This book was just what I needed. I am a new teacher in Sunday school and learned so much from this book. This book is one you will want to keep and read multiple times. I would recommend this book for anyone who is teaching children.

Fighting For Public Justice: Cases And Trial Lawyers That Made A Difference is an impressive compendium describing the attorneys and cases that won, or were finalists, for the annual Trial Lawyer of the Year Award, which is presented to those attorneys who have made the greatest contribution to the public interest within the last year by trying or settling a precedent-setting case. Filled with stories of lawyers do not go to court merely for money or self-interest, but to protect and defend the weak and the indigent, Fighting For Public Justice is engaging, compelling, and highly recommended reading in the field of law and social justice.

Doctor Eric Chevlen and attorney Wesley Smith have teamed up to write this fast moving and fascinating book about pain and its relief. From cancer pain to headaches, from fibromyalgia to sickle cell crisis, from shingles to multiple sclerosis, Power over Pain covers it. Chevlen and Smith translate into everyday language the complexities of a vast array of treatments -- long-acting opioids, everyday nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories, sophisticated spinal infusion pumps, surgical procedures, even therapeutic radio nucleotides and a host of other treatments. Facing the problem of pain squarely, they discuss the side effects as well as the advantages of the many treatments available. Their writing is not only comprehensible; it is both accurate and interesting.

Along with providing knowledge needed to gain power over pain, Chevlen and Smith convey a message of compassion and confidence. For those with a life threatening illness, the message is clear: no one needs to die in unrelieved suffering. For those with less threatening, but equally painful conditions, there is also help. This is a book about the wonderful help available and how to go about getting it.

N. Gregory Hamilton, M.D.
Physicians for Compassionate Care

It is time to take a new and unprejudiced look at the parachurch and its relationship to church and denomination. This book makes a great contribution to this effort!

North America is estimated to have more than 350,000 congregations. Alongside these congregations, there are estimated to be as many as 100,000 parachurch organizations.

This book talks about the dramatic reshaping of the North American religious world that is happening through an ever increasing and ever growing collection of parachurch organizations. This is the "only book to look at the parachurch movement as a whole and describe what it is, where it came from, how it operates, who supports it, and what its future is likely to be." [xiv]

The research that led to this book uncovers the movement's roots and clarifies the boundaries of the parachurch. The book is divided into four sections: What is the parachurch and why is it thriving? Who makes up the parachurch? How can the parachurch enlarge its impact? Where is the parachurch headed?

An increasing percentage of services bought or used by congregations will come from the parachurch world rather than the denominational world. Denominations may actually broker many of these parachurch services. However, congregations are also willing to go directly to parachurch organizations to receive desired services. This book will either open up your eyes to this reality, or confirm what you have already knew about this reality.

This is one of my favorite books I've read in recent years. It opens your eyes to the horrible tactics used by corporate lawyers to deny victims their full day in court. Also, Nader and Smith present bulletproof arguments against tort reform. You will learn a TON by reading this.

As a law student, I have to say that this should be on every law students "must-read" list! Nader and Smith clearly describe the hardball ruthless tactics used by today's corporate lawyers. This is not the kind of stuff they teach you in law school!

It took real guts and courage to expose the unethical tactics used by too many lawyers today, and I'm grateful that they did so. Highly recommended.

Beware of the multinational corporations. Not only do they stick it to the taxpayers in forms of bailouts, tax "incentives", and other similar accounts recievable, they are quite willing to stick it to citizens in court and screw up the meaning of the word "due process" in America and the world. A sad commentary on our justice system but a MUST READ.

Wesley Smith offers a chilling survey of the current state of bioethics, a field which is dominated by the utilitarian calculus. In that calculus, human beings are reduced to instruments which register pleasure and pain. The game of the calculus is to maximize the pleasure and minimize the pain. It is a game that inevitably leads us to devalue lives that are difficult.

Smith's book surveys the weaknesses of this approach to medicine as it relates to the dying and the handicapped. He traces out the slide from a justifiable desire to not artificially prolong the dying process through heroic intervention towards a world wherein doctors and bioethicists can choose to dehyrdate a dying woman against her wishes. As the economic pressures in the new world of HMO's mount, one can imagine that such scenes will only become more common.

The weakness in Smith's book is his failure to address the very hard issue of how to allocate scarce medical resources. One may rightfully deplore the spread of utilitarianism as the criteria for making these decisions, but until the humanitarian approach develops a way of measuring the trade-offs involved in medical care, the utilitarian approach cannot be dismissed entirely.

Smith points to, but does not develop, the issue of how our understanding of life and death and suffering is altered by the utilitarian calculus. Surely life is more than the sum of our pleasures and pains. The tragedy of the dominance of utilitarianism is that it leads us to place our pleasure and pain ahead of ourselves. Somehow our humanity is lost in the process.

Smith has written an important book that raises issues that can only become more urgent in the coming decades.

Euthanasia and physician assisted suicide are highly emotional issues. Often both sides a bit shrill in pleading their case. Smith offers a reasonable accounting of the arguments for standing against the "Culture of Death" and a chilling warning about how that culture is slowly insinuating it self into everyday life.

While he does give many human accounts of the problem he maintains a lawyers clear course to the facts and argues his case well. So well in fact that his work seems to be a primary target of the pro-PAS legions. The terms "culture of death" and "slippery slope" are often used in a sneering manner to discount those who do not believe as they do. To me this says they are very afraid of what he has to say. That would say volumes about the strength of his argument.

I'd also recommend his "Forced Exit" and "Power over Pain" co-written with Eric M. Chevlen MD. (one Hell of a resource for anyone who deals with pain issues professionally or personally). Smith is a very readable writer and obviously has done his homework on the subject.

Folks the problem is real, TAKE MY WORD FOR IT. As a friend recently pointed out even if we are not currently elderly or disabled we are almost all headed that direction. Take the time to educate yourself rather than to just react. This book is one of the best places to start.

The assault on medical ethics in America received argument in a title that shows how a new generation of physicians and 'bioethicists' threaten patient welfare. From new thinking on comas and death to cases for organ harvesting from the disabled and terminally ill, Wesley Smith's Culture Of Death provides a survey of new, dangerous trends in medical ethics.

It's hard to rate an anthology. My approach is to rate each individual story. I came out with a ranking of 3.4705882352941176470588235294118. But I find humans have trouble with too much precision, so I'll round it to 3.

Some of the stories are less than equal, as you find in any anthology. I'm not quite sure why Ribbon for Rosie, the story of 7 of 9's trip to the past, won the grand prize. It doesn't seem as we well written, but perhaps because it suffers from now being outside of canon because of STV episodes after '99, when the book was written. Similarly, the DS9 episodes are both pretty thick and difficult to get into- which is a shame, since DS9 has a lot of promise, such as stories about the completely unexplored Gamma quadrant, that was never explored in the series. And while it was nice to see Dr. Taylor again from TVH, the TOS episodes start the book off a bit slow. And Calculated Risk reminds me why Dr. Pulaski left the series, and why there aren't more stories about her.

But on the very positive side, I Am Klingon finally provides a possible answer to that nagging question- where did those foreheads come from? Rand even does am amazing job of tying in all the various episodes that have skirted around this issue, in TOS, TNG, and DS9, as well as providing one answer to what actually happened between Deanna and Worf. One story finally gets to that nagging question- if Wesley was studying with the Traveler in a Native American colony under the Cardassians, doesn't he then become a technical member of the Dominion, and if so, why isn't he helping in the war against the Dominion? And two excellent time travel stories get to some of those questions of, if there is a Department of Temporal Investigations, fixing temporal incursions, how come there are still temporal incursions that have never been fixed? Though the book as a whole isn't as highly rated, I'd definitely recommend it for these hints at possible paradoxi with Star Trek.

And then there are the stories that touched me emotionally. I Am Become Death is a haunting look at Data's life, pre-STN- one with that added twist that can make you cry. I personally very appreciated two STV stories: Touched, for it's etic anthropological look from the perspective of the other, and The Healing Arts, for stressing the importance of empathy, and interpathy, in healing. Reciprocity is TNG story about *very* long wormholes, that is filled with poignancy and a feeling that, truly, All Good Things...

Strange New Worlds II impressed me very much with the quality of the short stories written by Star Trek fans. Some stories continue plots from prior series; a Voyager story is a follow-up to an original series show, while another follows one from The Next Generation. Dr. McCoy makes an appearance in a Next Gen story and a Voyager story, while Chakotay and the EMH both appear in Next Gen stories. Fans of Deep Space Nine will be disappointed, as neither of the stories ostensibly from that series really deals with any of the characters. Only Sisko & Odo are even mentioned. Reg Barclay makes two appearances; so do the Time Cops Dulmer & Lucsly. Lt. Saavik, Dr. Pulaski, & Carol Marcus also appear. To me the best story was Triptych, the second prize winner. A Ribbon for Rosie & I Am Klingon (first & third respectively) are also outstanding. I would recommend this book for any Star Trek fan. It is much more fun to read than Dyson Sphere!

Strange New Worlds II is the second book of fan written Star Trek short stories and there is something for every fan in this one. I found all the stories to be entertaining . One of my favorites was 'Triptych' which concerns the episode "City on the Edge of Forever" The story 'Doctors Three' was a wonderful tale that was appreciated by me as an honor to the late Deforest Kelly. Klingon fans will love 'I am Klingon'. Deep Space Nine only had two entries both being somewhat unusual in presentation. Hopefully there will be more Deep Space Nine stories next year. Though 'A Ribbon of Rosie' was one of my least favorite stories it is a must read if you are a 7 of 9 fan. It provides insight into a young Anika Hansen. I found the style of the story made it a bit difficult to follow so I recommend re-reading 'Rosie' . Strange New Worlds II is a must read for any Star Trek fan.

There is one genuinely exciting story in this book: the third prize winner, "Whatever You Do, Don't Read This story". Most of the other stories were either dull re-hashes of episodes (or briefly mentioned but unscreened incidents) from alternative view-points, or short and embarrassingly melodramatic vignettes. There were occasional points of interest: "Gift of the Mourners" contained an alien culture that was left without being rescued and enlightened by the Universal All American values of the USS Voyager. "Out of the Box, Thinking" was a plot-based story, which, after the gluey sentiment of several preceding stories, had a welcome vigour. "One of Forty-Seven" was an exciting display of imagery, but, as with many of the stories, petered out. Of course, this may be a flaw inherent to the rules of the competition, in which no major changes may be made to the Star Trek status quo. I know the talent is out there. I read fan fic. So why is this collection so unimpressive? Then again, the choice of the asinine "If I Lose Thee..." as the first prize winner makes me less than trusting of the editors' judgement. Of the two stars, one is for "Whatever You Do, Don't Read This Story".

This is the third installment of the on going series that the fans of TREK submit stories for publication. Strange New Worlds III is a good look into the talent of some of the fans and what their preception of the STAR TREK universe to be.

This volume contains 20 short stories and one is written in Klingon. The stories vary as to genre and are well written. As with other short stories, these help fill in some of the gaps to the story lines in films and televison series. And I must say that some are very inventive to say the least.

All in all, this collection of short stories is well worth your time in reading, as they are engaging, entertaining, and insightful. The fans know what they like to read and some talented fans know what to write. It is heart-warming to see new talent continue the dream of Gene Roddenberry. As long as there is fan involvement the dream will continue to grow and flurish.

Read this anthology and see the future writers of TREK evolve as they direct the course of TREK to new paths and fill in the gaps along the way. What an interesting future evolving on these pages, not only the storylines, but the grow to the authors themselves.

They say you should never judge a book by its cover and, boy is that the truth with this book. I had bought this book so I could learn the rules of the writing contest but for six months I never bothered to read it. It looked, on the outside, very campy and silly. I didn't want to admit to anyone that I would read such a book. Recently, however, I was home alone and bored. I had nothing new to read, so I took a look.

This book was great! A lot of credit must be given the editors who went through, they say, 10,000 submissions to come up with this book, the best of the lot. Star Trek III, Strange New Worlds, is broken into four parts to reflect the four different shows. From Star Trek to Voyager, we are treated to stories featuring all of our favorite characters.

I was most surprised by how consistently good the stories were. While there were one or two flops, most of the tales here are very interesting. About half of them were insights into stories we have already seen. So, for example, in the movie "First Contact" Lt. Hawk died after becoming a Borg. What really happened to him? Now we know. The other stories were totally originally.

My favorite stories were found in the Generations and Deep Space Nine Section. I especially liked the return of Mr. Barclay and Mr. Moriarty. My only real complaint, a small one, was my strong disagreement with the stories awarded 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes. The second place winner was great. The other two were not as good or original as many of the great finds in this book. Still, since most of the stories were so good, I can see how the editors could have made this mistake. "Strange New Worlds," misnamed since it is really about returning old familiar ones, is a fun read.

Star Trek Strange New Worlds is excellent escapism, a majority the stories are well written and you can polish off 1 or 2 in any "before bedtime reading secession"

One of the things that I really enjoyed about this book is that you will find that fan written fiction will generally delve in to areas that "professional authors" won't go, or the fact that these are short stories, wouldn't be substantial enough to create a novel from and therefore not worth the effort. The most outstanding stories in this book fall in to that category.

You get quite a few stories of "Let's mix Kirk, Picard and any other character we can think of from different Trek shows", but they are done entertainingly and not nearly as geeky as it could be, if authors of lesser ability attempted it.

With any Star Trek book, you get the arguments of "that's not cannon" and of course Paramount has steadfastly stood by the claim that anything that happens in Star Trek books has nothing to do or add to official Trek lore. With that in mind some of the authors stories tackle subjects such as "solving the Kobiashi Maru scenario" or "Q with Kirk and Janeway"

All in all a good read, I would recommend it if you have read any other Star Trek books, but might not if you are new to reading Trek material.

BEWARE OF THE SPOLIERS!

Well, we get a lot of stories from the Trek universe. My favortie are "The Best Tools" (ST:DS9) in which alien
bets a no-win program and "Our Million Years" (Spec.) which
is so oddball that even I mention I name in it, I spoil you. Every body who's is a Trekkie would think they died and went to
heaven!

The sixth annual anthology of Star Trek short stories written by the fans themselves proves to be a joyful project again. This year the editors have again put together a wonderful collection of adventures spanding the generations of Star Trek.

Captain Kirk and his crew were honored by six selections including the Third Prize winner "Whales Weep Not." This was a well-written piece about the natural investigation of the missing Gillian Taylor following her trip to the future ending the fourth feature film. I also have to throw my two cents in for TG Theodore's story and the best title in the book, "Bum Radish: Five Spins on a Turquoise Reindeer."

Star Trek: The New Generation has four stories. The Second Prize winner is nice piece titled the "The Soft Room." It leaves you wondering how things will be resolved as you continue to read on.

Although no prizes where give in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine group of stories, the three pieces include a wonderful look at Nog's encounter with the Boothby and the Kobayashi Maru. Shawn Michael Scott shows a surprisingly tight grip on the character and presents a growing-up story like a professional.

With the return to Earth of the U.S.S. Voyager, the dominant entries in the Star Trek: Voyager group dealt with the homecomings. One of my personal favorite stories was "Widow's Walk." Not all reunions are joyful occasions and this look into the recovery of Joe Cary's widow pulls at the heart.

The latest installment of the Star Trek world-Enterprise-boasts three selections. No winners in this group but a cute little piece demonstrating Commander Tucker's early high school days was well worth the read.

The Grand Prize winner forced a new grouping to be added to the categories. The Speculations section include stories that extend beyond the shows and demonstrate excellence in writing. Both stories here are wonderful but I do not personally agree with the selection of "Our Million-Year Mission" as the Grand Prize winner. It is a great story but I found other contributions more memorable. "The Beginning," the other story in this group, shows the creation of a group we all love to hate from a very unique perspective.

These twenty-three fans have added their individual view to a world they undoubtedly love and every Star Trek fan would be amiss if they did not partake in the strange new worlds of this collection.

Wesley J. Smith has written a book about an admittedly emotional and divisive issue. The book fails because he lacks any form of objectivity, his writing lacks any sort of balance, and at times becomes so trite, reading becomes painful. "Forced Exit", fails at the very beginning when the author shares a personal experience of having lost a friend who chose to take her own life. The experience was clearly a galvanizing event for him, and it undercuts his ability to present a case that is worth reading.

I would guess that many readers who get past the first handful of pages will truly have a hard time once the author resorts to the ultimate reference, that when used infects what it touches with evil. The body of this book is 252 pages in length. When the author lists 31 pages of his book, or 12.3%, or nearly one in 8 pages under the heading of, Germany, Nazi-euthanasia practices in, the book rightfully becomes of questionable value in the least, and of near zero value in reality. If this man cannot discuss a topic that has held a prominent place in this nation's debates for the better part of 2 decades without calling on the old standby of the Nazis, his argument is exposed as the weak one that it is. Associate your argument with the Nazis and you may win some to your side, but most will run from hyperbolic comparisons, that by their use tend to trivialize who the Nazis were, and what they actually did.

Mr. Smith expresses his astonishment at the manner that traditionally held, "self evident truths", are being undermined. Perhaps Mr. Smith should read the document to which he refers. When the final draft of that famous instrument was written it contained hypocrisy that was practiced and legitimized by courts to the late 19th century. These, "wonderful", self evident truths are wonderful in theory, and are practiced when convenient, or when humanity finds a spot in government, or a seat on the highest court. Most of the signatories to the document he refers to were signed by hypocrites who advocated the most bestial of social norms, while holding the highest offices in this nation, inclusive of several presidencies.

For a moment let us imagine we are dealing with consenting adults. Society requires more standardized knowledge for the operation of an automobile, together with a license, than is required for procreation. The law allows one of the two participating people the option of terminating the results of their coupling. One person makes the decision for at least two, or if you prefer three other lives. Again, operating a car is deemed to require more contemplation.

Mr. Smith is against a person making the decision their life is one they no longer choose to live. He is against this because he sees and parades all the weaknesses of human nature. He is naïve, alarmist, in short a utopian. Humans have problems, not because they are human, but because some humans will always choose to corrupt any mechanism, any law, any opportunity for themselves at another's expense. I don't think it should be called human nature, but some subset of defective human nature. There are Doctors and there was a Dr. Mengele. Because of the latter we do not rid ourselves of the former.
Physician assisted death is not new, what it is, is not spoken of. We would have fewer doctors if it was. Patients also leave hospitals to go home to die; they do not go there empty-handed, without options.

Mr. Smith will remain agitated and lack objectivity for as long as he finds fault with the species of which he is a member. The species has flaws, but is not fundamentally and completely, flawed. I will take an imperfect system regarding euthanasia just as I accept dozens of other practices that affect my life, before I will ever agree with those like Dr. Smith who would have the 400+ members of congress tell me when I have had enough. The activities of our elected officials give me pause on far more occasions than the minority of citizens whose votes put them there.

No major change comes quickly. Little compromises are made that slowly but surely lead to a major, sometimes horrifying change. Such is the case with euthanasia.

Smith is a very readable writer and well informed on the issue. Yes there is some emotional content but that is not a bad thing. This is an emotionally charged issue. It is also a disturbing issue for many and far to many have fallen for the ready platitudes of the so called 'Death with Dignity' crowd. When the lies and sweet words are stripped from their word though a very harsh and frightening reality is left.

As one who has had to fight this beast (we lost the battle and our loved one, the war goes on) I can tell you he is spot on to the problem with this book and his other writing on the topic. He has recommendations as to the direction of the solution but the action to reach it lies with you and I.

I'm in are you?

I am currently investigating several different ethical/public policy issues: homosexuality (i.e. advocating the behavior in schools, marriage), abortion, and euthanasia.

The author of this book is the lead lawyer of the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, an organization that opposes all forms of euthanasia and assisted suicide.

One of the changes that has made this discussion meaningful is the discussion between humane care and medical treatment. Humane care would include food, heat, washing etc; the basics, if you will. Medical treatment would be drugs, surgery and so on. In some recent US Supreme Court case, certain types of humane treatment has been reclassified as medical treatment (e.g. water and food). The significance of the change is this; patients cannot refuse humane treatment but they can refuse medical treatments, at a certain point (or have others refuse medical treatments on their behalf).

There are sections that document the development of euthanasia in the United States through court cases and attempted legislation (in the 1930's and the present).

There are sections on the Holland called, "Dutch Treat," is particularly good. Holland is the only country that where euthanasia is widely available (Holland made it totally legal on November 28, 2000). Smith shows the progression in Holland, how the guidelines are routinely violated and so on. One of the scary problems is INvoluntary euthanasia: 1,040 people (an average of 3 per day) died from involuntary euthanasia, meaning that doctors actively killed these patients without the patients' knowledge or consent.

Smith shows that the euthanasia agenda would endanger the disabled, the ill, the elderly, those with low education, minorities etc... In Holland, there is universal health care for all paid for through taxes, in the United States it is partially private and partially public.

Smith shows the two philosophies that at conflict in the current debate. The anti-euthanasia proponents hold to the equality-of-human-life ethics: "that each of us be considered of each inherent moral worth, and it makes the preservation and protection of human life society's first priority." (page xxi) This is contrasted with the quality-of-human-life ethic, which gives human beings value (protection etc...) not because they are human but only if they possess certain qualities. I think that Smith wisely chooses to examine Peter Singer as the principal philosopher of the movement; one of the interesting things was the reaction of critics to the book. In America and Britain, the book was warmly welcomed and highly praised. However, in Germany, "... Singer has... been severely criticized and demonstrated against in Germany, a country with an acute memory of the horrors can result from adopting such values as his." (page 23).

The book also exposes the myth that all persons who oppose euthanasia are religious fanatics, from atheist Nat Hentoff, "I can't base my opposition to euthanasia on religion. I am an atheist!" (page 202). Also, "As Rita Marker, director of the International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force, notes, 'Legislation that prohibits sales clerks from stealing company profits also coincides with religious beliefs, but it would be absurd with the separation of church and state.'" (page 201)

One last note, one of the main reasons that euthanasia is encouraged is that the suffering is too great etc. Smith shows that most doctors are very poorly trained in pain treatment and that hospice care is rarely promoted. Smith shows that almost all pain can be treated even advanced bone cancer etc...

The book was excellent and I appreciate the detailed examples, history and court cases that Smith writes about.