Mark Shaw's book is a real treat. His loving, poignant photographs show the real love, the real bonds, the real ties within the most famous family. The pictures of little Caroline and John are among my favorites. Caroline and John from all accounts have remained so natural, so wonderfully, refreshingly normal. I loved seeing these two children at play. Pennsylvania Avenue could have been Main Street. To their parents' credit, they grew up unaffected. This book shows it.

This book has beautiful photographs of the former first family. Congradulations to Mark Shaw for a wonderful job!!!!!! FOR QUESTIONS OR DISCUSSIONS ON JACKIE ONASSIS, PLEASE E-MAIL ME AT MellissaLD@aol.com. HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

Mark Shaw's photographs capture the idyllic moments of John, Jackie, Caroline and John Jr., whether at play in the White House or laughing together on a Cape Cod beach. The simple yet stunning photos of this famous foursome will be as familiar to you as your own family photo album.

To those who were there when John Kennedy was in the White House, this book will serve as a touching remembrance and to people who know about the Kennedys from just a historical standpoint, the photos and words will provide a more personal glimpse into the years that are commonly referred to as the Camelot era. Richard Reeves words are not overly sentimental but an accurate assessment of the life and times of this legendary family.

Overall, The John F. Kennedys: A Family Album, is a pleasant, yet sometimes sad journey looking back at what was considered the perfect family of two successful, stunning parents and their adorable children. Behind the photos, all was not perfect but Mark Shaw's camera didn't lie -- in the end, they were like any other family with problems but in-between they knew how to have fun and simply enjoy each others company, as is evident in many of Shaw's photos, especially those showing them at play at their home on Cape Cod.

Followers of the Kennedy's will no doubt enjoy this book, as will those who are interested in what life was like for a very public family who shared their private times with a talented photographer and with the world. If you like taking a look back in time, you will no doubt enjoy the journey Mark Shaw and Richard Reeves takes you on.

A "must-have" for every soccer coach.

This book was a tremedous resource for our team this year. It made the difference in our set pieces and gave the players confidence in executing them. Everytime we were awarded a free kick or corner kick the players truly saw it as an opportunity to score - and very often we did. Easy to understand and useful diagrams.

While soccer is primarily a dynamic sport with ever-changing positions and opportunities, there are moments that can be scripted - dead ball situations. "Soccer Restart Plays" describes in detail how any team can effectively take advantage of these golden moments and create excellent scoring opportunities. Clear diagrams of corner kick, direct and indirect kicks and throw-ins detail actions and responsibilities of key players. I have coached teams that scored twice in the final at the USA Cup on plays from this book! I high recommend it to any serious coach. Scott Lockwood

The figures of this book are very useful for details in professional drawings. On the other hand, it gives simple ideas to solve common problems on construction.

This book is one of the best reference books an architect will ever use. It contains the necessary information for the beginning and advanced architect. Inside the 568 pages in this book one will find from the most basic to the highly complex architectural graphics. The book provides reference for the various arcchitectural plans such as the floor plan, elevation and perspective drawings. No other reference material can surpass the amount of information provided in this excellent book.

The truth behind many hot environmental topics is discussed in this book and also displayed using many graphs and charts. Everything from the dolphin-tuna controversy to the seal and sea lion over-population problem in the Northwest and how they effect salmon is covered in this one book. This book is fabulous and gives insite from every angle imaginable. Unfortunately, there are no color plates.

Rarely does a comprehesive book cover the known work of an artist and open and close the issue. Persac is little known outside of Louisiana. He is a major early artist who documents Louisiana life in the late pre Civil War era. Kudos to the authors, sepecially Prof. Bacot. Thank you for this book.

In this book, the author clearly sets out the principles, procedures, and applications of modern psychological motivation theories within an educational context.
Reeve especially discusses eleven inner motivational resources, the underlying theories and their applications in real life:
1. Self-determination
2. Competence
3. Relatedness
4. Self-efficacy
5. Personal control beliefs
6. Achievement strivings
7. Goal setting
8. The self
9. Curiosity
10. Interest
11. Enjoyment / flow

This book is a very good blend of psychological theories and practical applications! Very recommendable for teachers, coaches and trainers!

My brothers and I have always been into physical fitness and weightlifting. I suppose we inherited this interest from our father, who was a total Steve Reeves nut, constantly talking about how he wanted a physique like Reeves. I have always been impressed with Reeves' physique, especially since he was a natural bodybuilder in the forties, when steroids were nowhere to be found, so I thought i would give this book a try. At first I scoffed at the routine in the book, but said I'd try it anyway. My friends laughed at me in the gym for trying it, calling it "old school" and everything, but after two months I felt great and apparently the results were there as well. I am happier with my physique now than before but I got a lot more out of the book than just a good routine to follow. Reading about Steve Reeves, his lifestyle and attitude, is very inspiring. The man was truly ahead of his time and now I can see why my dad was so impressed. I definitely recommend anyone interested in keeping in shape to read this book and give Reeves' "classic physique" routine a go. Though exhausting, it is well worth it.

Excellent book,Period.
After studying many body-building books, I've come to realize...simple is better. I want the classic physique I watched on TV as a kid with Reeves's movies. (sorry Arnold!)
This has helped my training and motivation even during off times from working out. With realistic goals and entertaining narrative, you want to hit the gym and get the perfect V cut along with realistic goal of a equally porportioned neck/calf/bicep-size Reeves worked hard for and really stresses upon.
I'm not there yet but people have noticed the difference in the past 2 years. :)

So much hoopla out there about how to train. Steve Reeves clears the air and offers a sensible program to achieve a natural, classic symetrical physique. Reeves went from nothing to Mr America in five years while spending four years in the Army. If you discount the time spent in the Army, Reeves actual training time was more like months, not years. One year later he won Mr America. Next year he won Mr World and two years later, after a year layoff and training for only 7 weeks, beat the great Reg Park for the 1950 Mr Universe. Whats my point? Obviously this guy knew something about training and all it's all in this book. At his peak, Reeves was arguably the best of his time and his only losses were shrouded with controversy. He had better lines than Zane and was bigger and more symetrical (no 16-inch arms and calves here) Reeves had a incredible V-shape and huge calves. He was the best proportioned, most perfectly developed bodybuilder of all time. Had he been born 20 years later and had the advantage of pharmaceuticals, advanced food supplements and equipment, he probably would have mopped the floor with Arnold, Sergio and spaghetti-biceps/calves Frank Zane and the drug freaks thatfollowed.. The book is a must read for anyone who wants natural gains and look their best. Sorry to hear about Reeves passing last spring. He was the original icon of bodybuilding and so many of us owe our beginnings in this sport to this great star.

In this classic work, John Bunyan paints a detailed picture of the Christian life/walk, giving true-to-life insights and experiences. The despair, sorrows, trials and temptations that a believer may face are depicted in an allegorical manner, as well as the hope, joy, and salvation found in Jesus Christ. The main character Christian (once named Graceless) sets out on a lifelong journey from the City of Destruction, where his family disowned him, and encounters many persons and difficulties along the way to the Celestial City (heaven). The characters he meets are given names that reflect their mindset or what temptation they bring. At times he stumbles and at times he perseveres, but all by the grace of God. The second portion of the book tells of the conversion and subsequent sojourn of the wife (Christiana) and children of Christian. The discussions of Christian in the first part and Christiana and her companions in the second part are very interesting, as they defend their faith and explain their purpose to those they meet along the way. The book is quite different from your ordinary novel, and has many interesting words of wisdom for the Christian life. Readers should be aware that some of the language is antiquated and has unfamiliar usages, so its a little bit of an adjustment to read.

"The Pilgrim's Progress" is a classic Christian text written by John Bunyan. Written in an allegorical format, the two-part story focuses first on "Christian", then on his wife "Christiana" and sons. Convicted of their own sinfulness, the characters set out on the journey to salvation at the Heavenly Gate. Characters such as "Honesty", "Great-Heart", and "Faithful" aid the pilgrims on their journey, whereas they face trials from the Slough of Despond, Vanity Fair, and the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

Getting through the book takes some work, less because of the story and more because of the depth of the allegory. Also, the dialogues between characters regarding salvation and righteousness often require a careful read. However, the story is exceptionally creative and thought-provoking, and the lessons that can be gleaned from it are timeless and worth the effort that needs to be expended. I recommend reading this one at least twice.

A letter to Marvin Minsky about this book:

I urge you tolook at a remarkable book by the English Puritain John Bunyan(1628-1688), "The Pilgrim's Progress", which is one of the great evangelical Christian classics, though clearly that is not why it interests me and should interest you (although I AM interested in the puzzle that is the religious sense, which even the irreligious feel, and this book can give remarkable insight into that as well).

Rather its fascination lies in the pilgrimage it depicts, or in the fact that human traits, vices, virtues, &c are PERSONIFIED as particular individuals who are their living and speaking epitome, and who are encountered along the way in revealing situations.

Bunyan's hero is appropriately named Christian. Someone once wrote that "Christian's journey is timeless as he travels from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City, meeting such characters as Pliable, Talkative, Giant Despair, Evangelist, Worldly-Wiseman, Faithful, Ignorance and Hopeful."

At first this personification is merely amusing, even a bit annoying (as caricatures or truly stereotypical people can be); but after a while I found myself enthralled because I realized that the effect of this odd literary device was to give unmatched insight into the nature of such traits. The force of the whole thing comes from the fact that one journeys about in - literally INSIDE of - what is both a comprehensive and finite moral and psychological landscape (a "psycho-topography"), very much as though one were INSIDE the human mind and your "Society of the Mind" was embodied in the set of actors. This is more or less the opposite or an inversion of the 'real world' of real people, who merely SHARE those attributes or of whom the attributes are merely PIECES; in "Pilgrim's Progress", by contrast, the attributes are confined in their occurrence to the actors who are their entire, unique, pure, and active embodiment, and humanness, to be recognized at all, has to be rederived or mentally reconstructed from the essential types.

The effect, for me, was something like experiencing a multidimensional scaling map that depicts the space of the set of human personality types, by being injected directly - mentally and bodily - into it by means of virtual reality technology.

So Bunyan's book has something of the interest to a psychologist, neuroscientist, or philosopher that Edwin Abbot's "Flatland" has to a mathematician.

I don't mean to overpraise "Pilgrim's Progress", of course; it was written for theological rather than scientific purposes, and has conspicuous limitations for that reason. But its interest to a student of the mind who looks at it at from the right point of view can be profound.

- Patrick Gunkel

Along with Herbert Parmet's "Jack: The Struggles of John F. Kennedy", Richard Reeve's "President Kennedy" are the best two books ever written about a legendary (and much-romanticized) American President. Unlike Thomas Reeve's hatchet-job "A Question of Character", which basically could be called a job in "character assassination"; or books such as Arthur Schlesinger's "A Thousand Days", which idolize Kennedy and ignore his flaws and failures as President, Richard Reeve's book maintains an admirably objective and balanced view of our 35th President. Reeve's Kennedy is neither a liberal saint nor a debauched devil, but is instead a complicated and often frustrating man who is woefully unprepared for the Oval Office when he moves in in January 1961, but does possess a great many gifts that save him when he gets into trouble. Reeve's Kennedy makes many mistakes early on in his Administration - the Bay of Pigs, his disastrous summit with the Soviet Union's Nikita Krushchev in Vienna, and his reckless womanizing in private, which as Reeves notes might well have become public knowledge if some enterprising reporter had ever followed JFK's movements very closely. Yet Kennedy does learn from at least some of his mistakes, and his handling of the Berlin Wall Crisis and the Cuban Missile Crisis was excellent. Whether Kennedy would ever have grown into a great President is a matter of debate among historians, and after reading this book I had my answer - JFK was a good President in many ways, but he probably would never have become a great one, due to his overly cautious nature on civil rights and the other great issues of the sixties. In short, this is a very well-written, impressively researched, and very fair-minded look at one of our most difficult Presidents to study and write about...this should be required reading for anyone who's interested in the 1960's, the Kennedys, or American politics.

Richard Reeves' book is a welcome addition to the "CamelotYears" genre. Written from the President's perspective,i.e. "a day in the life" type format, this excellent readneither fawns, nor muckrakes, but rather a balanced account of aPresidency that, until this point, has not been examined in anobjective light. Reeves first person perspective shows a president whohad more profile than courage. Inspite of his many gifts, JFK wasdiffident, at best, as President. Reeves book reveals a JFK that wasdriven, almost maniacally, to get to the White House, but once he gotthere was pretty much out of his league. The portrait of a neophytestatesman is obvious when Kennedy makes his first trip to Europe,receives a lukewarm reception from DeGaulle, and is taken to thewoodshed by Nikita Khrushev who, upon seeing the youthful presidentexclaimed "he's younger than my own son." Reeves accountbeautifully illustrates how the rich playboy-president miscalculatesKhrushev; one gets the impression that Kennedy felt that his Sovietcounterpart could be rolled like a Boston Pol. Kennedy came away fromhis first overseas trip as president much chastened. Richard Reeves'book is excellent; well written, well researched, and balanced. Ihighly recommend it. (I've read it twice!!)

Richard Reeves has crafted an exceedingly insightful, well-written, you-are-there look at the Presidency of John F. Kennedy. As someone born the year Kennedy was assasinated, and having been inculcated over the years with the Kennedy Myth, Reeves took me almost day-by-day, minute-by-minute through the events starting from Kennedy's election through the day 33 years ago when he was killed in Dallas.
Reeves' looks at the Berlin Wall and Cuban Missile Crises take advantage of recent disclosures from US, Soviet and other sources to show how close we came to World War III in both of those situations.
The book's description of the start of the US commitment in Vietnam under JFK allowed me to gain a better understanding of how Kennedy's prior failure to stand up to the Soviet Union and Krushchev in Laos and Cuba "forced" JFK to stand firmly behind the unsupportable South Vietnamese government.
Other topics addressed by the book include JFK's tepid support of civil rights and his rampant promiscuity.
I had to rate this book a 9 (I've yet to read a 10), but this book has to be one of the best out of the almost unlimited supply of JFK biographies