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Book reviews for "Kost,_Robert_John" sorted by average review score:

Business Law (Barron's Business Review Series)
Published in Paperback by Barrons Educational Series (1987)
Authors: John W. Hardwicke and Robert W. Emerson
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Excellent book for any purpose
Great prep material for the CLEP, although it doesn't have a sample test in it, so it is useful to buy, for instance, Mr. Orr's book along with it. I did that, read both (only the relevant sections from Barron) and got a 68. Also great as later reference!

A must for the Business Law I CLEP and beyond
This is an outstanding resource if you plan to CLEP Introductory Business Law. It's organized, easy to read and encapsulates what you need to know in easy to understand language. If you're taking Business Law II, it makes an invaluable reference. I passed the Intro to Business Law CLEP with a 60, using this book, and "Essentials to Business Law I" which was bundled with it. If you're serious about passing the CLEP and you don't want to invest a ton of money in a book to prepare for it, this one is worth its weight in gold! I give it 5 stars!

Great desk reference AND worked for CLEP and Dantes exams!
I bought this book to study for the CLEP Business Law I exam. I realized I could also use it for the Dantes Business Law II exam. I passed both, and am keeping it for a handy desk reference.

Nicely organized, good examples, and easy to read.


Origami Sea Life
Published in Paperback by Dover Pubns (1991)
Authors: John Montroll and Robert J. Lang
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Great fish models
Yes, this is an intermediate folders book, but its nowhere near as hard as Lang's Insect book. If you can fold the other Montroll models you can do the ones in this book. There are some easier models, basic fish, with the hardest being those with the most appendages, crabs etc. But I like folding fish. Origami just lends itself to fish models and these are wonderful.

Excellent for anyone looking for a challenge.
Origami Sea Life is the origami book I use the most; I come back to it far more often than any of the 30 or so other origami books I own. The models inside it cover such a wonderful range of subjects that when I think of making a little gift for someone, I can always find something appropriate in this book. Montroll and Lang happen to be my two favorite origami authors, for their challenging and interesting models, and they produce some of their best work here. The range and depth of the models in this book is amazing. There are a slew of fish, including ones not often seen (like the scary Blackdevil Angler), a bunch of well-done mollusks, and a few very difficult crustaceans. Every model in the book turns out well, many of them with a nice three-dimensional touch. Few advanced origamians will have real trouble with this book, too. The point is to complete the models, and while there is a great feeling of accomplishment once your Fiddler Crab is done, it's not because you got past horrible diagrams. No, it's because you folded a beautiful sea creature that not many others could. I would highly recommend Origami Sea Life for any advanced folder (or aspiring advanced folder), as it is worth far more than it costs.

Excellent book, but not for beginners
This is definitely not a book for beginners, but once you have got your feet wet with some origami, you may want to give it a try. An excellent collaboration between two top US folders, Montroll and Lang, this books starts with some easy models and quickly progresses up to some really tough stuff. My own favorite is the horseshoe crab, the finished product is wonderfully true-to-life on both the top and the underside of the crab. Definitely models in here that you will love to show off after several hours of careful folding.


Kid from Tomkinsville
Published in Hardcover by Peter Smith Pub (1988)
Author: John Roberts Tunis
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One of the best sports books ever
When I was in junior high, I was addicted to reading juvenile sports fiction. Shortly after beginning seventh grade, I went to the alphabetical beginning of the fiction section in the school library and began moving down the alphabet. As I went, I examined the books and read all that were sports related. In a little over two years, I had read every sports fiction book in the collection. Of all those books, the Kid From Tomkinsville was one of the most memorable.
While the background of the 1940's made the presentation difficult for someone in their early teens in the 1960’s, the descriptions of baseball more than made up for it. Roy Tucker is the title character and an excellent pitcher. However, immediately after one of his best games, he slips and cracks his pitching elbow. This finishes him as a pitcher and the main theme becomes his quest to come back as an outfielder.
He is initially very effective and believes success is assured. However, he soon begins to struggle and doubts creep in. The description of all of this is a combination of one of the best baseball stories as well as one of triumph as a combination of talent, hard work and persistence lead to his success. I still remember the scene where his manager comes to his room and tells him the problem is that he is playing for himself and not for his team.
John Tunis is one of the best writers of sports fiction that has ever lived. He makes baseball exciting, even when all the action is taking place off the field. While our society has moved on to a point quite different from the time period of the story, baseball is still a game where strategy, preparation and dedication can triumph over athletic ability. That has not changed, and the descriptions in this book will continue to keep the attention of baseball fans for decades to come.

Good for bright youngster who want to read about baseball
I first read this book when I was 7 years old in the 1970s. I still love it to this day. The characters jump off the page and take you back to the 1940s, a different time and world.

One of the great baseball books
I read this book the first time back in the mid-80's in high school. I had a burgeoning love of baseball and fell deeply in love with Tunis' works. The point I got from this story is that there is always another door to get to your dream.


Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World
Published in Hardcover by W.W. Norton & Company (2000)
Authors: John Robert McNeill, J.R. McNeill, and Paul Kennedy
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The 20th Century: Prodigal or Profligate?
"The human race, without intending anything of the sort, has undertaken a gigantic uncontrolled experiment on the earth. In time, I think, this will appear as the most important aspect of twentieth-century history, more so than World War II, the communist enterprise, the rise of mass literacy, the spread of democracy, or the growing emancipation of women." (J. R. McNeill)

Over the past few years there have been a spate of histories of the 20th century. Most of them have been written from traditional, often Eurocentric, historical perspectives that focus upon political history set in the context of socioeconomic development and ideological and military conflict. J. R. McNeill's *Something New Under the Sun* replaces the political narrative, usually found at the center of histories, with an environmental one. It invites readers to reevaluate the legacy of the 20th century.

By any measure, the 20th century is, as McNeill characterizes it, "a prodigal century." In terms of growth of population, economic development, and energy production and consumption, it is a case of 'quantity having a quality of its own.' On the one hand, it is a triumph of the human species. (McNeill suggests readers consider that over the past 4 billion years of human history, 20% of all human life-years took place in the 20th century.) On the other hand, this prodigal century - this triumph of human ingenuity - has also exacted an unprecedented environmental cost. It is this trade-off that McNeill's book explores.

McNeill's approach is interdisciplinary, and the book is divided into two sections. The first section is organized around transformations to the lithosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere, and the resulting pollution and resource depletion. Each topic includes a (very) brief conceptual introduction, case studies from around the world, (black and white) photos, maps, and tables. This section also includes the best example of unintentional environmental consequences. McNeill introduces Thomas Midgely, the inventor of leaded gasoline and Freon, "[who] had more impact on the atmosphere than any other organism in earth history."

In the second section, McNeill introduces the 'engines of change" - 1) population growth, migration, and urbanization, 2) energy, technology, and economic growth, and 3) politics and environmental awareness. The pulses of 'coketowns' and 'motowns' take place amidst the tumultuous social, economic, and political events of the 20th century. Environmental awareness doesn't take root until the 70's - a critical period for women as well. (His examples of Rachel Carson and Wangari Maathai were well chosen - and gendered.) In his epilogue (So What?), McNeill's history portends an environmental crunch, a change of circumstances - a dilemma unlike the world has witnessed so far.

"With our new powers we banished some historical constraints on health and population, food production, energy use, and consumption generally. Few who know anything about life with these constraints regret their passing. But in banishing them we invited other constraints in the form of the planet's capacity to absorb wastes, by-products, and impacts of our actions. The latter constraints had pinched occasionally in the past, but only locally. By the end of the twentieth century, they seemed to restrict our options globally. Our negotiations with these constraints will shape the future as our struggles against them shaped our past." (J. R. McNeill)

*Something New Under The Sun* is written in a popular style well suited to both non-fiction readers and students. Readers of environmental historians like William Cronon, William McNeill, or Alfred Crosby will certainly find McNeill's book interesting. Personally I think that McNeill's global perspective of the 20th century will stand the test of time.

Well-written environmental history
McNeill's basic thesis is that in environmental terms, the 20th century has been unprecedented in human history and planetary history in general. He points out that the impact of humankind's breathtaking technological advancements in the last 100 or so years can be likened to a major cataclysm, like an asteroid hitting the planet. The book provides a wealth of background information on a number of major technical/technological developments, and how they have improved the lives of many people but also damaged or imperiled the air, water and soil that sustain all life. McNeill is hardly a Luddite or a primitivist, but he does make some reasonable calls for restraint and, perhaps, a worldwide assessment of where human economic/industrial/technological activities are taking the planet. Interesting in this vein is his consideration, toward the end of the book, of how the economic thought of the last century, with its adherence to the concept of unlimited growth, has played a key role in preventing such an assessment. As he points out, overcoming this way of thinking represents a daunting task, since these (Anglo-American) economic doctrines have assumed the status of irrefutable dogma - like any system of religious beliefs.

Eminently Readable analysis of enviromental concerns
For a throughly researched, densly written , book of facts to be readable is almost a contradiction. Yet this is exactly what J.R. McNeill has accomplished. He is a Historian, most interested in change, objective in his assesment of those changes (Who and What benefits, Who and What doesn't), anthropocentric(a viewpoint too often missing in environmental studies), and broad-minded concerning possible approaches to problems (the shark has done very well for a very long time).

What makes this such an important book aside from its readability and penetrating analysis, is perspective. J.R. McNeill considers history without consideration of the life-support system of Earth or ecology that neglects social forces, incomplete and capable of leading to dangerous conclusions. Further, "Both history and ecology are, as fields of knowledge go, supremely integrative. They merely need to integrate with one another."

Having grown up in Pittsburgh, Pa., I can attest to the author's history of Pittsburgh and to his grasp of the complexity of problems there (for instance: Andrew Carnegie found the level of pollution intolerable, later some unions fought smoke-control). In today's world, no matter where we live or what work we do,environmental issues will arise.

This book by elucidating the processes and trends that underly today's world, gives us a foundation on which to base our opinions and choices, working toward the day when we , in the author's words, "Make our own luck, rather than trusting to luck..."


Custer's Last Campaign: Mitch Boyer and the Little Bighorn Reconstructed
Published in Paperback by Univ of Nebraska Pr (1993)
Authors: John Shapley Gray and Robert M. Utley
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Fascinating Reconstruction of Custer's Stand
The reader becomes mesmerized and impressed by the thorough and meticulous process of constantly checking witness testimony with known topography and horse/walking/etc. mph rates, then time/motion studies with all possible data examined to see what plausible explanations can be more pushed forward as likely scenarios.

At the center here is the infamous Indian scout, Mitch Boyer and the testimony of the young Curly, survivor with Custer.

Amazing how the evidence Gray presents turns Custer 180o around from what is historically bantered, an aggressive disobiendent hawkish leader. Gray's reconstruction reveals soldier who emphasized and implemented what orders were given to him, to pin the Indians from left flank escape, and all the time awaiting Benteen's company and ammo train, which never arrived in time.

Disappointed that no chronology chain here shown how the followup takes place to discover the battlefield. Possibly Gray's other books on this subject cover that.

Remarkably well written, able to keep this reader's attention easily even with all the careful calculation checks, etc.

Magnificent scholarship!
Most historians would be happy, nay overjoyed, if they located a diary, a journal or a set of letters by a participant in some historical event. In tracing some relatively unimportant activities, Gray is not satisfied unless he can find three or four itineraries, four or five journals and diaries, and two or three sets of letters! Another reviewer commented that the writing of this book took 25 years! I can well believe it. With the well-known fallibility of eyewitnesses, this overwhelming mass of documentation is barely enough to allow Gray to sift event from confabulation.

What we have here are two books in one. The first book, in 180 pages, traces the life and career of guide and translator Mitch Boyer. At first one might dismiss such a goal as impossible, but Gray is equal to the task, and Boyer emerges as a convincing, consistent and competent historical personage.

The second book, in about 200 pages, uses what Gray calls "time-motion studies" to trace the troop movements from June 9, 1876 to and through the culminating Battle of the Little Bighorn. His "time-motion patterns" are what physicists call "world lines," with one space dimension as the vertical axis, and time as the horizontal axis. Where these diagrams indicate the interactions between a dozen separated groups they virtually amount to the classical equivalent of Feynman diagrams--- tools used by theoretical physicists to disentangle the various processes occurring in the realm where relativistic quantum physics hold sway.

The Mitch Boyer connection between the first and second parts of the book occurs because Boyer was the only scout who chose to stay with and die with Custer's columns. Much of Gray's reconstruction of Custer's movements and strategy depends upon Gray's extraction, from the mass of confused interviews with Curley, the 17-year-old Indian scout who was the last to get away alive from Custer's troops, of a fairly consistent and highly plausible set of events.

There is one place, at the book's end, where Gray's thought patterns betray him. With no documents to guide him, he chooses a completely absurd counterclockwise movement of Army forces, from Calhoun Ridge, to Custer Ridge, to Custer Hill (where Custer was found), on to the "South Skirmish Line" (where Mitch Boyer's body was found) and thence to the "West Perimeter," where the last survivors (Gray assumes) died. But this movement actually takes the troops TOWARD the river and the Indian camp, from which braves and even squaws were literally boiling, like thick clouds of hornets from a disturbed nest, in the last half of the battle!

In this case, I think the reconstruction by Gregory F. Michno, based on a collation of a vast number of Indian accounts, is infinitely more plausible. It shows Custer's surviving companies driven roughly northwest, parallel to the river, along Battle Ridge to Custer Hill, with companies on Finley Ridge and Calhoun Hill being cut off and quickly destroyed, leading to a traditional "Last Stand" indeed being made on Custer Hill. See Michno's LAKOTA NOON for details. I might mention that comparison of all accounts of troop movements in the six or so "Little Bighorn" books I have read is made incredibly difficult by a complete lack of consistent nomenclature for the topographic features of the battleground!

Grey is remarkably even-tempered in his discussion of the many command problems and highly questionable command decisions that arose in this campaign, including the inexplicable behavior of Gibbon and Benteen. Somewhat ironically, it is Custer who comes off best from this all-around debacle. He was about the only commander who made any effort to follow orders, and about the only commander who tried to strike a balance between total inaction and suicidal total commitment of his forces.

I can't praise this book highly enough.

A New Picture of Custer
I absolutely agree with the other reviewers on the quality of Gray's work--it is astounding. I would like to emphasize what I took away from the book: a new picture of G.A. Custer. For a hundred years it has been the "customary wisdom" that Custer, being a flamboyant, egocentric, arrogant commander, rushed into battle at the LBH because he wanted the glory of defeating the Sioux all to himself, and met his doom because his hubris blinded him to the Indians' superior forces. Part of this "customary wisdom" came with an implied view that this hubris was due to a belief in racial superiority of the white soldier vs. the Indian. As is so often the case, the "customary wisdom" is superficial, and when held up to rigorous analysis, proves wrong. Gray's trenchant logic make it clear that Custer was attempting to follow his orders from Terry, found himself in a battle situation that was not favorable, but due to the perception that the 7th Cavalry had been discovered, had no alternative but to attack. His battle plan was improvised at the moment, and was thwarted not because of Custer's hubris, or his false belief that his soldiers were fighting "only Indians", but for the reason many battles are lost: the failure of one of his unit commanders (Benteen) to follow orders and coordinate his actions with the actions of the remainder of Custer's command. I expect, however, that the old, comfortable, politically correct view of Custer will die hard, if at all--to some, logic means naught.


Pilgrims Progress
Published in Audio Cassette by Blackstone Audiobooks (1991)
Authors: John Bunyan and Robert Whitfield
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The Christian Walk
In this classic work, John Bunyan paints a detailed picture of the Christian life/walk, giving true-to-life insights and experiences. The despair, sorrows, trials and temptations that a believer may face are depicted in an allegorical manner, as well as the hope, joy, and salvation found in Jesus Christ. The main character Christian (once named Graceless) sets out on a lifelong journey from the City of Destruction, where his family disowned him, and encounters many persons and difficulties along the way to the Celestial City (heaven). The characters he meets are given names that reflect their mindset or what temptation they bring. At times he stumbles and at times he perseveres, but all by the grace of God. The second portion of the book tells of the conversion and subsequent sojourn of the wife (Christiana) and children of Christian. The discussions of Christian in the first part and Christiana and her companions in the second part are very interesting, as they defend their faith and explain their purpose to those they meet along the way. The book is quite different from your ordinary novel, and has many interesting words of wisdom for the Christian life. Readers should be aware that some of the language is antiquated and has unfamiliar usages, so its a little bit of an adjustment to read.

Well worth the effort
"The Pilgrim's Progress" is a classic Christian text written by John Bunyan. Written in an allegorical format, the two-part story focuses first on "Christian", then on his wife "Christiana" and sons. Convicted of their own sinfulness, the characters set out on the journey to salvation at the Heavenly Gate. Characters such as "Honesty", "Great-Heart", and "Faithful" aid the pilgrims on their journey, whereas they face trials from the Slough of Despond, Vanity Fair, and the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

Getting through the book takes some work, less because of the story and more because of the depth of the allegory. Also, the dialogues between characters regarding salvation and righteousness often require a careful read. However, the story is exceptionally creative and thought-provoking, and the lessons that can be gleaned from it are timeless and worth the effort that needs to be expended. I recommend reading this one at least twice.

THE REAL AND MORAL WORLDS EVERTED
A letter to Marvin Minsky about this book:

I urge you tolook at a remarkable book by the English Puritain John Bunyan(1628-1688), "The Pilgrim's Progress", which is one of the great evangelical Christian classics, though clearly that is not why it interests me and should interest you (although I AM interested in the puzzle that is the religious sense, which even the irreligious feel, and this book can give remarkable insight into that as well).

Rather its fascination lies in the pilgrimage it depicts, or in the fact that human traits, vices, virtues, &c are PERSONIFIED as particular individuals who are their living and speaking epitome, and who are encountered along the way in revealing situations.

Bunyan's hero is appropriately named Christian. Someone once wrote that "Christian's journey is timeless as he travels from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City, meeting such characters as Pliable, Talkative, Giant Despair, Evangelist, Worldly-Wiseman, Faithful, Ignorance and Hopeful."

At first this personification is merely amusing, even a bit annoying (as caricatures or truly stereotypical people can be); but after a while I found myself enthralled because I realized that the effect of this odd literary device was to give unmatched insight into the nature of such traits. The force of the whole thing comes from the fact that one journeys about in - literally INSIDE of - what is both a comprehensive and finite moral and psychological landscape (a "psycho-topography"), very much as though one were INSIDE the human mind and your "Society of the Mind" was embodied in the set of actors. This is more or less the opposite or an inversion of the 'real world' of real people, who merely SHARE those attributes or of whom the attributes are merely PIECES; in "Pilgrim's Progress", by contrast, the attributes are confined in their occurrence to the actors who are their entire, unique, pure, and active embodiment, and humanness, to be recognized at all, has to be rederived or mentally reconstructed from the essential types.

The effect, for me, was something like experiencing a multidimensional scaling map that depicts the space of the set of human personality types, by being injected directly - mentally and bodily - into it by means of virtual reality technology.

So Bunyan's book has something of the interest to a psychologist, neuroscientist, or philosopher that Edwin Abbot's "Flatland" has to a mathematician.

I don't mean to overpraise "Pilgrim's Progress", of course; it was written for theological rather than scientific purposes, and has conspicuous limitations for that reason. But its interest to a student of the mind who looks at it at from the right point of view can be profound.

- Patrick Gunkel


Black Like Me
Published in Mass Market Paperback by Signet (1996)
Authors: John Howard Griffin and Robert Bonazzi
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A Book Worth Reading
John Howard Griffin's Black Like Me, contrasts the lives of Blacks and Whites in the 1950's. I was mesmerized by the hateful encounters that the Black people went through just because of their skin color. I was also amazed about how my ancestors, the white man, never gave the Black people one iota of respect.
Another angle of the story showed how far a journalist of the fifties would go for a story. Through the book, I saw Griffin go against all morals of his time for a story. I saw him become an outcast of his society. On top of that he put his life on the line, with the skin change and the crazy white men, for a story. This seemed to me to be a dumb mistake that eventually cost him his life.
I enjoyed the book and will read it again. I think this book could give you a different perspective on a lot of issues not only of Griffin's time, but on ours as well.

Gripping, Revealing, Readable
This gripping book helps whites to experience life from the other side of the racial divide. In 1959, author John Howard Griffin (1920-80) used special medication to darken his skin, and then traveled the Deep South as a black man in the latter days of legal segregation. The "Negro" Griffin encountered separate facilities, hate-filled stares, assumptions that he was over-sexed, and job options limited to menial labor. He found conditions slightly better in big cities like New Orleans and Atlanta, but never free of rudeness or indignities. Griffin also met a small number of whites that apologized for racism. When Griffin switched his skin color back to white, blacks became surly, and whites became friendly. Unfortunately, Griffin never ventured outside the Deep South, depriving us of a chance to compare racism between regions. In this sense, his stirring book is too short.

BLACK LIKE ME angered white southerners when published in 1960. Griffin (who'd once recovered from blindness) received anonymous death threats, and soon developed health problems associated with his special medication. Too bad we cannot step into each other's race the way Griffin did - it might make for a better society.

Compelling tale of the black southern experience.
There are only a few books that have really given me a deeper understanding into the issues of the world around us. This book is one of them. John Howard Griffin penetrates into a world that seems almost beyond belief and yet is undeniably and startlingly real. Realizations await on every page to show that the generally sheltered cultural perspective of the typical white (like myself) could not conceive the situation which confronted blacks in the south every day just a very few years ago -- as experienced by a white man who changed his skin color and dealt with the consequences. The book is made even better by a series of stories about his experiences after returning to the world of caucausions and going on the lecture circuit about the plight of blacks in the south. He demonstrates the rationalization and close mindedness that characterizes even those who consider themselves "good people". This book would probably be too much to accept if not for the authors remarkably unassuming and explanatory style. Rarely has such a sore subject been confronted so directly and yet so plainly. Highly recommended. I keep having to buy new copies because people will read a few pages and want a copy.


Dying Inside
Published in Digital by iBooks ()
Authors: Robert Silverberg and John Clute
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Worth finding...
I have read almost all of Silverberg's novels written before 1980, and believe that "Dying Inside" is his best. It is unfortunate that it is out of print, but one can find it with a bit of effort. My daughter found a used copy in a small bookstore in NYC -- I have since re-read the book and found it even more poignant than the first time I read it. Readers not interested in science fiction should take the plunge into the genre with this book, as it explores the psychological aspects of alienation that can result from possessing a rare quality (or affliction). The main character of the story, David Selig, struggles with his relationships with others because of his ability to know exactly what they are thinking, feeling, etc. He learns that even his parents aren't always loving despite what they say. His unique loneliness is heartbreaking. Take the time to find this book. You may conclude that it is one of the most powerful science fiction novels ever written.

Dying Inside, A Forgotten Masterpiece on Alienation
"Dying Inside," by Robert Silverberg, is an amazing masterpiece on the subject of alienation which, unfortunately, seems to have fallen out of the public consciousness in the 1990's. David Selig is a telepath who is losing his power. He is also losing his only source of feedback for human emotion and real contact with other human beings. Reduced to hacking out term papers for otherwise engaged Columbia University students, Selig's superhuman powers serve only his prurient, voyeuristic interests. Selig has never realized the potential of his power and his regrets are underscored by his constant referral to T.S. Eliot's masterpiece of modern anti-heroic poetry, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Although he is becoming trapped within himself, Selig has a reconciliation with his normal sister and his fading power, which is ultimately affirmative and uplifting. Silverberg won the Hugo Award for "Dying Inside" and the book secured his place as a master of modern fiction. Although Selig is superhuman, he is really Everyman, trying to define himself in a vast and confusing world. His story is a personal and painful, yet rewarding, trip into the human conscience. While exploring basic questions from the entire range of man's emotional experience, "Dying Inside" remains grounded in the eternal modern question of the consequences of action, inaction and the value of human existence. In interviews, Silverberg has revealed how emotionally draining it was to write this book. His personal sacrifice should be rewarded with a periodic reprinting of this powerful and urgent portrait.

1 of the BEST SF novels of the 70s
Along with THE BOOK OF SKULLS and DOWNWARD TO THE EARTH, this is 1 of Silverberg's very best novels, & 1 of the finest science fiction novels of the 70s. An intimate portrait of a telepath losing his powers, the book Dscribes the depression of that loss, as well as the exaltation of David Selig's gift. The brilliant writing U can almost take 4 granted -- it's Silverberg. What's really stunning is the painfully up-close, intimate, personal portrait U'll get of Selig & the people in his life. It's so vivid, indelible -- U'll feel like U've met this person. There's even a happy ending. It makes 4 an amazing, rewarding mind-movie. An all-time classic -- the fact that it didn't win either a Hugo or a Nebula Award (which both went to Isaac Asimov's 2nd-rate THE GODS THEMSELVES) is 1 of the major lapses of R time.


The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (Arbor House Library of Contemporary Americana)
Published in Paperback by Main Street Books (1993)
Authors: Robert Lewis Taylor and John Jakes
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It is a tragedy this book is out of print.
Some enterprising publisher of lapsed titles--perhaps Dalkey Archives or someplace similar--should publish a new edition posthaste. "The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters" is a walloping good read, full of excitement, humor, and vivid characters. In places it reads as if Mark Twain and Henry Fielding had put their heads together for a collaboration. Robert Lewis Taylor wrote several books about teenage boys coming of age on the frontier, but "Jaimie McPheeters" was the first and by far the best.

A wonderful adventure story for the whole family
I was fortunate to stumble across this book in our local used bookstore. My children and I read it together and absolutely loved it. The children think it is much better than any of the books their schools have required them to read. It is exciting, insightful, educational, and mostly just fun. Read this book!

A Priceless Piece of Americana
Having read this book over 20 years ago, it has stuck in my memory as one of the Greats, where dozens of other titles are all but forgotten, and it is out of print?! A Pulitzer Prize winner, no less! This book needs to be available to hand down to my children and yours, and their children after them!


A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism
Published in Hardcover by Beacon Press (1998)
Authors: John A. Buehrens, F. Forrester Church, and Robert Fulghum
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This book was excellent
Out of Recommendation from a friend I bought this incredible book and surprisingly, I proceeded to enjoy the openmindedness this religion has to offer. A Chosen Faith has shown me a whole new perspective on the Unitarian Religion, and although I was raised under a Catholic background. This incredible book has changed my views on life emphasizes equal respect towards people of all religions and cultures. The book has taught me the virtues of Unitarianism, and I am now proud to say that it has changed my life. This book is a must read for anyone interested in a religion/philosophy in which you are free to question the soul, choose your own morals and experience openminded love towards one another. 5 stars

A Thoughtful and Poignant Introduction
I grew up attending a Unitarian Universalist church, but once I reached an age to begin to understand and question the ideals of the faith, I went in search of information on this and other religions. This book was recommended to me by more than one person. I expected dry, history-filled rhetoric, but instead was treated to warm, humorous and thought-provoking sections that challenged me to evaluate my views on religion, social issues and my own value system. By the time I was finished I felt very comfortable with the ideas expressed about UUism and was intrigued to learn more.

A Great Place to Start
This book is a wonderful introduction to Unitarian Universalism. It is easy to read and explains well a religion that many people have a difficult time describing. After having read this book it is always the first book that I reccommend to persons who have have questions about Unitarian Universalism.


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