The story basically followed a criminal lawyer as he defended the undeserved. His winnings had gained him many connections in the hood. His learnings of certain deaths (Grace Kelly's being only one) were to be his downfall. The bad guys wanted him dead, if for no other reason than he touched a certain file. The American Government wanted Noriega and blackmailed the lawyer into a deadly mission.

There is too much going on to tell. Tom Clancy and John Grisham's fans would REALLY love this one! It is extremely intense! Fiction and fact are mixed so well that I cannot tell where the truth ends and the lies begins! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READING!

The story basically followed a criminal lawyer as he defended the undeserved. His winnings had gained him many connections in the hood. His learnings of certain deaths (Grace Kelly's being only one) were to be his downfall. The bad guys wanted him dead, if for no other reason than he touched a certain file. The American Government wanted Noriega and blackmailed the lawyer into a deadly mission.

There is too much going on to tell. Tom Clancy and John Grisham's fans would REALLY love this one! It is extremely intense! Fiction and fact are mixed so well that I cannot tell where the truth ends and the lies begins! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READING!

Frederick Schofield has woven a world where organized crime and government find common ground. Hidden agendas and dangerous dudes send a woman and man, an FBI Agent and a criminal lawyer down a wicked path. Romantic complications faced by the main and minor characters actually hasten the pace of a story that grabs you. I finished it in a couple of sittings.

I'm another who was raised on Fredrick Winsor's delightful pastiche of old nursery verse, modern (well, 1950s) society, and science fictional ideas. I enjoyed them when young, and -- as with 1066 AND ALL THAT -- enjoyed them even more as I grew older and learned more of what the poems were talking about. This volumecomtains verses I cannot imagine living a full life without having read, from "Probable-Possible, My Black Hen" to "Spin Along in Spacial Night", and from "The Hydrogen Dog and the Cobalt Cat" to "The Theory that Jack Built" (a sicentific cautionary tale my father posted outside his professorial office for the edification of new graduate students).

I grew up with this book, coloring in the margins before I could read. Still I delighted in the rhymes and later read them over and over. I now have a different copy of this wonderful collection of poems, but I treasure it as much as the original. If you can get ahold of a copy for yourself, you'll never let it go!

I stumbled accross this book in the library of a high-school (when I was in about grade 10 -- not so long ago). A few years after I graduated, I realized I was smitten by the charmingly antiquated poems and I knew that I had to get a copy. I found some copies for sale on the internet, ranging up to $500.00 US for a copy! I even called rare book shops, and the nose-in-the-air shopkeeps had the nerve to scoff. I eventually got my friend to get his sister to bribe the librarian to get it for me. Who's laughing now? It is a first printing, and it was bought by the high-school in 1963 for $3.00! I read it at least once a month. I can't believe how little popularity this book has gained, considering the prescience of the writing. Oh well. I love it, and I share it with others who appreciate it: "Divide command and court disaster / Pollux says, and so says Castor" If you ever see a copy, snatch it up. It's valuable as a collector's item, but priceless as a memento.

In this text, F.F. Bruce takes his reader through a historical summation of the Canon of Scripture. In other words, he looks at the various time frames - from the 2nd century church Fathers to the Reformation and on into the modern period (the age of printing) - and discusses the views of various thinkers, theologians, etc. and how they responded to certain assertions about the Canon of Scripture, etc. For instance, in the Reformation, Bruce examines why Luther thought that the Book of James should be omitted from the Canon.

The last few chapters deal with the Criteria of the Canon; what it took to put the Canon together, how it actually occurred, why certain books were chosen and others not, etc. Bruce also examines the differences between the Roman Catholic view and the Protestant view of the Canon, he discusses criticism and interpretation within the Christian Church (as well as from those outside) in reference to the Canon.

Finally Bruce examines the "secret" gospel of Mark, what it is, what is the controversy surrounding it, its historical roots, etc. This is an interesting chapter and has a bit of apologetic value to it. Overall, this is a great basic text for anyone interested in the Canon of the Scriptures, how the Bible was put together, how it has been viewed over the centuries and how interpreting the Bible is possible and the need for good interpretation, criticism, Biblical inerrancy, etc.

How did the books of the Bible come to be recognized as Holy Scripture? Who decided what the shape of the canon should be? What were the criteria that influenced these decisions? If you don't know the answers to these important questions, you can! And there is no better book to read than this scholarly classic by F.F. Bruce.

Bruce is a great biblical scholar, and The Canon of Scripture is an excellent book. He deals with the historicity/veracity of both the Old and New Testament documents and why our Bible can be trusted today. Not a book to be skimmed, Bruce concentrates on early church history, showing the background of how our Bible came to be, all the way through the age of printing. His conclusion and 2 appendices are also very valuable. I might suggest "From God to Us" by Geisler/Nix as well as Bruce's "Are the New Testament Documents Reliable?" as additional sources. I am glad to have read this book and have a better understanding of textual criticism.

I am just beginning to learn to play the classical guitar, and have purchased several books and this one is by far the best. It includes many exercises that you could practice on without getting bored. (Most other books contain one exercise per type of technique that they want to teach you, and it gets quite tedious.) This one has several similar exercises that you can move on even before mastering that one particular exercise, and return to find that you've already become proficient without working on the same song 50 times. It might be a good idea to also buy a book that is even more basic, possibly with tablature, just to get acquainted with the notes and positions. I strongly recommend this book!

My backround: I had two years of piano about five years ago, so I can read music, but I just started playing the guitar one month ago. This book is written at my level, and it isn't too easy or too intimidating. Had I not had 2 yrs of music reading exposure, this book would probably be a little difficult. The thing with this book is, it is for classical guitar players, not chord struming folk, rock or jazz players. Though other styles will probably benifit from the information, this book focuses on teaching you basics about how to play classical music. For example, there is no tabulature in the entire book. And there is one chord diagram just to show you what one looks like. In this book everything is written in notes and all chords and songs are presented this way. Picks are never used in classical music, so there is no info about the flatpicking or strumming you hear in modern music. On the plus side, this book is very professional and traditional in the way it goes about teaching you everything. That is, there is a lesson, followed by maybe 3 practice excercises. A lot of attention is placed on getting the techniques down right before moving on, because the last thing you want to do is learn something wrong and have to go back and try and forget it. Basically this is the best guitar book for classical music that I have come across. Rock fans may need to go elsewhere

Do get this book if you are going to try or are trying to learn how to play the guitar by yourself. The difficulty of exercises progresses slowly and with complete explanations before going on to more challenging material. Actual pieces of music are very pretty and fun to play, and footnoted at parts where the reader may encounter trouble. Of course, it does help a lot if you have prior experience in reading music. One of the things I like most about this book is that it does not have songs like "Old McDonald" and such. =) It starts solely with plain exercises, and then only when the reader is ready to play actual music does Noad integrate them into the lessons. The only problem I have with this book, which doesn't mean the book is in any way defective, is that it doesn't explain and teach chords very well, so playing music other than classical may be difficult if you learn guitar from this book only. But I think it's a great book anyway.

Consumer Power is one of those "I can't believe we never thought of this before!" type books. It's an eye-opener for people like me that realized how much power we really have as consumers--and what could happen if we got together, but had no idea how to do so. Partnering is definitely the wave of the future. Even large companies are moving to this new business model. I've also read her second book, The Fifth Element: Taking Business into the Next Dimension. I am using these two books as a personal road map to financial freedom for myself. I HIGHLY recommend it to those who want to diversify, but don't have the time or capital to take traditional routes.

Susan Frederick says it so well. Easy read, great stuff, don't miss this one and watch for more. She truly knows how to get her message across, with simple wording and strong reasoning. Great book.

This is a great book highlighting the power that we all inherently have in the marketplace.

Despite the criticisms levelled at Trollope for his "authorial intrusions" (see Henry James for example) this novel is always a pleasure to read. The characters take precedence over the plot, as in any Trollopian fiction and this is what makes a novel like BARCHESTER more palatable to the modern reader, as compared to any of Dickens's. Some readers may find the ecclesiastical terms confusing at first but with a little help (see the Penguin introduction for example), all becomes clear. What is important, however, is the interaction between the all-too-human characters and in this novel there are plenty of situations to keep you, the reader, amused.

Do yourself a favour and take a trip back into Nineteenth century where technology is just a blink in everyone's eye. What you will discover, however, is that human beings have not really changed, just the conventions have.

I rushed home every day after work to read a little more of this Trollope comedy. The book starts out with the death of a bishop during a change in political power. The new bishop is a puppet to his wife Mrs. Proudie and her protégé Mr. Slope. Along the way we meet outrageous clergymen, a seductive invalid from Italy, and a whole host of delightfully ridiculous characters. Trollope has designed most of these characters to be "over the top". I kept wondering what a film version starring the Monty Python characters would look like. He wrote an equivalent of a soap opera, only it doesn't take place at the "hospital", it takes place with the bishops. Some of the characters you love, some of the characters you hate, and then there are those you love to hate. Trollope speaks to the reader throughout the novel using the mimetic voice, so we feel like we are at a cocktail party and these 19th century characters are our friends (or at least the people we're avoiding at the party!). The themes and characters are timeless. The book deals with power, especially power struggles between the sexes. We encounter greed, love, desperation, seductive sirens, and generosity. Like many books of this time period however, the modern reader has to give it a chance. No one is murdered on the first page, and it takes quite a few chapters for the action to pick up. But pick up it does by page 70, and accelerates into a raucously funny novel from there. Although I didn't read the Warden, I didn't feel lost and I'm curious to read the rest of this series after finishing this book. Enjoy!

This is the second of the six Barsetshire novels, and the first great novel in that series. THE WARDEN, while pleasant, primarily serves as a prequel to this novel. To be honest, if Trollope had not gone on to write BARCHESTER TOWERS, there would not be any real reason to read THE WARDEN. But because it introduces us to characters and situations that are crucial to BARCHESTER TOWERS, one really ought to have read THE WARDEN before reading this novel.

Trollope presents a dilemma for most readers. On the one hand, he wrote an enormous number of very good novels. On the other hand, he wrote no masterpieces. None of Trollope's books can stand comparison with the best work of Jane Austen, Flaubert, Dickens, George Eliot, Tolstoy, or Dostoevsky. On the other hand, none of those writers wrote anywhere near as many excellent as Trollope did. He may not have been a very great writer, but he was a very good one, and perhaps the most prolific good novelist who ever lived. Conservatively assessing his output, Trollope wrote at least 20 good novels. Trollope may not have been a genius, but he did possess a genius for consistency.

So, what to read? Trollope's wrote two very good series, two other novels that could be considered minor classics, and several other first rate novels. I recommend to friends that they try the Barsetshire novels, and then, if they find themselves hooked, to go on to read the Political series of novels (sometimes called the Palliser novels, which I feel uncomfortable with, since it exaggerates the role of that family in most of the novels). The two "minor classics" are THE WAY WE LIVE NOW and HE KNEW HE WAS RIGHT. The former is a marvelous portrait of Victorian social life, and the latter is perhaps the finest study of human jealousy since Shakespeare's OTHELLO. BARSETSHIRE TOWERS is, therefore, coupled with THE WARDEN, a magnificent place, and perhaps the best place to enter Trollope's world.

There are many, many reasons to read Trollope. He probably is the great spokesperson for the Victorian Mind. Like most Victorians, he is a bit parochial, with no interest in Europe, and very little interest in the rest of the world. Despite THE AMERICAN SENATOR, he has few American's or colonials in his novels, and close to no foreigners of any type. He is politically liberal in a conservative way, and is focussed almost exclusively on the upper middle class and gentry. He writes a good deal about young men and women needing and hoping to marry, but with a far more complex approach than we find in Jane Austen. His characters are often compelling, with very human problems, subject to morally complex situations that we would not find unfamiliar. Trollope is especially good with female characters, and in his sympathy for and liking of very independent, strong females he is somewhat an exception of the Victorian stereotype.

Anyone wanting to read Trollope, and I heartily believe that anyone who loves Dickens, Austen, Eliot, Hardy, and Thackery will want to, could find no better place to start than with reading the first two books in the Barsetshire Chronicles, beginning first with the rather short THE WARDEN and then progressing to this very, very fun and enjoyable novel.

I first read this book as a schoolboy. It filled my mind with dreams and many wonderful hours of adventure. I have looked for over 30 years for this book, uncertain of its exact title or author. What a joy to discover that it has been newly printed!

I wondered how the book would read as an adult. After just a few pages I was caught back once again into the wonderful celtic world and lived again in the monastary at Glaston. The book is a great read for all ages with a story that lets you dream of a time when knights rode the countryside and life was filled with enchantment.

I first read this book in a Scholastic Books edition when I was a kid in grade school in the 1950's. It is the first time I ever remember being totally immersed and captured by a story about a distant time and place. Young readers really care about Hugh, a lame boy who is left in a monastery when his knight father is forced into exile from England. Hugh's search for the relics of King Arthur transforms him and works the same magic on the reader. Very highly recommended!

This was a great book. It takes place in a real town town, in a real time, and most of the characters realy did live. For a historical fiction book, this was exciting and very interesting. The boy named Hugh in this book actualy did find King Arthur's grave. His whole name was Sir Hugh de Morville. I recomend this book highly to anyone that likes an adventure.

"You silly a . . . " is a phrase often repeated by Bertram (Bertie) Wooster's favorite Aunt Dahlia in describing him in this country romp of romance and gastronomy gone wrong. And that's the nicest thing she has to say about him in this story.

Bertie's main redeeming quality to his friends and family in this story is his manservant, Jeeves. Over the years of their relationship, everyone who knows Bertie comes to realize that Bertie is a bumbling fool and that Jeeves is a problem-solving genius. The parallels to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are unavoidable in one's mind, except these stories are played out as comedy along the lines of A Midsummer Night's Dream rather than as serious business. Like Dr. Watson for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Bertie is the narrator of this novel.

Bertie, as a gentleman, feels that it is important to keep Jeeves in his place. He looks for the old feudal spirit of serf to master from Jeeves. When Jeeves challenges Bertie's decision to wear an informal jacket in the country that he brought back from Cannes, Bertie decides to put Jeeves in his place.

In Right Ho, Jeeves, everyone is looking for solutions to their problems from Jeeves. The fly in the old ointment though is that Bertie tells Jeeves to stifle himself while Bertie tries to save the day. As you can imagine, each Bertie wheeze (or plot) turns out to be a blunder instead that makes things much worse. Then Bertie tries again, with even worse results. And so on.

As background to the story's beginning, Bertie is just back from two months in Cannes on the Riviera with Aunt Dahlia, his cousin Angela, and her friend, Madeline Bassett. Aunt Dahlia recruits Bertie to give the prizes at the local school, while Bertie scrambles to avoid the appearance. His old pal, Gussie Fink-Nottle, a newt expert, has fallen for Madeline Bassett but he is too shy to propose. Bertie works on Gussie's resolve. Tuppy Glossop, another pal, is engaged to cousin Angela until they have a row about double chins and sharks. Bertie tries to bring reconciliation to the warring parties. Aunt Dahlia's domestic peace depends on the gourmet cooking of Anatole, which is essential to get money for her magazine out of her dyspepsic husband, Uncle Tom, to offset what she lost at the casino. Bertie's misconceptions soon have Anatole in despair, and contemplating departure. Aunt Dahlia is shaken to the core.

Things look glum indeed for the young lovers, Aunt Dahlia, and for Bertie. How will the day be saved?

The book is wonderfully read by Alexander Spencer, my favorite narrator of these P.G. Wodehouse stories and novels. Wodehouse intended these to be read as musical comedy, rather than considered as being drawn from life. With the proper narration, with an appropriate English accent, the tales are much enhanced.

Why, then did I rate the book down one star? First, the plot does go on and on through its complications. A good editor could have chopped this down by about 25 percent and made a much better novel. Second, there is a reference to people of color beginning with the letter "n" that will offend many, and certainly offended me.

A better offering in this series are the stories in the audio cassettes entitled, Jeeves and the Old School Chum. You might start there if you don't know Bertie and Jeeves yet. Only after you have used up the five star Jeeves audio tapes should you listen to this one. And you should do so only if you are fully compelled to have more of Bertie and Jeeves.

After you have finished this book, consider whether you have ever failed to take good advice. If you have avoided that, was false pride involved? If so, how can you overcome that misconception and self-deception in the future?

What?

Previous: Thank You, Jeeves

One of the most popular of the Jeeves novels, Right Ho, Jeeves brings us to Brinkley Court, the lair of Bertie's Aunt Dahlia, who is by far my favorite secondary character in all the books. This book is overshadowed by a decidedly antagonistic relationship between Jeeves and Bertie over a certain white jacket with brass buttons, and one can practically see Jeeves snickering in the background when his brilliant solution to the problems at hand is accomplished at Bertie's expense. Nevertheless, he does "rally round" when needed, and saves Bertie from a fate more hideous than death, viz. marriage to the loony Madeline Bassett. There are moments of laugh-out-loud hilarity in this book, notably Gussie Fink-Nottle's prize-giving at the local grammar school after drinking a jug of spiked orange juice, Bertie's very ill-timed question about haggis (a personal favorite of mine-the line, not haggis), and Aunt Dahlia's calm suggestion that Bertie go out to the garden pool and drown himself. This is comedy at its brilliant best. A wonderful beginning to a chain of events and characters that will follow in many books to come.

Next: The Code of the Woosters

This is a favorite of all Jeeves and Wooster fans, and it features one of the most memorable scenes in the Wodehouse canon: Gussie Fink-Nottle's presentation of awards at a grammar school, after drinking a double-spiked orange juice. This is Wodehouse at his best - and that's saying plenty.

I am an avid reader of Christian fiction. This book was listed as such so I purchased it. Well, the story was excellent. It kept you on the edge of you seat until the end. However, when I finished the book, I realized that it is a Mystery/Suspense novel not a Christian/Fiction novel. There is no mention of God, church or the Bible in this novel. It is an enjoyable short story, but if anyone is expecting Christian fiction, pick another book!

I first became aware of this gem after I was given a now out-of-print audiobook of the same. I acquired the book in hardback shortly thereafter. As others have observed, the masterpiece stands quite on its own as a darn good yarn. Forsyth goes further, however. The entire story is littered with tempting religous allegory. Consider, for example, flight Lt. Marks, Old Joe, along with the now abandoned storage depot with many rooms, and all of it occuring on Christmas Eve. However, none of it is spoon fed, and a number of dots left to the reader to connect. Originally written as a Christmas present for his wife, it is most certainly a gift for us as well.

It's Christmas Eve 1957, and an English pilot is flying his single-seat fighter from Germany, on his way home for Christmas. But when the electrical circuits fail, he is suddenly on his own in a lonely sky, unable to contact the men below who alone can guide him home through the foggy skies. With fuel running out, radio contact gone, and navigation impossible, and when it seems that he's destined to ditch only to freeze to death in a deserted sea, a miraculous saviour appears. A World War 2 style plane appears out of the gloom, and its brave pilot "shepherds" the helpless flyer down through the frosty night sky towards safety. Will he succeed? And why does the airport seem deserted? And who is the mysterious shepherd?

Although "The Shepherd" is a very short novel that can easily be read in under an hour, it doesn't hinder Forsyth from capturing your attention. He cleverly heightens the intensity of the action and suspense by using the first person point of view. The stricken pilot's fears and bewilderment quickly become your own, until they are resolved in a spine-chilling last-page climax that raises as many questions as it answers.

The gripping plot is marred only by a few incidences of blasphemy. But the paperback edition is beautifully enhanced by Lou Feck's full-page black and white illustrations. "The Shepherd" may be a departure from Forsyth's usual fare in that it is a short and sweet Christmas story that exploits the season's fondness for supernatural miracles. But it lacks none of his trademark spine-tingling suspense. Unlike the pilot, it will be a while before you come back down to earth after reading this one!

I always thought of myself as an informed flyer, but I was surprised to have my inherent trust of the FAA so profoundly shaken by this book. Stephen Fredrick combines his background as a pilot of the ATR series aircraft with a deep caring for the passengers & crew of the fatal flight of American Eagle 4184 to create a book that rivals many techno-thrillers. The book was published in 1996, and is a real cliff hanger since it came out before the legal settlement and crash investigation report were finally made public. The book got me so interested that I spent many hours searching the web pages to find out what decision the National Transportation Safety Board finally made concerning this airplane crash. I will certainly check to see if I am boarding an ATR whenever I fly in the future.

The book took a step by step aproach to the Roselawn disaster. It was very informative, and I couldn't put the book down. The author spoke through a pilot's perspective and let the reader feel every moment of the disaster. The details and aviation terms were explained fully by the author to let you understand them. The book explained why air safety is not at its upmost. I would recommend the book to anyone who wants to know the story of American Eagle 4184. It is a definite 10.

Fredrick's book is great, very well written. But he left out one very important thing. Airplane is the safest way to travel long distances. Statistics show that you would need to take a flight every day for 35,000 years before being assured of being in a fatal accident, and even then chances are that you would survive. Mr. Fredrick barely mentioned the good points of the F.A.A. and N.T.S.B., and even though I'm not exactly an American Airlines/Eagle fan, they are one of the safest airline operators in the world.