This book makes learning sicence fun and easy! My kids never liked science until they read this book. The chapter on genetics, in particular, makes a difficult topic comprehensible and interesting for young minds. As a mother, I have handed out copies to all the other parents in my neighborhood swim club. Enjoy with your children - and give them a head start in the meantime.

while i await the Autobiography this book has solid moments.enough to me is never said about the Brillant mind of Quincy Jones.this is a Man without Limits and a Music Pioneer who has done it all and is still doing it.

This is the story of Nona Freeman's (the author) mother, Carrie Eastridge. How she found God and served Him come what may. Through poverty, loss of loved ones, poor health and opposition, she did a mighty work for God preaching, starting churches and ministering to those in need of God's help. Sister Eastridge was a woman of great faith, love for God, love for souls and a desire to do a work for the Kingdom of God.

Shoutin' on the Hills is a very interesting and enjoyable read. Definitely a hard one to put down.

This box is about life, one life in particular, the author's life. It covers the time from the time he tries to give his three week old sister popcorn until his daughter is killed in a car accident; he retires in Europe, and has a stroke. It descries 21 days in a hospital. The hospital in on the Grand Canary Island. I believe you will be surprised by the hospital and the care he received.

In between the popcorn incident with his baby sister and his stroke 60 years later he covered a good part of the world and got an education at the same time. His father died when he was 8 and his mother raised him on a West Virginia hill farm until he was 18. His mother then managed the farm and made a good living for Roger and his sister and brother. He worked on the farm along with his sister and brother until the Korean War started when he enlisted in the US Air Force.

He stayed in the Air Force for 8 years, 4 of which he spent in Japan. When he was honorable discharged from the US Air Force he went to work for Bendix as a tech rep.

With Bendix he was working in communications, radar, lasers, and computers in hardware and software. His work took him from Europe, to Libya, and Saudi Arabia to Alaska by way of Australia. When he was working in Europe he spent time in Turkey and on the Azores Islands. During his stay he married a Spanish Lady he later to went to Maryland, right outside of Washington D. C. where his daughter was borne. In Maryland he was a tech writer. Several years (12) of his working life was with NASA (as a contractor). He was manning a console on the Manned Space Flight Station in Canary Island when Armstrong landed on the moon.

You will find Roger's life interesting. But the book is really about growing up, developing a philosophy of life and finally becoming a man.

Autobiography of a Good Life by Roger L. Lee

Roger Lee led a varied and vigorous life on which he wrote an autobiography. He wrote the story of his life after he lost his daughter in a car accident and had a debilitating stroke. He wrote it as part of his self planned and determined recovery effort in the Canary Islands. He relearned his English, which was his mother tongue and touch-typing on a laptop computer using Microsoft Word.

He grew up on a West Virginia hill farm where most of his friends' grandest ambition was to get into the military service for the Korean War. They saw this as a way to get away from the farm and see some of the world.

When Roger was six years old he started his formal education in a one-room country school. The school was a two-mile walk one way. The highest grade in the school was the eighth. He didn't know that there were higher grades available when you got out of the hills.

His father died when he was eight years old. His mother raised him and his younger sister and brother with the aid of the hill farm. His uncle came and gave his mother a hand by moving into a small house on the farm and sharecropping the first three years after his father's death.

Roger Lee enlisted in the US Air Force when he was eligible at 18 years old and went to Texas for basic training. This was the beginning of his education. He went from basic training to radio school in Illinois. Then back to Texas and from there to Japan back to the US for a tour at Washington D. C. From there he went back to Japan again. He came back to Texas after two years. All this time he kept working on a correspondence course in radio and radar and received his First Class Radio License.

He received an honorable discharge from the US Air Force and went to work in the field he knew best, electronics. Later he was sent to Europe and saw a great deal of the western world while working on US contracts. He was always curious about the people he met in the countries where he worked, their food, the way they lived, how they earned a living and their language.

When Roger came back to the US he went to work as a technical writer in electronics and started college at the University of Maryland to improve his writing. He was soon bored by the US and went back to Canary Islands in Spain where he was employed at the Spacecraft Tracking Station.

He stayed at the Canaries Spacecraft Tracking Station until he became the Operations Manager and Armstrong Landed on the moon. Then a good friend took the job of managing the Spacecraft Tracking Station on Ascension Island and asked him to come down with him for a few months. Roger had a family by this time, but he left his wife and daughter, a new car, an apartment, and a yacht that he had acquired in the Canaries and went to Ascension for four months.

Back in the Canaries after four months he was 'sort of at loose ends.' A telephone by another friend gave him something to do. The friend offered him a position at the Alaska Spacecraft Tracking Station. He thought about it, sold his car and yacht and took his wife and daughter to Alaska.

Roger spent a year and a half in Alaska and bought another house. He got itchy feet again, took wife and daughter and took off around the world. He was lucky there was plenty of electronics work and interesting people where he stopped in Hawaii and Australia. He dropped off his wife and daughter in the Canaries and continued on back to Alaska. This completed the trip around the world. He was scheduled for two months in Alaska this time and sold his house there.

Lasers were something he had never worked with so when he was offered a job in the NASA laser network he jumped at it. This meant that he took his wife and daughter back to Maryland and bought another house. From a year there he went on a contract with the Royal Saudi Navy in Saudi Arabia. From there he back to Texas to help write a proposal on the shuttle contract. Then he went back to Europe to work with the European Space Agency.

Later he lost his daughter in a car accident in Texas while he was still working for the European Space Agency, quite work, and went back to the Canaries where he had a stroke that resulted in this book. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.

It's in print! The life of Roger Lee. I meet Roger's daughter Monica while trying to learn Arabic in Saudia Arabia. I became great friends of the Lee's and ended up marrying Monica. Roger lead a very exciting life. He grew up as a dirt poor farmer in West Virginia during the depression. He got into the Electronics business early in life which opened the world up to him. He lived and worked all around the world from Alaska to Austrailia to Saudi Arabia. He spent many years helping the US Space program get started. After a long stay in the Cannary Islands working on the Apollo tracking station they decieded to maintain a home there while they continued there travels around the world. Roger speaks many laguages, English, German, Spanish, and Arabic to name a few. This is a true life adventure story! Can't wait to see the movie!

Hassler's book is an interesting read of one the Civil War's overlooked generals.

Hassler covers many areas of Hill's life, including: Hill's early years, West Point education, and contribution in several Civil War battles (specifically: Williamsburg, Seven Days' Campaign, Cedar Mountain, 2nd Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, and Petersburg).

Particularly interesting were the descriptions of his tense relationships with superior officers (Jackson and Longstreet), his strong relationships with Lee and subordinate officers, and how he was well-loved by his soldiers.

While the book flowed well and the battle descriptions interesting, I would have liked to have seen more well-drawn maps so I could better understand troop movements. The lack of such maps is the only reason I give the book 4 stars.

Despite this, I highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to know more about one of the Confederacy's overlooked generals. I also highly recommend James Robertson's new and more detailed book on A.P. Hill (I would rate his book better).

Robertson's work is a readable,even-handed treatment of this Confederate general who is overshadowed by his fellow Virginians, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. I give Robertson high marks for not trying to inflate Hill's abilities while at the same time giving Hill deserved credit for his hard-nosed leadership of the Light Division. After Stonewall Jackson is felled at Chancellorsville, Lee promoted hill to Corps commander. What Henderson shows is that Hill possesed the verve and warfighting skills to be an outstanding division commander, but he did not possess the strategic vision required of a corps commander. While Hill and Lee had deep respect for one another, Hill clashed with both Longstreet and Jackson. Jackson arrested Hill for not following his orders during the Second Manassas Campaign. The sting of that arrest was an insult that would never heal.Robertson probes these clashes objectively and honestly. I reached the conclusion that the imperious Jackson and the proud Hill would never have gotten along in any age, in any setting. It certainly was not a case of right and wrong. Roberston explains that Hill's poor health is the likely result of a case of gonorrhea which he contracted during his West Point years. Roberston provides interesting details of the competition between George McClellan and Hill for the hand of Ellen Marcy. The picture that emerges of "Little Hill" is a courageous,noble warrior who was magnanimous to friend and foe alike. Hill does not rank as one of the top generals to come out of the Civil War, but he is clearly in the same class as Forrest or Hancock as a tenacious fighter.Hill's death only days before Appamatox has become a metaphor for the southern cause.Finally, one cannot avoid the poignance that the name of Hill was on the dying lips of both Jackson and Lee. A powerful testament indeed to a spirited fighter.

I give this 4.5 stars, rather than 5, because I think 5 stars should represent a nearly perfect book, and this book, like virtually every other book on earth, is not perfect. Though this book is outstanding, its FEW flaws arise from the author's OCCASIONAL failure to fully explain precisely what a novice would need to do to execute weedless gardening. I emphasize that such failings are few; and, overall, the book's concision actually aids its clarity. In fact, all things considered, I recommend this book over any other single gardening book I have seen.

I do wish the author had specifically discussed one important issue. He advises the use of paper--and newspaper in particular--to kill weeds, with the paper then becoming part of the soil. I wonder, however (and I simply ask; I don't know the answer), whether all types of paper are safe for such use? Newspaper, for example, contains ink. Is it safe to grow produce in soils containing ink and other paper constituents? I wish the book had expressly addressed that.

In any event, the book is excellent.

In Weedless Gardening, horticultural expert Lee Reich clearly and concisely offers a system of gardening patterned after Mother Nature, and is good for both plants and people. Rather that the traditional approach to annually digging up and working over the soil, Weedless Gardening provides an easy-to-follow, low-impact, effective, and environment friendly approach to planting and maintaining a flower garden, a vegetable garden, trees, and shrubs. Gardeners seeking to protect the soil, eliminate heavy work, and reduce water needs should first begin planning their gardening activities with a thorough reading of Lee Reich's Weedless Gardening!

Having read the unabridged version I approached this abridgement. My experience can be described as comparing the painting of the Mona Lisa with a pencil rendition. The absence of the appendices and the explanatory footnotes together with the gouged text made less traumatic with artificial bridging (abridgement) results in nothing more than a mere pencil sketch of a true masterpiece. There is no substitute for the full version.

Puller carried a copy of these works with him throughout WWII and Korea. Enough said.

My uncle had read the three volume series of Mr. Freeman's work on Robert E. Lee's generals and wanted me to do the same. If I start something I like to finish it and I just didn't want to conquer the couple thousand pages in the three volumes so I opted for the one volume abridgement. It is well written, a classic of Civil War history, and gave great insight into the minds and actions of the Confederate military leadership. From reading the introduction this abridgement was made possible not by excising the main text, but by eliminating a majority of the voluminous notes and addendum material present in the three volume series. I don't know what I missed, but what remained was fascinating, extremely readable, and well recommended. At this point I would be very interested in acquiring and reading the three volume set.

This book is perfect. A perfect cover, simple yet suiting. A perfect touch, pleasant, like velvet. A perfect story, albeit horrifying...

Shirley Jackson is(was) the perfect writer, whom just couldn't fail at what she does(did) best... She creates her own world, as realistic as ours, with a tragic, cruel, and cursed history for Hill House, the main character, and it's inhabitants. Perfect. All the characters aren't stereotypes; they're human. Eleanor might be an oddball hysteric, but she has a past which has made her that way.

There are only about 4 actual hauntings in this book, but more than enough eerie sections, which are the real creepers... For instance, Eleanor's frolick through the house one night when all the others are sleeping, and her mood swing and sudden revulsion for her new best friend, Theodora, which just creeped me out. In the beginning when they had become immediate friends and were comparing themselves and their relatives to each other, they had marked themselves as obvious cousins. Readers of the book have to admit, in the part where Theodora must move into Eleanor's room because of the supernatural phenomena which had taken place in hers and she states cheerfully the two will be just like sisters, they were freaked the moment they read Eleanor simply say, spitefully, and out of earshot, "Cousins."

NEVER read this book during daytime, as I made that mistake never to read a page after nightfall... It still scared me, but it was ruined by my cowardice. The more this book scares you, the more you'll like it. After all, why would you keep reading it if you don't want to?

I vividly remember the first time I read this Shirley Jackson tale, one by which I have come to judge all good horror literature. Jackson's strength as a writer of horror is not in what she delineates, but what she evokes from the reader's imagination, that core of our brain that truly is at the root of true horror.

Eleanor, the protagonist of "The Haunting of Hill House" is virtually a cypher, having spent most of her 30 years caring for an invalid mother, who has passed away before the opening of the novel. Now living with her sister, she receives an invitation to take part in an experiment in rural New England by spending a few weeks at Hill House, where "doors are sensibly shut, and whatever walks there, walks alone."

After literally running away from home, Eleanor is drawn into a relationship with Hill House, and, while we never actually "see" psychic phenomena, we become convinced that this is a house which is, as Dr. John Montague, leader of the experimental team asserts, is "born bad."

Truly engaging writers draw one in, and as you read, you too, will become part of the fabric of Hill House, and Hill House shall become the standard by which you judge the most chilling of horror fiction.

John Montague, a doctor of philosophy, invites Theodora, Eleanor Vance, and Luke Sanderson to assist him in seeking the possibility of psychic disturbances/manifestations in an eighty-odd year-old New England pile known locally as Hill House. Ever since it was initially published in 1959, THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE has been Shirley Jackson's gift to countless readers around the world who have relished reading this highly original and exceptionally chilling ghost story - if a there is such a thing as a ghost story receiving cult status - then this ingenious novellette would definitely qualify for first prize! Not the type of terror you'd find in a Stephen King (he was a Jackson fan who dedicated FIRESTARTER to "Shirley Jackson, who never needed to raise her voice") or Dean Koontz novel. Jackson's technique is much more finely grained and subtle: this is literature. There are Freudian aspects to be sure, but the symbolism is amazing; (did anyone catch the meaning of the heading?) thirty years after I first read the book (I was nine) I found new symbolic elements which I had missed priorly. Jackson paints her heroine Eleanor Vance as a rather drab and timid wisp of a thing: a 32 year-old spinster who's "never known a life of her own". As you commence reading the book, you are drawn inside the mind of a schizoid person who desperately needs to be loved, yet cannot relate to people rationally, so she finds a safe friend in Hill House itself. Jackson writes in a poetic and mystical fashion which aids the reader throughout the book. Theodora is a free-spirited psychic who's rather spoiled and cheeky personality gives a much - needed contrast to Eleanor's repressed child-woman thinking. There is a scene in a grove of trees: Theo: "I don't understand. Do you always go where you're not wanted?" Eleanor: "But I've never been wanted ANYWHERE". Tingling aspects rise from little nuances throughout: Nell suggests that they look for nameless graves in the nettle patch when she and Theo become bored, a phantom picnic where there is a vision of sunshine, children and a puppy (at night!), walls with dripping blood reaching out for Eleanor to Come Home; a harp which plays by itself, the "cold spot" in the heart of the house, the cup of stars, the stone lions, the oleanders etc. Eleanor is given a bedroom painted blue, the colour of depression. The men in the novel are more like props, supporting players. It's like a spooky version of Lucy and Ethel getting themselves into another scrape with Ricky and Fred simply there when neccesary. Luke and Montague ask what happened while they were outdoors chasing SOMETHING. Eleanor: "Nothing in particular. Someone knocked on the door with a cannonball, then laughed their fool head off when we wouldn't let them in, but nothing out of the ordinary" There are no real "evil" characters in the book: it is a foray into the mind of someone so desperately longing for understanding, love and companionship that she knows not where she goes.............

Having already read three other Jack Reacher novels, I finally got around to reading "Killing Floor," the first in Lee Child's popular series. Here is the Jack Reacher that we know and love--macho wanderer, man of few words, quick with his fists, an expert at weaponry, fearless and unforgiving.

Jack is passing through Margrave, Georgia. It is a town that is surprising clean and well-kept, considering that most of the residents have little visible source of income. Jack intends to stay for a brief period to look up some history about a blind musician, and then he intends to move on. However, Jack is arrested for a vicious crime that he did not commit, and he then becomes embroiled in a murder investigation that involves his brother.

It turns out that Margrave is a corrupt town, rotten to the core. With the help of a few good police officers (one of whom makes for a sexy love interest), Reacher gets to the heart of an extremely profitable criminal operation run by some very ruthless and powerful men.

"Killing Floor" is a fast-moving, engrossing and extremely violent thriller. Reacher is quick-witted, unerring in his instincts, and relentless in his pursuit of justice. One of Reacher's quirks is that he rarely changes his clothes, since he hates to be bothered with laundry. Since he never carries luggage and he only showers when he gets a chance, he must be fairly malodorous. Surprisingly, no one seems to notice.

I enjoyed "Killing Floor," recognizing it for the entertaining fairy tale that it is. Child does not try for realism. If you can stomach tremendous carnage and you like non-stop action, then you will enjoy "Killing Floor".

Wow, what a book! Lee Child has given us perhaps the most interesting and complex hero in some time. Jack Reacher is Clint Eastwood, John Wayne and Arnold Schwarzenegger rolled into one...but with much more personality and pizzazz! I'm only sorry it's taken me so long to read Mr. Child's book!

The story is a riveting one, focusing on Jack's involvement in a crime in a small town in Georgia. Boy, does he make a mistake in deciding to stop off in this little burg, just to find out about a blue singing legend named Blind Blake. But, what a story unfolds. The dialogue is brisk, economical, and very involving! Along with Jack, there are a ton of characters that are so remarkably fleshed out and described, you would think this was a true crime story!

There are scenes of nail-biting action; very graphic and disturbing scenes of violence; and amidst all this some really well-written scenes of sensitivity and poignancy. Jack's meeting with an old lady who once knew the old blues legend is outstanding in its emotional punch! Paul Hubble, the neurotic banker; Roscoe, the beautiful policewoman; Finlay, the chief of detectives; and the evil villains are some of the best written characters in recent mystery fiction.

What is so amazing about this book is the way Lee Child has not only woven a complex murder mystery, but also a chilling tale of greed, madness, and lost loves and lives.

This is an emotional, wrenching debut, and I cannot wait to start in on the rest of this series!

An outstanding piece of fiction!

I started with "Running Blind," Lee Child's third book, and finished it off in record time to jump back online to see what else Lee Child had written. The hero, Jack Reacher, was a military brat growing up, a military career man until the army downsized, and then became a drifter by choice. He's a one-man swat team correcting injustice as it finds him. In "Killing Floor" he just happens to get off the bus near the intersection of a small town in Georgia and after wandering on foot into the town of Margrave he is immediately arrested for a brutal murder which he obviously did not commit. He digs his way through several mysteries at one time including the identity of the murdered man. The suspense never lets up; there is a girl (a cop) that he loves but leaves with good romance and dialogue throughout. The only problem I had with the hero is that he arrives without any luggage and only occasionaly needs to buy a new outfit of clothes as he thows away what he has on at the time. He gives new meaning to traveling light. I'm going to quit writing now and start reading the next book..."Die Trying" I hope to see more of Jack Reacher after I have caught up with the next two.

I literally just finished reading Tripwire, and it was a good book, easily up there with Lee Child's other Jack Reacher books, but still not quite as "oh my god" awesome as Killing Floor. The villian this time was (without giving anything away) a fairly common type of character, whose true nature I saw coming well in advance of the final couple of chapters. Even so, this was a good novel, but not quite the "can't put it down to go to sleep" type of read that Killing Floor was. Maybe Lee Child will be like William Gibson, in that everything he writes after his first novel will be damn good, but just never able to measure up to that first work. That said, I'll still keep buying everything the guy writes.

When you enter the world of Jack Reacher, Lee Child's indomitable ex-MP, you never know what to expect. You can certainly expect exciting action scenes, plenty of fisticuffs, and a large dose of graphic violence. "Tripwire" is no exception. The book is an excellent read. Reacher finds himself caught up in the investigation of a star helicopter pilot missing in action in Vietnam and assumed dead. The boy's parents, in grief for thirty years, send a PI to find Reacher, only to have the PI killed hours after meeting with Reacher. From that point on, the plot twists and turns, always sustaining your interest. Although the ending is easily predictable from the start, it's fun riding along with Child on the inevitable denouement. Hook Hobie is an extremely nasty villain and presents a formidable challenge to Mr. Reacher. His henchman are likewise pretty despicable. Some of the supporting characters are really well written, particularly the victimized Marilyn Stone and her real-estate agent friend, Sheryl. Marilyn displays quite a bit of spit and vinegar and loyalty to her milktoast husband, and plays a hard game with Hobie, for a while. Sheryl, meanwhile, displays a tremendous amount of loyalty to her friend.

A great book but some additional points of concern or discussion. I have found it hard to accept Jack Reacher's obvious inability to function "normally" in the world. A drifter at heart, he doesn't seem to want to belong in anyone's world----he falls in love at the drop of a hat, but is not willing to make any commitments, always seeming self-centered in his inability to be "tied down." He doesn't have a job, he's never had a home of his own, and he avoids reality as it were a plague. While this makes for a dynamic and "legendary" type of hero, it leaves Reacher the man hollow and almost apathetic. Finally, in "Tripwire," his romance with Jodie awakens Reacher to these facts and as the book comes to a close, he starts acting like a human being, thinking of settling down, having a house, etc. I'm sure "Running Blind" will pick this up and hopefully develop it. Jack Reacher is a great character, and I like him, but if he becomes a little more human, it will make him even more likeable.

Disappointments: What happens to Marilyn, Chester, and William Curry. They are pivotal victims in the climactic scene, and at its resolution, we don't know what happens to them. The Stones part in the novel are integral to the plot, and we come to care about what happens---especially to Marilyn. This lack of resolution is downright criminal, Lee!

Also, where did Hobie get his contacts in Hawaii and Hanoi? It's never explained---they just exist. Hobie doesn't seem to have a "worldwide" scam going, just a local one.

And what about Tony, his mysterious "is he gay?" aide? What is their relationship, and how did it begin? Tony intimates he's known Hobie for a long time, but there's never any connection between the two. Tony obviously cares a great deal for Hobie, but there is no development of this relationship.

Maybe minor quibbles, but I feel valid ones.

At any rate, if you've followed Jack Reacher this far, as I have, you will undoubtedly want to read "Running Blind," which I will start soon!

This is the third novel by Lee Child featuring his tough guy hero, Jack Reacher, the previous two being DIE TRYING and KILLING FLOOR. Jack, once a hard-boiled Major in the U.S. Army's Military Police, has been (in all three novels) drifting from here to there to no place in particular, and getting enmeshed in unusual situations that force him to fight assorted scum. His modus operandi makes him a worthy drinking buddy and soulmate of the Clint Eastwood 1970's screen character, Dirty Harry.

In TRIPWIRE, Jack inherits from Gen. Leon Garber (ret.), his former Army commanding officer recently deceased, the task of tracking down for an aged and ailing couple the fate of their pilot son, Victor Hobie, still MIA many years after the Vietnam war in which he flew helicopters. Perceived by the reader, but unbeknownst to Jack, Hobie is now a sadistic, extremely vicious, burn-scarred amputee now operating in the Big Apple as a high end loan shark to financially desperate CEOs. (Or is he?) His specialty is torturing and killing the family members of his debtors should they default. One sweet teddy bear.

Having read the previous two Reacher yarns some time ago, my memory may be suspect. However, I recall the action in those two being more constant and sustained. In TRIPWIRE, the plot develops with more serenity (such as it is), with the tension for the reader being the knowledge that Jack and Hobie will eventually face off against one another - the classic confrontation between the Guy Wearing the White Hat vs. the Guy Wearing the Black Hat. The only thing lacking is the famous Eastwood squint.

Being sufficiently Neanderthal to have loved all of the Dirty Harry films, it's no surprise that Reacher has swaggered into my pantheon of fictional heroes. Child's fourth thriller in the series, RUNNING BLIND, is definitely on my Wish List. However, I remain puzzled and just a little disappointed that Jack, at 38 and supremely self sufficient, remains without a clue when it comes for him to do his ... laundry. I'll bet even Dirty Harry knew how to press and fold a shirt - those were the days when my heroes were made of iron.