read one of the short pieces in this anthology. They are also incredibly uplifting too. A brilliant bedside companion for any dog lover.

Although each of the pieces in this book was inspired by the loss of a much beloved dog, this is really a book about vibrant, fully-alive dogs: family pets, fellow hunters, soul mates, and best friends. And while none of the dogs remembered so fondly here still lives, Old Dogs affirms the remarkably special place in the heart we reserve for our dogs. My own dog is sturdy in her middle-age, but reading the eulogies and odes in this moving anthology has made me appreciate more all the quirky habits I take for granted, like how she can't resist running off with one of my Reeboks when I'm shoeing up for our evening walk--the little prance she performs when I tell her, "Bring the shoe back!" Not a sad read but a celebratory one, required for every dog owner!

This is a remarkable anthology of stories and poems by outstanding authors of the past, as well as more recent times. Although these moving remembrances are only of beloved dogs, the lovers of any species of pet will find identical sentiments for their own losses. Whatever kind of companion animal you had, you will find your own bereavement and healing tears reflected here, as well.

Care was taken to avoid over-sentimentality, in this assortment of loving reflections of dogs, celebrated here. These accounts are full of love, and are sometimes even funny - and we are thrust into the realization that perhaps that is the most wonderful kind of living memorials we can have for a beloved pet. Too often, we lose this perspective, while trying to keep from drowning in our own bereavement and sorrows.

Rather than being a collection of sad literary memorials Old Dogs Remembered is a joyful celebration of life with pets. This inspires healthy new points of view and adjustments to moving on into our new lives, without them.

Here we are treated to many different outlooks on how they permanently enriched the lives of their owners. Reading these heartwarming pages will broaden the understanding of each reader, concerning his/her own personal bereavement. Here, we are offered the collective wisdom of others, who reminisce on their honored pets. There is much to be shared and learned here, as well as enjoyed.

With so many different authors, one must appreciate that references and styles have changed drastically, through the ages. As an example of this, some might find the essay by the dramatist John Galsworthy to be interesting, but a bit troublesome to read. And, as with any anthology, there may be some accounts not everyone would appreciate. But all pet lovers will readily identify with the overall shared remembrances, here. This is a heartwarming collection, which can be enjoyed comfortably, in several installments.

There will be many an uplifting tear shed in its reading, and we suggest it for your reading pleasure.

I am so bummed that this book is out of print. I read it in the summer of 1995, while houseboating at Lake Powell. Even though I'm not a kayaker, I love being out on the water, and this book really made me want to take up kayaking. The pictures are fabulous, the stories are wonderful! I especially remember the stories about kayaking with the ships off the coast of California, and with the orcas in Alaska. If this book ever comes back into print, I want a copy of it. In the meantime, I guess I'll just keep watching the used book stores!

The author has experienced many paddling adventures all over the West Coast of North America and down into Mexico. A fantastic photographer, Rogers jams this book full of beautiful and inspiring photographs along with interesting narrative. From the pounding surf off the Washington coast to warm, quiet lagoons in the Baja, Rogers takes you along for quite a trip.

I remember reading this story over and over in elementary school. It was a favorite for everyone in my class and would create fights over who got to borrow it from the classroom. One of my fondest memories of 2nd grade was performing a play of this story.

If you ever wanted to see the Presidents bedroom or the First Lady's dressing room....get this book - a truly WONDERFUL treat!

John W. Crowley deals competently with the historical shift in understandings of alcoholism, from the temperance-led view of moral deficit to the illness concept of the 'alcoholism movement'. Whilst covering some of the same ground as Tom Dardis' s seminal work 'The Thirsty Muse', this book nevertheless raises some interesting insights into the lost generation of American writers and their antecedents. Possibly it is most compelling where it considers the context of the era, as characterized by the collective post traumatic stress precipitated by the Great War and the unique restrictions of the Prohibition years. What Crowley adds to this well-worn ground is his linkage to socially constructed gender roles in turmoil - though his account is not unproblematic in its approach. 'The White Logic' usefully rehearses the prevalent psychoanalytic view of that time in discourses treating alcoholism as a dysfunction of repressed homosexuality. Indeed, Crowley almost alludes to male alcoholism as a 'feminised' or emasculated space. He also highlights the extremes socially allocated the female drinker, the either/or paradigms of (un-sexed) lesbian or (over-sexed) slut. Rather than developing this aspect of the argument farther, the book falls foul of its own trap in its inclusion of only one female writer - Djuna Barnes - arguably selected as representative of both these polarities.

'Drunk narratives' by WD Howells, Jack London and John O'Hara - plus the obligatory Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald works - are deftly utilized. The author's selection of texts does appear to hamper a fruitful line of inquiry into the rise and drink-related decline of each individual writer's creativity. O'Hara's 'Appointment at Samarra', for example, is a first novel, whilst 'Tender is the Night' is a later work from an established writer in the grip of his addiction and already on a creative downward spiral. The most commendable chapter is chronologically the last. Crowley's method of inflecting literary text with biographical context is at its best here in his examination of Charles Jackson's 'The Lost Weekend'. It marks the ascendance of the 'illness concept' which still remains dominant, largely due to the medicalization of alcoholism and the prevalence of Alcoholics Anonymous, post World War II. Crowley also traces the increasing willingness of Hollywood to engage with narratives promoting alcoholism-as-illness. This is a strategy which of course accelerates after the successful transition of Jackson's novel to screen in 1945 - but with its ending changed to accommodate Hollywood's appetite for upbeat resolution.

Overall, 'The White Logic' is a comprehensive survey - perceptive and accessibly written. It runs the risk though of leaving the reader with a somewhat reductive impression - distilling modernism itself to a privileged class monologue, in the spuriously heroic pursuit of absolution through dissolution.

John Crowley's study of alcohol and gender in Modernist fiction is, I think, the most aware of the numerous books which are considered fundamental reading in this field. Where Tom Dardis' _The Thirsty Muse_ is too limited in its scope and completely fails to acknowledge the arean of gender within the context of alcohol and addiction, Crowley's scholarship takes the woman alcoholic into consideration, by including a chapter on Djuna Barnes. Too, some of the other texts within this area, like Gilmore's _Equivocal Spirits_, Newlove's _Those Drinking Days_, and Goowin's _Alcohol and the Wirter_ fail in their attempts to provide a comprehensive or inclusive anaolysis of the ways that alcohol has functioned in the lives and the works of twentieth century writers.

Certainly, Crowley's addressing of gender within this field is not unproblematic. Providing Djuna Barnes as a mere foil to his dicussion of the masculinity and homosociality he discusses London, Hemingway, and Fitzgerald seems dismissive of the important issues women's writing and women's alcoholism provoke. Nonetheless, Crowleys seems light years ahead of the predecessors.

The book itself is easy reading, his prose style critical and literary critic-esque enough to garner professional respect while still remaining lively and interesting and non sleep-inducing.

This book should not be read by those who only have a low-level interest in information warfare, and more specifically, information in warfare. This is an academic document for policy makers and the defense establishment, as commissioned by the Air Force. The focus is on the information-based processes and weapons and their interaction. I found valuable concepts and ideas throughout the book, especially in one of last chapters about lessons the DOD can learn from business. For those in defense with a need to discover the wide aspects of IIW, this is for you. But only if you are in a mid- to high-level position or thirst for knowledge of greater concepts.

Stephen Hawking's life and his research in cosmology are fascinating and based on that alone I enjoyed this book. However, the book is poorly written and lacks depth. It lacks any detailed description of Stephen Hawking's work and doesn't provide any true insight into his life or character. For example, the authors repeatedly inform us of what an overpowering presence Stephen Hawking has but they never provide any evidence of this. Good writers show you what they mean - they don't just repeatedly tell you.

This book seems to based on no actual contact with Stephen or Jane Hawking or any of his colleagues. It seems that the authors read "A Brief History of Time," read a couple of articles, and then decided to write a biography. It definitely comes up short.

I am an enormous fan of Stephen Hawking, his achievements in physics are incredible and his ability to overcome his illness demonstrates how sturdy the human mind can be. He is touted in the book as the greatest mind since Einstein, which is a claim I also recently read concerning Richard Feynman. I have no opinion on this, as I hold them both in very high regard. To me such debates are silly, as ranking such people is so subjective that it is meaningless and wasteful.
That aside, I generally enjoyed the book, finding the explanations of the physics a little too simplistic for my tastes, but certainly within the realm of the general reader. My only real criticism is that there was too much ink spent on some of the minutiae of his life. Even Hawking probably objects to some of the details about his life that appear. However, I was pleased to read that he can be temperamental and shows his anger by running over a person's foot with his wheelchair. It just makes him sound that much more human.
This is a good biography of a great man, who lets nothing get in his way. An inspiration who probably does not want the role in any capacity other than as a physicist, he has revolutionized cosmology and it will be a minimum of decades before all the consequences of his work will be known.

Well, this book is about the biography of one of the genius of our time. But unfortunately, is not the biography that one waited. It was possibly written with the purpose of making money: because I think that what is written on Stephen, is sold at once. The book dedicates a chapter to explain the scientific developments, and the following one dedicates it to speak of Stephen, and so forth until the end. Finished the book, one doesn't know if it was bought a divulgation book or a biography. As divulgation book it is too limited, and how biography, it leaves to a side the spiritual content of a man born for the science. In total, an incomplete book. If you feel passion for the science, as me, you won't like this book.

But not everything is bad. If you are not informed of anything of the development of the science of this century, at least until some years ago, this is a good book for you, because on it you will find a small biography of one of the biggest scientific personalities in the XX century, and at the same time you will be able to find out topics so dark as those of the general relativity, singularities, black holes and something of quantum mechanics, in a simple, and easy language. You are the only one that, in definitive, knows as being located in front of the book.

John Dean has written a readable retelling of the appointment politics surrounding William Rehnquist, then Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court and since 1986 Chief Justice of the United States. Those who have read about the Court avidly or extensively will not find much here that is new, but that tends to validate what Dean says. Those who knew little about President Nixon or the politics of appointments in the Nixon Era will find more than a few fascinating stories.

Mr. Dean was a lawyer working in the White House. Thus, he was privy to many of the machinations of the Nixon Administration. If Mr. Dean is liable to be suspected of repenting or exaggerating his role, he may be at least presumed to be an authority.

One of Mr. Dean's overarching points is that Mr. Rehnquist was appointed to the Court nearly accidentally. The naive reader will be startled to see how little thought went into the selection, how late in the process that thought came about, and how few second thoughts were lavished on the selection once it was made.

In addition, the reader will be amused by the cavalier banter that passed for analysis between Nixon and his various sounding boards. Dean has reproduced dialogue from the White House tapes, so the quotations appear to be authoritative.

The "might have beens" are too delicious to spoil in this review. Dean deftly introduces each possibility with a capsule description so that readers who did not pay much attention in 1971 may appreciate who was who.

No one should be surprised to read that Nixon was prejudiced against blacks, Jews, and women, but the vehemence with which Nixon spews stereotypes startles even thirty years later.

Dean concludes that Rehnquist, in 1971 and 1986, fibbed his way thorough difficulties. The splendid irony that the fellow who presided over Clinton's trial in the Senate in 1999 had perjured himself onto the Court and into the Chief Justiceship is hardly news. To believe Rehnquist's denials concerning challenging minority voters in Arizona in the 1960s or concerning his memorandum urging the justices to uphold "separate but equal" as good law required muscular denial. [Dean does not raise the matter of the restrictive covenant on Rehnquist's property.] Those familiar with these issues will find very little new. However, those new to the matter will find in the "Afterword" a concise but articulate discussion of why Rehnquist's denials were unbelievable.

What readers may not gather from Dean's prose, however, is that, in a roundabout way, the system worked. Stymied by the American Bar Association [which found Nixon's first few candidates to be unqualified or unimpressive] and stung by mass media attacks on Nixon's attempts to appoint mediocrities, Nixon felt compelled to go for a little stature with predictable ideology. Rehnquist was a predictable conservative. He was also many cuts above the sorts of people with whom Nixon wanted to saddle the Court.

John Dean has written an insider's book that chronicles President Richard Nixon's appointment of William Rehnquist to the United States Supreme Court. It was without doubt a Presidency filled with history, and the appointment of William Rehnquist to the Supreme Court is an often forgotten part of that Presidency. The book is well researched and throughly documented with first hand material from the National Archives, including several verbatim passages transcribed from the infamous White House tapes that otherwise doomed the Nixon Presidency.

Dean brings us inside the "vetting" process used by the White House staff and Justice Department to select nominees to the Court. Dean floated the name of Rehnquist to several in the administration, including then Attorney General John Mitchell, as a possible conservative candidate for the Court as Dean had worked with Rehnquist in the Justice Department and learned of the Rehnquist's strict constructionist interpretation of the constitution. What was fascinating was that Rehnquist while toiling away at the Justice Department was tasked with "vetting' the other possible Court nominees chosen by the White House. Sounds much like the recent scenario of the selection of Dick Cheney as Vice President.

The book details the other nominees Rehnquist beat out for the coveted position. If anyone believes that politics plays no part in the selection of the members of the Court, then this is required reading. At times humorous and at times self-serving, this book is well worth the purchase. If you are not a Court watcher don't worry, you don't have to be to appreciate this book. Dean is a good writer and the text flows easily. Add "The Rehnquist Choice" to your summer reading list - you will gain an appreciation of the importance of Presidential nominations to the Court.

Only in the last couple of years have all the tapes of Nixon's many conversations as President in the White House been released. The tragedy of Richard Nixon is that every time someone wants to think well of him, tapes or something else surfaces that shows his real unpleasant, dark, and unsavory character.

John Dean waited for the release of these tapes and along with his personal recollections during the time period has written a book that deals with the selection of Rehnquist and Lewis Powell as United States Supreme Court Justices. Its not pleasant reading for those naive enough to believe that Presidents seek out the most qualified people for appointments. Rather, the book exposes the process used by President Nixon to select two supreme court justices as frought with politics, bigotry, and regionalism. Nixon's bigotry about Jews, prejudice against easterners, and nasty language make this a book that someone who is very sensitive should not read.

The real shocker here is that before picking Powell who was a superbly qualified justice, Nixon first selected two candidates who could not even win acceptance as "qualified" for the Supreme Court by the American Bar Association Committee on the Federal Judiciary. Nixon stubbornly tried to get these individuals appointed until it became absolutely clear it was hopeless. Only at this point, did a real candidate like Powell get nominated. Nixon further abused the process by sending names to the ABA of other people he knew would never win approval.

Rehnquist had good paper qualifications to sit on the Supreme Court. However, it was known early on he was extremely conservative. He may have lied about statements he allegedly made expressing approval of racial segregation in schools. Dean presents the case for this. Its up to the reader to judge.

In the end, we are left gasping at the twisted and bizarre process which put Rehnquist on the Supreme Court. Even those who support Rehnquist and other conservative justices should wish for a better process to select judges. Hopefully, one day we shall see such a process and never see another President like Nixon again.

Mark

Nixon will always take the blame for the dishonorable acts of Dean. Read silent Coupe for the most likely truth here.

This story is quite interesting. When I first read it, during the 1970s, I bought Mr. Dean's version of events hook, line and sinker -- and boy did he suck me in. He postured himself as someone involved way over his head who ended up being, in effect, a victim. I have concluded that some of the presented details are true, and some are not. The presentation, however, is uniformly riveting.

Read additional Watergate material for a broader view and better picture. The lesson here is that you can't always believe the story which appears, at first glance, to be the most convincing.

I've never learned so much about the unseen world of politics as I have in this one book. George Stephanopolous' book pales in comparison to the amount of insight this book reveals. It's something we've known all along about government - just put into straightforward terms that everyone can understand. None of that NewSpeak politics that we hear about in the mainstream press, that limit our range of thought.

Anyone who gives this book a bad ranking is a government operative, seeking to hide information from the populace.

*A*