Just got my copy and man, does it make my head spin with such meticulous detail! I'm taking it down to the Hollywood Hills coffee shop (although never a Dean haunt) to read while listening to his great music in a big red booth! Bravo, Mr. Chintala!

Let's Talk Marriage: A Guide For Couples Preparing To Marry focuses on the role of communication in married life. Dean Lueking (visiting professor at Lutheran Seminary, Bratislava, Slovakia and retired from the pastorate at Grace Lutheran Church, River Forest, Illinois) offers affirmation appropriate to couples who are already confident in their relationship but require some degree of practical assistance in getting at the touchier issues of marital relationships often difficult to address directly. Replete with questions and comments designed to help a couple begin conversations which will reveal personal interests and need, Let's Talk Marriage also surveys and discusses the physical side of married life while providing insights into the benefits of basing a marriage upon shared spiritual values. Let's Talk Marriage is strongly recommended, practical, and insightful reading for anyone planning to enter the life-long bonds of matrimony.

This collection of short stories is absolutely wonderful. It includes Sci/Fi stories about Hell, Trolls, and the absolute worst wish ever imagined. I've read this book a number of times and it never fails to make me burst into laughter.

This book has it all, a great case study and plenty of worked examples.. the really good thing is this inst theory it all actually happened.

Its full of easy to implement branding ideas for just about any web site.

Great book, funny in places so it makes it enjoyable to read as it is.

This book is a wonderful book and it shows how all of us Christians still struggle just like anyone else does but God will always show us through all of our dark times. We were praying for Martin and Gracia for the whole year. Her strength and his is just amazing. She shares her personal struggles and also her triumphs during these dark times that her and Martin endured. Please take the time to get and read this book. It will definitely change your life and make you look at life in a whole new light. God is a wonderful God if you know Him as your Lord and Savior. We love you Gracia and thanks for sharing Martin's story with us!

Even though I knew from news accounts that Martin Burnham was killed during the bungled rescue attempt, it still hit me with such force when I read of his needless death in the jungle. He was a true hero and a man of God. He could have escaped but would not leave his wife behind with such merciless men. I was horrified by the attitudes of those terrorists, even though I should not have been surprised. I read Daughter of Jerusalem, An American's Woman's Journey of Faith, and I learned about the absence of personal accountability and and the absence of mercy in the cultures fostered by Islam. Gracia is a woman of valor and I give thanks for her and Martin.

This is an incredible account of two people who found themselves held against their will for over a year. Not only were they held against their will, but also they were mistreated and lied to on a consistent basis. The story was truly amazing, a demonstration of how love and kindness can be shown in the most adverse of circumstances. Yet the most interesting part of the book was the contrast of the captors' view of God (Allah) and the Burnhams' view of God.

I found it absolutely terrifying at how the Abu Sayyaf captors viewed and responded to their concept of God. At the same time, I was amazed at how Martin and Gracia Burnham responded to their concept of God. In the jungles of the Philippines, theory and debate about abstract terms were not important. These two groups of people lived their day-by-day lives based on their views of God. This story is an amazing apologetic for and attestation to the Christian view of God. Every Muslim should read this book and face the questions that the story so obviously brings to the forefront.

I read the book in two days. I could not put it down. But I found the last chapter the most remarkable. If nothing else, read this chapter.

The Dean brothers are 2 of the most innovative artists of the 20th century. Roger has designed many of Yes and Asia's album covers (Drama, Yesshows, Asia, and Alpha are all featured in this book!), designed tour posters and booklets for other major rock bands and contributed on the Album Cover Album books. His brother Martyn has designed many of Yes' stage sets (Topographic Oceans, Drama, and Relayer) and has acted as Yes' photographer both for album shots and on tour. Together and seperately, Roger and Martyn have also worked on animation, video games, architecture, and an invention of Martyn's which is called a retreat pod (sort of like a futuristic sleeping bag with the options of an entertainment center!). I'd like to see this gem back in print and see a 3rd volume where Roger and Martyn have left off since this was published.

Creating a sucessor to VIEWS is a hard enough concept, but Roger Dean has produced another master document of his work. Following along the same path as his first book, again we get the album size/shape presentation and tons of full color reproductins of Dean's sketches and renderings. This book was the first whereby I truly grasped Dean's illustrations as architechtural renderings, as lots of the projects covered in this volume are 3D projects worked on with his brother Martyn: built YES stages, modelling retreat pods and designing home and buildings. Imagine a YES album cover as a dwelling, and grab this book to show you how and why it is possible. Stunning follow-up, fantastic production values not seen often in modern paperbacks.

A blend of many different art forms, they combine architecture, fantasy art, music. How can two men be able to design for all areas of life. Read this book to find out. I have owned a copy for fifteen years and still find something new each time.

If you love Dean Martin this is definetly the book for you!! I actually put the book down and stopped reading it to make it last longer. It was wonderful! Ricci takes you to their home and places you right there to watch their life unfold. I laughed at the good times and cried with the sad times. Makes me want to turn back the clock of time. This book is well written. The love of a son for his father & family is apparent. Now that I have read it, I will definetly read it again. This is a must read!!!!

Ever since I can remember, I have been a fan of Dean Martin, and after reading this book I no longer wonder why. Ricci tells us what I always suspected, that Dean was real, he was a loving person, a good Dad and his son reports he didn't put himself above anyone else. I like that in a person. I remember seeing the lovely Olympic Ice Skater Dorothy Hamill interviewed on TV, shortly after Dean's death several years ago and she said he was one of the kindest people she ever met. Dorothy had been married at one time to Dean's son, Dino, of the 1960's Rock'N Roll Band, Dino, Desi & Billy. There are some wonderful photos in the book, heart-warming memories from his son and an insight to life must have felt like having a super star for a father, although I got the impression Dean was very much a regular guy once he arrived home after work. The book has some great (funny!)stories about Ricci and his brother, Dean Paul (Dino). How I wish I could have seen Dean in Vegas with his buddies on stage. This book could have been a few hundred pages longer! Good job, Ricci, thanks for sharing memories of your father and your family with us. Funny I could write this review without mentioning Dean's wonderful singing voice, and who in the world didn't love to listen to Dean!

I am a huge Dean Martin fan and when I went to Vegas and discovered that Ricci Martin was going to be at the Riveria, I jumped at the chance to meet him. I expected him to be a stuck up man, who would just tell about him father and try to promote his book. Boy was I wrong.

He started the concert off by talking about his father and what he really was like. The stories touched me so much that I almost cried. I was surprised to see that Dino was, infact, a family man and how much love his son had for him. He talked about him with such admiration that it showed just how great of a man his father really was. Ricci sang many of his father's songs with such passion.

I discovered that Ricci was a down to earth person. After the show, I came up to him and we talked for about 10 min. He was surprised that a 17 year old enjoys his father's music. He gave me a hug, a kerchief, and autographed my ticket for my boyfriend.

I have not yet read the book, but because of this expiernce, I definately will. Seeing Ricci Martin connected me with someone who I have never had the pleasure of seeing in my time, which is a shame.

This book was really good. I am a big Dean Koontz fan, and was wicked excited to see this book. However, this book has it's flaws: one major flaw is that it tells WAY too much stuff about his novels, i.e. secrets that you learn in the climax of the suspense are told throughout the book. What's more, it was made in 1994, it has missed a lot of newer books since then, including Dark Rivers of the Heart, Intensity, TickTock, Sole Survivor, Fear Nothing, Seize the Night, and False Memory. It should be revised every time Koontz comes out with a new book. There is plenty more I need to know about Koontz than is told here, therefore it could stand some improvements. Oh, well. All in all it was good.

Anyone who enjoys Mr Koontz's work should get a real kick out of this book. You come to know the forces that shaped him into the writer we have all come to love. If you're curious about what impact the grep had in his life, this book will tell you the answers (actually, it wont tell you anything...you have to read it...unless you get the book on audio cassette, then it will tell you) Seriously, this is a book I would highly recommend to anyone who would like to read a story of one mans struggle to recieve a paycheck for something he loves (an what a paycheck it must be!!) And he must be a hell-of-a-guy for his wife to do what she did for him. PLEASE BUY THIS BOOK AND ENJOY.

If you are a Dean Koontz reader, you must be curious where he got his unique imagination and peculiar style. This is a funny and creative explanation of his life and work. It is not just a chronological biography, but a creative touch of this and that. FULL OF HUMOR!

As one of the poets featured in Will Work for Peace, one might expect me to be a bit biased, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Most poets work in a virtual vacuum, only tenuously connected to each other by the occasional workshop or shared membership in a 'poetry society'. When Brett Axel first approached me for a submission to an anthology he was considering, the names Marge Piercy, Lyn Lifshin, Moshe Bennaroch and so many others were abstractions to me as a fledgling poet. I knew these tremendous writers were 'out there' somewhere, beating down doors with their words and keeping a struggling artform alive. But to think that someday I would ever share a credit with these dynamic modern poets would be a pipe dream at best. It is through the sincere efforts of Brett Axel that many newer voices like mine have an extraordinary opportunity to appear with Pulitzer Prize winners and other poetic heavyweights. By way of an honest review, however, I will say this- not everything in this book will be to your particular liking. I myself came across some works that did not move me in the way the author may have intended. Some imagery can be raw and visceral, using shock value in place of craft at times. But to ignore those voices would be an even more shocking turn of events, so praise be to the editor for not sacrificing his vision to a senseless conformity. As Pete Seeger so aptly put it in his quote, trying to read all these poems at one time would be like trying 'to swallow Manhattan whole'. I say to you- buy this book, read this book, but understand that it's what you do after reading this book that will ultimately define who you could be. Poetry is alive and well, and lives in the blunt pages of Will Work for Peace.

Just amazing start to finish! I like the disregard for fame used in putting the book together. That great poems got in even if they were writtenby nobodys. Look at Roger Bonair-Agard's poem on page 74. Shortly after Will Work For Peace came out he won Slam Nationals, becoming Slam Champion of 1999, which will be getting him lots of offers. But Zeropanik Press didn't need to be told he was good by an award. They could tell by his writing! Good for them and good for all of us because Will Work For Peace is a literary milestone. It's a new standard for all future anthology editors to try to live up to. Thumbs up to Brett Axel and Thumbs up to Zeropanik Press for their guts and integrty.

Brett Axel visited my Church and I bought a copy of Will Work For Peace from him, not for poetry, but because I care about working for peace. I started reading through it thinking It'd just go on my shelf and that'd be the end of it, but the book grabbed me and kept me rivited. If I had known that poetry was this alive I'd have been into poetry. I've been reading some of the poems to my friends who also didn't think poetry was important and they are saying the same thing. Fantastic! There's no way to get through this book without having your old mindsets challenged. It's funny, powerful, sad, and uplifting. A book that deserves to be read by everyone. A book that really can make the world a better place!

This is a must read for any admirer of all those great television variety shows, as well as the many fans of Rat Packer Dean Martin. The ONLY book written by anyone who EVEN MET Dean Martin, author Lee Hale spent nearly two decades with him as musical director and later his producer. Aptly titled, "Backstage at the Dean Martin Show" is an exciting and loving inside look behind the scenes documenting this great top ten show and its star, with fascinating anecdotes of the biggest names in the business. I caught myself laughing out loud, then I would turn a page and be totally blown away by something that I didn't expect.

Mr. Hale divides his book into one chapter for each TV season, with extra ones going beyond to 'The Golddiggers', 'The Roasts' and 'The Specials', with over 200 color and b&w photos of great stars, most never before seen. The index itself lists hundreds of celebrities from Hank Aaron to Ed Wynn.

As chairman of the current 'Dean Martin Fan Center', and someone who was actually there at NBC during those golden years, I was lucky to have a firsthand look at the Dean Martin Show phenomenon, but Lee Hale uses a magnifying lens... and no one can get closer than this! It is truly a wonderful story from the bizaare beginnings to the touching end. I can't say enough!

admin@deanmartinfancenter.com

Lee Hale lived, breathed, and helped run the Dean Martin Show for its duration, even when the variety show was no more, replaced by the Dean Martin Roasts. Lee actually played Dino during rehearsals, so got to meet and know all of the stars that guested on his show. If you loved the show, as I did growing up, you will be fascinated by this inside look (Dino's wife Jeannie loved it, as she knew nothing about it either! )into one of the most successful variety shows of all history. A warning, however, is: don't expect to learn a lot about Dino; his manager didn't let Lee (or anyone else) get especially close to him, just small talk from time to time; the only extraordinary insight from Lee regarding Dino was that YES, that WAS scotch in his glass! Actually, Lee, an observant man, made several interesting observations of this legenday performer as he drifted away from his wife and pursued what can only be describecd as a mid-life crisis, "Rat Pack Style", which in the end, he seemed to highly regret. To wrap it up, the book was a lot of fun, its a good read; its chock full of photos of the likes of Duke Wayne, Orson Welles, etc, so you can't lose! Give it a try!

"Backstage at the Dean Martin Show" is a body of work with three bloodlines...

TV variety shows,talented stars, and Dean Martin. If you are a fan of any three, you will find how they mixed together through the 'heart' of the "Dean Martin Show", with the 'eyes and ears' of Lee Hale, musical director-turned-producer.

Starting his internship with the credit "Special Musical Material By...", Mr. Hale was responsible for every note that was heard on the series. He was also the one responsible for choosing every girl that provided the'skin' (Deanís Golddiggers and Dingaling Sisters), and later utilized his 'hands' at editing, which won Mr. Hale an Emmy nomination (one of many).

The 'guts' of the Dean Martin show had a lot of vital parts, and Mr. Hale tells us which ones were kept and which were operated on or replaced. Of course,the heart of the book is in the soul of Dean Martin, the body whom Lee Hale also stood in for six days a week, dancing, singing and joking with EVERY guest star that was admitted through those star crossed doors at NBC.

The whole operation was a phenomenal success and now you can see the itemized bill... from who was admitted, who paid their dues, to the life support and what led to everyone finally being discharged.

This book won't be in anyone's waiting room... it will always be in someone's hands reading it!