I didn't start out being cynical about politics and politicians. It is something I learned after being let down so many times. I didn't start out being pessimistic about the prospects for freedom. Looking around me---grasping reality---seemed to give me no choice. Then, I read Harry Browne's book, The Great Libertarian Offer. This book is gives me more optimism and hope for me and my children living in a society of peace and freedom than any other book I have ever read. The Great Libertarian Offer solves a riddle: How can the power of focused, well-funded special interest groups be defeated by millions of people who are too busy with daily life to lobby for constitutional government? With the Great Libertarian Offer, it can be done! Without resorting to moral arguments, Harry Browne has convinced me that he is as moral and wise a man as I have ever known. He consistently showed me that initiating force does not solve problems. He consequently has given me a potent tool for analyzing and synthesizing public policy. Whether the libertarian constraint on public policy---it cannot entail the initiation of force---is new to you or is something that you have investigated thoroughly, Harry Browne's book is a gift of fresh insights. His plain-spoken description of The Princples, and his chapters on drug prohibition, foreign policy, schools, crime, and moral posturing (among others) are each well worth the price of this book.

Here is a book that may well change the world. Have you ever read a book that is so good that you immediately bought several copies to give away. I haven't---until I read Harry Browne's The Great Libertarian Offer. I just bought five more copies from Amazon, and expect to buy more later.

"Would you give up your favorite government programs if it meant you never had to pay Income Tax again?"

Harry Browne, the 2000 Libertarian Presidential candidate, outlines his plan to dramatically reduce the size and scope of government in this excellent, interesting, and readable campaign book.

Using a format similar to that of his landmark best-seller, "How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World," Mr. Browne outlines practical proposals on how a Libertarian president would offer "Freedom from Crime," "Freedom from Moral Posturing," "Freedom from Income Taxes" and so much more.

A Libertarian constitutional government could be financed, demonstates Browne, on tarriffs and excise taxes alone, freeing us forever from Income and Social Security taxes.

Mr. Browne also demonstrates how ending the War On Drugs, repealing victimless crimes, and repealing gun control laws would actually reduce crime and end countless civil rights abuses.

He also argues for a strong national DEFense rather than a national OFFense meddling in other countries, dismantling unconstitutional government agencies (the CIA, DEA, FDA, BATF, and so forth) and ending government welfare for individuals, corporations, and of course political parties.

A wonderful update and elaboration on "Why Government Doesn't Work," his 1996 campaign book, Harry Browne's "The Great Libertarian Offer" should appeal to the converted Libertarian and the curious alike.

This book should have special appeal during this election season as more and more Americans become dissatisfied with the candidates offered up by the two major, and increasingly similar, political parties. The Libertarian alternative should be refreshing to those looking beyond the dysfuntional Green and Reform parties for a third choice.

Once again, Harry Browne has outdone himself and produced yet another fine blueprint for restoring freedom and responsibility to our country. Page after page Browne shows the "good intentions" big government bureaucrats have and the dismal results they produce.

Advocating a limited government, bound by the chains of the constitution, Browne shows us how and why we'd be better off with less government intervention. Although many of the same arguments can be found in his 1996 book, "Why Government Doesn't Work", the book is updated with new issues and data that support the arguments he puts forth. This book even includes a budget plan, should he get elected, which I found to be an excellent addition.

All in all, this book should be read by those interested in libertarian ideas and also for those already accustomed to libertarianism to recharge their passion for freedom.

Anyone making a decision for a loved one, or a state or federal institution, would be well served in buying this book. It is insightful and informative. Dr. Gottesfeld ought to know what he is talking about. He is a Professor Emeritus and formerly the Director of Mental Health for NYC's 28 hospitals, and an expert in crisis intervention, abnormal psychology and human development. A wonderful resource. No serious library would be without it.

Dr. Gottesfeld, Professor Emeritus & Director of Mental Health for NYC's Health & Hospital Corporation, and private clinician extraordinaire has written the classic work on this subject. More and more I hear his name associated with this subject nationwide. Having been in charge of NYC's 28 hospitals, he is the most savy expert on this important subject. A book too good to miss!

The very best book on the subject by the highly regarded Dr. Harry Gottesfeld. This book is on our shelves and in constant use. Dr. Gottesfeld, a Professor Emeritus in Psychology also formerly Director of Mental Health for NYC's Health & Hospital Corporation is the most respected clinical psychologist in this area.

I am a college student and I must say that this was a favorite among the books I read as a child, and it is a great book to read to young children, especially at the beginning of their school year. It has many morals, and many lessons that can be learned such as appreciating your teacher, respecting him/her and knowing how to behave in a classroom. It is a great book to use, especially for new teacher and substitute teachers. It has a great plot and children love it!

The kids in sweet Miss Nelson's class are rude and obnoxious, until a mean substitute replaces her. By the time Miss Nelson returns, they have learned to show their appreciation by behaving well. A great moral, certainly, but hardly sugar-coated: the children's misbehavior and the substitute's grouchiness are outrageous and delightful. This book is one of the most engaging I've ever read to my kids(ages 4-7)and a great success with my ADD child who normally has a hard time sitting through a story. It provides a great platform for inferencing and theory of mind work.

As I mentioned in my review of "Stinky Cheeseman and Other Fairly Stupid Tales," I am taking a Children's Lit class in college, which requires me to read a lot of children's books. So, this is a great excuse for me to write more reviews. If you want to make fun of me for liking these books, so be it. I could care less.

"Miss Nelson is Missing" was always a childhood favorite for me. One of my first picture books I ever read, I think. I even remember that my copy came with a record that you could listen along to as you read. Wow, does that bring back memories. I picked this up a few days ago, and found myself enjoying it as much as I did when I was little, if not more.

This is a book about a sweet and nice teacher who has one of the most terrible classes ever. Everyone is mean and nobody ever listens to her. Miss Nelson knows that something has to be done.

One day, when she doesn't arrive to class, the children are so happy. They think they have driven her away forever. They are all smiles and grins.....until....

They meet Miss. Viola Swamp, an ugly and mean teacher dressed in black and white makeup. She puts them to work, yells at them, and makes them do tons and TONS of homework. Desperate and worried, the children turn to a detective in order to solve the whereabouts of Miss Nelson.

This book is incredible. Fun for all ages, especially the young ones. It's fun and gives a good moral lesson at the same time. It has great writing and very cool pictures. The reading level is pretty easy. Nothing too mind-bending behind it.

I recommend "Miss Nelson is Missing!" to ANYONE! Yes, I don't care how old you are. You're never too old to enjoy a good children's book, and I'm starting to re-discover that. Check this one out whenever you can. And if you have kids, I can almost promise you that this will be a favorite.

When I picked up Eric Harry's "Arc Light", I expected something that would merely keep my mind occupied at odd moments. I figured I'd read this kind of stuff before. Just don't bore me too much. Well, I ended up structuring my days around reading it! It's the kind of book that, when I'm only one-third through it, I know is a rare gem I'll have trouble finding again. It's a bitterweet experience, enjoying a book so much that you hate to finish it! I was constantly surprised as plot twists piled upon plot twists. I often came to utter to myself, "Oh, WOW!", which is not something I get to do very often. Read this book if you'd like a refreshing surprise and a real page-turner

This is one of the most intense, entertaining books I have ever read. From the very start you are drawn into a maelstrom of violence and intrigue. "Arc Light" isn't non-stop combat though, it is also a very smart thriller. Harry does a superb job of painting the political side of war, and the effect it has a real people. By way of comparison, this book ranks beside "Red Storm Rising" as one of the great techno-thrillers of all time.

Unfortunately, it is no longer in print, but if you can get your hands on a copy, don't hesitate, BUY IT!

This excellent novel by Eric L. Harry is one of the finest and most exciting books I have ever read.

The book details the events of WW3 in minute detail. The author has obviously conducted meticulous research into both the circumstances of the novel and the large amount of military equipment and terms used throughout the book.

The author relates, with chilling realism, the events which caused the conflict, Russia being forced to deploy nuclear weapons against a surgeing Chinese army and by accidant, missiles raining down on the United States.

The book is also extremely well written, with a fast paced style which has the reader gripped to the page. Also, the characters Mr Harry creates are entirley realistic, people which the reader can relate to.

In conclusion, this book is an extremley well written, thrilling, realistic and successful Third World War novel which I would recommend to absolutley anyone, especially those interested in warfare and state of the art military equipment.

This book has all the memory techniques that are typically taught in memory courses and other memory books. Even if they are sometimes introduced by other names, all of the techniques are variants and combinations of word-substitution (mostly used for foreign words, but also people's names and words that can't easily be pictured), link, peg, loci (sometimes called Roman Room technique) and phonetic (letter for number substitution) systems. The book is mostly re-hashed information that has been presented earlier (even by Lorayne himself), but the writing style makes it a book worth keeping.

The real strength of this book over others of its kind is the dialog between Lucas and Lorayne. They are fun to read and almost never get boring. There are anecdotes to at the beginning of most chapters and spread throughout the book.

Personally, I found Kenneth Higbee's "Your Memory" a better book, it's more complete a reference and gives much more of the why of memory rather than just the how of remembering. Depending on your needs, you might like this book more, it's got more examples on how to use the systems it introduces and is much lighter and a little less dry, although Higbee's book is very readable.

As with every other memory book, the techniques take time to learn and take considerable effort, but work very well. For a book on memory techniques, this book doesn't dissapoint.

This book was an absolute joy to read. The book contains information on mnemonics, pegs, etc. This information is not particularly new, or unique to this book. But I've read other books on the subject and have not gotten as much use from it as I have this book.

In the first few chapters, you'll already begin to memorize things that you thought couldn't be memorized. I still remember a practice list of random objects in the first couple chapters, with no review or real thought about it since I purchased it back about 2 or 3 years ago (I can't remember when I purchased it, but can still remember the list - ironic, no?).

As much as I enjoyed this book and think how much it has helped me...this book did not provide me with solutions to memory issues such as "where I placed my keys" or "where I parked the car". However, I have memorized Pi to over 100 digits now using the techniques of this book.

Overall, this was a great book, as well as an enjoyable read. For memory books of it's genre, I highly recommend it.

It's a fantastic book that will help you instantly to memorize all 50 states in alphabetical order or any number of items on a shopping list (even two days later). But be prepared to spend some time and effort until you will be able to make the system work for you for some "real-life" challenges like giving a speech, improving reading abilities, or memorize difficult vocabularies of a foreign language. If you make the decision to do so, the techniques described will add a lot of value in all areas of your life, especially for those who suffer from a poor memory. The text and the dialogues are written nicely, so it is actually fun to read. Also, the chapters are categorized into specific abilities, like name remembering, again, speeches, etc., which makes it easy to pick your own selection without reading the entire book.

In preparing our list of Christmas books to share with others, we had to search far and wide on amazon to find this particular book, a paperback edition of the classic Night Before Christmas.

This is the book I've used for years when reading this story to my own children, passing on Tasha Tudor and other illustrators. Why?

Although we can find the same poem and pay a lot more, with award winning illustrators, the illustrations provided by Douglas Gorsline are surely the best. They are quite colorful, and offer details little children love looking into...cats lie sleepily on the window sill, we see an overview of the town, the presents spilling from the open sack are intriguing and plentiful, and Jolly St. Nick is -- well, quite Jolly (as you can see by looking at the cover!)

The story is an "abridged version" - I'm not sure about other parents, but we read this on Christmas Eve, and we only have so much time and energy. Everything we remember from the classic poem by Clement Clarke Moore is in this version.

(From "'Twas the Night Before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse" to "He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,"HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!" In between we have everything, from the names of the eight tiny reindeer, to a belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly, including dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky".

In other words, don't be scared off by 'abridged'!)

Perhaps a hardcover edition might be more appropriate if you're giving a gift (unless you're giving to more than one child), but this book is one of the best offers we've found!

A classic done simply and inexpensively!

I discovered this book 31 years ago, for my daughter and it is still loved by all the family. The illustrations are wonderful, warm, charming and delightful and bring a special meaning to the story. We still read it to all the young children on Christmas Eve and for adults we read the story and pass a grab bag gift every time the word THE is mentioned. It would not be Christmas without this book. It is magical.

We have an inexpensive paperback version (see our reviews) of this classic poem, and we said that's enough for us. That was before we looked through this beautifully illustrated (by Bruce Whatley) edition of The Night Before Christmas.

The lyrics are the same, from book to book, but the fanciful illustrations in this one are enough to engage adults and children as they read this book together.

The perfect gift for any family whose Christmas tradition includes reading this classic!

Simon Wiesenthal's book, The Sunflower, is a true life story of a Jew called to the bedside of a dying Nazi to hear the Nazi's life story. The Nazi then asks the Jew, Wiesenthal, to forgive him. Wiesenthal leaves in silence, but poses to you the same question: In his position, would you have forgiven the Nazi? A very thought-provoking book, The Sunflower makes the reader ponder for hours over the meaning of right and wrong, as well as giving a vivid picture of a Jew's life during the Holocaust. An excellent read.

The Sunflower tells the story of a dying Nazi soldier who seeks out Simon Wiesenthal for forgiveness for his crimes against the Jews so he can die in peace. The story is based on fact from Wiesenthals life. Many famous people wrote essays, which are printed in the back of the book, arguing wether to forgive him or not. But the true value of the book lies in the question what you would do if you were in the same situation.

Simon Wiesenthal authored a first rate book, one that should be read by everyone the world over, for it deals with problems that all societies struggle with in trying to achieve peace: forgiveness, justice, and grace. To what extent are we enabled to offer forgiveness on behalf of another, especially when the crimes committed are of almost unspeakable atrocity? Wiesenthal's story is gripping, moving, and haunting, a true encounter that provokes repeated pondering and contemplation. I don't have the 1997 revised version of the book containing the responses of 46 people in a symposium discussion, but I can say that in the original 32 responses, I read very few that contained a cogency and depth equal to that of Wiesenthal's story. While a handful were good, most were evasive. I therefore found the second half of the book to be a disappointment. THE SUNFLOWER, though, is worth getting just to read Wiesenthal's treatment, which is first rate. Philip Yancey also offers some thoughtful comments in a chapter from his book of essays entitled I WAS JUST WONDERING (beginning on page 70 under the title "A Haunting Deathbed Confession".)

"There is little to be satisfied in reading this book"?? I couldn't disagree more. Bleak House left a profound impression on me, and was so utterly satisfying a reading experience that I wanted it never to end. I've read it twice over the years and look forward to reading it again. Definitely my favorite novel.

I don't know what the previous reviewer's demands are when reading a novel, but mine are these: the story must create its world - whatever and wherever that world might be - and make me BELIEVE it. If the novelist cannot create that world in my mind, and convince me of its truths, they've wasted my time (style doesn't matter - it can be clean and spare like Orwell or verbose like Dickens, because any style can work in the hands of someone who knows how to use it). Many novels fail this test, but Bleak House is not one of them.

Bleak House succeeds in creating a wonderfully dark and complex spider web of a world. On the surface it's unfamiliar: Victorian London and the court of Chancery - obviously no one alive today knows that world first hand. And yet as you read it you know it to be real: the deviousness, the longing, the secrets, the bureaucracy, the overblown egos, the unfairness of it all. Wait a minute... could that be because all those things still exist today?

But it's not all doom and gloom. It also has Dickens's many shades of humor: silliness, word play, comic dialogue, preposterous characters with mocking names, and of course a constant satirical edge. It also has anger and passion and tenderness.

I will grant one thing: if you don't love reading enough to get into the flow of Dickens's sentences, you'll probably feel like the previous reviewer that "...it goes on and on, in interminable detail and description...". It's a different dance rhythm folks, but well worth getting used to. If you have to, work your way up to it. Don't start with a biggie like Bleak House, start with one of his wonderful short pieces such as A Christmas Carol.

Dickens was a gifted storyteller and Bleak House is his masterpiece. If you love to dive into a book, read and enjoy this gem!

This is the second book by Dickens I have read so far, but it will not be the last. "Bleak House" is long, tightly plotted, wonderfully descriptive, and full of memorable characters. Dickens has written a vast story centered on the Jarndyce inheritance, and masterly manages the switches between third person omniscient narrator and first person limited narrator. His main character Esther never quite convinces me of her all-around goodness, but the novel is so well-written that I just took Esther as she was described and ran along with the story. In this book a poor boy (Jo) will be literally chased from places of refuge and thus provide Dickens with one of his most powerful ways to indict a system that was particularly cruel to children. Mr. Skimpole, pretending not to be interested in money; Mr. Jarndyce, generous and good; Richard, stupid and blind; the memorable Dedlocks, and My Lady Dedlock's secret being uncovered by the sinister Mr. Tulkinghorn; Mrs. Jellyby and her telescopic philanthropy; the Ironmaster described in Chapter 28, presenting quite a different view of industralization than that shown by Dickens in his next work, "Hard Times." Here is a veritable cosmos of people, neighbors, friends, enemies, lovers, rivals, sinners, and saints, and Dickens proves himself a true master at describing their lives and the environment they dwell in. There are landmark chapters: Chapter One must be the best description of a dismal city under attack by dismal weather and tightly tied by perfectly dismal laws, where the Lord Chancellor sits eternally in Lincoln's Inn Hall. Chapter 32 has one of the eeriest scenes ever written, with suspicious smoke, greasy and reeking, as a prelude to a grisly discovery. Chapter 47 is when Jo cannot "move along" anymore. This Norton Critical is perhaps the best edition of "Bleak House" so far: the footnotes help a lot, and the two Introductions are key to understanding the Law system at the time the action takes place, plus Dickens' interest in this particular topic. To round everything off, read also the criticism of our contemporaries, as well as that of Dickens' time. "Bleak House" is a long, complex novel that opens a window for us to another world. It is never boring and, appearances to the contrary, is not bleak. Enjoy.

After years without picking up a novel by Dickens (memories of starchy classes at school), I decided to plunge into "Bleak House", a novel that had been sitting on my bookshelf for about ten years, waiting to be read. Although I found it heavy going at first, mainly because the style is so unfamiliar to modern readers, after about ten pages I was swept up and carried off, unable to put the hefty tome down until I had finished it. This book is a definite classic. The sheer scope of the tale, the wit of the satire (which could still be applied to many legal proceedings today) and the believable characters gripped me up until the magnificent conclusion. One particularly striking thing is the "cinematic" aspect of certain chapters as they switch between different angles, building up to a pitch that leaves the reader breathless. I can't recommend "Bleak House" too highly. And I won't wait so long before reading more Dickens novels.

I'm sure by now that everyone has heard about the Harry Potter book series. I started reading them when a friend pointed them out in 1999. I began reading, a little skeptical about these children's books but kept reading them. I was absolutely hooked. Let me explain.

In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, orphan Harry Potter lives with his evil aunt, uncle and cousin, Dudley, a real jerk. Harry lives in a tiny cupboard under the stairs. But all that changes when an owl delivers a letter inviting Harry to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When arriving, Harry finds out that he has a fascinating history and a great destiny waiting for him there, if he can survive the encounter.

In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry recives a warning from an elf not to go back to Hogwarts because of terrible events to happen. Harry manages to get back to Hogwarts. The events happen suddenly when Hogwarts students are turned to stone, with a message saying that the Chamber of Secrets is open again. Who could've opened it? Could it have been Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever, Hagrid, whose past is finally told or Harry Potter himself?

In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry returns for his third year of Hogwarts School. But now, he must face Sirius Black, the person possibly responsible for his parents death and servant of the Dark Lord Voldemort. But there could be a traitor in the midst.

The Harry Potter series is definitely enjoyable. Go out and read them.

I have read three Harry Potter books so far.When I started the first one I thought I probably wouldn't even finish it,I wasn't very interested then.Now,I can't wait to get the next one.They sort of bring you into to this whole new world.It's incredible.I can just lose myself in the book,dreaming that I'm actually watching it all happen in real life.J.K Rowling has a great talent to be able to do that.The plot is also good,and that is another thing I look for.I get extremely dissapointed when the plot is the same,and in the books they are never the same.I have actually found people older than the age of 16 who have read these books,and are interested in the movie.Which suprised me,seeing as how I thought only younger childern would read them.I didn't think that older people would have any interest in them at all.I may be very generous in giving it a five star,but that was only because I liked it very much.I am going to see the movie this weekend.Hopefully the author will right more,and I think I read somewhere online that there was to be a fifth book.Now,other people may not share my opinion,and I am sorry that they don't.But the pictures J.K Rowling's words paint in my head are are extremely vivid.Thank you for taking time out to read this,and if you haven't already read the books.Then I hope this will encourage you to do so.

I just started to read the Harry Potter books.They are wonderful going through the tells of Hogwarts.If you like wizards abd witches on flying broomsticks, this book is right for you.But at my school Harry Potter books are banned, because it involves witch craft and stuff.I go to a privite school so thats a big deal to them,It's also banned from the badwords.Like no kid has heard them all before anyway.But anyway, I suggest the Harry Potter Books to anyone.

After sober reflection, I state my conviction that, if I lived the length of a dozen lives, I should never again be the spectator of such an amazing,
thrilling and magnificent finish to an Open championship.
-Bernard Darwin (1876-1961), The Times of London

Mark Frost has already proven himself a terrific writer, with such television series as the great Hill Street Blues and the innovative Twin Peaks to his credit,
and a few successful novels, including the excellent Sherlock Holmes homage, The List of Seven>, and a sequel, The Six Messiahs. But I don't know that
anything can have prepared even his fans for this book, which, though one must have some reservations about its form, is quite simply one of the best golf
books ever written.

To begin with, Mr. Frost has chosen his topic wisely. Harry Vardon (1870-1937) and Francis Ouimet (1893-1967)--both of whom came from working
class families, had difficult relationships with their fathers, and learned to golf as boys at the local courses where they caddied, Ouimet in Massachusetts, Vardon some twenty-plus years earlier on
the Isle of Jersey--are thoroughly compelling heroes. In 1913 their similar stories converged at The Country Club, in Brookline, MA--the very club at which Francis had caddied--in the United
States Open. Harry Vardon was at that time probably the best golfer in the world and in previous visits to America had been instrumental in marketing the game here. But it was to be the young
amateur Francis Ouimet's playoff victory over the professional Vardon and countryman Ted Ray that, or so Mr. Frost argues, gave birth to the modern golf era in America.

The book starts with extended biographical sketches of the two men and the events that brought them to the tee for their face-off. Numerous other characters are on hand to lend color--two of
whom stand out, and will be the star-making roles in the inevitable movie: the dashing young American professional Walter Hagen (golf's eventual answer to Babe Ruth) and Eddie Lowery,
Ouimet's preternaturally self-assured ten year old caddie. Digressions inform us about changes in rules and equipment, the professionalization of the sport, and its popularization. But it is the
tournament itself that forms the bulk of the book, particularly the final day, the Monday playoff, when the little known twenty year old, playing before large and enthusiastic hometown galleries, on a
course across the street from his own house, had to fend off two of the world's best.

Mr. Frost's prose gets a tad purplish at times, but personally I thought that gave it the feel, of old time sportswriting. Besides, the story is so improbable that the reality seems like a clich?, so why not
write it like a sports movie? More troubling is that Mr. Frost has chosen to provide dialogue and to ascribe thoughts and feelings to the various players even though he has had to create some of it
himself, without ever differentiating which is which. Although it serves his purposes as a storyteller well, fleshing out the characters and letting us see them interact "naturally" with one another, it
actually becomes distracting because you can't help but wondering which thoughts and words come from people's memoirs and contemporaneous accounts of the event (which are apparently
sufficiently extensive so that much of what's here is genuine) and which are purely made up. It also--though we've seen experiments of this kind in recent years, like Edmund Morris's
Dutch--seems more than a little unfair to attribute imagined words and emotions to real people who don't have an opportunity to dispute or confirm them. It would, I think, have been preferable to
simply call the book a novelization, in the tradition of Michael Sharaa's Pulitzer Prize-winning account of Gettysburg, The Killer Angels. At the very least, there should be footnotes to indicate where
truth ends and fiction begins. From an author or publisher's point of view there may be reasons not to do these things--just in terms of the sales and marketing of novels vs. nonfiction and reader
dislike of footnotes--but from a standpoint of intellectual rigor it's somewhat disconcerting.

Once you get past these considerations--and take my word for it, the writing and the story are so exciting that you will get past any questions--you're in for an unbelievably thrilling tale. It's
especially recommended for golf fans, who will find the tangential stuff about the clubs and balls they used just as interesting as the championship, but it should really appeal to everyone, in much the
same way that Seabiscuit reached past horse race fans to a wide audience. It's a marvelous read and seems certain to make for a great movie.

Grade: (A+)

I grew up caddying at Wollaston Golf Course. We often heard about the legend of Francis Ouimet and the 1913 US Open. This books bring to life the life & times of not only Francis but also Harry Vardon and the many other golfers who competed in that historic tournament. I saw and heard much about Francis while working at the US Open in 1963. I saw his house across the street from the 17th green and this book brings us back to those days growing up on Clyde Street. The book is truly inspiring in the same category as the movie, Chariots of Fire. I hope Mr. Frost goes on to write similar books. We owe much to Francis as he was a man for the ages, a gentleman, a decent & compassionate person who on one fateful week shook the sporting world.

This is a very well written history of players in the 1913 US Open. I enjoyed the history behind each player and the turns their careers made after the historic win by Ouimet. The author does an excellent job of describing the play of the qualifying rounds and the actual tournament. The descriptions of the shots and the play of significant players was like being there. I did not understand or appreciate the significance of the 1913 US Open until I read this book. The history of the English golfers and their golf makes one wish we could meet them today (Harry Vardon and Ted Ray). The golf rules of 1913 also are very well outlined and illustrate the style of play during that time in history. This book is highly recommended to anyone interested in the game of golf and I feel it helps one appreciate the test that golf has each time we step on the course. Wonderful book and a very well written true story!