In this third biographical study, Piper gives us three excellent sketches of men who persevered in ministry and righteousness in the face of incredible difficulty. John Newton, the converted slave-trader who penned Amazing Grace, is a model in "habitual tenderness" towards the hurting (most notably the manic-depressive poet William Cowpoer). Charles Simeon is lesser known, but proves to be a powerful demonstration of endurance in the face of almost unrelenting opposition and affliction. His endurance was rooted primarily in his high view of God and his low view of self (what a word for the self-esteem gurus filling America's pulpits today!!). Finally, William Wilberforce, the greatest instrument God used in the abolishment of slavery in Britain, is studied, along with the doctrine which gave him strength and moved him into action (the doctrine is justification by faith). This is a great book and very encouraging. Highly recommended.

Get ready for the reissue of Charles Gatewood's 1975 classic, Sidetripping! Gatewood was begining to explore the edges in the late 60s and early 70s, lurking alongside any events happening on the city streets: protests, marches, fairs, parades, celebrations. New Orleans and NYC provided moist atmospheres for expression, much of that 'caught' here by Gatewood. While on assignment for Rolling Stone in London, Gatewood got to hang with Burroughs and Gysin. That meeting fruited into Burroughs providing the text. To compliment the images perfectly, read the words in your head using Burroughs distinctive, grating rasp.

This is a great historical accounting of the life of an American aviation pioneer. Tex Johnston's life was a colorful mix of barnstorming through the flight testing and air racing of WWII fighters, and finally the experimental flight testing of the Bell X-1 (prior to Chuck Yeager) and the Boeing aircraft when the jet age was underway. The book is a little scant in his accounting of the famous (infamous?) barrell rolls of the 707 prototype over Lake Washington, which is disappointing. Overall, a great book and must reading for any fan of the early years of experimental flight testing.

It is a shame that this is out of stock. I recently read this book and it helped me understand the basic tenets of Marxism more clearly. It does this in an interesting way: a dialogue between three people with varying positions on Marxism and history. Very good introduction to Marxism.

Those interested in the life of William McKinley must read this book. Olcott does a superb job of describing the life of McKinley. While this is hardly a critical biography it is essential reading for those who want to observe McKinley as his contemporaries did.

This book is ostensibly about crime. Specifically the amelioration of crime by a policy of zero tolerance of minor and petty crimes which became famous for the dramatic fall in crime in New York City.

This book has a slightly different focus. Rather than concentrating on what Zero Tolerance is and does, it seeks to place the crime figures and approaches to crime reduction in a broader context of community. The concept of community developed both in these pages and within a wider research agenda supposedly concerned with the development of a civil society in which the state plays a smaller and smaller role has a particular slant to it.

Zero Tolerance is the latest in a line of books from the Institute of Economic Affairs Health and Welfare Unit, now a free standing institute of it's own, CIVITAS, which postulate a decline in morals and behavious which result from a growing tendency in our society to becoming more individualsitic. The model of decency and good behaviour upon which this view is based is a rather idyllic view of the English working class family as portrayed by Norman Dennis in some of the earlier books of this series. Here it's scope is widened to incorporate views on how to tackle crime which involve the wider civil society. Policing in this view is both external and internal and the police forces themselves are seen as a legitimate part of the community, reinforcing the internal rules and moralities forged in the furnace of home and family. Headed preferably, of course, by working father, stay at home mother etc.

You will not find in this book any arguments about drugs save for the superior tone about how the use of drugs has grown in our society and is therefore bad. This cannot go unchallenged. In a passage devoted to the emphasis on education and development of working men's clubs and institutes the book praises them for their contribution to improving the moral fibre of those who participated. These clubs were segregated against women drinking in the public bar and fought hard to retain that position against equality laws and became more well known for the strong and cheap beers that they sold than for moral improvement. Their innate conservatism was a major contributor to why their customers deserted them and caused the closure of many in the North East of England. While the consumption of this legal drug is condoned, other recreational drugs are the cause of much petty crime. The book ignores the setting of the laws and blithley makes assertions about theft while ignoring the basic point that laws against drugs make them more attractive to the purchasers, more profitable to the suppliers and lead many who consume them to do things out of character in order to get their drugs. I could go on but this would be a book of it's own.

Zero Tolerance is a one sided book. It excludes any consideration of the diminishing role of the church in society as one of a number of relevant institutions, and it excludes any treatment of what changing structures in our society mean for those individuals who have previously been imprisoned by those structures, in particular, for women. The supposed golden age of the working class family is a modern myth, a sociological urban legend, which did not exist for many.

Ultimately, this is yet another attack on growing individualism in our society which begrudges any positive changes and which harkens back to an age which never really existed. The causes of crime run deeper than one parent families and tower blocks. The harsh reality today is that women are valued more by society than they were which is the real reason why female wage rates are increasing while male wages rates decline overall.

Perhaps we should be looking forward and not backward to see how a healthy individualist society might develop.

For those of you who follow my reviews, you know that I felt "Martin Chuzzlewit" was Dickens' worst book. "The Old Curiosity Shop" is better, but not by much. Now on one hand, the story has captivating elements. The relationship between Trent and Nell is well done, and their flight together offers generous amounts of suspense. Images are well drawn, tension is tightened and released at appropriate intervals, and it is unlikely that you will get bored. Swiveller and the abused servant girl provide an interesting subplot. (For any other author, this would have been excellent. But this does not represent Dickens' finer efforts.) Nell does not hit us the way characters like Lizzie Hexham ("Our Mutual Friend"), Amy Dorrit ("Little Dorrit"), Louisa Gradgrind ("Hard Times"), Agnes ("David Copperfield"), or Florence Dombey ("Dombey and Son") do. Kit is handled somewhat awkwardly. The end does not seem to fit. I understand that Dickens may have been trying to make the end ironic, but it just does not seem to fit well. Benevolent characters like Martin and Swiveller are handled fairly well, but we don't really get to know them the way we get to know benevolent characters like Sam Weller ("The Pickwick Papers") or Mr. Micawber ("David Copperfield"). In all honesty, Quilp seems to be the most fascinating character in this book. He displayed pure terror, but he was also funny, and even likable at times! While I was going through this book, I found myself waiting for Quilp to reenter! Gradually, I found myself leaning towards Quilp's side. I could not believe how awkwardly he died. Perhaps while Dickens was writing this, he was not sure of how to end it, and decided not to use too much effort on something that was not his best work. I guess my biggest complaint is that compared to Quilp, the benevolent characters seem dull and flat. (Don't get me wrong. I understand that Dickens loved to make his villains more fascinating than repulsive.) But benevolent characters like Mr Pickwick, Sam Weller, ("Pickwick Papers"), Agnes, Mr. Micawber ("David Copperfield"), Captain Cuttle ("Dombey and Son"), Dr. Manette ("A Tale of Two Cities"), Jo ("Great Expectations"), and John Harmon ("Our Mutual Friend"), have captivating qualities that match those of the villains. Once again, this IS a good book, but it does not (in my opinion) reflect Dickens' better efforts.

The only pleasure greater than discovering a new book
is rediscovering an old friend you haven't read for a while.
Many years ago I read all of Charles Dickens novels, but I
recently had occasion to re-read The Old Curiosity Shop, and
it is just as good as I remembered it the first time.

The story, like most of his plots, depends a great deal
on coincidences, so you have to suspend your scepticism to
enjoy it. Dickens begins by introducing us to one of the
most innocent little girls in literature, Little Nell, and
to her most unhappy grand-father. Quickly we discover that
instead of the old man taking care of the child, she is the
one responsible. We then meet one of Dickens' great villains
- the evil, corrupt, mean, and nasty Quilp - a man, if that
term can be used, who has absolutely no redeeming qualities,
one who finds pleasure in inflicting pain on all he meets.

Thinking that the old man has secret riches, Quilp
advances him money to support his gambling habit.
Unfortunately Nell's grandfather never wins, and the debt
grows ever larger. Finally Quilp forecloses on the curiosity
shop that the old man owns (thus the name of the book) and
tries to keep the two captive in order to discover the money
that he still believes is hidden somewhere. While the
household is asleep, however, Nell and her grandfather
escape and begin wandering across England in a search for
sanctuary.

On that journey, Dickens introduces us to a series of
minor characters who either befriend or try to take
advantage of our heroine. He's in no hurry to continue the
main story, so just sit back and enjoy the vivid
characterizations that are typical of any good Dickens
novel.

In the meantime, we follow the adventures of young Kit,
a boy who was one of Nell's best friends until Quilp turned
her grandfather against him. Here we find one of Dickens'
favorite sub-plots, the poor but honest boy who supports his
widowed mother and younger brother. Thanks to his honesty,
Kit finds a good position, but then evil Quilp enters the
picture and has him arrested as a thief!

Of course, we have the kind and mysterious elderly
gentlemen who take an interest in Kit and Nell for reasons
that we don't fully understand until the end of the book. We
are certain, however, that they will help ensure that
justice prevails in the end.

This is not a book for those in a hurry. Dickens tells
his stories in a meandering fashion, and the stops along the
way are just as important for your enjoyment as the journey itself. That can be frustrating at time, especially as you enter the second half and are anxious to see how things turn out. I try never to cheat by reading the end of a book before I finish, but it is tempting with Dickens. At times I wanted to tell him, "I don't want to meet anyone else; tell me what happens to Nell and Kit!" But I know the side journeys will prove rewarding, so I just have to be patient. Anyway, I am in better shape than his first readers; he wrote in weekly installments, so
they had to wait!

If you have and enjoyed other Dickens' novels, you will enjoy this one as well. If this is your first time (or perhaps the first time since you were in high school), you are in for a treat.

This edition of the Old Curiosity Shop is outstanding. It contains all the original illustrations drawn for the book, very helpful footnotes, a chronology of Dickens's life, etc. The book takes the reader on a wild journey through the English countryside with Little Nell, an angelic girl, and her troublesome grandfather, and features a host of amusing characters as only Dickens can draw them. While it was being written in serial form, it was so popular that sailors returning to port in England were known to shout to people on shore to ask what was going on with Little Nell. Today, however, you can miss some of Dickens's nuance and humor if you don't have good footnotes to turn to. The notes in this book explain obscure terms, references to contemporary popular culture, places where the action occurs, etc. If you are going to read this book, this is the edition to buy.

The so-called Philadelphia Experiment, the actual rendering of a navy destroyer invisible to the naked eye but having its crew suffer horrible effects, has been a fascinating ghost that roams on the realm of believability. The authors of this book make a good case for there being an actual experiment conducted in the Philadelphia Navy Yard under the auspices of Albert Einstein during 1943 to render a U.S. destroyer invisible to radar. However, the reader must beware of believing too much data form "scientists involved in the project yet wanting to remain anonymous". People, for whatever reasons, can and do lie. This could be no exception. With that being said, though, it appears that there WAS some kind of strange experiment that occurred. What that experiment exactly was and what the effects were on the crew of the ship will doubtless remain a mystery until whatever government files on the project are released. Do read the book if you have any interest at all in the possibility of humans vanishing from existance or burning for 18 days.

This is a good book for anyone who isn't familiar and is new to the subject of the Philadelphia Experiment. Both Moore and Berlitz did a fair job, but they left out a lot of information. I guess since this book was first published in 1979 this was before the knowledge of Montauk was made public. There is no mention of Nikola Tesla and his involvement in the experiment nor Alfred Bielek, but he does mention Eric Neumann and T. Townsend Brown, who were heavily involved with the project. Believe it or not Einstein didn't have much to do with the project. But Moore does give a hint of Tesla's involvement, even though the book doesn't mention Tesla by name. On page 125 it reads:

"...a man went to the Navy and said, in effect: 'You want camouflage, gentlemen! Give me a ship and I'll show you perfect camouflage.' When this man went aboard the experimental ship, he was carrying a BLACK BOX."

Tesla was well known for his mysterious Black Box. Plus, Tesla was the head scientist of the Philadelphia Experiment. The main reason why the experiment went crazy was that Tesla himself sabotaged the testing by detuning the equipment which resulted in Tesla no longer leading the project and making Neumann the head scientist of the project.

Eventhough this book is a "watered down" version of what actually took place in August 13, 1943, overall, this book is enjoyable to read.

The book, if approached as a work of fiction, is mind-bending. Just think, the United States having discovered the mystery behind Einstein's Unified Field Theory, where combining electromagnetic forces with gravity produces properties that allow time/dimension travel! The author(s) make fine attempts to substantiate many of the claims that are a part of the legend of Project Rainbow, but I found the evidence, as a whole, lacking. The day someone comes out with a book, giving me a complete bibliography (and footnotes with each piece of evidence), exact names, ship logs, dated newspaper articles (with newspaper of origin), and mathematical basis for the event, I will have reason to believe the Philadelphia Experiment took place. But tying the incident with aliens and UFO contact? A little far-fetched.

Nevertheless, a higly-recommended book for those interested in what many believe really happened during World War II, at a now-abandoned navy yard on the Delaware River.