The reprints are gorgeous and in a wonderful hardcover that shouldn't fall apart too quickly. The text prefacing the book is boring and unneccessary, mostly, this book just costs waaayyyy too much. I would've preferred to get it in comic book format for about 10 dollars, but they no longer reprint this stuff. The stories aren't very good, but it's interesting to read in it's amateurishness and see how things originally were intended.

This is actually some great stuff. I think the early Superman stories are good examples of exciting storytelling with interesting social commentary.

For example, the first Superman story contains a none-too subtle anticaptial punishment message, as our man saves a lady from an execution and a man form a lynching (remember, this is 1938). The second shows Supe stopping a war that is concocted by munitions manufactureres (an early anti-WW2 message).

Along with that, reading these early adventures gives you the feeling that you're a little kid in pre-television 1938-39, sitting with awe and wonder with these exciting tales either being read to you by a skilled adult storyteller, or by yourself with a flashlight at night. Once you get in that mood of an inner child, you can really get into this stuff and it's lots of fun.

However, I would agree that the cost is a bit much for a new edition. Buy a good used copy. Gather the kids (over age 10, that is) around, turn the lights down low, read it with vigor, and have a ball!

DC's Archive editions are the pinnacle of classic comic book reprints. Lovingly restored and printed on high quality, glossy paper, they give the material the classy feel it deserves. In this, one of their earliest Archive editions, they reprint in their entirety (advertisements and all) the first four 1939 and 1940 issues of SUPERMAN, four issues that would easily fetch upwards of a quarter million dollars. SUPERMAN ARCHIVES VOL. 1 is not just a bargain. It's a glimpse into pop culture and comic book history.

Most of these four issues are reprints of stories published in ACTION COMICS, other adventures from which appear in SUPERMAN: THE ACTION COMICS ARCHIVES, although several others were taken from the newspaper strips, which are reprinted in their original black and white form in Kitchen Sink Press' SUPERMAN: THE DAILIES.

These early adventures are, compared to modern comic books, crude and childish, but they reveal a sense of wonder and awe absent from many of today's comics. In 1939, the readers and creators were still enthralled by the idea that a man could do whatever he wanted and dispense justice without rules. Just as Superman is different in these reprints -- a swashbuckling, two-fisted pulp hero, not the "big blue boy scout" of today, most of his earliest menaces are a far cry from the criminal masterminds and alien invaders he later fights. They are enemies of the Depression-era everyman: war profiteers, abusive husbands, incompetent mine owners, con artists, fascist spies, corrupt orphanage directors. Anyone who preys on everyday folks receives swift justice from the Man of Steel's fists.

Comics creator and historian Jim Steranko provides a thorough analysis of the adventures in his Introduction and Afterword, so comics historians will want this book, as will Superman fans, nostalgists and collectors of all ages.

If your idea of love is limited to visions of puppies and balloons, The Thing About Love Is... probably not for you. In Polyphony Press' first effort, the heavy topic of love is tackled in gritty, gutsy pieces that cut to core of this complex emotion. Sometimes it's bliss, sometimes it's bizarre, and quite often it hurts, but regardless of its form, love is always intriguing. This anthology is in keeping with that notion. With a variety of styles and voices, the works featured here are unanimous in their ability to draw the reader in and keep him hooked. It is truly a great read that may challenge one's personal definition of love. Call it an enjoyable experiment in mind expansion!

It's difficult to find an anthology that has as much stopping power as this one. Reading it, I was impressed not only by the diversity of the authorial voices, but also by their veracity. Each story, poem and play seems to have come straight from the gut. What's more, the contributing writers help to remove our blinders; particularly when it comes to matters of the heart. Love, they argue, is nothing less than a battlefield on which each of us daily chances victory or defeat.Those seeking to enter the contest fully armed would do well to buy this book.

Anthologies are not my usual choice of reading material, but as this was recommended to me, I decided to give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised. While I could not relate to some of the pieces here, I enjoyed the underlying topic immensely. The poetry, drama, and short stories were a good blend. The Thing About Love Is... an enjoyable and fast read, but has a peculiar lingering effect that required that I return to it for further exploration. It's a perfect book to read from the relative comfort and safety of your best chair, where you know that you can dip into the joy and angst of love and for once, walk away unscathed.

Senter provides one of the few treatments of Youth Ministry that is can serve as an college/seminary textbook and still provides practical insights for practicing clergy. Unlike several other popular titles, Senter takes the time to develop a biblical, sociological, and historical framework for youth ministry. He also provides the best overview of the various models for youth ministry that have been popular among evangelicals for the past half-century. Some may find the depth of the book overwhelming in places. It also suffers from weaknesses typical of using a variety of authors to contribude individual chapters, in that not all chapters are equally valuable. Overall the book should serve as a standard text well beyond the turn of the century for those serious about understanding and practicing effective youth ministry.

Senter and Dunn have done a fabulous job compiling data from a number of key youth pastors. The insights I gained from this book were fantastic. Dunn's explanation of the millennial generation's needs, and how to reach them is fantastic. Great reading. This book is a must for youth pastor's everywhere.

I ran across this book in the campus bookstore when picking up some other books for class. After glancing through it I was intrigued. Practical advice, theory that was useful, models laid out so you could see how they worked out on a day to day basis. I found myself taking notes and getting ideas for things I could put into practice.

The book was a welcome addition to veterinary cardiology, filling a gap of over 12 years since the previous major publication. The book is very logically organized, and the pathophysiology is well addressed, and easy to understand at all levels from student to specialist.

The only detractor is the quality of the publication (the publishers skimped on the book, to the disappointment of the authors) - the paper is cheap and the binding has come apart on 2 copies (I had it replaced and re-bound).

While taking my cardiology class during my second year of vet school, this book came in very handy. Although my syllabus (which was at least the size of this book) provided the same information, Small Animal Cardiovascular Medicine provided clearer explanations and illustrations that I could read over and over again.

It filled in many of the gaps I had in my understanding of topics, and, after taking a VIN class with Dr. Kittleson, I can honestly say that this is one of the most concise references you can have. He is a very receptive teacher, and it is really reflected in this text. Highly recommended as THE reference for cardiology!

This is one excellent textbook. Concepts are well developed in the beginning chapters of the book. As the book progresses, and specific disease processes are addressed, conceptual application of previous topics is well integrated with additional information regarding everything from physical examination findings to treatment modalities. The end result is an excellent textbook of small animal cardiovascular medicine.

I am a military flight surgeon applying to Orthopaedic Surgery residencies this fall. I bought this book to help give me an overview of current practice. The book covers basic sciences and all of the subspecialties comprehensively and concisely in outline format. Diagrams are minimal and crude but they do adequately support to text.

Because it is a REVIEW book, it does not try to teach basic information to the reader; it is assumed that you are a knowledgeable orthopaedic practitioner. I found that, even as a practicing physician, I needed to review my anatomy and orthopaedics at a more basic level in order to get the most out of this book.

I was able to quickly identify some of my weaknesses and, more importantly, become more fluent with orthopaedic jargon. I no longer rely on this book for my basic source material. Instead, I am concentrating on reading the classic orthopaedic texts for my primary education -- I will rely on this book as a REVIEW only. In that capacity it earns its five star review.

This is a very true and clear way to keep up-date in the wide field of the orthopaedics. Iam a Orthopaedist and these kind of books help me a lot, and make my textbooks alive (I mean Campbell's, Watson-Jones, Apley's , Mercer's and others). Is not a book for junior surgeons its more easier for senior orthopaedist.

After so many years spent studying orthopaedics and leafing thru books of all sorts,it's the first time I come across a book I eventually feel I can tell my young trainees they MUST have a copy of. I am looking forward to see the latest edition. Since I am a translator, I would like to have this book translated into my language so as everyone in Italy interested can have it.

The above advice is given to our humble narrator, Fishboy, from the mouth of a 'rumored cook' on board a ship at sea. Fishboy has seen the cook's predecessor cleaved in two with an axe by a sailor who was angry about the food he and his shipmates had been served. Fishboy decides that he most likely doesn't want to become a cook.

Author Mark Richard has definitely stirred the literary soup in FISHBOY, his debut novel. There's a quote on the back cover from a review in ESQUIRE: "An eloquent fever dream, a tale told headlong in the language of incantation" -- and that 'fever dream' description fits this work to a 't'.

As I read my way through this ghost story, a fable replete with inner fables, I felt like I had been dunked into a boiling pot of Herman Melville and William S. Burroughs, illustrated by S. Clay Wilson (those of you who remember his 'perverted pirates' underground comix of the 60s will cringe at this reference), with the film directed by David Lynch. Richard's story bubbles and seethes -- he evidently relishes giving the reader the feeling of being unstuck in both time and place, for there are characters and images in this novel that are plucked from sundry eras and locations, stirred up into an intelligent, interesting, albeit not always appetizing stew. This is a world turned topsy-turvy, reflecting 'reality' like a cracked mirror.

Richard's metaphors are sometimes staggeringly beautiful and captivating -- the sea turned to shorebound landscape with mountains of waves, the land turned to ocean by the rolling tide of subterranean upheavals. Consider this short sample from p.163: 'A loose timber from the sun's sunken wreckage floated up and was dawn on the water. In its cool red light you could see how the waters around us were disturbed from beneath. Globes of old air rose to the surface and shattered, spritzing blooms of kicked-up mud. Mobs of waves rushed crowded swells, slapping faces and knocking caps off to the wind.' Whew.

The narrator of the story -- we know him only as Fishboy -- starts his tale by telling us (from p.1): 'I began as a boy, as a human-being boy, a boy who fled to sea, a boy with a whistling lisp and the silken-tipped fingers of another class. A boy with put-away memories of bedclothes bound tight about the head, knocked by a hammering fist; the smell of cigar and show leather and the weighted burlap bag, thrown from a car into a side-road swamp.' The odyssey he undertakes is a fantastic, circular one -- and he views it with an extremely limited perspective, realting the events that occur with both sheltered naivitee and blinding insight.

The novel is sub-titled 'a ghost story' -- and that it is, although it is unlike any ghost story you are likely to have come across. Richard has imbued this work with a 'graspable' surreality -- and I'm not sure if it's the reader or the story who is doing the grasping. This is an unusual, highly unsettling read.

This book catches you from the first sentence/ paragraph and doesn't let go. All rules are off in this book from grammar to linear plot. This is not at all irritating. It's refreshing that Richard assumes that the reader is clever enough to keep up. This is easily one of the best books I've read in years. It has been 3-4 years since I last read it, but I still have lucid memories of passages. Too bad Richard doesn't publish more.

Whoa! Like a cross between William Burroughs' "The Western Lands" and Amos Tutuola's "My Life In The Bush of Ghosts." Surely Mark Richard's "Fishboy" is on that level of mastery.
It took me about two months of casual reading to get through this short (227 pages) book but it was worth it. Getting lost in this book is part of the journey, as you'll soon discover. Eloquent chaos and heart wrenching beauty. But not for linear readers!

In the mist of today's worldwide events, where prejudice and hate runs free, it is encouraging to the human spirit to read the story of the kindertransport. "Into the Arms of Strangers" is a first person narration of some of the children (now elderly adults) who were saved from the hands of Nazism and given an opportunity to start a new life. This was all possible thanks to a noble attitude from the British government who was aware(as well as many other nations) of the final destination of the Jewish population. From this act of mercy, 10,000 children (most of them from Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Germany) were transported from their native countries just before the outbreak of World War II (1938) into England where they were temporarily adopted, until circunstances would allow them to reunite with their families. Despite the suffering these children went through, the unfair treatment some of them received, the psychological trauma, they are all thankful for the opportunity of being alive. Most of them were able to restructure their lives, set roots and build a family. Today they are witnesses to a dreadful chapter in human history and are here to give their testimony. Great merit goes to all of those who were involved in this humanitarian effort (Otto Hirsch, Norbert Wollheim, amongst others).
Sad though it may be to read the account of each of these survivors, even sadder it is to realize that many, many more children could have been saved where it not for the selfish attitude taken by many nations. For those who have had an opportunity to visit the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, it is a consolation to know that the children saved by the kindertransport are not listed among the other 1,000,000 children who did not have the same opportunity. And history keeps reapeating itself... not much thinking is nedded to realize that at the present moment there are people in several parts of the world who would have their lives saved if the "kinderstransport spirit" were to prevail.
There is a film in DVD/Video version of "Into the Arms of Strangers," which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. It is highly recommended, the book and the film complement and enrich each other.

I enjoy reading memoirs because by personalizing a part of history they bring history to life in a way that no text book can."Into the Arms of Strangers" is an example of just such a book. This book details in length the story of one of histories greatest resuces. (At least in terms of the numbers saved from an almost certain death) Before the British entered WWII thousnds of Jewish children were rescued from Germany by the British people and their goverment in an operation known as Kindertransport."Into the Arms of Strangers" tells the inspiring and ocassionaly heartbreaking story of theese children. While they were given a second chance at life in England most would never again see the parents who Heroicaly gave them to strangers in another country. If I have any criticisms of this book (and I do) It would be the way the story was put together. "Into the Arms Of Strangers " follows the stories of about a dozen kindertransport kids and thier families from the early days of the Nazis to present day. Each chapter covers a particualar time frame, for instance September 1st 1939 and tells the story of each child for that time period. then moves on to the next major event in the history of the holocaust.This format may have worked well if the story consisted of two or three kids and thier famalies but it became confusing when so many different stories were being told in the book. I Kept finding myself back tracking to previous pages and chapters just trying to keep the characters straight in my mind. The book would have been better off telling each childs story individually or having a narrower focus such as two or three kids.All in all though this is a book well worth reading and I highly reccomend it for history buffs and those who never heard the stoy of the kindertransport.

This was an illuminating and evocative book. Anyone interested in this topic should also read "Escape Via Siberia" and "The Uprooted" by Dorit Whiteman. Whiteman's books -- which expertly weave gripping personal accounts with historical context -- explore how survivors of the kindertransport and other Holocaust horrors coped with the legacy of their harrowing ordeals as adults. Whiteman is an expert in the field and some of her material was used in the movie, "Into the Arms of Strangers."

"The Complete Pyramids" is a gorgeous book, resplendent with photographs, diagrams and computer-generated images, and serves well as a near-comprehensive reference work on the pyramids of Egypt (that is, _all_ of them, not simply the Giza complex) for the layperson. The writing is less than inspiring but still serviceable, and the presentation will most definitely satisfy the "USA Today"-style at-a-glance needs of many people. For example, Lehner includes a rendered-to-scale figure of all of the pyramids of Egypt in cross-section, to give an idea of the chronology and scope of pyramid-building throughout Egyptian history. As a compendium of the conclusions and currently predominant ideas of modern Egyptology, this book probably has few peers.

Lehner often fails, however, to convey a real sense of the methodology involved in reaching these conclusions. Too often, we are told of the likely functions of specific features of the pyramids or their surrounding complexes without being told of the basis by which Egyptologists assign these functions. One notable exception to this is Lehner's treatment of recent attempts to elucidate the methods by which the pyramids were built. Perhaps this is due to Lehner's direct participation in such projects, but the relative care taken to explain the current state of knowledge regarding ancient Egyptian pyramid-building techniques stands in contrast to the lack of explication given to far too many other subjects. Thus, by comparison Paul Jordan's "Riddles of the Sphinx" is a superior work in this regard, if less focused on the pyramids.

The inclusion of such reasoning is necessary if only because the popular literature is so littered with "alternative" (most often, crank) views in which the pyramids are constructed by aliens or lost "Atlantean" civilizations of greater antiquity than Egypt. It would seem reasonable in such an atmosphere to provide the reader with the rationale for the modern archaeological view in addition to an exposition of it. Along these lines, Robert Bauval's "Orion" hypothesis for the alignment of the Giza pyramids merits a few sentences, but no substantive discussion is given to it. Perhaps my recent reading material has given me a particular bias, but even without having to answer the claims of "alternative" cranks, "The Complete Pyramids" would have benefited from more discussion of method along with the conclusions. Still, this is a fine book, and I recommend it.

I wish I had read this book before going to Giza. The pyramids are to say the least an overwhelming experience. If I would have had this book with me I would have seen much more and understood much better what I was seeing. I'm taking it with me when I go back.

Like its author, this book is completely devoted to the Pyramids of Egypt. The major premise - that the archaeological record bears witness to an evolution of pyramid design, construction and function from beginning to end of the Pyramid Age - is demonstrated brilliantly and completely. It explains without exhausting the religious significance of the conceptual Pyramid Complex, then concentrates on the 'brick and mortar' aspects of its subject. An informative review of explorations at the pyramid sites throughout the ages is equally as interesting as the detailed descriptions of the pyramids themselves that follows in a section fittingly titled "The Whole Pyramid Catalogue". This catalogue, comprising fully half the volume, is a description of each individual Egyptian Pyramid Complex presented (chronologically) with such clarity of detail that it dispels all ambiguity created by several lifetimes of sensationalist and speculative journalism surrounding its subject. In its latter pages the author discusses the role of the Pyramid Complex as administrative center and landlord in later antiquity, and gracefully addresses the more controversial of topics, including the ubiquitous "how did they do it" question, along with his own speculations on some unanswered sociological questions - the size of the work force and logistics. Quite reasoned and well-informed estimates lead him to conclusions that will in their own right prove controversial. One notable unintended consequence of this volume is that many artifacts, presented elsewhere as "Art", assume their appropriate contextual venue and so now hold much more meaning for this reader. The Narmer Palate as declarative stellae in a walled courtyard at Nekhen is one example, the gilded yet austere canopied boudoir of Hetepheres is another. The text is very well written and easily read. Heavily illustrated, the photographs are appropriate, of excellent quality and are well placed; line drawings are used throughout to clarify and supplement photographs. With this volume Dr. Mark Lehner joins the ranks of Egypt's most celebrated archaeologists, and surpasses them all in understanding and presentation of the facts concerning the Pyramids.

Wow, great book. i was very impressed with the way Tregaskis reported the story. He does an excellent job in entertaining the reader while putting forth the facts. Great book for ANYONE of almost ANY AGE.

Read Tregaski's description of Red Mike Edson (paraphrase - the mouth smiles but not the eyes)...his account of the Tenaru River and Bloody Ridge....and marvel how the long road back started. Consider spending a few bucks on a first edition - surprisingly affordable. Then re-read every couple of years.

Richard Tregaskis, a 24-year-old reporter, went ashore with the 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal. He lived with the men, sleeping on the ground and eating the same chow. He remained on that nightmarish piece of coral for 50 days, usually under combat conditions. His retelling of the engagement along the Tenaru is as good or better than other first hand reports. His description of the several days of combat on Edson's Ridge was excellent, as he had moved his tent to that elevated location the morning of the first day. With an eye toward the readers' morale, losses of flights at Henderson Field were not reported as accurately as they could have been. As many as seven aircraft had crashed on take off while he was still on the island. Tregaskis left the island before the major battles on the Matanikau or the desperate fight for Henderson Field, but he had his story. He had seen the boys of democracy turn back the seemingly invincible Japanese Army; he had seen some of our flyers defeat the unstoppable Zeros; he had seen our navy hold their own against the designers of the attack on Pearl Harbor and he hurried home to tell the American public. This book was started aboard a B-24 before he returned home and was an instant best seller. This was a first hand reporting of our first offensive engagement of WW II. A nation hungry for news of the front greeted it eagerly. Not even the casual reader of WW II can bypass this major work, if for no other reason than the place it holds in the history of the war in it's own right.

I enjoyed some of the stories here, but Mark Richard's writing can be extremely tedious. Furthermore, his stories are sometimes too bizarre for my tastes. I love Flannery O'Connor's quirky writing, but this surpasses the oddities of her stories by large margin. These stories are truly poetic, and probably great for lit classes, but too difficult for the normal guy like me. I love "Strays", however, and will continue to work with Richard's stories until I appreciate them more. These stories are very cool, too cool for me. Richard is probably a cool dude.

Mark Richard's work may stand alongside the work of Larry Brown and Barry Hannah as great contemporary Southern literature, but CHARITY proves that Richard should stand next to Styron and Faulkner as one of this century's great American writers. This is an amazing collection that bridges a remarkable collections of emotions, attitudes, worlds...Read it.

these stories are beautiful and sparse and amazing.
and mark richard is very, very COOL. i was lucky enough to be a student of his years ago and yeah. can i write a review of him? he's AMAZING. that little gimp is as good as this book.