I had Dr. Keating for Morality class and we read through Pure Heart.... I found it to be extremely helpful in bringing complex ideas to a practical and personal level. In this book, Dr. Keating uses many personal experiences that we can relate to and that touch us in a special way. I would recommend this book to anyone desiring to begin to look at himself through different eyes and with a clearer heart.

The benefit of this book is its theological insights matched with stories and anecdotes from everyday life. the writing is accessible to all. I would especially recommend it for men as the author includes many insights into how the American Christian husband and father can grow in moral goodness. A rare find. buy this book.

Here is a book that tries to wrestle with our contemporary culture in light of religious faith and practical discernment. It is well researched yet accessible to lay persons. This book should be in every seminary and every pastor's library.

If you know a kid who's interested in racing, there's no better introduction to big-time motorsports than this book. It takes young readers (probably age 8 and up) inside the world of Champ Car racing, with thorough discussions of the drivers, cars, teams and events. When I was a kid, I had little concept of racing beyond the Indy 500, but a book like this would have added immensely to my understanding of the sport. The book's only shortcoming is that the information is somewhat dated now, but its young readers probably won't mind a bit.

This book helps you understand goes on in Indy Car racing. I recommed this book alot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a review book for Neurology. It is written in an outline form. It tries to be comprehensive, but fails to review any psychology (which is 33-40% of the boards). It has some nice tables and basic schematics, but no real illustrations or pictures of imaging. Since there are no real review books aside from this one, it fills the void well.

There is a second edition of this book avilable in the market with some chapters revised and some new ones added, released in 2002.
you don't take the risk of going to the boards inadequately prepared or with older information.

This book is an excellent review text for the neurology in-service exam, board exam or re-certification exam. Additionally, it is helpful as a quick reference for neurologic conditions. I highly recommend it.

This is part of the series of mysteries featuring Scotland Yard's Commander Adam Dalgleish. Ronald Treeves, a young man studying for the priesthood at St. Anselm's Theological College, died under rather strange circumstance-a cliff of sand long the beach fell on him. Although the inquest rules the death accidental, his rich and powerful father is not satisfied. He insists that Scotland Yard look into the matter, and Commander Dalgleish, who is familiar with St. Anselm's, volunteers for the job. Dalgleish arrives at the college to find that several other visitors there, including Archdeacon Matthew Crampton, a trustee of the college, who, being roundly disliked by everyone, immediately becomes the character in the story most likely to be murdered.

A violent storm erupts in the night and doers of dark deeds are afoot.

The story holds one's attention, with scandals, interlocking clues, and bodies piling up like cordwood. No surprise ending, though. Police procedure and forensic evidence lead doggedly to the truth.

There is quite a cast of characters in the book , and James develops many of them well enough for us to get a sense of them as people. Not least among them is Emma Lavenham, a young Cambridge scholar who is at the college to teach a seminar on metaphysical poets. Of course we all know that Dalgleish is a poet. By book's end, we see that Dalgleish's solitary personal life is about to change.

Although her writing is somewhat melodramatic, P.D. James knows how to tell a ripping good story.

Death in Holy Orders is a gem, and will delight long-time P.D. James fans as well as those for whom this is an introduction to her work. Well-known for her deep development of characters, this mystery is equally strong in giving you the locale (a small theological college perched on the sand cliffs near the North Sea in East Anglia), history (a twining of religion and family), social mores (actions have consequences), and a nicely detailed plot (four deaths, Church of England politics, and new connections for Adam Dalgliesh). Rarely is a book rich in all of these elements. Be warned. It's hard to put this book down! I finished reading at 1:22 a.m. despite needing to get up early this morning.

Mystery purists will complain that the book reveals the villain too early. Actually, there's a benefit, because it allows the book to take on the dramatic qualitites of a fine novel, as well as a mystery.

I delayed reading this book because the title didn't really grab me. I don't know much about the Church of England, and felt that I would soon be lost. Actually, although I probably didn't grasp all of the details, the religious context did not cause me to lose the thread either. Although set at a theological college, the story deals more broadly with issues throughout society.

The book opens with a fascinating literary device. A college staff member, Margaret Munroe, has found the body of a young student (ordinand) at the college buried under a pile of sand from a collapsed cliff. To ease her distress, she has been asked to write an account of the experience. Her exposition develops her character as well as the background of the book's story. This section serves like one of a pair of bookends to be matched at the end by a letter from the villain explaining the events described in the book. From these two examples, you can see the care with which Baroness James has developed her characters and story. You will feel that you know and understand quite a lot about over a dozen characters, and most of them you will find interesting and attractive to know more about. In most cases, some of the story will develop through their thoughts so that you can get inside of their reality.

The book has much more action than the typical P.D. James mystery, and thus makes it more modern in that sense. On the other hand, she pays close attention to the classic elements of mysery by making it clear that the events are tied to someone in residence. You will be reminded of And Then There Were None in many ways, although I found this novel much better done than that Dame Agatha Christie classic.

Adam Dalgliesh had visited the college, St. Anselm's, when he was young, and has a reunion with the former head of the college, Father Martin. That connection brings Adam Dalgliesh inside the story more than usual, which is all to the good. He is involved in an unlikely way. The dead ordinand, Ronald Treeves, was the adopted son of Sir Alred Treeves, a wealthy munitions industrialist. Sir Alred wants to know more about the circumstances, and asks Scotland Yard to send Dalgliesh, the Yard's most famous commander, to check it out. Dalgliesh has planned to take some personal time to visit the area and agrees. Through a series of unusual circumstances, the later investigations become his officially as well.

The plot is delightful in that Baroness James continually gives the reader hints before the investigation turns them up. Yet, the plot remains obscure enough that although we know about more crimes and complications than Scotland Yard does, we still don't know who did what until she chooses to raise the curtain for us. It's a nifty bit of slight of hand, while making the reader feel welcome.

Dalgliesh's connection to poetry is nicely placed into the story in a way that will delight long-term fans of this element of his character.

After you finish reading this story, you should think about how actions you have taken or could take in the future could have unintended, negative consequences. How can you avoid those potential consequences? How can you help others prepare for them? Those issues are at the core of the moral of this story, and are good food for thought for us all.

Take a bow, Baroness James. You deserve it!

Whoever loves artful writing and whodunit entwined will love P. D. James' latest Adam Dalgleish mystery. Wonderfully set on the East Anglian coast midst ever-changing and threatening nature where an holy order of priests and would-be priests/ordinands reside, this mystery unwinds around the suspicious accidental death of a rich man's son. And once the on leave Dalgleish joins the inquiry, murders just keep coming.

There is romantic, even incestuous, human fraility in this four part novel. There are jealousy, animosity, cross purposes, greed, deceit, anger, depression and revenge at work. Each character is skillfully drawn, especially those that are linked with Dalgleish's past and present, and the setting exacts added suspense to a seemingly pastoral setting.

The decline of the Arbuthnot estate's endowed theological seminary is central to the plot. One can guess that each character is linked to that demise in some fashion. And just as in a good Agatha Christie novel, the characters are tied to one another openly and in disguise, and await the skillful unraveling of the poetic and sensitive intellect of Dalgleish and his cohorts Kate, Piers, and Robbins.

Such a pleasure to relax into a well-written tome! James makes Dalgleish a friend of the reader, a character come to life, someone we know and willingly follow into a mystery that needs solving.

Two things struck me while reading this book, the first is that I doubt there is a book out there that is truly balanced and not somewhat biased. The second thing was that Gore really got the shaft, not so much by the recount wars, but by the election official that came up with the Butterfly Ballot. In the history of the USA this decision ranks up there with new Coke and the XFL, what a mistake. As far as the reporting in the book it was not bad for a review of all the articles they had in the paper, but it did not really dig into the particular issues very deeply. I wanted more detail and behind the scenes with both the candidates. I also wanted more details on the court cases; I felt like the sky-high overview of the issues of the cases did not do such an important issue justice.

In reading the book I think a little bit of a democratic bias comes out, just a little, but enough to notice. I also thought it interesting that they had far more details of the Gore group then the Bush camp, it follows the perception that the Post is somewhat liberal in its views. The book is an overview that came out almost 10 minutes after Gore hung up the phone on the second concession call so there are a few more details out now that they did not get in the book. Overall it is a good effort and a readable book, but not the end all be all on the subject.

This book, by the editors of the Washington Post, does a good job of describing the events which led to the deadlocked 2000 Presidential election. In addition to detailing the paths which led to the deadlock, the book discusses all the post-election issues in a very readable format. Surprisingly, the books editors seem only slightly tilted towards Gore (especially considering it is the Washington Post, which is noted for its liberal bias), so no matter who you voted for, there is much to be found here for anyone with an interest in contemporary politics.

I personally think the Washington Post and NY Times are liberal rags that are generally not worth the paper they are printed on. However, in fairness, when they do well I think they should be commended. I read the NY Times "36 Days" and still think that book was not worth the paper it was printed on. It was nothing more than a reprint of their articles.

Conversely, though, Deadlock was a well-written book. Two passages are worth noting. The first is about the book itself. About one-third of the way into the first chapter the book says: "These are the ... decisions, alliances, power plays, snap judgments and personality flaws revealed when a flukishly close election is played out for staggering high stakes. Both sides were nimble and brilliant and occasionally shady; both sides were also capable of miscalculations, divisions and blame. The best and worst of politics were on displayed in those 36 days, and both sides trafficked in each. This is how it happened." Although the Post endorsed Al Gore (no surprise) they tried to be equal in their appraisal of how the two campaigns sought resolution in their favor.

As for the two sides' strategy one only has to look within the first three pages of Chapter 2 where the Post records that the Democrats enlisted the services of three authors who wrote "The Recount Primer". The book reads: "Anyone who read and heeded the booklet could predict how the two sides would play America's closest president election -- at least in the broad outlines. Gore would gamble; Bush would stall. Gore would preach a doctrine of uncounted ballots; Bush would extol the dependability of machines. Gore needed more: more counting, more examination, more weighing and pondering of more ballots. Bush needed it over while he was still ahead." The only trouble for the Gore forces with this gospel was that the Republicans knew the same gospel. The book attempted to show how the two sides played out the roles assigned them.

For a behind the scenes objective look at the two sides, I think the Post did a very decent job. This could have been a... job on the Republicans and conservatives, but generally it was not (though I expected it). It could have been a... job on the Democrats and liberals, but it was not (nor did I expect it). I am not accustomed to this degree of fairness from the liberal Washington Post nor do I expect to see it very often in the future.

A bookseller in Washington D.C. recommended Burke to me. She said "you'll love this character." I thought, a cop running around New Iberia Louisiana? No way. I've been to New Iberia and there's nothing there! But I decided to give it a try and started with the first in the series (Neon Rain). I almost couldn't get through it. This is a poorly written cop story, set in New Orleans, where Robicheaux is a drunken homicide Lt. It has none of the charm or style of the books that follow. Fortunately, Robicheaux decides to move to New Iberia in the second book, and the series really takes off and starts scoring strikes. New readers just discovering James Lee Burke's cajun hero might want to skip "Neon Rain" and pick up the series with "Heaven's Prisoners." You won't be missing much, if anything.

The best way to read any literary series, including those involving hard-boiled detectives, is to pick them up in the order the books were written. That way, the individual stories take on greater meaning as part of the ongoing evolution of a principal character as he or she develops and changes. In light of this, it's tempting to recommend that prospective readers of James Lee Burke's Louisiana-based Dave Robicheaux series should start with *The Neon Rain*, which sets the stage for the numerous subsequent books.

Anyone who reads Burke's prose should be impressed by his unusual gift for verbal description. His ability to paint word pictures of places, characters, moods, and feelings is exquisite, and for this reason alone a reader might plow through the entire story. However, the plot construction of *The Neon Rain* is so anemic that I would not be surprised if many of those who read this New Orleans-based story simply refuse to go on to the subsequent stories set in New Iberia. This is a shame, since most of these later works are excellent mysteries in which the stories are far more complex and engrossing.

In this novel, and to some extent in all of them, Burke employs a formulaic approach in which his protagonist veers from crisis to self-inflicted crisis (in pursuit of righteousness and justice, of course), with the narrative invariably punctuated both by breathtaking descriptions of places and people (and also meals), and periodic episodes involving bloody mayhem. After a while it gets pretty predictable; in his later works, however, Burke develops story lines that are sufficiently interesting that he can make the formula work, at least most of the time.

It should be noted also that Burke demonstrates throughout his *corpus* an admirable sympathy with the downtrodden and disadvantaged both in America and abroad, along with a sneering dislike of the rich and powerful. This political aspect of his writing is certainly unusual within the detective genre, and for me, at least, is highly refreshing.

So, should people seeking a great detective novel read pick up *The Neon Rain*? Yes, but ONLY if they resolve beforehand to view it as a kind of "prequel" to the higher quality Robicheaux novels that follow.

The David Robicheaux novels of James Lee Burke are simply some of the best fiction out there. You will be hard pressed to find a more exciting, more thought provoking, well written, and interesting series.

Neon Rain is not the best book of the series. In my opinion the best are In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead and Dixie City Jam. If you are like me you are thinking of reading this book after you have read some of the later novels. I started at Dixie City Jam and worked my way back. So I agree that in the scheme of things Neon Rain is not the best in the series, but it is a great start to a great thing.

To read about David as a cop in New Orleand working with Clete. To see how it all began.

So in short, this is a great series. I recommend reading some of the later books and going back to this one.