I have NOT seen this book, but I saw the PBS special it is based on and that was 5 stars. I am in fact desperately looking for the video of it. Breshnahan is able to fuse his art, a sense of environmentalism, and a back to basics attitude to produce works of clay that are magnificent in of themselves, but the process behind making them is even more so. A great American artist.

This is an extraordinary book. Richard Bresnahan's life, and his pottery, reflect ancient traditions of Japanese pottery and Midwestern pragmatism. His arrival at St John's University where he establishes not only a new pottery but an inspiring lifestyle. This is the story of craftsmanship, spirituality, self-sufficiency and an environmentally alive way of life. The photos of the pottery are exquisite. The explanation of where the pottery fits into the tradition is informative. The story of the man - Bresnahan - and his passion for pottery is inspiring. You will learn about pottery in this book. More importantly you will be exposed to a way of living, a lifestyle of craft and an approach to the environment that is truly spiritual. I have been reading the sumptuous hard bound... but there is also a ... paperback version. This book would be an excellent gift book for any friend who is a potter or passionately involved with another craft. Bresnahan's life and work will inspire you to get out of the fast lane and find a more integrated way of living. You will return to this book over and over again. I have - and each time I learn something new, or some new insight breaks through the busy routines of family and work. The text is clear and to the point. The artfully done photos are a delight in themselves, with detailed captioning that describes the pottery piece, how it was fired and how it might fit into the ceramics tradition. A special thanks to the Afton Historical Society Press for putting out such a wonderful book.

"Encounter With Silence" is a most impressive, if not original, outline of the Quaker tradition which dates back to the middle seventeenth century.

The book, written by Quaker John Punshon and controversial theologian Matthew Fox (who gives a useful introduction from his experience of Quakers), aims to outline the distinctive practices involved in Quakerism and does so most effectively because Punshon is able to write so well from the experience of his own life. He shows how silence aims to produce recollection in those who encounter it and the existence of historical precendents for the Quakers before the seventeeth century. Punshon understands effectively how the first Friends saw convincement (being reborn as a Quaker).

Punshon then focuses on unprogrammed Quaker worship and the manner in which it occurs through believers coming together in silence to pray. He is very effective in focusing on the enviroment created by the simplicity of worship so evident in Quakerism, and he does a useful job of understanding the way in which Quakerism has evolved into the present.

The next part of the book looks at the Quaker testimony and the way in which Punshon was attracted to Quakerism and the meaning of this "Testimony" which is expressed, Punshon feels, through one's life rather than though the Testimony's words.

The remainder of the book aims to deal with the way in which Quaker ethics can be expressed in everyday life. Punshon shows very well who a Quaker meeting can be used to avoid distractions from everyday life, but he spends a lot of the book explaining how one still has to "know how to feel". The book then turns to the meaning of ministry and the rhythm of the unprogrammed meeting.

Punshon does an effective job at remembering what he has learnt throughout the book, especially with repect to the various pieces of Quaker ministry. He does a very good job about explaining how ministry comes to people, and how harmony comes to a religious community.

The next piece focuses on the way in which Quaker principles are applied outside of worship, with examples relating to decision making and being faithful ("if you are faithful in little you will be faithful in much"), and how Friends do not seek to avoid conflict in their opinions. The last few chapters of the book are focused on how Quaker principles are applied in daily life.

Whilst none of Punshon's these are original, they are still a very good read.

An excellent apologetic for the Quaker approach to faith. Although Punshon is not well known, he is an outstanding and eloquent writer -- one of the best writers on religious issues I've encountered since Thomas Merton. He makes a strong case for an approach to faith that is grounded both in contemplation and prophetic action; two areas that are often seen as mutually exclusive.

The book is succinct and to the point and will enhance your understanding of Christianity even if Quakerism is not your interest. Punshon takes a common sense approach to much of much of Christian doctrine and even manages to make sense of the sometimes mystifying (to the nonChristian) belief in the divinity of Christ. Especially recommended to agnostics or struggling Christians although it should be noted that Punshon is equally critical of the liberal and conservative wings of the Quaker movement. END

If you've read one John O'Hara short story, you've read them all. All characters are obsessed with their status in life, and if a man and a woman are alone together, you just have to wait until one will try to get the other in the sack. If you had a 95 year old grandmother in a scene with an 18 year old male high school student, you could almost expect that one would make a pass at the other. THE DOCTOR'S SON is the best O'Hara short story I've read. It is excellent. Read that one, enjoy it. But you need read no more, since everything in that story is in every other O'Hara story.

If John O'Hara isn't one of our greatest American writers, who is? O'Hara, along with writers like John Cheever and Irwin Shaw, chronicle the American suburban experience during the middle part of the twentieth century and we should not miss out on their observations. But what do you see when you go to Barnes & Noble or Borders? Racks and racks of ridiculous drivel hoisted on us by greedy publishers and other fast-buck artists. Mindless entertainment rules while O'Hara, Cheever, Shaw and their like are pushed off the book shelves and out of circulation. The tone and empathy of these Masters will forever provide an insight into our American experience that you won't get from the trash that we now seem to be preoccupied with. OK, OK, OK. I read some of this current trash, too, but I haven't forgotten the great American Triumvirate.... O'Hara, Cheever and Shaw!

I bought this book for a class while in school and now I use it frequently at work as a resource. This book gives an easy to understand descriptions of somewhat complicated material. There are lots of examples to use and reference and I can usually find the answer to any question I might have. I highly recommend this book for any new electrical designer or engineer in the building systems design industry.

I had to buy this book for Dr. Matthews class. Having that experience behind me I would recommend it to anyone who is either studying the field or a practicing professional looking for a good desk reference. It does an excellent job of covering the basics of system design and protection, harmonic/power quality consideration along with lighting system design and layout. A must have!

This is one book that combined it well! "Professional ADO.NET with VB.NET" is the text to grab, if you are a .NET programmer who wants to learn more about .NET data access technology.
The book has a consistent practical approach to issues. It is full of grounded information, which would ensure that programmers execute their tasks with unflinching confidence.
This book has a result-oriented outlook. Its authoritative analyses of cross-platform programming issues are flawless. All the important classes, (DataSets, DataAdapters, e.t.c.), which constitute ADO.NET received generous attention. However, all these expanded ADO.NET tutorials came at the expense of VB.NET, whose underlying parameters received little attention. Still, this is a valuable book to have.

This book is typical Wrox: it offers a comprehensive coverage of the subject in a very easy to follow fashion. It starts with several chapters covering the core ADO.NET classes - DataReaders, DataAdapters, DataSets. As the ADO.NET DataSet is a class with very rich features, this book discusses each facet of it - from the ADO Recordset-like generic disconnected in-memory data presentation with constraints, relationships to strongly typed DataSet, and finally to the built-in support of XML. The later chapters then introduces advanced features such as web services, SQL Server XML support, Performance, Security, etc.

A minor inconsistency is that some examples in the book use Console Application interface, while most others use Windows Application, perhaps reflecting the fact of this being a multi-author book. But as far as learning ADO.NET is concerned, this is really not a issue.

Oh, if you already owns its predecessor - Professional ADO.NET, which is written with C#, you might want to keep it and skip this one because it's mostly the same contents in different language (VB.NET). But if you haven't got either, it's definitely worth a very close look at this title.

US Army Aviator Veteran Lowden has assembled an amazing collection of first person accounts of WWII glider operations from those, including himself, who lived them. Well written, almost spell-binding tales of unbelieveable heroism under fire and extremely deadly conditions. The book fills in many of the gaps of reporting in other major WWII literature.

I began doing research into glider pilots and ran across John's book. John's book follows you from his entry into the program, his training, combat, and home from the war. It is a great perspective on the glider pilot. John's book will only make you want to know more, more about the glider pilots, and more about the USAAF glider program. Glider pilots were as close to volunteer suicide as it comes, just they didn't realize it. If you don't know about glider pilots, READ THIS! See if you get hooked like I did and learned all I could about the glider program and all the men who were part of it.

This is one super book I love the diffrent storys and I realy like "The Sick Wizard"story.This book is excellent for younger children (4-9).In this book it says the contry of origin (eg"The Boy Magician Hopi)It is good to practice the story and tell others.

This book contains nine folk and fairy tales from nine different cultures. The stories are printed in a medium size type and with simple, yet bright and inviting fantasy pictures, it is an open invitation to children to expand their reading skills while being pleasantly entertained. These stories are sufficiently obscure to seem brand new to young readers and so provide a wonderful sense of discovery as well as a fun journey through the realm of make-believe. The tales come from the British Isles, Europe and Russia, the Mediterranean and also two from the treasure-house of North American Indian lore. John and Caitlin Matthews are brilliant scholars of folk history and of magical lore and their choices of these nine stories provide a beautiful opportunity to experience lesser known folk tales that are filled with magic and wisdom. Having been fortunate enough to visit the ancient stone circle in England called the Rollright Stones, my personal favorite story in this collection is "The Witch of Rollright" that tells how the ring of stones came to be standing where it is now located. The illustrations for this story include fairies dancing at the feet of the beautiful witch who kept the land safe from a would-be conquerer. The text contains tidbits of folklore concerning the offering of milk to the fey and the significance of the elder tree in pagan lore. All the stories have similar indigenous imagery. This is not your average fairy tale book but instead the Matthews have faithfully delivered gems of wisdom and whimsy from the simple people who lived with and understood these concepts as part of their daily lives. I heartily recommend this book.

An extremely informative & detailed read! Stevens iterates a tragic event in Marine Corps history with a direct, thought provoking style. As the current Commanding Officer of the Recruit Training Regiment at Parris Island, I am encouraging my officers & drill instructors to read this book in order to better understand how close we, the Marine Corps, as an organization, came to being disestablished because of the actions of just one man. Another book of interest on the same subject matter is Keith Fleming's, "The U.S. Marine Corps in Crisis: Ribbon Creek & Recruit Training." Another important book in helping to understand how the recruit training process has evolved.

I want to begin my comments by saying this is an excellent balanced book and that Stevens deserves a lot of credit. I would further recommend it to any Marine or others interested in Marine Corps history.

I will also state it is my opinion that S.Sgt. Matthew McKeon was a good man who made a tragic mistake. The factors leading up to the events of the evening of April 8, 1956 are manifold and can only be fully understood by reading Stevens' book.

My personal perspective comes from having served in the USMCR and the USMC from October 1956 until August 1962 when I was Honorably discharged as a Corporal E-4. I went to Parris Island in early February of 1957 and my recruit training virtually overlaps the events of a year earlier, putting me at the rifle range at about the same time of year.

Like all of us who went though boot training, I too pulled butts at the range. The discipline and control there was far different than back at main side so on several days I took the opportunity to spend my entire lunch break walking all over the Ribbon Creek area. I wanted to understand this incident.

Definitions from Webster...

Marine: Of or relating to the sea.

Amphibious: Able to live on both land and in water.

Swim: To propel oneself in water...To float on a liquid...

DI Motto: Let's be damn sure that no man's ghost will ever say "If your training program had only done its job."

And from Chesty Puller we learn the mission of Marine Corps training! "...success in battle..."

When I got to Parris Island, I was shocked to see recruits who could not swim had joined a service called the Marine Corps. I also thought it strange the USMC would accept anyone who could not swim, but I guess the Navy does too. How much W.W.II footage have you seen with Marines wading ashore under heavy fire when the Peter and Mike boats could not make it to the beach? Or, in jungles up to their chests and necks in water at Guadalcanal and then all over the south Pacific and Vietnam as well.

HELLO! This is the mission!

In training "...the nonswimmers had been taught how to float, tread water, and dog paddle. All recruits in the platoon had received ten hours of swimming instruction before April 8."

Platoon 71 got themselves into trouble by not following McKeon and by "joking, kidding, and slapping others with twigs while yelling "Snake" or "Shark! Suddenly there was a cry for help and panic broke out..."

I had looked closely at Ribbon Creek while at the rifle range and my "vivid" reaction then was someone would need to be retarded or radically incompetent to drown in that area! Several in platoon 71 fit this description.

"About three-fourths of the platoon was squared away. But the remainder were foul balls." "For example, eight of the men in Platoon 71 were either illiterate or had General Classification Test scores - approximately equivalent to an IQ test - below 70."

McKeon's colorful assessment that 25 percent of the platoon were "foul balls", may not have been far off the mark based on the testimony of several members of the platoon at the trial and in later interviews"

"The quality of some of the men under McKeon's tutelage may also be measured by their behavior after completing boot camp. At the time of the court-martial, two men were AWOL from Parris Island, one was AWOL from Camp Lejeune, one had deserted, one was in the brig, and one was awaiting punishment by his commanding officer." Remember these men did not complete their recruit training under McKeon, so other DI's also had a chance to make these guys good Marines.

SDI Staff Sergeant Huff had basically washed his hands of the young men under him...Stevens states "McKeon was failing, and he knew it." I think it was SDI Huff who was failing.

As far as the charges of being drunk the testimony is flawed and inconclusive. "Not until the court-martial nearly four months later would Dr. Atcheson admit that there was no clinical evidence of intoxication."

His own recruits "...testified that there was no evidence that Mckeon was drunk or impaired by drinking". Of all the recruits in the platoon who had made statements "...not one...had anything negative or critical to say about Sergeant McKeon".

McKeon was victim of being a nice guy by helping Scarborough with his bottle, allowing him to leave it in the barracks, driving Scarborough to the NCO club and accepting congratulattory drinks he never finished. Granted, McKeon used bad judgement but he was certainly not a bad guy.

S.Sgt. McKeon was the first person in the water and he was the last one out. He was leading, not just ordering recruits into an unknown situation. It is empirically obvious that if they had just followed him, as instructed, they all would have gotten back safely. Basic for military training!

Bottom line, McKeon was a new junior DI carrying virtually the whole burden of squaring away this platoon. When I got there a year later there was a "Motivation Platoon". I don't know if this approach existed in 1956 but what I saw of the "Motivation Platoon" regimen would have straightened out these "foul balls".

Although busted to Private, McKeon was allowed to stay in the Marine Corps. He attempted to rebuild his career, capitalizing on his W.W.II carrier experience. He worked with an all-weather fighter squadron and supplemented his private's pay by working nights in the kitchen of the EM club. Remember he had a wife and kids!

Earlier that year he had earned his squadrons "Marine of the Month" award.

"With one exception, all of the men interviewed forty years later spoke as highly of their former drill instructor as they had at the trial."

Enough said!

I am so glad to have found this book. I am the illegitimate daughter of Charles Reilly whom I knew nothing about since he died one month before I was born. This book not only took me through the trial but also gave me incite to the person he was. Through the years I have only had a home town newspaper article of the incident and was never recognized by his family.
I am sure McKeon did not march the whole platoon into the marsh with the intent that some would surely die and do feel that he has been justly punished for his bad judgement on that fateful night. I could almost feel like I was at the trial by the way Stevens writes. As a former wife of a Marine who spent four years living the "life", I, too, would like to see this depicted on film. I would also like to locate some of the surviving members of Platoon 71 who might have more information of any kind about my father.

If you are looking for a Cliff notes summary of Dante's Inferno, the Dante Club may be a good choice. Though called "A Novel" it reads more like a play with a small ensemble of ready made characters and with all the action centered at the Craigie house. The Nicholas Rey character seemed out of place and while it may have helped set create the atmosphere in Boston during that time, he doesn't contribute anything critical to the story. Like Rey, the rest of the cast fit the formula for mass-market mystery novels. The story lacks its own Virgil. It needed a Beatrice or Francesca to create tension. Figuring out who was behind the murders is obvious from the time of this character's introduction. In summary, it's an okay book for a quick read but wait until it comes out in paperback or they make the movie.

"The Dante Club" is a meticulously researched historical novel. It is based on the true dante club, a group of scholars in Boston in the mid 1860's who met to translate Dante amidst much resistance from the academic and religious communities. These individuals-who included Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Longfellow, James Russell Lowell-come alive in these pages. Pearl has done a magnificent job in blending a number of facts about these individuals-for example, Longfellow's mourning over the death of his wife Fanny, his correspondence with a young woman he had met on a summer sojourn-into this book. You will learn a lot about these individuals.
However, you will also learn a lot about Dante, about Boston and Cambridge and its rigid social structure, about the politics of Harvard University at this time. And it's all fascinating.
The plot concerns the efforts of this group to track down a killer who has modeled his murders on Dante's Inferno. These murders are gruesome and grotesque. The "Club" realizes that they, and perhaps only they through their intimate knowledge of Dante, possess the power to solve them. And so they do with the help of the first African American policeman in Boston.

My problem with this book lay in the pacing and the awkwardness of the dialogue at points. Now I realize that he was trying to achieve a 19th century voice in this book; however, at times, it seemed as if he was trying to cram his research into the mouths of his characters. His narrative voice-as has been noted by other reviewers-also was uneven. I sometimes winced at the awkwardness of phrases even though all were well written.

I would recommend this book to lovers of Dante, of the Italian culture, of Boston history, of mid 19th century Harvard. I also would recommend this book to individuals who appreciate historical fiction-this book is a tougher read than The Alienist-but you should be able to appreciate his research.

I look forward to Pearl's future work and to his maturation as a writer.

I've noticed that most of these reviews are rather critical, but I say give Mr. Pearl a break. It's his first novel! Sure, sometimes it does have that feel about it, lacking the smoothness of a classic, but The Dante Club makes for fascinating reading. However it is a book for a certain type of reader...the ordinary mystery reader looking for page-turning thrills is likely to lose interest. I, though, usually prefer classics, historical fiction, and, yes, anything and everything associated with Italy and Italians, historical or otherwise. So Pearl's book was a treat. It is very intellectual, literary, clever. I think the idea behind the story was brilliant, and I love the combination of literary history and fictional plot. I recommend the book to those looking for intelligence in their thrillers, fans of Dante or Italian literature and history, readers of historical fiction, or 19th century American poetry or literature(specifically Longfellow or Holmes) and those looking for a different sort of mystery. Contrary to how it may sound,I think you'll find it neither boring nor dry,and like me, enjoy several hours of fascinating diversion.
Thanks Matthew, and I'm looking forward to your next novel!

If you're expecting the football equivalent of Total Baseball, you'll be disappointed. The text articles are superficial and unimpressive. For example, while Total Baseball has articles on Japanese baseball, Total Football does not discuss Canadian football. Total Baseball discusses the history of black baseball players, but Total Football does not do the same for black football players.

But perhaps I am being harsh in comparing Total Football to something as canonical as Total Baseball. Total Football has been an invaluable reference. It has statistics on every NFL, AFL and AAFC player (no comprehensive playoff stats, though); team statistics dating to 1920; and scores and attendence (where available) for every game played. The book even lists players' high schools, although unfortunately it does not have an index of high schools. For stats junkies like me, the book is a lot of fun.

Don't expect to find a football book you can use exclusively from the rest. This is a good supplement to books like "The Pro Football Encyclopedia" (by Maher/Gill). If you're into statistics this is one of the best to have. Whereas "Pro Football Encyclopedia" has players longest gains, which this book doesn't, this book gives you kickoff and punt return stats for all players, the encyclopedia doesn't. This book is mainly about the NFL. I bought it for the statistics. It's also a good book to use if you want to find out more about a specific player (statistically speaking). Chapters like "The 25 Most Memorable Regular Season Games" and "The 300 Greatest Players" etc.. are not what I got this book for. I would prefer a book that leaves out author's opinions. I've seen games I'll never forget that I knew wouldn't make the list and also players. Although these chapters are somewhat interesting along with others I could live without half this book easily but like I said, it's a good season by season individual stat book that has information other books don't. It mainly depends on what you're buying this book for. There are statistics here excluded from other books but there are stats left out that ARE in other books, like blocked punts for instance, which may not seem to matter to most, but it all depends on what you're buying it for. It has stats other books don't, that's what I bought it for.

Being an avid Football fan, Total Football is a dream come true. It gives me fast reference to players and their statistics, positions, high schools, and even hometowns. However, there is one glitch that keeps popping up. After referencing through the book many times, i finally realized that a player must have played in a game in order to have been given credit for being involved in football that year. Therefore, a player could have been not played in a game, or sat out the season on injured reserve, and the book does not give him credit for playing at all. If a player was on a team's roster, but missed the year because of an injury, that should be noted. With the way Total Football is, I wouldn't know if a player was injured for the year, on the roster but didn't see action, or just sat out the year. To me, that's a big deal.