Related Subjects: Author Index Reviews Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Book reviews for "Krafsur,_Richard_Paul" sorted by average review score:

Unconventional Flying Objects: A Scientific Analysis
Published in Paperback by Hampton Roads Pub Co (1995)
Authors: Paul R. Hill and Richard M. Wood
Amazon base price: $11.17
List price: $15.95 (that's 30% off!)
Average review score:

A wonderful technical assessment of UFO propulsion
Dr. Hill, who was on the staff of NASA's Langley (VA) facility, presents a wonderful assessment of possible UFO propulsion methods. His assessment is based on reports of many UFO observors (calls to NASA were generally forwarded to him), as well as some of his own personal observations of UFO flight (such as seen in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia). Some of his ideas, such as "force-field" technology, aren't particularly easy to understand by someone accustomed to considering more conventional propulsion techniques, but I admit that it seems most consistent with the data he presents (such as the way automobiles often tend to lose traction when flying saucers hover nearby/overhead).

For anyone interested in UFO phenomena this is an excellent treatise by a professional aeronautical engineer. Perhaps the best available at the moment (better than any I've seen). Better ones will probably only appear after various governments of the world decide to end over 50 years of UFO pseudo-denial.

Historical data is proven valuable yet again.
Consider that many paleontologists find that the best place to go fossil hunting is in a museum. The reason is of course, that many field collectors from the past have stored incredible fossil finds in museum archives, while having little or no time to evaluate the data and draw conclusions. What could this possibly have to do with Paul Hill's fabulous book? Mr. Hill did what real sceintists should do...he sorted through historical UFO data (including his own sighting) and looked for mechanisms and the patterns inherent to that data. By applying his own form of "back engineering" to these UFO cases, he sought to determine the power source(s), electromagnetic byproducts of those sources and other important aerodynamic components intrinsic to UFO flight characteristics. The results of his back engineering provide incredible information from "seemingly" insignificant details, much in the same way that Sherlock Holmes deduced Watsons' whereabouts by the mud on his shoes. Other physical scientists take note: All that UFO researches have asked of you for years was to look at the data, much as the late Dr. Hynek suggested. Finally, Paul Hill has done it. I know there are other scientists (personally) who are continuing to investigate using the same stringent scientific methods used by Paul Hill. I applaud you, as do all meaningful UFO researchers. For Mr. Hill, I would say that it was too bad the climate of yellow journalism did not allow the release of this important work before his death. The press in this country is veneer. But, over time, veneer peels up to reveal the oak. Take heed, read Unconventional Flying Objects. Think.

Just In Case
Paul Hill spent almost his entire career with NASA directing research projects. His credentials are impressive. NASA's official stance on UFOs was, "They don't exist." Hill says he saw one, reported it to his then boss, and was told to forget it and do his job. He did the latter but not the former. His book, written after he retired, reviews well-documented and investigated events from around the world. Since many of the people reporting the events are not hillbillys or crackpots but credible professionals, his approach is, "Assuming that these people are not loonies but are telling the truth about what they saw, how could these phenomena be explained using our present level of scientific knowledge?"

He takes one event at a time, and examining the reports and hard evidence where it exists, eliminates various suggested explanations if they don't fit. He doesn't answer all the possible questions that one can pose, but he does conclude that nothing the objects do violates any of our accepted scientific principles or the laws of physics. The propulsion system that he says fills the bill is a "focused force field". Although we admittedly haven't the foggiest notion of how to develop a focused force field, the scientific principle is sound. Gravity is a force field. We have electrical and magnetic force fields.

Hill also delves into advanced--but accepted--theoretical physics to explain how interstellar travel would be possible without exceeding the speed of light. The bulk of the book is written for a lay audience. Any normally intelligent, reasonably well educated person can follow it. He includes several appendices, however, which are crammed with mathematics far too arcane for me to digest.

It's a fascinating book, light enough to be enjoyed, but too heavy to skim. In the way that some people go to church "just in case", this work should be read, "just in case". I heartily recommend it.


Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises
Published in Hardcover by Facts on File, Inc. (1988)
Authors: Paul Harrison, Richard Harrison, and Michael Bryden
Amazon base price: $35.00
Average review score:

Wow! Incredible book!
This is a great book if you want just a field guide with information on the different species of cetaceans. This would be a great book to take "whale watching".

Best Field Guide for Cetaceans I Have Seen
I lead about a dozen pelagic (offshore) birding boat trips each year off the east coast of the U.S. In the process, I became very interested in identifying the whales and dolphins we were seeing. As a result, I needed to find a decent field guide.

This book is the best field guide to cetaceans that I've seen yet. It does an excellent job of presenting known identification criteria as well as pitfalls. The pictures, measurements, and dive sequences provide a quick reference. The more in-depth text provides the further details needed to confirm an ID or sometimes to explain why your view of a specific animal keeps you from making a positive ID.

This is the one cetacean field guide I recommend to trip participants.

Outstanding field guide
This book is extremely useful to both the general reader and to those with a serious interest in cetaceans. The book is well organized for quick reference and beautifully illustrated to aid in species identification in the field. Cetaceans are grouped by family and unique characteristics are clearly defined and illustrated. In addition the book is lightweight and easily carried on a boat trip. Highly recommended.


Magic: The Gathering: The Pocket Players' Guidefor Magic: The Gathering
Published in Paperback by Harper Mass Market Paperbacks (1996)
Authors: Rich Redman, Eric Doohan, Richard Garfield, John Tynes, Beth Moursund, Tom Wylie, Paul Person, Mark Rosewater, Dave Pettey, and Jim Lin
Amazon base price: $7.95
Average review score:

One from the master himself
Richard Garfield is the creator of Magic The Gathering card game. This book gives the reader an in-depth look into the game and shows the beautiful illustration that each card contains. This is a must have for all players and collectors of the card game.

For all you Magic collectors out there, this book is AWESOME
If you are currently collecting or playing Magic cards, I suggest buying this book if you dont have it NOW! It is filled w/ information, fully illustrated cards, interesting facts, playing tips, etc. Also, buy the Magic Encyclopedia Volume 1.

Great Book if you are a Collector of Magic Cards
Great book of pictures of Mirage, Visions, 5th Edition, Weatherlight & Portal. Helps alot with viewing the cards for collecting.


The Locket
Published in Audio CD by Chivers Audio Books (2001)
Authors: Richard Paul Evans and William Dufris
Amazon base price: $79.95
Average review score:

I HAVE CHANGED AFTER READING THIS BOOK
I have heard of Richard Paul Evans, but have never read his books until now. I recieved The Locket in a fed ex package from my step-daughter. I read it in one night. Start to finnish. The Locket is a story of a longing heart and a yearn for love. It is a story of valuing every moment of your every day life. Is about the enduring qualities of hope and forgiveness. When I read the last page I was left in awe. The book has changed me. For anyone who has experienced the redemption of love, you will identify with this book. The Locket is the best book I've read in years, and since reading it, I have put all of Evans' books I've missed at the top of my Christmas list.

A Wonderful Story!
This is the only book I've read by this writer, but I will definitely read more of his books. It is a very well written and beautiful story. I couldn't stop reading it once I started. It is also a very quick read because of the brief chapters and the way that it is organized. Although it was a quick book to read and a fairly simple story, I still felt I had been challenged in thought by the time I finished the book. I also had a good cry in the end. Can't wait to pick up another of his books.

A book that you can't stop reading, such a love story!
My daughter volunters at a Public Library. She has given me some beautiful books. The "Locket" was a l998 Christmas Present. Prior to this she had given me The Christmas Box, The Letter, and Time Piece. It's difficult to say which I liked the best; they are all beautiful. I like the "size" easy to hold when you read lying down! Have given them for Christmas and birthday presents. I have enjoyed his writings so much would love to be able to meet him and his family. Lost my husband just a year ago; I thank the Lord that I have good eye sight there are so many wonderful books; computeers, TV, or movies can never take their place.


Green Team (Rogue Warrior Series)
Published in Hardcover by Pocket Books (1995)
Authors: Richard Marcinko, John Weisman, Paul McCarthy, and Paul McCarthy
Amazon base price: $23.00
Average review score:

A great read with eerie similarities to today's headlines.
The weirdest thing about this book is that the beginning is so true-to-life. The book was written several years ago, but the story is very much in sync with what is going on in the world today. This is my fifth Marcinko book and it's one of his best. It's his second fiction work, a follow up to Rouge Warrior: Red Cell, which is the main reason I didn't give it five stars. The action scenes in Green Team are much more exciting than Red Cell, but the plot just doesn't stand up to the latter. It develops at a break neck speed, but its quality fluctuates right up to the end. First time Marcinko readers will probably get hooked, just like I did with Rogue Warrior: Task Force Blue, only to be more pleased with the discovery of his first and second books. Marcinko's crossing of the thin line between reality and fiction might annoy some readers who are not used to his style, but I think it's a very original welcomed breather from the "2+2=4" formulas of other action books. Marcinko is not the writer Tom Clancy is, but then again, Tom Clancy is not the warrior Marcinko is.

Hold on to your skivvies, it's time to ROCK 'n MARCINKO...
Marcinko lives large and plays hard. This book, along with the rest of the Rogue Warrior Series, is hard hitting and action packed. This dude does it all, says it all, and doesn't take crap from no one. Execellent reading for someone whose tired of the slow moving far fetched action of most fiction books out there. I read Red Cell just three months ago, and I've read almost all his books to date. It's KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) read the book and get hooked!!! Anyone for a Bombay?

100% pure testosterone.
I'll admit to this guilty pleasure: I love the Rogue Warrior books. Not because they're great literature, but because they're just plain fun. I'm a Marine combat vet, so I can usually detect the (very) fuzzy line between military fact and fiction, but with Marcinko's books I throw up my hands in the amphibious salute and just go with it. Demo Dick's literary swagger is intoxicating, and his larger than life character is THE male archetype. All of us guys want to pump iron at Rogue Manor, throw down the double Bombays, and go shooting and looting with the SEALs' best.

It's not "the best book I've ever read," nor is it the SPECWAR primer that Rogue Warrior is. But for some unadulterated macho fun, Green Team (like the others in the series) can't be beat.


John Singer Sargent : The Early Portraits (Volume One)
Published in Hardcover by Yale Univ Pr (1998)
Authors: Richard Ormond, Elaine Kilmurray, John Singer Sargent, and Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
Amazon base price: $45.50
List price: $65.00 (that's 30% off!)
Average review score:

Just Amazing........
This book is for Sargent lovers. His incredible talent oozes in these pages. I can't wait for Vol 2 of this beautiful production of Yale University Press. I got me a magnifying glass and have spent hours looking at the unbelievably grand flesh tones that Sargent commanded. You'll love reading the background data of these portrait commissions during Sargent's career. I would give it six stars if I could. See it to believe it.....if I could only paint like he did or anything barely close. One of my best of collection. Hurry up Yale and give us Vol 2.

i can't wait for vol 2!
i bought this book after seeing the sargent show at the met in new york. i have been studing it ever since. mr ormand, ms. kilmurray please hurry. you have brought the works of this great american master to life as no one has done before and i look forward in anticipation to vol 2.

Simply amazing
Now, all art books should be judged by the standard this publication sets. All colored reproductions. To reproduce paintings in black and white is just criminal, and the people responsible for this book understands that. I simply can't wait for the rest of the volumes. I can't think of another artist more deserving of this royal treatment(Well, if they can do this for J.W. Waterhouse, I'd die happy).


Change; Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution
Published in Hardcover by W W Norton & Company (1988)
Authors: Paul Watzlawick, John H. Weakland, and Richard Fisch
Amazon base price: $22.50
Average review score:

I've wondered why Logical Change fails. - Now I Know
Over the last 15 years I have been involved with organizations undergoing major change. For all of those years I have tried to discover why change, that appears so essential to these companies, fails most of the time. I have searched for years for a logical answer.

I happend to notice the title of this book at a donated book sale at our local library.... I picked it and others up and proceeded to add it to the pile of books I would some day scan. On a long business flight I started to read this book.

I could not stop. As the authors laid out their ideas I covered the pages with notes.

Finaly a logical explanation of why change, even obviously necessary change, fails. Even more the begining of a method on how to make it work.

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose
Knowing the difference between first-order change, and second-order change can change your life! See if you can figure this out: "It obviously makes as difference whether we consider ourselves as pawns in a game whose rules we call reality or as players of the game who know that rules are 'real' only to the extent that we have created or accepted them, and that we can change them." This is pretty much what this book is about. And this, "When a person enters therapy, he is fully entrenched in a dilemma: what he wishes to attain has become all the more important and urgent ... and because of this urgency it is all the more important that no risk of falure be involved in the eventual action." Complex stuff. I read it once, and now I'm back to read it again. It's hard to absorb it all the first time even though you know you're reading some pretty radical stuff that you probably ought to be acting upon!

Mindboggling!
This is a great book on the mind. It shows us that we don't really need to know the mechanisms of things to make it work. Just like we don't have to know how a car works in order to drive it. The mind is the same way. Never mind the mechanisms it involves but if you do this and this, a person will do this and this. And surprisingly, although most of the suggestions are counterintuitive, most of the things discussed in the book actually work when we try it out on others. Try it and you will see! If you want to know why these things work, I'd suggest you read "Rhythm, Relationships, and Transcendence" by Toru Sato. It is a very insightful book about relationships and consciousness. If you get the message, you will know why the things suggested in Watzlawick's books actually work. Happy reading!


The Christmas Box Miracle : My Spiritual Journey of Destiny, Healing and Hope
Published in Hardcover by Simon & Schuster (09 October, 2001)
Author: Richard Evans
Amazon base price: $12.57
List price: $17.95 (that's 30% off!)
Average review score:

Miracles really do exist!!
Last night i read The Christmas Box Miracle and i must say that i was deeply moved by it's contents. The stories shared by Mr. Evans are real and can be easily related to the struggles that we all encounter. After the tragedy we have faced as a nation this book comes at just the right time to give us all hope. Reading this book left me with such a good feeling and a desire to use whatever capacity i have to improve the quality of my life as well as the lives of others. Mr. Evans has a gift and i am thankful that he has made the effort to share it with everyone- He is truely a miracle to many!

Great Read
I loved reading Richard Paul Evans' new book, The Christmas Box Miracle. He reveals in an honest and straight-forward manner, incidences in his life where destiny and hope were the main life forces. In reading his stories, I was able to remember specific incidences in my own life where I know that the element of hope was paramount to my later successes. I was also able to realize that in my life, like Richard Paul Evans' life, true healing has a spiritual component. This book is fast reading, but the feeling and message leaves a slow, bright feeling that lasts for days. I recommend that anyone who is looking for a way to believe in miracles read, The Christmas Box Miracle.

A Book for Every Season!
Several years ago I watched a TV movie called The Christmas Box, which starred Maureen O'Hara and Richard Thomas. I'm not sure exactly what attracted me to this prsentation, most likely the cast, but not only did I enjoy the perfromances but more importantly the message of this made for TV movie. A few weeks after this I came across a book with this title and read the dust jacket. Immediately, I realized the TV movie was based on this book and I just had to read it. Not only did I gulp down this book the time I read it but almost as soon as I finished it I just had to read it again. And since that time I have read The Christmas Box almost every holiday season and all of Richard Paul Evans other titles as well. Today, this small book continues to speak volumes and has affected the lives of many readers, perhaps most of all the author and his family.

One would have to say that the success of this book is truly a miracle. And it is this very sucess which Evans addresses in his new book titled The Christmas Box Miracle. Part memoir, part philosophy, in this book Evans offers his readers the story behind the writing of The Christmas Box, which was intended only as a gift for his two small daughters.

Evans begins this book by discussing his basic philosophy and the premise that there are forces at work, some known and some unknown, which alter our lives. He then depicts his large Mormon family and the prophecy of hsi grandfathers who said that, "He (Evans) would walk among noble men and royalty." He describes his fathers lucrative job and the material lives his family was afforded and then his fathers loss of his job and their move back to Utah. Moving on to his college years, Evans relates sevevral instances when divine intervention led him to decisions whih altered his life. And in some instances even saved his life. Finally and for me the most intersting part of the book is when Evans explains to readers how a small book which was originally self published and handed out to 20 family members and friends became a number one bestseller and continues to be sold around the world.

As I finished The Christmas Box Miracle, I thought about the role of miracles, angels, faith, dtermination and most of all the greatest gift in our lives, the gift of love. Mr. Evans always supplies these basic themes in his books and offers his readers hope during devestating times and even healing from life's cruelest blows. May he continue to reach out to audiences and spread these messages.


Destroying Angel
Published in Paperback by Ace Books (1992)
Author: Richard Paul Russo
Amazon base price: $4.50
Average review score:

wow..
This is such a wonderful series of books. I picked them up at a used bookstore and I can't believe they are out of print. Working in a bookstore myself I read all the time, and these are some of the best novels I've read in a long time.

Excellent Thriller
The first novel of the Carlucci trilogy is less about Frank Carlucci than it is about retired officer Louis Tanner, but it shares the same locale, wild thrills, unexpected turns and taut writing. Russo creates a believable near-future, fully fleshed-out with characters who continue on through the rest of the trilogy. Carlucci is introduced and appears, but he plays only a "second banana" role. The story in this book sets up the remaining two novels, and if you read one you'll want to read all three of this excellent set. I only wish I'd been able to read them in proper order.

Let's hope this novel is back in print shortly and becomes easier to find. It deserves it!!!

Love it!!!!
A great novel, and a lot of fun. You have to read it


Memoirs of My Nervous Illness (New York Review of Books Classics)
Published in Paperback by New York Review of Books (2003)
Authors: Daniel Paul Schreber, Ida Macalpine, Richard A. Hunter, Anne Barton, and Rosemary Dinnage
Amazon base price: $10.47
List price: $14.95 (that's 30% off!)
Average review score:

Impeach Clinton
Guiltied by 12 Galaxies! of a Rocketronic Society!

What else you should know:
Others who have posted reviews of this book are certainly correct in their assessment -- it's engaging, harrowing, enlightening, etc. HOWEVER, nobody has addressed the actual CAUSE of Schreber's insanity which, of course, is key to the reading of his memoir. The patient in most cases, and certainly in this case, is unable to tell us matter-of-factly what is troubling him. Instead, he tells us of his dreams or his imaginings, or his horrible delusions. It is then the psychiatrist who untangles the web. I can't recommend highly enough, as a companion to Schreber's memoir, the book "Soul Murder: Persecution in the Family," written by the psychiatrist Morton Schatzman. The book is now out of print, but can still be found used. Instead of describing the book,I'll quote from the jacket flap: "Daniel Paul Schreber (1842-1911), an eminent German judge, went mad at the age of 42, recovered, and eight and a half years later, went mad again. It is uncertain if he was ever fully sane, in the ordinary social sense, again. His father, Daniel Gottlieb Moritz Schreber (1808-1861), who supervised his son's upbringing, was a leading German physician and pedagogue, whose studies and writings on child rearing techniques strongly influenced his practices during his life and long after his death. The father thought his age to be morally "soft" and "decayed" owing mainly to laxity in educating and disciplining children at home and school. He proposed to "battle" the "weakness" of his era with an elaborate system aimed at making children obedient and subject to adults. He expected that following his precepts would lead to a better society and "race." The father applied these same basic principals in raising his own children, including Daniel Paul and another son, Daniel Gustav, the elder, who also went mad and committed suicide in his thirties. Psychiatrists consider the case of the former, Daniel Paul, as the classic model of paranoia and schizophrenia, but even Freud and Bleuler (in their analyses of the son's illness) failed to link the strange experiences of Daniel Paul, for which he was thought mad, to his father's totalitarian child-rearing practices. In "Soul Murder," Morton Schatzman does just that -- connects the father's methods with the elements of the son's experience, and vice versa. This is done through a detailed analysis and comparison of Daniel Paul's "Memoirs of My Nervous Illness," a diary written during his second, long confinement, with his father's published and widely read writings on child rearing. The result is a startling and profoundly disturbing study of the nature and origin of mental illness -- a book that calls into question the value of classical models for defining mental illness and suggests the directions that the search for new models might take. As such, the author's findings touch on many domains: education, psychiatry, religion, sociology, politics -- the micro-politics of child-rearing and family life and their relation to the macro-politics of larger human groups." For me, this book shed a great light on "Memoirs of My Nervous Illness." In reading the other reviews, I get the sense that some people have concluded that Daniel (the son) "simply went mad," or "something went wrong," when the truth is that his father was a border-line personality and one sadistic man who inflicted his own brand of insanity on his children. If only we had something to document the father's childhood . . .

The Poetry of Madness
Shortly after the death of Daniel Paul Schreber, Sigmund Freud used his (Schreber's) memoirs as the basis for a fantasy of his own. Everyday readers are lucky that Schreber wrote down so much of what he saw, heard and felt during his many years in German mental asylums, for his own observations are far more artistic and harrowing than anything Freud ever wrote.

In this book, Schreber takes us into his world--the world of the genuine schizophrenic. He writes of the "little men" who come to invade his body and of the stars from which they came.

That these "little men" choose to invade Schreber's body in more ways than one only makes his story all the more harrowing. At night, he tells us, they would drip down onto his head by the thousands, although he warned them against approaching him.

Schreber's story is not the only thing that is disquieting about this book. His style of writing is, too. It is made up of the ravings of a madman, yet it contains a fluidity and lucidity that rival that of any "logical" person. It only takes a few pages before we become enmeshed in the strange smells, tastes, insights and visions he describes so vividly.

Much of this book is hallucinatory; for example, Schreber writes of how the sun follows him as he moves around the room, depending on the direction of his movements. And, although we know the sun was not following Schreber, his explanation makes sense, in an eerie sort of way.

What Schreber has really done is to capture the sheer poetry of insanity and madness in such a way that we, as his readers, feel ourselves being swept along with him into his world of fantasy. It is a world without anchors, a world where the human soul is simply left to drift and survive as best it can. Eventually, one begins to wonder if madness is contagious. Perhaps it is. The son of physician, Moritz Schreber, Schreber came from a family of "madmen," to a greater or lesser degree.

Memoirs of My Nervous Illness has definitely made Schreber one of the most well-known and quoted patients in the history of psychiatry...and with good reason. He had a mind that never let him live in peace and he chronicles its intensity perfectly. He also describes the fascinating point and counterpoint of his "inner dialogues," an internal voice that chattered constantly, forcing Schreber to construct elaborate schemes to either explain it or escape it. He tries suicide and when that fails, he attempts to turn himself into a diaphanous, floating woman.

Although no one is sure what madness really is, it is clear that for Schreber it was something he described as "compulsive thinking." This poor man's control center had simply lost control. The final vision we have of Schreber in this book is harrowing in its intensity and in its angst. Pacing, with the very sun paling before his gaze, this brilliant madman walked up and down his cell, talking to anyone who would listen.

This is a harrowing, but fascinating book and is definitely not for the faint of heart. Schreber describes man's inner life in as much detail as a Hamlet or a Ulysses. The most terrifying part is that in Schreber, we see a little of both ourselves and everyone we know.


Related Subjects: Author Index Reviews Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Reviews are from readers at Amazon.com. To add a review, follow the Amazon buy link above.