This is one of the very best books I have ever read,one of those that have actually shaped my thinking and that of many others! A book to be put in the not to be missed category! It deals with common law and politics and economy, all unavoidable aspects of our daily life, but most of all it deals with the hidden aspects of two laws, the ramifications of which politicians do not want us to know so we stay under their power. His thinking is so razor edged, one can only be thankful for having been woken from ones slumber.

This easy-to-read book makes libertarian ideas accessible to any interested high-school or even junior high student. The concepts are simple, but not simplified. Buy it for your kid, or for the neighbor's kid, or for yourself. See other "Uncle Eric" books.

I cannot recommend Maybury's books highly enough. I once convinced a lawyer to read his books; he told me he learned things not taught in law school. Maybury is clear, concise and to the point. He writes not only for adults and teenagers, but also children. I explained the concepts in this book to two children less than ten years old and found later than they understood! "Do all that you have agreed to do" (the basis of contract law) and "Do not encroach on persons or their property" (the basis of tort and some criminal law). These laws have existed in every society that has been. Societies that have ceased to obey these laws have invariably failed.

I thought this was the best book I've ever read. It's a little long, but it's worth reading. It's well written, it's interesting, and it is realistic. It's a story that seems like it could really happen, and it makes you stop and think what you would do in a situation like White Lotus finds herself in. John Hersey makes you feel like you're in the story, or listening to White Lotus sitting right across from you telling you her story!

I first read White Lotus by John Hersey when it was published in 1965, when the civil rights movement was a very hot topic, and I was just 17, an age when social (in)justice seems to be the only thing worth fighting for. At the time, I thought it was a truly excellent book. So I decided to read it again, here in my old age, just to see if my youthful evaluation would hold up.

First off, I'm not really sure in what category this book should be placed. It's nominally an alternate history story where China(?!) won WWI (? - it's only referred to once as the 'Great War', and other internal evidence places the start of the story somewhere in the early '20's). But in many of its aspects, I think it might be better to treat this one as an allegory, in the vein of Orwell's Animal Farm. In any case, the story traces the life of a young American girl who, along with all the rest of her village, is forcibly kidnapped by a version of the 'Mob' and sold into slavery in mainland China - the pre-Communist version of China, which in the '20s had seen very little of technological progress, a society that had changed very little in the prior 1500 years. Upon reaching China, the story follows White Lotus (her Chinese name) as she is transferred to various owners, starting with a near-upper class mandarin, to a 'mid' level plantation owner, to a poor cotton farmer, to 'freedom' as she escapes to a province that has outlawed slavery, but finds herself just as desperately bound by her limited job opportunities, to life in a 'free' white community where the 'yellows' still own all the land so her only choice is to work as no-hope share-cropper, to industrialized life in the big city, where job choices for whites are still very limited, and finally as a civil rights agitator/activist. With each change of locale, White Lotus becomes attached to a local strong man (Nose, Peace, Dolphin, Rock), each of whom is the personification of a possible 'answer' to life as a slave/dis-enfranchised minority (become totally worthless, give the owner no value for his slave; stage an armed revolt; run to 'freedom', try to build a life based on self-respect and inner fortitude), each possible answer is demolished by the events as they unfold (executed for supposedly starting fires in Chinese houses; revolt is crushed and leaders executed; runner is caught and ripped apart by dogs; each attempt at building a better life is met by impossible economic demands and job restrictions till there is no hope left).

As you go through the story, it becomes increasingly obvious that Hersey is re-telling the history of the Afro-American in America, from the initial forceful grab in Africa, to the 'genteel' society of the early South, to the heyday of large cotton plantations, to the Civil War and through the Reconstruction era, to the move to urban America and the ghettos, and finally right up to the civil rights movement of the '60s, all compressed into 20 years of White Lotus' life. Along the way, he draws some striking portraits of the reasons for so-called 'black' behavior, of the self-blinding hypocrisy of the 'owners', of each individual's struggle to make sense of life, and grindingly destroying all superstitions, (white/yellow/black), heaping copious quantities of lotus petal dung upon them (and most religious beliefs also). If this book was only an exacting mirror of the White/Black struggle, though, it would not be much more than a well-told polemic. But there is an added dimension here: Hersey's portrait of the Chinese culture. The glimpses we are given (looking at it from the perspective of the very bottom of the society) of this China are impressively authentic. Hersey was born in Tienstin, China, in 1914, spent his first 11 years there, and spent much of his early adult life as a journalist in various places in the Orient, and this experience clearly lands on and illuminates these pages. And because the Oriental culture really is different, it provides an odd 'side' look at the whole issue, giving it a whole other dimension of realization. And the final 'solution' of his protagonist, her method of finding her own self-worth and a possible better life for all whites, is uniquely Chinese in character -- shame the yellows into recognizing them as human, by imitating a sleeping bird. This portion of the story is told within an enfolding prologue and epilogue that form a complete (and very powerful) self-standing story, including a very recognizable portrait of Gov. George Wallace as a Chinese warlord (though he never speaks a word).

There are places where this work drags a bit, becomes almost repetitious, where the parallels he draws are too obvious, and the portrayed horrors of life as a slave never reach quite the depths of despair plumbed by something like Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, but this is still a very honest, insightful, competent, and in places brilliant work. It will make you think. It will make you drag out your own prejudices and carefully examine them. It will show you that the American way of life is far from the only model for good living - others may be just as valid or even better. I've had this one on my top 50 SF works ever since I first read it -- it remains there.

This book will touch you emotionally and intellectually. White Lotus is a view of the future that provides the reader with insights into slavery and the black experience in America. The machines and technology once a part of world culture are gone. American civilization as we know it is gone. A young white girl is captured from her Arizona enclave and marched to the sea. She's transported as a slave to the east to serve the now powerful Chinese. The story is beautifully written and reads well on all levels. The heroine's many experiences mirror the history of the African-American experience leading up to the civil rights movement. White Lotus should be required for reading and discussion in schools and deserves to be reprinted.

I bought this book way back in the mid 70's when I was in High School. I used it for a reference on my "Extreme" camping adventures. I then found it to be even more valuable and usefull while serving in the 82'd Airborne. I "Lent" this out to a friend and it was never returned. I know that info presented in this book has been used by my friend while assigned as a survival instuctor for a very elite unit in the U.S. Military. I would recommend this book to all who wish to have a practical guide to survival and I'm pleased to finally get a copy back in my hands.

I purchased this book back in 1983, and I referred to it frequently while I was in the US Army. This book is an excellent read for novice or expert alike, and Graves makes the message simple with straightforward instructions and illustrations. It is a shame that I cannot purchase this book again since I have just about worn out the copy I have!

Kenneth Smith

I bought this book 20 years ago, when I was a boy scout in the Pacific Northwest. It accompanied me during my Marine Corps enlistment -- and has been to more countries and climes than most people.

GRAVES writes in a straight forward and brief style that stays on message. Judging from GRAVES experiences and the few pics inside the book, it appears he was in the Aussie SAS -- although he never comes out and says so.

There are numerous sketches in the book that clearly demonstrate his ideas and methods.

I find it amazing that this book has not been reprinted. It is a shame...

I thought this was a really good book. I learned a lot about what life was like for Black people 50 years ago.It was really hard. They couldn't go to school or become doctors . When they were sick they couldn't go to hospitals. I didn't know about blood types until I read this book.

This is the kind of book that should be in the hands of every young man in America. Drew overcame the odds and didn't complain. He just did it and lives were saved.My wife bought several copies of this book and gave it to all the boys in our son's scout troop.

My science club read this last week. I was surprised at how primitive medicine was just a few short years ago.

Reading about Dr. Drew and all the challenges he had to face made me more determined than ever to become a doctor.

Vibrational Medicine: New Choices For Healing Ourselves is an updated edition of the book first published by Dr. Richard Gerber in 1988. Gerber is a practicing doctor who sought less invasive means than drugs and surgery for helping his patients, especially those with chronic illnesses. His book is the result of more than twenty years of research into alternative medical treatments.

Dr. Gerber describes his book as "an introduction to a new system of thinking about health and illness in general." He believes people are complex energy systems. Vibrational medicine includes all forms of medical treatment, such as homeopathy, that can affect human energy fields.

His book does not list various diseases or suggest remedies to heal those diseases. Instead, he discusses how energy functions, and how the vibrational remedies work to restore imbalances in human energy systems. He includes study after study showing the healing affects of homeopathy, flower essences, gem elixirs, and therapeutic touch.

The vibrational remedies don't contain a substance that promotes healing--they contain the "signature" or vibration of a particular substance. That vibration resonates with the vibration of human cells to stimulate healing. Dr. Gerber points out that "while the chemical agents of modern medicine may treat the symptoms of disease, vibrational remedies create energy changes at multiple levels in order to produce a more lasting healing."

Many people have tried vibrational remedies and know they work. Dr. Gerber provides the scientific data needed to validate that knowledge. Readers new to vibrational medicine will find his book a treasure trove of information; and those who have experienced it first hand will appreciate the thoroughness of his research and documentation. Vibrational Medicine belongs in the library of everyone interested in gentle, natural healing.

I went into Zenith Supply looking for a relaxation tape but was drawn to the book area instead--this book caught my eye. It introduced me to alternative means of healing and led me to purchase a Computerized Electro Dermal Screening device (CEDS) from StarTech in Orem, Utah. It is too bad more science isn't taught in our schools, then books like this would more readily accepted. It is a great primer on energy medicine.

This book is "the Bomb" for anyone using "hands-on" healing energies or working with mind-body medicine. Dr. Gerber provides a working conceptual model for how we do what we do when we "lay on" hands or guide a client through a transformational shift in conciousness. As a Reiki III, trained in Healing Touch and some Tibetan modalities, I am grateful for an explanation that the left side of my brain can deal with!! As a Naturopathic physician, it is great to have homeopathy and mindbody interactions explained on a more scientific level, with a review of the available supportive research. I strongly recommend this book for anyone who wants a better understanding of themselves and the universe.

For years I have wanted to tour World War One battlefields, and finally I came upon Before Endeavours Fade: A Guide to Battlefields of the First World War, by Rose E. B. Coombs. I read it cover to cover and felt doing so was the next best thing to touring those sites. When I finished reading this book, cover to cover, I thought this is better than going to each birthplace! It is certainly a lot easier, and I found it extremely satisfying to see each gravesite, all in the course of a couple hours, and to learn so many interesting things, like: What state has the most Presidential graves? Why is there a picture of David Rice Atchison's gravestone in this book? What President lived the shortest time after leaving office? If these sort of questions intrigue you, as they do me, get this book and revel in all the fascinating things you can learn from it.

The one thing that ties all humans together, rich or poor, famous or unknown, powerful or helpless is death. To many Americans our Presidents are either marble figures (Washington, Jefferson...) or are little known familar names (Tyler, Harding...). This book does a great job of making ALL of our Presidents into human beings. The pictures, the writing, even the index pages are outstanding.

What better way to really understand a person than to know their final words. Or better yet to see their final resting places many of which were picked out by the individuals themselves. One can learn a lot about the true character of a person if you see monuments they designed for themselves.

I have visited many Presidential homes and several gravesites but after reading this book I have decided to make visiting all of the gravesites one of my goals in life.

It is strange that a book about death should bring history so alive. BUY THIS BOOK!

Who's buried in Grant's tomb is an interesting guide filled with small histories on each American president. The book contains accurate directions to help you find presidential gravesites, museums and libraries. Furthermore, the book contains addresses where you can write for additional information on each site and even includes website addresses when applicable. I have toured a few of these historical locations myself and have found the information in this book to be especially helpful in providing hours of operation as well as admission prices to some of these places. The book might appear a little morbid when you consider that it focuses on presidential burial sites but once you read it, you quickly find out that it provides a doorway for you to study the human side of these men. By visiting their homes graves and museums, you realize that they are not merely cold icons that you read about in history. They were very real with interesting lives and this book invites you to study their legacies.

I am new to David Morrell's works, but that will soon be remedied, after I listened to the unabridged version of his short stories.

Not only are the stories EXCELLENT, but I imensely enjoyed the author's commentary before and after each one.

And he makes his points, plots and story lines, with little vulgarity, which is becoming much too common in the latest Stephen King works.

Kudos and I will be hearing more.

There have been several times that I have bought an anthology like "Prime Evil" so that I could read an otherwise unreleased Stephen King or Clive Barker story, and ended up being blown away by the stories of David Morrell. Finally, K-Tel-like, everyone can enjoy these powerful, imaginative stories without having to buy a dozen other books.

While this collection does not contain all of Morrell's short fiction, it does contain all that I had read in other anthologies, most notably the powerhouse novella "Orance is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity," one of my all-time pieces of fiction, short or otherwise. I am a fan of author notes in collections, and Morrell doesn't disappoint. While he doesn't expound the way that, say, Harlan Ellison does, there are short notes before each store in addition to a Foreword and Afterword, and these add a texture to the book that I think makes your first read more enjoyable and increases the re-readability. Plus if you've already read a couple of these in anthologies it is nice to see the author's perspective instead of the anthology editor's perspective before the stories.

I read this during a particularly hot summer week and found it to be perfect for this setting...the stories are engrossing enough that I forgot about the heat, and a few times I caught a genuine bit of a chill! Anyone who enjoys dark stories or speculative fiction should give this great book a read.

Ordinarily I am not a huge fan of horror stories, but I can honestly say that Black Evening is frightfully fantastic. This spine-tingling collection of sixteen tales explores the dark side of greed, power, and madness. Morrell is able to pack a lot of punches and twists into his short (but not so sweet) stories. Moreover, his writing expresses his compassion and intelligence like that of an accomplished literary great.

An added bonus to this book is the foreward at the beginning of each story. Morrell discusses his development as a writer and shares with the reader his personal tales of triumph and tragedy: from his meeting with his idol, writer Stirling Silliphant, to the death of his teenage son to bone cancer. Each story seems to be weaved around an event that touched Morrell's life. This authenticity makes for a more eerie read. For example, "But at My Back I always Hear," is about a professor who is stalked by a female student infatuated with him. Morrell himself faced this dilemma while teaching at the University of Iowa. Other scary topics covered include an art historian who follows his subjects' break with reality and ultimate demise; an amateur writer who becomes a best-selling novelist with the help of a ghostly typewriter; and a high school football team that is victorious because the coach is dabbling in witchcraft and produces an evil good luck mascot.

Two of the stories in Black Evening won Best Novella, Horror Writers of America Award. One story was a nominee for this same award and one other story was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award. Morrell stated that the first piece of advice he received as a young writer was to write about what he feared most. Obviously he took that advice to heart and left us with some chilling entertainment.

If you are new to the world of elfquest this is the third book in the elfquest line.Before it comes the books Fire and Flight(book #1)and the Forbbiden Grove(book #2). In this book, you meet the Gliders, a group of elves that claims to be the High Ones. You also meet the dark and evil Winnowill, a healer but one which uses her powers for hurting rather then healing.Lastly you learn the secret of the Wolfriders... I won't give away the story but I do reccomend you buy this book for its art,story and feeling...

I thought this was one of the best books in the EQ series, and coming from me thats saying quite a bit, oh and Winnowill is a subject worth thinking about.

ElfQuest is a wounderful series for anyone whom reads it. It is full of some of the personal expierences from Wendy and Richard Pini's own life, it contains moral lessons, it has incredible insight, a dynamic story and georgeous artwork, do not pass this book up! IT ROCKS!!!

Alexander Kent is often compared to C.S. Forester, and the Bolitho books are a worthy successor to Hornblower's adventures. Richard Bolitho is somewhat like Hornblower, a sensitive, humanitarian officer, who often goes beyond the letter of his orders to storm his way to victory. He forms a lifelong friendship with Thomas Herrick, who first appears in the series and in this book, as Bush is a friend to Hornblower, but there are a number of differences. We see a lot more of Bolitho's family than we ever knew of Hornblower, his dad, who has been retired by injuries from the sea, a family with a long tradition of seamen, a brother who deserts and comes back to haunt Richard's path, and more family down the road. But one thing that dominates these books, and those who have run out of Hornblower books to read will love, is a wonderfully rich description of life on sailing ships in the Royal Navy, although this book, the earliest written, leaves us at the end with something of an anti-climax at the battle of the Saintes. That would really be my only criticism--but it is a wonderfully exciting tale of derring-do. Bolitho even has to contend, not just with a ship that has run away from battle at the start, before he assumed command, but he has to keep his ship from mutiny again as the story unfolds. I like Bolitho, I think, almost as well as Hornblower.

Alexander Kent was second after Dudley Pope to launch a naval series that followed in the wake of C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower. Like Forester, Kent set the first novel when his hero had achieved captaincy and then filled in on both sides. From the beginning Kent established his Richard Bolitho as a stalwart hero in the mould of Hornblower or Pope's Ramage. Kent's novels would be defined by brutal realistic naval battles, action and the spirit of high adventure.

To Glory We Steer is set in the waning months of the American Revolution. Yorktown has been lost and the French under Admiral DeGrasse are looking to extend the victory and drive the British out of the Caribbean. Bolitho is sent to the Caribbean in command of a ship in which a mutiny was put down. The officers and men are all questionable. Can Richard Bolitho assume command, obtain the loyalty of his men and administer a caning to the French? Of course he can but the fun is in watching him do it.

The Bolitho novels are cast in the post-romantic mode. Kent excels at action as his titles imply. However, the author knows what real war is like and doesn't flinch in describing the effects of cutlasses and grapeshot on human flesh. Given that the novel was first published during the height of the Vietnam War, it's hard to imagine that Kent could have written To Glory We Steer any other way.

Kent keeps sex out of To Glory We Steer following MacLean's dictum that it interfers with the action. In fact, there are no women at all in the book. One sailor's wife has significance to the plot but she doesn't enter the action. To Glory We Steer is a manly book about manly men doing manly things.

To Glory We Steer is not as polished as the novels that followed and in my view suffers from one climax too many. The Battle of the Saintes should be the climax of the novel and it loses some of its punch because of earlier action. Also, there are some opportunities missed because Kent wrote the series out of chronological order. For instance, he meets another officer named Dancer. Having read Richard Bolitho-Midshipman and Richard Bolitho and the 'Avenger', my first thought was that Bolitho would say, "I served with a Martyn Dancer..." or something to that effect. However, there is no mention of the earlier Dancer. These are minor foibles.

It's a little rough around the edges but it's still a great start to great series. Kent novels make an excellent guilty pleasure.

Though Richard Bolitho is old enough and experienced enough to be taking on his first frigate command as this book opens, it is in fact the first of the Bolitho novels to have been published. A tyrannical previous captain has driven the crew to the edge of mutiny and as Bolitho sails for the West Indies for the closing stages of the American War of Independence his own crew is as much a threat to him as is the enemy. A skilfully handled American Privateer almost brings Bolitho's career to a premature end and the identity of its captain is such as to rub salt in the wound. Despite all, Bolitho battles back with courage, indomitability and humane leadership and forges his crew and ship into a single weapon that comes victoriously through the decisive Battle of the Saintes, the last of the war. One stalwart supporter of Bolitho makes his exit in glory while another, Allday, makes his first appearance in a most dramatic way. All the best features of the other novels in the series - convincing characterisation, absorbing technical detail, exciting action sequences and a strong plot line - are apparent in this earliest-published adventure.

This is a really excellent work on all aspects of numbers, but only if you already have a pretty fair familiarity with them, i.e., several college mathematics courses or a significant amount of self-education. I particularly enjoyed the chapter "Doing Arithmetic and Algebra by Geometry" because it provided an interesting perspective on what number is. There are also chapters on the primes, imaginary numbers, infinite numbers etc. etc.

This book is excellent. I am not a mathematician; my Ph.D. is in a social science, but my interest in intellectual history made this book worth it for me. The reason that it seems a bit expensive is because the authors use color illustrations. These are really helpful and make the book more exciting. The book is essentially number theory for a lay person. All you need to have is high school level math in order to start enjoying this book, so don't be afraid. Conway and Guy present a fascinating look at what the human intellect can achieve in the realm of abstract thought. Number theory, and mathematics in general, can be mysterioius, artful, and exciting. Highly recommended.

To these "guys", numbers are toys, where the price of possession is nothing but a little knowledge. It is truly astounding, even for veteran mathematicians such as myself, to see how many different sets of numbers there are. They all have a story behind them, and given the multiple uses for so most of them, there are many more yet to be written.
Presented in a unique and engaging style that one associates with the authors, the numbers come to life with descriptions that hold your interest and leave you wanting more. The level of demonstration is not extremely technical, being well within the range of anyone who has been exposed to the topics of precalculus. Figures are used extensively, giving a visual interpretation of several ways in which the numbers can be used. Many of the numbers covered in the book are named after the person most responsible for making it famous, an aspiration that most mathematicians would no doubt confess to. In some cases, I was previously unaware of the name assigned to the numbers.
When I am in the mood for some light reading in mathematics, my preferred form is some type of listing of the properties of numbers. In this case, I found several hours of enjoyment and recommend it to anyone with similar tastes.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.