I love all of the "Insomniac" books. In this one a group of guys hang out at a junkyard and find a chair. From the moment they put the chair in their club house you know it's gonna mean trouble... S.R. Martin has an incredible mind with the things he thinks up. This is an easy, fun read. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

After having read quite abit by and About King over the years, I would recommend this book to anyone, whether they were new to King's philosophies and ideas or a veteran of the movement he helped to create within this country and the world.

Read Barber & Pykitt's book, JOURNEY TO AVALON, and read their criticisms of this one. And read it because those two have done a bit more work (i.e., a hell of a lot more work) than this fantasy.

Remember: Geoffrey of Monmouth might have been making it all up! There is NO WAY we can know!

Nennius' compilation or "heap" is regarded by most historians as UNRELIABLE, as are the Welsh annals (Annales Cambriae)!

Where does that leave us? With a few lines of pseudohistory from which the entire body of work regarding the "historical" Arthur emanates.

We should all be reading the works of FICTION, literature, regarding Arthur, which are more beautifully written beyond comparison to this book, the so-called "truth".

This book is utter nonsense!

Mostly flawed exploration, based on documents that they treat far more seriously than they should. It is a success, as an introductory work for new readers in this genre. It covers all the main points of the main legends. But as history? My favourite chapter, was the one on Vortigern, though it didn't reveal anything new. I always like to see this historical character gaining wider exposure in these pop-paperback pseudo-histories: the popular culture has never embraced him, as much as Arthur, Merlin, etc. This book, at least, goes someways to addressing that. Otherwise, the highpoints of the book are the maps, photos, and some great black and white drawings (page 196!). The chronology at the back of the book was useful. Some dates however, seem to differ, from author to author, on some events. But, its strength lies in following the times the events may have happened, through cultural changes, until the times they became popularized by now famous authors. If by chance, I seem harsh at all with this book, it is perhaps because I have all the books in their bibliography already.

Myths and legends span around the life of King Arthur and what the truth really is is hard to tell. Phillips and Keatman did a marvelous job compiling the scarce information available and let the reader participate in how the data was compiled and put in order.

Of all the books I read on the historical King Arthur this is by far the best. If there are errors in their reasoning it might attribute to the fact that not many reliable sources on the subject are out there but so far this is the most convincing attempt at getting the most out of it.

The author was one of my boyhood icons. In this autobiography she undermines my high opinion with unwitting revelations of her unending self regard, and her obsessive craving for celebrity and adulation.She fails her children, paricularly Larry, in this frantic search for theatrical success. Yes, she was a talented lady, but she bought success at a terrible price to those around her. I stand disappointed.

I thought this was a terrifc book from cover to cover. From her childhood memories to her Broadway hits, there was the simple truth. She told it like it was. Reading it, I felt as if she were sitting across from me, telling me the story herself. I loved her before the I read the book and after, I loved her more.

This is a lovely book-warm, endearing, breezy, just like the lady herself. Filled with charming and hilarious anecdotes ("Mary Martin slapped here") and oodles of Broadway lore. She is also frank about how her career sometimes upstaged her family and the price she paid for that. Although I suspect there are truths she chose not to reveal (which one expects in any autobiography), this book is altogether delightful and just what you'd expect from Mary Martin.

The X-Files has been closed and Mulder has been sent on routinely boring assignments, whereas Scully is sent to Quantico. Just as Mulder is thinking about leaving, he comes across a dead body thrown in the sewer. Scully joins his investigation to perform an autopsy on the dead man and finds a living fluke worm inside the man's body. Within few days, there is another victim, only this time Mulder has had a chance to interview him. Then a strange fluke man the size of a human is found. While Scully investigates the scientific possibilities of such enormous fluke worms, Mulder tries to catch the fluke worm from reproducing. Finally, Mulder is able to cut the fluke worm in half with the lever of the pipe that ultimately leads to the ocean. With a help from the "FBI friend" Scully is able to realize that the fluke worm has been created by Chernobyl, a plant that exploded giving off various radiation and affecting the planet's ecosystem. The fluke worm has mutated from being human.

As good as Les Martin writes, there is no possible way that he can describe the amazing makeup that was put on the actor that played fluke worm. There is no possible way to describe the agony on the face of Mulder when he is without Scully. And there is no possible way to describe how Scully is at a loss of words and is about to cry when Mulder tells her he is about to leave the F.B.I. Nevertheless, the book included every little detail of the show.

I loved empathy and so I went on to read this. I was disappointed because it was about a monster and i was more interested in the phenoemnon (I don't think I spelled this word correctly) and such. A good book to read if you have nothing to do. But empathy is a better buy in my opinion.

In the sewers of Newark, New Jersey people have gotten killed or servily injured. Somethings living in the sewer that's not human or is it just human error that killed and injured these men? FBI Agent Mulder belives that this is no human error, that somethings down there in the sewer pipes bellow his feet. And when his partner, Scully finds something in the body of a dead sewer worker he just maybe be, right.

It's really not a bad book, but it's not good either. Like the guy who gave it no stars, he had pretty much the exact complaints I do. The author makes the book seem like the life of a few kids leading up to the murders. She seems to know what they were all saying at certain points in the 80's and early 90's. Like the past reviewer said-- she must have had a tape recorder on them all before the murders. Learning about the killer was fun, I will admit. Spending pages learning about the killer was good, but I'll admit halfway through the book, I was tired of learning about the characters and wanted to skip pages so I could learn about what the hell exactly happened as a whole during the time of the Gainesville murders. I thought I would be reading about the crime and punishment of Danny Rolling, what he did, how he did it, and what he's done afterwards. Maybe learn a little about him, too, which I did at the least. It just became tedious-- it dragged on and on, and you want to skip pages, but I didn't. I now wish I did so I could have gotten onto one of the other books I recently got. Over all, it's really not a terrible book, it just has some useless things that fill up the book rather than interest you. Learning about the killer and his life and why he could have done these terrible things was good. But reading little clips of what the future victims were doing at that moment that Danny Rolling was maybe robbing a grocery-- who cares? They were playing tennis, they were sleeping, etc. Yeah? Okay...
A lot of things are also repeated. The first thing you get into in the book, is the killings. That pulled me in right away. The beginning was good, then when it got into the life of the killer, that was also good. Then after about 200 pages of that, you want to put it down. I'll give this 3 stars because it wasn't trash but it wasn't a good read either.

Having read Rolling's book co-authored with Sondra London, there is no comparison. This book far outstrips the former in exploring the personalities of not only Rolling, but of the victims and those close to them. I lived in Gainesville and went to the University of Florida not long after the murders, and the shockwaves of these crimes still perpetuate through the town to this day. Ryzuk captures the environment of fear that enveloped the campus and surrounding area with razor-sharp accuracy.

Ryzuk also does a superb job of painting a complete picture of events from several different angles, having interviewed many of the victim's friends and relatives, as well as others involved in the investigation. Some of the events are repeated in the book, but it's for this purpose that I believe this approach was worthwhile. Her use of a timeline during the events leading up to the crimes builds suspense and takes the reader along on a fateful ride with doom.

I have driven by the 34th Street wall memorializing the victims hundreds of times, but only after reading this book do I feel like I have a sense of who the victims all were. They are no longer five semi-anonymous names painted on a wall, but clearly distinguishable lives with different goals that, sadly, will never be achieved. My only complaint is that the personalities of Sonja Larson and Christina Powell do not come off as vividly as did those of Christa Hoyt, Manny Taboada, and Tracy Paules, which may have to do with the willingness of those left behind to talk, but that's only my speculation. By walking us through the victims' relationships and daily events leading up to the killings, Ryzuk almost breathes life into the victims again. Friends and families of the victims are also explored, and their anguish is palpable.

The author does not neglect the killer, though. I came away with an even better sense of his motivations and the life events that led up to the events of August 1990 than I did after reading his own account, co-authored by Sondra London. This is saying something, as this book does a far more insightful job of exploring Rolling than does the killer's own account, which seems like a alter-ego-explaining manifesto scattered with a few short mentions of the killings in detailed, almost mechanical fashion. For those interested, the accounts in this book of the murders themselves are clearly and more fully explored, from Rolling's initial selection and stalking of the victims, to the commission of the heinous acts, to the discovery of the bodies, his subsequent events and beyond, including the arrest of a "red herring" suspect that left the city breathing a premature sigh of relief. I am left disgusted by Rolling's need to murderously dominate, then eliminate, to make up for his own inadequacies as a human being.

There are facts in the book regarding the killings and the investigation I have read elsewhere that were nowhere mentioned in London's account. Also, Ryzuk captures the essence of Gainesville and the University of Florida campus so clearly that it feels as if I were back there again myself. It is by comparing this lovely, generally serene southern town, once again filled with all the excitement of a new fall semester, to a living nightmare of horror at the events and fear of the unknown that even greater impact of the events are realized.

There are only a few small inconsistencies as far as references and places, but most would only be picked up by a native (e.g. the victims were not "five University of Florida students" but four UF students and one SFCC student, "Union Reitz" vs. the correct "Reitz Union," a lake that is not really in front of Marston Science Library, and things of this nature). Other than that - a full, multi-angled, incredible account. I couldn't put it down, and am filled with an even more profound sadness about the murders than I was when I actually lived across the street from where Manny and Tracy met their fates.

Truly tragic, and I hope that, if nothing else, readers get to know and remember the victims as extinguished bright young lights on the verge of their creating their own futures. For many in Florida, the healing will not begin until Rolling meets his fate.

While I can't say reading a book about the deaths of 5 young people with bright futures was enjoyable, I can say that the author did her best to allow the reader to get to know the victims. What I mean by that is, she didn't just write about the killer and his pathetic life. She crisscrossed between the victims and the killer to show just how promising their lives were, and what they were doing before this sick and vicious killer ended it for them. I was in Florida when this was happening and I can remember being scared and wanting to go home. The Author doesn't sympathize with the killer but she does allow us to see how his upbringing could have contributed to his diseased mind. I don't like true crime for its blood and gore, I like true crime for showing people that the world has alot of evil in it, and we should not always take people at face value. I think true crime books (especially those against women) should be mandatory reading in high schools and colleges. It really changes the way you think about situations that you might not ever have given thought to.

This book is mainly just worksheets/stationery for writing assignments, alphabetized, like "H is for Hero". Some were useful, yes, but nothing original or innovative, also they weren't as attractive as in similar books. Thumb through it first and see if it suits your needs, but there is better stuff out there.

This book is for grades 1-3. Being a first grade teacher, I have found a lot of the reproducibles are too hard for my students. This would be a good resource for a second or third grade teacher, but I would not recommend it for first grade.

The book is set up with an activity for each letter of the alphabet. The activities can be used in any order, which works for teachers who want to integrate this into their existing curriculum. The reproducibles are quality learning material, yet still entertaining for primary students.

Granted, Erikson's book makes for a great read, but lacks any real credibility. This book, along with his book on Gandhi, demonstrate that one can read anything into people when seperated by time and space. Take everything you read with a grain of salt. There are many more Luther bios that are more accurate and useful.

The father-son relationship Erikson explores here is very interesting. The most convincing aspects of his analysis are those most closely based on Luther's own writings, such as Luther's deep paralyzing dread at celbrating his first mass in front of his earthly father, as he mediates on behalf of that same father with his heavenly father.

Erikson's spirit lives on in the same tension found in "Amadeus," where Mozart confronts his father's same brand of wrath--suspecting that his son is wasting himself in something unproductive and immoral.

Erickson probably is speculating, in the manner of an archaelogist, when he broods about what Young Man Luther may have witnessed around the house in his violent father's relationship with his mother.

Psychiatrists need this kind of book. Taking on the really big personalities helps them understand the rest of us. Helps them use all the gears on the 18-speed; lets them press all the buttons they will never need to service the only vital end of the market for shrink services: the troubled youth market, the only one with the cash to invest in the counseling arts. Before you're too far gone for anyone to care about.

Perhaps it also helps the rest of us to escape, to focus on something we don't know much about, and aren't very good at: but to be satisfied anyway. Ibn Khaldun said that was a particular affliction of academics. That's the good news: if you can't bear this book, maybe you're a really talented academic with a bright future. The rest of us are just reading it in an attempt to find meaning in our latest airplane flight. We're developing a fear of facing the pilot on the way out, since he's such an imposing father figure. Then we realize he's repeating cheesy little "good byes" and our confidence returns--he's not challenging us at all, he's one of us. Amen.

Erickson's work is intelligently written and is perfect for stimulating the first year history graduate student towards broadening his or her thoughts on history and historical figures. That said, the work is also a tedious read that at times is little more than a pedantic stream of the author's consciousness. In the end, one does not really feel that much has been learned about the inner life of Luther, or about his time and place. A worthy work to be sure, but certainly also a minor one of limited value.

I have read almost everything by Amis (M., that is), and I think that this was just about the worst (the very bottom spot is reserved for Night Train). The language is, as always, very good, but the story seems to have no real heart, direction, or overarching idea. This happens to Amis occassionally, and typically ends in a smugly vindictive showing-up of all society's supposed squalor. Amis has an inveterate inability to see much good in society and, being a writer, this usually serves him quite well. It needs to be tempered, though, with a plot, or a lot of humor, or a point. Maybe I didn't read this book carefully enough, but I certainly didn't find any of these things on ready display here.

Interestingly, Amis here seems to commit many of the same mistakes as Orwell did in Clergyman's Daughter, which has a somewhat similar plot (there is at least one incredibly strong parallel--the amnesiac woman awaking and being taken in by two tramps and their moll). It is unstylized cynicism.

There certainly is a lot of great M. Amis stuff out there, though: Money, The Information, London Fields, Time's Arrow (his most successfully moral book), Moronic Inferno, Visiting Mrs. Nabokov...Success was pretty good. Dead Babies was almost as bad as Other People, but not quite.

It is only fair to say that there are a few very funny scenes, and some descriptions worth remembering. If you could read it in one afternoon, I suppose it wouldn't be a waste of time. Overall, though, it proves what Amis says about book titles in his review of Joseph Heller's God Knows: a great title is an almost sure sign of mediocrity.

Often I find myself reading between MA and Jeanette Winterson. In many ways they are rather the light and dark side of the heart. While not as tremendous a book as "London Fields", "Other People" takes an intimate look within the daily human life, often turning these looks to challenge the reader to look within-have you ever noticed that even when you are not thinking of them the dark portions in your heart often caffeinate your mind (I'm merely writing out of my head and not quite quoting).
JW often writes of the soaring heart of Love and Passion and MA as well, yet his perspective is rather more on the pragmatic side-when we break it is nearly impossible to be put back together again. I devoured this novel and my only regret was that it came to an end. I could have followed the amnesiac Mary through her discovery of humanity for months.

of the fiction that i've read by Amis, this one's my favourite. the opening is unforgettable; hallucinogenic, beautifully observed, carefully ordered. and then on to a cross-section of London life; the drunks with their endless sitting around in the living room; the would-be muggers who, with brilliant nonchalance, are described as doing something so depressing that practically no one else can bear to do it; the moneyed idlers with their tragically empty lives, their sleeping around and their Kamikaze deceits.

one stylistic tic i could have lived without was the author's habit of repeat phrasing sentences. but the only genuinely damp squib in this case of literary fireworks was Amis's slightly juvenile obsession with murderers and murderees. as in London Fields, the ending is abrupt and offhand. having built up such a well-observed portrait of life, the end sequence feels amateurish and out of place, as if Amis doesn't have quite enough faith in his ability to chronicle life as it is, and must fall back on chicanery to hold his readership's attention.

overall though, a phenomenally good piece of writing.

The examples in this book are geared for UNIX administrators, limiting its usefulness to other users. Consider this book if you are a UNIX administrator who learns best by looking at code examples, otherwise your time and money are probably best spent on another book. For examples of how to do things - Python Essential Reference is a better book. Archives is not as much a reference as it is a method of learning Python by looking at code examples and explanations of the code.

If your the kind of person that likes to read someone elses code, and the modify the hell out of it to get your job done or learn a language. Then this is DEFINITELY the book for you.

If your looking for the definitive Python reference that you can carry with you and look up the more esoteric methods or rules. Then this is DEFINITELY NOT the book for you! You need to go get Python Essential Reference. I have 5 python books right now. Of the 5 I'm thinking of getting another copy to carry with me, and leave this one at work. All the rest we're helpful in getting me started, but don't get the same use day to day.

Every chapter was of interest. Seeing networks and web programming and user interface from the Python perspective helped me evaluate the language as a tool for a particular project I have in mind. The CD-Rom had clear directories and quick install of the language along with the on-line tutorial and other learning aids.

I found the type just the right size. Overall a comfortable read. It sold me on Python.