After my own diagnosis three years ago, I set out to help other men and their companions with the effects of this disease, primarily through my Phoenix5 Web site. In that time, I have read dozens of books about prostate cancer and I can say without doubt that this is the most complete and best prostate cancer reference book that I have seen. Its primary strength is that there may be more illustrations than its 368 colored pages. It is filled with hundreds of color photos, drawings, illustrations and sample forms, from the basics to the highly technical. Just look at the table of contents. And interspersed are "physician's notes" by Strum that take up cases or individual instances, to "reinforce the concepts in the text."

I've never seen a prostate cancer book where so much is so well illustrated. I highly recommend this book to anyone dealing with prostate cancer, from the newly diagnosed to the "old pro" like me.

Robert Young
Dx'd 11/23/99 PSA 1000+ Stage M1c

Webmaster Phoenix5
...
To help overcome the effects of prostate cancer

This book is a thorough and comprehensive work designed to provide essential information for the recently diagnosed prostate cancer patient and their loved ones. The book is written in lay person friendly language, but quickly moves the reader into the depths of technical details of prostate cancer, diagnosis, progression of the disease, and standard medical treatment. This is an excellent reference on our current understanding of the disease and standard (not alternative) medical treatment. The only short-coming of the book is the lack of suggestions for alternative and complementary medicine treatment (although a couple alternative books are referred to.)

This is the book that I wish were available when my husband was
diagnosed. Actually, I wish it had been available when his urologist
was trying to decide whether or not my husband had prostate cancer.
This aptly named primer, which is beautifully illustrated, covers in
great detail everything from the intricacies of diagnosis to decision
making about treatment options. And it does it in such a way as to
educate and empower the reader/patient without frightening him/her to
death. I found the section on hormone therapy particularly
instructive, as I had never understood the differences between the
various types of Androgen Deprivation Therapy before. Also included is
a section on experimental treatments and clinical trials. The eight
appendices include everything from resource lists, useful forms,
definitions and glossary to references. I would recommend this manual
as THE first book to read when confronted with the prospect of
prostate cancer. It is basic and thorough. Nothing is left unsaid

"The Abduction of Rebecca," by Teressa Lee Honeycutt is a love story, which should have gone on forever. Unfortunately, evil brought unimagined events to the love story, which no sane person could endure without permanent scars.
In this case with recovery came another strike of evil, which involved murder and a web of suspense.
The fight for justice is a hard fight to win, but this book will surprise you with every new chapter. Read it and imagine yourself in the same situation. You will be so caught up with every changing event, which brings intrigue and suspense beyond expectation, and once you begin to read you cannot stop.

The Abduction of Rebecca is a book, which will not just be read and forgotten!

The characters, as well as the storyline become real and evoke a compassion within that allows you to view our world through different eyes.

The love of family is well portrayed, and the strength of a mother's courage in seeking out the whereabouts of her abducted daughter is unrelenting.

I recommend this book to anyone and everyone. It is not only a touching heart felt story, but also gives an informative look into the mind of a child molester and creates an awareness for some of the reasons why our children are stolen a way.
Read for yourself, I guarantee you will not be disappointed, and if you are like me, you will not put this book down until every word on every page is read.

Rena R. Stanridge

As a literary agent, it is a great pleasure to have been lucky enough to represent a work such as "The Abduction of Rebecca."
This author displays a real working knowledge of the novel both in structure and content in keeping it enjoyable and flowing.
Teressa takes a complicated, multi-faceted plot, inspired by a true event, which in lessor hands, could be confusing and misleading and creates a gripping tale that captures you from the beginning, and doesn't let you go until you have read every word on every page!
Her story line includes a film industry setting, romance, personal revelations, murder, and intrigue, woven into an exciting tale that among other things demonstrates a mother's courage, strength, and love in the search for her abducted child.
I recommend it for all lovers of love stories, mystery, suspense, and dramatic adventure.

I recently watched both "The Shawshank Redemption" (with Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman) and "Stand By Me" (with River Phoenix, Jerry O'Connell, Wil Wheaton and Corey Feldman) and this prompted me to dig out my old copy of Different Seasons. Most people are surprised when they learn that those movies were based on novellas by horror master, Stephen King, but he shows that he's not just into scaring the heck out of you.

The story cycle bases one novella per season, and each follows characters on a journey, whether it's one of hope, descent into corruption, coming of age, or life through offspring.

"Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" takes place over decades, as a prison inmate retains his spirit and soul, while breathing life into a dark institution, and whose patient nature finally leads him to freedom. The story is told in first person from the point of view of old Red, the guy who can get you things, about Andy Dufresne, a young banker jailed for the murder of his wife and her lover.

One of King's great strengths is creating a believable voice for his characters, and as you read this tale, it is like Red is talking to you. Other King strengths are providing back story and creating a world in which these characters live, one with a past, present and future, and it makes them three dimensional. One of King's flaws is going off on tangents and digressions a bit too often, but he always comes back to the story.

'The Body' (basis for 'Stand By Me') is a coming of age story about four small town boys on the cusp of entering Junior High School. On the Friday before Labor Day, they set off to find the body of a missing boy. One of the four boys, Vern Tessio, overheard his brother talking to a friend about the dead body.

The characters fall into several categories: Gordon LaChance, who narrates the story as an adult, is the dreamer/writer whose older brother died earlier that year. Chris Chambers is athletic, tough but smart. wise beyond his years and the white sheep in a family of black sheep. Teddy Duchamp is the psycho wiseguy who wears thick glasses and hearing aids as the result of his war veteran father putting his head to a stove. Vern Tessio is the least intelligent, but plays a key symbolic part as the one tells the others about the body and also is the first to spot it.

Along their journey, the boys encounter adventures, such as Milo Pressman the junkyard operator and his dog, Chopper. There is a run across a high trestle as a train bears down on them, a swim in a culvert full of leeches, and a night in the dark woods with screaming wild animals. When they eventually reach the boys, they have a run in with a group of teenage hoods from their town. A major difference from the movie, is that this story details the aftermath of the confrontation after the boys return to town.

King does a nice balancing act with his adult narrative and pre-adolescent dialogue, making each voice unique and fleshing out each boy's character to make them multi-dimensional. All four experience growth, but Gordon and Chris take this growth with them as they get older. Don't let people drag you down. There's a lot more to this story than just kids looking for a dead body.
My bumps here are again that King goes off on tangents and digressions, some to fill in background and history for the characters, but sometimes really straying far from the course. At one point he takes nearly a page to say that someone is dead, where 'The kid was dead. The kid wasn't sick, the kid wasn't sleeping.' Would probably have sufficed.

I won't go into a lot of detail about the other two stories. 'Apt Pupil' is about a boy who discovers a Nazi war criminal living in his town, and blackmails the old man into telling him stories about the war in exchange for not blowing the whistle on him. The stories the boy hears slowly lead him into senseless acts of violence. In 'The Breathing Woman' a 'disgraced woman is determined to triumph over death.'

These four stories combine to make an interesting cycle, and demonstrate that Stephen King has writing talents that stretch beyond his horror work.

Reta hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, was a great short story by stephen king. I enjoyed reading this book and even watching the movie. I was suprised how much the book grabed my attention and how I didn't ever put it down.

I just love Stephen King's books, okay? I've read them all, except RIDING THE BULLET, because I'm on the computer enough already, and I personally like to have a book with paper pages to pour over while I'm on a plane or a couch or a beach.

So I have read King--in hardback--for years. I always buy his books as soon as they are published. Then I buy them in paperback for tote-ability. They don't weigh as much, and therefore don't load me down when I'm walking mile-long concourses, nor hurt my stomach when I am (re)-reading them on the beach.

To me, all of his books are marvelous. But SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION is his best story EVER.

This story is actually one of four in King's book, DIFFERENT SEASONS. And it is actually entitled "HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL RITA HAYWORTH AND THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION." Preceding the story, there is a single page with a single sentence which says, "It is in the tale, not he who tells it." Oh, and this tale does tell itself, but if King had not put it down for us, (pen to paper, so to speak) we would never have had the gift of this masterpiece to even consider.

When you realize the King of Horror has written a work that would catapult most authors into the galaxy of writers' stardom, and that it is just one of his many, many works, you just have to appreciate what a great WRITER King is. Sound silly? Well, as we all know, there are best-selling authors out there who are not particularly good writers. King sets this story down with a writing skill so superior that it is difficult to imagine something more perfectly written.

Of course I saw the movie, and it was fairly true to the book. But not until you let the actual words of this story envelope you and enthrall you do you get the full-tilt emotional fulfillment of reading a thoroughly engrossing story.

King does a beautiful job of giving us the substance of the characters, both in the realm of the facade a prisoner must maintain to survive, and of the inner anguish a prisoner struggles against to stay whole. We get to know the two main characters -- Andy and Red -- inside and out, and this is what makes the book so very compelling.

And I have never, ever, read a story in which the last sentence takes my breath away, causes my heart to beat faster, and makes my eyes tear, as this story does.

Some of the scenes are hard to take--particularly the prison rape scenes--but they are necessary for us to understand just what makes the wrongly-incarcerated Andy Dufresne so unique. And if he were not so unique, if his character were not so brilliantly disected in King's writing, there would be no story at all. Events happen around Andy, but what happens inside Andy is what gives this story wings.

I hope you will read this tale. I hope you will be inspired by it. I hope you will be as enthralled by the writing as I am. I hope you will love it, for your own sake.

This book serves as a wonderful technical manual on how you 'should' make a film; usually, that means the most expensive way that independent and underground filmmakers (the target audience) cannot afford. When editing a film on video, you don't 'have' to complete an online edit, spending about $40 per hour at pro editing facilities. You can easily do a quick offline and release it much cheaper with almost the same results.

The book would be a whole lot better if it shared methods and tricks on cutting production and post-production costs down, enabling young filmmakers (with little or no money) to actually finish their films. That is the bottom line, really. The technical side of filmmaking is learned very quickly on your own. Making people think that they have to go the expensive way is counter-productive.

Still, an extremely helpful read.

-N. Foster Tyler

I'm getting into film production but don't have time to attend a real film school. And I'm basically interested in the mechanics of filmmaking - so this book The Filmmkaer's Handbook is perfect.

It gets down to all the basics of filmmaking. If you want to know what a line producer does, how light meters work and the ratio of film stock to projection, this is the book for you.

It's thick but easy to read with nice B&W illustrations. As a novice and somebody who wants to know how a movie is made this book is perfect. I was really impressed by how simple and to the point this book was on the mechanics and made it an easy read. I will keep in hand at all times for reference as well!

Very well done and exactly what I was looking for in a filmmaking book!

The media has traditionally been an extremely specialized, not to mention prohibitively expensive, field. With the introduction of digital production and editing, however, the material costs and requirements for video and audio production is decreasing rapidly, with quality levels already remarkably high and increasing annually.

This book provides a superlative introduction and overview to all of the key subjects in producing a lower- to higher- budget film. Though the title makes reference to the digital age, analog equipment is discussed when pertinent as well, and compared to existing and emerging digital technologies.

The technicalities of optics for lenses is fully detailed, as are filters, microphones, stands and other equipment, recommendations for each field of what emergency supplies to have on hand, editing and previewing equipment, software, to name but a few of the countless topics covered. A truly comprehensive and detailed work.

Anyone with a serious interest in this field can learn from this book the fundamentals needed to get started in extremely high quality digital production. Given the materials and information provided, the cost of the book is truly remarkable. Any reader will complete any section feeling like an expert on the subject. One does not have to begin with experience in the digital arena, however, nor even in video production. Even as technical as this work is, it leads the reader very carefully through all which is pertinent and necessary.

A single possible minor shortcoming, is the description of the process of digitizing analog recordings or an actual/ambient environment, into a digital format. One totally unfamiliar with digital concepts may find the analogies provided a bit difficult to follow. It provides enough of a foundation, however, that an interested reader can seek out more technical and/or accurate descriptions of this process. A very small criticism to an otherwise truly excellent work.

This book had all the making of a best seller. A great plot exciting and doesn't let the reader go. I personally found this one of Stephen Coonts best books ever. The reality of the events of this book almost makes it seem like a real event.

This book has everyone involved. The US, Christians, Arabs, Jews, Atheist, and the rest of the world are all in trouble. The Arabs are after the US again. This time they are trying to capture one of their nuclear weapons. They are shown as experts in black mail as they "recruit" the people they need to complete their mission. They plan to use it to destroy all the religions that oppose them. They infiltrate the supercarrier USS United States. Jake Grafton is losing his vision and his pilots as problems start to occur on the planes. Still the problem falls on him. The Arabs make it into the carrier and take hostage the Admiral using him they get 7 nukes in to the coppers and fly away. It is now Jake's job to catch and destroy the Arabs before they can use the nukes. The ending is one of a kind.

Final Flight is one of the best thrillers I've come across in a long time. The story (especially the last hundred or so pages) contains megatons of action. The one portion of the story which was never made entirely clear(probably due to a mistake on my part) was: which country were the terrorists from? But thankfully that fact does NOT hinder the storyline, which accelerates at supersonic speed to a smashing (read and you'll know what I mean)and powerful conclusion that kept me wanting to read more Coonts. Well done, Stephen!! I wish there were more thrillers like this one

Say it isn't so! Jake Grafton, Stephen Coonts' hero of at least two other novels, has reached the pinnacle of naval aviation by becoming the CAG on the "United States" . . . and now age is catching up with him? He's a career navy officer, has a terrific wife, but he may have to quit flying because of a silly little problem with night vision? With all of the problems that Stephen Coonts weaves in the Middle-East, it doesn't take much imagination on the part of the reader to guess that we haven't yet seen Jake's final flight.

Stephen Coonts has outdone himself in "Final Flight." The character and plot development are superb. Jake and his wife Callie are again at the center of the story, but there are plenty of other interesting people. I'd like to read more about Toad, one of the F-14 weapons officers who flies with Jake - and that Judith! -- wow!

If you only read one Stephen Coonts book, this is the one to read. The book easily stands on its own for readers of all interests. (If you're into aviation, you'll want to read "Flight of the Intruder" and "Intruders" before reading "Final Flight." These two books will give you some very good lead-in information about Jake.

The title of this book is Scary Stories 3 To Tell In The Dark. By Alvin Schwartz. The book is about many scary stories put together into one. The stories scared me and they will scare you too!
The reason I like this book is because I love to scare my brother and sister. I also love the excitement in this book. That is why this is a good book for you to read.

Scary Stories 3 is the best book out of the whole series. I would recommend it for sleepovers scaring your friends, sisters, brothers, and even your parents. It has all kinds of scary stories that every one will enjoy. You would love it and so will your friends. If you love scary stories go out and buy scary stories 3.

I think this is one of the best book that Alvin Schwartz has ever written. I really enjoyed his last two books so I decided to read this book and I was not disapointed. I really liked the short story form for the book because it left me wondering what would happen next. Some of the stories are some what alike. But all of them were still fun to read. I really enjoyed all the stories because they were really funny. I would recommend this book to everyone. I would especially recommend this book to people who has read the other books by Alvin Schwartz.

"The Mauritius Command" opens a few years after the end of "HMS Surprise". Jack has discovered married life to be very different than he imagined, & longs to be back at sea. The arrival of Stephen Maturin (& mushrooms) stirs the household to a frenzy.

This humorous beginning shows Patrick O'Brian's masterful abilities. In a few deft strokes, the past years are filled in with no heavy exposition or flashbacks, & the events to come are put into motion. Aubrey faces many new challenges in the course of "The Mauritius Command", having to learn to sooth battling egos, command while refraining from fighting, & create a fighting machine from almost nothing. His faithful follower Tom Pullings plays an expanded role in this tale as the captain of a transport & deus ex machina, while Stephen Maturin's political abilities overshadow his medical duties.

This is one of the most exciting Aubrey/Maturin novels, a real "Boys Own Life" type tale, full of gunplay, cat & mouse feints & hearty comradeship. The most exciting aspect of it is that it all really happened (of course with different protagonists!). Learn about a forgotten campaign of the Napoleonic wars & enjoy yourself in the process! Read "The Mauritius Command"!

There is a very real sense in which "The Mauritius Command" ends Patrick O'Brian's original vision of the Jack Aubrey/Stephen Marutin series since the naval exploits detailed are historically true, the names having been changed to our hero and his particular friend. Consequently, there is a sense of completion to the mission in this novel you very rarely find after this point in the series. Since I enjoy Jane Austen I find the opening chapters to be a hysterical homage to her writing, but if you do like Austen you will just have to push through until the boys take to sea. Even if these naval engagements had not really taken place, I do appreciate the idea that Lucky Jack Aubrey is off in his own small corner doing his bit for the war against Napoleon rather than conveniently being on center stage. That is not what these books are about. As always, I issue my warning: This not Horatio Hornblower, you have to read this series in order. Enjoy.

"The Mauritius Command", the fourth in the Aubrey/Maturin series of novels written by Patrick O'Brian, shows Captain "Lucky Jack" Aubrey several years after the events chronicled in "H.M.S. Surprise" in wedded bliss, but alas, without much of a fortune to support his growing family. Indeed, he is no longer on active command, but a Royal Navy captain on half pay. Stephen Maturin arrives bearing salvation in the form of a special mission to the Indian Ocean, along with Aubrey's temporary promotion to Commodore in command of a small squadron. What follows is one of the most exciting installments in the entire Aubrey/Maturin saga, and the start of an extended story arc which will take their fight against Napoleonic France and its allies throughout much of the Indian Ocean and the adjoining portions of Southeast Asia. Once more Patrick O'Brian delivers the goods, with his excellent, lyrical prose that seems more at home with the likes of Jane Austen than with contemporary authors of fiction.

In the beginning of Stephen's book, he writes about the sleeping dragon of autism reawakened and his quest to find out more about *this way of being* and its relation to him.

Beyond the Wall is a must read for a parent, teacher or professional. Parents often wonder what it is to be autistic, how they can help their child learn and grow thru the years, and how to help their loved one with hypo or hyper sensitivities and what will their child's future be like. Stephen's book will answer these very important questions.

Stephen just doesn't write about his love of music, he shows how his love of music can help an autistic child to learn. Stephen writes about self-advocacy and how important it is to teach a loved one how to self advocate. Stephen writes about his academic learning from grade school to college. He writes of his frustrations in his earlier accounting career. He writes of going back to school for post graduate studies and switching careers. He writes of his new career, living life and being married.

Beyond the Wall, is Stephen's autobiography, about being a son, brother, friend, educator, advocate and husband. Long after your done reading his book, you realize that todays autistic child will be tomorrow autistic adult and that Stephen has left the door open for all the children to follow.

I have heard Stephen Shore speak at an autism conference, and quite frankly, he gave me immense hope for my son (diagnosed ASD at age 5).

If you do not have the opportunity to hear Stephen Shore speak in person, read the book. If you have heard him speak, read the book. Keep this book close for the moments when you feel hopeless. It can remind a parent of the power of advocating, saying "no" to the experts, following the lead of your child, following the gut instinct of "I know my child best." It gives a glimpse of what the experience is like inside autism/Asperger's Syndrome.

A must have for the library of anyone advocating for a person with an autism spectrum disorder.

All I can write is "WOW"! The author Stephen Shore takes you through an amazing journey - his life. I have over 85 books on autism and this is definately my favorite for providing some possible insight on what my autistic son Jeff may be feeling. Not only is the insight amazing and explainations easy to understand - but he gives so much hope. There are few books I have read where I truly laughed, cried, and celebrated his ups and downs (corny but absolutely true.)
The authors words have helped me better understand and communicate to my son and for that I am grateful.
Stephen has an amazing ability to communicate and provide humor at the scariest thing I have ever seen - autism - is truly a gift to all parents and friends of autistic. Please do your self a favor and read this book. It is a must for everyone's collection.

Stephen E. Heiman and Diane Sanchez present a fully revised and updated version of a previously successful book Strategic Selling. They emphasize the need to know more than the basics of “tactical selling,” so you can make “Complex Sales,” which require the approval of two or more buyers. They provide a how-to blue print, drawing on material from their training program. The book shows step-by-step how to apply strategic selling to a current sales account. This excellent, well-organized, tightly written book includes examples and charts to guide the analysis process. We at ... recommend this book to sales managers and salespeople who are handling complex sales to corporations, governmental entities, or non-profit organizations.

Stephen E. Heiman, Diane Sanchez, and Tad Tuleja provide a practical, dynamic framework to approach complex selling from both a strategic and tactical point of view. Like a general, a salesperson must first master the art of planning his/her forces before being able to approach a customer/prospect effectively. Heiman, Sanchez, and Tuleja rightly recommend that their audience think about one complex selling situation that they have dealt with and analyse it using the six key elements to consider in a complex selling. The six elements are the following: buying influences, red flags/areas of strengths, response modes, wins/results, ideal customer profile, and sales funnel. Although the audience can first consider that exercise a chore, they will derive a lot of value from it by internalizing the author's framework. Heiman, Sanchez, and Tuleja correctly remind their audience that the salesperson needs to have a broad understanding of his/her competition. Competition includes not only direct competitive offerings and substitutes, but also customer/prospect's options such as doing nothing, in sourcing, or resource reallocation for other purposes. Furthermore, Heiman, Sanchez, and Tuleja recommend that their audience adopt a "side" strategy and not a "face" strategy by focusing first on customer/prospect's needs and not primarily on a narrowly defined competition. With a little bit of practice, the framework described above becomes second nature and allows the audience to eventually use it in a multitude of settings. For example, applying for a job is often similar to complex selling. The job seeker needs to make a mutually beneficial value proposition not only to the hiring manager(s), but also to the assistant (s), the receptionist and any other relevant persons who can make a difference in hiring him/her or not. Similarly, a fundraiser could use the above-mentioned framework to raise funds on behalf of his/her non-profit organization.

Many times a sales person can get confused identifying the players, the probability of change, the timing, the competition, the politics of a sales opportunity. Following the Strategic Selling process lays out an effective plan that leverages the key benefits of the sellers/buyers solution, and minimizes price as the principle buying criteria. Strategic Selling provides a process for what successful sale people do consistently-Plan. This book lays out a process that is also a two day class used by many global corporation's sales forces. The book is not a replacement for the class, but if you are selling B2B the process is well documented, and will put you on the right track. I have been teaching and using this process for 13 years and I have not found a better sales opportunity planning process. I think you can learn more from this book than from 100 sales calls.