Related Subjects: Author Index
Book reviews for "Taylor,_Michael_Ray" sorted by average review score:

Caves : Exploring Hidden Realms
Published in Hardcover by National Geographic (2001)
Authors: Michael Ray Taylor and Ronal C. Kerbo
Amazon base price: $24.50
List price: $35.00 (that's 30% off!)
Used price: $8.29
Collectible price: $15.88
Buy one from zShops for: $11.89
Average review score:

Where in the world to cave
I am always left breatheless at the majestic beauty of every cave I am blessed to enter. This book gives wonderful descriptions of caves and the pictures in this coffeesque style book are the icing on the cake.

A great guide to caving
This book is very well written with lovingly detailed chapters devoted to the many splendid cave networks dotted around the world. There's a great section on the flora and fauna of the underworld, as well. I went potholing in Kak Canyon once, and saw a couple of chutney ferrets, all thanks to this book. Incredible creatures - and I wouldn't have known they were there until I read this.

Super cave explorers
I really liked this book. It has good pictures for people who want to be a cave explorer. It tells you a good description of the caves these people explored. I really liked the fact that they explored ice, water and earth caves. I think students that are studying caves would really like this book


Cave Passages : Roaming the Underground Wilderness
Published in Hardcover by Scribner (1996)
Author: Michael Ray Taylor
Amazon base price: $23.00
Used price: $4.00
Collectible price: $5.29
Average review score:

I was hoping for more....
Caving is a fascinating sport, but this book didn't captivate me as I hoped it would. Eleven of the 22 chapters had little or nothing to do with caving (the author just wandered-off on tangents...96 pages worth); that was a disappointment. The chapters which did talk about caving (the other 156 pages) were well written and very descriptive. The book was 252 pages long (the other 30+ pages included a glossary, index, appendix, etc.). I also purchased a book called "The Longest Cave," but I haven't read it yet; I'm hoping it'll be better.

Continued praise for Cave Passages
After finishing this book for the second time, I again felt the pang of loss for having the pages not continue. A blend of caving, philosophy, and caving philosophy, his work gives one pause for finding meaning in one's life. I for one am jealous of the karst regions he has been fortunate to explore. Telling about those exploits is handled with style that doesn't get in the way of the story itself. I'm sure others would enjoy this book. I do.

Enter the fascinating world of caving.
Come visit Michael Ray Taylor's underground world and explore some of the last great wilderness on earth without leaving the safety and comfort of your armchair. This collection of short stories on caving takes you around the world to some of the most exotic caving regions. Michael's easy and casual style of writing puts you right in the action. One can easily imagine how tight the Devil's Pinch must be, and what those rocks felt like as they squeeze you from above and below. I liked how Michael made each account personal by letting you get to know the other cavers and the local inhabitants of the region. This book is for anyone with an adventurous spirit.


Will Work For Peace: New Political Poems
Published in Paperback by Zeropanik Press ()
Authors: Brett Axel, Sherman Alexie, Marge Piercy, Carolyn Kizer, Martin Espada, Diane di Prima, W. D. Snodgrass, Bob Holman, Peter Viereck, and Leslea Newman
Amazon base price: $13.50
Used price: $18.00
Buy one from zShops for: $25.00
Average review score:

Will Work for Peace is a triumph of poetic Davids.
As one of the poets featured in Will Work for Peace, one might expect me to be a bit biased, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Most poets work in a virtual vacuum, only tenuously connected to each other by the occasional workshop or shared membership in a 'poetry society'. When Brett Axel first approached me for a submission to an anthology he was considering, the names Marge Piercy, Lyn Lifshin, Moshe Bennaroch and so many others were abstractions to me as a fledgling poet. I knew these tremendous writers were 'out there' somewhere, beating down doors with their words and keeping a struggling artform alive. But to think that someday I would ever share a credit with these dynamic modern poets would be a pipe dream at best. It is through the sincere efforts of Brett Axel that many newer voices like mine have an extraordinary opportunity to appear with Pulitzer Prize winners and other poetic heavyweights. By way of an honest review, however, I will say this- not everything in this book will be to your particular liking. I myself came across some works that did not move me in the way the author may have intended. Some imagery can be raw and visceral, using shock value in place of craft at times. But to ignore those voices would be an even more shocking turn of events, so praise be to the editor for not sacrificing his vision to a senseless conformity. As Pete Seeger so aptly put it in his quote, trying to read all these poems at one time would be like trying 'to swallow Manhattan whole'. I say to you- buy this book, read this book, but understand that it's what you do after reading this book that will ultimately define who you could be. Poetry is alive and well, and lives in the blunt pages of Will Work for Peace.

You have to read this book!
Brett Axel visited my Church and I bought a copy of Will Work For Peace from him, not for poetry, but because I care about working for peace. I started reading through it thinking It'd just go on my shelf and that'd be the end of it, but the book grabbed me and kept me rivited. If I had known that poetry was this alive I'd have been into poetry. I've been reading some of the poems to my friends who also didn't think poetry was important and they are saying the same thing. Fantastic! There's no way to get through this book without having your old mindsets challenged. It's funny, powerful, sad, and uplifting. A book that deserves to be read by everyone. A book that really can make the world a better place!

Thumbs Up
Just amazing start to finish! I like the disregard for fame used in putting the book together. That great poems got in even if they were writtenby nobodys. Look at Roger Bonair-Agard's poem on page 74. Shortly after Will Work For Peace came out he won Slam Nationals, becoming Slam Champion of 1999, which will be getting him lots of offers. But Zeropanik Press didn't need to be told he was good by an award. They could tell by his writing! Good for them and good for all of us because Will Work For Peace is a literary milestone. It's a new standard for all future anthology editors to try to live up to. Thumbs up to Brett Axel and Thumbs up to Zeropanik Press for their guts and integrty.


Cave Passages
Published in Paperback by Random House Value Publishing (1998)
Author: Michael Ray Taylor
Amazon base price: $1.99
Average review score:
No reviews found.

Close Air Support: Armed Helicopters & Ground Attack Aircraft (Greenhill Military Manuals)
Published in Hardcover by Greenhill Press (1996)
Authors: Michael J. H. Taylor and Ray Hutchins
Amazon base price: $16.80
List price: $24.00 (that's 30% off!)
Used price: $7.13
Buy one from zShops for: $5.74
Average review score:
No reviews found.

Related Subjects: Author Index

Reviews are from readers at Amazon.com. To add a review, follow the Amazon buy link above.