This book is a great read. Simple and short. Straight to the point. Many different stories that come together in the end. A sad beginning leading up to a wonderful ending make. The book takes you inside the characters. You become one of the members of the small Pennsylvainia town, and are not just an outsider looking in. You are not just reading the words, you are living them. Greg Miller creates a small town and brings it to life in this exciting and emotional novel. A definate read.

Big Cicadas was recommeded to me by a friend and as this was the first published novel of Greg Miller, I didn't know quite what to expect. However, despite the fact that this was his first novel, it immediately was clear to me that Mr. Miller has mastered the quality of not overusing language. His words were simple and precise, yet also very moving and affective. It reminded me a little of Richard Yates, an author I hold in the highest esteem.

Big Cicadas tells the story of Jay Jarvis. Jay has led a simple life in a little town in Pennsylvania and after one of his students Jeff dies from drowning, he begins to reassess his life and in essense tries to 'find himself.' It is a journey that has been chronicled many times but Miller manages to add fresh insights to it. Jay is relatable character and his dilemma is a universal one.

The book flows very well and once you start reading it, you won't want to put it down until it is over. Miller makes great descriptions both of his characters and small town life. I highly recommend this book and am looking forward to reading more of Greg Miller's work.

I was very, very pleased with this book. Although I don't normally read fiction, the plot of 'Big Cicadas' appealed to me and I found it to be a very quick read. The greatest thing about it is the development of the main character, Jay Jarvis, which is achieved through vignettes, flashbacks, observations, events, and even the achievements of other characters. In the end I felt I knew him, and I could certainly relate to him.

I also like the pacing of 'Big Cicadas,' which is achieved through short chapters that often don't, on the surface, seem to have anything to do with one another. By the end, however, Miller weaves everything together with dexterity and finesse...There's one moment in the book when I sat back and said, "Ah!" Everything fell into place.

Finally, the overall message of the book struck me forcefully -- I won't give anything away, but I will say that in the end, 'Big Cicadas' could easily be viewed as a kind of elemental tale. Certainly it transcends its setting. Most certainly, it left me with a feeling of hope.

It can only be guessed at why this book was out of print in the US until recently. In it, the reader can discover a charming collection of VERY short stories, which flit from whimsical to mythological, humorous to chilling. All are written in Dunsany's incomparable prose, which ranges from arch first-person narrative to stuff that sounds like embellished mythology.

In this you'll find centaurs, sphinxes, master thieves, about-to-retire pirate chiefs, kings trying to move an emotionless queen to tears, a magical window, a pair of feuding idols, and a delightful story called "Miss Cubbidge and the Dragon of Romance." In addition, this new reprint by Wildside Press has a beautiful cover of a young boy on a winged horse.

The stories are a little short -- much shorter than most present-day short fantasy stories -- but they are just amazing. A must-read for immediate suspension of belief.

It can only be guessed at why this book is out of print in the US, though it can be obtained with other Dunsany works from the UK. In it, the reader can discover a charming collection of VERY short stories, which flit from whimsical to mythological, humorous to chilling. All are written in Dunsany's incomparable prose, which ranges from arch first-person narrative to stuff that sounds like embellished mythology.

In this you'll find centaurs, sphinxes, master thieves, about-to-retire pirate chiefs, kings trying to move an emotionless queen to tears, a magical window, a pair of feuding idols, and a delightful story called "Miss Cubbidge and the Dragon of Romance." The stories are a little short -- much shorter than most present-day short fantasy stories -- but they are just amazing. A must-read for immediate suspension of belief.

Three tales of famous thieves are part of this collection. _The Book of Wonder_ consists of 14 of Dunsany's short stories (I've sorted them by title rather than order of appearance); it's in print as I write this, as part of the Fantasy Masterworks edition of _Time and the Gods_.

"The Bride of the Man-Horse" - Shepperalk the centaur headed from the first for the city of Zretazoola, though all the mundane plain lay between.

"Chu-bu and Sheemish" - The idol Chu-bu was worshipped alone in his temple for over a hundred years, until the day the priests brought in the upstart idol Sheemish to be worshipped beside him.

"The Coronation of Mr. Thomas Shap" - When Mr. Shap perceived the beastliness of his occupation as a salesman, he began to venture into the lands of dream and wonder as an escape.

"Distressing Tale of Thangobrind the Jeweller" - Thangobrind, a master thief operating behind a cover as a jeweller, is offered the soul of a Merchant Prince's daughter in exchange for stealing a diamond from the temple of Hlo-Hlo...

"The Hoard of the Gibbelins" - The Gibbelins maintain their hoard only to attract a continual supply of food...humans...

"The House of the Sphinx" - A visitor chances to come to the House of the Sphinx after a mighty deed has been done, and her servants are in a panic...

"How Nuth Would Have Practiced His Art Upon the Gnoles" - Nuth the incomparable is a master thief. "It may be urged against my use of the word incomparable that in the burglary business the name of Slith stands paramount and alone; and of this I am not ignorant; but Slith is a classic, and lived long ago, and knew nothing at all of modern competition..."

"How One Came, as Was Foretold, to the City of Never" - "Time had been there, but not to work destruction...by I know not what bribe averted." But not even that Ultimate City is perfect.

"The Injudicious Prayers of Pombo the Idolater" - It is unwise to pray to one idol, only to become impatient and ask another idol to curse the first one; it's against their etiquette....

"The Loot of Bombasharna" - The seas are becoming too hot to hold Captain Shard and the crew of the pirate ship _Desperate Lark_. The sacking of Bombasharna is to be their last hurrah before retirement...

"Miss Cubbidge and the Dragon of Romance" - If princesses are in short supply, sometimes a dragon might have to kidnap the daughter of a member of Parliament.

"Probable Adventure of Three Literary Men" - "When the nomads came to El Lola they had no more songs, and the question of stealing the golden box arose in all its magnitude." The legendary thief Slith, along with two assistants because of the weight of the box of poems, are chosen to make the attempt.

"The Quest of the Queen's Tears" - Sylvia, Queen of the Woods, cannot love any of her suitors, but as a compromise, will consent to marry the first man who can move her to tears.

"The Wonderful Window" - The mysterious window was being offered for sale in the streets of London, and its price is all you possess.

I can honestly say that reading this book has changed my life. The awareness that the Celestial Messages bring allows me to more fully experience my life here and a calmness and anticipation about the afterlife. The work of the angels in "Celestial Messages" is unparalleled in human history. Nowhere on earth can one find truths which unite the mind with the spirit in such glorious detail. If you have been fortunate enough to come across this book, it is because you have been called. Listen to the message. If you read only one book from cover to cover this year, make it this one - it is a true present to your soul.

These messages have given real and tangible impetus to my spiritual development through their simple clarity and focus on the essential nature of prayer.

Over the many years I've spent researching various spiritual and religious texts I have come across many enlightened passages pointing to the truth. When I discovered these messages compiled in "Celestial Messages", I realized that they were full of truths - soaked with truths. There is not a more important book in my library.

This book was a real pleasure to own. The book is small enough to fit in my notebook computer bag and contains essential reference information, so that I could write some prototype code within an hour or two. My leather computer bag now has an imprint of this book, which I don't mind because of the confidence it gives me to know it is available.

The book covers all the essential information needed to install the J2SE, J2EE and TomCat environment in Windows. There was little more than references to installations for Solaris and Linux. Most folks with UNIX experence shouldn't have much problem setting up the environmental variables.

An annoyance with this book is that Chapter 4 attempts to cover topics with JavaMail, RMI, COBRA, JNDI with little content. The chapter appears to be an aborted attempt since it is only 3 pages long. These topics should just be placed in a glossary.

I am also really pleased with the publishers profile for this series of books. Most publishers of these books tend to go for quantity over concise reference material. This is a big relief compared to "Java for the Web with Servlets, JSP and EJB" which is 976 pages (a big 4 lb red brick).

I like this book very much because it gets right to the point. Sometimes when reading through massive programming books, I find myself wondering how relevant the current topic is. Is this really something that is widely used in the real world, or is this fluff? Every page of this book contains just the important stuff with no filler.

The section on EJB may have even been a bit too consise. Enterprise Java Beans is a very complicated topic that is difficult to give a short summary of. Even so, it's nice to have a well-written book that explains how the whole of J2EE hangs together. (I have another book about EJB).

I hope that smaller technical books become the trend. I'd much prefer a consise 250 pager over a 1000 page book that has no focus.

I've recently discovered the CodeNotes series, and have become a big fan. The admirable goal of these books are to give you a practical understanding of the subject in 200 pages or less. I've got 3 of these books, and find them all to be well-written, appropriately concise, yet filled with what's necessary to get you up to speed on the subject matter.

This particular CodeNotes covers well the big topic of J2EE, the underlying API's, JDBC, JSP, and does a great job with EJB's. The treatment of these subjects is complete from a high level, but you'll have a good foundation when you drill down in a given area.

I applaud these sorts of books making an inroad into the technical shelves. More often than not, I don't need a 1000 page technical epic that is a chore to both carry around and actually read. Also, because many of these books contain a CD that may or may not have any useful material, suddenly you've got a 15 pound reference monster ...!

This book is a real value for the price, it gives you the information you need. The extra material, such as expanded coverage of technical specifics and web links, is handled on the CodeNotes website, so no "CD Included" surcharge.

Nice coverage of the subject, from a happy reader not connected with CodeNotes at all. Just happy to promote the cause of succinct technical reference!

The Conch That Roared is a must-read book if you're traveling to the Florida Keys or are just an armchair reader! Why? This is the only book available which gives the visitor/reader a taste of the real flavor of Key West...and I'm not talking just key lime pie and conch fritters (both recipes and more are included in the back of the book).

Author Gregory King must have visited every bar up and down the the scenic area... from Key West, past Key Largo and to the Last Chance Saloon as well as the politico's to write with such flair and flavor. He captured the essence...the soul and spirits of those citizens who declared war on the United States.

This is a great gift to give to someone visiting the Key West. Include a bottle of Cuban rum (which presently is illegal), two cheap glasses, and Coke, as well as Nellie & Joe's Famous Key West Lime Juice. 1/2 pund of minced conch, or an equal amount of clams. This will make a great going-away gift as well as provide ingredients for wonderful Key West entertaining when your friends return.

Put on your favorite Jimmy Buffett album and read the book.The characters in King's book are delightful and colorful enough to make a movie. King did a wonderful writing job of introducing them all to the rest of us! Thanks for taking a bit of history and bringing it to life for the rest of us conch-heads!

I was getting so tired of stories on Miami. I had almost decided that Florida was now permanently off my personal "place to visit" list. That was before this delightful story, TRUE story, THE CONCH THAT ROARED arrived at my place. The well researched (and well illustrated) book took me on a magical if not bizarre journey to the end of Highway 1 in an explanation of how Key West became the Conch Republic and proceeded to seceed from the Union. Obviously author Gregory King is not only well verse with the place but also a most erudite interpretor of its story. He has made me want to drive (at least once) to Key West and experience what makes these folks so special. A word of warning though: you might have to use the recipe in the back of the book for Key Lime Pie to munch while reading this story. Or maybe drinking the Cuba Libre would be more appropriate?

Key West secedes from the Union, declares its independence -- and it's not fiction, it's history. King captures the quirky heart and spirit of Key West and reports from the insider's view the events that led to revolution. I was in Key West to celebrate the secession anniversary a few years ago. This book brings the story to life with a lot grins along the way. It is fun to learn the strategic thinking and ingenuity that went into the battle with the US government -- a credit to Key West islanders and a tribute to the American way! Pick it up, put on Jimmy Buffet and enjoy the ride.

As a trader working in the Synthetic Arbitrage area I find this book an in valuable resource. The book covers credit concepts and institutional details like how to calculate economic capital etc. to intersting ways of constructing the credit curve to how one price different instruments on it and the different no arb relationships of different instruments. I found the chapers on hedging baskets and derivative credit risk to be very interesting and well written. The chapter on converts was a bit light. But on the whole this book is a must have for a Trader in this area of bleeding edge finance.

Arvanitis and Gregory have written an excellent overview of modelling credit risk. The book is written in an intuitive and semi-technical style and the ideas are highlighted with numerous examples. It is therefore applicable to both managers wanting an overview of credit modelling techniques and quants who want more technical details on pricing models. Opening chapters cover credit risk models and describe the standard approaches, such as CreditMetrics. The computation of the loss distribution is discussed and the authors illustrate the importance of modelling the potential credit exposure of derivatives. Default correlation, credit migration and recovery rate modelling are also discussed. Monte Carlo simulation with variance reduction and quasi-Monte Carlo techniques is relied upon heavily. Later chapters include an excellent treatment of credit derivative pricing, a theoretical discussion of how to price derivative counterparty risk and a discussion of credit risk in convertible bonds. The final chapter discusses some related issues such as the discrete hedging problem and market imperfections.

The book is broad in its product coverage with the right amount of technical depth. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in credit risk or credit derivatives.

This is an excellent book. It covers a lot of material in a very practical way. It covers topics from credit risk management to the pricing of credit derivatives in a practical style with not too much math.

On the eve of another Marilyn movie, "Blonde", I pulled this book out of my library and re-read it. The photos are amazing, and included in the book are official documentation copies that spur furthur contemplation about her death.

Will the questions and the responsiblitiy of her death ever be publicly accountable? I doubt it.

For those still fascinated by this lady, you will enjoy this book and find the facts well researched. Look at THESE pictures and tell me she is not one of the most fascinating, captivating, intriguing women of the world. She died in her prime, and she left the most beautiful part of her in everyone's memory.

That is SO "Marilyn", and someone took full advantage of that and of her.

This book is fantastic! Not only does it outline Miss Monroe's life in great detail, it also explains her death. Which, until this point, has seemed unexplainable. In order to truly understand her life and the reasons behind her sometimes obscure behavior, a complete, yet disturbing chronology was outlined by the authors. The book names her murderers and surprisingly, some of them were her trusted "friends" who - acting under strict orders - completely double-crossed her. The shameless cover-ups by a disgraceful group of people quickly followed her death and apparantly still continues today. A truly sad look into an American tragedy, this book should be written into a script and shown to the entire world!

I was truly amazed to read this book about the new revelations surounding Marilyn Monroe's death. First, the authors are able to examine all the evidences one by one, they ruly put you in that investigation! Since many false arguments about that subject have been said;one question remaining and this is what that book answered: WHO KILL MARILYN MONROE AND HOW? So, that's all I can say; just read that book yourself and you will find out the truth. Also, the book take a look at how Marilyn manage herself great about her last weeks, her futur ambitious plans, the way she want her carreer to go...In one word, it show Marilyn like she was; vulnerable, poignant, happy; on her own to find a new way to explore in her life. Unfortunately, she just don't have the time to do it. P.S. Sorry for my english mistakes...I'll hope you enjoy this book as much as me. Have a great reading!

DaddyBank: How to Teach Your Child to Handle Money & Avoid Its Pitfalls by Gregory K. Brough (father of three and experienced financial consultant) is an impressively "parental friendly" and highly recommended guide written especially to help fathers and mothers to educate their children about fiscal responsibility. In a world where credit card companies encourage excessive spending and hefty interest payments, where inflation goes ever up, and the stock market is as trustworthy as quicksand, young people need now more than ever to learn smart money tactics ranging from the simple process of spending less than one earns, to comprehending how compound interest and financial investment returns work.

DaddyBank was easy to read, outlining simple steps to take in sharing the world of finances with children. As an expectant mother, I found this book helpful in preparing me to teach my children the fundamentals of understanding budgeting and intelligently spending and investing money. Not only that, but it taught me ways to change my own budgeting as well. I wish my parents had this book when I was growing up!

I really enjoyed this book since it presented great ideas to teaching children about managing finances in a very simple and easy to follow way. Not only does the book provide ways to teach children, but it also taught me the importance of getting my financial condition in order. So as I implement the ideas of DaddyBank with my family, I'm also working to get out of debt and exercising the self discipline needed to ensure a better financial future for all of us.

This was the first Jill Gregory book I have read, and I loved it! As the other review states, it is a page turner, I read mine in three days. A strong outspoken female and a moral sensitive man with a strong sexual undercurrent throughout the book. It was great!

I don't know what it was about this book that kept me up all night just to see what happened. I really enjoyed the conflict that these two people had. Rebecca trying to get over her fathers past & Wolf trying to get over a past desertion. Neither one of them wanting to be hurt by the other yet both hurting the other to make up for their feelings. It was a page turner. I was up until 3AM and had to get up at 5AM to go to work. It was well worth it. I enjoyed the characters very much. I hope you will enjoy it as well.

This book was actually a really good book. It didn't keep me as interested as all the other Jill Gregory books I have read. But overall, it was pretty good.

Gregory and Patricia Kishel merge respective talents of float decoration and television production to collaborate on this mystery set in one of America's sacred cows...the Rose Bowl parade. The Kishels have experience writing articles and books, most notably How To Start, Run, And Stay In Business. This is their first Lisa Edwards mystery.

Lisa Edwards' career moved from television report for the Global Broadcasting Network to private investigator after the death of her husband, Richard. At first everyone thought Richard embezzled funds from Techtranics, but Lisa refused to believe her husband could be capable of such an act. She investigated, discovered that Eric Wexler, the president of Techtranics, was responsible for the embezzlement and her husband's death. Lisa moved on to a career of private investigator and never looked back. Now she is asked to head up security for the Rose Bowl parade, and dead bodies begin to appear. Worse yet, she is forced to work with Detective Frank Patterson:

"Detective Frank Patterson was definitely someone who had seen too many 'Dirty Harry' movies, Lisa decided. From his close-cropped hair, piercing blue eyes and square jaw down to the tweed sport coat and sturdy oxfords (the kind that could easily kick in doors), he couldn't have followed the Clint Eastwood role model any more faithfully. It was clear from the start that he resented her intrusion into what he perceived as 'his' domain."

Stereotypes aside, Death On Parade is an entertaining little story full of unexpected twists and turns; including some colorful characters. The Kishels utilize their knowledge of television broadcasting and reporting with an obvious home-town insiders take on what goes into the preparation and production of the Rose Bowl to create an Entertainment Tonight whodunit. Death on Parade keeps the reader guessing up to the very last. Lisa Edwards is intelligent, attractive, and determined to solve the crime, yet her humanity shines through. The Kishels create a denouement that ties up each unrelated fragment of the story into a satisfying, tidy knot. Death On Parade is a good book to read on the beach or on a lazy day.

Shelley Glowdowski, Reviewer

I tend to read more non-fiction than novels, but a friend gave me DEATH ON PARADE. This book was a real pleasure to read, full of plot-twists, and not the least bit predictable! The Kishels obviously know their L.A.-Pasadena territory, the varied personalities & lifestyles there, and the inner workings of both the Rose Parade and TV News. Trying to figure out "who done it" made it really hard to put DEATH ON PARADE down. (I even skipped TV a couple evenings!) For frequent mystery readers and those who seldom venture into this genre, this is a great book.

What an exciting and authentic story line; a real page turner! For those who live in the Pascedena and LA area, you'll love recognizing real Rose Bowl Parade locations and local events. The story has a quick impact and keeps building with lots of twists and turns right up until the last chapter. Things happen so quickly that you will find you need to make notes to track the events and characters!! Lots of suspense with interesting characters continually weaving the story line. If you like Mary Higgins Clark, you'll love the Kishel's first suspense mystery.