Maria Cooper Janis's memoir is a truly loving tribute to her famous father, the actor Gary Cooper. Filled with photos and wonderful stories of growing up with a celebrity father during Hollywood's so-called Golden Age, Ms. Janis's picture of her father is an interesting antidote to more recent biographies of Gary Cooper. These bios accent Mr. Cooper's lifelong womanizing, before and during his marriage. This book adds a welcome balance to this picture. Cooper was clearly a more complex man than recent bios would indicate. And he was just as clearly a loving, deeply caring father. A very real family man! Thanks, Ms. Janis, for this beautiful book.

This warm and loving tribute from Maria Cooper Janis to her father, screen legend Gary Cooper, is a delicious book. Filled with fabulous photographs of "Coop" off camera, out of the public eye, Maria Janis reveals the man behind the legend. For all Cooper's well-documented affairs with women throughout his life, this book reveals that he was nonetheless a devoted and caring family man. Some of the photos of Cooper, wife Rocky and daughter Maria are quite moving. As is the written memoir from Maria herself. It is indeed refreshing to see a daughter extolling her celebrity parent rather thna trashing.

Maria Cooper Janis has put together a wonderful photographic memoir of her father, the celebrated actor Gary Cooper. Some of these photographs are extraordinary. The life this man led and the people whom he knew! They're all here, from fellow actors like Jimmy Stewart to writer Ernest Hemingway to Picasso to Queen Elizabeth to a very youthful John F. Kennedy, while still in the Navy. I'll treasure this, not simply for the photos. Ms. Janis has also written a series of essays to accompany the various chapters, essays which are finally nothing less then a wonderful extended love letter to her father. A beautiful book.

This is a compelling book. To understand that a life can be lived fully and with great gusto- even with a serious physical handicap.
The underpinning of life is explored as Dr Linde surveys his life including early childhood experiences and the people that surrounded him with love, care and great strength of will and character.

As a child, Dr Linde, recalls, " On a conscious, gut level, I lived with chronic discontent at my continuing misfortune. I stuffed torrents of anger and pain into my subconscious, where they were hidden from me, but unpleasantly obvious to many who offered me acceptance and friendship." Yet as one reads on, we discover that his life is full of great adventure and relationships, that he overcame many many added stresses and he continues into his 7th decade, to live a full and productive life.

Linde encounters university life, love, marriage and children, career upheavals, hobbies and grandchildren with great enthusiasm and self-motivation. We get to 'see' the view from his wheel chair.

I was moved by Dr. Linde's expression of angst and frustration with societal systems that neither supported him (or others with disabilities) nor were eager to change their way of doing things to accommodate. Imagine in year 2000 still not having wheelchair accessible bathrooms in national chain restaurants.!

I liked this book because of its sheer bravery.

This book is for everyone that would like to open their hearts and minds to understanding the needs both physical and psychological of persons with physical disabilities.

I highly recommend this book by Dr. Linde. It gives the reader a very clear understanding of what it is like to live with cerebral palsy. But more than that, this book is applicable to readers in all situations who have personal misfortune to deal with. The courage, humor, and personal strength shown by the author are an inspiration to all readers, regardless of whether they are dealing with personal infirmities. This book is a must read for special education majors, and could be helpful in occupational therapy training as well. Also a good personal interest book for the general population.

I would have to take issue with Dr. Linde's son who says his dad "is an average person, he just works harder at it". He is an extraordinary person who daily faces monumental challenges to live an ordinary life. He demonstrates an iron will and incredible determination in the face of overwhelming obstacles and maintains a beautiful sense of humor throughout.

Dr. Linde possesses a brilliant mind, trapped in a seriously disabled body. He has indeed "worked vigorously to establish a discernible, productive social presence" his entire life, often against great odds. I feel such anger when I read about the lack of accessibility which is afforded him in his own community.

This book answers lots of questions about coping with a serious handicap and is an inspirational journal of Dr. Linde's life. Praises to his parents and his brother, Dick, who taught him from the beginning that no hurdle was too high and no obstacle to large for him to overcome.

This book possesses humor, culture, education, inspiration - appealing to a broad variety of readers. I highly recommend it!

I have found Sports Medicine Advisor extremely helpful in my practice as an NP. My peers consult it regularly. It really helps patients understand their injuries and it gives them an important role in their own recovery. They can take some control over their rehabilitation, have a better understanding of what happened to them, and how to prevent recurrence of their injuries.

As an NP educator, I have recommended the book to my students for the past four years in two of my courses. It is on my bibliography and I endorse it wholeheartedly. It is a unique, easily understood text for both the beginner and the more expert.

Students are eager for information around orthopedic and sports injuries and this text provides them with a practical, common sense approach to evaluation and management of orthopedic injuries. Students don't always buy books that are recommended, but they have embraced this book as essential to their learning and a valuable resource for their clinical practice. They also see that their preceptors in clinical practice use the book very frequently.

The Sports Medicine Patient Advisor is excellent. I have referred to the book, unfortunately more than I would like, because of my sports related injuries such as sprain ankles, lower back problems, strains and others. Also, my kids have also benefited from the information. I especially like to the way it's written, easy to understand without a lot of text. Also, the illustrations are fantastic; they augment the text well and make it easy to follow the rehabilitation exercises. The Sports Medicine Advisor represents the best in its category, a great example for other similar books. I would like to thank the author, Dr. Rouzier, for helping me through physician challenges of an active lifestyle. I would recommend the book highly!

Richard Thompson

Our Family Practice Residents and Faculty use this resource daily in practice when confronted with the myriad of sports- and activity-related injuries. Informs the doctor as well as the patient on causes and rehabilitation of these injuries with well-designed illustrations formatted for photocopying. My Physical Therapist loves it as well. Dr. Rouzier's love of Sport's Medicine comes through in this carefully crafted work. It is the best sports medicine resource for patient education out there.

Probably the hardest actor in Hollywood to write a FILMS OF book about would be John Carradine. This book does a remarkable job of covering every movie, with quotes from over 100 of Carradine's friends and associates. Gregory W. Mank's intro is the icing on the cake. I especially enjoyed the introductions by Fred Olan Rey and Joe Dante. Obviously a labor of love.

All the other big names of horror-movie-actors have been covered: Karloff, Lugosi, Chaney, Lee, Cushing, Price ... Here is finaly the first book about John Carradine and all his films (and not only the B-Movie-Horrorfilms !)It was time !

German: Endlich ein Buch über den grossen John Carradine. All seine Horrorfilm-Schauspielkollegen sind ausreichend gewürdigt worden, von Lugosi, Chaney und Karloff über Price, Lee und Cushing. Nun endlich gibt es ein Werk mit vollständiger Filmograhie (und nicht nur die Horror-B-Filme) über diesen Altmeister. Wie alles aus dem McFarland-Verlag teuer aber in jeder Beziehung in Topqualität !

This is an indispensible book from two very gifted writers (I highly recommend Mank's Hollywood Hissables and Karloff and Lugosi: A Haunting Partnership) and an enterprising publishing house. Carradine was one of the greats, a versatile character actor and a tremendous villain. He also possessed one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard. This book will help you seek out great films you have missed, as well as entertaining you with stories about a very colorful man. It clears up some mysteries (I always wondered why Carradine underplays too much in his one classy horror film House of Frankenstein), offers tantalizing surprises (what became of that Carradine audio Bible?), and is simply lots of fun. We are left to wonder why one of the greats was so underused in his later years. Thanks are due to Fred Olen Ray for treating old veterans with respect in his films. I'm so glad Christopher Lee hasn't met the fate of all the other old horror stars. Nearly 80 and doing Lord of the Rings! Will Amazon carry his Jinnah movie soon?

I am an avid reader of mystery novels from the time I was a little girl - being the only girl in my group of friends to read mystery. I loved Lew Archer stories but was not really knowledgeable about the author. When I came across the book in the library, I checked it out and thoroughly enjoyed the book. His life was so wonderful yet pitifully sad. I thought Tom Nolan did a great job doing his research and his talent for writing made the book one that I could not put down until I had completely finished it. I can identify with some of the things McDonald's daughter went through. Her life hit a nerve and I believe Tom Nolan did an excellent job describing that part. I am an aspiring writer myself and I was amazed at the time and effort Tom put into this book. Hats off to him and I will be looking to read other books by him. The photograph of the author is very familiar to me. I feel that I may have known him. Strange.

As a personal friend of Ken Millar (Ross MacDonald) during the sixties and seventies, as well as a regular attendant at the writers' luncheon he encouraged and supported in Santa Barbara during those years, I was especially interested in reading Tom Nolan's "Ross MacDonald: A Biography." I was curious to see whether the writer could possibly capture the personality of Ken, a man whose combination of brilliance and internal conflicts made him so enigmatic that most people, even after knowing him for years, could scarcely undestand him at all. I was pleased and amazed to discover, after reading the book, that Tom Nolan had come closer to explaining him than anyone I'm aware of--and by "anyone" I mean to include not just those who have written about him, but also those other friends of his, who, like me, found him so fascinating and incomprehensible. And this from an author who never even met the man! While it is true that Tom Nolan, as a biographer, had to present sides of Millar's pesonality and events from his life that Millar, understandably, had been interested in keeping secret while he was alive, Ken indicated to me many times that he knew anything that had happened to him would, of necessity, have to be eventually included in any biography that was ever done, and I don't feel he would have had an objection to the balanced and considerate way that material was presented by Tom Nolan in "Ross MacDonald: A Biography." I certainly had no objection. The forthright, kind and dispassionate way Nolan treated this material reminds me of those same qualities I often observed in Ken Millar. Had they met, he and Tom Nolan would have become great friends.

This exhaustively researched book is not so much a biography of Ken Millar (real name of "Ross Macdonald") so much as a history of Millar's career as a writer, and as such it is extremely valuable to anyone who dreams of being an author.

Millar examplifies the classic situation of the genre author who achieves "overnight" fame after publishing 18 previous critically aclaimed books. This book makes it clear just how much work and how much frustration is involved in the life of the genre novelist, as well as portraying how complex it can be to deal with success when it finally comes.

What is particularly interesting in this story too, is the fact that Millar's wife, Margaret, was a successful mystery writer long before he was. The way that these two authors, with their quirky, authorial personalities, supported each other through their life's journeys and tragedies is particularly poignant, though Nolan, unfortunately, takes a very negative attitude--unjustified by much of the data he himself presents--towards Margaret's personality and achievements.

Today's novelists often look back with envy at those who wrote in the "Golden Age" of the pulps, before TV had ended the brief Age of Literacy of the first half of this century. Reading this book will dispell much of that envy. The tiny numbers of books sold in that "golden age" (3,500 being a typical hard cover sale of Ross Macdonald's first 16 books) and the pathetic sums paid him for paperback rights to books that had gotten enthusiastic NYTimes reviews show us that if anything today's genre writers are doing better(in adjusted dollars), not worse than those of Millar's day.

I found this book while searching on Amazon.com for gift ideas. I have not read the book but it seems to be just what I need to finish a gift for my father. My parents grew up during the Great Depression and as a result saved everything. Last year I cleaned out the attic of the family home and sorted through bags and boxes of what we now refer to as disposable items such as bags of pencil stubs (did they really think they would use them again...especially if they are stuffed in the attic?). However, being the child of "savers" has paid off. I am preparing an "album of memories" of the original letters that my father, Roger Griffith, a WWII Navy veteran, sent to his parents during the war. I plan to buy Mr. Brokaw's "An Album of Memories" as a companion to the my album. Mr. Brokaw has again made gift giving easier for the older and greater generation. Thank you.

Being a baby boomer, I have not truly experienced war, albeit was born during WWII and have never failed to be impressed by its stories of bravery, of sacrifice, of unrelenting determination to pursue the glory that awaits those WWII heroes who have not died in vain, for all of us, and for our country. I have only read the book reviews but I feel that I have read the entire book. I also fully concur with my fellow book reviewers that the WWII veterans are, perhaps, not the most recognized, to this writing, as opposed to those veterans of recent wars. Some of the WWII veterans have long died, as well, such as those from the Bataan Death March, waiting to be recognized in vain. This is what truly hurts the most.

Characteristic of Mr. Brokaw's deservedly multi-awarded journalistic style, he has, and continues to impress on the whole world how vital and necessary it is for us to love history (as does this Filipino-American journalist reviewer with all of my strength, my mind, my will, my heart, and my soul so much so that it runs in my veins).

The book is a must-read for all future journalists. I cannot but add it to my personal library.

This book brings the dangerous and trouble-laden world of the 1930s and 1940s to life in a remarkably vivid and compelling way. Almost every letter comes with a photograph or memorabilia that make you realize that many of the servicemen and women were just kids when they moved into their place in history. They wanted to fall in love, marry, and raise a nice family. But first they had to take on incredible risk on land, on the beaches, at sea, and in the air around the world in places that they had never heard of. If they didn't become injured or killed, they knew that it was just a quirk of fate that they did not. Everyone lost family members, friends, buddies, and heroes. If they worked as a medic, they saw more ravaged bodies than we can imagine. Many still bear the pain of their wounds today. Nightmares continue to haunt the dreams of many others. Yet most have spared their families the full horror of that experience. Through Mr. Brokaw's books, we can better imagine some of what it might have been like.

My Dad was pretty open about many of his experiences in the Eighth Air Force, but every so often a new one slips out. I suspect that even in these stories we are getting a censored version of what the actual experience was like. Dad did share the number of times that Luftwaffe bombs blew up part of his barracks (while he was sleeping there) and obliterated his sleeping area (when he was away on leave). What he remembered most searingly were the horrors of the shot-up crews returning from bombing runs over Europe (especially when they crashed in a ball of flames) and officers committing suicide by jumping off the top deck of his ship on the way home. As a youngster, I was terribly surprised and thrilled when former president Eisenhower came through our hometown and recognized my father in the crowd at the train station, and called Dad by name and rank. We had no inkling that Dad had met the president. Dad's response was simply that he had met a lot of the top brass, but he never told us any of their names.

Our family was lucky. My parents met because of the war, so my life was immeasurably influenced for the better. None of my father or mother's families were killed or physically injured in World War II. One uncle did experience shell shock as a teenager in the Battle of the Bulge, and had to avoid stressful situations for the rest of his life. From this book, I was able to imagine what it was like for families that were not so fortunate.

I was surprised to see that many of the veterans and their families had never been back to the battlegrounds and cemetaries. I asked Dad a number of years ago if he wanted to go back. He said he didn't care if he did or not (a typical Greatest Generation answer), but my Mother did. So my wife and I gave them a trip to England as a present. They had a ball, and saw many of the old sights. My Mother said that it seemed to do him a lot of good to see things back in peaceful circumstances. But there was no way that we could presuade him to go to France or Germany on the trip. He gave no reason. I suspect that the pain of the memories of those he had known who had died om bombing runs over that territory would have been too great for him.

Since then, I have attended a reunion of Dad's old unit, and was pleasantly surprised to see how much the men care for each other. I don't know of another man my father was ever close to after World War II, but here were dozens he knew well and liked. It was a side of him that I had never seen.

This book contains many memories like these. Often written by family members, the introduction then puts letters from the veteran into evidence at the court of history for us to experience.

You will be powerfully moved by the stories of sacrifice (whether from being POWs, lack of supplies, discrimination, or the chilling experience being exposed to grave danger), loss (families losing their only child, wives losing husbands after just becoming pregnant, and veterans losing their buddies), and willingness to serve (great efforts to volunteer when too young or too old, to volunteer for tough duty, and trying to help all and sundry). One of the most powerful for me was the description of the horrors of a concentration camp that was considered well kept by the Nazis in order to make a good impression on the Red Cross. Most moving for me was the sense of forgiveness that many veterans felt towards their former enemies.

If you know someone who served in World War II (whether a family member or not), I hope you will consider giving them this book and saying "thank you." After a few months have passed, ask them if they will tell you their story. If they will share, why not ask them if they would be willing to let you make copies of old letters and memorabilia so that you can send them to Mr. Brokaw? In this way, we can capture more of what happened then, honor these wonderful people, and pass on their legacy to generations yet unborn.

May the best and most important of these memories live forever!

Teach an old dog new tricks? Absolutely, provided the pooch in question is Blue Dog, that colorful canine spawned from the mind of Cajun artist George Rodrigue. (For those no up to their four-legged friends fodder, the cobalt canine with the yellow eyes is based on three of the artist's now-dead dogs, and was first immortalized on slick papers back in 1994.) Who says a sleeping dog must lie? This babe is everywhere: portraits hang in the White House, on the set of "Friends" and in fan Whoopi Goldberg's abode; Blue Dog also stars in an Absolut ad. This volume boasts 60 gorgeous never-before-published paintings, along with commentary by Rodrigue on the birth of Blue Dog and its transformation into a pop culture icon. Tom Brokaw, an avid Blue Dog collector, wrote the book's forward. The cat's meow. Really.

You just can't fully appreciate or understand the scope and delight of Blue Dog until you read this book. I adore Blue Dog. This silly, goofy blue dog provokes emotions in me that I have not experienced with art before...there is some strange, sad, beautiful, eerie, rapturous, haunting, joyful essence to this darn dog. This book is completely unique, fun, inspirational...I could go on and on. You just have to touch this book (the cover is fuzzy!) and open it...you will be hooked. The best coffee table book and a sure conversation starter, though that is hardly its value.

Any book with more of Blue Dog is great. This features more of the pop art world of Blue Dog than the previous books of Rodrigue's work. (I actually like the paintings of Blue Dog in cajun settings best.)

Though Nigel Findley was the one of the last true Shadowrun authors, Tom Dowd recently took the late novelists place. Burning Bright has an edge, a quality, that most of the other(and more recent) Shadowrun novels lack. The characters are excellent, as is the plot. I was always confused about what happened in Chicago in the late months of summer. This novel clarified everything.

I honestly didn't find many errors. The actual plot slowed down a little, but before I could get impatient, everything picked back up again. A must read for the Shadowrun fan. Actually, a must read for the casual reader, as well.

Not infrequently I get into debates/arguments about the utility of novels in game universes (for example, do the Forgotten Realms novels make the Realms a better, or worse, game setting?) In those debates, "Burning Bright" is the example I use of a good use of game-related fiction.

Most game-related novels, whatever their other merits, end up with one grave flaw, which over time weakens the utility of the setting as an RPG universe - they end "happily," with the heros triumphant and villans humbled (Zhentil Keep is nuked, Tethyr unified under benign government, etc, etc). This makes the setting gradually less interesting as a place to adventure in. Most authors seem to lack the stomach for anything other than a happy ending, and most readers seem to agree. Also, most such novels answer more questions than they leave you with (reducing the game world's mystery), solve more problems than they introduce (reducing the "threat level").

In Burning Bright, Tom Dowd was bold enough to take another path. He took the road less travelled by, and that made all the difference. In addition to solid characters and a engaging storyline, this book's ending paved the way for a very dangerous, dark game setting (Bug City). While publically exposing the bugs, it left the problem not only unsolved, but more dangerous - and eventually this storythread led to Yeats, Penchyk, and the Empowerment Coalition.

This was one of the first SR novels I ever read, and if only all game related fiction were this good, RPG gaming might not be a withering hobby. . .

Burning Bright is a great novel. The first Shadowrun novel I was actually fulfilled by in its premise and storytelling. It is such an amazing and incredible book. I only wish I though to comment sooner. Oh well.

In addition to a thorough explaination to the basic golf swing, this book helps the reader believe he can play golf. Jim explains how to enjoy golf more by becoming less mechanical and more in touch with what the golfer feels during the golf swing. Very enjoyable and comfortable reading. All written with the positive mind set golfers respect in the late Harvey Penick. Jim believes that you play golf to relieve tension and that to play golf well you must release tension.

The book is broken down into many small lessons, each of which conveys confidence to the student. Most golfers believe that you need to relax to play your best and Jim gives the reader tactics to accomplish tension release.

A great book to have at your desk during a coffee break.

I own and have read over 20 golf instruction books (I'm a nut for this stuff!). With the exception of Manuel de la Torre's "Understanding the Golf Swing" (for which I wrote the first Amazon review) it is by far the best golf book I have ever read. Flick's instruction, swing drills, humor and motivational messages are all right on. This book is not only instructive, but funny; it is a delight to read, and to put into practice. I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone wishing to improve their game and have more fun in the process. By the way, the "4-step", "left foot, right toe", and "left hand off after impact" drills have improved my golf swing immeasurably. Thanks Jim!

If you are at the beginning of your golfing experience, go to your local library and check out whatever they have on the golf swing and golf mechanics in general. Then, after you have some knowledge of the swing and have started to understand what you want to be doing during the swing, come back to your computer and buy this book. It teaches the basic mechanics also so you will have that foundation, but then Flick stresses a much under-taught lesson. The lesson of feeling your game. You have to be able to feel the rhythm of the swing, the ability to connect with the ball rather than whack or stab it. It is an invaluable lesson to learn and one that you will continually need to refer to.

If you are a more experienced golfer, you may have read a hundred books and still find yourself reverting or being absolutely baffled because you can't wuite figure out what you're doing wrong. Well, you need to feel your swing. This book will help where the rest have left you standing in the bunker.

I have read countless books on golf. This one is short on pretty pictures but large on the magic that we all who call ourselves golfers are after. It's that moment of impact when you know that you felt the club face meet with the ball so cleanly that you barely felt it. If you know the moment I'm talking about and you want to feel it more often, this book is for you.

Point number one: As a Seattlite, Tom Douglas' three fabulous restaurants have always been among my favorites. I'm thrilled to have the recipes for all my favorite dishes - Lobster Potstickers, Tuscan Bread Salad and Cornbread Pudding, just to name a few. And then there is the world's most amazing dessert: Triple Coconut Cream Pie. I don't particularly care for coconut, but I'd walk miles for a bite of this marvel. Whenever visitors come to town, we inevitably take them to the Dahlia Lounge and insist, no matter how loud their protests, that they at least try a bite. Without fail, they, too, become converts. Trust me on this. Douglas' recipes are well-written and adapted for the home cook. He does a great job of explaining off-beat ingredients and preparations. Where appropriate, he even includes photos of how to tackle some of the more unusual preparations that make his recipes even easier to follow.

Point number two: Not only does Douglas give you his best recipes in this book, but he has also written what should be considered a mandatory guidebook to visitors and newcomers to Seattle. Douglas generously mentions most of the other great restaurants in town and tells you when to go and what to order. His description of the local markets is so comprehensive, it should be mandatory reading for every new cook who comes to town. Clearly, this man loves Seattle, and he wants to share all the best of it with his readers.

I first read Tom Douglas' cookbook while dining at his Etta's Restaurant near Pike Place Market. I was savoring his Roasted Salmon with Etta's Rub while reading the recipe in the book and became more inspired with every bite. It was also good to see recipes for other dishes on the menu. Now I'm ready to recreate Etta's at home. Fabulous pictures of Seattle and a wonderful read overall.

I have been raving about the dinners I had at both Etta's and Dahlia Lounge since my last trip to Seattle two years ago. I was thrilled to find that Tom Douglas had written this book, and even more thrilled to begin cooking the moment it entered my home. The recipes are easy for even a novice cook to tackle, and experienced chefs will marvel at the wonderful blending of flavors and spices Tom presents. Even my children have loved everything I've made, and that's a tough audience! Buy and use this book. You won't be sorry!