This book was a gift from my brother for the holidays. Being a native from Puerto Rico, I believe this book is invaluable for those of us who have been raised in Puerto Rico and like many others, like Mr.Labrucherie expresses in his book chapter "Jibaro", have pursued a more progressive lifestyle in the mainland. Nowhere have I read a book about Puerto Rico, its history and culture, that illustrates the true essence of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican as this book does. The author has an amazing ability of providing insight about the Island not only for the tourist but particularly to us that have lived there and are away. In its own way an analytical review of the Island's background, the book has been written in such a way that not only you learn but mostly you navigate through the book. When you finish each chapter, you feel that you have become part of the story told. Of course, the photography is superb, taking you to the heart of the topic for an extraordinary display of the profound beauty of Puerto Rico. A real pleasure and joy to read. Thank you, Mr. Labrucherie, for making me fall in love with my Island all over again. Cheers, for a fantastic photojournalism and writing exceptional gift!

I've been travelling to the islands of the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico, for over 25 years, and I have quite a collection of coffee-table books on the region. This author is a master of getting "inside" the county, the people, the culture, the history. Incredible pictures -- this man is a true artist. (The photo notes say he took over 15,000 pictures to put the book together!) The text is chock-full of info, for those who actually take the time to read this sort of book. Actually, I had not intended to read the text, but I started reading a bit here and there and ended up reading it cover-to-cover. This book covers it all -- I couldn't recommend it more highly.

In a word, Wow! This is a superb "portrait" of this island. The photographs are absolutely stunning. But this isn't just a "postcard" view of Puerto Rico -- there's lots of coverage of the people, history, and culture, too. The author-photographer has been traveling to Puerto Rico for over three decades, and it shows both in his photographs and his extensive text, which gives a solid but concise presentation of Puerto Rico's history in a very readable way without being dry. (Kind of National Geographic style.) And the picture captions are in-depth, presenting little gems of info about the picture subject matter if you're in too much of hurry to read the whole text. I've lived in Puerto Rico, and this has the feel of an insider's view, not just someone who has breezed through the island and shot a few pictures.

We all know that 'mistakes' can happen in hospitals. Roger Radford's Informed Consent is a fictitious story which begins with of one of those possible 'mistakes.' The story is of a woman who suffers devastating consequences following an epidural for 'painless' childbirth. Her husband, a former IRA hit man, plots revenge against those he holds responsible for his wife's suffering. Until the very end the reader is held in suspense wondering if he really means to carry out his threat. Despite Kieran Kelly's violent past, this reader found herself sympathising with his mental torture and almost willing him to succeed in his mission.

The author dramatically writes this story revealing facts about what has been described by many as one of the British Government's best kept secrets. Informed Consent intelligently combines both fact and fiction.It tells of medical and pharmaceutical cover-ups (which, I believe, threaten to stir many guilty consciences), and brings awareness of the little known disease of Arachnoiditis. Roger Radford has deliberately taken the opportunity of exposing the sad reality behind so much unnecessary suffering, and this is very well portrayed through the characters in this story. There is nothing exaggerated in his description. There are sadly many who can relate to this suffering and who will share the pain and anger through every written word.

This is Radford's valuable contribution to society. A book that everyone should read, because this story, based on reality, informs its readers of the truth behind certain dangerous medical procedures. Hundreds of thousands of patients have become victims of toxic injections (with no informed consent) or so-called failed back surgery. In the guise of a thriller, the author has provided the public with important information that is otherwise denied it. It is a book which could prevent a lot more suffering.

There is no-one more qualified to write a novel on this subject than one who has suffered the agony of this little- known disease, and Roger Radford is one of its many victims. He has dedicated his book to the many silent victims of invasive spinal procedures, with acknowledgement to members of COFWA (Circle of Friends with Arachnoiditis) whose courage and fortitude gave him inspiration to write this novel. Informed Consent comes from the heart and deserves to be a bestseller and cries out for a film to be made.

Janet Kraal

Author of Released from the Web.

A riveting story from start to finish. A book that was truly impossible to put down. The characters were realistic and vividly drawn. I had complete empathy for the main character, Kieran. The reader is drawn into his story and his reasons for the actions he undertakes. A treat for those who are unfamiliar with Roger Radford's work.

Roger Radford, I have a bone to pick with you... Shame on you, Roger, you have no pity for your readers who are going to become so engrossed in this novel that the world could pass them by. Seriously though, I want to commend you on writing an insightful and thought provoking book. I kept thinking while reading this, "If only we could get the powers that be to read this". Your characters are so vivid and real. I felt like I really knew Kieran and felt deep empathy for him. For those of you who have not read it, you have a treat in store. CONGRATULATIONS, Roger, on a beautiful job.

Writing from a narrative center somewhere between Mark Twain and Garrison Keillor, author Roger Welsch memorializes the town and inhabitants of Centralia (aka Dannebrog, pop. 356), Nebraska, in what he calls "Bleaker County." Centralia itself is either the center of this windswept prairie state or the center of the universe, depending on who you ask in this small town. It's located not far north of the Platte River and its farmlands, and not far south of the Sandhills, with its population of cattle and cowboys. Life in Centralia gravitates toward the Town Tavern, where many of these story-essays take place, and we meet Welsch's fictionalized friends and neighbors: Lunchbox, Goose, Slick, Woodrow, and Cece -- the regulars. There are also his wife Lily, daughter Jenny, an Indian friend Cal, a kind-hearted bachelor uncle named Grover Bass, a film crew from public television in Lincoln, a mean cuss named Royal Cupp, a rip-tearing adventurer, Luke Bigelow, and many others.

Welsch has an appreciation for the quirky, cock-eyed, and audacious. Like an endlessly curious anthropologist, he's equally fascinated by the everyday and the out-of-the-ordinary. He's a humanist, romanticizing his characters even while he's treating them with tongue-in-cheek irony. He's also willing to show that they can stoop to the unforgivable, or that they do not share his appreciation for people from other ethnic backgrounds. There is a range of tones and sentiments in the book, from comic farce to tenderness and awe. My favorite essay, "Racing Horses at the Centralia Fourth of July," ranges across all three, as his young teenage daughter teams up with a burly cowboy to take second place in a relay race. I laughed and had tears in my eyes by the end.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and happily recommend it to anyone with an interest in small town life on the Plains. As a companion volume, I'd suggest the short stories of life in a rural Minnesota community in Kent Meyers' "Light in the Crossing."

This is life and this is fun! Beautiful pictures of Great Plain - Small Village life written -so well!- by an expert.

In "It's Not the End of the Earth,..", Roger Welsch does an excellent job bringing out the humor of small town life by simply telling stories about his friends in Centralia, NE. He has a witty way of giving value to each of the members of this rural community bringing to light the peculiar habits and expressions that make them all unique, interesting, and memorable. I applaud Prof. Welsch's folkloric expose' of the kinds of everyday things that I used to laugh about with my dad - some of my favorite things.

Oscar Wilde entirely dedicates this play to the exploration of the way a woman can be saved from destruction in this society of appearances. A woman was the victim of an imbroglio in the past and abandoned her daughter. This woman comes back and the daughter ignores her relation to her. She is brought back into societry by the daughter's husband who knows the truth but does not want his wife to know it. But there is some kind of malediction that flies over the heads of these women. The daughter nearly does the same mistake as her mother but she is saved by her mother who accepts to be tainted in her daughter's place. Bus Oscar Wilde must think there is some kind of reward for a good deed and all is well that ends well, and this play has a happy ending. In spite of all the melodramatic sentimentalese atmosphere, Oscar Wilde definitely explores in this play the great disadvantage of a woman in society. Men can do nearly all they want. Women are extremely limited and have to walk a very straight and narrow line. Oscar Wilde seems to be ahead of his time as for the fate of women: he seems to aspire for real equality for them, though he shows in all possible ways that this is impossible in his society.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Perpignan

My first experience reading Oscar Wilde... and certainly not my last.

Wilde's sardonic wit and ineffable satire had me enchanted from page one. Wilde writes with devastatingly appealing witticisms, and with a style and cleverness matched by few other authors. It is said that he is one of the more oft-quoted authors in the English language, and I now understand why.

In addition to axioms and aphorisms of pure genius, the plot both captivates and surprises the reader. Lady Windermere discovers that her husband has been cheating on her, and a folly of misunderstandings and poor advice then unfolds; all the while satirizing society.

This play is very interesting to read (according to me). I saw a lot of hypocracy and snobery of people in this play. But a lot of peole said that the plays of Oscar Wilde have no satire, means, there is no factor of politics, socials,etc. I think, what he wrote in this plays and other plays had something to critize the people in that time. I want more information about Lady Winderemere's Fan, I mean what is the background of Wilde wrote yhis novel. Is there any important effects so that he wrote this first play?

Wyeth's biography of Forrest stands as one of the best written about him. It is a 'must read' for any serious student of the civil war as it was fought in the west (Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Kentucky). While other biographies have been written (such as, "Bedford Forrest and His Critter Company", by Ansrew Nelson Lytle and "First with the Most Forrest" by Robert Selph Henry), they don't have the breadth that Wyeth's book has. Of course, the only biography actually reviewed and approved by General Forrest was Jordan and Pryor's "The Campaigns of Lieut. Gen. Forrest and of Forrest's Cavalry", but this work is flawed by a markedly biased position on the part of the authors and by their inability to access the Official Records. On the other hand, they did interview Forrest and most of his surviving authors and Wyeth drew much of his material from this work. Still, for the definitive story of Forrest's life, Wyeth's book is the acknowledged source.

THIS IS THE BEST BOOK I HAVE READ ON THE LIFE OF GENERAL NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST. IT IS WELL DOCUMENTED ON THE POINTS OF INTEREST THAT HAS CAUSED A BLIMISH ON THIS GREAT MAN'S LIFE. IT IS A MUST READ FOR ANYONE SEEKING THE TRUTH ABOUT GENERAL FORREST. IT CLEARLY SHOWS HE IS THE GREATEST CAVALRYMAN OF THE WAR. NO ONE ELSE COMES CLOSE TO HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND VICTORIES ON EITHER SIDE OF THE GREAT WAR.

This book gives exquisite detail into the life of the South's Greatest General! It is a must read for any Civil War enthusiast. I highly recomend this book for anyone interested in the South.

If you work with stylistics this is a basic book. What makes the book special is that it does not only introduces what Fowler calls linguistic criticism but also discuss many problematic points that anyone who works with stylistics faces. The books covers every topic of this sort of work, from terminology to practical analysis.

As an introduction to the critical study of discourse, Linguistic Criticism gives special attention to literary texts. According to Roger Fowler, Linguistics is the support to a criticism that would consider both language and context in order to point out the special effects of language into the discourse. For him, the task of considering the subjective aspects of literature with a scientific eye towards its discourse only can be achieved with the support of Linguistics. A part from that, the author does not believe that literature is the only kind of discourse that deserves such approach. The reader will also find a large bibliography about every topic discussed.

If nowadays Linguistics Scholars have too much to fight over little small branchs of the big Discipline Linguistics has become, why don't the begginers at this "science" start to take profit of all that? If you need some ideas of how you can combine some of the linguistics traditions without breaking them into small unuseful stuff, here you got many! The author reviews how can one well use linguistics towards literature getting acurated analysis. How? You have to read the book! But be aware it is not a book for outsiders of the linguistics world... Then you can think a little more about what linguistics is, what will the cool as in order to work with it you do need to think instead of fighting...

This what this book is about. The reader finds out how much he can discover while reading a literary or non literary work...

If you like adventure, if you like caves, if you like drama and suspense, or if you breath in and out regularly and have a pulse, you really ought to read this book. The story of the years it took to connect the Flint Ridge/Mammoth cave systems, it sweeps the reader into the wonderfully obsessive world of the Flint Ridge Cavers. A great book. Strongly reccomended.

Caves have been intertwined with Kentucky history since a man named Houchins chased a bear into Mammoth cave in the late 1700s. Later on, the valley north of Mammoth Cave was named after this early settler, and the ridge north of Houchins' Valley was called Flint Ridge. Starting in the early 1950s a group of cavers began a lifelong ambition of connecting the caves on the northern ridge (Flint Ridge) to the caves on the southern ridge (Mammoth Cave Ridge). Their goal was simple: To map the Longest Cave. This book covers that time. Along with 'The Caves Beyond' and 'Trapped', this book constitutes an informal trilogy about Mammoth Cave. It is a story of determination over hardship, of perseverence over fatigue, of triumph over nature. Roger Brucker and Red Watson write this book with the confidence of people that were there. From the very beginning, their influence on the project helped mold it into what it was to become. We see them age, from young men in their ealry twenties, to grizzled Flint Ridge veterans to seeing their children caving alongside them. There is a real sense of the passage of time here; people come, people go, the cave is eternal. Fiction should hope to be so true. Dominating all this is the cave. It is all pervading. Over three hundred miles of passage lies under their feet, and the reader fells as if he is crawling, climbing and squirming along with them. We feel the explorer's chill they wade through Hanson's Lost River, we feel their pain as they crawl through Agony Avenue. We satand alongside them as they are awed by the vastness and remoteness of Unknown Cave. Above all else, it is the story of the people who explore the cave. For fourty years, cavers have been gathering in Central Kentucky to explore this cave. To mankind, the cave is eternal. We may choos to protect it, we may, in our ignorance deface it. Either way, we live our lives by interacting with it. Or to put it in the books words: "That is where life is, that is where your friends are".

Read this b! ook.

This book is the best book I've ever came across! Outstanding adventure of how the World's Largest Cave System ever came about. The discoveries in this book are amazing! Suspence to the fullest! The people in this book who made this discovery should be noted as the best exploration team of all time! I can only amagine the feeling they got knowing they had made the biggest connection in cave history to this day. It would be almost impossible for anyone else to top the discovery in this book. An amazing adventure!! I couldn't stop reading this book over and over. The authors of this book should give the story to Hollywood to make into a motion picture. I could imagine this story making the best adventure movie of all time. Ron Howard or Steven Speilburg should be given a copy of this book! It would be a hit! I wish I had the full video tape of this expidition. National Geographic's short segment in "Mysteries Underground" was a tease. If anyone knows where or if there is such a tape, please post it! This is a must read if you like adventure to the fullest!

Fast-paced and entertaining, this book was a fun read with romance and rock n'roll. The characters are interesting and contemporary and I enjoyed the general musical atmosphere.

An engrossing insider's look at the world of alternative rock, from the vantage point of the lead singers in two bands, this novel manages to avoid the usual cliches of drugs and glitz, focusing instead on personal relationships. It's Bridget Jones Diary meets Almost Famous, using email and press clips as well as more traditional storytelling techniques. You'll find yourself forgetting that these bands are fictional. The line between reality and fiction blurs even more if you check out the skrogersonline website....

Sex, drugs, rock and roll, and intelligence all mixed together to make a real sex, drugs and rock and roll novel. Characters you can believe in and want to find out what happens to them. It is a wild ride, not for the timid. The music writing is so real you want to go out and hear the band. But, alas turn the page and kick up the volume. "Jump Cut" has romance, adventure and is written in a unique way. It is part diary, letter, email, articles and story, it's a hybrid you won't put down until you've finished it. It will leave you wanting more.

This book does a very good job of getting you right into ActiveX, and then slowly adds the VBScript. While the examples on the CD are well documented, I couldn't get a few of them to work (SelectedIndex) for one. However, I would recommend this book as both a good reference and usuable tool. Note that you should have a pretty good understanding of HTML. If you don't, you'll have problems, but the CD has an HTML book on it that is easily indexed. It helped me out greatly.

I like the way Ms. Lemay wrote the book, She makes it easy for a beginner like me in VBscript easier to understand the language. It is like one of her Teach Yourself books! I highly recommend this as a good reference!

Excellent step by step lessons on using ActiveX and VBscript. This book cleared up alot of questions I had. I just bought this book a week ago (May 1999) and I wish I had bought it a long time ago. Although this book was published in 1997, it is unbelievably useful today!

There is a lot of excellent information in this book for anyone who has been in a cult, certainly. I bought it for a slightly different reason: I wanted to hear how Peter McWilliams explained to himself the incredible stupidity of being sucked into such a bag of lies. I am satisfied with his descriptions, and the book is cheerful, and upbeat! Well worth the purchase price, and I am lucky to have stumbled upon it.

Like Peter, I consider myself to be reasonably intelligent, etc., and yet had been married to a person for 20 years (and tied up in court battles with him for the next 7) who was recently diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder. He was punitive, abusive, and selfish. I wondered if reading Peter's account of having made a similar series of terrible choices would help me in my recovery.

It did, and I highly recommend this book, and would love to thank Peter in person, if I could find an address for him. Also, like Peter, I was depressed in this negative relationship, so in 1992 I bought his book You can't afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought. Again, paralleling the author, as soon as my depression lifted, I was able to "get out" of the problem relationship. How interesting, then, that as the saga of disengaging reaches it's completion, Peter has again left me some "bread crumbs" to find my way home again.

This book is extremely valuable for anyone finding themselves in the unpleasant situation of feeling ridiculous for having succumbed to a bad relationship.

That MSIA now owns the copyright to "Life 102" is a telling admission that John-Roger wanted this embarrassing book killed and sent to hell. The book is an astonishing expose from Peter Mc Williams, a MSIA insider. While the book dishes the dirt on
J-R, the real untold story is still out there: How did MSIA get the copyright? Did Peter McWilliams sell the copyright because he is sick with cancer and needed the money? Did MSIA prevail in court in a legal fight? I have not been able to find out on the internet. Search engines are all linked to MSIA. This reeks of a MSIA tactic to control search engines -- something easy to do if you have enough of the faithful's tithes to spend on endarkenment.

J-R is rotten to the core if we are to believe Mc Williams' story. Yet Mc Williams comes across as being no better than J-R when all is said and done. Mc Williams plays the victim and J-R the bully. The two deserved each as we read of their sick and twisted karmic drama being played out in the pages of Life 102.
I would like to see J-R write "Life 103: What To Do When Your Devotee Writes a Sensationalized Expose On You."

The book is well worth reading and should belong in the library of anyone interested in the history of the New Age movement in America. Personally, the book did its job insofar as it convinced me to stay away from John-Roger and MSIA. I am of the opinion that MSIA has survived David McLane, the L.A. Times, and Mc WIlliams not because of its spirituality, but rather because of the power of its lawyers, a war chest full of money, a PR firm, and the ability to maintain a legal war against to grind its enemies to powder and outlast the interest of the critics.

Peter McWilliams has done the world a great service by writing this book. If only one person avoids the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness because of his efforts, his time and trouble (and he's had a lot!) will not have been in vain. His skewering of Arianna Huffington is particularly delicious.