I would recommend this book as well as the rest of the BtAF books, available at Notley's website, angryflower.com. The humor is quirky and cool, Bob's rants and tantrums are strange and hilarious, and it's just fun in general. Get to know Bob, he rocks.

Bob the Angry Flower...Humor so bold as to make a large man weep. Alright, maybe not a large man, but maybe a sickly, craven, pansy man. Still...Read it. Steve Notley so owns me.

It's been a long wait for this second Bob the Angry Flower book; but it was worth it. True to form, Stephen Notley delivers more of his sophisticated and unique brand of humor. "Nobody wants to be lectured by an Invisible Cow", "The Seduction", "AI", "Lying to the loan officer" and others are funny because they portray scenes which are, on the one hand, wildly absurd, but on the other, strangely rational, at least in Bob's twisted world. You get a sense that anything can happen, and it usually does.

I'm also impressed with the artwork. Stephen pays attention to details, and the result is an added level of expression - the malovent mischief in the slant of Bob's eyes, the muted horor in Freddy's eyes, the apathic resignation on stumpy's stance. The richness of drawing (not consistantly, to be honest, but prevailingly) is especially enjoyable when compared to the sparce and minimalist styles of most other cartoonists.

"Bob the Angry Flower: Coffee with Sinistart" is a refuge from the mundain and simplistic humor of the daily funnies. It's original, provocative, and, of course, hillarious.

I read this titillating tome cover to cover on the way home, laughing and being illuminated. I love it. I've already loaned it to my kid. I can't tell you how much I laughed. It was so good to find two people with a sense of humor and smarts and no-holds-barred courage. The honesty, coupled with the humor, sets a challenging example, I think, to any writer who reads it. Loved the raving about Viagra. Loved the actual conversations reproduced -- or produced. Loved the jealousy stuff, the women conspiring together against the guy stuff, the faked orgasm stuff -- if I keep going I'll end up citing every chapter and verse. I'm going to be recommending it far and wide.

This is an amazing, wild ride of a book. There is nothing else like it. The authors call it a 'rant', which is as good a description as any, I guess. It is funny, insightful. Very literate, tongue-in-cheek, but at the same time perfectly serious. That's what I found so amazing, the combination of humor and seriousness. Perhaps this is subject matter that can only be handled seriously by doing it with humor. And it is funny.But it's refreshing too. I've read a lot of self-help books, and sex books and none of them had the sheer nerve of this one. It's rare to read something both genuinely original and entertaining at the same time. I am still reeling.

I started reading your book. I like what I've read so far but there are still too many big words in it. Here's what I mean. "Then the man put his penis into the young woman's bottom to disentagrinize the moment into one, long dirty filamigtorism. As the man orgasms the woman screams "Oh, oh estigalitistic demophore!".

Were just plain, simple working forks. On the next book, please try and give us mouth-breathers a break and use words we can understand. Nothing breaks the flow of a paragraph than having to stop at every third word and go running for the dictionary.

Full of death, magic, and romance, Robert Weinberg made a masterpeice when he wrote this novel. I kept finding myself caught up in this book, having to force myself to put it down. Mr. Weinberg must have done his research when he wrote this book, there is just enough fact to make the fiction seem almost real. And with a twist ending, this book keeps you guessing to the very last sentence.

I hagve to admit, I was skeptical at first about how good this book would be. I was greatly surprized when I couldn't put it down. Throughout the book you are given hints to the Auction's purpose, but not until the last page are you told who is offering the untold talisman. An excelent addition to any library!

Weinbergs "The Devils Auction" is one of the best fantasy novels I've ever read. Excellent, logical and breath taking adventure. The idea of Auction itself is very interesting, not to mention the Devils one (Witches and Warlocks included). I even like the cover. Go for it.

Detectives Ben Cooper and Diane Fry take on a series of seemingly unrelated events - an apparent suicide, a beating, the murder of an unidentified man, a missing infant - in this character-driven mystery. All the cases keep leading back to frozen, snowy Irontongue Hill, where the wreckage of a Royal Air Force fighter plane that crashed there during World War II still remain. Meanwhile, the pilot's granddaughter has arrived from Canada seeking to clear her grandfather's name - and Ben finds himself intrigued by the story and by the woman who is so relentless in pursuit of the truth. Eventually the intertwined nature of the past and present mysteries becomes clear in a surprising ending.

The strength of this novel is in its characters: the pensive Ben, adjusting to moving out of his family's home; brusque, businesslike Diane, who seems not to feel at home anywhere; the Poles who fought for England in WWII and their descendants; and the numerous, perfectly sketched supporting characters who provide a sense of real community. There is apparently some sort of history between Ben and Diane - she is inexplicably annoyed by almost everything he does; he is very ambivalent about revealing himself to her - but its nature is never made clear. The vividly portrayed wintry landscape almost becomes a character as well. If you have read Stephen Booth's previous books, you will probably be pleased to spend time in familiar surroundings with old friends. If not, you will find an introduction to a world worth returning to.

The surprising thing about this author is that he isn't recognized more widely.
His writing is absolutely first-class, and his use of the
English language surpasses almost any other writing most us
encounter. In this narrow field of the "psychological thriller," his command of the language, and his fresh use of
the metaphor and simile, is unparalleled.
A serious reader will have to re-read some of his passages just
for the pleasure of how the mental picture developes as the
words are flowing.
In this outing, his "heros," Ben and Diane, remain at personal
odds, and they have a difficult time working together on their
rural Derbyshire Constabulary, but a series of crimes brings
them together again to work their particular magic on violent
felons.
A couple of dead bodies are found, apparently unrelated, but
investigation leads back to a WWII crash of a British bomber
in the rural mountains, and an amazing series of crimes begins
to unfold as evidence points to an ever-widening story of crime,
deception at multiple levels, and family relationships. The
details presented and analyzed will hold the reader's attention
throughout the book.
This author also has an unusual insight into how crime victims
react to the assaults on them, and some readers will almost
shrink from absorbing the details of that process.
This story is one that should not be missed by anyone reading
in the "crime" or "thriller" field, and we also learn a lot
about life in the rural England of today.
Rush to grab this one.

BLOOD ON THE TONGUE is another fantastic novel from Stephen Booth. Not only another fantastic novel, but one with old friends, and even some new ones. Reading BLOOD ON THE TONGUE felt like coming home again.

It is in the middle of the coldest part of the year in the Peak District. The time of the year for cold, frozen feet and red, burning ears. When snow flurries blow hard, and the snow banks along the roads grow so high that they hide all kinds of secrets. Perhaps even a dead body, or two.

Ben Cooper and Diane Fry find themselves together again, at the Edendale Police Department in the midst of a crime wave. Young men are beating each other, people are being found frozen in the snow, and there is a terrible shortage of help. To make life just that much more unbearable at the moment, Diane has a new nemesis, DC Gavin Murfin. A completely, in Diane's mind anyway, uncivilized brute who drives her nuts with both his disgusting eating habits, as well as just him simply breathing. Everything about Gavin disgusts Diane.

To top everything off E Division is getting a new Detective Chief Inspector. Stewart Tailby is retiring to a desk job at headquarters, and DCI Oliver Kessen is taking over.

In the middle of this chaos a young woman arrives from Canada in search of information concerning her grandfather, Daniel McTeague. The problem with this is that Pilot Officer McTeague has been missing since his RAF plane went down 57 years earlier in the peat moors around Irontongue Hill. It was reported at the time that Officer McTeague had survived the accident, and had left the wreckage, walking away from his military career and past life, never to be seen, or heard from again. His granddaughter, Alison Morrissey does not believe this, and is insistent that the police open the old case again and investigate.

Because of political pressure, the Chief Superintendent agrees to speak to Morrissy concerning her grandfather, but doesn't really have his heart in the whole thing. After all the disappearance was 57 years ago, and all of the evidence surrounding it seems pretty sound.

But Ben cannot, and will not let it alone. He has to find out what happened almost 60 years ago.

BLOOD ON THE TONGUE, like the previous books by Mr. Booth, is full of atmosphere and personal relationships. He does this in such a way that you actually feel that you are in the story. The way Mr. Booth describes the Peak District landscape, and the people of
Edendale draw you into the story.

You feel the cold wind against your face, burning your ears, and making it difficult to breath. As you look up at Irontongue Hill you will see it is, "tongue shaped with ridges and furrows. Reptilian, not human, with a curl at the tip. Colder and harder than iron. Darker rock laying on broken teeth of volcano rock debris." And 'you will' see it. All of this you will see and feel, along with people who you cannot forget, their lives entwined and yet separate. Mr. Booth brings both the land and the people together into a story that is completely unforgettable. One that will haunt you and make you want for more. And when you finally get that next story, Mr. Booth does it again, leaving you satisfied, and yet already yearning for more.

BLOOD ON THE TONGUE weaves the past and the present into one. Brings the story full circle. Every character and scene is woven so tightly that you cannot separate them, and yet they remain individual. The characters are everyday characters with lives, feelings, and personalities of their own that you actually can feel and touch. The scenes are so real that they will haunt your dreams at night. The mood, while dark, is absolutely balanced with enough humor and light that it doesn't depress you, but instead keeps you turning those pages to learn more.

BLOOD ON THE TONGUE is an absolute winner, and Mr. Booth has proven himself again as a literary giant. All I can say is that BLOOD ON THE TONGUE will leave you craving for more from this outstanding author.

As with Mr. Booth's previous books, Black Dog, and Dancing with the Virgins, BLOOD ON THE TONGUE is a book that you will want to read slowly, because you want to savor each and every word. It is a book you will not want to rush through. I took my time, knowing that when I turned that last page I would want the next episode and didn't want to have to wait for a long time. Now that I have turned that last page, I am looking forward to the next book out of Mr. Booth, knowing that he again will outdo himself, just as he has with BLOOD ON THE TONGUE. Until then my dreams will be full of the sights, the sounds, and the smells of the Peak District and the people who inhabit it.

Stephen Chatman is a person sharing his innermost self in an extremely honest, no-excuses fashion. If you read this collection, these memoirs, these reflections, with receptiveness, questions will be answered and curiosities will be eased. By the time you make it to page 25, you will be convinced that if you read further, you will be richly rewarded.

These brief accounts are arrayed from serious to humorous, platonic to romantic, restraint to recklessness, respectful to formerly forbidden, conflict to resolution and temporarily angry to eternally hopeful. He accomplishes this with a voice sprinkled with simile and metaphor resulting in pleasing poetic prose. "Confessions of a Womanizer" reaches across all boundaries to allow a diverse readership to feel kinship, discover insights and find inspiration.

This book will wrinkle the covers on the other side of your comfortable bed of truth. Therefore, it is not for the faint-hearted. Rather simply, it is for those who seek to understand who we are, both individually and as one.

In this, his second, full-length outing, Mr. Chatman displays incredible maturity of perception, perspective and pureness. Against all anticipation, I confess, I am deeply satisfied.

This was awesome. I loved the different stories and always looked forward to the next one. This book definitely kept my interest and attention. I was always eager to pick it back up, which isn't normal for me. Great job and good reading!

This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. It hit me hard from the first page. I found it sad, humorous, loving, scandalous and erotic. I was so impressed with the writers descriptive ability. I want more!

For an account of Lincoln's thought (as well as Douglas') that serves to the credit of both of them, read this book. One of the finest books I have ever read, there are some chapters on Lincoln's thought that you will read time and time again. My copy of the book is marked up with great quotes where Harry Jaffa shows great insight into the tension and wonder that is the democratic thought of Abraham Lincoln, quite possibly the greatest democratic leader in history. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to know about the mind of Lincoln before the Civil War.

If you want to read one book about Lincoln's thought, this is the one to read. The first part of the book, which takes Douglas seriously and states the strongest case for him, is historically dense and may be difficult for most readers. But keep going, because the payoff will be great. There follow chapters on two of Lincoln's early speeches. Jaffa's analysis here is brilliant, though perhaps a bit far-fetched. In the final part of the book, Jaffa states the case for Lincoln against Douglas. This part is rich in its ideas, rigorous in its reasoning, and eloquent to the point of being inspirational. (By the way, if you want to read one biography of Lincoln, I'd recommend the one by Lord Charnwood. Though written almost a century ago and therefore not up to date on all the details of historical scholarship, it is judicious throughout and beautifully written.)

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Jaffa is that he wrote Goldwater's famous "moderation in the defense of freedom is no virtue" speech. If you go back and read the speech (and it is on the web, of course), it echoes both the Old Testament ("our fathers") and Lincoln. I suspect he would agree with the man who told me that Lincoln is the greatest prose stylish in the English language. As for the book, Jaffa interprets the civil war as the second, and genuine, founding of the American republic, and precisely because the principle of the Declaration, equality, was written not in ink but blood (Jaffa has his own brand of Lincolnian Christianity). Lincoln, by this reading, belongs to the "tribe of the eagle and the lion" and was neither Caesar nor Brutus but possessed the best qualities of both. To understand that part of Jaffa's interpretation, you would have to read his treatment of Shakespeare. As for the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Jaffa stages Douglas as Thrasymachus and Lincoln--surprise, surprise--as Socrates.

As outlined above, this book details the history of thalidomide, including its discovery, introduction into society, harmful effects, withdrawal, and eventual rebirth as a useful medication. It is very interesting and keeps your attention throughout the entire book. I am a physician and learned very much from this book, including some information about the FDA, and even about what thalidomide is used for today. I would say that you should read this book if you have any interest in medical history told in a narrative fashion. It will educate you on a tragic event in history and the amazing effects of medications upon human beings. Great, great, great book!

Dark Remedy tells of how thalidomide caused the greatest medical disaster in history - but today is enjoying a comeback as a life-saving treatment despite its side effects. Dark Remedy considers how the drug became a nightmare in the 1960s, how it was banned, and how it's receiving new research attention today which may reinstate its use without its side effects. An intriguing medical history.

This short book is a compelling drama, complete with innocent victims, dark villians and compassionate and dedicated heros. But it is no simple account in black and white. Rather it is a textured retelling of the profound human tragedy of Tahlidomide, it's impact on the phamaceutical industry, the FDA's regulatory role, and the pursuit of scientific insight.

It will come as a surprise to many laypeople that Thalidomide, notorious for the extreme birth defects it caused when it burst upon the consciousness of the world in the early 1960s, is now used for the treatment of dozens of conditions. This book details the painful story of Thalidomide's devastation; the greed and indifference of it's corporate promoters; the dilligence and dedication of a handful of doctors who helped curtail it's spread, the tortured legal struggle of it's victims, and the difficult and collaborative process by which scientists discovered it's secrets and are putting it to use to relieve suffering.

The history is recounted on a human scale, making the drama real to the reader. The science, as complex as it is - including molecular structures and the mechanisms of DNA - is articulated in a way that makes it accessible even to the layperson.

I highly recommend it.

If you've ever worked with a creative director, an accounting manager or anyone in the ad biz, you'll enjoy this book. A 31-year-old ad exec must win the hope chest account, solve a murder, and explore the challanges of management. Some very funny characters, including a gifted but gutter-mouthed Creative Director, a huckster who knows his business, and a vegetarian Kafka-reading Copywriter who romances the protagonist. The use of the whodunit genre gives Martin license to explore the strange world of advertising, the characters and the fascinating process of art against deadline. He touches on enough detail about the financial world without excess, and the believable, well-drawn and colorful dialogue has all the mercurial fury of Wall Street. Makes me want to read more of his books.

Amanda Boyd, editor of Writer's Digest, announced on April 16, 1998 that Stephen Hawley Martin had won an unprecedented second Writer's Digest Book Award for Fiction. "No one has ever won twice in this competition," she said. "We'll be featuring Martin's book, Death in Advertising, in the August edition of Writer's Digest." Novels and other book length works of fiction are judged based on the quality of the writing. Writer's Digest staff screens entries and sends finalists to an independent panel of judges made up of publishing luminaries. These judges select the final winner. Advertising executives, and journalists who cover the industry, have also endorsed the work as a fast-paced thriller and an authentic look inside the business.""I'm overwhelmed," Martin said. "I felt good about this book all along, and it was a lot of fun to write, but I'd never have thought it would win the top award from Writer's Digest after they'd given it to me once before. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it will do well in the mystery award competitions, too."Death in Advertising, Martin's first whodunit, is set in a fictitious Richmond, Virginia, advertising agency. Shockoe Slip, the Fan District and other prominent sections of the city figure prominently in the story. Martin's previous winner was a suspense novel with a metaphysical theme called, Out of Body, Into Mind. A best seller in the New Age category, it is being reissued in June by Hampton Roads Publishing under the title, The Mt. Pelée Redemption. The first edition under the original title is still available through Amazon as of this writing. (4/21/98)

Martiin, a vetran of the New York and Richmond advertising scene (The Martin Agency) has written a very readable mystery using the Richmond advertising community as his setting. His characters are well-developed and the element of suspense is always with the reader. A delightful bonus for those familiar with Richmond is his accurate descriptions of the geography of the Fan and West End. A very good read. Lit Maxwell, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA.

Douglas McGregor's seminal works, The Human Side of Enterprise and The Professional Manager, debunked Taylorism and described a revolutionary way to manage people. He was the first to apply the findings in behavioural science to the world of business. Based on what had been learned about human behaviour, McGregor explored the implications of managing people in a different manner than tradition dictated.

Authors Gary Heil, Deborah Stephens and Warren Bennis assert that the nature of work today makes McGregor's ideas more important and relevant than ever before. This book revisits in a contemporary manner the most important question facing management today: given what we know about human nature, how should work be managed so as to unleash the vast creative potential of human beings? It applies McGregor's thinking to today's business world, proving again that the human aspect of work is crucial to organisational effectiveness. It also suggests how you can change your thinking and implement his ideas in your own business and workplace.

The authors carefully outline how to put McGregor's thinking into practice in your own business so you can devise a better performance management system, form and supervise effective management teams, build cooperation instead of internal competition, cultivate an intrinsically motivating, values-driven workplace and create a cause worthy of employee commitment.

McGregor's work is classic. This is required reading for executives.

Dr. Michael Beitler
Author of "Strategic Organizational Change"

This book is a real gem. The 140 pages or so of outline on McGregor's ideas is invaluable. I've read Human Side Of Enterprise, but the way the authors explain theory Y brought a lot of light to my understanding of McGregor's ideas. McGregor's ideas reach much farther than I realized, and the authors are virtuosos at explaining the real profundity in the Human Side of Enterprise. I recommend this book highly, even to those well versed in this stuff. I also learned a lot by the modern examples (like Lincoln Electric and Herman Miller) of companies which follow theory Y. Douglas McGregor does not have all the answers. But even if McGregor is not the last word on management, all future thinkers will have to grapple with the ideas and the questions (so many!) that he put forth.