Not a lot in the way of words, but it kept my attention long enough...

I believe a colleague has this hanging in his office!

Motorbikes are just a drag - smelly, old, oily waste of time but WOW! Just look at the Mama on the front of this calendar! Hot! Hot! Hot! And suspenders!.....Get it!

I must admit that I wanted to step into the pages of this book and become Rachel Sinclair McPherson! This book is a page-turner from the very first scene because the characters are so likable. The story is set in Green Rapids, Kansas a few years after the War Between the States. Rachel and her two younger brothers were traveling west on a wagon train with their parents until their parents died along the trail. The wagonmaster refused to let them continue their trip and dropped them off in Green Rapids. Rachel soon finds her brothers and herself a home in one of Cord McPherson's shacks. It doesn't take long before Cord finds them living on his property. He is immediately attractd to Rachel. He soon asks Rachel to take over as the cook at his horse ranch while his regular cook/housekeeper is away. Running out of food and money, Rachel decides to take the job. Rachel works from dawn till dusk and soon becomes the center of Cord's world. Cord is over the moon when the preacher's wife comes calling to check out exactly what's going on between the two of them and it is hurriedly decided that he and Rachel should marry. I'll leave Cord and Rachel there except to say that they have great chemistry;-) A tender sub-plot is created with Cord's brother Jake who lost part of both legs during the war. Rachel helps bring him back with his long-time love, Lorena Claypool and also makes it possible for Jake to use his love of music to become a productive individual.
And a joyous ending for all! (Just the kind I like;-)

I think this was the best storyline I have ever read. I fell in love with all her characters and they were so believable. I'm a huge fan of historical fiction, so to enjoy this book is not out of line! Even though it is a romance book, it could also be listed as suspense. This is a real page-turner!!

We meet Rachel Sinclair and her brothers Henry and Jay. She is a feisty, innocent but determined eighteen year old who means to take care of her brothers, no matter what.

Enter Cord McPherson, owner with his brother Jake, of a ranch just outside of Green Rapids, where Rachel and her brothers has taken over one of the McPherson's line cabins [actually a shack].
Their introduction to each other is tantalizing and Cord falls in lust with Rachel.[grin]
He decides to solve one of his many problems by hiring Rachel to do the cooking and laundry and he lasts all of three days before approaching her with his proposition. Never telling her about his brother Jake, a wounded war hero with a nasty temper.

Ah, but the story progresses with the meeting of Rachel with Conrad Carson, owner of the mercantile store, an eligible bachelor who becomes quite smitten with Rachel.

You really must read to find out how Rachel handles the hellish temper of Jake -- Cord's bungling proposal and the wonderful every day life she made for herself and her brothers on the McPherson ranch. And how she and Cord brought Jake's love back to him.
Definitly HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and a P.S. - We meet a Mr. Beau Jackson, whose story is in MAGGIE'S BEAU -- should be another excellent one.

I bought this book because I ride a recumbent and there is very little in the way of books on the subject. It is a British publication which is dedicated to bikes but with considerable emphasis on recumbents. If you are interested in recumbent bikes, trikes and others, this is a fascinating exploration of the topic. It has large, full color pictures on almost every page and it is something which will serve as a reference and enlighten readers with its comprehensive treatment 'cycling alternatives'. Definite European flavor. Highly recommended. I very much enjoyed reading and rereading this book.

As a "newbie" (someone new to alternative biking) I found this book fascinating, easy to understand, most informative, and full of fresh and new ideas. For example, I'd been stationed in Saigon once upon a time and wondered if I could ever buy a "dong wagon" (pedicab, a peddle-powered rickshaw). According to this book, not only could I do that, but it tells me how much, where, and how to get more information. (Okay, so you've never lusted after a dong wagon . . . there's more!) Various human-powered vehicles (hpv) are listed by groups, then individual products with photographs and text that are relevant, helpful, and beautifully illustrated and typeset. Catalog publishers would do well to study this book; the typesetter, desk top publisher, and graphic artist in me thrilled to the care and expertise shown throughout. Short biographical sketches of riders and makers spice the text, such as the story of Peter Carruthers, a spinal injury victim, who won a gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Paralympics and founded Bromakin Wheelchairs, makers of competition wheelchairs and hand-drive tricycles. Lest you think of tricycles as only the little bit you rode as a toddler, enCycleopedia (the proper spelling, not to suggest a typo in the Amazon copy of course) describes the Burrows Windcheetah (and its interesting makers, the Seat of the Pants Company), raced, and ridden to "set the British 'End-to-End' record from Lands End to John O'Groats at 41 hours and 4 minutes. The same rider, Andy Wilkinson, had set the previous record a few years earlier on a conventional bike-four hours slower" (p. 87). enCycleopedia is chock full of such vignettes that humanize cycling. The publishers also publish Bike Culture Quarterly (BCQ), and enCycleopedia devotes some pages to the BCQ sort of "forum for new ideas in cycling", including not only technical matters but examinations of the cycle cultures of various countries. A few pages show accessories, including the most beautiful photographs ! of a pedal system I have ever seen.Please email me if you have questions about this wonderful book. I can't recommend it too highly to bike enthusiasts, those who love mechanical things and the illustrations thereof, devotees of the graphic display of visual information, and anyone who wants to see how National Geographic would produce a Sharper Image catalog. If the scoring system went to 12 I'd give this book a 15.

This book is sure to sit on may coffee tables of both those who own and ride Harley's, as well as those who appreciate the beauty of the machine, it's legacy and the creativity in which the book was put together. The Harley logo on the front of the book, when pressed, gives the sound of a Harley engine being started and then fades in the distance. I recommend this book for teenage through senior. By the way, I don't drive a Harley or am connected to the company!

The Indianapolis 500 Yearbooks are a valuable addition to any Indianapolis 500 memorabilia collection. There are various authors such as Donald Davidson and Carl Hungness but all of the authors did an excellent job on these yearbooks. They should be in your collection too.

I mostly write this review only because no one else has written one. I can't say the book has profoundly changed my life, but it has improved my pessimism just a little. The biggest point of the book to me is the suggestion of writing down long-term and short-term goals, which I admit I've been doing since reading this book. If you have an adversion to God, then you wouldn't like this book. Though not overly Christian, Mr. Davidson makes it clear that he believes in God. If it helps, here's an abbreviated rundown of the section titles and chapter titles (not all chapters are listed): Section 1: Who Am I?; Ch.2 "Self-Image: How It Controls Your Life"; Ch.3 "Why Goals Are Important for You"; Section 2: Where Am I?; chapters in this section talk about taking a personal inventory of yourself, the need for good health, the workings of the mind, and the ability to choose; Section 3:Where Am I Going In Life?; Section chapters cover what success means to you, achieving success by helping others, how to set and reach goals, and asks if goals can be too big; Section 4: How Will I Get There? Chapters in this section include self-examinaion: values and priorities, your spiritual life, traditional American family, American free enterprise system, income for present needs and future security; Section 5: What Must I Do To Make Success Happen? The last section covers time management, personal habits, communication skills, and the life-long process of continuing education. The book is easy to read and like all self-development books, it all depends on how much of it you actually put into practice.If you know nothing about Jim Davidson, like I did before reading his book, here's a one sentence summary: He lives in Arkansas and is a motivational author and lecturer, and has a radio program by the same name as the book. The most referred to speaking engagements mentioned by him in the book are high school graduations.

I read this book 14 years ago while facing some real problems and challagening issues in my life. I still re-read "The Optimist's Creed" at least once a month! This unpretentious book provides clear, positive advise on how to stop being a victim and how to start taking resposibilty for your life. It offers timeless, common sense advise on how to set goals for yourself, how important delaying instant gratification is to achieving goals, and most importantly how to be responsibile for your own life(personal and business) and stop being a victim. A great self help book!

This is the story of a young man's journey to discover the mystery behind his family's troubled history. It is rich in its description of life in the Colorado mining towns, including the mistreatment of the miners, and the degradation of the Navajos. The characters are well-developed and the reader is left feeling like she knows each one personally. However, I did feel that some of the descriptions were overly dramatic, and some of the prose seemed redundant. I enjoyed the book, as it enriched my knowledge of the Colorado mining towns and the shameful politics that surrounded that life; however, the book was full of misery from start to finish.

Written with a compassion for working men in much the same vein as John Steinbeck, "Mine Work" treats the ruins of memory and the need for family reconciliation in the backdrop of desolate mining country in the Southwest. The author, Jim Davidson, deftly inerweaves the present (in which a tormented son despeately attempts to piece together three generations of family tragedy) and the past (in which a compelling narrative of injustice, racism, and personal pain) seamlessly.

One of the significant themes of this beautifully-paced first novel is the disgraceful treatment of Native Americans by rapacious industry and racist individuals. Markus Cottin's quest for knowledge and inner-peace cannot exist without a coming to grips with this aspect of history. The author has not written a polemic, however; Mr. Davidson's language is elegant, spare and precise.

MINE WORK is not your standard western fare. It combines mystery with an episodic quest for a middle-age man's family history and identity. The story focuses on the plight of Markus Cottin and his search for a reason why he's estranged from his father and why a troubled younger brother committed suicide. Along the way, the author weaves in many little known historical and social elements of the 1940's and 1950's American West, including the struggles of the socially disenfranchised Navajo Nation, a dimension which lends this story a Hillerman-esque feel. The novel was a little difficult to digest in the early sections, however after a few chapters this reader was absolutely enthralled with the story. The writing is vivid and accomplished - the story itself, heart-wrenching.

Small company politics and manipulations mangled many laborers' lives during this bleak era, including the parents of Markus Cottin, about whom he knows almost nothing. Physically and emotionally alienated from a father who lives as a hermit and spits venom on the rare occasions they meet, Cottin pursues all leads in the hope that someone can give him some idea of who his father is, and why he's so consumed with bitterness and hatred. Revelation comes at last when Cottin is made to understand the horribly tragic experience of the oppressed working-class Colorado miners, second only in emotional devastation faced by the economically hapless Navajos. The author succeeds wonderfully in bringing these peoples' heroic struggles to life, allowing the reader to look back at a excruciatingly tragic episode in 20th Century American history.

MINE WORK is a powerful "western". I'd recommend to my friends of the most sophisticated tastes. This novel is as go

This is the central question explored by Conrad in Lord Jim. Jim is ultimately a character who inspires our sympathy due to his inability to find reconcilliation for his one tragic moment of weakness. In him we find a person of tremendous potential that remains unrealized as the tragic circumstances of his abandoning his post aboard the Patna continually haunt him and the associated guilt drives him to isolation.
Conrad successfully explores the concepts of bravery, cowardice,guilt and the alternative destinies that an individual may be driven to by these qualities.
The narrative can be a bit confusing at times as Marlowe relates the tale by recalling his encounters with Jim. The book reminded very much of Somerset Maugham's THE RAZOR"S EDGE" in style. However I believe that Maugham did a much better job of incorporating the narrator into the flow of the story. Overall LORD JIM is a wonderful classic novel that I highly recommend.

After reading this book (along with several other of Conrad's books) I am under the impression that Joseph Conrad may very well be my favorite author. Here is another masterpiece, a deeply incisive study of character of the motivation and the ultimate failure of all high-minded ideals. Granted my own personal world view falls directly in line with this realization and therefore prejudices me towards anything the man might write, but, when considering such a lofty title as 'favorite author' one must regard other aspects of the novelist's creation. As with the others, Conrad wins by the power of his stories.

Lord Jim is my least favorite of the the four books I have read by Conrad. The story is rather scattered: a righteous young man does something wrong that he holds himself far too accountable for and the public shame the action brought him exaggerates the reality of his failure and makes him believe the rumors swirling around about his so-called cowardice. He spends the remainder of his life trying to reclaim his self-regard, mostly exaggerating his own importance in matters he hardly understands. His goal is to liberate the primitive people of the jungle paradise he inadvertantly finds himself in (due to an effort to escape every particle of the world he once inhabited) and his once high-minded ideals and regard for himself lead him to allow those people to consider him almost a God.

Jim likes being a God and considers himself a just and fair one. He treats everyone equally and gives to his people the knowledge of modern science and medicine as well as the everyday archetecture and understanding of trade that those primitive folks would otherwise be years from comprehending.

Of course everything ends in failure and misery and of course Jim's restored name will be returned to its demonic status, but the whole point of the novel seems to me that one can not escape their past. Jim, for all his courage in the line of fire has tried to avoid all memory of the once shameful act of his former life and by doing so becomes destined to repeat his mistakes.

Lord Jim is far more expansive than the story it sets out to tell, ultimately giving a warning on the nature of history and general humanity that only a writer of Conrad's statue could hope to help us understand.

If there is a flaw it is not one to be taken literally. Conrad was a master of structural experimentation and with Lord Jim he starts with a standard third person narrative to relate the background and personalities of his characters and then somehow merges this into a second person narrative of a man, years from the events he is relating, telling of the legend of Jim. It is a brilliant innovation that starts off a little awkward and might lead to confusion in spots as the story verges into its most important parts under the uncertain guidence of a narrator who, for all his insight into others, seems unwilling to relate his personal relevence to the story he is relating.

Nevertheless (with a heartfelt refrain), one of the best books I have ever read.

This is the fifth book I have read by Conrad, and through these readings I have come to deeply appreciate his literary power and the perfection of his stories. Conrad has the skill to border about several similar subjects, without repeating himself. "Lord Jim" is truly a Shakespearean tragedy, mainly because of the Shakespearean nature of the main character. Jim is a young naval officer with high hopes of heroism and moral superiority, but when he faces his first test of courage, he miserably fails. While 800 Muslim pilgrims are asleep aboard the ship "Patna", Jim discovers that the boat is about to sink. There are not sufficient lifeboats for everybody. Should he wake them up or not? He gets paralyzed with fear and then sudenly jumps into a boat being set up by the rest of the officers. He is taken to trial and disposessed of his working licence.

Ashamed and humiliated, Jim dedicates the rest of his life to two things: escape the memory of that fateful night, and redeem himself. This agonizing quest to recover his dignity in front of his own eyes leads him to hide in a very remote point in the Malayan peninsula, where he will become the hero, the strong man, the wise protector of underdeveloped, humble and ignorant people. Jim finds not only the love of his people, but also the love of a woman who admires him and fears the day when he might leave for good. The narrator, Captain Marlow (the same of "Heart of Darkness") talks to Jim for the last time in his remote refuge, and then Jim tells him that he has redeemed himself by becoming the people's protector. Oh, but these things are never easy and Jim will face again the specter of failure.

Conrad has achieved a great thing by transforming the "novel of adventures" into the setting for profound and interesting reflections on the moral stature of Man, on courage, guilt, responsibility, and redemption.

Just as in "Heart of Darkness" the question is what kinds of beings we are stripped of cultural, moral and religious conventions; just as in "Nostromo" the trustworthiness of a supposedly honest man is tested by temptation, in "Lord Jim" the central subject is dignity and redemption after failure.

A great book by one of the best writers.