Raymon F. Adams for many years has has collected books about the Wild West badmen and studied the contents of these books. "Never would I have believed," he writes, "that so much false, inaccurate, and garbled history could have found its way into print." This book is where you should start if you wish to sort the harsh facts from titillative fancy.

Was there ever a book that took telling the truth about the American West so seriously? Although Adams destoys many of the cherished myths, the Rose of Cimmaron ,Wild Bill Hick's heroic battle with the McCanles gang, the basic Robin Hood attitude of Jesse James, what emerges in its place is a gritty, much more believable and much more interesting story.
Arranged as a series of essays on the basic truthfulness of scores of works on Western history, this is an essential addition to any Western library, highly recommended

I like this book, it's very interesting. I don't usually like to read but I enjoyed this book because it was interesting. It kept you guessing at what was going to happen next, and I liked the way some of the words were spelled; it showed how they pronounced the words. If you like suspense, then I would recommend this book.

It was just so awsome and my imagination is still bogiling from the solving of the mysteries like Jake Dunlap stealing the diamonds.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It certainly contains timeless truths and information that one can receive nowhere else. Yet at times there is an offensive condescending tone and an "attitude" that is quite judgmental while repeatedly claiming to be no such thing. Portions of this book were inspiring and portions really angered me -- I found myself arguing hotly over certain elements (to no one in particular). For example, liberalism is condemned more severely than conservatism -- as I read it, at least. One semi-serious flaw (creating dependency) is magnified beyond endurance, while the multitude of beneficent effects on the human condition are brushed aside. Parts of the book are dated now, as well. Still, for serious Alexander readers, the book is worth the effort, but I would begin with "Earthly Cycles."

Whatever happened to Divine Grace is behind Ramon Stevens other book Conscious Life one of the best channeled books I have ever read. The book gives support, faith and clearance. Things needed sometimes in these days.

I was disapointed in reading this bio.It left so many things unanswered, in my opinion.Mr.Novarro deserved something more than a thumbnail sketch of his life.I felt that the author skimmed the reader through Mr.Novarros' life.I came away knowing mostly that he was Gay, and had a drinking problem.Not much of a legacy,not much of anything else.The author might read Marie Dresslers' recent bio, or William Haines' bio, or "Charles Chaplin, the man and his times" to understand how details add so much to the overall read, itself.

Being a Ramon Novarro fan, I was elated that a biography was finally written on this legendary film star. I give a tremendous amount of credit to the author. His extensive research has paid off. The filmography at the end especially stands out; very detailed. The only drawback that I saw with the book, is that the sentence structure was simplistic for the most part. It read more like a news report than a story. I did notice that the last few chapters, beginning with the Murder, were especially riveting. I couldn't put the book down. His writing style changed (not sure if his editor had anything to do with it)for the better. Once completed, I felt I wanted more. More of what? Personality content as well as understanding his family dynamics. What was it like having a famous brother? How was it living with Ramon for so many years? It missed a "personal touch." Which I am amazed at, because the author did interview several family members. All in all, it was a good read but not a great read but essential (compliation of the material in one book) for any Ramon Novarro fan.

It is truly a shame that it has taken so long for a biography on Ramon Novarro to be written. After more than 30 years after his death, this book not only sets the record straight about his gruesome death, but also enlightens the reader about his turbulent life. Unlike another reviewer, I feel that the author has told us about who Novarro was. We are not only told about his great career, but also about his loves, his fears,and his weaknesses. If you a lover of film history or have any interest at all in Novarro, read this book.

Any one who is interested in Cuba, or more specifically why and how the Cuban Revolution continues to survive, anyone interested in the future of humanity, or in the ideas ( unlike the myth )of Che Guevara -- you should start with this book.This book explains why the invasion of " Cuban exile" mercenaries at the Bay Of Pigs was not a "fiasco" : it was a military and political defeat of the Yankee Empire. This book shows vividly that the ordinary Cuban working men and women and farmers who fought and died at the Bay Of Pigs to defend their new-won independence did so for the sake of their own and their children's future : a Cuba free of Yankee domination and plundering for profits.The authors -- Fidel Castro and Che Guevara among them-- explain the ideas of the new socialist Cuba and the fight for new and better humans to change themselves that were the power behind the people behind the guns (and planes )that defeated the invaders at Playa Giro`n/ Bay Of Pigs. The ideas as a guide to action that have helped socialist Cuba survive it's toughest times in the 90s.And survive today as an example of what humans can do to begin to build a human society.

The book also describes how the activities against the invasion by a group of students at a small Midwestern college changed them forever--and convinced them to devote their lives to making a revolution like the Cubans made --here in the belly of the imperial beast.

If you are repelled by the barbaric effects of the "globalization" of the market system and its worship of the Almighty Dollar -- and you want to do something about making an end of it once and for all -- do yourself a favor and read this book.

I first read this book the first day of beach season. Instead of spending time in the water, I just sat there and read this book until it was too dark to read. This account is an activist account of the fight from Cuban and US fighters who see and saw the US invasion and resistance in Cuba and the United States not as history to be deciphered but part of an ongoing struggle against imperialism, against war, and for the power of working people. I never stopped caring; I never stopped seeing what was hidden from me in 1961, I never stopped seeing lessons for the future. A good read.

Playa Giron/Bay Of Pigs: Washington's First Military Defeat In The Americas offers detailed and authoritative information on the historic and ill-fated invasion of Cuba by U.S.-backed forces popularly referred to as the Bay of Pigs. Included are three contemporary speeches by Fidel Castro informing and rallying the Cuban people and describing to the socialist character of the revolution. Jose Ramon Fernandez (today a vice president of Cuba) was at the time of the military incursion, the commander of the main column of Cuban forces which successfully repelled the CIA-organized and American supplied forces at Playa Giron. Highly recommended reading for students of Cuban and American international studies and history, the informative text is enhanced with more than two dozen maps and charts, dozens of photographs, a chronology of events, a glossary, and an index.

More facts and science and less anecdotal data and conventional wisdom is long overdue in the aquaria hobbies. This book is a step in that direction. This is not a book with lots of colorful pictures that merely repeats what has been repeated in so many other books on aquaria, with or without any factual basis. This book presents models of several pieces of equipment used in aquaria systems. The models use quantitative elements (i.e., expressable as numbers), then present the math to show how the models work.

For example, if a water pump can pump so many gallons per hour, how long will it take for the pump to process all of the water in the tank? (It's not as simple as you might first think.) This book presents a model for that. Models are presented for sizing Ultraviolet sterilizers, skim filters, and determining processing rates for water processing devices generally.

But it is not all science; there is dogma here too. An unsupported claim is that ultraviolet sterilizers are one of the most important pieces of equipment for an aquaria. This is controversial at best and just plain false at worst. But in any event, there is no scientific support for the claim in the book.

The models are somewhat lacking also. The processing model for sizing ultraviolet sterilizers and determining proper flow rates does not take into account the replication rate of organisms. In fact, this matter is swept away with a wave of the hand, basically saying if you want to pick a different processing rate, go ahead. But no accurate model of sterilization can ignore the math involved with the rate of bacteria or protozoa replicating.

The models also assume, quite impractically for real application of the models, that whenever a pump, filter or ultraviolet sterilizers returns water to a tank, the water is instantly and thoroughly mixed with the other water in the tank -- instant homogeneity. This assumption is useful in simplifying the model but it hardly applies to any real world situation. So the formulas for determing the number of times a given device will turnover all the water in an aquarium has little practical application. But even if that were not a problem, the correct number of turnovers is assumed more or less--unless you know a lot more about bacteria decomposition in various filters than most people do.

This book does a reasonable job of explain how the models are built. But the books focuses on certain equipment (the kind author's company sells?) and ignores others without presenting any scientific support for those choices. The book describes water pumps but only those having two moving parts; it ignores water pumps that have only one moving part, such as Eheim has used for years.

When presenting the formula for selecting a heater, the formula doesn't facdtor in the heat from water pumps (almost all water pumps, powerheads, filter [umps use the aquarium water to dissipate motor heat), lights, etc. So practical application of the formula is limited.

The book doesn't note the characteristic problem with fluidized bed/sand filters. All types of filters have good and bad points. The famous bad point of fluidized bed filters is that once the flow throw the sand becomes uneven at all, the unevenness exacerbates itself until you clean or replace the sand. And it's not hard for the sand to develop some uneveness.

So this is a good book as far as it goes. Rather than just saying, for example, this kind of filter works, it provides a mathematical model of (some of) how it works. That's a step in the right direction towards putting more science and less marketing hype and merely anecdotal data in the hobby. Developing the formulas is the right idea, but the formulas are not yet complete --and they focus on some equipment ignoring other, in some cases mor common, equipment. So it is only one step in the right direction; it doesn't make the whole trip.

With that in mind it's worth reading, although maybe best borrowed once from a library.

hope you know your algebra kiddies, this book has plenty of it, but many helpful insights on how to stop wasting your money on things that do not work, and why, we dug it!! the equasions are kinds confusing though nikki

As an amateur aquarium enthusiast, I've had trouble obtaining accurate and reliable information about the design and functioning of aquatic systems. This book takes a serious top-down approach so the reader can drill-down as far as he wants into theory and mathematics to satisfy his curiosity. It is well organized and concisely written. The chapters on ultraviolet sterilizes are particularly well-done. I can now hold my own with retailers and manufacturers' representatives who push buyers towards high cost solutions that are inefficient or don't work. Now if Mr. Escobar would take on natural aquatic systems, I might learn the relationship between sunlight and artificial ultraviolet lighting as it relates to the control of algae!

Praise God that He is working through His People to search for the truth and not just settle for unexplained tradition.
This Book is from a Latter Day Saints viewpoint. A mormon. I did not know a whole lot about them, othere than the basics of the beginnings of their religion. :Joseph Smiths "vision", the Gold plates and the two stones and breastplate that he is said to have found. But I dont feel, in Christ, that it is right just to say something is heretical just because tradition says so. So I began to read the book.
It started out basically proving the nonsense of the traditional Trinity "doctrine". That is not difficult to do, One, without even knowing any scripture could hear it explained and say, "That doesnt make any sense at all" Then the response "We are just too limited to understand it." As if God does not want us to know about Him, or to explain Him to someone in a way that has no explanation. It seems to start out O.k., but it replaces the Trinity (Three Persons making One God) with a Three God theory. It says that the Father is God, and that Jesus is a god. He says that the church Fathers were Tritheistic, and does a very poor job of proving it. Then He says that God has a Body like a mans' (Which was interesting) but though He used some scripture to "prove" that, He could have used more, and could have addressed the scriptures that seem to say otherwise. He basiclly states His case by saying that God is said to have hands, a face, a tounge and says that because the Bible says that He has thoughts, it suggests He has a Brain.
Jesus said that the Father is "The ONLY True God."John 17:3. And if He says that The Father is not the Son, but that they are both Gods', and if the Father is the only true God, it does not seem to fit together. He, like many other "theories" try to state their side of the case, but ignore many of the scriptures that seem to contradict what they are saying. There is Only One God, the Father, Jesus said it. It is by His Word Becoming flesh, that of Him, God is present and presented. Christ means "Anointed", acts 10:38 says that God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit. It is God revealing Himself through His Spirit/Word through the man Jesus. Jesus called Himself a man "John 8:40", and the Bible says that "GOD IS NOT A MAN that He should lie. Nor The SON OF MAN" Numbers 23:19. God also said that He is not man "Hosea 11:9". There are explanations to the scriptures such as John 1:1, John 10:30,Hebrews 1:8, Isaiah 9:6 ect. It is not just something God said that is not to be understood. If you want, we can, LORD willing, get together and discuss these things.[...]

I had never thought much about what the Trinity was or even how it came to be, so when the opportunity to read this book came along, I immediately found myself hooked. The concept of a Father/Son/Holy Ghost "substance" which is three yet one is as hypocritical as the methods and philosophy behind the Trinity itself. Ex: Who would have thought that the infiltration of heretical beliefs into Christianity would have resulted in a bitter Athanasius vs. Arius battle that would divide an empire through murder, betrayal, and hidden agendas? The incredible documentation and excerpts speak for themselves, and Smullin had to do very little explaining to convince of me that the substitution of a loving Heavenly Father, son Jesus Christ, and Holy Ghost for a selfish state of nothingness or a vengeful God intent on "using" humanity (per Augustine) goes against that which Jesus taught. The authors of the Creeds condemn themselves by their own words. I was amazed at the almost anti-Christian roots of a belief which is so widely clung to acros the world. I heartily recommend this book for any scholar of Christianity.

Mr. Smullin has done an outstanding job on researching this book! He has found numerous quotes and histories of how the once simple truth of the Godhead has been distorted to the belief in the Trinity. Many of the quotes in this book have been documented back to the 1800's, 1700's and even as early as the 1600's. This book is well worth the time in reading if you're interested in the truth.

Well, it boils down to this: if you like blurry photos, you'll probably like this book. They are all blurry and/or out of focus and/or doubly-exposed. I know this is supposed to be one of the "artistic" ("arty" is more like it) styles of the day, but I happen to like a bit more clarity and definition in photos. And for page after page after page . . . truly, if you've looked at one of these photos, you've looked at them all. One hardly ever sees the bloody bull except as a blur the size of a cat. As for the essays, all that information can easily be found in other, much cheaper, sources. So, even with the generous Amazon discount, this over-priced and cumbersome volume is a major disappointment.

This is actually a photography book that happens to be about the art of bullfighting. But what's amazing about it is that it has none of the documentary aspect of all other books about bullfighting; it is so uniquely and remarkabily photographed that you actually see what has made bullfighting an artform in Spain and other places where it is so revered: it is really a ballet. I believe this book will someday be a classic. I have never seen anything quite like it. The extraordinary manufacturing and design job by the publisher, combined with absolutely breathtaking photography make it a necessity for anyone who loves extraordinary books, photography, art, or bullfighting. Grab one while you can!

Spectacular photography and production! Photo after photo takes you into the bullring, into the beauty and art of bullfighting. I love this book because the images are so surreal and yet so real and beautiful. The mystique of beloved España has never been so well captured, despite the fact that this book is an in-depth look at one part of the culture. My husband loves this book because it covers bullfighting so well, with a technical variety. But I have been seduced by the beauty alone. Essays complement the photography perfectly, and Ricardo Sanchez shines!

I do not mean to offend anyone, but Moby Dick is a disappointment. Having read several reviews on the text, I believed it was one of the greatest of American Literary works. When I began, the tale proved to be accepatable and I found its insights profound indeed. However, the story quickly became tedious and boring (it seemed that Melville could not come up with any new material, so expanded on the mental processes of Ishmael). I wondered how readers could rate a story which had little (if any) plot and moved extremely slowly, as a great novel. True, literature is seldom interesting, and authors like Dickens and George Eliot are hardly better than Melville, but nevertheless, I believe that a literary text should at least be able to engage the reader and make him/her interested enough in it to finish it, so that the message can be fully comprehended. I did not finish Moby Dick and perhaps never will. I do not recommend it to readers. However, to give Melville credit, Moby Dick is an accurate portrayl of the American spirit in that context and thus, in that sense, does hold that mirror up to nature, as literature often does.

I first read Moby Dick; or The Whale over thirty years ago and I didn't understand it. I thought I was reading a sea adventure, like Westward Ho! or Poe's Arthur Gordon Pym. In fact, it did start out like an adventure story but after twenty chapters or so, things began to get strange. I knew I was in deep water. It was rough, it seemed disjointed, there were lengthy passages that seemed like interruptions to the story, the language was odd and difficult, and often it was just downright bizarre. I plodded through it, some of it I liked, but I believe I was glad when it ended. I knew I was missing something and I understood that it was in me! It wasn't the book; it was manifestly a great book, but I hadn't the knowledge of literature or experience to understand it.

I read it again a few years later. I don't remember what I thought of it. The third time I read it, it was hilarious; parts of it made me laugh out loud! I was amazed at all the puns Melville used, and the crazy characters, and quirky dialog. The fourth or fifth reading, it was finally that adventure story I wanted in the first place. I've read Moby Dick more times than I've counted, more often than any other book. At some point I began to get the symbolism. Somewhere along the line I could see the structure. It's been funny, awesome, exciting, weird, religious, overwhelming and inspiring. It's made my hair stand on end...

Now, when I get near the end I slow down. I go back and reread the chapters about killing the whale, and cutting him up, and boiling him down. Or about the right whale's head versus the sperm whale's. I want to get to The Chase but I want to put it off. I draw Queequeg with his tattoos in the oval of a dollar bill. I take a flask with Starbuck and a Decanter with Flask. Listen to The Symphony and smell The Try-Works. Stubb's Supper on The Cabin Table is a noble dish, but what is a Gam? Heads or Tails, it's a Leg and Arm. I get my Bible and read about Rachel and Jonah. Ahab would Delight in that; he's a wonderful old man. For a Doubloon he'd play King Lear! What if Shakespeare wrote The Tragedy of The Whale? Would Fedallah blind Ishmael with a harpoon, or would The Pequod weave flowers in The Virgin's hair?

Now I know. To say you understand Moby Dick is a lie. It is not a plain thing, but one of the knottiest of all. No one understands it. The best you can hope to do is come to terms with it. Grapple with it. Read it and read it and study the literature around it. Melville didn't understand it. He set out to write another didactic adventure/travelogue with some satire thrown in. He needed another success like Typee or Omoo. He needed some money. He wrote for five or six months and had it nearly finished. And then things began to get strange. A fire deep inside fret his mind like some cosmic boil and came to a head bursting words on the page like splashes of burning metal. He worked with the point of red-hot harpoon and spent a year forging his curious adventure into a bloody ride to hell and back. "...what in the world is equal to it?"

Moby Dick is a masterpiece of literature, the great American novel. Nothing else Melville wrote is even in the water with it, but Steinbeck can't touch it, and no giant's shoulders would let Faulkner wade near it. Melville, The pale Usher, warned the timid: "...don't you read it, ...it is by no means the sort of book for you. ...It is... of the horrible texture of a fabric that should be woven of ships' cables and hausers. A Polar wind blows through it, & birds of prey hover over it. Warn all gentle fastidious people from so much as peeping into the book..." But I say if you've never read it, read it now. If you've read it before, read it again. Think Dostoevsky, Shakespeare, Goethe, and The Bible. If you understand it, think again.

It's always dangerous to label a book as a "masterpiece": that word seems to scare away most readers and distances everyone from the substance of the book itself. Still, I'm going to say that this is the Greatest American Novel because I really think that it is--after having read it myself.

Honestly, Moby Dick IS long and looping, shooting off in random digressions as Ishmael waxes philosophical or explains a whale's anatomy or gives the ingredients for Nantucket clam chowder--and that's exactly what I love about it. This is not a neat novel: Melville refused to conform to anyone else's conventions. There is so much in Moby Dick that you can enjoy it on so many completely different levels: you can read it as a Biblical-Shakespearean-level epic tragedy, as a canonical part of 19th Century philosophy, as a gothic whaling adventure story, or almost anything else. Look at all the lowbrow humor. And I'm sorry, but Ishmael is simply one of the most likable and engaging narrators of all time.

A lot of academics love Moby Dick because academics tend to have good taste in literature. But the book itself takes you about as far from academia as any book written--as Ishmael himself says, "A whale-ship was my Yale College and my Harvard." Take that advice and forget what others say about it, and just experience Moby Dick for yourself.

For the novice of classical studies this book would be a good start at learning the Roman point of view concerning the subjugation of the continental Celtic tribes. Mr.Jimenez has an excellent chapter on the conflict between Pompey and Caesar. However, he seems to have made little, if any effort in coming up with a new, or original look at Caesar's war with the Gauls. Since all of his information comes from Caesar himself and Mr. Jimenez has failed in his duty as a historian to be investigative and as objective as possible, one would do just as well as purchasing Caesar's Gallic Wars.

A great read and very informative. I can now bring up Vercingetorix in casual conversation. One caveat: the maps could have been much better done. They are dark and hard to read and tend to precede the narrative somewhat, so they give away what little suspense there is. (OK, we know that Caesar ultimately prevails but he did lose a few along the way.) Read a few pages beyond each one and then go back.

Excellent little introduction to our old friend Julius Caesar, the role model for Napoleon and many another big risk-taker. Much superior to reading Caesar's work itself unless you want to wade through a lot of political self-promotion. Books like this one do a lot to rescue ancient history from the dank cellar of its earlier scholarship.