is also included relating to her career and how she saw the character.

It's a good read if you're into the background of the programme.

Marcus Hearn's exhaustive research in the early 1990's provides the basis of most of the information in this comprehensive guide to the formative years of Doctor Who, yet nowhere in the book does he recieve even pssing credit. Rather than being presented as a dry 'info-dump',the book's accessibility could have been vastly improved by more user-friendly approach to conveying its wealth of material, some of which is interesting, some mindlessly dull. Unforgiveable, too, is the insulting 'What others said about William Hartnell' section, which is not used in any other handbook in the series, woefully implying some kind of inadequacy, or unreliabilty in Hartnell's own words. Equally annoying are the reviews offered by David Howe for each individual story, which are vapid and predictable in the extreme. He awards 'Marco Polo' and 'The Crusade' 10/10, despite both being broadcast some 35 years ago, claiming 'he really can't find anything wrong' with either story. Is this really the point of being a Dr. Who fan, as Howe claims to be? Strangely enough, the stories that remain intact in the archives (and thus accessible for review) such as 'An Unearthly Child', the classic first ever story, favour less well, suggesting, as John Nathan-Turner once infamously stated, 'The memory cheats'. Although, as usual, it's sheer wealth of information is indispensible, this is by far one of the weaker handbooks in the series.

This book is a must for any Doctor Who fan. From the inception of the show in April 1962 to the end of October 1966, this book looks at the William Hartnell era of Doctor Who. These handbooks are really good. I've only seen these stories recently, but the book brings back the memories of them. It even thoroughly helps out on the missing episodes that can't be seen, by summarising these stories. So you get a sense of how it might've been like to have seen them. The attention to production details is excellent. You learn about interesting facts about the episodes: budgets, originally intended actors, location and studio recordings, original titles, original direction of some stories, etc. The book is divided into 8 chapters: William Hartnell stuff, the Doctor, the stories, establishing the myth, production diary, a focus on the making of the classic story "The Ark", and selling the doctor. The First Doctor Handbook is a great reference source of information on Doctor Who's early years. These handbooks are all great (there are 7 volumes in the Doctor Who handbook series), but the fact is that the first doctor handbook was actually the third one made in the series, published in 1994.

The co-authors trio of David J. Howe, Mark Stammers, and Stephen James Walker have proven themselves to be the definitive historians on the Doctor Who TV series. Besides the handbooks, they have also written three volumes focusing on the three decades of Doctor Who's television run: The Sixties, The Seventies, and The Eighties. I highly recommend all of these books to any fan of the world's longest running science fiction TV series!