Even if you are not a Baseball fan, this is a great human intrest story, of a real sounding person and his troubles growing up. If you are a baseball fan or a fan of the late great Nellie Fox it is an absolute most

Just when you think no one can do anything more with how baseball captures the American mind and imagination, you come across a book like this. It's a fun read, light enough that you don't realize you have become caught up in something serious. As I laughed I kept wanting to e-mail Kevin Costner. This book would make a great movie. It's got all the right stuff: an over the hill hero, a rotten kid, a dog, nostalgia. Those of you who grew up in Chicago will love the local color.

This is a wonderful book: funny and touching. The characters are real and the situations they get into are riveting. The dialogue is great; the voices ring so true. An extremely enjoyable read, even for only casual fans of baseball.

I've watched Michael Wallis grow as a writer and I wish he had written this book last instead of first. Now don't get me wrong, it's a rip-roarin' tale of a man with ambition and drive who built a gigantic company and fortune. But it's not the exhaustive, documented last work on Frank Phillips's life.

This is as near to an authorized biography as you can get. Wallis was given full access to all the recorded material on Phillips as well as to a great many people who actually knew the man and worked with him. It's a rollicking story.

Using fiction techniques of characterization Wallis shows us an eccentric, ambitious young man who evolves into a successful philanthropist -- and philanderer. Phillips gave tokens to the children of the community but overindulged and neglected his own son until he turned to alcohol. He was a man who appeared devoted to his family six months out of every year, then spent the rest of his time with his mistress in New York City.

He wasn't such a saint in business, either. He took over smaller companies to build his empire and almost fired a Vice President "Boots" Adams because he thought Adams was too ambitious for personal gain.

Legends about Phillips abound and Wallis has recorded them. There's a story, for example, of Phillips paying the mortgages of community churches and herein lies the weakness of this book. He doesn't say whether this generosity is documented or it's simply a tale told by sycophants, and he sure talked to plenty of them.

Wallis weakens his authority by neglecting to support his facts. He speculates. Without documentation it's impossible for the reader to separate fiction from fact. The writing style is that of fiction and that's all the more reason the reader needs to be able to tell what is real fact and what is speculation.

If what you want is an exciting story of the West and people who made great fortunes in the oil fields, you'll love this book. It's well written and well researched. If you want only fact, however, you'll have to write your own book.

Frank Phillips, "THE OIL MAN" is a little known multi millionaire who started with nothing but ambition, and made life pay off! If you like business biography, this is one of the best you'll ever read. I enjoyed totally. I am now rereading the book for the third time!

This book contains something for everyone. Action, adventure, power struggles, romance, money, geology, the wild west, the roaring twenties, family feuds and best of all...it's all true! Frank Phillips grew up a farm boy in Iowa, started a career as a barber and ended up an oil tycoon. This is an easy read and it is obvious that Wallis' research was very thorough. He almost leads you through a day to day account of Frank Phillips' life. And what a life it must have been. A true gambler, Frank Phillips' started with almost nothing, made a fortune then risked everything he had just to stay in the game. I can highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading. Wallis has brought together a complex man's world and gives the reader an insight rarely seen in biographical writing. He makes the stories come to life and links them all together superbly.

Bethany Cabe, Tony Stark, and Justin Hammer! Just through in Jack Daniels and you have the greatest Iron Man story arc ever! This TPB starts off with all out action against one of my personal favs, Prince Namor. Next move to Iron Man in all out battle against Blizzard, Whiplash, and The Melter in one of fav places on earth, Atlantic City, New Jersey! And that's not all! Iron Man murders an ambassador and then goes after Justin Hammer in Monaco without his armor! All out battle ensues on Hammer's private island against a handfull of super baddies! End it all with a heart touching story about Stark finding his way of the sauce (with some help from the beautiful Bethany Cabe)! A great buy for any comic fan!

Maybe it's because it was the very first Iron Man storyline I ever read (in its original comicbook form - issues #120-128), but in my opinion this widely-acclaimed collection is still a masterpiece after all these years! While the overall plot may have arguably been equalled in later years, notably in the Armor Wars story arc, the sparkling art combination of John Romita Jr and Bob Layton still remains unrivalled, either by any IM artist since or even by Bob Layton alone! Indeed, never have two Iron Man artists complimented each other so perfectly. David Michelinie's James Bond-style plot sees Tony Stark frequent glamorous locations such as an Atlantic City Casino and the Mediterranean while facing a shadowy nemesis in the form of Justin Hammer - a Bond-style villain! However, the alcohol-driven theme still has the power to deliver a relevant message today. My only complaint with the TPB is that I would've prefered that it included a picture of each of the covers of the individual issues at the start of each chapter. But that is only a minor flaw.

This TPB, together with the aforementioned Armor Wars saga, is the definitive Shellhead story. If you can get hold of both, then by all means do. However, if you choose to only read one, purchase this: it demonstrates clearly why Michelinie/Romita Jr/Layton were the original Iron Man dream team!

....this collection is well worth the price. Writer David Michelinie along w/partner/artist (and best friend) Bob Layton, and John Romita Jr. created these original tales set in the very early 80s. We are first introduced to consummate corporate baddie Justin Hammer, and Iron Man alter ego Tony Stark goes through his first bout w/alcoholism. If you can find all of these original comics (in good shape) for less than the cost of this TPB, go for it. But I wouldn't hold my breath!

Actually, I have not read this book yet. I thought it was a joke when I was browsing the KSCS website and saw that Hawkeye was plugging a book of his own doing. Knowing what I do about Hawkeye, I feel that I must see what THIS is going to be like!

Having grown up with two brothers I thought I understood boys, and being a modern woman I have tried to understand men, and then I read this book. Paschal and Louis have woven together extremely witty tales that, wink-wink-nudge-nudge, try to explain boys, men and schmos (their term, ladies). Every woman should read this book to gain a better understanding of what men think, when they think it, and why they think it. If these two guys are still single, then females must be as dire as they portray us, because their intelligence and wit should have won them a heart a long time ago. This book is perspicuous, a quick read, and well worth passing along to all your girlfriends. I'm not sure why there wasn't a larger distribution of this book, because it definitely deserves a wide audience.

I heard Dorsey and Hawkeye talk about this book one morning and decided to read a few pages on line. An hour later I was hooked. My brother and I had an argument over who this book was written for. He says that it's a guy's book but I say that Hawkeye intended it to be for women.

Imagine yourself a leading French theorist: here is a recipe for that troublesome new 'recits'- return to an earlier work (in this case, his first, 'Death Sentence'/L'arrete de Mort')- find a germane incident within that book- rip those pages out. Now set up two charatcters in a situation that mirrors the originary fictional incident- have those two characters try to analyze the event's 'implication' from within the same setting. Digress frequently. Sound a little too Stoppardian for you? Not sure you'll find the Godot-like intertextual rib-tickles very compelling? For fiction his short-stories 'The last word', or 'The idyll' are easily a thousand nights more lucid; for heavy theory, 'The Writing of Disaster' is detonative. This work sadly's just oblivious...

This book is a foray into the deepest heart of relationships, and leaves one unguarded (as few other books have attained) to experience the letting-go that is so difficult for any of us to do, both as singular individuals and in our relationships with our significant others. This *experience* of letting-go is remarkably accessible in this book, and is remarkable for that fact alone, as few books can produce this sort of insight into the human condition of the notion of property, both in our relationships and in our daily experiences. It is an unsettling, uncanny book that stays with you after you have read it. Highly recommended.

The text is an intimate engagment with a question of relation. Perhaps it is not in anyone's (including Blanchot's...) interest to somehow portray a more "accurate" picture of the world, to write a "better" narrative or récit, rather, perhaps there is something more fundamental at stake which places even the practice of reading into question. And if this is at all true, it one of the foremost reasons why I hold almost all of Blanchot's texts in the highest regard.

This answers the question, "When exactly did AMAZING SPIDER-MAN as a series go completely to HELL?" No-it WASN'T when John Romita stopped inking. It WASN'T when Gwen Stacy was murdered (which, after all these years, it turned out it was John Romita's...idea). And no-it WASN'T even when Stan Lee stopped writing "his" main character!!! NO!!! It was when GIL KANE started DRAWING the [darn] book, THAT'S when!!! Kane's people are UGLY, his anatomy is AWKWARD, and his storytelling has NO sense of fun or humor about it at ALL!!! Most of these I'd never read before, and I got the book mainly because it was a CHEAP way to fill these huge gaping holes in my Spidey collection. MY GOD!! Reading these is like watching the 6th season of HUNTER. Sure, Dee Dee McCall was still there, but the whole tone, balance and focus of the show had gone terribly astray, thanks to Fred Dryer's massive ego getting in the way.

There's a few issues with pure JOHN ROMITA art, which are a joy to behold compared to the rest. (Romita plotted "Vengeance In Viet Nam" all on his own, it was his big Milton Caniff tribute!) There's also a couple near the end which had Romita pencilling over layouts by JIM STARLIN! But overall, the tone of the series had gotten very dark, downbeat and pessimistic. In a word-- unbearable.

For anyone who'd wonder why I have NO interest in reading ANY new Spider-books ever again, here it is. I have BOXES of the stuff in my back room, and don't have the time for that right now-and that's the GOOD stuff! To me, there are 2 and ONLY 2 Spider-Man artists who matter-- Steve Ditko and John Romita. Everybody else is just wasting their time trying to fill their shoes. 30 years is a LONG time for a character to be living off his past reputation!

Volume 5 of the "Essential Spider-Man" covers the end of Stan Lee's run as the writer on his most famous comic creation. Lee wrote through issue #100, then Roy Thomas penned issues #101-104, Lee returned for issues #105-110, and then Gerry Conway (the man who killed off Gwen Stacy) became Spidey's scripter with issue #111. Spider-Man's artwork features some major revolving door action as well, with John Romita (Sr.) inking Gil Kane and then doing the pencils again, then Kane taking over with a different inker, then... (you get the idea). Anyhow, the cover is wrong because John Buscema does not do any of the artwork (brother Sal does some of the inking); it is Conway's name that should be there instead.

Anyhow, this volume includes several pivotal moments in Spider-Man's history: the death of Captain Stacy, the infamous Green Goblin/Harry Osborn on drugs trilogy where the comic did not receive Comics Code approval, and the 100th issue where Peter Parker decides to concoct a magic formula to take away his spider powers and ends up growing two extra sets of arms instead (talk about weird science, huh?). The Marvel tendency to try and be realistic pops up as well as Flash Thompson returns from Vietnam with a story to tell. There is a nice bookend effect to this volume, which begins and ends with Doctor Octopus. I know the Green Goblin is the most important of Spider-Man's villain (knowing Spider-Man's secret identity sort of makes that a moot point), but overall I think some of the best Spider-Man stories involve Doc Ock, and it is not just because of the similarities of their animal totems. Also includes in these issues are Spider-Man visiting Ka-Zar in the Savage Land and the first appearance of Morbius the Living Vampire (a character that I could never take seriously). But then there is the Gibbon, a "villain" so bad even Spider-Man laughs at him.

It looks like Volume 5 might be the last of the "Essential Spider-Man" series, although this is just a bad hunch on my part. After all, Stan Lee stopped writing the comic at this point and the key issues of what would be the next volume are currently available as "The Death of Gwen Stacy." I have to admit that I do not mind that these comics are in black & white; certainly this helps to keep this a remarkably inexpensive series and the strengths of some of these artists (most notably Steve Ditko) actually stand out more without the color being added. There is also something to be said for not having to take your comics out of their bags to read them (or for having to pay big bucks to go out and buy all these back issues). I am looking forward to picking up some more of the classic Marvel comics from the Sixties in this format.

My only complaint is that the book opens halfway through a continued comic with Spidey battling Dr. Octopus that should have included the comic just before. I actually haven't finished reading this yet because I have been enjoying it so much that I don't want it to end! I have read a chapter or two (monthly issue) each night. After just seeimg the movie SPIDER-MAN, I bought this on an impulse. I found it fascinating to see the "real" story as told by Stan Lee of how Peter Parker felt about Mary Jane (MJ), and there is an exciting battle with the Green Goblin that explains much about that character. In fact, even the first storyline of how Peter became Spider-Man is retold. What made me sad, however, was to realize that the movie messed up a wonderful opportunity of bringing these "classic" comics to life and instead followed a mediocre script that was inaccurate to the early comics. No wonder I hate how Hollywood retells historical events just for "entertainment value!" Still, these are fun and priced inexpensively.

This book captured me from start to finish. The huge amount of history and knowledge leads to euphoria to the history lover.

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If all you read in this book is "The Audacious Cruise of the Speedy", you will have gotten your money's worth.

If the only stories you read are the two chapters from the Nagle Journel, "For the Good of My Soul, 1795," and "Mad Dickey's Amusement, 1798-1800", you will have gotten your money's worth.

But you get more than this. You get a total of 22 stories picked from many to capture the history and character of the times.

If you like Patrick O'Brien, and C.S. Forester, you will enjoy the history that gave seed to these stories. You will recognize the events of Lucky Jack Aubrey's fiirst cruise in the cruise of the Speedy, and be amazed.

Index of stories:

1. In the King's Service, 1793-1794

2. Commence the Work of Destruction: The Glorious First of June, 1794

3. The Noted Pimp of Lisbon and an Unwanted Promotion in Bull Bay, 1794

4. For the Good of My Own Soul, 1795

5. The Would as Soon Have Faced the Devil Himself as Nelson, 1796

6. The Battle of Cape St. Vincent, 1797

7. Mad Diskey's Amusement, 1798-1800

8. The Fortune of War, 1799

9. The Audacious Cruise of the Speedy, 1800-1801

10. Bermuda in the Peace, 1802-1803

11. The Battle of Trafalgar, 1805

12. The Death of Lord Nelson, 1805

13. An Unequal Match, 1807-1808

14. With Stopford in the Basque Roads, 1808-1809

15. When I Beheld These Men Spring from the Ground, 1809

16. "Damn'em, Jackson, They've Spoilt My Dancing," 1809-1812

17. The Woodwind Is Mightier than the Sword, 1809-1812

18. HMS Macedonian vs. USS United States, 1812

19. An Unjustifiable and Outrageous Pursuit, 1812-1813

20. A Yankee Cruiser in the South Pacific, 1813

21. Showdown at Valparaiso, 1814

22. We Discussed a Bottle of Chateau Margot Together, 1812-1815

Having been in the navy and loving life at sea(though I'm a long way from it now), I always look for books that make me feel like I'm still there. What better book, then, than one written by people who WERE there? This volume collects some of the best first-hand accounts of life at sea in the Royal Navy during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Probably the best of all are admiral Lord Cochrane's telling of his first command, the tiny sloop Speedy, and the experiences of sailors on the gun deck in the heat of battle. Better by far than even the best Hornblower novels(no offense, I love them too). Don't miss this one!

"G", by Mr. John Berger is the work of his that won the distinguished, "Booker Prize". What is perhaps more remarkable is that this was completed while he had published the first two, and was completing the final volume of his, "Into Their Labours Trilogy". This trilogy is one that I just read and I feel it is the best of his work that I have had the pleasure to read. Perhaps as it was broken into separate volumes and issued over 15 years made recognition of the trilogy impossible.

This work is different as we begin learning about, "The Protagonist" long before he has been born, and it is quite later on that he is finally referred to as, "G". The only time he actually takes his Father's name is when it is in the form of a falsified passport, which in the context of the story is as it should be. G has an extraordinarily eventful life, however it is devoid of a traditional Family. It is this method of his being raised that leads him to become a veritable predator of woman. But it is not just G who describes what he has planned and what he experiences, but also the women he pursues. However the Author that sets the stage for the events between G and his female friends offers another layer of insight.

The Author's voice is present and at times the dominant presence in the narrative. This book reminded me at times of Mr. Berger's works of non-fiction when he takes the senses that we use without thought and explains their workings so they become fascinating. He makes them this way not by explaining how they perform their tasks, but how they collect and interpret information well in excess of what we are consciously aware of.

I thought G personified an individual who was focused on one basic drive of all animals while being oblivious to what was really going on around him. Observations are made for him, as are the interpretations. This is a man who goes through momentous events in History with barely a nod in there direction, while obsessing himself with a planned affair, insult, or other ego satisfying triviality. His lack of perspective and his careless interest in what is important eventually gain his attention. And when this happens the irony is that the attention he receives he has done nothing to deserve other than to be blissfully ignorant.

I would have given this 5 stars, but after Mr. Berger's trilogy I cannot. This is still a splendid read by a master writer that should not be missed.

The main character - or should I say protaganist- of this book is not particularly interesting or endearing.But the story in its narrative form is compelling.The writer describes the events partly as an historian and partly as an author but then compounds events by addressing the reader with the first person - as though he personally was a witness not only to the events but to the personal emotions of the characters as well. There is much wisdom in this book - not in a cosy way, but in defining life and its intricacies, reminding us of events in our own lives but making us remember those events as exceptional-which I suppose - is the basis of romance. One is engaged with the author whilst we learn about G -closer to the author than the character. G's quest is ultimately pointless, as he single mindedly trawls through his life, marked only by physical conquests - doomed through lust and avarice - his sincerity is faulted, he lives only for now - ultimately he has no vision.

We learn not from his actions but from the authors descriptions and eloquent prose - that there is magic in life, that our experiences count for everything.

What is fascinating about this book is how Berger tells the story of the modern Don Juan (Don Giovanni) from the perspective of the seduced. Instead of telling the heroic tail of the 'conquests,' Berger focuses on the reception of seduction. Rather, seduction is a two-way street. "He" is the seducer--but so are his partners. They all come with interesting stories.

The 'protagonist' is uninteresting; he's not even all that attractive. Yet, Berger isn't all that interested in why G. would be attractive for so many women. Here there are no heroes and no victims. In sex there is the encounter of two: 'who' they are isn't reducible to status and power; rather, it is the activity of anticipation, the clamouring, the lust, the mutual surrender, and the tenderness of fleeting moments.

Such moments are told against the backdrop of an astute historical understanding of the role of the sexes. Berger obliterates our preconceptions of sex-roles, our unconscious historical memories, by focusing on the mutual nature of passion.

If one is searching for a biography of John Ford, this is not the book. (A suggestion--Scott Eyman's "Print the Legend" Another, with a slightly different emphasis but still with insightful observations--"John Wayne's America" by Garry Wills.) But as an analysis of specific Ford films as well as the themes he used throughout his career, this book is invaluable. Gallagher's style is a bit too academic at times, but he offers some interesting observations (His examination of the structure of "The Searchers" is particularly memorable).

This is a good book, even though not what I was looking for. The title says "The man and his films", but this book is mainly about the films. That means, if you are looking for the definitive Ford bio, this book isn't it.

That said, this book does has its advantages. It explores Ford's movies in depth, revealing new facts and a lot of insight. It also has a lot o photos.

If you want research on his movies, this is the book for you. If you want a biography, I suggest you read "Hollywood's Old Master" by Davis.

I don't think customer Lee Kane is quite right when he says that Tag Gallagher's labour-of-love book is mainly about the films. Gallagher's writing is spare and lean but he gives at least as much biography as the purely biographical books.

This book has an interesting story and is in fact well written. It is important for the purchaser to understand that it is written about early commercial fishing and not about the fish as one might expect, particularly if one is a fan of traditional hook and line pursuit of the striper.

I would recommend this book without hesitation to anyone who likes fishing, likes the water, or enjoys a well written book on experiences with nature. Right now this book is still glowing in my mind, and it has been days since I put it down.

John Cole is a master - this book in which he indicates his experience as a youth with the Long Island haul seining community with friend Peter Matthiessen is a masterpiece of memory, selection, and prose that borders on poetry on teh second or third reading. Matthiessen's treatment of the same experience in Mens Lives is much more objective and almost cultural anthropology, a virtute in its own right but without the spirit of the man John Cole must be. If you love the ocean, fishing, striped bass or the like, buy it and you will not regret it.