Not one of Reasoner's best books; however not a bad story. It lacks some of the historical detail found in many of Reasoner's other books. If you want a quick read (only 200 pages) you will find it an entertaining western tale. I recommend The Healer's Road and Healer's Calling. The Wilderness Road is also very good.

Juan Espina has a paper that says he owns the entire Diablo Valley. The problem is Espina is the town drunk and the Valley is thought to be owned by ranchers. The two biggest are Travis Richmond and Ben Thompkins. They are not about to allow Espina to claim their land. In steps Judge Earl Stark, who rules the grant is legal and the property is owned by Espina. There are attempts to get the grant and destroy it. There is also murder involved. The ending has a nice twist to it. The book is a fast read with plenty of action and will hold your attention. I really liked the character of Judge Stark, he was smart and tough. He is not afraid to use fist and guns if necessary. He is asked, "You going to untangle it with brains or bullets, Your Hornor? His reply, " Whatever it takes." A very good western read.

I'm sitting here in August of 2002, looking at Jim Grant's 1996 prognosis for the stock market. At the time he presumably was writing his book, the NASDAQ (the major over-the-counter, technology-laden index)was in the 1,200 to 1,400 range.

At that time, Grant apparently was suggesting that stocks were "too expensive", and that a bubble existed, which would soon burst.

Well, after his book was written, the market continued to rally strongly for another 4 years, and now that the bubble has burst, we find it's a different bubble entirely than Mr. Grant assumed it was.

Because after the bursting, the NASDAQ index is down from the 5,000 level reached 4 years AFTER Jim Grant said prices were too expensive, and is now rallying up from a double bottom at the 1,200 level.

In other words, Mr. Grant back in 1996 was claiming we were near a top in the market, but he was totally in error! After all that has happened since his book was written, we are still at or above the stock price level that he claimed was "too expensive". Apparently the author's ceiling has become the FLOOR of the stock market, which means he was about as wrong as he could have been.....

According to James Grant, this is what goes wrong during good times: "Of all the consequences of sustained prosperity, none is so powerful as the delusion that markets always go up." Not many people wanted to hear that when it was first published in 1996. Which is probably why he added this redundancy: "They do not always go up."

Grant chronicles periods of boom and bust. He is effective at this. For example, he quotes The Journal of Commerce during a bear market in 1952: "Many bankers visualize a return to the conditions of 150 years ago, when many sections of Wall Street and environs were residential and retailing districts." It's difficult to imagine that Wall Streeters would be that bleak. It's also difficult to imagine that investors would be as unrealistic as they were in the 1990s: "In response to warnings that dividend yields were too low, or that price-earnings yields were too high, the public only invested more, thereby sending yields even lower and price-earnings multiples higher." Four years after Grant wrote that the S&P 500 began to decline.

The Trouble with Prosperity is not a "how to get rich book" for "dummies" or "idiots." This is a serious discussion of financial history which gets heady at times. For instance, the author applies theory from the Austrian school of economics. "In the Austrians' judgment," he explains, "there is one principal source of collective error: interest rates. Set them too low and people will overreach." The central bank is the culprit. "The quarrel I have with the Federal Reserve", proclaims Grant, "is not so much that it creates credit as that it pretends to know the interest rate at which that credit (in the form of bank reserves) should be lent and borrowed." Alan Greenspan, in other words, is not omniscient.

James Grant is not a cheerleader for the stock market. He is a genuine contrarian, a skillful writer, and he was right.

History has a way of repeating things. Our economy is NO exception. James Grant writes a great book on the history of money,interest rates and the stock market in this country. Starting with a building at 40 Wall completed in 1930 the year after the market crash and taking you through the history of many of its tenets. Grant is able to show the many Boom and Bust cycles in our economy and why they happen. A MUST READ to understand the cyclicality of our markets....And the foolishness of our politicians and Central Bank heads into believing that they can manage the economy into a virtual up economy all of the time. The lesson learned in this book is that artificially inflating assests will cause major reccesions to happen.

There are excellent guidelines in this book. If you purchase it, you will be getting good information except for one very important area which appears to be completely overlooked. In today's grant market, you must know how to design good outcome measures. The concepts of goals and objectives come into play here (and are addressed in the book), but the buzz words are "outcome measures". I wish the authors had included a chapter or two on designing outcomes measures for both project oriented grants and for general operating grants (which is by far the harder to design).

The information here is good. It is easy to understand and, from my experience as a full time grant writer, right on the mark. Just know you will have to attend a workshop or find another place to learn about outcome measures.

In recently conducted grant workshops for teachers this guide was most helpful.For future workshops-- for educators applying for grants in their field, another title might be more appropriate and targeted to needs of educators. Educators usually have an RFP in hand and this book is helpful to find funding ....which isn't always the educator's focus at that moment.

I am an intermediate grantseeker who hoped to find a book that would assist me in further honing my writing. This book did just that. It is concise yet substantial and provided me with a fresh approach that will be useful for years to come. The language is intelligent (the authors steer clear of trite, 'inspirational' language), clear, and honest. I suggest this book for anyone interested in the grantseeking process.

I am a dental student taking gross anatomy, and like some of the folks who posted reviews below, my anatomy professor listed Grant's as the text to be used for the course. Put simply, Netters is a vastly better atlas, particularly for someone who has never taken gross anatomy before.

My issues with Grant's are many, ranging from the drawings to the way the index is organized. From start to finish, the book has some serious shortcomings which create substantial inconveniences for a new anatomy student.

Many of the drawings in Grant's atlas are far more lifelike than they are explanatory. It is almost as if the illustrator's intent was to show what one would see when dissecting, rather than explain what is what and where it is. This is particularly evident when dealing with the head/neck region (which, unfortunately, is a complicated area we focus on heavily) and the routes of the cranial nerves. The small footnotes at the bottom of the pages are almost useless, as it is difficult to determine what specifically they are referring to. There are very few boldfaced references (such as those you'd see in a cell biology textbook) that allow you to quickly locate a description of the item you're trying to understand in the picture, hence, you find yourself having to read the entire thing. Netters has almost no text, yet the drawings are done in a way that clearly explain what's going on, thus no need for text.

Another serious issue with the Grant's is the index. The major entries are not in boldface text. This is such a small detail (it wouldn't have cost them a cent more to make) that makes locating things much quicker. For example, there are hundreds of items under the entry "Nerves", yet "Nerves" is not in bold-faced text. That is inexcusable, considering the fact that most of the structures we study are muscles, nerves, arteries, fascias, processes, fossas, i.e. things that must be found under major entries. Believe it or not, it makes finding a topic in the index a real hassle. There's nothing to distinguish major entries from the items found beneath them, except for the indentation.

Although some of the problems with Grant's are small, they cause problems when you have to repeatedly deal with them. Anatomy is tough enough as is without having inconveniences from your atlas. On occasion, you'll find a picture in Grant's that is more descriptive than Netter's, but rarely. In general, Grant's is a lowsy book, which should be used only as a supplement to Netters in cases where you want a more lifelike picture.

I used Grant's Atlas of Anatomy during my gross anatomy class in medical school because it was the one recommended by the staff. It was fairly good, but not great. The illustrative pages on the twelve cranial nerves are perhaps the best. A few years after finishing that class, I found that Frank Netter M.D. had finally come out with an atlas of human anatomy. If your budget is limited (and most medical students have limited finances), buy Frank Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy because it is hands down the best atlas available. I wish it would have been around when I was struggling through first year gross anatomy class. Grant's Atlas may supplement it to some degree if you are looking for a second presentation for variety, but Netter's is without question unequaled. Beyond this, if you ever decide to specialize in a medical field involving surgery - neurosurgery, gynecology, general surgery, orthopedics etc. - you will have opportunity to continue using Netter's A! tlas after medical school, whereas Grant's Atlas isn't very good in this regard. In short: buy Netter. If you want another text to go with the first, Grant's Atlas isn't bad.

I'm a student of second year BMMD. Anatomy is one of the difficult subject but Grant's atlas of anatomy helps me learn and understand. This book shows clearly illustration.

This price guide is a waste for the true collector of vintage cards. There is nothing in here you can't find in a montly rag. Waste of money!!!

If you collector of oddball, food issues, draft picks, minor league or disc cards, you'll be disappointed. No oddball cards from Front Row or regional Police Safety sets. No information about the autograph cards of Ripken & Smith from Jimmy Dean. Beckett does not feature any draft pick cards from Classic. Minor league cards - forget it. You'll find no TCMA cards here! King-B discs are featured, but you will have a tough time finding any others in the book.

Another complaint I had was the sets have moved since the last time I had purchased this book. For instance, the 1991 Cracker Jack I Series, is now found under Topps, not Cracker Jack.

If you collect mainstream cards and inserts, I am sure that you will be VERY pleased with the book. For the rest of us, the search continues.

I found this book to be a great resource for new cards. It has almost any set you can think of after 1948. However, they did away with the Vintage Cards section, and tobacco cards are almost non-existent. I must use an older version of Beckett's for my tobacco cards. Since this is where I focus my collection, I was rather disappointed. They would do better to reintroduce the extensive vintage cards sections like in the past editions.

Without going into detail criticing the book, let me just say this: It is easy for people to take relatively ambiguous statements out of the Bible ("there will be wars and rumors of wars" is rather vague for one) and present them in a manner to prove your personal point. It is extremely easy for certain authors, such as these, to gather up a bunch of scary facts (like this is the only time the world has been a scary place), try to match them to the Bible, and then conclude the end of the world is near. I would argue that the reader should take into account what these authors say, but not take them seriously until they've found good reason. (For one, the notion of a one-world government the anti-christ will impose upon the world and use to attack Christians is always a favorite.... but not entirely founded in Scriptural reading either). If one remembers just one thing when reading this book, it should be that a good and truthful book does not have to use their evidence with the obvious intention of scaring you into their idea.

This book makes it frighteningly clear that the end of time is fast approaching. This book covers every insight ranging from the technological aspect (e.g.- TV, the Internet, etc.) to the Middle East struggles that continue as we speak. Without a doubt I recommend this book for anyone into studying prophecy. This book does get rather in depth, but is well-suited for those who have studied Revelation before. I fully recommend it.

This is an amazing book. It made me realzie that the end of the world is, in fact, upon us. I was not so wise two years ago, and I missed my ride on the spaceship with my fellow San Diegans, but this book has made me realize that I must now repent and save my soul before the world pays for its sins.

I've read all of the stories in this Batman TPB, and while the Bat-Mite and Poison Ivy tales are OK, the first tale, "Blades" by Robinson and Sale, is spectacular. If you're a fan of "Starman" or anything else by Robinson, buy this quick. If you like great storytelling and great art by Sale, buy this quick!

I especially liked the story with Bat-Mite! HE is so cute and funny. "Hothouse" is a little confusing though, but I think I pretty mush got it down.

I had high hopes for The Civil War Battle Series when I picked up James Reasoner's first volume about "Manassas," but from the vantage point of Book 8 "Shenandoah" it is clear that from the beginning the idea of each volume in this series being about a particular battle was just a hook. The title battle always takes place in the last couple of chapters of the book. It has been equally clear that The Civil War Soap Opera Series would have been a better title.

Actually I am getting tired of making that crack, because the idea was to tell the story of the Civil War from the perspective of one family, the Brannons of Culpeper County in northern Virginia. The family consists of a widowed mother, five sons and a daughter, all named after characters in Shakespeare plays or the bard himself. But it is hard not to think "soap opera" when it is 200 pages before the Civil War intrudes on the lives of these characters. "Shenandoah" begins around Christmas of 1863 when Titus Brannon, believed to have been killed at Fredericksburg but until recently held in a Union prisoner of war camp, arrives home. This would be good news except for the fact that Titus discovers his wife Polly is now pregnant and married to his younger brother Henry. What matters the plight of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia or the Confederate States of America when you have this sort of Greek tragedy being enacted out on the Brannon farm.

The second half of the book does get back to the war, covering the Battle of the Wilderness and Cold Harbor as Ulysses S. Grant takes control of the Union armies and begins the push on Richmond. Phil Sheridan's campaign to make sure the Shenandoah Valley would no longer serve as the main source of food for the Confederacy provides the climax of the book. Reasoner provides general background on the battles, but keeps the focus on how the battles appear to the older Bannon boys, Will and Mac, in the Stonewall Brigade and with Jeb Stuart's cavalry, respectively.

I am inclined to think that there is a high level of attrition for readers of this series, especially when I notice that this book has been out for almost half a year and has received no reviews. But Reasoner's books are quick reads and I am stilling hanging in here because there are two things I am having been waiting to see happen for several volumes. The first is for one of the Bannon boys to get killed. I mean, four sons, we are up to 1864 and the fourth year of the year, and all four Bannon boys are still alive. What are the odds? The other thing is for somebody to realize that Polly, the wife of apparently both Titus and Henry, has been in an incestuous relationship with her planter father, Duncan Ebersole. We know how the Civil War is going to turn out for the Confederacy, but it is when and how Ebersole pays for his sins that is taking about as long to be resolved.

There are two volumes left to go in the series: "Savannah" will be out later this year and then the final volume should be "Appomattox." These books are quick reads and with chapters perfect in length for the commuter lifestyle.

I have read all eight volumes (released so far.... there will be ten volumes in the series) in James Reasoner's The Civil War Battle Series, and all of the customer reviews on Amazon. Many of the reviewers are missing the point of the books. They are not meant to be historical texts, with great details about every battle of the Civil War. There are already plenty of those, many of them too dull to read, in print. The books in James Reasoner's Civil War Battle Series are NOVELS about the BRANNON family, as the author himself has made clear. The cover of each book clearly states, in good-sized print, A NOVEL.

All of the books in this series are fast-paced, hold the reader's interest, and are well-researched, providing enough historical facts and details to make the reader feel as though the fictional Brannons really were participants in the various battles in which they appear.

My only complaint with the series is, due to a production problem, the release of the ninth book in the series, SAVANNAH, has been delayed somewhat. Hopefully, it will be available soon.

For an extensive and mostly favorable review of Mr. Grant's, The Trouble with Prosperity, by an economist that shares Mr. Grants's sympathies with the Austrian school of econoimics go to the following URL:

Mr. Grant's book is good and again he demonstrates great knowledge of the history of financial markets. His writing can be a little bit dry at times, making it sometimes difficult to follow the thread of argument in each chapter. Grant gives a compelling case that the cyclical nature of booms and busts isn't over and suggests several times that these cycles are really beneficial to a country's economic health. He suggests that efforts by governments (notably the Japanese) to suppress the effects of natural market cycles inevitably lead to disaster. I think, however, his thesis is undercut by his own research that suggests that moderate economic expansions yield only moderate economic contractions. Several times he suggests that we should strive for stronger expansions, thereby ultimately leading to more severe contractions, but never really provides a compelling case as to why. In other words, Grant does not present persuasive reasons as to why moderate economic cylces are inferior. In any event, this is another first rate book by Grant. I strongly recommend it for those people who think markets (and economies) only go UP

Ulysses S. Grant had attended West Point but didn't exhibit any sterling qualities as a student. He served in the Army for a decade and ended up a clerk and alcoholic. For all intents and purposes Grant was an abject failure until March of 1861 which would change his life and make him one of the greatest generals of all time.

Grant As Military Commander is an thorough analysis of Grant as a commander from the perspectivd of Sir James Marshall-Cornwall, a general in the British Army. Sir James explored Grants background, early campaigns, achievements and failures. As someone who served in two world wars, Sir James took into consideration all aspects of Grants campaigns and personally visited the battle sites, studied Grants tactics and reports.

Many books about the Civil War and the tactics of the generals become boring pieces of literature particularly when dealing with the analysis of the strategic and tactical aspects of the battles. Sir James takes away this boredom and endowes it with life. You see and feel why Grant moved in a particular way and why he did a certain thing. You also find out that the conduct of the war was much more than winning battles. Dealing with personalities and the logistical side of the house was even more challenging in a war that tore a nation apart.

Grant is viewed as a man who was able to deal with the personalities of his superiors and able to get what his Army needed even in the most dire situation. As a commander, Grant exceeded all expectations even from his former West Point classmate Robert E. Lee.

This is a refreshing portrait of a military commander given from another perspective. The lessons learned from Grant's experiences are invaluabe in today's military as we deal with strategic, tactical and logistical problems not too far removed from this time.