My daughter is usually bored with poems. But not this book! I took it out from the library and she likes it. The pictures are beautiful, the poems are short and easy to understand, and it is a great science book. My daughter is 4 and I am going to order this; I just wish all the paperbacks were not out of stock. Good Luck.

All right. Two things: 1. Erevis Cale kicks serious arse. 2. This novel kicks serious arse. This is one of the few anthologies that I've ever read that actually worked. And this one worked well. This family is the best thing in fantasy since...I don't know what! Each character is fully developed, there's no cliches, and each story, while it does stand independently, interacts nicely with the others. Sembia is finally explored for FR fans, and the explanation is grand. Noble infighting, commercial espionage, thieves guilds, curses, a ton of action, you name it!

Now back to point one: Erevis Cale, the butler/manservant in this novel, is now my favorite FR character. This guy is a walking contradiction, but it works perfectly, effortlessly. Tension spills from the pages as he tries to reconcile his past with his present. This characterization job is all the more impressive considering that the author has only thirty or forty pages to work with.

I should add that everything I just said is true of the rest of the characters too, but Cale just sticks in my brain. This guys is unbelieveable! I can't wait to read more about him in Shadow's Witness this November.

I've been a Realms fan for about ten years. Some books are hits, some are misses, and some have been awful. The Halls of Stormweather is great. Granted, a couple things were predictable, and there was one glaring discrepancy in character relationships (reread the Patriarch and Matriarch stories and see if you can find it). The authors did an excellent job provoking interest in the main figures of each story--I'd even get the books about the characters I didn't like just because I want to know what happens to them. Shamur, Tazi, Cale, and the maid whose name I can't recall are my favorite characters. They've got the most depth. Overall it's a fun read and great if you've only got a few minutes at a time to spend on a book.

This novel is a GREAT kickoff for the new Sembia series. The characterization is in-depth and believable, and the stories are loaded with action. Normally, I'd be a little concerned with a book that has seven different authors, but these guys (and ladies) pull it off great! Each story leads nicely into the next and you get to see each character through the other characters' eyes. I'm not sure I even have a favorite character yet. They're all good! An excellent read.

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee is a novel I believe that every adult should read. The story is told through the eye of a little girl called Scout.She started the story by narrating the events that led to her brother's arm being broken.

The events in the story took place in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression. To Kill a Mockingbrid decribes a trial of black young man, Tom robinson who was falsely accused of raping Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a drunk and violent white farmer. Atticus was called to defended Tom Robinson and his children, Jem and Scout were caught up beyond their understanding because they were in the courtroom throughout the trial.

Maycomb, a recially biased towm convited an innocent man, Tom Robinson for a crime he did not commit. Although it is set in the 1930's in Alabama, events like this or even worse still takes place in our modern world but thank goodness there are still few Atticuses who are true patriot of ethics and morality.
To Kill a Mocking is a life changing novel and I recommend that everybody should read it.

Nelle Harper Lee did a job well done when writing this book. To Kill a Mockingbird reminded me of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, describing the truths of humankind's hate and prejudice. Lee's novel was based on her own childhood past in southern Alambama in the 1930's. She put the aspects of prejudice, discrimination, stereotypes, and justice into an intelligent child's perspective. As most other child-point-of-view books, I found To Kill A Mockingbird more thought provoking than adventuresome. "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." A mockingbird sings its' heart out to make beautiful music, and never eat up gardens or nest in corncribs. That's why it's a sin to kill them. Lee used the symbolic mockingbird to depict the innocence of a few of the characters in the book. Such as Tom Robinson, a black man who never did a thing to harm anyone else, but was accused and charged of rape to a poor white woman because of his race. This book unmasks a county's feelings of prejudice and hate. The author incorporates a man defending to save a black man's life while teaching his children the unjust ways of the world. "As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it - whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes form, that white man is trash." Lee did a wonderful, unlike any other author, in making a book about the maturation of a child and the steps made into the real world.

Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" is a great book that ties in childhood curiousity with harsh reality. For the first half of the book the narrarator Scout and her older brother Jem surround their lives with the mysterious Boo Radley. Boo is commonly known by the people of the community as an antisocial untouchable. The kids of maycomb have never seen Boo, so they make it their duty to seek him and introduce him to their world. However, the trial of a crippled black man shifts the excitement from the hibernating Boo, to the most controversial trial Maycomb has ever witnessed. Tom Robinson a poor black man was accused of raping Mayella Ewell who carries the poor reputation of her family. Tom becomes a victim of the unbalanced justice scale of early twentieth century Alabama. The trial glorifies the word of a crooked white person over the honesty of Tom Robinson. Atticus, Jem and Scout's father, who is constantly trying to set a good example for his children, is infuriated with the decision. This trial deeply effects the kids' lives by introducing the horror of an unequal society at a young age. As the book comes to a close an awkward situation ties both parts of the story together. This book is a classic for its insight on children and its social commentary.

"By becoming a monster, one learns what it is to be human"

I'm probably the only person who bought this book with no intention of using it as it was meant to be used--as a role-playing guide to the "Vampire: The Masquerade" game. I don't play role-playing games--I even have an aversion to games in general (mostly video ones)--but I really love vampires, so I had to buy this book. Probably the thing I like the most about it is all of the beautiful black-and-white drawings inside. They really get the imagination juices flowing.

The beginning part of the book is basically an introduction to VtM, familiarizing the reader with the basic rules, its Gothic-Punk setting, vocabulary, and tips on effective storytelling. Then it goes deeper into dice rolling, character creation, and bloodlines. This latter part is my favorite in the book, describing the attributes and abilities of the seven clans of the Camarilla: Brujah, Nosferatu, Tremere, Ventrue, Gangrel, Toreador, and Malkavian. (But if you really want further insight into these clans, then I'd highly recommend any--or all--of the Clanbooks.) There is also a character sheet at the end of the book you can Xerox, as well as an example story to further help players.

I think I've read this thing about half a dozen times (though not usually from front to back), and it takes about that many times to thoroughly comprehend and memorize all of the above--rules, guidelines, etc.--without having to refer to the book all the time (unless you're a fast learner). If you enjoy role-playing games--or if you're like me and just like anything vampire-oriented--then I highly recommend this book. It's well worth your time and money.

Being a seasoned RPG player (20 years + exp.) I'm always interested to try new games on the market. Since a few years a buzz had been starting on the internet and among RPG fan about this new vampire horror game. When they put the second edition out, I decided it was past time that I check it out. I'm certainly glad I did! The game is simple (only using 10 sided dice and very easy character advancement)it's also skill based. The greatest achievement of this game is in it's ability to convey a mood of gothic horror "à la perfection (perfectly)" something no other RPG had been able to achieve successfully in the past. This success may be due to the "mature language and content of the game", the terrific illustrations all through the book or to the well written descriptions of the different fiends and all their complex powers.For whatever reason there's a chilling mood of wickedness, perversity and dark horror all through the book.
My only complaint has to do with the long historic background in the book. Having studied history for a while in university, I find that the evolution of vampire through history section at the end of the volume doesn't really add anything, all they do is make a quick resume of all the different time period and adding the word vampire in it... not really necessary...
All in all it still a great book with magnificient illustration and a well written interesting content. I would recomend this game not only to RPG players but to vampire lovers everywhere !!!

For some reason the reviews for the GURPS version of Vampire the Masquerade here are reviews for the original White Wolf product. The two games use completely different rule systems and are, well, completely different.

The White Wolf version of VtM is stand alone, you buy the book, some 10 sided dice (from a hobby store or White Wolf's website)and you're ready to play. The "Storyteller" rule system is pretty simple and has been revised and improved. There are many other White Wolf products that use the same Storyteller system (Werewolf, Demon, Mage and so on) so your World of Darkness can grow and expand. White Wolf's emphasis on Role Playing instead of dice rolling and complex rules probably make this a great choice for someone new to RPGs. Be warned however, White Wolf's products and website can be very, very dark and profane. Probably not a good choice for children in my opinion. The game itself is very original, imaginitive and popular.

GURPS (Generic Universal Roleplaying System) by Steve Jackson Games is a fairly detailed RPG system. The GURPS version of VtM is NOT a stand alone product. You must first own a copy of "GURPS Basic Set" (availabe here at Amazon.com) to play GURPS VtM. One difference is that GURPS uses 6 sided dice which are readily available (bonus). The GURPS system was developed as sort of an answer to everything thing that was annoying about the grandaddy of RPGs, Dungeons and Dragons. D&D was an immense rules system that spaned many tomes and modules, required many types of dice and was stuck in sword and sorcery mode. GURPS allows you to play any type of character, in any type of setting imaginable all from one book (GURPS Basic Set and some six sided dice). The GURPS rules system is going to be a larger investment in time to master than Storyteller, but it is detailed and logical. I personally like it.

Two last thoughts, you don't necessarily have to play a Vampire character in the GURPS version of VtM. You could play a Psychic or Combat Specialist who gradually learns about the Vampires and begin to unwravel the Masquerade. Eventually the characters could be embraced by Sabbat Vampires or attacked by the Camarillan Vampires. You could play a Vampire who goes into Torpor for a few centuries and wakes up in a post apocalypse future. Only the Game Master would be allowed to use the Vampire book as a source, and the game would run from the Basic Set. The players would gradually be drawn into the shadowy, secretive World of Darkness. Also the GURPS version is toned down a bit and is more appropriate for young people.

The Genesis Debate allows 3 pairs of scholarly authors to present (and dialog on) the 3 most widespread evangelical interpretations of the creation days. The presented views are the 24-Hour (young earth created in 144 consecutive hours), Day-Age (old earth created over 6 extended periods of time), and Framework (Genesis 1 is a literary expression of actual non-sequential creation events at some unknown time in history). The book format allowed each team to present their view, the other 2 teams respond to that presentation, and then the view presenter responds to the responses. This back and forth format was better than many similar multi-view books.

Norman Geisler gives a very wise forward to the book. He states that "the creation-day debate is not over the inspiration of the Bible, but over it's interpretation...no one holding any of the views should be charged with unorthodoxy for the position he espouses in this volume...the Church needs to shift its focus to the real enemy - evolutionism - not to other forms of creationism that remain true to the historicity of the events recorded in Genesis". I think all believers involved in these discussions would be wise to heed Dr. Geislers advice and lower the intensity and frequency of their attacking of one another.

The 24-Hour view based their arguments primarily on tradition. They went to great lengths to show how most interpreters in the early history of the church (pre-1800) held a view similar to theirs. They also presented a bible overview of various verses that speak of creation. The main weaknesses (pointed out by the other scholars) of their presentation is that tradition has been wrong in the history of the church. While tradition is important, if evangelicals/protestants thought it was the ultimate authority then the reformation would never have occurred. The second weakness of their presentation was that their Bible overview had virtually nothing that contradicted the other two views. The verses basically all supported the concept that God performed special creation (something the other two views agree with).

The Day-Age view based most of their arguments on how well scientific discoveries correlate with the sequence of events in Genesis 1. The science presented was very convincing. Unfortunately, neither of the other 2 teams had the knowledge or inclination to dialog on any of those issues (other than a few feeble attempts to instill doubt in the scientific evidence). Perhaps another book where the 24-hour vs. Day-Age view, focussing primarily on scientific evidence, would be good. Another major facet of this presentation was to show how various Hebrew words have multiple meanings (e.g. yom - 24-hours, daylight period, or unknown period of time). There was some good dialog, especially between the Framework and Day-Age teams, on these lexical type issues.

The Framework view (surprising to myself) was actually the most interesting. They went into great depth of exegesis on Genesis 1 and several other creation related passages. Though I'd not seriously studied this view before, I found myself more persuaded by their presentation than either of the other two (though I wasn't convinced, I was persuaded to consider this a viable and legitimate option). Interestingly, Framework holders can believe in either a young earth or an old earth, since (as they interpret) the issue of "when" in creation really isn't covered in the text.

Overall, this was a good book. I wouldn't recommend it to someone new to this topic (as some level of previous knowledge is required to follow parts of the presentations), but for someone wanting to expand their understanding of the issues and read a relatively polite dialog on an often heated issue this is about the best book I've come across.

In getting two Young-Earth proponents to debate their ideas in a civilized format with proponents of other views, the editors of this volume have more than earned their 5 stars (I'd give them six if six were an option). Young Earth'ers are vociferous dogmatics who routinely castigate other believers as heretics for not subscribing wholeheartedly to their particular interpretation of Genesis - in arranging for a fair debate between Young Earth creationists and other scholars, this book reveals how Biblically hollow and unsatisfying Y.E. arguments really are. I was literally shocked to the point of revulsion at how weak YEC theories are - all the YEC team did was assert that ALL prescientific Biblical commentators (Calvin, Luther, various church fathers) believed that the Earth was 6,000 years old and that anyone with another view was a liberal-compromiser with evil "science." The YEC team's assertation that all pre-1800 Christians believed in a young earth was quickly shown to be false (although the YECs refused to accept the truthfulness of the Old Earth team's quotes!), and the YEC team was unable or unwilling to interact with or deal with the scientific evidence or the Biblical evidence. I came away from the YEC essays with a profound feeling of disgust at how so many Christians can be seduced by this blatantly false ideology.

But the book does one better: rather than casting the debate as strictly old earth vs. young earth, the book gets to the heart of the problem: how is the Bible rightly interpreted? Proponents of the Framework theory point out that the Bible is a literary account of creation, not a scientific one, and debates about how old the earth is may be scientifically interesting, but they simply aren't Biblically relevant. The Bible doesn't tell us how old the Earth is - it tells us that God created us in his image to love and know him, and man is lost because of disobedience.

I was raised, like many, to believe in Creation Science, but immediately I was unconfortmable with the position. The old-earth or "Day-Age" theory appealed to me, but I never felt that theory was 100% right. I am not a scientist, and I cannot debate the fine points of geology or chemistry. I do, however, have a degree in literature and an advanced degree in Writing. When I applied the techniques of my own discpline to Genesis, I arrived at the Framework view. The Genesis story has plain symbolic elements (e.g., the Snake), and from a literary standpoint, it's a parable. It is not against a "literal" interpretation of the Bible to say that a portion of the Bible with obvious symbolic elements is, well, symbolic. Even the most literalistic among us routinely recognizes this quality in other portions of Scripture, and even within Genesis 1 itself. (Relatively few people will argue that man really fell simply due to a talking snake...particularly since the Bible later informs us that the Snake was a symbol of Satan.) I'm glad that my insight was not an aberration, and that this view point is in the ascendency. I greatly respect Hugh Ross and other old earth creationists, but even their reasonable attempts to reconcile a literalistic reading of Genesis with modern cosmology, while a vast improvement over YEC theories, aren't really faithful to the Bible's own character. I work with engineers, and I know that scientific people are often very literal in their mindset and aren't the best people to interpret a poetic text. English majors are the ones who really have the goods on Genesis 1, and debates on the earth's age belong wholly outside any discussion about the meaning of Genesis 1.

Critique:

Each of the three pairs of authors have contributed something vital to the Genesis 1 discussion for which they should be commended and thanked for their time and effort. Duncan and Hall have rightly reminded the reader of the dangers that conformity to the present age presents to every generation. Their appeal to past interpreters further reminds us of the dangers of "novel" thinking and the importance of an orthodox consensus. Ross and Archer bring with them an arsenal of scientific understanding that has been used by the unbelieving community to attack the Bible and have sought to use it in support the Bible. They have found no reason to reject the Bible in the name of science. Their efforts affirm that the Bible can be reasonably interpreted without compromising inerrancy or a critically scientific mind. Irons and Kline offer a strongly textual argument reminding the reader that the Genesis 1 text had and has primarily a theological and a literary meaning. By offering an exegetical and theological argument that leaves ample room for secondary apologetic considerations.

Of the three arguments presented, the strongest by far is the framework view. Irons and Kline have put together an impressive work of exegesis and theological erudition that places the biblical text in its proper place without snubbing a literal treatment of the text or sidelining the concerns of science. On the other hand, Duncan and Hall do not present a unified and exegetically convincing argument. Too much rests upon the lexical use of a single word divorced from a broader context. Ross and Archer similarly offer a minimal amount of exegetical work and only that for which accommodates their pre-commitment to make science fit the textual data.

Presuppositions become clear in this discussion. The 24-hour view and the day-age view appear to come to the text with a strong commitment to something other than letting the text speak for itself. Duncan and Hall even chide Irons' and Kline's work for doing this. Yet the chiding reveals that they themselves have not done this. Duncan and Hall are set against a conformist's view and see anything less than a belief in their view as a compromise to worldliness. But the accusation only stands if the biblical text demonstrates their view convicingly. And while in actuality it might, it does not in their presentation. Their constant appeal to church tradition rather than a fully orbed exegesis appears to show a failing in their argumentation. Other voices have to shore up where textual evidence has fallen short.

Ross and Archer show a pre-commitment even more strongly than Duncan and Hall. They are unabashed about their belief in certain facts of science as irrefutable, requiring the text to accommodate for them. They assert that general revelation ought to share a proper place alongside special revelation. But in practice, it seems that general revelation is taken as "fact" whereas special revelation is subject to interpretation and is more subjective, thus the Bible can bend in places where its strict literalness can be questioned. Here Ross and Archer have not demonstrated the awareness that science is just as subjective and involving interpretation as biblical exegesis. Not only are the scientific "facts" today often overthrown or changed tomorrow, but most importantly, while the "facts" do not lie, the way they are interpreted, handled, systematized, and shown in relation to other facts (which cannot be avoided in any knowledge-based inquiry) is absolutely a matter of interpretation. The most recent hermeneutical discussions have not only crossed philosophy, theology and linguistics but are now branching into the realm of science which is beginning to see that it, indeed, involves interpretations of facts and the use of models to generate systems of knowledge. Ross and Archer seem to take the "facts" of science too much for granted, not allowing for immense complexity involved in moving from observation of phenomena, to understanding of said phenomena, to extrapolation of said phenomena from present observation to past reality, and then to abstract principles that govern theological issues such as creation. Each of these steps involve many levels of interpretation, especially since no one ever has "all the facts" even in scientific inquiry.

Hence, the approach of Irons and Kline not only takes us back to the proper focus-- the text-- but also to the proper focus of the text which is theological and practical issues. Since it is a theological conclusion we are attempting to reach, priority is placed rightly by Irons and Kline in the exegesis of the text rather than upon science or an appeal to a single lexical term or to church history. Duncan and Hall claim that when all is said and done the 24-hour view will stand when science and novel interpretations have fallen away. What is more accurate is that the Biblical teachings will endure when all else has fallen away, and Duncan and Hall have asserted more than successfully argued that their interpretation is the correct one. Irons and Kline have presented a more biblically convincing argument and have used their space in their essay to argue the text of Genesis 1.

Overall, the book was interesting, readable, and helpful in understanding three of the major views on the debate. I commend and recommend it highly.

This is my seventh Robicheaux book and I think it may b thebest one yet. Dave is his usual, hard as nails, self. Sometimes I would like to slap his buddy Clete myself. He stays in trouble of his own making. Yes, I think I would have pulled the trigger on Will Buchalter. The things he does to Dave and his family will make you want to do the same. Burke is great with his use of the language and description of the country. He makes you feel like you are there. Lots of good characters in this one. Good mystery and lots of action. Can Robicheaux save Clete, what does the German sub have that several people want? A good read.

When I heard Will Patton's first sentence of my first Dave Robicheaux novel I really did feel that I was transported to New Orleans and southern La. Those wonderful full, round vowels, clipped d's and t's at the end of words, and the melodious, artistic descriptions paint a picture I can't get enough of. Now I'm waiting to get my hands on the next James Lee Burke masterpiece - especially with Patton reading. Don't worry about which of Burke's novels you're grabbing because eventually you'll read them all, one after another like not being able to stop eating pralines or fresh oysters!

Some crime stories remind me of a fast food experience. Some remind me of technical dissertations on the food science. Burke's crime stories are multi-course gourmet meals. I leave the table with the memory of many original flavors and ingredients and it takes a while for that memory to fade. Dixie City Jam is no exception. Burke has a gift for storytelling, colorful characters, articulate and realistic dialogue and a very convincing portrayal of a protagonist hero (Robicheaux) who is maintaining his code, compassion and sobriety despite his encounters with evil. If you have any penchant for Burke's style, I might suggest the detective stories by James Crumely

Athena is an excellent book for undergraduates and for anyone looking for a thoughtful overview of diachronic changes in religious beliefs from the Bronze to the Heroic Age. The view is through the eyes of Athena with a focus on the Trojan war, 'Athena's war.' Through the goddess' relationship with Odysseus, the author reveals changes in Athena's personality (function) as portrayed in the Iliad and Odyssey. The author links Athena's transition from war goddess to goddess of justice, wisdom and civility to societal changes including a shift of emphasis from personal bravado to civic honor and from individual to community spirit and responsibility.

Through lively word choices and a deep sense of needs and concerns of humans of all eras, the author makes relevant to us the religion of the ancients. They, like we, struggle to control forces surrounding us. Through 'Athena' we better appreciate the ancient Greek need and concern for religion and, accordingly, we realize a! ll the more that we share today their same fears and life questions.

This book was a fascinating look at the history of the greek goddess Athena from her beginning as an African deity. Athena is my favorite of all the greek pantheon.

Lee hall has provided an excellent auxillary reading for students in the humanities and social sciences. ATHENA is a book that opens up an exciting multidisciplinary dialogue that combines a splendid story--supernatural beings, mythical heores, and heroic events--with a solid focus on parallel social struggles in modern times. First and foremost, ATHENA is an exciting story--well written and fun to read. Familiar and obscure myths combine to make this "biography" of the great warrior goddess a more useful reading for students, especially students in Classical Studies, than the usual mythology sources (Graves & Hamilton). Using a modern "voice," Lee Hall shows how Athena changes identities over the centuries, reflecting the development of ancient civilization as well as telling us much about our own contemporary identity stuggles. ATHENA was a pleasure to read, integrating a vast amount of mythological stories into a creative statement about the processes of civilization itself.

There are two strong aspects of James Lee Burke's series about Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux that make them unique and memorable: the lush description that absolutely puts the reader in the locale and the recurrance of 'mystic' elements - images in dreams etc - that give the plots a mythic, larger than life, stature. In this book, I think, both elements are overplayed just a bit too much. One longs for more story and less atmosphere, and the materialization of Confederate 'ghosts' that impinge on the outcome of the plot strains credulity severly.

I enjoy this series, even when it is over the top as is sometimes the case. There is nothing else quite like it in contemporary crime fiction. But every now and then I wish that Burke would reign himself in. He seems to get seduced by his own words and carried away to a place that the reader cannot always follow. Of course, when he is on the mark, no one can touch him for description and atmosphere. In the case of this book, I just wanted more story - and more flesh and blood.

James Lee Burke's creation, Dave Robicheaux, is a perfect Everyman. He struggles with demons - his own, and those of others. He is an excellently flawed man, a man of great strengths, towering weaknesses, and deep melancholy: his humanity bleeds from evgery page.

In the Electric Mist With Confederate Dead gives us a better, and deeper, insight into Burke's Everyman. The story purports to be a mystery / thriller, and is designated as such by Amazon. It is, of course, much more, and much less, than that. The mystery is satisfying, of course. Mr. Burke doesn't know how to write a bad mystery. But it's a side-bar to what the book really is: a series of character studies. There's Robicheaux, of course. The story is told in the first person, so the reader is swept into his psyche from the first page. There's Bootsie and Alafair, the people closest to Robicheaux - and the people he often feels are the furthest from him. There's Clete Purcell, his psychotic, sweaty, shambling drunken hulk of a partner. There are the figures from his past, who return to haunt him. And there is, of course, the ghost of the Confederate General with whome Robicheaux confers, and exposes not only himself, but the entire landscape of characters.

Speaking of which - the Louisiana landscape is as much a character as any of the others. The dust, the heat, the colours, the odours, the taste of the land play as large a part as any human in the book.

Mr Burke has been writing the best prose in popular American fiction for the past ten years, if not longer. He has always been a superb writer, making every word perform well above its potential. And in this book, In the Electric Mist With Confederate Dead, he has written one of his finest works.

I don't know anyone who tops James Lee Burke for excellence in crime fiction; his characters, their development from book to book, the relationships, the dialogue, the humor, the setting, the language - as far as I am concerned, he is absolutely at the top of his class. And this book is exquisite - it just doesn't get better than this. I am constantly recommending this series to friends and total strangers who enjoy mystery fiction - or who just enjoy any fiction at all! Dave Robicheaux never disappoints...

I read this book,it was a fascinating experience to learn things from iacocca how he got over the struggling periods from Ford to Chrysler.Its a lif e of a man who is fired for his good work and loved to live with cars

This book is definitely a slap in the face of Henry Ford.

A very good read, interesting and inspiring book for people with a flare for business. It wakes you up with a jolt, makes you sit up and say to yourself, what the heck am i doing sleeping over my skills. It instills in you a driving force to go for what you want to achieve in life/.

Lee's, sacrifices for his goals, are amazing. His belief in himself and his ability to make others believe in him is undoubtedly the best quality in Lee and which every businessman/woman should learn from.

It is time for the bosses around the world to sit back and think that employees can sometimes be better than yourself and still not cheat or be disloyal to you. That was what Lee was to Ford. But Henry was too blind. And chrysler was too damn lucky.

It's truly a Management book but at the same time a thriller which should be read by people in low spirits especially those who have just been fired from their positions.

In Libra, Delillo deals with one of the most well-known and well-documented events in recent history. The volumes of information, of images, of rumor, of intrigue dominate the story of JFK's assassination. Wisely, Delillo chooses to focus on a more peripheral and much less understood individual, Lee Harvey Oswald. There are so many contradictions in the case for and against Oswald. Was he alone? Was he innocent? Was he part of a team? These questions slide into obscurity as Delillo reconstructs Lee Harvey Oswald/O. H. Lee/A. J. Hidell/William Bobo. The inconsistent Oswald.

The book unfolds with alternating chapters between two narratives of the past, and one in the present [1988]. One of the pasts is Oswald's life starting as an adolescent boy in the Bronx, which eventually collides with the other, beginning in April 1963 as a group of disenfranchised former CIA men decide to create a plot to make an attempt on the President. They do not intend to kill him. Shoot and miss is the plan. But as Delillo famously says, "Plots carry their own logic. There is a tendency of plots to move toward death." So here we have a postmodern explanation for the mystique of conspiracy theory. There isn't an ordered lattice of events and characters, conducted by a deliberate intelligence. There is chaos, only ordered by a downward tendency toward death and destruction. It's Chaos Theory applied to human and political systemms.

Libra is also Delillo's most accessible book, at least in the context of the others I have read, (all but Underworld, The Names, and Mao II). Unlike White Noise, the people in Libra seem somewhat real. They are not totally so for that would mean that we understand them, which we don't. Delillo always creates fractured, composite views of his characters. We get glimpses, often contradictory, into their past and their intentions. Maybe it's because I have read a lot of his work, but Delillo's philosophic statements, if you can even call them that, are much more connected to the narrative here than in his other work. For example, Nicholas Branch, in the present day narrative, is a contemporary CIA analyst poring over all the data on the assassination. At one point he begins examining the physical evidence. There are so many abstractions and difficulties in this investigation that the presence of real objects provides a glimpse of something like truth. "The Curator sends the results of ballistics tests carried out on human skulls and goat carcassess, on blocks of gelatin mixed with horsemeat...They are saying, 'Look, touch, this is the true nature of the event. Not your beautiful ambiguities.'" These sections contain some of the most poignant and valuable insight in any of Delillo's work I have seen.

Libra is an interesting, if somewhat complicated work that both illuminates and obscures the character of Lee Harvey Oswald. This isn't as frustrating an experience as it might sound. By the novel's conclusion it would be cheap to wrap up such a sad and desolate story with niceties and tidy endings.

Not being a major scholar in the conspiracies and ideas bouncing around about the Kennedy assassination, I have absolutely no idea how factual Delillo is being in this book as concerned with major figures, events, etc. And I really don't care. The only thing that I used when deciding whether I liked the book or not is whether it entertained me and made me think. And it sure did. Delillo presents another version of the famed assassination, focusing more on the mind and manners of one Lee Harvey Oswald and how he might have got sucked into a conspiracy to kill the President. Or something. As the book starts out, the goal is to not kill the President but to make it seem like someone is trying so that everyone will blame the Cubans (the Bay of Pigs invasion still fresh in everyone's mind). From there, things get . . . strange. The plot flips back and forth from Oswald and how he goes about his short life (his mother gets most of the best monologues) from America to Russia and back again, all the while interspersing it with the various characters who interacted and might have had something to do with the assassination. Which makes everything confusing and earlier portions of the book slow, as you're trying to figure out just where this is all going. However, this is a slow burning intense book, where the suspense leading up to the action is longer than the event itself. Delillo uses his masterful command of the English language to craft an insular paranoid world for the reader, without going nutty with conspiracies, he puts forward a fictional version of how things might have happened and makes you believe it. Everyone is drawn three dimensionally, including Oswald, who is seen as more of a tragic figure but at the same time knows exactly what he's doing and how people will perceive him forever. Delillo's writing is full of surprising phrases, just when you think he's dipping into the waters of Hemmingway and not being that descriptive, he throws out seemingly random comments that make everything fall into place perfectly, or turn everything on its head and make you reconsider. By the end, his writing has been polished to a spare, desolate beauty and ending of the book is one of the most touching I've read in a while. With the events of that grim day in November already spelled out for everyone, Delillo's makes it his task to make you know the people (perhaps) and he passes that with flying colors. If you can keep the time lines (he mucks things up even more by throwing in some guy who is researching the assassination for the CIA years later) and the people straight, you'll have a grand time. Whether you think it was a lone gunman or an army of them, you won't go wrong with this book.

Don Delillo is one of the best American writers out there. In Libra, his ninth novel, reflects on one of the most tragic and memorable events in US history: the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He turns his assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, into the protagonist by reflecting upon his troubled life, and an antagonist for obvious reasons. Many conspiracies and coincidences are made evident by Delillo, like Oswald's life in the USSR and the FBI's involvement w/ Oswald, and JFK. It all leads to the focal point of the entire book, though it is predictable since we all know what happens. It leaves you in suspense throughout the entire book and it is very exciting and well-written.