First World Flight: The Odyssey Of Billy Mitchell by Spencer Lane is the impressive history of how, after the destruction of World War I and the military budget cuts of the 1920s, General Billy Mitchell decided to bolster popular and political interest in the U.S. Air Service by planning the very first successful world flight. Against political pressures, limited funds, and the very oceans themselves - the Pacific and North Atlantic had never been crossed by air before - General Mitchell dared to found a milestone in aviation history. First World Flight is an incredible and exciting read, and one which is especially recommended for aviation history buffs.

This book brings to life the world of Aviation as it existed at the beginning of this century. Spencer Lane has written a book that is not only difficult to put down, but one that provides an education and insight into a time few of us know well. The excitement and danger of the early aviators, and especially the First World Flight is a gripping tale, well told and worthwhile. I would suggest this book to any American who wants to see the American Spirit in action.

Be careful when you start this book, because you won't want to put it down!

First World Flight tells the tale of Billy Mitchell, aviation pioneer and military hero who orchestrates the first flight around the world to promote the role of aviation in the United States. Author Spencer Lane steps into the shoes of the brave pilots who persevered to make the dream of flight a reality. Aviation, history, and war buffs will particularly enjoy this story of bravery, dedication and the will to succeed.

If you have a son, daughter or friend who lacks superstar ability but who wants to make the team, this is the book. In my case, my sons are at the age where dad's advice doesn't carry as much weight as that of someone closer to their age. This book solved that problem. I highly recommend it for its practical and witty presentation of common-sense truths that everybody who has ever tried out has seen.

CZAPLINSKI OFFERS TIPS FOR TRYOUTS by Pete Goering Topeka Capital-Journal

Lane Czaplinski's new book offers a slam dunk dedication for basketball players who can't dunk: Dedicated to those names who were never called, when choosing sides for basketball. Many have been there, done that. The anguish and embarrassment of awkwardly, nervously waiting to be chosen, only to be left out, or to be the very last person picked simply because everbody has to play is a cruel introduction to athletics. For some, it's also a traumatic goodbye.

Czaplinski, the former University of Kansas walk-on, tries to change that with his book, "Making the Basketball Team: Get off the Bench and into the Game," published by Quality Sports Publications.

What, you ask, is Czaplinski, the Director of Education at the University of Kansas Lied Center, doing giving tips about making a basketball team? Wouldn't Danny Manning or Rex Walters or Mitch Richmond be a better author than Czaplinski? Nothing against them, but...no.

The beauty of Czaplinski, somewhat affectionately known as Roy Williams' victory cigar, writing a book is that he knows what it takes for a person who doesn't have the skill of a Manning or Richmond to succeed.

"I felt I had a viewpoint I could share," said Czaplinski, whose father, George, was a long-time basketball coach. "My Mother told me she could relate better to me than to say, Dr. J." Czaplinski, a senior on KU's 1991-92 team that was upset by Texas-El Paso in the NCAA Tournament, tries to relate to the average player who is getting ready for basketball tryouts. I'm guessing the timing of his book, coming out as it does on the eve of most tryouts, was no accident.

His book includes the usual technical instruction, but its strength is the practical advice Czaplinski offers. "Go (to practice) early, stay late, give tremendous effort, use your head and concentrate on being in the right place at the right time," he suggests. And don't act cool.

"I think kids have (watched players who are) poor examples," Czaplinski said. "They think they should act cool, shuffle around and look slouchy with their pants halfway down the legs. That's fine if you're 6-foot-6. Then, it doesn't matter if you stand around: you always get to play anyway. I wasn't that way. Neither are most of the athletes who will be trying out for basketball teams in the upcoming weeks.

To them, Czaplinski offers plenty of tips, but not without a disclaimer. Just reading his book won't guarantee anyone a spot on the roster. In fact, it may already be too late for some would-be players. "Kids aren't going to be able to read the bood and change their lives," said Czaplinski, who says the best preparation for tryouts is also the most basic - practice, practice, practice. "Play more than anyone else," he say. In his book, he writes, "Others are practicing, too; practicing to beat you." And, remember, the sun will come up even if you don't make the team. "The majority of kids either get cut or don't get to play," he said. "Only a few really come away with a sense of having accomplished something." For those who don't make it, he says, "You cannot determine everything about your situation or what happens to you, but you do decide what happens next...overall, you couldn't ask for a better option." Overall, the boy or girl trying to make the team this month or next couldn't ask for better advice than Czaplinski provides in his book.

Lane Czaplinski's "Making the Basketball Team: Get Off the Bench and Into the Game" is the only self-help book that may actually help someone instead of driving them into therapy. Czaplinski, who played for the Kansas University baskeball team in 1991-'92, was arguably the most beloved and hardest working Jayhawk basketball walk-on ever. The same determination, talent and intelligence that landed him a varsity spot underpins his book, a step-by-step guide to how to play the fundamentally sound, defensive and team-oriented game that is widely known as "Kansas Basketball."

From the basics of ball handling, foot and body positioning on defense and proper shooting technique through the even more important mental aspects of the game, Czaplinski tells, and illustrates, what it takes to be a better ball player.

Although the book stresses hard work, practice and perseverance, Czaplinski writes without the preaching or flakiness of most sports how-to authors. He also spells out regimes and drills and even includes a model chart to help players document, and reflect on, their daily training.

Conversational, witty, encouraging, well-organized and incredibly informative, "Making the Basketball Team" will do wonders not only for beginning players, but also for advanced ones.

This book has given me a philosophical grounding that I never believed I could attain. Everything is explained thoroughly and (in my opinion) in a way easily understood by the beginner. The only thing that is needed is a desire to learn.

This book is so excellent--thank you Dr. Craig and Dr. Moreland!!

I highly recommend this outstanding book. Moreland and Craig are two intellectual leaders in a growing movement of Christian philosophers who have offered to both the general public and the academic world sophisticated and compelling arguments for why it is rational, and sometimes obligatory, to embrace the beliefs that are central to the Christian worldview--e.g., the existence of God, the existence of the soul, the reasonableness of miracles, the coherence of the Incarnation, the possibility of theological knowledge, etc. If you have an interest in philosophy and its relationship to the rationality of Christian belief, do yourself a favor and buy this book...

It was to be expected that Craig and Moreland's book would be excellent. However, I must say, this work by far suprasses the degree of excellence that I had anticipated. *Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview* explains the use of philosophy for the construction and defense of Christianity. Furthermore, they apply philosophy to a breadth of issues, showing their direct relevance to Christianity. As one gets to the end of the book, the more distinctly theological the book becomes.

For many people, this book is not going to be an easy read. They cover so many big issues and there is a gigantic amount of vocabulary. But don't be afraid. The layout of this work is very nice. New ideas, words, theories, and so forth are written in bold type font with clear explanations and definitions. One does not need to be a well read student of philosophy in order to comprehend this book. All that this is suggesting is that if you do read this book, you will have to use your mind to a more significant degree than reading most other - nontechnical or nonacademic philosophical - books. Interestingly, the explanations in the book are often the same that they give to their own students.

The content of this work is very good as well. Plus they deal with contemporary issues in philosophy. For instance, they explain Alvin Plantinga's model under the religious epistemology section, offer a few criticisms, but come out saying that any model that is correct is going to be something very close to his. Under the freedom and moral responsibility issue, it offers really good information about what are the conditions that contemporary philosophers list for free agency (i.e. rationality condition, etc.), along with the other relevant information. Also, on issues like this, they realize that Christians disagree amongst themselves. So, while they may be dogmatic about certain issues, they seem to leave elbow room for disagreemnt (e.g. in the chapter on freedom).

Thus, my over all assessment of this book is that it is the best work out there that covers such as wide number of issues from a Christian perspective and in the depth that they provide. Remember, this is not going to be as technical and exhaustive on all of the points as any doctoral dissertation is going to be. Seriously, who can do that on so many issues in under a thousand pages? To compensate, since they are aware of this, there is a "for further reading on..." in the back of the book for each of the given sections. Nonetheless, I have not seen a better book that offers lay people and new students of philosophy such exhaustive account of the issues in contemporary analytic philosophy and done in such a readable manner. Put it this way: I am willing to bet that this will be one of the top five books printed this year. Buy this book... and hope they continue with a similar book for graduate students :)

I found this book in a discount store and could not pass it up because of my interest in discipleship. I could not put this little book down! I has several ah-ha moments as I read through Card's thoughts. Here are a few that have stuck with me: 1)God embodies truth in people. God sent truth into the world through Jesus, who is the truth. In the same way, a discipler is one who embodies aspects of truth. This thought is not emphasized in the book, but it has stuck with me and made me think of how to disciple someone. 2)Sonship is established in the wilderness. Through trial we find how much we need Jesus. We notice he is close to us. Card writes profoundly as one who has suffered and learned from it. He ties in discipleship by talking about his mentor's role during the tough times of his life.
In the end, Card writes with a clear knowledge of Scripture. Several times while reading the book, I wanted to put it down and become more familiar with my Bible, not because I doubted the truth of his comments but because the Word is eternally interesting, satisfying, and freeing. Card's love for truth and the person of Christ is contagious. Don't miss out on this book!

"I want to show you how a Christian man dies." This is what Dr. Bill Lane told Michael Card when Bill discovered he had a terminal illness. If you are led to believe this is a book about death, you are mistaken. It is a book about life, Bill Lane's life and Michael Card's life. If you were as fortunate as Michael was, and knew Bill, you will hear his voice and feel his presence on every page. If you enjoy Michael's music and wonder where his Christian maturity and spiritual insight comes from, in meeting Bill Lane you will have discovered the answer. If you have never heard of either of them, after reading the book you will discover what a "walk" with Jesus Christ can mean to you in life and in what the world calls "death".

Reading the truth of how God does work in each of our lives is there in that book...is like being six years old and playing dress up and standing in shoes 10x's your size! It's simply your future...but you're not there yet! You will have to grow into it. But they are the right shoes. This is the response of a friend I lent the book to. I agree wholeheartedly it just that she put it better than I ever could. Michael Card's work always leaves me with a closer taste of the Lord.

Edited and with an informative introduction by Jason Thompson, Description Of Egypt: Notes And Views In Egypt And Nubia Made During The Years 1825-28 is the absorbing nineteenth century account by Edward William Lane (1801-1876) of his travels along the length and breadth of Egypt. It was offered for publication in 1831 but never saw print. The manuscript was sold to the British Library by Lane's widow in 1891 and only now has been published, some 170 years after its completion. With Lane's detailed descriptions of all the ancient monuments and contemporary life that he saw during his journey, Description Of Egypt will proof an invaluable reference for students of Egyptology, Egyptian history, and nineteenth century Egyptian culture.

The re-edition of E.W. Lane's book is one of the most welcomed additions for the bookshelves of anyone interested in ancient and late last-century Egypt. This book, in reality, was originally published after the notes, drawings and photographs made by Lane during his journey to the Nile country between 1825-27, so that it is a mine of information about the pharaonic monuments in general and about Egypt during those years. A clear and finely written preface by the Editor, Dr. J. Thompson introduces the reader to the beautifully printed text and images; it should be noted that many of the latter were made with a camera lucida and count among the first taken with such a system. One should not be afraid by its bulky aspect: you will read from start to end without boring. The shcolarly-minded ones will regret the lack of indexes to such a huge volume: it implies that you must do the work by yourself... Simply fabulous both for the Egyptologists and the Egyptomaniacs.

I have tried about ten of the recipes in Fresh & Light, and they all have been met with exclamations of "encore!". In fact, my normally cooperative partner refused to wash the dishes after I made Chipotle-Marinated Pork Tenderloins, because he wanted to savor the lingering aromas.

The recipes are clear, and the approximate preparation times have been accurate in my experience.

I am an experienced cook, with skills in traditional techniques. But boy! Did this book teach me new techniques for creating great food with low fat and reduced calories. The recipes are consistently outstanding. Even my spouse who resists anything healthy has been won over.Bravo Bravo!

If you are looking for an in-depth, complete introduction to Gigabit Ethernet (both copper and fiber) you have found the right book. In about 500 pages the authors give a professional introduction not only to the Gigabit version, but other Ethernets as well, talking about network design, MAC layer, cabling, and almost everything you can expect from a book so named.

Edgar Danielyan CCNP CCDP

Compared with other GigE books, this book offers much better discussions on optical transmission and impairments. This will be great for people who likes to understand where certain optical interface and limitation are from.

On the network subject, it also offers clear and orderly description.

This book is like medicine. It is the kind of book you want when you come home after a busy day. When you begin to read it you will feel how you start to relax and forget the world around you. It is a quiet novel and the characters are quiet as well. The author thought about the plot and clearly loves her characters. A brilliant read.

I would like to thank Elizabeth Latham for this wonderful book. I read it at a time when I was experiencing a lot of strain and felt depressed and overworked. This book was better than any medicine you might want to take in such a situation. It is so soothing and makes you feel better immediately. You will become absorbed in the wonderful style very quickly and notice how your body starts to relax. Although the story may sometimes seem a little sad, the ending is great and you will want to go on and on forever. Simply a masterpiece and highly recommendable.

The book is a debate between two well-informed philosophers who debate the implications of big bang cosmology on the issue of God's existence. I recently re-read the book and was amazed at what I missed the first time around. The technical nature of the book will make it difficult to understand for those who are unfamiliar with both philosophical argument and big bang cosmology. I recommend one read Robert Jastrow's _God and the Astronomers_ and Hugh Ross' _ Creator and the Cosmos_ before embarking on this heavy dose of technical philosophy. I consider Craig's Kalam cosmological argument for God's existence to hold more weight than Smith's interesting but weak cosmological argument for God's non-existence.

According to Big Bang cosmology, the universe began to exist about fifteen billion years ago with an explosion called `the Big Bang'. But was this explosion created by God, or did it occur without cause? In Part I, Christian philosopher William Lane Craig defends the theistic interpretation of Big Bang cosmology. In Part II, atheist philosopher Quentin Smith defends the atheistic interpretation. Part III contains Craig's and Smith's interpretations of Stephen Hawking's cosmology, and its implications for the existence of God.

An excellent scholarly resource for anyone interested in the debate over Big Bang cosmology. Readers unfamiliar with Big Bang Theory may wish to consult other works before reading this one.

This is not the easiest book in the world to read. Then again, its subject matter is recondite enough to warrant its difficult essays. It is recommended that anyone who wishes to take on this monster first be acquainted with philosophy as well as contemporary 20th century cosmology. Stephen Weinberg's "The First Three Minutes" and Timothy Ferris' "The Whole Shebang" would be good places to start before attempting to read this book. It would also be helpful for one to have read at least one book on quantum mechanics ("Taking The Quantum Leap" by Fred Alan Wolf would be a wise choice) as a pre-requisite. Even having read these books beforehand, this is STILL not an easy book.

What this book deals with is the First Cause argument which St. Thomas Aquanis borrowed from Aristotle & then modified for Christianity. The question it confronts is "Why is there something rather than nothing?" The Creationist's answer is that the answer lies with God, the cause of all things. The atheists counter that this does nothing but push the question back, as then one must ask "where did God come from?" (if, indeed, the universe "came" from anywhere at all). If one cannot answer this, then why not just skip a step and say that nobody knows where the universe came from? (as opposed of taking the seemingly superfluous step of inferring a God or gods). William Craig Lane defends the theistic side of the argument while Quentin Smith takes the helm for the atheists. Both are quite erudite & it makes for a very good match.

In the 20th century, scientists used to adore the "steady state" theory, which was invented by Sir Fred Hoyle, the famous Cambridge astronomer. Why? you ask. Well, in the 1920s Edwin Hubble confirmed what Einstein's theory of Relativity had already predicted: the universe was either expanding or contracting (expanding, as it turns out). Due to the redshift, if one were to "run the film backwards" the universe must have been at a single point sometime in the remote past. However, if this were true, it would suggest that the universe had a beginning. However, if this were true, one could say that that was the moment of "creation" that Aristotle & St. Thomas Aquanis were talking about. This became known as the Big Bang theory.

Enter Hoyle. Hoyle speculated that there must constantly be matter "created" (for lack of a better term?) that "fills in the gaps" between galaxies as they rushed away from each other. This became known as the "steady state theory." The theory was very ad-hoc, but it did preserve an infintely old universe and was adopted by over 90% of the scientists on the planet.

The story took a decided turn in the mid 1960s when Arno Penzias & Ralph Wilson discovered the cosmic microwave background (CMB), which was radiation left over from the first instants of the incredibly hot Big Bang. Almost overnight, Big Bang passed the steady state theory in the HOV lane. Today, steady state is a dead theory.

To many scientists' horror, they once again had to grapple with the First Cause argument as applied to a finite universe. Sir Arthur Eddington once said "I find the idea of a beginnig to the universe repugnant. I should like to find a genuine loophole." Oscillating universe theory became the favorite "loophole" of atheists. However, it suffers from significant faults (as William Craig Lane describes in this book).

This is a wonderful book as the polemics of the First Cause argument are presented on the battlefield of cosmology rather than straight-philosophy these days. That is as it should be. The book is filled with paradoxes of infinity as well as the possiblity of the entire universe being a quantum fluctuation (virtual particle) gone awry. Although the book dabbles with the Anthropic Principle a wee bit, it is primarily focused on the question of causation. Did God create the universe? Or is it, as they say, turtles all the way down? Or did the universe LITERALLY appear out of nowhere (and nothingness)? Read this book & you will be much more informed to decide for yourself.

A few sparks, but no fire. The problem with this debate was that the speakers were not really fighting for every argument. Craig offered several reasons why Jesus is the son of God because of his ressurection. Crossan didn't answer any of those. Craig was right in asserting that the problem with Crossan is that he is neglecting the historical evidence while presenting his case from a naturalistic viewpoint. You need better arguments than that. The most serious problem was I think that in comparison with other debates of Craig against atheists, that both speakers call them selves christians. This was confusing me. In the end I follow Craig's argument, that if jesus didn't rise from the dead, we have no better rational reason to believe in his divinity than to believe in Peter Pan. Cornelis van Putten.

Waaooh, this is a must. Unfortunately the debate is not yet in print, one has to be content with Moreland's "Jesus under Fire", for example.

Dr. John Dominic Crossan is the co-chairman of the media darlings known as the Jesus Seminar. Dr. William Craig is (in my opinion) the best Christian apologist of the late 20th century who has specialized his theological research on the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus in 3 major academic books. The give and take of this debate much favored Craig in which he clearly won. Craig argued two major contentions: 1. Jesus rose from the dead and confirmed his claims to act in the place of God. 2. If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, then belief in him is a fairytale and equivalent to an irrational faith of Peter-Pan theology. Crossan never seems to address point 2 at all in the debate. In fact, Crossan thinks that one should just go on believing in Christ even though , according to Crossan, Jesus never rose from the dead bodily and was probably eaten by dogs. One wonders who is the one with the irrational faith? Listeners will enjoy the 40 minute dialogue section in which William F. Buckley participates in.