One small word can best describe this true-life gritty legal thriller - WOW!

Michael Shea's twenty-five years experience as a trial lawyer is revealed in this first-class true-life legal thriller. The novel stems from the author's experience as a court-appointed attorney in defending Joseph Green Brown who was wrongly sentenced to death, dangling for more than a decade on death row before gaining freedom. What started as a routine "freebie" and a favor, slowly became one of the most interesting cases of Shea's career spanning more than fourteen years and developing a bond of mutual respect between the two men fighting the same cause (the author describes Brown as "a wonderful man who never gave up until justice prevailed.")

The author's intricate and practical knowledge of how the legal system works and how the concept "law" is far akin from the concept "justice" is brought out in clear lucid terms. The book tends to be somewhat descriptive in narration - it is actually a sharp statement of the criminal justice system as it exist today. Reading the book, I felt that whatever be the "theoretical" differences in the legal system of U.S. & this part of the world, one thing remains the same - in the "practical working" side of law - there isn't much difference - the "good old boy" brand of justice is holds good over here also.

A Time to Kill, John Grisham's debut work was based upon a murder case that he defended - though critically acclaimed it was not commercially a success until The Firm came along; Scott Turow's One L, was about his experiences as a first year Harvard Law Student - it became hugely successful only after Presumed Innocent was published - these two books, we are informed are the personal favorites of the author's themselves (Grisham waited until he found his almost look-alike - Matthew McConnaughty before he agreed for making Time To Kill a movie.)

The same I believe is the destiny of The Penalty. The author has poured his heart in, in writing the book - the passion is clearly bought out - and judging by the book, the author has in him the power and skill to pen a dashing legal thriller in the style of The Firm or Presumed Innocent - and I wouldn't be surprised if in a couple of years from now, a blurb quoting - "Shea the next Grisham" appears.

For example, the only help this book give you as far as treating the acoustic of a project studio is to tell you to buy a certain particular brand, RPG, and get 4 of their bass traps, 4 of their absorbant panels and 2 diffusors, and where to place them. No different option is discussed, no alternative....

And when you find out that this option amounts to around $3,000.00, and the author concludes: "this option represents the very minimum defense against the effects of early reflections, the minimum of bass absorption and the minimum of rear-wall diffusion. Much potential improvements remains."....you start wondering about the "budget" he's talking about in the title.

I wish he'd mention the fact that a couch or a love seat make for a great bass trap, that pannels of 703 or 705 fiberglass covered in burlap fabric make much greater absorbants than foam for much cheaper, and that a cluttered shelve makes for a great diffusor....

The rest of the book is filled with mathematical equations and tables and graphs that lack some clear explanations. The book is discouraging at best, boring and not reflective of it's title.

I own a previous edition. I read it very carefully. The book is very useful, if we understand the word. I mean that if you want to build a Recording Studio, fast cheap and easy, read this book. There were serious incongruences in the previous edition I hope to find renewed in this one. For example, the cutoff frequency value, which in the Master Handbook of Acoustics is set to a certain value, in this book has another value! both books have been authored by Mr. Everest. I will try this new edition and more comments will come up. Anyway, buy the book. If you use the recommendations given by Mr. Everest, you will earn money.

please excuse the review i am holding a baby. first the auther is very knowlegable about his subject matter but assumes you are to. The test designs do not cross over as to allow you to hypred his designs with any true concept other then the math and even the math is applied derectly to the specific test design w/ out help on cross over. he gives theroy but leaves out the simple but important questions that would allow one to connect the design elements w/ confendence. it rather ticked me off that he was not able to simply give a step by step summery of the basic elements before or even after the advanced info on modes and at many points left me to wonder if he really knew what to do with the room. he explained and explained, but most was a repeat of what was said in other modes or rooms and never explained why it worked one way for this room or why he did this or that for the other. It left me rereading and rereading for information that was not there. it did however have a wealth of hard to get info on modes and if you happen to be designing a room really close to his examples you are in luck it was just hard to deduce as a novice why he used certain absorbtion elements suc as hanging treatments a certion ways here and it not apply there. example there are many designs of mid band absorbers explained (although do expect to much from the figures/ illustrations which are the entire design) but they dont cross referecce as to why one works better for a certain room and how it relates to the mode and why. this would tell me so much as to the true nature of how to design my room not one of his test designs. sorry i am flying off but i wish this advanced acoustical designer would understand that if its on a budget i dought chips davis is the guy who will be reading it.

I'm a Michael Shea fan, but he isnt at his best trying to work in Lovecraft's style. I thought this one was a little cheesy. If you want Shea, get Nifft or Yana; if you want Lovecraft, get Lovecraft. I guess in the Lovecraft-imitation area August Derleth remains the king ... though Stephen King didn't do too bad with that one story.

this is one book i regret reading with its contrived tale of a shipwrecked sailor in a harem and the stories of the inmates and little or no characterisation. i strongly suggest giviing this book a go by.

Illustrated by six different artists: three black and white illustrators who do okay, one crayon scrawl quality color chapter, one okay colored chapter, and one colored chapter that's cleanly drawn but seems amateurish (art school student - some skill but no flavor). George Herbert's book is an 1890s era (or so) Victorian Erotica peice; which means explicit sex was it's only real interest. The ladies recount their "first times" and "first loves" - and five are Eurpoean dolls. Indeed, it's a selection of women from around the world, not a moorish Harem in itself. And they come across as ordinary women with unusual tales to tell. My main interest was the quality of artwork, and the lower quality of some of it (the colored versions were even amateurish in places) left me wondering if the second edition would be decent - and is probably why I've never seen a repeat of the concept. Besides the limited scope of the subject matter. Rather than grossly graphic, the sex is often staid and somewhat more classically illustrated.

I love baseball. I love to read about a players stats while playing AAA ball, or who led the majors in stolen bases in 1933 (27-Ben Chapman, Yankees)or how many times Ty Cobb won the batting title (12). I don't consider myself a serious student of baseball, but in my leisure time, what there is of it, I enjoy reading about the history of the game and read the stats for myself. I remember Carl Yastrzemski won the triple-crown in 1967. I go back to that year and discover that not only did he lead the AL in average, home runs and RBI (.326, 44, and 121), but that he also led in base hits (189), slugging percentage (.622) and runs scored (112). I guess that would make him a double-triple-crown winner. By the way, Harmon Killebrew was tied with Yaz for home runs.

The 1997 Baseball Almanac arrived at my house last week and I was disappointed. This edition is much smaller than the first one I bought in 1993, although the price is about the same. Its more difficult to read and more cumbersome for someone who just wants to browse. It still has all the same categories of stats, but its not quite as fun to flip through. I may not use it as much as my old one. When the 1999 version comes out, I want to be sure to get the full size edition.