Robert E. Howard was great fan of the ring. He loved the action and the shear power of the men who fought between the ropes. This respect for manly strength shows in every story he wrote, from his westerns right up to his most famous creation, Conan. Here in this book he writes about the real thing. These are men here. Real men! Howard was a life time fan of boxing and these stories are based on men he actually watched trading blows in the ring. If you think these men are larger than life, think again. For each fictional character found in this book there was a real man behind the character. Real men lived the lives presented here. While it is true that these are fictitious accounts it is also true that boxing really was once like this. It was brutal. It was bloody. It was all about fighting. The boxers of today, with their polish and their fancy footwork would not have had a chance in the boxing ring of old. Only an iron man could get through a match in those days. An iron man was a man who didn't duck and dodge but, rather, took each blow to come his way and never faltered. An iron man could take any amount of punishment and still win the fight. An iron man was the toughest of the tough. In this book you will find four such men. These are the men who inspired the great barbarian, Conan. Read this book and enjoy, but beware. No matter how tough you think you are you will feel weak and helpless compared to the giants found in these pages. This is Howard at his best. This is Howard writing about that which he loved most. This is The Iron Man!

Even I, a REH fan, was wondering how a boxing yarn could be any good. I was expecting just a bunch of in-ring action with the only differences from story to story being the fighters and who won. Far from it. This book starts off with an essay entitled Men of Iron, where Howard asks the question: "What freak of nature makes an iron man?" I personally didn't find the essay all that interesting==but the rest of the book makes up for that. The first story is The Iron Man. In my opinion, it's the best in the book. While I read it, I couldn't help but think of the B and W movie Champion with Kirk Douglas. Iron Man has got one whopper of a storyline. Next up is They Always Come Back. This is the second story in the book, and the second best. There's a few nice twists in this story, though. Finally, there's Fists of the Desert. After reading that story, I really felt like I'd been punched in the stomach. That one is the third best of the bunch. This is a hard book to find--even in paparback--but if you see it, pick it up--you won't be disappointed.

This is a must for all Howard fans,especially the newer ones who may have only read his sword & sorcery stories.Iron Man is about boxing pure and simple;the men who took untold punishment in the ring before usually winning their bouts by knocking out their fatigued opponents.Howard wrote this using some of his personal experiences following the fight game in Texas and has based some of his later and well known characters like Conan and Kull on the fighters in this book.They all share the same characteristics of toughness,incredible vitality and endurance.Iron Man is a good guide to how Howard thought and how he shaped his future characters

A wonderful yet small collection of reproductions of Manet's last works. A very great artist, at the end of his days, paints exquisite small works of flowers. What else could you want?

As an art student studying the techniques of the masters, this little book has been invaluable to me. This is for anyone who seriously wants to experience Manet's genius. His little florals leap off the page! The printing is good, too. Faithfully shows detail and tone well. While nothing replaces seeing these works in person, this book is one every artist should have.

During the last months of 1882 Edouard Manet was gravely ill. This was to be the last year of his life. He no longer had the strengh for large ambitious work. With frequent rest periods, he had just completed "A Bar at the Folies-Bergere."

Due to his ebbing energy he began to paint on a smaller scale, simple bouquets of flowers in a variety of glass vases. Often these were the flowers friends brought to the convalescing artist.

"The Last Flowers of Manet" is a little gem of a book presenting 16 of these elegant, magical paintings. There are ethereal white lilac blossoms and slashes of pink peony petals shimmering before rich, black backgrounds. There are roses and tulips in warm, golden shades.

Just as Matisse in his last days could not make a false stroke when creating his cutout compositions, so Manet brings total mastery to these exquisite, soulful still lifes.

This is a great story. The plot is excellent and the climax is really gripping. The imagery REH uses is really awesome. He has a lot of good stories and this one is one of his finest.

Almuric is one of the best fantasy stories ever written by Robert E. Howard. It is also one of the few full length fantasy novels he wrote, most of his stories were shorts for pulp magazines of his time.

The story is set on a distant world, Almuric, where a human from earth takes refuge. He braves the hardships of this new world and has many dealings with its peoples and races.

At around 250 pages, I recommend all lovers of fantasy to pick this one up!

All the Einstein life is very intersting! For the 20st centuryworld life the 1900-1909 Einstein period is the apex of his scientificcontributions, specially for three papers: those about the Brownian Movement, the Photoelectric Effects and Eletromagnetic Effects when there is a referencial change. All three papers brought to ous news interpretations of those phenomena and revealed the Einstein interpretation capacity of visible and not-visible world. The paper about Photoelectric Effects presented a new quantum views of ligh and material interaction while the Eletromagnetic Effects showed the principles of Special Relativity, a theme that transverse the 20st century and arrive at 21st century without popular technology applications. This book brings a opened, stimulant, and helpful explanations - great lectures - about the principals Einstein ideas. Maybe this book is the first to point closely the life and thinking of a science men.

Readers-

One might question why you might purchase a book such as this. Well the answer is quite simple. Logic. Now when I say logic I don't mean the logic of the words themselves rather the logic that you might read such an impressive work.

Einstien was a genius in his time, a genius yet to be surpassed (in the authority of Science that is). His works are timeless, classic examples of the scientific process and this particular is a well-balanced example.

Written during the years of the 1910s this volume's works depict a dedication to science even through the war in Europe.

A Must Read!

Justin Smith

When Lancer Books reissued the original Conan stories by Robert E. Howard, they enlisted the aid of L. Sprague DeCamp and Lin Carter to polish Howard's grammar, soften his more "politically incorrect" statements, and fill out the saga with pastiches. DeCamp and Carter wrote several stories out of whole cloth, but they also reworked a number of Howard stories starring other heroes into Conan stories. There was more DeCamp than Howard in this particular volume, and I am convinced that DeCamp could write Conan better than Howard could.

Conan finds the accursed Treasure of Tranicos, the legendary treasure of the Pirate King Trani- cos, who stole it with his crew from a pyramid in Khemi, Stygia, and meets Tina and Belosa. Exiles with their lord, from Zingara, Valbroso's visited by a rival pirate and then another rival buccaneer shows up. The two rivals want Conan to lead them to the Treasure of Tranicos but Conan refuses. He tells them that it's cursed and he won't lead them to it. When they want him to do it anyway, he takes them on. He escapes to lead the rebellion against the tyrannical king of Aquilonia. Blair Colquhoun @cybertours.com

~This book is very well-written, composed of many short (c. 2 pg) articles on various subjects relating to biology/medicine, such as Sickle Cell disorder and Huntington's Disease. Not only are these articles very informative, they are interesting. ~On top of that, there are some really great pictures, including a pull-out poster of deadly microbes. ~The material covered in this book is fascinating, but it's not something that you think about every day (unless you're a biologist or you're really into biomedicine). It stimulates thought, and brings you to the realization that, yes, this is sort of cool. I was somewhat interested in the broad category of biology and medicine, but when I bought this book, I was affirmed in my belief that biomedicine is a remarkably intriguing field of study. ~I would strongly recommend this book to anyone remotely interested in biomedicine. It is a truly amazing book! 5 stars!

Exploring the Biomedical Revolution examines the work of frontline scientists and how they are changing the face of modern medicine, with chapters presenting articles on research enhanced by vivid color photos. Many titles on biomedicine are inaccessible to lay audiences; not so this book, which focuses on explanations which are easy to understand, yet with plenty of scientific detail added for those involved in health care. Highly recommended.

I bought this for my 3 year old not really knowing what to expect. When it arrived my daughter wanted to open it immediately and read it. She loved the beautiful pictures. I loved the simple words. A great introduction to Jewish traditions, thoughts and prayer that you can build on at home.

This book is one of the best I've ordered so far. The writing is in large bold print and there are only a few sentances per page, so it holds a toddler's attention. There is a great message and the illustrations are adorable. Great children's book!

A "must read" for ever person whose life is touched by the "nightmare" of Alzheimer's. This is an incredible book that is written from the heart of a man whose wife, and family have suffered with this dreaded disease for over decade. As the author's oldest grandson I have seen the toll that this has taken on all those closest and most dear. This book is a tribute to the struggles, pain and triumph that one family has endured and the victory that has been known through faith in our Creator.

My uncle Bob, J. Robert Boggs, wrote this book out of his experience with his wife, my aunt, Doris Boggs (whom he has always called "Maxie"). For years now Bob has labored to give her care, with the help of a nursing facility in which she stays. He lives in an independent apartment the facility provides. His tenderness and love for "Maxie" is obvious in his book. He provides spiritual help for understanding why such problems can exist, as well as sharing some of his struggles along the way. His book has been given strong endorsements by numerous sources, including government leaders.

Submitted by Donald Ratcliff, Ph.D.

For nearly 16 years HJ argued for lower property taxes before proposition 13 became law in 1978; it was not a quick and easy task. Those who would work for any similar change may learn something from his story. From 1942 to 1991 about 25% of the Federal Defense budget was spent in California. This created a growing economy, even if it drained funds from the northeast states.

Since 1945 land prices and property taxes were booming in California. After his 1962 retirement, HJ began his involvement with the United Organization of Taxpayers. [A movement needs a cadre of dedicated workers.] It then affiliated with other organizations, and thousands of volunteers from all over the state. [The movement must be represented in all counties.] It is very important to have unity and loyalty to the group. [Fragmentation, petty quarrels, and demoralization should be avoided.] They experienced many defeats. [Expect to lose many battles before final victory.] Proposition 13 cut property taxes in half (p.9)! This set an example for the other states (p.10). It could never have been achieved without the Initiative & Referendum law in Calif. But an organization can pass around a petition and get tens of thousands of signatures. Even if it has no legal effect it will impress and scare elected officials. Calif. passed an initiative and referendum law in 1911, an extension to the right of petition. This allows the people to write a law and bypass corrupt state politicians. Without the right to petition, Proposition 13 would not have been passed.

Chapters One thru Seven tell of the work by this movement. 64,000 tax-exempt corporations and 18,000 charitable trusts paid no property taxes. Most of them were set up to get a tax break! Towns would raise assessments one year, then the tax rate the next (p.28). The enormous increases in property taxes priced young couples out of the market. And older people had lowered incomes.

Chapter 8 is his autobiography. He was born and raised in Utah. His father was a carpenter who studied law and became a judge. HJ studied law at the University of Utah by day and worked at a mill by night. He taught boxing in college, and fought as a professional. HJ also played semipro baseball for a copper mill (p.209). He had a varied and interesting life as a newspaper publisher, and then as a manufacturer. Pages 256-7 tell of his legal experiences with the patent on radio push-button tuning; they lost out to big corporations due to high level political decisions. He was part of the group that ran an ad for a Congressional candidate - they decided on "the guy in the sailor suit" (p.263).

Chapter Nine lists his political ideas. He advocates elimination all property taxes, and using income taxes (ability to pay), sales taxes (with some exemptions), and "other forms of taxes". HJ would encourage more public participation in the public business of government. He recommends limiting the size of government to limit the power of politicians. Public schools should be overhauled to create a better product. HJ wants more personal savings to replace the Social Security system. He also wants the US to have the most powerful military in the world, but doesn't want foreign entanglements.

In this book, Howard Jarvis tells his story. Mainly, the book deals with the victorious anti-tax movement in California in the beginning of 70's, but Mr. Jarvis also shares much more of his rich life experience with us. Among other, we'll learn how Mr. Jarvis successfully fought the trade unions' sabotage during WWII. The different subjects are in approppriate proportions and presented in a very interesting style. Even though I'm rather ignorant and uninterested of US inner politics, I found the book really fascinating.

I have just one advice to the readers of this book. The idea of forcing the hated clique of parasite politicians and civil servants on their knees might seem very attractive to you. However, I read lately that both Howard Jarvis and Paul Gann got killed under mysterious circumstances shortly after their triumph with the tax proposal. I don't know if it's true or not, but my advice would still be to avoid confronting governments openly. (Read "How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World" by Harry Browne to learn more about this subject.)

Although most famous for his laconic barbarians and the dour Puritan swordsman Solomon Kane, Robert E. Howard's work spilled over genre lines to include sports and pulp adventure, among other themes. The lead story, the novella "The Iron Man," is a standard Howard celebration of machismo, starring a boxer whose sole claim to attention is the ability to absorb inhuman amounts of punishment. Of considerably greater interest are the Dennis Dorgan stories that follow. Dorgan, a not-too-bright merchant marine and shore-leave pugilist with an English bulldog, is a delight. The Dorgan stories, told in a Runyonesque first-person palooka-ese, demonstrate a wit and charm that rarely surface in Howard's better-known works.

Robert E. Howard churned out a lot of fiction during his short lifetime, and most of the attention has been claimed by his laconic barbarians-Conan, Kull, and Bran Mak Morn-and that humorless Puritan Solomon Kane. As a result, the fantasy crowd has tended to overlook these idiosyncratic gems about a not-too-bright prizefighting sailor and his bulldog. Forget the lead story "The Iron Man"-it's just more of Howard's self-serious exploration of machismo. The Dorgan stories, however, show a real sense of humor and an ear-however odd-for palooka dialogue that approaches the Runyonesque. Sure, it's out of print, but pulp fans will find it worth hunting for.