Very solid fantasy which rapidly draws the reader into the fully realised world that Preiss and Reaves have created for this wonderful novel about dragons, mystical Pearls, political intrigue, and the attempt at justice for the murders of three children. This novel came highly recommended, and I've a story brewing in my head about dragons and humans. The relationship between these two races has always been of chief interest to me in fantasy literature and one of my chief pleasures from this book was the stately and regal relationship the dragons had with the humans and how myth had obscured the memories and must be reinstated. The political world in this book is crucial in this regard.

The comparison to Tolkien is not unjust, although DRAGONWORLD lies much more closer to THE HOBBIT than THE LORD OF THE RINGS. There simply will never be another LR. We do not get a conflict on the cosmic level here that is the central plot of THE LORD OF THE RINGS. If Frodo fails, the entire world is ensnared in the Darkness of Sauron. If the characters in this novel fail, the cold drakes will prevail. Although this is an assumption, it is a very reasonable one: in as highly detailed a world that Preiss and Reaves create, there most be other societies and cultures present in this particular sphere, and it is hinted at by the one of the characters.

DRAGONWORLD deals with two nations plunged in war when their efforts should be concentrated upon their common foe. The authors guide the reader through these predominant terrains: the farmlands and villages of Fandora, the forests and battlefields of Simbala, and the cold land of the Drakes and their lairs. There also is a good scene of the crossing of the Fandoran troops over the Strait of Balomar, a very dangerous episode where one of the characters get to show their metal and grow in character development.

One of Preiss's and Reave's greatest strengths are creating fully developed characters who, without fail, draw you into the book. Another great facet about this book is there are really no true villains in the work. The worst character is Mesor, who cares only about his personal ambition thru Evirae. Evirae, the best candidate for the central villain, comes off as a foolish young woman who comes across not really as wholly evil but as wholly childish. Her ambition for ruling prevents her from being fully human, and generally the reader does not conceptualise her as formidable evil but a spoiled brat who's playing with a very real, hot fire who needs punished. The Darkling, the chief of the coldrakes, is not truly a villain, for in his mind he is acting in his races' best interest. Your sympathies are stretched to what would be a breaking point in writers who were unable to maintain the realism these characters demand, but Preiss and Reave's pull it off beautifully.

Another great element in this book is how each side most come to terms with people on their own side. Throughout the book, Fandorans are at conflict with Fandorans, and Simbalese in conflict with Simbalese. This book deals with a big pet peeve of mine. Because Amsel has a scientific mind and he can do things which are seemingly at odds with the natural world yet in actuality is only taking advantage of the natural laws, the Fandorans call him a sorcerer and a Simbalese spy. This is partially Amsel's fault for isolating himself, and his character is being developed in this fashion throughout the novel. Those who react in ignorance and do not listen can cause much harm, as this novel aptly illustrates.

The political complexities and the ingenuity stands in sharp contrast with the simple way of life of the Fandorans, and both have much to offer to one another. Preiss's and Reave's usage of the political world in this book is crucial as it supplies much of the tension in the book from the Simbalese end. Hawkwind, the Monarch of Simbala, most constantly deal with the fact that he was a miner who defeated the Kuln* and that he is a commoner who has risen to power by Ephirion's hand, the former monarch. Much of the novel is Hawkwind trying to manage the war effort as well as dealing with these attempted overthrows, and with the help of Ceria, his lover and a Rayan (who is also looked down upon by the Royal Family in particular and Simbala in general), he makes a fascinating monarch indeed, and a fully competent one at that. Because of their skills as writers, Preiss and Reaves have you cheering and hoping and then turning those hopes on their ear and bringing you into another character's situation and hoping they will make it through safe.

As for my own favorite scene, there is a beautiful commentary on art where the soldiers of Fandora must use iron sculptures for weapons. The owner does not want to allow the soldiers to take them. I won't spoil the scene for you. It's a wonderful comment on art and the power and beauty it holds.

Another favorite scene of mine is the voting process in which the Royal Family must decide on how they will react to the invasion of the Fandoran Troops. Great scene, so watch out for it.

As for the ending, it is rather good and keeps you turning the page and the book ends setting up the sequel, which, as far as I know, Preiss and Reaves have not delivered. Le Guin has just this year published an anthology of novellas about Earth-sea (TALES FROM EARTH-SEA) and a new novel (THE OTHER WIND) in that particular series, so never rule out the possibility of letting these excellent writers revealing more of this world to us in the future.

*Kuln: Cave demons that are sadly unexploited, as they sound very interesting and could have made for wonderful characters as villains.

I found this book in my school library (in 7th grade? I can't remember) and just LOVED. It was the first true fantasy book of great size that I've read. Like the other reviewer, it was the illustraed version I read. The book invokes fantastic images of the wrold it's in. It's been almost 5 years since I've read it, and still I can call to mind some of the various events in it. A boy dies of a tragic accident. Blame is put on a country across the sea and their flying ships. A journey is made. Huge trees that contain whole homes. Mysterious jewels and a dragon they are connected too. Some evil plots by a woman with extremely long nails. And the coldrakes (well, not dragons anyways) that are lead by a half dragon/half coldrake (I think) that is the cause of much trouble. The book is superb, and if I could buy it from my old school's librarien I would. (The same person who bought the 1st editition Belgariad paperback that I read at that same Library.) You'll love it if you can find it! (and please remember that I can barely remember what happened in it!)

This book wraps one into it's story like a dream. I HIGHLY recommend it to all who love daydreams and dragons. If you have a child or the child within needs a release, get this book. I was looking for a part two, hoping to read how Amsel and the the story continues. If you find one let me know :-)

'Tis true my form is something odd
but blaming me is blaming God,
Could I create myself anew
I would not fail in pleasing you.

If I could reach from pole to pole
or grasp the ocean with a span,
I would be measured by the soul -
the mind's the standard of the man.

I bought this book many years ago, unfortunately I made the mistake of lending it to someone and I never got it back. This is a remarkable book. I was touched by Joseph Merrick years ago. For the past nine years, I have been running the Joseph Carey Merrick Tribute Website. It is a site dedicated to Joseph, the person - not Joseph, the disability. I'm presently heading a London and Leicester (UK) campaign to have a commemorative plaque erected in his honour. He deserves to have a permanent tribute. He has done a great deal to advance medical science, through his skeleton, and thanks to him, there will one day be a cure for Proteus Syndrome. It's time the world said 'thank you'. Please give your moral support by visiting the site. I'm not sure if web addresses can be mentioned here, so simply type the following in your web browser: Joseph Carey Merrick Tribute Website

I inherited this book from a deceased family member. I had heard about David Lynch's movie about The Elephant Man, but I never saw it. Reading this book made me cry and empathize with Joseph Carey Merrick for his condition and the ostractize he received from the world based on his looks and not his soul.

Joseph Carey Merrick was the real Elephant Man not a fictional character. Joseph had a loving mother that died when he was a child and his father moved and remarried. His step-mother didn't like him and scorned him for his looks and his inability to find work due to his lameness, telling him that what she fed him was more than he earned. Eventually he refused to return home for meals because he didn't want to listen to step-mother barate him anymore. His father stopped looking for him, but did get him a hawker's license to hawk wares on the street. But people were afraid of him and would not buy his wares, and he acquired a gathering of curious people around him. His uncle gave him shelter for a while, but Joseph left there too. He worked in the workhouse a place of refuge and work for the poor and destitute for 3 years, but hated it and left. He ended up being exhibited as a sideshow freak under the name of "The Elephant Man" because his congenital deformity made it so that he resemble that of an elephant (or so the posters showed him to resemble). When he was at Whitechapel Road, across the street from the London Hospital Dr. Treves saw him for the first time and brought him to the hospital to examine him. Over the next few years Joseph was exhibited, his managers robbed him of his life savings and left. Joseph went back to Whitechapel Road and to the care of the only friend he knew . . . Dr. Treves. He spent his remaining years under the friendship and care of the staff at the London Hospital.

I loved this story. Michael Howell and Peter Ford told a true and compassionate account of Joseph Merrick's life. A man who was like any other human being with hopes and dreams with one setback.. His congenital deformity that prohibited his ability to be like, and experience and sleep lying down on his back like other people. Through all of years and hardships, Joseph was scared, but kind and kept a calm serenity inside himself about his condition. He had so much gratitude for the staff and his new friends who helped him, he made cardboard models and sent these things to those people who saw to his care in his appreciation for their help. The book also includes pictures how Merrick looked when he was admitted to the London Hospital, and a display of his skeleton after death.

I first read the original article on the elephant man Joseph Merrick by Dr Treves in a magazine in the mid 1970s. I then saw the movie in 1980. The movie peaked my interest for further info so I bought the book. The book not only goes into extensive detail of the disease but goes also extensively into Joseph Merrick's life as well as life in the Victorian era as it effected the common man. The imagery of the period was brought out by the writers: the London Hospital, the surrounding area, the showmen and their lives, etc. The research was very detailed, although later after the book's publication we learned of the possibility that Merrick suffered from Proteus and not pneumofibromatosis. This book should be read by anybody interested in these diseases as well as anybody interested in this time period.

Skakun's experiences are comparable to those of Yehuda Nir in "The Lost Childhood" and Moshe Perlman in "Europa, Europa". The crowning irony is Skakun's (almost) joining the Waffen SS in order to hide his Jewish identity, and to survive. However, there are just a few errors of background historical fact which mar "On Burning Ground". E.g., on page 203 Julius Streicher is named as the founder of the Nazi paper "Volkische Beobachter". This is wrong. Streicher founded "Der Sturmer". Volkische Beobachter was an outgrowth of "Munchener Beobachter", a paper purchased and re-founded by Dietrich Eckart. This is the sort of mistake that better editing might have caught. But "On Burning Ground" still stands as a riveting account of survival through quick thinking and a lot of luck.

I have always had a deep interest in the Holocaust, I think it is because of the fact that it occured so recent in our history, it is so incredible that in our modern society, a country such as Germany was so willing to carry out such a morbid and shockingly sinister plan of brutality and murder. That ordinary citizens could be so callous and treacherous,...I am amazed!

Joseph Skakun, a Jewish Holocaust survivor, takes us on a journey into his mind numbing past. Divine intervention, solid logic and humblness, play a major role in his reason for survival.

Personally I think this story is very unique and wouldn't be surprised to see it become a movie.

What can I add to the above? Not much. I rarely read Holocaust memoirs, but this one was amazing. Michael's father, Joseph, a Talmudic scholar with blue eyes and blond hair, who tried to save his mother in Navaredok/Novogrudek Poland, failed, and fled to the forests and to Vilna. As a circumcised male in Vilna, Joseph took on the identity of a Muslim Tatar, studied Islam, and became a foreign laborer in Berlin. A hidden Jew pretending to be a Muslim living in the Nazi capital during the War. And then he enlisted in the SS!

The book was about a young boy who was having vision at an early age. Not only that he was very ill when he had his first vision. At the end he became a Shaman which is closed enoughed as being a preist.

Black Elk has channeled a deeply spiritual work from the Great Spirit, and in my mind will become another of the worlds holiest scriptures. Black Elk has lifted his self to saint hood right alongside the great ones. I love his work. I would recommend this book to all spiritual aspirants.

The whole of creation is essentially one, all parts within the whole are related...realize that at the center dwells Wakan Tanka, and that center is really everywhere, it is within each of us... May we walk with love and mercy upon the path which is holy... "Mita kuye oyasin!"

Mr. Brown actualy lived with Ben Black Elk's family for a period of time while gathering material for this book, and he has the accurate information.

This book has several nice photos of the famous holy man Nick Black Elk.

Questions or comments E-Mail me. Two Bears

Wah doh Ogedoda

You really do have to be a Catholic to truly appreciate this wonderful book. As a Catholic schoolgirl entering her eleventh year in Catholic school (scary, isn't it?), I can fully relate to this. I honestly don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my entire life.

You know what the funniest thing about this book is? Everything in it is true...from the different kinds of nuns to Father What-a-Waste (sigh); from the description of mortal and venial sins to the purchasing of pagan babies. Well, they don't sell pagan babies anymore, but they did in my mother's day.

Even a staunch Catholic like my grandmother would have to crack a smile at the descriptive, colorful language and the abfab portrayal of the sometimes ridiculous traditions of the world's most scandalous, under-fire church. This book is a must-read for all Roman Catholics, practicing or no.

I laughed all the way through this, which must be a sin! If you are a Catholic like me you will remember everything this book talks about. In fact, I had forgotten a lot of it. I'm a little surprised it did not go into Knights of Columbus Halls (a.k.a. - the Catholic bar) and Bingo (a.k.a. - Catholic gambling) a little more. But heck, they sure covered everything else. I have to go now, I have to finish crossing myself and say a few dozen hail Mary's.

...because if you went to Catholic school, you can relate. I first read this book ten years ago when I was in Catholic school, and the nuns didn't take it away from me (amazing!). I laughed my a** off. For those of you who have read it and aren't Catholic, yes, we do practice for everything, yes, the nuns are that bad (but they don't have clickers anymore). This book is hilarious. Please, please get it and read it, cover to cover. You will laugh every time you read it.

This handbook is a shorter version of the textbook of Natural Medicine published a few years ago by the first two authors. The three present authors are all affiliated with the Bastyr University, Washington in the United States. This college of naturopathic medicine was established in 1978 by Les Griffith, Bill Mitchell and Joe Pizzorno in the name of their teacher John Bastyr. He was one of the pioneers of natural medicine, who had grown up with a father pharmacist and a mother interested in healthy living in the beginning of the 1900 in Seattle.
The Bastyr University today offers the student acupuncture and oriental medicine, applied behavioral science, exercise science and wellness, nerbal sciences, nutrition, psychology with a health concentration, spirituality, health and medicine. Joe Pizzorno, a former midwife, co-founder and past president of the University has been instrumental in bringing scientific methods to natural medicine and setting educational standards for teaching in this field.
This book has 74 chapters or entries on 74 common diseases from Acne to viral pharyngitis and a useful index. Each entry is arranged in a reader friendly way with therapeutic flow charts to help in the decision making process. You will find information on diet, supplements and natural medicine treatments and when needed also traditional medicine options.
The book can be recommended to the therapist interested in learning about natural medicine options in various diseases and for the physician interested in using natural medicine in addition or sometimes instead of traditional drugs...

I am so happy with this book. The information in it is well organized. The reccommended treatments include the scientific data/studies that support the modality. This is the best written handbook of natural health that I have found.

An easy and maths free introduction to the world of A.E. However, some of the more silly and irrelevant cartoons might distract the reader.

All in all, not a bad introduction to A.E. (In fact a damn good place to start discovering relativity). My grouse is that it does not cover all of A.E.'s works. The treatment of relativity touches the tip of the ice-berg only, so to speak.

Still, it really makes you want to read more about A.E.'s works, at least for this reader.

This book is about the Theory of Relativity and a bit about how it was developed. The author done a wonderful job in teaching it in a very easy way and also showing the details of the theory (not being only superficial), like equations etc. You see, the deduction of the equations he done in a great way that everyone can easily understand (it's not like the appendix in the Einstein's book about relativity which I never understood). Of course this "deduction" is not formal, but it helps a lot to understand how it works and how they got to the theory.

Einstein for Beginners acts more as a visual representation of Einsteins work. An easy to read format for anyone interested in knowing Einsteins theories without the mind-boggling formulas. I would suggest this as a place to begin. A nice read, although the theories one still needs to comprehend. The author, Joseph Schwartz puts it in a perspective that both challenges and educates. Highly reccomended!

The delightful legend of the Ong's Hat travel cult has been posted in the form of the Incunabula Papers since the earliest days of BBS and Internet communications. The mythos is an historical and cultural curiosity for that reason alone.

Has the great world-mind of the telecommunication infrastructure begun to breed its own myths? The elusiveness of the Incunabula's original proponents, Emory Cranston (a pseudonym) and Joseph Matheny (his real name), has spawned wild speculation that the Ong's Hat legend is nothing but a media hoax. However there is a dark side to this story that has never been fully told, which may help explain their circumspection.

What began as an heretical Islamic sect founded in the early 1900s by Black circus magician, Noble Drew Ali, evolved over the century into a techno-tantric commune whose members managed to escape this befouled world into a pristine, Edenic parallel universe, a New Jersey Pine Barrens devoid of inhabitants. This latter rag-tag group built the "Egg" - a glistening Faberge-like device that enabled trans-dimensional travel into unpopulated mirror worlds (per the Everett-Wheeler-Graham model). A special quantum-tantric feature allowed passage for two occupants while they made love, irrespective of their race, age or gender.

But wait, there's more! Add to this mix a benevolent race of humanoids descended from Javanese lemurs on a parallel Earth, capable of dimensional shift without machinery, who have been world tripping for thousands of years. You've got your chaos; sex magick; applied quantum physics; shadow conspiracy; crypto-palaeontology and enlightenment hopes all wrapped up in one neat package. What the Hell more do you want?

There are few conspiracy theories quite as enchanting as the story of the abandoned village of Ong's Hat, New Jersey and the happenings there in the late 1960's-early 1970's. The account involves renegade Princeton researchers, lesbian anarchists, Paramus runaways and Chaos theoreticians who together achieved the most important scientific breakthrough of humankind's history: the ability to travel - instantaneously - to the remotest parts of the universe, perhaps even into other universes inhabiting other dimensions.

Narrated by Joseph Matheny, an investigative reporter who - following up cryptic leads on the internet - discovered the OH story decades later, this must surely rank among the most unusual Alternative History works ever published.

Various related accounts of the Ong's Hat commune-cum-research facility have been posted in the form of the "Incunabula Papers" since the earliest days of BBS's and the internet. Irrespective of the veracity of these accounts, the mythos is of great historical and sociological interest for that reason alone.

The elusiveness of the Incunabula's authors has given rise to a host of theories that the Ong's Hat legend is nothing but a "media hoax," or a vastly exaggerated account of actual events there. There is, however, a dark side to this story that has never been fully told, which may help explain their circumspection. That 'dark side' is amply hinted at, if not expressly revealed, in this fascinating volume.

Dive into the depths of "Alternative History" with this fascinating work that is a pure pleasure to read.

I strongly recommend it to all serious students of social ephemera. It probably wouldn't hurt physicists to give it a gander as well.

Before the continents assumed their present shape, countless ages before intelligent protohominids walked erect and began using tools, aeons before alphabets and settled agriculture were new-fangled things, Ong's Hat - a now deserted village in southernmost New Jersey (USA) - was fated to become the most important point in all of space and time, the nexus of uncountable quanta of probability matrices joining at the confluence of those temporal rivers known as past, present and future.

Since the event known as "the Opening of the Gate" occurred at Ong's Hat these thirty-four years ago, much of the paltry amount of writing on that cosmic shifting of gears has been of an intendedly "disinformational" character, for reasons made apparent in this volume. Dr. Matheny and others have sifted through a mass of such spurious reportage to uncover neat and naked the truth of what occurred, why it was made to occur and the continuing consequences for all of humankind.

Dr. Joseph Matheny and his collaborators have produced a breathtakingly scholarly work in writing "The Incunabula Papers: Ong's Hat and Other Gateways to New Dimensions," which is a tour-de-force not only of the Ong's Hat incident, but of quantum mechanics, temporal theory and the systematic theology of Moorish Orthodoxy as well.

I wholeheartedly and unreservedly recommend this masterwork to all serious students of the Ong's Hat phenomena.

This book covers all the important manuscripts of the early Church. This volume excells in its coverage of the earliest Church documents. The only draw back is the lack of Justin Martyr's Apologies. Other than that this book is an excellent source for reading about the Apostolic Fathers.

Being both a neophyte in the faith of Christianity and the history of the Church, my hunger for reading both the Bible and other early Christian manuscripts has flourished. How does one come to the truth in a faith that is so full of opinion in doctrine, and misunderstood tradition? I guess if I knew that answer, I wouldn't be so involved in searching these texts. Regardless, I do trust that the truth is there, and that the Spirit has both lead and will lead me to it.

This book has been one of those occasions in which I feel that the Spirit and God's timing were working in me. At a time when all of the negative parts of the Church were bringing me down, this text has helped me to focus on what is really important in my faith, my walk with Christ.

To begin, the works of such early martyrs such as Polycarp, help one to see just what was going on in the mind of a man of faith who knows that he will be honored to recieve the same persecutions as his Lord. In this day and age, the idea or desire of such a sacrifice is alien to the majority of Christians, and other than 2 Maccabees, is only hinted at in the Bible.

Also, to have a glimpse of what was happening in the church shortly after the demise of the apostles, is very enlightening. Although the scraps that make up quotations of the lost letters of Papias are less than adequate, one finds that early after the distribution of Revelation, the argument over a millenial kingdom raged. Since Papias was under the tutilage of John (the elder, or the apostle, I won't argue that one) in Ephesis, his point of veiw on this matter should not be ignored, though he was proclaimed a heretic later on.

Finally, the most important aspects of this text is the concern that these early Church leaders had in the direction that the Church was leading. Questions that popped up at these times were and still are very important to the understanding of how one walks in the faith after one has come to it. These texts are strong in explaining the importance of a life of good works and the importance of unity amongst the congregations.

Also, we get a glimpse of what was happening at that troublesome Church in Corinth after the apostles were no longer an influence. In a way, some of the most practical instruction has been written because of this Church, and they didn't stop in needing more after Paul's demise.

This book is a must-have for any Christian who wants to know the historical and theological roots of his/her faith. It shows that many "recent controversies" in the church were present from the very beginning--and answered effectively by men steeped in the Old Testament and the Gospel.

The book's subtitle, "Tradition and the Historical Record," sums it all up very well.

The authors take an amazingly detailed look at the traditional history of the Mormon Church (pre 1830 for the most part), and compare it closely with contemporary documents. (i.e. property deeds, census, etc.)

In order to really understand this book, you may consider using a whiteboard to draw out the timelines. This should help you to understand the contradictions between what the traditional record is, and what historical records reveal. Otherwise, you will probably have a potpourri of dates shuffling around your head.

Very detailed and difficult to get into.
It belabors chronological events to the point of boredom. This said, it is a necessary exercise to determine the timing of events such as the First Vision of Joseph Smith, the visit of Moroni, etc.

Just don't read it passively. It's insightful and mostly balanced.
Though it does rely heavily on Eber Howe's biased affidavits regarding Joseph Smith's involvement in treasure digging. I remain unconvinced of their inherent historical value.

An in-depth look at Joseph Smith's world and how it shaped the founder of the LDS. An interesting read for those interested in Mormon history.

Good labor and a hard sweat aer earmarks of a good book. You must credit Wesley for the detailed footnotes that pepper this book, and make it firm in all things.

Things change, and I guess that is the essence of Mormonism. All is not what it was, but we can live with that since we know it is wrong.

This book is totally on the mark, since ther eis transion, change, and evolution, and Mormonism's progess is evidecne of its falsity. Good cannot get better.

On page 27, the page number is missing, and the word "Moroni" should be "Alma." The index was rather weak for my staste, but the binding held up as is cross-refernced the informatiopn with my otehr books. YOu can never have too good of a binding in a book.