Includes new Afterward explaining how Lawrence was abducted by desert-savvy aliens!

It is a commonplace to refer to T.E. Lawrence as one of the most enigmatic figures of twentieth century history. One sometimes wonders if it is his enigmatic character that continues to make him interesting, rather than what he achieved in his lifetime.

This is, as far as I know, the first attempt by a psychiatric professional to write a life of Lawrence. So much about Lawrence's personality - his illegitimacy, his craving for anonymity after the war even as he contrarily managed to worm his way into the spotlight so many times, his name change ostensibly in honor of G.B. Shaw, and probably most of all his experience at Deraa, made him an object of general interest, not to say lurid speculation. Lawrence, with his usual flair, manages to give us enough about his interior life in "Seven Pillars" to pique our interest without actually telling us anything.

While I must admit that I enjoyed the book, I must also say that I walked away from it feeling that I did not know any more about Lawrence after finishing it than I did before. The author covers a great deal of terrain, but I think that we're all not any closer to understanding Lawrence. Maybe the definitive biography is still waiting to be written. Maybe it never will be.

John E Mack has written a definitive and masterful biography of T. E. Lawrence, a man of fascinating complexity. The movie, Lawrence of Arabia, portrays a "mighty hero." Lawrence's role in the Arab Revolt are put into the context of his childhood, the Paris Conference, and the RAF years. Mack does not diminish Lawrence's achievements nor does he glorify them. Lawrence's post-war years were spent escaping his fame and what he endured. His psychical scars from the war deaden him to emotion and pleasure and his idealistic romanticism turned to nihilism. Lawrence's post-war penitence and alienation lead me to believe that he suffered from post traumatic stress disorder as a result of his brushes with death and his loss of physical and emotional integrity. He sought to break through his numbness by riding high performance motorcycles at breakneck speeds through the countryside and subjecting himself to scourgings.

If you saw the movie, read this book.

Brother Lawrence can be of enormous help to those of us seeking to grow closer to Christ. For one, there is no complicated methodology behind practicing the presence of God.

As Brother Lawrence says, "Lift up your heart to Him ... the least little remembrance will always be acceptable to Him. You need not cry very loud; He is nearer to us than we are aware of."

And so, the practice of the presence of God is to simply think of him often. As Brother Lawrence says, your friend (God) is always with you. Why would you cut off conversation with God when you would not be so rude to another person.

I enjoyed this book. It takes maybe one hour to read, but I have a feeling it will have a lasting impact on my life.

I am constantly is search of books that will help me advance in the spiritual life. I find alot of books that I read are repetitive. This short book by Brother Lawrence shows a simple, direct, effective way to strengthen your spirituality without losing you halfway through the book. Through the practice of one simple method we can be in continual union with God. All we need is the perseverance to continue practicing it!

This is one of the three greatest Christian books besides the Bible that I would recommend for all to read, the other two being "The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life" and "Pilgrim's Progress". Brother Lawrence seems to have found a heavenly type of life on earth and describes his experience in this very short and simple book that other's may partake of this blessing also. The life he portrays is one of continual communion with God in that all our daily mundane works are intimately connected with Him. One interesting comment he makes, and which perhaps best serves as the central thesis of this book, is that he feels no less closer to God when he is busy doing his earthly chores than in his set time of devotions. The Christian life he found is the one God intends for all belivers to have.

A frightening ghost tale. The writing is not exceptional and the story's possibilities could have been more fully developed. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the story and found the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. A good, old-fashioned ghost story with a shocking ending.

Tragically sad and painfully horrifying, this book is hauntingly surreal, well plotted and written in an accessible and readable style.

This story makes the reader realize the true meaning of the word "haunting". It is simple, clean, straightforward story telling which builds to the kind of terror where the hair raises on your arms and the back of your neck. It is a true shame that the book is not available currently; the publisher would do well to restock as soon as possible. For those of us who enjoy that quiet creepy feeling in the dead of night that you can get only by reading the most well written ghost story, this is the book!

The Littles are people who are under six inches tall and have tails. They live in the wall of the Bigg's house and have a secret door in the kitchen. I liked this story because it has good characters. They had good ideas about how to get rid of the mice. I didn't like Uncle Pete very much because he only likes weapons.
I would recommend this book to other kids.

Dear John Peterson We are reading The Littles Go Exploring. We just finished the book! This is the first Littles book I have ever read. My favorite part was when they packed the food. The little corn flakes box was funny. My favorite weapon was the firecracker. I got excited when the Littles launched the firecracker.

The Little's is a wonderful book. I loved it.They had the best act.It was funny, but really sad because Tim died.It was not scary, but it was totally sad. Tom was the main character in the whole story.

Joshua Chamberlain's post-Civil-War life never reached the heights of his military exploits. John Pullen has done an excellent job researching and writing about Chamberlain after the Civil War, but, like Chamberlain's civilian life, it's not as gripping as his Civil War experiences. For die-hard Chamberlain fans and those interested in Maine's and Bowdoin's history, it's worth reading, but if it's excitement you want, read Killer Angels.

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain did not appear "ex nihilo" on 2 July 1863 at the craggy slope of Little Round Top. Neither did he disappear on 12 April 1865 following his magnanimous violation of military protocol at Appomattox Court House. In this volume, Mr. Pullen documents Chamberlain's life after the Civil War, demonstrating that the hero's character continued to illuminate all his life until his death in 1914.

Unlike Sis Deans', "His Proper Post;" Michael Golay's, "To Gettysburg and Beyond;" or Willard M. Wallace's, "Soul of the Lion," Pullen's text does not presume to be a complete biography. It does not address the question of what forces in Chamberlain's up-bringing formed such an extraordinary man.

Unlike Chamberlain's own books "Through Blood & Fire at Gettysburg," and "The Passing of the Armies;" or Michael Shaara's, "The Killer Angels," and Alice Rains Trulock's, "In The Hands of Providence," this is not primarily a book about soldiers at war.

The question that Pullen addresses is, "What becomes of the hero after the battles cease: how is courage displayed after the war ends?" In the case of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, and other great Americans, the answer is that true heroes continue to demonstrate the same commitment to service in peace as in war. True heroes demonstrate the same integrity and courage in their chosen civilian occupations that they once showed while facing iminent death.

Forget the trendy books on leadership and values. Instead, read Mr. Pullen's book. Be inspired by the story of an exceptional leader, who demonstrated his commitment to American values until the day he died.

I don't think I could say it better than the reader from Huntington, Pennsylvania - what a great review! But I agree wholeheartedly, this book allows the reader to see Chamberlain *the human* and despite his faults and frailties, he remains someone well worth admiring. John Pullen, as always, has written a very well researched and very readable book that gives one a look at the whole person. For those who are just starting to become interested in Chamberlain, this book will give you an excellent view of his later life and accomplishments (all of which were achieved despite a debilitating wound!). For those who have been Chamberlain fans for years, this book will help you get to know him even more and give you further reason to admire him.

I received the book and read it in one day. The book was well researched and acurate but for only a couple of indescrepencies that did not effect the outcome. The author described the victim very well considering he never met him. I should know, the victim is my stepson whom I love and miss dearly. I read the book with tears in my eyes as I relived the hellish account of the murder and trial we went through. I could see each character and events vividly in my mind. Now when our friends ask many questions that arise, we simply tell them to read the book for all the answers. The reality of it is shocking to our family, friends, us and especially the greatest victims of all-our grandchildren. The first murder in Sevierville, Tenn. in 33 years. Hopefully the last - anywhere!!

I RECEIVED THE BOOK AND READ IT ALL IN ONE DAY. I FOUND IT VERY INTERESTING AND FACTUAL EXCEPT FOR A COUPLE OF INDESCREPENCIES THAT DIDN'T EFFECT THE OUTCOME. IT WAS WELL WRITTEN AND WELL RESEARCHED. I ALSO FOUND THAT THE AUTHOR GAVE A EXTREMELY GOOD DESCRIPTION OF THE VICTIM CONSIDERING HE NEVER MET HIM. I SHOULD KNOW --- THE VICTIM IS MY STEPSON WHOM I LOVED DEARLY AND THE OTHER VICTIMS- OUR GRANDCHILDREN !! THE DESCRIPTION OF SHAYNE IS QUITE ACURATE AS WELL AS THE FACTS OF THE TRIAL. OUR FAMILY RELIVED THAT HELLISH EVENT ALL OVER. NOW WHEN OUR FRIENDS ASK DETAILS WHICH ARE HARD TO TALK ABOUT, WE JUST ADDRESS THEM TO READ THE STORY. IT HAS ALL THE HORRIBLE TRUTHS WE LIVED THROUGH.

Mr. Reynolds keeps you right there to the end. Even if I was not from Sevier County, I couldn't put this book down. The Rae family moved in across the street from me in the 80's. I quickly became friends with Lana, Brett's sister. They were a very nice family and I enjoyed spending time with them. This book gave me a better understanding of one of the most tragic stories my hometown has ever known, possibly since the tragic "Tattoo Eddie" murders. I will read this authors other books and would love to talk with him!

I absolutlely loved the awesome inventiveness of this novel. And although it is tremendously complicated and difficult to read I found it very rewarding. The amazing thing that I found out only after I finished the book is that there really is a "Lempriere's dictionary"! I know absolutely nothing about the mythology that is so often referenced in the book and simply ignored it. I suspect that readers with a better classics background than mine would like it even more. Not recommended for those that need the pace of John Grisham or Tom Clancy to stay interested in a book.

The core theme is John Lempriere's work on his dictionary of proper names of the antique. I have followed his pen filling the papers from "Aaras'sus" to "..." - the surname of Juno, when presiding over marriages, enthusiastically. I have been animated to reread Ovid's "Metamorphoses". It has been wonderfull to have the ancient Greek (Roman) mythology back in Norfolk' s novel- in different times, in different shapes, the novel's characers as their actors. (Metamorphoses at all!) But instead of mythology's density and complexity within the novel, maybe it' s only an episode. You can follow another track - the historical background covering two centuries from the founding of the East-Indian Company to the dawn of the French Revolution. Be a historian ! Make a journey with coaches, on ships or just fly and settle down at the Sea of Azow, and find out why the fish are gone there ! Follow gulps, orange trees, women selling apples, ships, occean currents, weather systems (warming foehns in the Klagenfurt Basin make me think of Robert Musil ?). You can also read a geometry. Be a skillfull mathematician to construct broken circles or to understand Loui's XIV first tutor of mathematics telling him that parallel lines - parallel episodes - meet at a point infinitely distant from the observer - the reader - or more obviously in the reader's mind - in the novel. You become a vigilant, attentative reader, but sometimes you will find yourself bewithed by Norfolk.

And I have not even touched the plot!

Buy Norfolk's debut novel, read it and enrich your library.

Norfolk's first time out - LEMPRIERE'S DICTIONARY - is an amazing novel. Maybe I should say stunning, or fantastic. A wonderful blend of intrigue, history, romance, revenge, partying, and political machination combined with very well formed characters and exciting action. I could go on & on & on, but READ THIS BOOK!!!! It is a joy and a pleasure to read, and I gave some copies away as gifts one Christmas & everyone told me how much they liked it a few weeks later. THE POPE'S RHINOCEROS is uneven, but LEMPRIERE is perfectly defined & spelled, so to speak (Sorry!). Read it!

This is a great book for students...because it's not heavy! Seriously, the chapters are short and concise,heavenly stuff when you're cramming the night before exams.The writing is clear and focused...it doesn't meander off into extreme details. The illustrations are self explanatory...and the pictures are graphic and gross...like they should be in a infectious disease textbook. Too bad there aren't more of them!

This book covers every medical microbiology topic that is needed for class exams or the USLME. The book is intensely filled with very elaborated information that any medical student needs to pass his or her exams. My study group and I also used the following for class exams and the USLME and found it extremely helpful. I also purchased this book on amazon which is the following:
Microbiology Study Guide: Key Review Questions and Answers by Patrick Leonardi (ISBN: 0971999635)
The questions in this study guide were on target with my class exams and was an excellent reference for the USLME. Buy both books. Most definitely!!

The first thing to understand about this book is that it is a textbook and a difficult one. The difficulty for the beginning student or general reader is not a fault of the authors. Rather it is because medical microbiology itself is a daunting subject full of organisms that can only be seen fuzzily with an electron microscope, if at all, organisms involved in processes and behaviors that are foreign to our everyday experience. Add the fact that most of the material covered here is not part of a non-specialist curriculum either in high school or college, and effectively speaking the untrained reader is starting from scratch.

Well, why do that? First of all, because the material itself--how viruses, bacteria, fungi, and other infectious organisms enter the body, replicate, and cause disease--is fascinating and of immediate relevance to our lives. Second because (to my knowledge) there is little or nothing else available to the general reader that goes beyond a sketchy introduction to the subject. One is forced to read a text book. Fortunately this is a good one and it is thorough.

The text covers the range of infectious disease from viruses to tapeworms. The amount of technical information presented is daunting, and the sheer expanse of terminology a challenge (why is there no glossary?). The text is lavishly illustrated with photos and electron micrographs of the pathogens, as well as numerous schematic drawings showing how microorganisms cause disease, how they replicate, their chemical structure, their morphology, etc.

The instructional schematic drawings I found less valuable than the electron micrographs, but I suspect for the student of microbiology it might be the other way around.

What you'll get out of this handsome book depends on how much time and energy you are able to devote to it. I started reading this in the hope that I would, perhaps by osmosis, pick up some feel for life at the micron level, and I did. Obviously if I had been able to study the text with the help of an instructor, I would have learned a lot more.

The Passing of the Armies offers readers the opportunity to experience the trials and triumphs of the Civil War through the personal recollections of an authentic American hero. However, it is my opinion that the introduction by Brooks D. Simpson serves to disrupt the first hand experiences of Joshua Chamberlain by calling into question Chamberlain's accuracy of events and his personal motives. Passing of the Armies should stand as one man's first hand account of his life, leaving his critics to write their own book.

"The Passing of the Armies" was the final memoirs authored by Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, published a year after his death in 1914. Having dealt with the Battle of Gettysburg and the Siege of Petersburg in earlier volumes, Chamberlain recounts the final days of the Fifth Army Corps of the Army of Potomac from March 1865 through the end of the Civil War. Consequently, this book contains Chamberlain's account of the emotional moment when he was in charge of the formal surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia. Because of Michael Shaara's Pulitizer Prize winning novel "The Killer Angels," the companion volumes on the Civil War by his son Jeff, and the film "Gettysburg," Chamberlain has become the idealized citizen-soldier of the Civil War, which means we are assured that his books will be kept in print.

Chamberlain's writing style is a bit different in this book from his earlier efforts, due no doubt to the fact that half a century had passed since the events he is covering, he was apparently in the process of dying while writing the book, and he never had an opportunity to revise the manuscript, a task which was left to his family. Therefore, it is not surprising that there are inconsistencies with this book from accounts he wrote earlier. Certainly Chamberlain comes across as more emotional in his reminiscences than he did in "Bayonet! Forward!" or "Through Blood and Fire at Gettysburg." Reading Chamberlain's books in terms of the chronology of the events they cover is a good approach and I would certainly recommend reading his memoirs before moving on to the biographies currently available.

With so few first hand accounts available about the final campaign of the Civil War, "The Passing of the Armies" clearly stands out as one of the most memorable for its content and style. Written by General Joshua L. Chamberlain towards the end of his long and productive life, the former soldier and college professor's book relates his thoughtful observations and recollections of the battles at White Oak Road and Five Forks from a selfless standpoint. He reminisces on the surrender at Appomattox and the last review in great detail with sensitivity and a touch of sentimentality towards the events. Chamberlain is an eloquent, perceptive writer who provides the reader with much valuable insight about the personalities and situations he describes. His imagistic prose make this book enjoyable and inspiring to read. This is definitely one to include in the collection of any student of the Civil War.

The book is a little too simple and basic. I needed more information and help. It is a good introduction.

I've been using Windows 98 for years and just upgraded to Windows XP. This book helped enormously. It was thorough and clear and didn't talk down to me, yet it was also very easy to understand. I've been a big fan of Magid's columns and now I'm a fan of his book. Great job!

When learning about computers, especially for those of us using them on the homefront, who wants a huge tome of information we'll never use?

Not me. Keep it simple.

"The little PC Book Windows XP Edition" by Larry Magid keeps it simple.

This is for the everyday user, the one who has no desire (or need) to become Microsoft Certified, who just wants to use his or her computer, and not get lost in the technology of it all. XP is different than its Windows ancestors, yet clearly is part of the family. Magid helps you know when the differences matter.

Magid keeps the language simpler than a radio compter talk show, and readers will rejoice at the book's accessibility.

Pictures are worth a thousand words of techie talk, and Magid is sure to realize this, providing necessary charts, screenshots, etc. He answers the questions you want answers to in a manner you'll understand.

I fully recommend "The little PC Book Windows XP Edition" by Larry Magid.

Anthony Trendl