I absolutely loved reading Photo Hero. It has all the elements of what I consider a great story: mystery, suspense, comedy, all sorts of weird, stange characters converging together in a yarn that runs from WWII to today. Not only did I love Photo Hero, it also got me more room on the subway - - - when I'd laugh outloud while reading on my way to work in the morning.

It is no small feat to craft a novel about the photographic arts that includes buried treasure, terminal illness and international terrorist plots --- not to mention the Lesbo-Demons biker gang and Krishna himself. Mr. Covington has managed to deliver a rollicking story with more twists and turns than a roller coaster ride, on hallucinogens, during a hurricane. Highly recommended.

With an easy to read writing style, Covington delivers surprising plot twists mixed with great insights concerning the secrets of succeeding in photography. His characters are believable and the reader wants to know their fate. Like all art fields there is much in photography that is delivered like absolute truths from on high, but Covington dissects and exposes these ill-conceived and erronous ideas about photography and art with the precision of a brain surgeon and with the humor of a stand-up comedian.

I am enjoying reading this and am happy to add it to my collection. I wish it explained netweaver and xapps better (maybe next edition?) but really like how thorough it is otherwise. Especially that the author doesnt just talk about the one way to do something, he covers many ways like different kinds of checklists, team building, management tools and so on. and he gives attention to the computer room people plus programmers and basis. I am enjoying the real-world stories also. I think thats some of the real strength in the book.

As a long time SAP consultant in Canada and northern US, I've read or looked through most of the technical books covering SAP R/3 and some newer modules. I was intrigued by what seemed to be something different in this book, however, and picked it up just last week. I must say, it is very good. The author's approach is unique, fresh, and an enjoyable read.

But I was blown away by the CD. Most book CDs are fairly predictable and less than interesting, much less valuable. Not so with this one though. Instead, George Anderson has included some very compelling documents, excellent (though sometimes too simple) spreadsheets, and 2 very nice project plans, among other excellent objects like pictures, powerpoint files, and more. My hat is off. Well done.

The Search for 11:11 takes us into the reality where we begin to discover how Heaven reaches down to us to help us. George's experiences are a thrilling journey into this greatly unknown realm, and he sheds the light of his partnership with the celestials in a humorful and compelling manner.

Many of us have had highly coincidential experiences, even our own 11:11 wake-up calls and promptings. I found his sharing of his accounts with the Spirit Guardians an intriguing look at how loved, guided, and cherished we are by a huge celestial reality that staggers our imagination.

Highly recommended if you are on a serious quest for answers about the significance of the 11:11 phenomenon or if you've had personal experience of 11:11 but weren't sure what it was all about.

Answers to life's baffling questions. This book relates George Barnards' discovery of celestial beings, beings who are constantly present on Earth and have been for many thousands of years. These beings (also called MidWayers, because they're sort of in the middle of where humans and other celestials are) abound in large numbers around Earth and can be requested for all kinds of help. They're very experienced, loving and helpful. They can only be seen by people with special gifts like George Barnard but might already have helped you or someone you know without your knowing. These cousins of ours are contantly working to help the poor, the sick and the downtrodden of the planet. Read more about these fantastic beings in this very readable and often very funny book 'The Search for 11:11'.
George has done a great job putting this first in the series of 3 books and I heartily recommend this book to all seekers.

I want to tell you how very much I enjoyed reading "The Search for 11:11." It is one of those "I can't put it down" type of books; and I was totally fascinated all the way through. Not only is it a great job of writing; but, I am most grateful for being able to share your experiences. You may not realize how wonderful that is for one like me who has never been privileged see or hear a midway creature.

My brother got me this book for my birthday two years ago. It is my bible and my life (kind of sad, actually!) Anyways, it's really good and like that other guy said, if you take a few months to memorize it, you'll the X-Files Genius and you can impress your friends with little tidbits of knowledge. For example, what's Scully's home phone number? I'm not telling.. get it and look it up yourself! Note: good book for diehard fans!

If you think you know EVERYTHING about the best show on television, you're wrong. These guys pull up obscure info and quiz you on it, drawing not only from the episodes but from interviews, books, and magazines. This is a great book and a must for an X-Phile's library! My only complaint: after reading Phil Farrand's lighthearted Nitpicker's Guide, the authors of this book seem really critical. I mean, what's up with their review of "War of the Coprophages"? Lighten up! Other than that, of course, diehard fans will cherish this book.

I've always considered myself an X-pert. None of my online friends (or real life for that matter) has ever been able to stump me on X-Files trivia. I'm completely addicted to the show and have 15 books.

This one is definately one of the best, pointing out many of the nitpicks and netpicks we've philes have already discovered in addition to new ones that sent me back to look for them. The trivia is extremely difficult and interesting.

I recommend this book to all philes who think they know it all. Take a few months to memorize this book and then you will know it all.

Haunting--this book is raw and hontest. I can't get it off my mind. Will be visiting friends doing VSO in northern Ghana soon and am trying to get a copy for them as well.

I read a tattered, much passed around copy of Village of Waiting in my Peace Corps house in a village not far from George Packer's. I just returned in October 2001. Hard to imagine that after nearly twenty years, so much of what Packer wrote about Togo has not changed very much. . . Togo still waits. When people ask me about Togo, I'm still not sure what to say. I imagine Packer is still unsure. All I can say is that it is easy to give up on Togo, quite another thing to give up on its people. Packer's reflections of life in Lavie provide a lot of insight into the life of a Peace Corps Volunteer. This is a book that many PCVs either love or hate. Although it must be said that they seem to hate it when they arrive in Togo, and love it if they read or re-read it later, especially after leaving Togo. Many PCVs have complained that he was too soft, and couldn't handle it, but it is my impression that Packer really understood his reality and that is what made it so hard for him to handle it everyday. He understood the absurdity and hardship, and did not romanticize it. It made him angry. I know how he felt. I often wondered about the characters in Packer's book, as I zoomed through Lavie on my way up-country. Luckily, this new print has some follow-up on the many characters of his village.

For the longest time after reading this amazing and wonderful book I worried about George Packer - how he had gotten on, if he was successful, where he had gone, and if he had written more in the same lucid and painfully honest style he used in this autobiographical essay on his years in Togo as a Peace Corps volunteer. So it was with special joy today that I discovered not only that he's just written a major work (on American liberalism) that has been reviewed by the NY Times quite favorably, but that's he's written other works as well. Truly, Packer has an intellectual honesty that is extremely rare, coupled with an innate ability to put in words the deepest and most sincere and heartfelt feelings of Peace Corps volunteer and of those who have share the volunteer experience, particularly those among us who were blessed with service in Africa. The Village of Waiting is a "travel narrative", you might call it, that transcends the genre. Highly recommended.

I routinely taped his radio program "Rock and Roll Alternative" in the late 70s to early 80s. He was always introducing new songs and educating me about the new music going on. If one of the new bands happened to be in town he almost always had them in the studio for an interview. This book is a great retrospective on that period of my life.

This book is riveting. I label it dangerous, because after you'ver read it, you will be compelled to go out and spend all kinds of money seeking out records from all the bands that are spoken of in the book. Nothing is missing. Concerts that I attended are there with dates, times and copies of ticket stubbs. You thought you knew who played for who...........then you read this. Fascinating.

Getting this book is like striking gold for anyone who loves punk rock. It's a treasure-trove of information, in meticulous order. This is the kind of book you can open randomly at any page and just start reading. The author really did his homework. If you want to learn more about punk, you can definitely get the information reading this book.

In my 20-years as a law enforcement officer, and 18 years of (simultaneous) college studies, I found Dr. George L. Kirkham's story to be one of the most intriguing, interesting, and accurate police stories. It is now a classic in police and criminal justice literature. This is a true story in which Dr. Kirkham, a college professor, becomes a street cop in a tough South Florida city (on a sabbatical from teaching). The reader will learn firsthand the changes - the metamorphosis - that Dr. Kirkham goes through. Would this happen to most any person who becomes a police officer? He describes a tough job, that sees American society often at it's worst. Kirkham learns that police theory and actual police practices are often far apart. (A short vignette of the story appeared as an article entitled "Street Lessons" by George L. Kirkham PhD, in the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, March 1974, pp. 14-22). This story is required reading in all my Introduction to Criminal Justice classes.

Professor John Hill - Criminal Justice (retired street cop)

I read this book 24 years ago when I was a rookie policeman, after 25 years on the job I can tell you it accuratly describes how a regular person becomes a "cop". Any person who thinks they know how cops think, especially those so called experts in academia who wouldn,t know a crook until one hit them over the head and stoled their money, should read this book. The author sucks you into the side of society most people don,t want to see or hear about, but once u start readin you won,t put it down. And when your done you will never look at a "cop" the same way again.

I am a Police Officer from the same department that the author worked for. Though this book was written some time ago, it still holds true today. If you ever wonder why police officers are how they are, read this book.

What will you do if you're allegedly accused of murder that you never committed? How will you defend yourself if you meet all the coincidences (though the chance is infinitesimal)? This is the case for the hapless protagonist in The Spinning Man.

Evan Birch is a philosophy professor at Pearse College who had remained in tenure after the department downsized its faculty. One day a police officer pulled him over and handcuffed him for his alleged kidnapping 16-year-old high school junior Joyce Bonner. Birch's ten-year-old twin boys witness their father's humiliating arrest, making the strange episode more poignant.

All the evidence pointed against the professor who thrice coincided with Bonner, a cheerleader from a local high school who worked at the information booth of the park. An anonymous informant identified Birch's presence at the park on the day within an hour of Bonner's disappearance. The first two letters of the Jetta's license plate matched those recalled by the informant. A scrutiny of Birch's impounded Jetta produced a lipstick that belonged to the victim. In spite of Birch's firm denial of acquaintance with the missing girl, he recounted giving ride to a few teenagers after the summer camp at the college. So was it really a coincidence or Birch's punctilious lie?

Fear, tension, and suspense slowly welled up when Birch's wife Ellen began to suspect her husband. The Birch kept getting mysterious crank calls and Evan received electronic threats that howled him to admit the crime. The boys thought their father was acting weird and sneaked into the park to search for the missing victim. Everybody on campus and in town looked at him as though he was the culprit. Well was he?

The Spinning Man is a page-turner that grips you from beginning to the end when the truth manifests. Every page deposits into readers a bit more tension and fear. The philosophical aspect in the professor's diction only made the detective construe his words inaccurately. The book can be so gripping that even a single word being said, a gesture, a facial expression, a nuance, and even the use of verb tense can either redeem or doom the professor. The success of the book lies in the fact that one minute you will sympathize with the professor and take side with him but the next minute you are positive he is the murderer. Pages fly once you open this book! Great weekend or summer read. 4.2 stars.

As a professor of philosophy, I fully expected this book to be implausible in its philosophical aspects. What a pleasant surprise, therefore, to find that the author shows not only philosophical sophistication but also the ability to make his academic setting realistic and even funny at times. The continual analysis by his protagonist Evan Birch of the other characters' language and thoughts is both clever and integral to Birch's personality. For all its erudition, this book is never boring, difficult, or pedantic -- on the contrary, it is gripping, dramatic, and at times explosive. This is a brilliant work that stands head and shoulders above the normal "crime" novel, and in many ways it reminds me of Robert Clark's superb Mr. White's Confession, which won the Edgar Award for best first mystery. If there's any justice, this book will be a winner too. Don't miss it.

A professor of philosophy at Pearce College, Evan Birch is driving home from the grocery store one evening, his ten-year-old twin sons in the back of the car, when a state trooper pulls him over, handcuffs him, and tells him he's under arrest for suspicion of kidnapping. A local high school student, 16-year-old Joyce Bonner, is missing. Evan and his car were seen at the park where she disappeared on the day she disappeared. And that's not all. Evan is allowed to return home after questioning, but the incriminating evidence only grows. Although he knows he's innocent, he seems unable to convince anyone. The police turn up Joyce's lipstick in his car. His wife, Ellen, questions their boys in secret. One of the boys sneaks to the park to search for his own clues. Every action, every word, every thought is analyzed, turned upside down and inside out, until it's lost in the gray area between truth and lies.

Despite (or perhaps because of) Evan's many philosophical asides, THE SPINNING MAN is fast paced and easy to understand, while still being far deeper than your average mystery. There is tension on many levels -- between Evan and Ellen, Evan and his children, Evan and the detectives, Evan and his students, Evan and himself -- and every facet of each encounter is examined minutely, yet never tediously. Rather, the psychological and philosophical aspects in this novel become the mystery itself, a mystery entirely bloodless and yet so absorbing that I consumed this book in a single evening and never once got lost, never once had to reread a paragraph, never once suspended belief. Often psychological mysteries seem to peter out at the end, but this novel's last chapter is a perfect conclusion to a story that I'm still pondering several days later.

Although not a typical mystery in the sense that the crime is the central element, THE SPINNING MAN is a perfect psychological mystery that I could not recommend more highly.

Just terrific! Since there are so many schools of ballet, (Cechetti, Vaganova, french, Bournonville...),it's the first time there's a book telling you the difference between the Balanchine technique (much superior to me)and the old way of training,I found this book perfect for anyone interested in Ballet, you can learn so much by reading and the pictures are so beautiful that I framed some.Bravo!

This book shows the technique that the ballet master, George Balanchine, wanted his dancers to use to be the best dancers they could possibly be. Being a dancer, I found this book to be quite fascinating, but, you don't have to be a dancer to enjoy it. Even if you get bored with reading, the photographs will certainly captue your intrest.

This book is a comprehensive look at George Balanchine's ballet technique. Balanchine himself thought that he would be remembered more for his teaching than his choreography and Schorer does an excellent job in detailing the technique that he molded for New York City Ballet. The book covers Barre Work, Upper Body, Pointework and Related Releve, Jumps, as well as a section you rarely see covered in a technique book, Partnering. Every exercise is clearly described both in words and with a photograph, and Schorer often includes analogies and other teaching tools that she uses to get her students to understand the particular quality of a movement. This book is an invaluable source of information about ballet technique whether or not you subscribe to what is know as "Balanchine Technique."

I also highly recommend reading "Pointework," also by Schorer, as well as watching the three "Balanchine Essays" videos, where Schorer herself instructs New York City Ballet dancer Merrill Ashley and three students in the areas of Arabesque, Passe and Attitude, and Port de Bras.

At a recent aikido seminar, I asked some friends why they practiced aikido. All three of them had slightly different answers, but all mentioned that it made them a better person. I remember thinking they seemed to be on to something, but I couldn't authentically give the same response at the time.

I took up aikido six years ago in Asia because it was a martial art that fit my non-violent sensibilities. I continue to practice it because, like George Leonard, aikido represents a path to mastery that defies quick fixes. It's a modern day spiritual discipline that is challenging, fun and it trains my character. This book captures the essence of that discovery in George Leonard's own words and expresses it in language that most anyone can grasp. You won't find here a treatise on how to do aikido techniques (you learn that through practice on the mat), but you will find practical wisdom for everyday living.

George Leonard is a trained and seasoned writer, which brings ease and enjoyment to the reading of this book. He is also trained and seasoned in aikido, and his reverence for life and cultivation of the human spirit come through clearly in his stories. I recommend it to those interested in aikido, but also to the broader audience of those interested in a spiritual approach to life.

If I had a collection of books that I would run out of the house with in the event of a fire, this would be one of them. I have been studying Aikido for 3 years and this is the first book I have read that captures some of the inner spirit of the art. Leonard shares his journey in Aikido in a poignant and personal way. This book shares some rare insight into an american masters thinking and into living life in a more rich and full way. Although about Aikido, the non-aikidoist might find this interesting also. There is little if any talk about technique as much as it chronicles Leonards work in his art on the matt and off. I highly recommend this book.

George Leonard has put his years of self-exploration, curiosity about life, and a deep understanding of the mind-body relationship into this wonderful and informative book. He explains aikido in way that is both accessible and inspirational. Chapter titles such as "A Transformative Ordeal" and "Taking the hit As A Gift" reveal the depth of his relationship to this powerful martial art. Perfect for layman and expert alike, the ideas in The Way of Aikido are descriptive of the noble challenges of living. Mr. Leonard's writing reads like the poetry of science and magic. I highly recommend this book.