Dan Barden is an excellent writer with the potential of producing truly brilliant work. But this novel bored me to tears. Mr. Barden, please keep writing, but let's put John Wayne to rest for good.

This is a fantastic book. In a series of stories linked by the figure of John Wayne, Dan Barden weaves an emotionally taut family saga.As much as this is a book about John Wayne, it is also a book about the Bardens, a family trying to make sense of their own lives in the shadow of the Duke. He takes the John Wayne myth and peels it back to show us how much more heroic a complex, flawed individual trying to imagine the best for himself is than the Indian fighting screen image against which his life is set. There is poetry here and insight. I loved it.

John Wayne: A Novel was beautifully done. Simple language exposes the intricate layers of influence between a Hollywood Legend and an American family. Lillian Barden is particularly moving as a woman struggling to surface in a marriage which has foundered. Her husband, Frank Barden's best ambition is to love her. He stumbles onto John Wayne as guide with somewhat disasterous results. But the disaster is in the heart of the Barden Family. John Wayne remains both human and icon, unscathed.

A person who pays $60 for a paperback volume on natural history might naturally expect to receive a fairly hefty tome. This book, however, is a mere 200 quarto pages cobbled together mainly from a series of technical papers. The language and style are classically dull, dry sciencespeak. Although said by its editors to be designed to appeal to a broad audience, it's strictly for bear bionerds. The clothbound version is even more outrageouly overpriced at $120! This thing is obviously aimed at people who have government grant money to throw around. And disregard the star at the head of this review; the software won't allow less than a one-star rating.

The authors did a wonderful job of compiling years of scientific research into a natural history book. This is definately a book for the more scientifically-oriented community. It is nice to see the technical aspects included, rather than oversimplifying the material into a "storybook." The missing star is for the price...but this is probably a matter related to the publisher rather than the authors.