Is you like movie stoofs then youl like this book it just cant get any funnyer than this. You join sam (A 6 foot talkin dog that wears a suit and a phadora) and max (A 3 foot rabit with huge teeth) as they go through the most twisted adventures such as defeating the beast that lives behind some cerial boxes in the cerial isle or as the eat sizzling weasals on a stic. overal this is one of the best books you can buy. Youll laf (I have know idea how to spell laf) at nany crazzy ceans like when max starts shooting out of the window and says to sam " look its a crime in progress take that and that oohh i think i got a couple of them" then sam says "there making a movei u goof thats not a crime" then after shooting at them max says "Oh dont they know shows like that promote violent behavior. Just buy but dont take my word for it find out for your self

This book is the first one I have ever ordered from overseas and it was worth every penny of postage. Unlike the episodes shown on the Fox Kid's Network, the comics in this collection are a tad more edgy. They're still suitable for kids but there's so many winks to popular films that everyone will be tempted to pick it up and have a read. One of the many great things about Surfin' the Highway is that even when you think you've finished it's worth picking the book back up because, like Airplane! and the Naked Gun films there are so many little background jokes that you won't ever want to stop reading. I for one am hoping that Mr. Purcell will write some more Sam & Max books so that we need never reach the end of the Freelance Police's wonderful adventures. And any book which has the words "Think about how far the universe extends! Keep thinking about it until you go insane!" is worth a buy in my book.

I first heard of the book after purchusing the computer game Sam & Max: Hit the Road. I Found this game so fun I hadto find a Sam & Max Web Page, that is where I heard aboutThe Collected Sam & Max: Surfing the Highmay. I imeadiatelystarted looking for a place to buy it. After a short search I was at home reading the best darn book ever writen. I would recomend this book to anybody with a sence of humor oranybody who is a fan of the off-beat game. -Tristan Dah

For her thirteenth birthday in 1835, Lucinda Lawrence's grandmother sends her a diary. Lucinda lives in Gonzales, Texas, when the American settlers were fighting to break free of Mexico, and she writes of many historical events, including the Alamo (where she loses a brother and an uncle), Goliad (where another of her uncles is killed), the Battle of San Jacinto, and the "Runaway Scrape," when the women and children of Texas barely escaped a step ahead of the Mexicans. Lucinda's diary is another wonderful Dear America book and I highly reccomend it.

My book, A Line in the Sand,The Alamo Diary of Lucinda Lawrence by Sherry Garland, is about a family that lives in Gonzales, Texas. The year of 1836. In San Anotonio there was a war that was about to start against the Mexicans. The Mexicans wanted Texas as theirs, other then having Texas as a free country.

Gonzales, Texas took a part in this war by sending their men to help fight against the Mexicans. They also were sending them food, bullets, and other goods that they would need to help them. Lucinda's brother and uncle went and fought against the Mexicans. During the battle against Santa Anna they die in action.

I think this was a great book. I would recommend this book to people who like a page turner and also likes to read books in a form of a journal or diary.

This is a really great book! I have recomended this book over & over & every one has loved it. I was just as upset, sad & as happy as she was @ all the right parts. This book is described really nicely. Read this, you'll like it, trust me!

This is one of the greatest books I've ever read and may well be the best non-fiction book I ever read. The book is actually a collection of reminiscences of old-time baseball players compiled by their interviewer, Lawrence Ritter. The original book was written in 1966 with additional chapters added for the revised 1984 version that I read. What comes across first and foremost in all the recollections is the joy and dedication of the long-retired players. At a time when labor strikes, hold-outs and escalating salaries are standard sports stories, this book takes Baseball nostalgia to a new level. It isn't just about the joy of the game, however. This book brings to light a lot of forgotten Baseball history. I fancied myself a bit of a Baseball historian but there were a number of major events in Baseball's early history that I had never heard of before. I think the most memorable was Fred Merkle's "bonehead" play that cost the Giants the pennant in 1907. That was a situation where he forgot to touch second base and thereby cost the Giants the winning run. It is told (and referred to often) with better embelishment than I just gave it but, then, that's the point of my praise; the whole book is a poetic look backwards at the game we sometimes take for granted these days. It's no accident that the best parts of the book are the earliest recollections. You can almost see the corrupting effects of popularity creep up on the game in the 1920's. The stories that these veterans tell and the details that they give make you feel like you've been there yourself. If you're a Baseball fan, you'll love this book. If you're not a Baseball fan, reading this book might just make you one.

Words alone cannot describe what I have read. Smoky Joe Wood, Rube Marquard, Wahoo Sam Crawford, and many others. We are talking legends of a game gone by. True hero's when a baseball world needed hero's. Many thanks to Lawrence Ritter for capturing moments in time with these baseball legends. I'm sure that they all had a million stories to tell, but I'll settle for just the few that are represented in this book. In today's baseball world of outright sheer greed and selfishness, it was so refreshing to hear stories about baseball's yesterday when times were simpler and the game was just a game. How I miss those days. How I miss those players. Thank you to them for allowing a little boy to dream the dream. Thank you for a memorable look at a simpler time, Lawrence.

Words alone cannot describe what I have read. Smoky Joe Wood, Rube Marquard, Wahoo Sam Crawford, and many others. We are talking legends of a game gone by. True hero's when a baseball world needed hero's. Many thanks to Lawrence Ritter for capturing moments in time with these baseball legends. I'm sure that they all had a million stories to tell, but I'll settle for just the few that are represented in this book. In today's baseball world of outright sheer greed and selfishness, it was so refreshing to hear stories about baseball's yesterday when times were simpler and the game was just a game. How I miss those days. How I miss those players. Thank you for a memorable look at a simpler time, Lawrence.

I am using this book as a study tool for my Gross Anatomy course. Anyone who has taken an anatomy class can tell you that color-coding structures is one of the most helpful ways to remember them. There are drawings of bones, muscles, joints, organ systems and explanations of virtually everything that could possibly be covered in an anatomy class. The drawings are excellent and most of the features of the bones are labelled as well. This was very helpful to me since I had to memorize virtually every tubercle, ridge, groove, or other protuberance on every bone of the body. When I had trouble with the skull because the drawings in my class notes were horrible, the drawings in this book were much clearer and helped out a lot. If you are taking an anatomy class, this is a smart and relatively inexpensive investment that will help you remember everything better.

Just when you thought they couldn't improve on the original, they keep making it better. The third edition contains all the strengths of the first two editions with dynamite new additions that will help all students of anatomy. Go down to your local hobby shop and buy the biggest set of felt tip pens you can find. After the book is colored, it should be kept as a quick reference book. You color the labels to match the illustrations, so it's easy to look back and spot the name of the muscle, bone, organ, etc. Make sure to read the section on HOW TO USE THIS BOOK before you begin coloring.

As the owner of a massage therapy school, we use this book and Salvo's Massage Therapy: Principles and Practice as our two main texts. It is incredible for those who are visual learners. We highly recommend it.

This is a workbook I'd reccomend for any student of Anatomy. I make a point to get a new copy every three to four years and color through it just to review and stay fresh. I am studying massage Therapy now, and first used this book six years ago when I was thinking about going into massage therapy or physical therapy since I knew I would need this(if you're wondering why the long length of time, just getting money together for school).

The knowlegde of the muscles, thier attachemnts, origins, and actions have stayed fresh in my mind for years so that going through A&P was much easier for me than for my classmates. While the bones and muscles were my main interest, I aquired a good working knowledge of the rest of the body from this book along with my textbooks.

This book is great for anyone even thinking of a medical profession, or artists needing a better understanding of how the body is put together. I have known a few people this book didn't help, but this was because they were not visual learners, but this is great for anyone who learns visually.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to help their ADHD child. In July 2001, our pediatrician suggested putting our 6 year old son on stimulants. Unable to bear with that decision, I researched endlessly for another solution before stumbling upon Dr. Weather's website. With nothing to lose, as we had tried everything, we decided to give our situation one last shot, before thinking of succumbing to medication.

Prior to treatment, we read Dr. Weather's book; it was completely intriguing, offering a whole new perspective on not only ADHD thinking, but also on the mechanisms of human thinking and why we act the way we do. What an eye opener it was to us! We found his thoughts refreshing; no other information had ever made so much sense and was so interesting and easy to read. We learned that our son's 'condition' was not a neurological problem, but that it was entirely a learned response to a family dynamics problem. This book gave us a glimmer of hope that we thought was impossible.

As it turned out, we went to Spokane and met Dr. Weathers. He was caring, genuine, witty, amazingly perceptive and intelligent. He often took words out of our heads even before we knew how to speak them. He is as brilliant as you would imagine the author of this book to be.

Our son is now a model child in his class...far from his former days of disrespecting his peers (hitting, kicking, pushing, yelling, spitting), refusing to cooperate with authority and activities... just 6 months ago. He now has high self-esteem. Children want to play with him at school and at home. His new teacher remarks what a compassionate boy he is, always helping others with schoolwork or when someone gets hurt on the playground, etc. He is in an accelerated reading program with one other child in his class, and is demonstrating exemplary behavior in and out of the classroom. We could have never imagined it. He is a much healthier, happier child.

The book also taps in to other areas that Dr. Weathers addresses: asthma, allergies, stomach/intestinal problems, depression...many conditions that are affected by our emotins. My son's 6 year long asthma condition is near non-existent. We noticed his rapid improvement when we emotionally responded to it differently. Incredible! His pediatrician is speechless.

Dr. Weather's CAER machine, as described in the book, takes so much credit for our success as well. It's amazing! It is based on Francine Shapiro's EMDR(eye movement desensitization-reprocessing). With its help, you are able to 'wash away' strong negative past emotions. Once this has occurred, you then can move forward, changing current dysfuntional behaviors.

I can't speak highly enough of Dr. Weathers, his book and his CAER therapy. I strongly encourage anyone to read this book and visit Dr. Weathers, as I am confident that he can turn your life around as he did ours. We will be forever grateful to him. Thank-you Dr. Weathers!!!!!

ADHD - to medicate or not

My son was diagnosed with ADHD when he was six years old. When he was diagnosed, it was a big shock but I set out to discover what this ADHD was all about. My search led me eventually to this book by Dr Lawrence Weathers, ADHD - A Path to Success, a revolutionary theory and new innovation in drug free therapy. Revolutionary - yes. Drug free! Was it possible? Yes!
If your child has ADHD and you are questioning the conventional treatment to medicate, read this book and explore the reasoning in it. It is an easy read and when I read it, it felt like a light had been switched on in my head. Suddenly, I could see how my son had slipped down the slippery spiral of defeat and failure. Yes, he was on medication for a while and it did help him focus at school, but was it worth it for all the side affects the medication caused? My conscience nagged me about drugging my child and this book gave me hope.
Having taken the plunge and risked travelling from England, half way round the world, I am pleased to say that the treatment does work if you let it. I now have a Grade 5 son in the advanced Maths group and the top Literacy group. He has several good mates, gets invited to their houses and has them to play in ours. Yes, he does still have bad days, (don't we all), but nowadays the good days far outweigh the bad ones.
If you read this book, it could well change your life and that of your child. ...

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to help their ADHD child become happier and more successful, and/or has struggled in frustration watching their child "fail" after trying traditionally modeled therapies. The authors ideas are presented in an easy to understand, readable format. The theories are supported with hands-on, real-life examples in a way that "makes sense". The perspective is different and more encouraging than other visions of what ADHD is, and Dr. Weathers offers solutions that show real, measurable results. I came to this book after watching traditional therapies fail over and over, and wondering what I was doing to my son by filling him full of medication every day and seeing little or no results. The ideas presented by Dr. Weathers gave me new hope for my son and have lead to some breakthroughs in his behavior that suggest a new, more positive chapter in his development and opened the door to a greater sense of self-confidence and well-being for him. Do yourself and your child a favor and make the time to at least read this book, if not participate in the program too.

"I'll try and do anything and be anything you want if only you'll keep me." This is how "Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery begins.
Anne Shirley is a twelve-year-old girl who is brought to Green Gables only to find they were expecting a boy. The Cuthberts however, are one over by this queer, imaginative girl with bright, red hair and decide to allow her to stay.
Green Gables is a lovely, little farm just outside of a small town on Prince Edward Island called Avonlea. It is surrounded by fields and forests, which hold many surprises for adventurous Anne.
Throughout this book Anne's fierce temper and wild imagination often get the better of her, but she usually manages to squeeze out of these scrapes.
Anne's melodramatic nature and fiery temper keeps you interested as you read this marvelous book.
Montgomery's humorous writing style gives life to the characters so that you feel like you are meeting them in person.
I think that this was a wonderful book filled with humor, drama and tears. I would recommend this book to anyone that has ever had a dream and loves a good book.

first of all, let me begin with I LOVE THIS BOOK! I have read this book more times than I can remember...easily more than a dozen...thus, I am going to set my mind to write a glowing review of it.

This book portrays a stunning sketch of Canadian History and Culture in the late 1800s to early 1900s. The character personalities are so real and so amazingly "human" that one cannot help but fall in love with them. You really get a taste of PEI in its glory.

This story is set in Avonlea, Prince Edward Island (Canada), a fictional settlement which is really Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, the place where Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author grew up.

The main character is Anne Shirley...and eleven year old, enigmatic, imaginative, sparkling, highly intelligent orphan who is sent to Green Gables, a farmhouse in Avonlea, under the impression that she was to be adopted by a pair of elderly siblings, Matthew and Marilla Cuthburt. But, apon arrival to Green Gables, Anne discovers that there had been a horrible mistake...the Cuthburts never wanted a girl...they wanted a boy who could do the chores and help Matthew with the farm. Anne was was in the "depths of dispair". Matthew, on the drive home from the train station had taken a great shine to Anne and had his heart set on keeping her, regardless of any mistake. Marilla, however, was not so easily enchanted. She agreed to let Anne stay at Green Gables on trial, to see if she would behave herself and lend a helpful hand to Marilla. After the trial, Anne is welcomed to Green Gables and flourishes under the love of the Cuthburts and all Avonlea folk. Anne, however, has one big problem. Her Hair. It is a hopeless shade of carrotty red and Anne felt that it was the ugliest hair anyone could imagine. She was extremely sensitive about it and she was horribly embarrassed about it. On her first day of school, Anne's hair was made fun of by Gilbert Blythe, the smartest and handsomest boy in school. "Carrots! Carrots!" he said. Anne's temper got the better of her and she was so angry she broke a slate over his head. After that, for many years, she snubbed Gilbert every time he spoke to her and he developed a boyhood crush on her.

Ah, but to keep this review interesting and the book mysterious, I will stop telling you the story and begin reviewing. The characters in the book are so well-defined that it seems to you that you know every character personally, like an old friend or neighbour.

And by all means, don't let the age recommendation fool you either...this book can be read by all ages alike...and I have no doubt that this book will still be my avid favorite at the age of 85.

The book is not boring, contrary to many opinions of those who read the first chapter of small print and historical settings. The discriptions will place you right into the heart of the story and you find you will laugh and cry while reading this story. Every time I read it I cry at a certain part which I'm not sure if I should reveal to you for fear of spoiling the good parts in the story, but it is dreadfully sad. If you read the book, then you will know what part I am talking about. The one saddest part in the whole story.

Although this book has some old ideas and ways of expressing them, you will learn a great deal of Canadian history through them and there's no doubt in my mind that this book will still be popular decades and most likely even centuries to come.

Anne of Green Gables is one of my all-time favorite books. Anne is a person almost everyone can relate to in some way or another. Anne is launched into the "depths of despair" as soon as she finds out the horrible truth that the Mathew and Marilla really sent for a boy from the orphanage. Her fiery temper gets the better of her at some of the worst possible times. Such as when she vows that she will never forgive Gilbert Blythe for calling her carrots, as if smashing a slate over his head is not enough. This is a wonderful book that L. M. Montgomery has really shown her skill as a writer and novelist in. I have read the entire Anne of Green Gables Series and am also, like another reader, saving them all for my daughter some day. If you want a book that you can thoroughly enjoy, this is the one, although I have one warning that you may have a hard time putting it down.

Fibromyalgia nearly cost me my life; it did cost me the career I loved. I sought treatment from internists, my long-time chiropractor, an osteopath, a rheumatologist, a physical therapist and an accupuncturist. So many medicines have been prescribe by various doctors that I could not begin to remember them all. It was not until I began Dr. St. Amand's guaifenesin protocol that my various (and numerous) symptoms began to reverse. Dr. St. Amand has dedicated his life and career to solving the problem of this mysterious disease, which affects millions in the US alone--yes, millions. He is a brilliant and dedicated doctor, with a high level of scientific knowledge. He is also capable of the kind of imaginative leaps that take research years beyond where others have been able to go. My life would have been a downhill slide into more pain, more fatigue, more loss of mental function, more incapacity, and inevitable depression were it not for Dr. St. Amand's protocol. Buy and study this book if you have any suspicion at all that you, or someone you love, might have Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or Myofascial Pain Syndrome!

I have suffered from fibromyalgia most of my life but in 1998 the pain and fatigue became so unbearable I just didn't want to live anymore. I had been to numerous doctors, rheumatologists and psychiatrists but none of the medications they gave me helped so I decided to take my own life (at age 32). While I was in the hospital I thought to myself there must be a better way to handle FMS and I wasn't going to let this disease get the best of me any longer, so I searched and searched until I found Dr. St. Amand via a co-worker. I started Guaifenesin on Jan 25, 1999, ten months later I am almost pain free, I can get out of bed in the morning and go to work, run with my dogs, play with niece, and most important I have the will to live again. I urge everyone with fibromyalgia to try Guaifenesin, you must get this book--the entire protocol and all the information you need is in it. Dr. St. Amand and Nurse Claudia gave me my life back and I love them from the bottom of my heart for helping me and so many other fibromyalgia sufferers live a better life.

This book is a must have for people suffering from FMS. It is the only book on the market today that offers a step by step treatment for reversing Fibromyalgia. It also offers information about the disease itself and the cluster of symptoms that come along with it such as: fatigue, IBS, skin irritations, vulvodynia, hypoglycemia, ect... This book will help you understand your body and how fibromyalgia affects it. It will also provide solutions for coping and controlling your symptoms until the guaifenesin makes them go away. I can truly say that Dr. St. Amand's protocol has not only changed my life, but it has saved my life. Ten short months ago (Feb. 1999) I was in the hospital fighting for my life from an overdose of pain medications & antidepressants given to me by a rheumatoligst, who claimed that these medications were the only way to deal with fibromyalgia. Today I have been on Dr. St. Amands treatment for 11 months and 8 days. I no longer need or take any pain medication and my family doctor is now weaning me off of prozac. I am happy and have the will to live again. Please do yourself a favor, read this book, and start the protocol. It's not easy but it works!

In the first place, Lawrence Cunningham, whose school it turns out is just a couple blocks from me here in Manhattan, has done a very fine public service in collecting these essays. If you've ever tried to wade through Buffet's annual letters yourself, you know that there are long bits of detailed financial discussions interspersed with the gems of wisdom, aphorisms, and humor that the amateur Buffet-ette is more apt to be seeking. So his collection and coalition, which is well-chosen, well-ordered, and well-edited is a treat for any Buffet fan looking for an accessible volume of the man's work.

Buffet has the strangest of powers in that he comes across as a homespun billionaire. Now that's different from just being homespun, the way Sam Walton was, or just being a billionaire, like Bill Gates. Buffet flaunts his wealth and his professional love of money, all the while expressing essential, eternal truths in simple, earthy phrases. When I saw Buffet speak at business school he tapped on the microphone to test it and said "testing, testing, one-million, two-million, three-million." It is that natural genius for combining wealth, truth and comedy that is most vividly on display in "The Essays of Warren Buffet.".

Of course, these timeless, simple truths are all known - the way we know that "eat less, exercise more" is how to lose weight. And yet, and yet, it takes Buffet to remind us to "think like an owner"; invest only in management that you "like, trust, and admire"; and buy pieces of business (stocks) when it costs less than the intrinsic value.

There are the excellent statements of managerial accountability, business valuation, and capital structure. Helpful warnings on accounting shenanigans, trading costs, and paying heed to Mr. Market. For clarity, brevity, wit, truth, and learning, there is no business writer in the 20th century that compares with Warren Buffet.

Buffet's sayings are irreplaceable (and I am not cherry picking here, but merely highlighting a half-dozen of the hundreds of bon mots in this book):

"On the other hand, working with people who cause your stomach to churn seems much like marrying for money - probably a bad idea under any circumstances, but absolute madness if you are already rich."

"The speed at which a business success is recognized, furthermore, is not that important as long as the company's intrinsic value is increasing at a satisfactory rate. In fact, delayed recognition can be an advantage: It may give us the chance to buy more of a good thing at a bargain price."

"Just as work expands to fill available time, corporate projects or acquisitions will materialize to soak up available funds... any business craving of the leader, however foolish, will be quickly supported by detailed rate-of-return and strategic studies prepared by his troops"

In regard to acquisitions, which usually fail to earn the cost of capital: "The managers at fault periodically report on the lesson they have learned from the latest disappointment. They then usually seek out future lessons."

"One of the ironies of the stock market is the emphasis on activity. Brokers, using terms such as 'marketability' and 'liquidity," sing the praises of companies with high share turnover... but investors should understand that what is good for the croupier is not good for the customer. A hyperactive stock market is the pick pocket of enterprise."

On acquiring bad companies for cheap prices: "In my early days as a manager I, too, dated a few toads. They were cheap dates - I've never been much of a sport - but my results matched those of acquirers who courted higher-price toads. I kissed and they croaked."

Buffet is approaching literature here - the nuance involved, and the delicious counter-pointing of toads, dates, sport are pitch-perfect. The payoff - "I kissed and they croaked" is as fine a line of found poetry as exists.

Buffet, having studied at the feet of the master of investment literature for the first half of the 20th century, has ascended to become the master of investment literature, unqualified. This is a book that will please Buffet-maniacs, investors, finance newbies, and anybody with an interest in the articulated evolution of managerial capitalism that has separated the finance and capital allocation specialties from the operational and day-to-day specializations.

In closing, it's appropriate to quote America's great investing wag quoting America's greatest political wag - the subject is, as always with Buffet, simple maths and simple truths:

"Managers thinking about accounting issues should never forget one of Abraham Lincoln's favorite riddles: 'How many legs does a dog have if you call his tail a leg?' The answer: 'Four, because calling a tail a leg does not make it a leg'."

Enjoy this book.

I read a couple of books about Warren Buffet and a few of BH's annual reports before. Nothing beats the Sage in his own words. This book is a condensation of the Sage's wisdom. Extremely educational. Topics well laid out. Makes me look at certain issues from the unconventional perspective - i.e. the Sage's perspective. This book is the bible on investing, corporate finance, corporate governance and accounting. But I don't think business students should read this book or BH's annual reports - lest they doubt their professors too much or that most textbooks have to be rewritten. If however you are no longer in school and you read only one book on investing, this is The Book.

You can learn more from this book about money and business than from pretty much any other source of similar size. The mystery of why Buffett abhors tech stocks seems to be that they don't fit within the pretty tough standards he looks for in investments--products people need that can be sold at prices that generate steady and high profits. I guess from reading this tidy little book of treasures that Buffett is awaiting the inevitable shake out in the internet world before he'll allocate capital to it. It is too soon to tell which are the winning companies and which the losing companies--right now they are all losers. But some will emerge as winners, it's just that right now trying to pick which ones is more like going to Las Vegas than to Wall Street. This book sheds a lot of light not just on the traditional good investments but on these new kinds of investments too. I got the book as a gift and am really grateful to the person who gave it to me--I'm going to get some as gifts for people I like a lot too.

This is actually a presentation on de Tocqueville's life and times, centered on a general analysis of Democracy in America, but including much background on his family's history, his political career and accomplishments and a look at the historical context of France, Europe and the US in the mid 19th Century. The themes of DiA are reviewed with many quotes from the book and from commentaries by de Tocqueville's contemporaries. He is presented in all his glory: his hits (the brilliant insights into social character, the nature of democracy and his devastatingly astute, timeless analysis of our American identity) and his misses (his advocacy of war and his surprisingly traditionalist views of society's class structure). An occasional cheesy French accent in some of the characterizations is the only flaw. This is a _great_ commute tape, I look forward to "reading" more in this series on other great writers!

Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville is by far an in depth view of America as seen by the traveling Frenchman. It is written so well that even today almost one hundred and fifty years later it is still apropos.

The translation flows very easily and is not distracting. De Tocqueville has a wonderful writing style that could pass today even though it was written long ago... so well readable and quotable that you get the picture of American life, morals, and an astute view of politics all rolled into one.

You get a view and meaning of American civilization, for America herself, and also for Europe. You can tell from reading. that this view is ever-present in De Tocqueville's mind as if he is a comparative sociologist. Yet reading this book you get the impression that De Tocqueville had generations of readers in mind.

As De Tocqueville noted, "It is not force alone, but rather good laws, which make a new govenment secure. After the battle comes the lawgiver. The one destroys; the other builds up. Each has its function." So true even for todays war. After you defeat your enemy you have to build up the infratructure just as Marshall and Truman both realized.

Reading this book you see the skillful eye of the author noticing and recording what he sees and he is impressed. I found this book to be of great import for the observations of America and hope that our educators use this book for teaching our children about the great country we live in.

De Tocqueville is every bit as brilliant and insightful as he has been said to be. The book is as relevant now as when written and is a must read for every american who is serious about understanding his country. What one realizes in reading the book is how novel and radical was the american experiment in creating a state that was both a republic and a democracy. De Toqueville's research was amazing, as well, he read the laws and constitutions of the various states, he didn't just observe the manifestation of american government and society. His assessments of the plusses and minuses of our government forms was incredibly astute and it is interesting to reflect on the changes that took place in the government after his time and how accurately he foresaw the advantages and disadvantages of those changes, as well. Given the short period of time that he spent in this country and the distances that he travelled one stands in awe of his work. His writing style is, of course, dated but one gets accustomed to it and learns to follow the rhythm.

Reporters have been known, now and then, to play fast and loose with the facts to entertain their readers or elevate themselves. This phenomenon is not limited to our own age. For proof, look no further than Lowell Thomas' fanciful volume, With Lawrence in Arabia. In 1917, Thomas was a 25-year-old part-time instructor at Princeton, a "fledgling showman from Ohio who had knocked about North America in search of fame, fortune and adventure," according to historian David Fromkin (A Peace to End All Peace). Thomas then raised enough money to travel to Britain and the Middle East front as a World War I cameraman. With his coverage began the Lawrence of Arabia myth.

Eight copies of Seven Pillars of Wisdom were published by Oxford in 1922 (six still exist). The first limited edition was followed in 1926 with the private publication of 211 copies of the book. In 1935 another limited run was published. But the same year, Seven Pillars was reprinted at least four more times. Now, there have probably been dozens, if not hundreds of printings.

This work assured T. E. Lawrence a place in history as 'Lawrence of Arabia'. It is a military history, colorful epic and lyrical exploration of Lawrence's mind.

Nevertheless, it is largely fiction. Fromkin writes that when poet and scholar Robert Graves proposed to describe the liberation of Damascus in a biography of Lawrence, the subject himself warned Graves, "I was on thin ice when I wrote the Damascus chapter...."

A onetime junior officer in the Cairo Arab Bureau, Lawrence admitted that Seven Pillars of Wisdom included a false tale of Arab bravery to aggrandize the followers of Sharif Hussein of Mecca and his son Feisal. Indeed, as early as 1818, reputable newsmen reported that the Australian Light Horse division liberated Damascus from Ottoman control, not Feisal's Arab troops, who marched in afterwards, for show.

By 1921, Fromkin writes, Winston Churchill was in charge of Britain's Arab policy in Mesopotamia and tapped John Evelyn Shuckburgh to head a new Middle East department and Foreign Office man Hubert Winthrop Young to assist him. They arranged transport and supplies for Feisal's Arab army, earning hearty endorsement from Churchill's Masterson Smith committee, which simultaneously took grave exception to T.E. Lawrence as a proposed Arab affairs adviser. The committee considered Lawrence "not the kind of man fit to easily fit into any official machine."

Fromkin reports that Lawrence was frequently insubordinate, went over his superiors and in 1920 publicly disparaged Britain's Arab policy in the London Sunday Times as being "worse than the Turkish system." He also accused Britain of killing "a yearly average of 100 Arabs to maintain peace." This was of course untrue.

Efraim and Inari Karsh write, in Empires of the Sand, that Lawrence's Damascus victory was "less heroic" than he pretended. Feisal was "engaged in an unabashed exercise in duplicity and none knew this better than Lawrence, who whole heartedly endorsed this illicit adventure and kept most of its contours hidden from his own superiors." Yet Lawrence basked in the limelight Thomas created in London, attending at least five of the showman journalist's lectures.

As an unfortunate result of Lawrence's subterfuge, he had a large hand in shaping the modern Middle East.

Bad enough, we suffer to this day the consequences of Lawrence's fabrications.

Worse, a new generation of readers seems to accept as gospel the Lawrence of Arabia myth that stemmed from Lowell Thomas' hype and Lawrence's own Seven Pillars of Wisdom. While few seem to know it, this was long ago debunked. Those who want to know what really happened should at minimum also consult Fromkin's A Peace to End All Peace and the Karsh's Empires of the Sand. Alyssa A. Lappen

Those who enjoyed David Lean's magnificent "Lawrence of Arabia" and picked this book up wanting to gain a deeper insight into T E Lawrence will be sorely disappointed if they expected to see the film reflected clearly in the book. True, the main incidents in the film are there in the book, albeit in a totally different context: you begin to realise how freely Robert Bolt (and presumably Lean himself) adapted Lawrence's account to make the film hang together more dramatically.

Many of the previous reviewers have commented that the book is a rewarding if demanding read, that it doesn't really "get going" until about 100 pages in, and that the constant shifts of scene and entrances and exits of characters are sometimes difficult to follow. All that is true - a friend of mine advised that Lawrence is easier to read about than to read. But I felt that choppy nature of the narrative was inevitable when one considers the type of warfare Lawrence describes: hit-and-run guerilla action undertaken by (often mutually antagonistic) Bedouin tribes. Just as Lawrence's raiding parties would emerge at unexpected places out of the desert, so the reader must be prepared for the text to jump from location to location, event to event, and must I suppose be prepared for much of the text (particularly the first 100 pages) to be devoted to how Lawrence managed to muster support both from the Arabs and from the British.

Parts of the book will remain with me for a long time - for example - Lawrence's descriptions of how he dug his camel out of the snow, the descriptions of the Bedouins' eating habits, the non-romantic description of life in the desert (defecating camels, infestations of lice and so on). However, what does come over is Lawrence as a tortured soul: he both loves and despises the Bedouin; professes that he knew from the start that the British (and therefore he himself) were merely using the Arabs against the Turks and would not honour their promises at the end of the War; is both proud (particularly of Allenby) and ashamed of the British; and is both spiritually and physically attracted to the Bedouin men, yet embarrassed by this.

It helps to have even a superficial knowledge of the Middle East campaigns in World War One: I felt that the danger of not having that overview is that one would tend to think that Lawrence's campaign was the pivotal factor in those campaigns rather than a contributory one (Allenby's campaigns are referred to only obliquely by Lawrence, even though in the later stages of the book he does emphasise the supportive role he was playing). Fair enough, as Lawrence was not writing a general history of the campaigns, but I feel (as my friend advised) that reading about Lawrence now that I have read him would be interesting.

Movies are often more dazzling than the events they are based upon, but this is a rare instance in which even Hollywood and David Lean could not do justice to their larger than life subject matter. Although Lawrence seemed to think he was writing a history of WWI in the middle east, his account of the war is episodic and confusing. But that doesn't matter at all. This is one of the most astounding adventure stories ever told, all the more amazing because it's true. Or, if you're not an adventure enthusiast, read it as a travelogue of the middle east. Lawrence will fascinate you with such seemingly prosaic things as the texture of the Arabian sand. In many ways, this is one of the greatest books ever written. Lawrence was, however, a product of his times. His attitude toward the Arab people vascillates between admiration and patronization, and some readers might find this aspect of the book distasteful.