Connelly is sensitive to the historical and literary context of each book, letting it speak for itself and address the original audience's concerns, rather than simply supporting church dogma. Sure, it has cute pictures and avoids technical theological language, but behind its simplicity lies a rather profound understanding of the nature and purpose of a biblical text.

A refreshingly straightforward everyman's guide to the Bible.

Connelly offers a general overview of each Bible book and sets a context allowing the passage to make sense. He provides the skeleton on which the story comes to life to reveal the intended meaning of the authors to farmers, kings and surfers.

In covering the big three bases, Connelly has hit a home run with "The Bible for Blockheads".

This one is a two Volume Set - with Volume 1 starting with the nomination of Abraham Lincoln as President of the US and follows the events to the bloody three-day battle of Gettysburg, the highwater mark of the Confederacy. Volume 2 takes us from the aftermath of Gettysburg and follows the war to Lee's surrender at Appomattox.

The works are surprisingly slim considering what it covers, so this is not an in-depth look at the War Between the States. It does however give a gold mine of details. For someone looking to understand the war, its causes and the people that fought it, this is a wonderful place to start.

Highly recommended for the beginning or intermediate Civil War Buff.

I don't know if I will ever actually get around to repairing my books, but this kit is worth the price just for the beautiful organization. It even smells nice.

PS, I always have buyers remorse, so I am surprised how much I like this.

It would take me many trips or orders by mail, phone or internet to assemble all these necessary items. Not only is everything you need in this kit, but you can also use it to make your own bookbindings (you need some kind of press, but that can be a piece of wood and some clamps, and a bone folder which can be found in craft stores that carry scrapbooking items.) If you like to scrapbook or do your own journal OR if you collect old books, this kit is a must.

As I have watched my niece graduate from Ramona and Harry Potter to Judy Blume, I have wondered how I could give her my adored but crumbling copy of Gone With The Wind, worrying about her rejecting it for its evident decay, or worse, the book's ability to withstand another reading. Now a talented trio has put together a kit which will allow butterfingered me to repair the novel before passing it on. The Booklover's Repair Kit doesn't just tell me how to do it, in straightforward terms with helpful diagrams. Much more in fact, since everything I may need to fix the book comes with it.

If you give a damn about the books on your shelf, you will want the Booklover's Repair Kit to join them with its handsome packaging and enough supplies to fix a dozen or so tattered books, be they Proust or Mitchell.

John Hill ctftvs@netactive.co.za

For the Highland genealogist, this is a must-read. For anyone interested in Scottish history or early-American history, this is a must-read. And, finally, for anyone who enjoys a story well-told and well-written, this is a must read.

I'm waiting on Part II.

Though his family is renowned as Mafiosi, Nicky Fontana runs a completely legal business. He currently plans to renovate an aging Las Vegas landmark into a major, first class casino. He hires Van Von Rhine to oversee the operation, giving her a budget of just under $8 million.

However, an unknown assailant wants Nicky to fail. That individual will do anything to make sure that the renovation project fails. Midnight Louie, feline private eye extraordinaire, decides to investigate in order to expose the culprit. As Louie snoops, Van struggles with adapting to the Vegas glitter as well as her personal attraction to Nicky.

THE CAT AND THE KING OF CLUBS is the full version of Midnight Louie's debut novel. The publisher sliced and diced this tale and the subsequent three other books that made up the original series. However, Carole Nelson Douglas has brought the gem back to its original glittering self. The who-done-it story line remains fresh and even more fulfilling this time around as Louie shows why he owns the universe. Fans of the series will take great pleasure with this "expanded" reprint. The audience will feel elation over the upcoming release of the other three tales from the original set that established Louie as one of the best feline sleuths on the prowl.

Harriet Klausner

The leadership lessons from the classics are still applicable today and this book gives them a fresh perspective by relating them to the modern business environment. The authors also complement the examples from classic literature with some excellent examples of recent management approaches. The result is terrific.

For example: The importance of understanding the dynamics of teamwork (Agamemnon and Achilles); knowing the right questions to ask...and the best way to ask them (Socrates); managing change while adapting to new realities (Ajax); the complexities (and difficulties) of management succession (King Lear); making unpleasant but necessary decisions (Machiavelli); Simplify! Simplify! (Henry David Thoreau); and forging consensus during a crisis (Hemingway's Robert Jordan). The authors also examine the works of Plutarch, Pericles, Chaucer, Castiglione, Edmund Burke, Charles Darwin, and Arthur Miller. Throughout this highly readable book, the authors also examine a number of corporations which have either applied various leadership lessons with great success or experienced serious problems for failing to do so.

Who will derive the greatest benefit from this book? I highly recommend it to those in positions of leadership who appreciate world literature (albeit in translation) and are constantly seeking different perspectives on the marketplace in which they and their respective organizations compete. Also, to young executives whose professional reading -- to date -- has been limited to various business publications and (perhaps) to the latest "hot" business books. Finally, to those recent college and university graduates with liberal arts degrees who (erroneously) think that great world literature and the free enterprise system are incompatible. On the contrary, as Clemens and Mayer suggest, they are whole cloth...and many of their common threads are worthy of thoughtful consideration.