"Together with my MT correspondence course from PCDI, I work through this book as well because it focuses on the "other" important aspects of becoming a successful medical transcriptionist. I highly recommend it to any human biology fanatic like me.

I found My Experiences in War and Business to be an excellent depiction of a soldier's trials and triumphs- his will and determination to not only survive, but conquer the enemy. Hawkins was rather graphic in some of the explanations of the battles; however, he presents them in such a manner that the reader is able to put himself in his place and have a true sense of the emotions that he felt. I would suggest that any World War II buff should pick up this book;it is an acurate and interesting representation of the war. Hawkins'writes in such a way that you don't want to put the book down. You want to know what is going to happen next. Further, Hawkins' expresses the ups and downs of his life in My Experiences in War and Business in a manner that is far from typical. His story can provide hope for success to everyone, even those in the worst possible physical and/or financial conditions. He overcame many trials and has achieved great success many areas of his life. I truly enjoyed this book.

I found My Experiences in War and Business to be an excellent depiction of a soldier's trials and triumphs- his will and determination to not only survive, but conquer the enemy. Hawkins was rather graphic in some of the explanations of the battles; however, he presents them in such a manner that the reader is able to put himself in his place and have a true sense of the emotions that he felt. I would suggest that any World War II buff should pick up this book;it is an acurate and interesting representation of the war. Hawkins'writes in such a way that you don't want to put the book down. You want to know what is going to happen next. Further, Hawkins' expresses the ups and downs of his life in My Experiences in War and Business in a manner that is far from typical.His story can provide hope for success to everyone, even those in the worst possible physical and/or financial conditions. He overcame many trials and has achieved great success many areas of his life. I truly enjoyed this book.

This book takes the reader with no background in the subject of celestial navigation to having the ability to find their position quickly. The author by-passes the eye glazing theory which other books go into and sticks to an easy to follow recipe format ( forms included ). With a little practice anyone can use celestial navigation to find where they are and batteries are not required. Just a little thought.

Poor Otis has the same problem many children have...fitting in. While the rest of the pigs cavort in the mud, Otis prefers to stay nice and clean...which doesn't win him many friends. Until he meets Little Frog, who is the perfect friend for Otis. Not only did I find this an enchanting tale, but Bynum's rich watercolors and attention to detail (a copy of This Old Sty is among the clutter in the pig's livingroom)grabs every child's imagination and heart. And Otis is a character that you will naturally fall in love with. He's so adorable! Great for the preschool set.

From Library Journal  
In a small Missouri town along the Mississippi, Tom Gully, a barrel maker, orders his son Otis to kill (dam) the river. Otis sets out and falls in with a fanatic religious group that promises to help if he will go to New York and bring back ``Our Lady,'' who may or may not be a captive. Otis plans to pose as a photographer, and off he goes with camera to the big city. His adventures are wild, surrealistic, and often very funny. He participates in a bombing, a riot, and a fountain of youth scam. Eventually, Otis builds a boat of barrels to return to Missouri. The characters, sex, and coincidences are appropriately zany, and the writing is smooth. This offbeat first novel is not for everyone, but some readers will love it. For large popular collections.-- Robert H. Donahugh, formerly with Youngstown & Mahoning Cty. P.L., Ohio
 
From Publisher's Weekly - Publishers Weekly  
This unusual and charming first novel is a tall tale, recounting the adventures of Otis Gully, a naive lad who vows to ``plug up'' the Mississippi River because it is ruining his father's rain-barrel business in Braggadocio, Mo. He falls in with the Holy Habitat, a bunch of religious fanatics who convince him that he needs their help to complete his mission and, in order to win it, must go to wicked New York and find their lost goddess. Within seconds of arriving in the big city, Gully's coat is stolen (the thief is subsequently murdered by villains seeking Otis) and, under the impression he's hailing a taxi, he stumbles into a vehicle owned by Ciro Bellafiga's Therapeutic Driving University--which leads to a weekend of wild sex with student-driver Mary. After that, things get really strange. Posing as a news cameraman, Otis nearly gets killed by a bomb accidentally detonated by the AntiNice cult. His distraught father, believing him dead, comes to New York and winds up sitting on a traffic island in a barrel full of dimes. All paths eventually lead to a woman named Hank, whose sneeze can restore lost youth to those hit by its spray. Impossible to summarize or explain, this first novel is Some Tale Indeed. (Apr.)

In the book above, Douglas Layton reminds us of an old paradigm that has been largely forgotten in the churches today. When most read Christ's words in the Great Commission, they read, "Go, therefore, make disciples," and stop short of the full meaning of His command. Assuming that this merely refers to individuals, they miss that Christ has commanded His church to make the NATIONS His disciples, baptizing NATIONS, and teaching NATIONS. Because of this tragic oversight, Layton explains, the impact of Christ's people today is minimal. We may be planting churches and evangelizing individuals, but the churches influence stops short of impacting entire nations. Layton seeks to remedy this situation, and stir the reader into a more complete evangelistic campaign.

Chapter 1 surveys the state of the nations and shows that, while the condition of them is largely deplorable (including America), there is still hope. He writes, "Billy Graham once said that, if God did not destroy America, He would have to apologize to Sodom. I believe, if He does destroy America in its current state, He will have to apologize for not giving it the same chance He gave Sodom" (p. 36).

Chapter 2 introduces the new (actually old) paradigm of winning whole nations. Layton argues that Christ's kingdom is intended not only for the individual or for the church but over every sphere of life (e.g., government and law, the arts and sports, education, business, economics, science and technology, the media, and the family). He quotes A.T. Robertson, who reprimands those who retreat from society and consume themselves with the "Rapture": "Those who expect His coming to be very soon should leave that to the Father and push on the campaign for world conquest" (p. 50).

In the third chapter, Layton asks the million dollar question, Can nations actually be won to Christ? He answers, "If communists and Muslims can take nations -- so can our God!" (p. 63). He reminds us that there have been (and now are) nations that were Christian, and how we can learn from the devil's nation winning strategies. He does this by examining the powerful permeation Islam has made.

I could continue to give a survey of each chapter, but I will stop and simply say that there are very few books that deserve multiple readings, and this is one of them. If not once a year, every Christian should read it at least once in his/her lifetime. I agree with P. Andrew Sandlin, who wrote on the back cover that this book is "the most revolutionary book on the topic of Christian mission written in the last one hundred years." Layton combines a stirring appeal to have a more complete Christianizing campaign that will stop at nothing less than seeing Christ as Lord over every facet of life with personal examples of what God can do with a person who is willing.

William Ogburn is viewed as the founder of the Cultural Lag theory. The argument of the book is that material conditions, for instance, technology, influence creation of non-material culture: mores and values. In other words, material condition (cultural or even environmental) walk in front of customs and laws. That view is not altogether new and was mentioned earlier by Marx and later by Hayek. Unfortunately, Ogburn, for some reason, usually gets little credit for his development of Cultural Lag. What distinguishes Ogburn from Marx and other theorists is that he particularly stressed out that cultural values and laws do not have time to adjust fast enough to meet the demands of technological change. Today, for instance, transnational corporations use instant monetary transactions due to increadible technological innovations in computer science, while governments have no laws and power to tax the TNCs properly, nor to regulate flux of American jobs abroad. Ogburn would have said that federal governments in the world today are operating with the rules and ideology emerged 200 years ago, while transnational corpoprations do not wait and embrace any innovations technological process presents. Until a terrible disaster has happened due to maladjustment of the system as a whole, the modern states are unlikely to take any radical action. That is the caltural lag.

Once I saw the movie, I wanted to know more about David, Eddie, Paul, Otis and Melvin, so I decided to get this book so I could learn more about one of the most incredible, talented, groudbreaking not to mention classiest groups of all time. This book has a lot of info that isn't in the movie, so it was wonderful to read an account of how things really went down, especially at Motown in the early days. I finished this book in less than a week, I just couldn't put it down. This book has definitely made me a Temptations fan for life. I admire all of them and what they went through, and I especially commend Otis Williams for writing a book that discussed the good times and the bad, with class and grace. I am saddened by the fact that Eddie, David, Melvin and Paul (my favorite) aren't with us today, but their places in music history will always be remembered. A wonderful book!

I purchased "Temptations" by Otis Williams and Patricia Romanowski when the book was first released back in 1988. I loved it because finally the tale of one of my favorite musical groups had been told. Then, in 1998, I saw the miniseries based on the book that I had read back in 1988. Now, if you want to know the real story, you have to read the book. The miniseries does give you the bases of the story, but the books gives you all of the story. I recently purchased the updated version of the book with the addition of Chapter 10. FOLKS, stop paying those outlandish prices for the 1988 version, and get the updated version. It has the entire book, plus the addition of a new chapter. Thank you Otis for giving us the last 14 years of the Temptations' story in the new updated version. It made me sad and happy all in those pages of Chapter 10. Now, if in the next 14 years you decide to add a Chapter 11, I am there.Haha! I recommend the updated version to everyone out there who wants to know the story. GOD bless you, Otis Williams.

The video stores can't keep the movie in stock. I purchased the last copy just yesterday from one of our Blockbusters. Prior to that I've repeatedly rented the movie. I've viewed it atleast 30 times and could watch it once every day. All of the actors were excellent! But LEON's performance as David Ruffin totally blew me away. I had to look at an actual photo of Ruffin to remember what he looked like after LEON's performance. I actually saw the Temps perform at Western University in Illinois just after Dennis Edwards joined the group (1969/70). For me, there are only 5 that I consider Temps--Paul, Otis, David, Eddie & Melvin. I wish the movie had given more attention to Eddie Kendricks, especially his death from lung cancer. Now I am in search of the book by Williams and Romanowski. It needs to be put back in print.

This book is all about a young boy who gets in trouble alot. He always seems to enjoy to annoy Ellen Tebbits. His mother is a dance teacher at the dance school close to his home and has no time for him. In the middle of the book his class does a experiment including two mice. At the end of the experiment Ellen get to take one home but gives it to Otis instead. I thought this book was exciting and I was not able to put it down. Even though i told you some of the story get it and read the whole thing.

Otis Spofford is a boy just looking for a little excitement. To Otis excitement means upstaging a playacting toreador, shooting spitballs at classmates and even his teacher, sabotaging a class experiment, upstaging a friend while helping the local football hero, and especially chasing and teasing the very prim and proper Ellen Tebbitts. Otis' classmates and teacher warn him that someday he will get his comeuppance for his antics. When Otis takes his teasing of Ellen too far then his comeuppance finally happens.

Beverly Cleary's "Otis Spofford" was one of the funniest books I ever read. I particularly enjoyed Otis' comments on how "dopey" the characters in the books he had to read for school acted. Ms. Cleary obviously wrote "Otis Spofford" for children who felt the same way about reading as Otis did. Otis is no dope and non-readers will love him for it!

Some of Ms. Cleary's older books are sometimes dismissed as being "quaint" or out of date with their 50's settings and families (father works and mom stays at home.) "Otis Spofford" was written in 1961, but Otis has a single mother who owns her own business and they live in an apartment. In some ways Ms. Cleary was ahead of her time; but there is no denying that Otis is a wildboy of the 50's. "Otis Spofford" is an extremely readable and hilarious book featuring the wonderful drawings of illustrator Louis Darling. (I've always preferred Mr. Darling's idealized illustrations of very 50's looking children (the girls in dresses or rolled up pants with moptop hairstyles, the boys in canvas hightop sneakers and bristled haircuts) which are in Ms. Cleary's older books to the illustrations of her more recent books which make some of the characters look rather ugly- Ramona is so much cuter when drawn by Louis Darling than Alan Tiegrin.)

I recommend all lovers of children's books to read this captivating classic of the exploits of a mischievous young lad, as only a genius such as Beverly Cleary can explain. It made me want to relive my childhood days!

Once I started to read the book, I just could not put it down. Cleary contiuously maintained my interest throughout the reading of the text. I am sure children in the age range of 9-12 will be able to relate to the title character, Otis Spofford.