I took a few years off from diagnostic radiology, but decided to return to work after 9-11. The state of Florida required I take the SPEX exam. I got 51 on their sample questions, about what I would expect from a non radiologist trying to read xrays. Some review seemed in order, so I studied this book and took a course. Most things I read nowadays are either quite technical, written in a defensive pose so that most of what they say is not what I want to read, or "popular," written so as to fill an entire book with a single idea. It was most refreshing to read something written simply to get the information across as quickly and as accurately as possible. My English teachers would call that "Good Writing." The pearls were helpful. It was a good read and a help in getting back into the harness. I passed with a score of 81.

Very impressive and very helpful. This is what I have been looking for. Much easier to use than the 5-Minute Consult and much more succinct. The "med-esse" is a bit confusing at times but after a while it becomes 2nd nature. I find myself writing little notes in the margins and the book has been quite helpful. Like the reviewer before me said, much more than hot ears and sore throats.

If you're looking for a "user" in your practice....this may be it.

Completely a reference books. No pics. No graphs. Each title has references from known pubs like the New England Journal. Spiral bound. Pages rip out a bit too easy but that is because the book is a lot bigger than the title suggests. It is not a lab coat book. It is a full reference text meaning if you find it Washington Manual or the 5-Minute Consult there is probably a reference in this book. Takes just a few minutes or less to review each subject.

Good and useful. Isn't that what we want in medicine?

Don't be fooled by the title. This is a comprehensive resource book of considerable scholarship, with up-to-date references and state-of-the-art notes on therapy. For its depth, references, and pearls, it is far better a resource than the Barnes Manual for internists, family practitioners, and academicians who find themselves confronted with sick patients.

I bought this to see what Daniel Pearl was all about after his tragic death. I'm so glad I did. It makes me wish I'd known him. Kudos to the people who chose and organized the articles - it's a wonderful tribute.

Wait - those of you who haven't read this yet, please don't get the wrong idea! - just because I'm being sentimental about it doesn't mean that the book requires you to be. The articles in here are so worth reading by anyone, for any reason - please pick it up and see what you learn about the world.

Being an avid reader of the Wall Street Journal for nearly a decade, the tragic loss of Daniel Pearl struck me hard even though I couldn't ever recall associating his name with a specific article. "At Home in the World" is an excellent collection of writings exemplifying the in-depth--yet sometimes quirky--reporting like that often found in the middle column of the Journal's front page. They're my favorite articles: almost always interesting; so well-written. Since I actually remembered some of the stories, perhaps I've been a fan of Mr. Pearl's all along.

I like the way this book is organized: six parts, each one highlighting a literary style or theme infused with interesting facets of Mr. Pearl's life and personality (Editor Helene Cooper provides some insightful anecdotes at the beginning). For example, Part Four ("Finding the Potholes ...") reveals his propensity for delving deep into the fabric of a society to get an unexpected story; Part Two ("I Hope Gabriel Likes My Music") plays off of his love for music ... all music. The writings in each part are presented pretty much (occasional exceptions) in reverse chronological order, so that his work from WSJ stints in Atlanta, Washington, D.C., London, and India are kept together. The fifty articles range in length from two to eleven pages, lending themselves well to intermittent reading when time is tight. I don't imagine every article will be of interest to all readers, so there's the option of covering everything or just picking out what you consider interesting (I chose the former). The book got better as I went along, with Part Six ("Nice Lede!") being the most entertaining. The Appendix articles from the North Adams Transcript are hilarious.

This book should appeal especially to Journal fans and those who love reading (learning) about diverse subjects from many worlds. I would also recommend this for anyone who wants to explore truly human topics that aren't offered on a daily basis by the news media.

The title of this selection of articles by the late Daniel Pearl has been taken from a theater essay by the playwright Arthur Miller entitled "The Family in Modern Drama." Miller describes the role of a family's breadwinner, whom he envisions as a traditional paterfamilias, as making the world just as familiar and comfortable a home as his immediate family environment. Dan Pearl succeeded notably in that enterprise, writing with professional detachment, objectivity, elegance, humor, and a tincture of scholarship about the ironies of the human condition in far-flung, exotic places - India, where cows may be sacred but leather goods are manufactured; Iran, whose youths may publicly spout anti-American slogans but scheme to obtain in, say, Turkey, a U.S. visa "to study, perchance to stay" - an allusion to Hamlet's "to sleep, perchance to dream"; even Kosovo, where "genocide" turned out to be "small acts of intimate barbarity." Throughout his educative articles, which he honed until he heard the sentences "sing," Dan Pearl exhibits the total lack of malice, the calm and perceptive gaze, and the disinclination to histrionics for which his father justly praises him in a prefatory eulogy. The articles fit perfectly what the book's jacket calls the Journal's "iconic middle column," and together they constitute a lasting tribute to their late author.

A BOOK REVIEW By Charlie J. Black

All of the three decades that I have known Pearl Gray Daniels, she has been involved with the pulse beat of people.

Uniquely, Pearl's growing up in the "Holt Street Church of Christ" lead her to being curious about "Its Role in Establishing Churches of Christ Among African Americans in Central Alabama." Thus, the basis of this book.

This book evolved through Pearl's entire life. A life that commenced with the uniting of her parents, Abraham and Nancy Jones Gray. A family that would include four brothers; one being Fred D. Gray, who, himself, would, at age 12, become a minister of the Church of Christ.

Pearl's book encompasses the paths and the paths of people who, because of the church, were able to survive in time of crisis; most notably, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, of which her 'baby' brother Fred was legal counsel.

In formulating this book, Pearl saw Alabama from a different prospective than a lot of her contemporaries. Before public education was taken for granted for black people, Pearl studied at Stillman College, a Presbyterian institution, and taught in Presbyterian schools in Wilcox County, Alabama.

Education, like church, to Pearl, is a continuing process. She has always been active in alumni organizations of Alabama State University and Stillman College. In Texas, in honor of her mother, Mrs. Nancy Jones Gray Arms, Pearl set up a scholarship at Southwestern Christian College.

Through Pearl's eyes, not only does the Holt Street Church of Christ have an illustrious past, it has a very promising future.

Charlie J. Black, Educator and Contemporary Writer. Author of: AFTER THE FACT: 20/20 HINDSIGHT.

The Washington Provider Syndicate

October 12, 1998

What I liked best about the book were its real-life pictures with facts in the captions. I enjoyed most of the book. My great-grandfather was at Pearl Harbor. I am glad to know now what happened and what went on day by day. It was easy to read in some parts, too. The writing, however, failed to hold my attention after reading only a few pages. Also, the book was about a couple of battles, not just Pearl Harbor. Still, I would recommend this book, especially to someone who wanted to know about our nation's wartime past.

A Fantastic Read

This book is terrific. I really liked the fact that it put the attack in the context of the Second World War. It gives you a good understanding of the conflicts in Europe and the Pacific and helps you to see why the attack was so pivotal. I've never been all that interested in books about war, but this one proved to be engaging and very moving. Susan Wels has done an outstanding job presenting the people and the politics behind this much-discussed event.

With the recent interest in Pearl Harbor bringing books out of the woodwork, I spent alot of time searching for a comprehensive summary of that "infamous" day. This coffee table book has it all. Stunning photography and wonderful writing. From the start, the forward by Senator Inouye brought tears to my eyes. I've gone over it cover to cover several times and its a treasure!! If you have interest in this important part of our country's history...buy this book!

This very slender book is based on the premise "what if an American battleship had escaped from Pearl Harbor during the attack and given chase to the Japanese fleet?" The writing is actually very good, and the naval dialogue is well-done. There are a number of typos, and a small line drawing of a scantily-clad woman appears a couple of times for some inexplicable reason. There are the obligatory sex scenes which are not explicit and which are well-written, but not very well staged, if that makes any sense. It's as if a sixteen year old, hormones raging, decided what would happen, and a novelist were commissioned to draft the text. The naval action is well-designed to camouflage some factual problems in the story, i.e. how does a 15-20 knots battleship succeed in catching a 30 knot carrier task force, or engaging it, but the books ends far too abruptly. In my opinion, what the book really needed was a far broader plot that (1) paid far more attention to the loss at Pearl as a motivating factor for revenge, and (2) ended the book with the battleship's return. The carnage at Pearl - even what the ship's crew could have seen as they exited the harbor before the second wave - should have been gone into a little more, and served as a white-hot motivating factor for getting revenge on the carriers. As written, the chase is a pretty cool, bloodless affair, and I really missed a good ending wrapping it up.

Looking for a good book to read this summer while you're lounging around the pool? Look no further if you're a fan of naval sagas. (This was my first.) At just over 200 small pages of large print, "On a Blood-Stained Sea" is an enjoyable read for a lazy afternoon, especially if you're tight with Evelyn Wood.

Mr. Houston has crafted his novella around an intriguing premise: What might happen if an American battleship had escaped the Japanese onslaught at Pearl harbor and then chased the Japanese fleet as they sailed home? Like the dog that chases a car down the street, the logical next question is what do the Americans do if they catch the Japanese fleet? For the answer you'll have to read the exciting, action-packed climax.

By the way, did I mention the gratuitous sex? Although the four female castaways presented an interesting dilemma to the crew, Mr. Houston could have played it more PG-13 than R. Speaking of which, all the ingredients are there for a better-than-average made-for-TV movie. But, don't wait for the movie - read the novel now.

There seems to be some confusion on how a twenty-knot U.S. Battleship could catch a thirty-knot Japanese Fleet after the attack on Pearl Harbor. I became interested in this scenario after reading "The Pearl Harbor Papers: Inside the Japanese Plans," by Donald M. Goldstein & Katherine V. Dillon where I found evidence of the Japanese withdrawal to Kure Naval Base after the attack.

The Imperial Japanese Navy steamed north at twenty-six knots, to avoid the (remote) possibility of air attack, up to approximately forty degrees North latitude. Once in the clear they turned east and slowed to fourteen knots their ordinary cruising speed (to conserve fuel), sometimes slowing to nine knots due to heavy weather. Six oil-tankers accompanied the Japanese fleet and refueling, especially for their escorting destroyers, was an on-going concern. The fleet typically slowed to twelve knots for this maneuver which took most of the day, the Japanese didn't have alongside refueling as the U.S. fleet did, but the tanker dragged the oil-hose astern for the destroyers to pick up. So, the Japanese didn't steam home at thirty knots, it was more likely fourteen knots.

Their route home must also be considered, they did not steam straight for Japan, but went up and around Midway Island, again to avoid the possibility of air attack. So, while the Japanese took a circuitous route home at fourteen knots a U.S. battleship could, upon exiting Pearl Harbor after the attack, steam directly for a point some seven hundred miles north of Midway Island at twenty knots (this class of battleship had a cruising radius of 6,800 miles at that speed) and indeed make an interception, especially as it carried four scout planes.

Was this scenario likely? No, but it was possible. So, too, was the dawn attack that caught the Japanese completely by surprise, which was not at all improbable given that a confident victor was halfway home unmolested. It is entirely possible that they would drop their guard at that point.

The final question, once the battle commenced why wouldn't a thirty-knot Japanese fleet simply come up to speed and disappear over the horizon out running their twenty-knot opponent? Well, it takes time to work an aircraft carrier up to flank speed and if a battleship was within range it would only take a few minutes and a few sixteen-inch salvos to set it alight (this happened during the battle of Midway when Japanese carriers were dive bombed). Also, the Japanese night formation used in this attack was their actual steaming formation described in "The Pearl Harbor Papers." So, if you're interested, read the book.

Daniel L. Houston