The first novel in John Norman's Counter-Earth Series, "Tarnsman of Gor," owed a debt to "A Princess of Mars," the first John Carter novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Both of the second novels in these series begin the same way, with the hero finally able to return to the distant planet where they can begin to search for the great love of their life. But after the beginning of "Outlaw of Gor" Norman abandons the parallels to Burroughs and starts to build on the elements introduced in the first novel to create his own unique world.

"Outlaw of Gor" offers a radical reintroduction to the world of Gor. Tarl Cabot is returned to the Counter-Earth seven long years after he left, only to discover that his City-State of Ko-ro-ba has been ordered destroyed by the mysterious Priest-Kings. Just as no two stones of the city are allowed to stand together neither can two citizens of the city. An Initiate, one of those who serves the Priest-Kings, orders Cabot to submit to their will, but he refuses, and heads off across Gor for the Sardar Mountains, the legendary home of the Priest-Kings. Along the way he walks into Tharna, a town ruled by women. The head woman is called the Tatrix and the ruling class of women wear silver masks. The society is sterile and unproductive and although they try to break Cabot to their will, they are not going to have any more success than the Priest-Kings.

For me "Outlaw of Gor" is the weakest of the early Counter-Earth novels, mainly because Cabot's adventures in Tharna are a detour on his war to the Sardar Mountains. My best advice is to have the third novel, "The Priest-Kings of Gor" on hand so that as soon as you finish this one you can start the next book, especially since this is one of the rare times in the Gor series that the next novel pretty much picks up right where the previous one leaves off. For me these second and third novels are essentially one giant story.

However, from the perspective of the Gorean philosophy (i.e., way of life) developed by Norman (the pseudonym of philosophy professor John Lange), "Outlaw of Gor" is clearly the most important of the early novels. The novel was written in 1967, a time when the feminist movement was beginning to take shape, and it is easy to read "Outlaw of Gor" as something of a response to the times that were a-changin'. A city run by women is seen as being unnatural, and Norman begins to expand on some of the key elements of the Gorean philosophy: the concept of honor and the importance of the Home Stone, the dangers of technology versus respect for the environment, and the independence of men and the "truth" of female slavery. At this point in the series Norman is clearly courting controversy.

Of course, for many potential readers of this series, this is a make-or-break proposition. I preferred the adventure aspects of the Gor novels and abandoned the series in the early 1980s when I found myself flipping through the long discussions on "slavery" that were becoming omni-present in the books. I was also dismayed that other characters besides Tarl Cabot were becoming the focus of the book and the giant story arc regarding the Priest-Kings was becoming increasingly prolonged (and often ignored). But in terms of sword and sorcery novels, Norman's first half-dozen Gor novels create a unique barbaric world and his characterization of supporting characters improves with every outing If you start the series, at least make it through "Assassins of Gor," which I consider the apex of the series.

This text is an excellent companion for anybody dealing with transfers of energy and water in the biosphere, particularly at the plant-canopy level. Badly needed since the only comparable textbook is Monteith & Unsworth - a little outdated and more physically based than this one, which is more bio-oriented and includes current remote sensing use. Excellent reference, and well organized course textbook. There are some mistakes but I know of a second edition appearing this year which will correct them.

"Marauders of Gor," the 9th volume in John Norman's Chronicles of Counter-Earth, was the last of the Gor novels that I really enjoyed. One of the Others comes from the north bearing a token of the death of Talena, Cabot's one-time free companion. Cabot heads north, as much out of a sense of vengeance than to continue in the service of the Priest-Kings, from whose cruel control he has been trying to free himself. In many ways the book is quite reminiscent of the most popular novel in the series, "Nomads of Gor," with Tarl Cabot finding comradeship with the barbaric transplanted Norseman of the north. The parallels are clearly the same, with Cabot having to gain acceptance with a group of fierce warriors who do not trust outsiders, helping his new friends with their endeavors, and having them help him with his own in return. The character of Ivar Forkbeard is more boisterous version of Kamchak the Tuchuk, and my favorite sequence in the novel is when Forkbeard comes up with a way of defying his liege lord for an unfortunately slight. The book also offers a pitched battle between the Kurii, as the Others call themselves, and the warriors of Torvaldsland. Of course, it would not be a Gor novel without a couple of choice examples of women being taught by a strong master than only by accepting total dominance can they achieve true happiness, but at least in "Marauders of Gor" the focus is still more on the conflict between the Priest-Kings and the Others rather than on the Gorean philosophy, which pretty much dominates the rest of the series. The idea of transplanted Norseman also finds Norman borrowing another Edgar Rice Burroughs tradition of "lost" civilizations, as we shall see with in future novels with transplanted Native American tribes and the like. After the relative disappointment of the previous two Gor novels, "Marauders" almost gets the series back on track for those of us who enjoyed the adventure and political intrigue more than the sexual conquests, but Norman quickly abandons not only that focus but Tarl Cabot as a central character in the novels that followed this 1975 effort.

"Modeling for Learning Organizations" builds off of the extensive experience of top professors and consultants using the SD tools to test strategies and build an understanding of firm and industry dynamics.

"Modeling" also includes a section overviewing the various simulation software packages available to modelers. Though developers like High-Performance Systems, Vensim, Pugh-Roberts, and PowerSim have made product enhancements to date, the sections from each company provide a great introduction to what is out there how each package can be applied.

The most valuable aspect of the book is probably in the case studies and methodological explorations of several authors. A number of key insights are offered as authors reflect upon the successes and shortcoming of the methods each chose to use to explore and develop models in a variety of business and public environments.

This is definitely a must have for any SD library.

I have this book as a text for a political science class I'm taking at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Though a bit pricey at $40, I truly find this a solid read. It should be appropriate for all levels of reader, though it seems to be geared towards those with at least basic knowledge of the American political system.

If you like the John Norman "Gor" books, then you will appreciate Savages of Gor and the story climaxing Blood Brothers of Gor. In this particular tale our hero goes to the land of the Red Savages. A section of Gor totally closed to whitemen, with the exception of a handful of traders. Experience the redman's heritage first hand, and you will come to understand what the term, "noble indian" really means. As usual John Norman does an excellent job with the detail and the characters. If you enjoy his writing style then this is a couple of books you'll definetly not want to hurry through. thanks

I bought this book at a recent Promise Keepers rally, and it's a great introduction to racial reconciliation. It gives a solid overview of the black experience in evangelical and Pentecostal denominations, and helps whites and blacks understand the barriers that need to be transcended for vital, biracial congregations.

I was a little disappointed, however, that the book focuses too much on Pentecostal denominations. In fact, all the ministers interviewed for this book were from churches like the AOG and COGIC. Very little attention is paid to Roman Catholicism, which itself has a very checkered history in regard to race relations in America, and the abolitionist activities of most mainstream Baptists are mentioned once before the once-aberrant views of the SBC on race relations become the focus of discussion as far as Baptists are concerned. (Except for the aberration of the SBC, the Baptists have an almost unparalleled history of excellent race relations, and credit should be given where credit is due. I personally think that the SBC should have disbanded and re-constituted itself as a new organization to erase the pro-slavery stain that the SBC inflicted on the Baptist name.) I was a little turned off by the excessive focus on churches like the AOG, COG, and COGIC, since I don't feel these groups are very representative of the mainstream of American evangelicalism and Christianity in general. But despite the somewhat unrepresentative sample of denominations, the suggestions in the book are easily applicable to any denominational church, and it's well worth reading.

If all you want is an easy, straight forward "how do I?" book, then this is about the best around. It's basic, but clear and SHORT (no wading through page after page to find the answer).

I abandoned the Gor series around volume 20, mainly because Tarl Cabot was often being replaced as the main character in the novels, although I was never a fan of the Gorean philosophy, which is essentially that women can only enjoy true freedom by totally submitting to the strong will of a male master. John Norman's series has certainly achieved much notoriety because of this philosophy and I have had a few encounters with true believers on the internet who try to live out the Gorean lifestyle as much as possible. However, I came to the series as a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs' novels about John Carter of Mars, and clearly "A Princess of Mars" is the template for "Tarnsman of Gor." Both novels tell of someone who is transported to a more primitive planet where fights are resolved with swords and our hero falls for a beautiful woman whose station rises high above his own. Yet Norman's novel clearly creates its own world, which is what attracted it to me in the first place.

Gor is also known as Counter-Earth because it is on the far side of the sun always blocked from view. Gor is slightly smaller than Earth, which works in Tarl Cabot's favor when he accedes to a cryptic message from the father he has not seen for decades and enters a space ship in the woods of New England, bringing with him a handful of earth. After all, Cabot is a college professor (like John Lange, the professor of philosophy who wrote these novels under the John Norman name), and has not been living the life of a warrior. But on Gor he is trained to be a Tarnsman, a rider of the great war birds. His mission is to capture the Home Stone of Ar, the great city-state that is the "Rome" of the Gorean world. The effort is an attempt to end the power of Marlenus, who had been given the power of "Ubar" (essentially the war chief) to handle an emergency, but who refused to give up power afterwards and is building an empire.

This 1966 novel is relative short, a little over 200 pages long, and ultimately it functions more aa a prologue to the rest of the series rather than an introduction. In the first half of the book the reader, like Tarl Cabot, is introduced to many key concepts that are developed in the future novels, from the practice of slavery and the joys of paga to caste-bound Gorean society and the technological restrictions imposed on the people of Gor by the mysterious Priest-Kings. When you go back and reread "Tarnsman of Gor," after you have gotten deeper into the series (i.e., "Slave Girl of Gor"), you will recognize the embryonic form of the Gorean philosophy as well: the concept of honor, the independence of men, the respect for the environment, the dangers of technology, and the great "truth" of female slavery." However, at first glance, the sword and sorcery elements are what hook the reader into this opening novel. The parallels between Marlenus of Ar and Julius Caesar of Rome are obvious, but Gor is a much more barbaric world than that of the Roman Empire and one of the fun aspects of reading these books is recognizing the bits and pieces of different warrior cultures Norman has brought to his creation.

"Tarnsman of Gor" ends in the same manner as "A Princess of Mars," which means the series effectively offers a second beginning in the next novel, "Outlaw of Gor," which is the first novel in what I think of as the Priest-Kings trilogy. I think that the fifth novel, "Assassins of Gor," is the high point of the series, after which it starts transforming itself into something significantly different. But those first five novels are certainly worth reading for those who like the Burroughs school of grand adventure and Norman improves greatly as a writer, creating memorable supporting characters and unique actions scenes.

When John Norman began his Chronicles of Counter-Earth with "Tarnsman of Gor," it was clearly modeled on Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter series and "A Princess of Mars" (I am talking only in terms of the bare essence of the plot and not the cultural details). Norman then went his own way, with Tarl Cabot's quest to learn the secret of the Priest-Kings and the development of what is now called the Gorean philosophy. But by the time we get to "Tribesman of Gor" the similarity to Burroughs has resurfaced, only this time with regards to the Tarzan novels. By the time Burroughs was into double figures with his series he had the Lord of the Jungle discovering lost civilizations of Crusaders and whatnot, secreted away in the interior of Africa. Now we see that Tarl Cabot, having traveled north to have an adventure with the descendants of transplanted Vikings in "Marauders of Gor," turns this time to the desert of Gor to deal with the descendants of transplanted Bedouins in "Tribesman of Gor."

The Priest-Kings have received a message from the Others to surrender Gor (with the fate of Earth in the balance as well). Tarl Cabot leaves Port Kar to travel to the great desert of the Tahari, where he encounters fierce warrior tribes, slavers, salt mines, and such. There he will encounter as well as woman warlord, whom he will bend to his will, and a bandit chief, whom he will befriend. The only problem is that Tarl Cabot has already been there and done that before, several times, with regards to both of those achievements. Furthermore, we have seen both done better. At its best "Tribesman of Gor" is an attempt to duplicate the success of Norman's most popular Gor novel (from a storytelling standpoint anyway) "Nomads of Gor." When I look back over the second ten books in the series it seems evident now that Norman was losing interest in the series, no doubt plagued by the fact that a new Gor novel had to come out every year when he switched publishers ("The New 1976 Gor Novel!").