I wasn't sure what to expect with this anthology, but I found myself enthralled from beginning to end. Nnedi Okorafor's "Crossroads", Seth Lindberg's "Atropos", and James Dorr's "Madness" were special delights.

A great mix of chilling, horrifying, and otherwise entertaining stories.

This is a great compilation of magic, madness, culture and creativity. All of the stories were pretty satisfying, some of them terrifying! There are some writers here that are going to go places. Watch for the authors of the two longest pieces, Nnedi Okorafor (her story is called Crossroads) and James S. Dorr (he wrote a story called Madness).

Another stunning mental puzzle in literature!
If you can follow the story then you are over educated.
Time travel, mummies, vampires, visiting ancient cultures
all across the world, good vs. evil plotting, hero vs. villain,
boobytraps in tombs, romance, action, adventure galore!
This book rocks! I highly recommend this print-on-demand novel.

-S.M. Rhodes, PhD.
Palm Beach, Florida. USA.
:)

Another best read (bestsellers all have too much ... or violence)
by legendary M.J. Costa (1stbooks.com).
This book spans the time from the future and the ancient past.
An Egyptian Pharaoh was cryogenically frozen and is awakened in
the 3rd Millenium by time-traveling archaeologists; they also make a side trip to dig up his Nememis, a Vampire Emperor of Persia. They have combat scenes, love, intrigue, romance, and
all the good qualities of a modern novel.

Giblin and Dooling have collaborated to make a perfect picture book biography. Roy Goodman's (leading Ben Franklin historian) expertise makes this book a wealth of information that can assist children in the writing of school reports. This book is so rich with detail. The fact that there is an Illustrator's Note by Dooling makes this a real candidate for at least a Caldecott Honor. I have visited Dooling's web site and now plan to purchase a sketch or original painting from this book! Outstanding!

What famous person helped start the first library in the American colonies? Who also helped to establish the first fire department in the American colonies? Who helped establish the first hospital in Philadelphia? Who first proved the electricity and lightning were one and the same thing? Even if you didn't guess right, you will probably agree that the man who did all of these things, plus a whole lot more, had to be a very interesting fellow. And he was. In THE AMAZING LIFE OF BEN FRANKLIN, James Cross Giblin tells us all about it. Ben was born in Boston, the youngest of ten sons, and one of seventeen children. When he was ten years old, he started helping out in his father's soap and candlemaking shop, and he absolutely hated it. His father then apprenticed him to his brother, a printer, and printing turned out to be one of the many things that Ben loved to do. In fact, on his tombstone, that is all he wanted said-B. Franklin, a printer. But we all know now that Ben turned out to be one of the most famous and most beloved people in American history-and this is his story. There are great color illustrations. This is the best possible introduction to our own beloved Ben Franklin.

I am a former Russian journalist and a documentary filmmaker who has also worked at NASA in the US.

"The Anatomy of Russian Defense Conversion" touches on many more subjects then just Russian Defense Industry. This is a very thorough, informative and important work that analyses the history of US and Russian Defense Industries, weapons exports and conversion, and possibilities of transformation from a militarized to a civilian economy in the new millenium.

The book also reflects on the current state of defense industries in the US and Russia, and "brain drain", or loss of intellectual capital in Russia and other countries after the Cold War.

I found reflections in Arkady Yarovsky's chapter "From the Culture of War to the Culture of Peace" very contemporary, especially in the light of recent events in the Middle East:

"Our time is unfortunately still characterized as "the culture of war." The culture of war is evident first and foremost in the hostilities between people and states, between nations and faiths, and in the inability to solve conflicts by peaceful means... Humanity has made it into the third millenium because the lust for power has been restrained by fear of nuclear war, but this restraint is not to be counted on permanently... The danger hidden in the separateness of people of different countries, unfortunately, remains a legacy for the next century... If humanity renounces the legacy of the culture of war, it can start down the road of cooperation, peaceful creation, and enlightenment. This is the only road leading to the culture of peace."

One can imagine that I, as a small child living in San Antonio, Texas, next to three Air Force bases and an Army base, living through the Cuban missile crisis, thought about the threat of the Russian military. I also met my parents' wonderful emigre' friends, and to this day have had warm relations with Russian people.

This book tells of the enormous cost to the Russian people of building and maintaining their war industry for so many years, a militarized economy where people got second best. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, defense industry just about shut down, but civilian industry has not grown great enough to support the population. There are horrendous unemployment, and terrible health and social problems. There is some danger that the path of least resistance for Russia, if we neglect the situation, could be to re-start weapons production, for export at first.

In my opinion, the United States also, to a lesser degree, has neglected the manufacture of quality consumer goods, importing them instead, and has let its physical economy deteriorate, despite much activity in the financial sector. We, too, have been insufficiently careful of the environment. This book provides some idea of what these trends could lead to, if carried to extremes.

Perhaps the involvement of United States companies in Russia, could lead to more of a recognition here, of the importance of the physical economy. Hopefully, both countries could also work to put industry on a healthy environmental footing as well.

There is awareness of the problem of Russian defense conversion, at high levels of our government. I hope this book helps educate people and sustain that interest.

This book should be read right after reading James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Mem. Unfortuantely I read it over four years before I read Agee's work. When I read this book--in Feb 1996--I wrote to myself: This is a book Newt Gingrich and the crazy House freshmen should read--people who are so intent that those who cannot make it on their own should not make it.

Unfortunately, the synopsis left out that this book won the Pulitzer for Non-fiction in 1991. Maharidge and Williamson followed the footsteps of James Agee who had profiled sharecroppers during the Depression. They found their decendants, and showed that while cotton and sharecropping had died, rural poverty for these families had been passed down to new generations. The front section of the book is a series of photographs by Williamson, and they are tremendous. Moreover, in their reporting, they filled a gap left by Agee by finding a black family of sharecroppers to add to the others profiled. This is a tremendous book. It works on multiple levels, giving both the sweep of Southern social and economic history and bringing it down to individuals. Beyond that, the book is a metaphor for our own time. "If we understand the death of cotton," Maharidge writes in this book, "we understand many things about modern America." This is a tremendous work, highly readable and moving. The recognition these two craftsmen received for it is well-deserved

I truly enjoyed this book. The careful storytelling draws the reader in and tenderly takes us inside a very unique family. The boundaries of language are overcome through the bonds that love and loss of a pet form. The relationship between girl and dog described in 'Bonesy and Isabel' is unforgettable. Rich illustrations, compelling story.

A wonderful and gentle book about love in action. A couple shows love towards animals in need by taking them in and giving them a home. They also adopt a young girl from a South America. The story is told through this girl's eyes.

Don't let the title of this book fool you. It is a well-written, hilarious account of psycho-babble gone beserk, told in the form of a how-to manual for pet owners. Spoofs many of our modern manias. Great fun. Highly recommended.

My teacher's friend wrote this book, and I'm good friends with my teacher so I've heard much about about this book. The most funny part is not the book, it's that people actually think that it's a real guide to boosting your pet's self-esteem! Ha ha ha. Great book. No doubt about it, it's a must-read.

This is an amazing show. Everyone can hum "One" but who can recite Paul's heartbreaking monologue? The script to this show was one of Broadway's first to be frankly honest about all aspects of life, and this really shows in reading it. It is an absolute joy to read. Totally reccommended!

C'mon! A chorus Line is THE best musical ever written! Now you can have the chance to own a wonderfully published script to this amazing music. I also suggest buying the cd to the musical to go with the script. It's just a pity that this script can not encapsulate the performances of the original cast as well. But I guess you can't have your cake and eat it too. But you can buy this script... and for a severely discounted price!...Congratulations. Jump at this deal immediately.

This lovely little volume is a gift that keeps on giving. Its essays are simple, elegant, soulful, inspiring. And thought-provoking. You may well find yourself searching your own Christmas memories, and finding gems you had long forgotten. Which is what this book is all about -- seeing, hearing, remembering those things we take for granted, and cherishing them anew. This is a book to feed the heart, and the soul. And it's just the right size for stocking stuffing!

The kind of collection that is a great gift during the holidays for anyone - it reminds us of the spirit of the season and connects us to our past, our hopes, and the more important meaning of our lives! Great gift for family members, co-workers, neighbors and for anyone on your list!!

What I enjoyed most about this book was the realistic feel of a young person's emotional problems. The narrator is a young man who is going out with an older woman who lives in a different country to him, and so he has plenty to worry about! As the story is told entirely from the narrator's viewpoint it feels just like a real relationship, where you never really know what your partner is thinking and are therefore never secure.
The problems that the narrator faces are very real - he worries about his girlfriend being chatted up by other men, he feels inferior and unable to cope with the long distance relationship, when visiting his girlfriend he cannot even speak the native language and is often worried about being attacked or shunned for his ignorance.
What makes this book special is the author's ability to create totally realistic situations where you really feel that you are a part of the scene, not just reading about it. For example, his description of making a twenty-hour coach journey from London to Frankfurt really has you feeling the horrible griminess and impatient anxiety of the time and makes you truly thankful to be sitting cosy at home reading it! Also, when writing about his character's emotions, the author captures the dark, confusing thoughts, almost bordering on insanity, that come from such a desperate love affair.
I felt that I learn a lot from this book. I would love to read more of Michael James's work.

Yes, super-real, that's the best expression that I can think of to describe this exeptionally powerful piece of work. Throughout the last hundred years there have been numerous books written which attempt to get inside the head of the main charecter, but none, I think, that achieve it so well, or present it in such readable prose, as Cloud Gazing.
I began reading this book at six o clock on a thurday evening, and finished it at three the next morning. A few days later I read it again... When I put the book down I truly felt as though I had been somewhere else. While reading, I was no longer sitting in my bedroom at home; I was living the scenes of James's work, feeling the power of the emotions and tasting the colours of the lands he describes.... which means, in short, that I was amazed by this book.
Another reason that it is so special is that, as well as being fantastic from an artistic/psychological point of view, it is also very readable and exciting. You find yourself longing to know what happens next... the situation that the main charector finds himself in - a ragged long-distance-relationship - is the kind of extreme situation that many of us find ourselfs in over life, and so, in the best traditions of our literature, the author has taken an everyday, yet quite extreme situation, and created the most powerful form of writing from it - the study not only of the person, but also of the mind and the imagination.