I picked this long out of print book up at the Monterey Aquarium - kudos to Western Flyer Publishing for bringing this fantastic book back.

There are two "bibles" for people who want to know about John Steinbeck - Jackson Benson's biography and this one. Personally, I prefer this one because it covers the golden age of Steinbeck and his friendship with marine biologist, philosopher and brilliant mind, Ed Ricketts.

If you've read Cannery Row and Grapes of Wrath (among others), you've gotten a glimpse of Ed RIcketts. In Richard Astro's book, you get the "toto-picture" of the man. Steinbeck's literature has been called simple. Yeah, simple as a Zen painting. Richard Astro shows how the collective (and at times drastically different) philosophies of these two men spawned one to create some of the greatest stories ever told. Stories that can be read and appreciated by a kid in middle school and then upon rereading, it is discovered how many layers lie beneath the tightly plotted tales. Astro's book digs deep too and is a valuable, readible and thought provoking journey into a remarkable friendship.

This was wonderful. So insightful to learn about the man behind the stories.

For those interested in catching a glimpse of what John Wesley wanted his Methodists to believe, this is a good place to start. Most of these 50 sermons were included in his Works (an official collection of his writings put together by Wesley himself), and they were intended to help guide those in his movement in understanding the basic theological ideas that he considered important. This anthology adds to the official selections a few selected by Outler from among Wesley's uncompiled sermons. These also give us an interesting look into Wesley's heart and mind.

One of the greatest strengths of this book is that each sermon is preceded by an excellent introduction. This sets the sermon in context and provides a clearer point from which to begin trying to understand what Wesley is saying. This is an excellent collection compiled by superb editors.

John Wesley was the founder of Methodism, and this is a "best of" collection of fifty of his sermons, organized chronologically so that you can follow the development of his thought from 1730 to 1790. The sermons are long and dense but carefully crafted, and the theology is powerful and nuanced. Many of the sermons deal masterfully with what I think is one of the toughest but most important juggling acts in Christian theology: maintaining both (a) that our salvation comes entirely through the overflowing grace of God and is in no way merited or achieved and (b) that it is vitally important that we do good, partake of the sacraments, read scripture, pray, and all that good stuff. Other sermon topics include religious bigotry, religious zeal, the use of money, the repentance of believers, and the omnipresence of God. If you're interested in Christian theology and won't be too put off by Wesley's dry, dense writing style, I highly recommend this book.

After 5 years of searching ( and wondering if I could afford it) I finally found a copy of this book here on Amazin.com for $$$ and decided WHAT THE HECK and bought it on the hopeful chance that it would be worth it (The most expensive book I'd ever bought previously was $$$ , so this was a REAL stretch) but when I got it, I was FLOORED-literally! I had to sit down when I opened the package! Just reading the introduction told me that this book was worth every penny of its price, and MORE! And the more I looked through it, the more convinced I was that this book was worth its price and then some. So if you are a Lincoln Assassination enthusiast, this book is a MUST for your collection. It is expensive, but the photographs, in their rarity alone are worth it, and the text is a treasure. Buy it if you can find a copy, and Amazon isa great place to start! Thank you SO MUCH, Richard and Kellie Gutman!!!

A comprehensive and beautiful book. I have read it over and over again. It is a potential collectors item. A real keeper!

The Access series are very good and the Las Vegas book is a favorite of mine. When ever I go for business or pleasure, I take the current Access along. I have found that with the multitude of changes the earlier editions help to remind me of Casinos and attractions that are no more. As Vegas continues to develope at an extraordinary pace, I find I look forward to the new release more and more.

Access Las Vegas brings a colorful guide to the subject of the city of light, Las Vegas. With reviews of Hotels and Casinos with resturant ratings as well as a nod to the arts and sciences (Museums), this is one book I will not leave behind when visiting Nevada's most famous city.

Ther are maps that section the city into easy to cover areas and color coding to help distinguish the variety of critiqued locations. Backround and history with many best fo lists by the knowledgable and famous citizens give excellent insights to getting around and geating the most from your visit. Concise examination of the many casino games help the novice may their way through a bewildering array of choices.

All in all perhaps the best book for the money of it's kind. The access line of books are all quite good.

Anne Ford has written a remarkable book. This is tremendously helpful for all parents that have children with learning disabilities. Also, it is a great lesson that shows the rest of us to reach out to others with love, patience and dignity.

When a child is born, parents are filled with positive dreams for his or her future. These typically include success in school, supportive friends, good health and a life filled with joy. If the child were a painting, it would have bright colors, sharp focus, every detail in place. But that fairy-tale existence is just that --- a fable. We are imperfect, and so are children.

And then there are families that get an extra helping of imperfection. Instead of dreams, they get challenges which can either pull them together or fracture them. In Anne Ford's case the "perfect world" dream dissolved when she learned that her daughter Allegra had learning disabilities. While they were not visible to the naked eye, what was going on inside Allegra was impeding her development and her ability to learn. It's never easy to accept a dark, definitive verdict, especially when it concerns a small child. To her credit, Anne did. And then she became Allegra's advocate and cheerleader, as well as her mother.

Few books have moved me as much as LAUGHING ALLEGRA. While the story of our family is different from Anne's, I do know what happens when the picture gets blurred. What works about this book is that Anne writes this memoir with candor and feeling --- right from the heart. She captures the swirl of emotion that surrounds this diagnosis, the questions that every parent asks and the path through what is always uncharted territory, as each child is his or her own mosaic. At the same time, she offers concrete information that parents of learning-disabled children need. Most important of all: Anne Ford shows us, beat by beat, how she helped her daughter build a world in which she could laugh instead of cower, succeed instead of fail. She empowered Allegra and along the way empowered herself as well.

The book is by no means whitewashed with only upbeat anecdotes. In her writing you can feel the pain that filled many of these years, as well as the uncertainty. The book took four years to write and along the way Anne had to dredge up some feelings that readers will see are still raw. There is no quick patch when you have watched your child hurting; clearly, she ripped the bandages off to write this.

Often when people learn that things are not "perfect," there is a natural feeling of being overwhelmed with the unknown. For parents who have found themselves either on the cusp of the diagnosis, or grappling with its meaning, or even those who are further along the path and want to read how another family grew with this, I recommend LAUGHING ALLEGRA. I also recommend it for parents of so-called "normal children," who may want to understand rather than dismiss the schoolmate their child knows who is different, or special.

Anne's book stresses that this is a family issue as it affects the entire family. She was a single mother, but also had a son, Alessandro, whose role as Allegra's older brother took him on a journey that he also had not expected. The effect on him is spoken about with enough depth to ensure that readers realize that that all people in the family must grapple with the challenge.

One thing to note here. Allegra is now thirty and living independently. As I read I thought about the great strides that are being made every day in the diagnosis and treatment of learning disabilities. Anne and Allegra came to tackle many of the challenges without the tools that are now in place. This, as much of any of Anne's stories, can bring parents great hope.

The back of the book has appendices with list of resources and excellent guidelines on such topics as Questions Parents Ask, Mothers and Fathers Understanding Each Other and Your Legal Rights. They are as well-written as the rest of the book, and provide more nuts and bolts information.

I cannot recommend a book more highly than this. Halfway through I found myself making lists of people who would enjoy it. I encourage you to pick it up --- and then spread the word.

--- Reviewed by Carol Fitzgerald

Kiper has written a long overdue account of a general who fell through the Civil War cracks. Solid understanding, impeccable research, fluid writing = biography at its best.

Rich Kiper has written a biography of a little-known personality, John Alexander McClernand, that is a lesson for soldiers who may be tempted to politick and for politicians who may be tempted to "play soldier." This book is an objective and balanced description of the period when the Union Army was suffering from the drain of military talent to the South and "politicians in uniform" were a national necessity. In spite of an abject lack of military training and experience, McClernand did perform remarkably well while preparing troops for combat and while leading them in the field. While he used his political clout to organize, train and equip the soldiers of his brigade, McClernand's tendency to be self-serving and critical of his superiors (to their superiors!) ultimately outweighed his usefulness and hastened his relief by Grant. John McClernand's nemeses included Generals Ulysses Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and, most notably, John McClernand himself. This book was written from a soldier's perspective and can be read and appreciated by soldiers and civilians alike.

This is a long book, the product of a lengthy period of research, which was needed to unravel the extensive coverup of the story of Richard Case Nagell, who worked for both US and Soviet intelligence. In the process of being a double agent in the early 1960s, Nagell learned that Oswald was involved in a conspiracy to kill Kennedy, which he was unable to prevent. One of Hoover's greatest failures was not paying more attention to Nagell. Nagell's letter to the Warren Commission regarding his knowledge of Oswald was basically ignored, and it was thus left to Dick Russell to undertake the investigation that Hoover's FBI should have done. Fortunately for the reader, Russell's investigation was far superior to any that the FBI would have been able to do. The result is the best book ever written on the JFK assassination. The nature of the conspiracy and some of the players are clearly delineated in this book. Anyone interested in knowing the outlines of the conspiracy to kill JFK must read this book. This isn't just a book that adds a few interesting pieces to the puzzle--this book puts the puzzle together like no other source, in or out of government, has been able to do. This is the only JFK assassination book ever written that is an absolute must for the serious (or casual) reader on this subject.

If you are an assassination or conspiracy researcher, this should be your most 'dog-eared' referance material. Mr. Russel approaches all the angles here, in an un-biased collection of facts. semi-facts and outright myths surrounding the JFK incident. While there is much insight to the Richard Case Nagle scenario, Russel provides much material that is scattered about the research communtiy in several different sources, and presents them in an easy to lactae manner. Even if your not a ressearcher, it is a good read.

This book is well-written and covers a vast scope. Contrary to what the title might lead you to believe, this book covers a lot more than just plain mediums. In fact, it offeres detailed information on just about any faction in the Skinlands that might interact with the Restless Dead: "Boardwalk mediums" found at carnivals and circuses the ruthless Giovanni vampires, even charlatans and frauds who possess no real talent, but manage to offend wraiths with their very presumption and chicanery.

This book is definitely worth the purchase price- it will enrich virtually any Wraith chronicle.

This is a fine resource for mediums, much better than the Quick and the Dead. The systems stuff is vastly improved, with a battery of new merits and flaws for mediums that I actually found useful (and can be used to supplement or replace the hedge magic paths for interacting with wraiths). There is some good stuff on summoning, a large section on Native American medicine men and shamanic dealings with the dead, a fresh look at many of the old ghost-dealing groups, and a new ability for those people who have had enough with wraiths shouting in their ears.

reti explains the evolution of concepts in paying chess( from 19th century to early 21st century).a player of cnsiderable repute,he is as excellent in explaining chess concepts.some of these are:combinations,open positions,positional play,close positions etc.,

This small book is essential reading for any chess player. Reti's understanding of the game and his ability to explain the concepts of it are unsurpassed. There's nothing else I can say. Get it.

Divided into seven sections (The Early Years, At Los Alamos, The Cornell Years, The Research Physicist at Caltech, The Teacher at Caltech, The Public Physicist and Consultant, and Feynman--The Man), this fine book presents Richard Feynman as he was seen by those closest to him--his friends and colleagues. To their credit, they present him as they knew him, the qualities with the flaws.

The book is especially successful in communicating Feynman's way of thinking, the processes he used in attacking problems. The essay entitled "Richard Feynman and the Connection Machine" by W. Daniel Hills is notably successful in this regard, and by itself justifies the purchase of the book. I found it especially interesting that Feynman was fascinated, as I am, by the potential of cellular automata for modeling fluids. Readers with the same interest should also consider purchasing Seek! by Rudy Rucker.

Five or so essays by other physicists who knew Feynman contain mathematics that is proably beyond the ability of the average reader (certainly mine), but even these contain gems of insight that reward readers who wade through them.

All in all, a most satisfying experience.

Fascinating and insiteful lectures from many of the great people in the world of physics. Amusing anecdotes, touching tributes, and glimpses into the private life of a genius who was also extremely human and persevered through very painful personal problems to help create the atomic bomb while his wife was seriously ill, yet keeping his spirits up and his sense of humor. Never a person to rest on his laurels Feynman is shown in this book as a person who listened intently to other people's theories, no matter how odd they sounded and never assumed anything was right or wrong until he worked it out for himself from first principles. It's all here, his life, his work, his friends, family and colleagues - but most of all his spirit.