A rare find, I was lucky a friend knowing I was an avid pet lover ran across an old copy of this true gem of a little book. Take time to read these heartwarming true adventures, i enjoyed so much on vacation, I am now searching this author in hopes of finding some more, of his work, in this area. Sad that it's out of print, but go the extra mile to get it, well worth the read. Timeless, and great help for pet lovers if you do in fact lose your dog.

I'm part of a Drama Society in Ireland, and at the moment we are doing this play. Let me give you a short version of the play. There are 7 characters in them the most important being the Hiker himself. He has 3 children, 2 boys and a girl. He left his family 20 years ago because basically his wife's sister Freda would not give Kate (HIkers wife)and himself time to give the marriage a chance because Freda was in love with him too!!When he returns, Joe (eldest son) hits him. Simey(2nd son) hates the hiker and is only worried about his reputation as a vet even though the hiker is dying he doesnt care! Mary (daughter) doesnt even speak to him and has no time at all for him. Joe is the only one who will love his father through it all. He asks Kate and Freda not to go against his wishes and they dont. This is not our first year doing a play by JB we have done Big Maggie and also Many Young Men of Twenty and i enjoyed this more because of the size of the cast. With the other two plays we needed a cast of 20-25 and the audience would not get to know the characters really well. With this play the audience knew everyone. The play is in the form of two acts. Its a play that you could laugh at but there is also tradedy in it also.

Hope you enjoy is as much as i did. Its clearly one of JB best

Reading this wonderful book made me feel like I was sitting in some public house in Ireland, listening to an old master storyteller spin a yarn about memorable characters in situations both dire and ridiculous; and it reminded me of the value of the often-neglected art of genuine storytelling. I felt as if I had come to know the characters as real people, and I judged myself the better for having made their acquaintance. And did I meantion that the book is hilarious? The unforgettable attack of the little people is not to be missed!

That's the wild west of Ireland. There are so many things to tell about this book where do you start. The memorable scene where a clapped out bull fit only for the meatyard rouses himself to perform his swansong and in the process commands a bulls price at the fair, the naked leprechauns, the immoral ladies on their last fling with the fine young men. Keane is at his best when he is being irreverent, and this has to be his most irreverent book of all. Totally shocking and in the best tradition of Irish rural literature -every word of it is true!

This is a bonafide cattledrive novel. The fact that it takes place in Ireland of the 40's doesn't make it less exciting. There's bad guys and good guys and sweet colleens (not to mention some hootchycootchy kind of gals!) The forces of nature play a major part (both good and bad) in life on the trail. You get a true feeling for Irish country life and love and honor and pride. The characters are worth a story each, from a lascivious old widow to a gun toting Minister (yes, not everyone is Catholic)! Hallmark made a sickly sweet TV movie out of this wonderful novel, cutting out the murder and most of the mayhem. (NOW are you interested?)

keane, a british scholar, uses a good sense of humor and a lot of information; the result is a splendid book, easy to be read and with a lot of echoes on time. the only condition imposed to reader is to be interested in media and/or democracy. the rest is done by keane!

Our drama group did "Moll" by John B Keane a few years ago and i thought that it was an extremely funny but yet so real play. Moll is a nosy,vicious,vendictive,poisionious,interfereing busybody. Herself and the canon get off on a great foot but moll has no time for (in her own words) an ordiniary. However she loves ruling the roost and been needed by the canon "ohh 'tis hard canon to getrbused to the black and white when one is used to the purple". When the bishop comes to visit the household, after receiving pleas from the curates to get rid of moll, he transvers Canon Pratt which means that the new parish priest will be Fr.Brest(former curate) so Moll now takes it aupon herself to tender to the needs of the newly appointed parish priest and the ending of the play is such a turnaround taht it would make ANYBODY laugh. A must read! Well done John B.

The book is highly opinionated and tends to be more of a traing manual than a text book. Pieces of the productivity management process are displayed nicely most of the time, but occasionally seem to state the obvious multiple times while not addressing more difficult issues in staffing. The book could be divided into 2 parts more logically and one of them being 'organizing productivity management' and the other 'being a good manager of a team' or at least separated within the book.

Overall the book is fine if you are needing to see in print what you should already know if you're a manager, or if you have never thought about managing projects before. It isn't a complete waste of money whatever your knowledge is though since it does have Maslow's hiarchy of needs in it.

I worked for Keane back in the mid 1990's. I received a copy of this book from Keane, Inc. to help me with my consulting assignments.

The book was written in response to the question "why do software projects fail?". Luckily, Keane, Inc. has had over 40 years to answer that question, and a lot of the answers are in this book.

The six principles of productivity management are meant to guide aspiring project managers and consultants to avoid the pitfalls of bad project management. I followed them, and still follow them, to amazing success.

I keep referring to this book, and the principles in it, throughout my career.

The only reason I didn't give it five stars is one: it needs to be updated. Not that the principles have changed throughout the years, but a little brush off and revision would do a world of good.

Like an old wine, this book just keeps getting better and better.

Skip this insulting piece of garbage. I almost couldn't believe what I was reading! At one point Keane seems to imply that Havel's five years as a political prisoner, was nothing more than a planned political move to further his career. Mr. Keane definitely is not a historian, or for that matter, a good writer. What a pity that the book has even received so much publicity. A pure unadulterated insult to one of the greatest figures of our time. Shame on you Keane. Attacking this courageous leader for smoking and drinking habits. I wonder if Keane might have looked for a beer and cigarette after 5 years in a communist prison. Lastly, he criticizes Havel as a writer. Wow, this guy has some really big stones! He writes a piece of junk and in it criticizes one of the most creative and courageous voices of our time. This website only lets you rate from 1 star up, otherwise I would have given it no stars. A waste of time and paper.

I was recently in Prague and having read a Havel play (and being a fan of Kundera and Klima) I felt like I needed to know more about the man Havel is. Fortunately I am also interested in the machinations of power structures and how humans spin their webs. This was the main theme of this book, and Havel was it's main character. The chapter about Havel in jail was riveting, but I must say, throughout the book, I would have like more detail regarding the important stories that add dimension to his life, so I would say I should have read something else. Still, Keane's intelligence and insight connect Havel's life with the historical context from which he arises very well. I would say that this it the books greatest strength. I learned a lot, though not always about Havel.

Mr Rossman's review of Vaclav Havel : A Political Tragedy in Six Acts is most misleading and surely based on a careless reading of the book - perhaps even no reading of the book. It should be ignored. The book is very much richer and of long-term significance than he makes out.