Television Books

Read 4 Arguments...Jerry Mander Then this book! If you are looking for "ways" to get rid of the TV, or "ways" to occupy your families (or your) time away from the TV. This is not the book. This is the book if you would like statistics, and startling information about TV in the lives of people. Although the TV refrences are quite early 80's ALL of the information is very useful, persuasive, and passionate.

Dont believe the hype up there! It is relevant to this day in age, take yourself to account, before the TV takes you! Buy this book and dont burry it into the shelves, pass it on the neighbors, your childrens teachers, family and friends! this book is for EVERYONE!

For a long time I have been discouraged in my efforts to establish two-way communication with children. I would bring books, toys, and games to social functions and share them with children. Once one activity was over, the children would stare at me, waiting for me to start another activity. Why won't they provide any input of their own? Am I overpowering them without realizing it?

This book explained everything: the children think I'm a television!

This book is about the effects of television on children and families.The use of television starts innocently enough.Too often TV is used as a child minder so that parents can get some peace and quiet: to prepare meals, so that Mom and Dad can sleep in at week-ends, etc.But dangers lurk in this innocent scenario.Before long, the kids are hooked on watching, and parents are hooked on a device for having the kids out of the way.Marie Winn aptly calls TV a drug.Many parents are aware of the dilemma, but often they are and the kids too hooked to break the habit.Winn explores the process of this addiction and the harm done to vibrant human living.For example, excessive TV viewing hampers the personal and social development of the child, so some mothers get a job to escape from their maladjusted kids!Winn offers helpful advice to families trying to cope with TV.She gives examples of the benefits families have experienced when they went without TV, such as increased family interaction, more creative and satisfying activities,doing various things that had been put of, and so on.Marie Winn gives many examples from family life which add great interest to this thoughtful and helpful book.

Excellent. A must read for parents of kids of all ages.It is really well written and should make a responsible parent a believer. Kill the TV before it kills your kids brains or at least be very selective as to what they watch.

A wonderful book, that all parents should read in order to eliminate their TVs and *live* again.

This is one of the most honest portraits of a human being you will ever find.. I would recommend this along with Charles Mingus' 'Beneath the underdog' for a taste of the 'jazz life'. It is amazing what these guys lived through - and still created such beautiful music!

This was the first jazz biography I have read. Hawes does a great job of portraying the terrible effects of heroin addiction. I knew some jazz musicians were busted for heroin use in his time. But I didn't understand how rampant heroin use was in the industry. This book gives great insight into the life of a wonderfully talented jazz pianist. But more importantly, it gives insight into the tumultuous life of a drug addict. Initially, the piano seems to be Hawes' only love. But then there is the realization that heroin is his real love. It is his only motivation to even play the piano.

This book is all of these things and more. This is the story of an essentially decent person fighting his own demons. A beautifully crafted book written in the subjects own idiom. A must have for anybody wanting to get inside jazz during the be bop era.

I love this book. Remember, back then when you played this music, it wasn't exactly a sweet world for the musicians (Black ones). I'm glad he let everyone know how hard it was out there. Drugs took this Bad Boy out the game and the world passed him by. Musicians like Brother Hawes, will never be acknowledged for their great playing in the U.S.A.

If there was a dumb remark in this book, I didn't see it. Again, think back to the times he was living in. He talked about Jimmy Rushing and the way he thought about things. Jimmy Rushing came out of a different era, yet Some of his thoughts were not far behind. When he described Black people, some were light skninned, some were black... The book is not dated, it's just good.

I enjoyed reading this book very much.

It is first of all Hampton Hawes biography of his life as a jazz musician. It tellls us of his way from being a little boy attending his father's church on Sundays to a highly acclaimed jazz pianist, his downfall because of his heroin addiction, his 10-year jail sentence (which was reduced to six after Hawes had written to John Kennedy!), his way back up on the European market, his love relationship with Jackie, and his new found love after separating from Jackie after almost two decades. The very last sentence of the book speaks about his ex-wife Jackie - and it is very touching and shows that Hawes indeed must have been a nice man.

There is only one really dumb remark in the book that I felt was disgusting. (Find it for yourself... ;-))

Hawes repeatedly talks about Black issues. I personally feel that those statements are very intelligent, and can therefore recommend this book not only to those of you interested in jazz, but also to anyone into Black issues.

Great, fun book for Road Rules fanatics

I am obsessed with everything on Road Rules and Real World. To me, this was one of the better MTV books. You should read it if you like learning about how the characters really felt during their adventures. It was great!

I started reading this book and i couldn't put it down. The pictures are so funny, and the entrees are juicy and tell you every thing that you never knew about the casts. I think this is a great book.

As an almost-obsessive fan of both the Real World and Road Rules, this was definitely one of the better books. Even if you have watched every episode of the shows, like I have, you should get this book. It tells what really happened with the romances and fights; what cast members really thought of each other, and it even contains lost missions that were unable to make it onto the show. I would recommend this book to anyone who has seen the show. So order it today!

This book had tons of information. It really made you feel like you were there. It gives you how cast members really felt about what the other cast members were doing. It gives you the FULL story, not the part that Bunim/Murray wants you to hear. You actually find out the reason the cast members were arguing, not just the argument. I hate to read, but I finished this book in just two days. Better than Road Rules: Passport Abroad and In the House: Real World Seattle. If you only plan to get one book about The Real World or Road Rules, this is the one!

Biographies of entertainers are usually pretty shallow, just part of the marketing effort. This one is a little unusual because it was written by a scholar who put a lot of effort into making it both as complete and interesting as possible. The author, Dr. Charles Townsend, also became, to a small extent, part of the story. On Bob Wills final recording with his Texas Playboys, For the Last Time, Dr. Townsend kicks off the music as the announcer, saying "The Texas Playboys Are on the Air!"

My Dad loved this book! It was a great gift for him

I was a little dubious at first because the book seemed kind of thick and was written by a professor. However, the more I got into it the more I loved it. Thick with detail, yes, but the story constantly moves along and we get a rich, complete picture of the man and his music, his triuimphs and his foibles. I could just picture being in a ballroom back in the day listening to Bob Wills and his Playboys as I read through. Truly a labor of love, this book. I picked it up because I'd just recently purchased a four-CD boxed set of Wills' music -- far more than I thought I wanted to hear, but I was wrong, and after reading this book I just want to hear more and more. Truly an American musical hero, and this is one of the best musical biogs I've ever read.

Charles Townsend has captured the real Bob Wills. A fine job, a detailed account on the life and music of the one of the greatest Texas stars to have evolved on the American western scene. Well written and exhaustively researched. Worth buying and reading.

OK. I'm a little biased. My grandfather J.W. Shafer, otherwise known as "Bub Shafer" (don't ask me why...nobody knows why), was a second cousin to Bob Wills. In this book, there's a photo of Bob standing in a cotton field near Turkey, Texas and he's got his arm around a young boy that looks about 13-years-old at the oldest. The young boy was my grandfather, and the caption beneath the photo states that Bob is posing with a relative in the cotton fields near Turkey, TX.

I didn't read this book until a few years ago, and I read it cover-to-cover. It details EVERYTHING, including a consistent barrage of extensive notes and details about the writing and progression of almost every song from concept-to-recording, and all the events surrounding anything that Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys must have done. In fact, you almost feel as though you are reading a virtual daily journal as if the author walked side-by-side and recorded the details as time progressed over many decades of Bob Wills' life. It's all documented perfectly, as most of the documentation came from bandmembers or friends or relatives...and 99% of each person's accounts were cross-checked against other sources for authenticity. Mr. Townsend definitely wanted to get the real Bob Wills rather than a comic book version pieced together by wild tales and drifting imaginations.

My favorite parts of the book deal with the intertwined perfection and imperfection of Bob and his life. Here's a guy who was born into poverty, ran away from home as a young teenager to escape poverty, almost became a preacher when he was found by a Godly family after running away, went back home to help out the family on the farm, almost got thrown into prison had it not been that for the local policeman recognizing who he was and letting him go after a failed robbery of a tire at a closed gas station, and then you've got repeated failures in almost every line of work you can imagine. And all along the way, through all of the misery and the rejection, he always had his fiddle (known as a "violin" for people north of the Mason-Dixon line) that bailed him out of trouble.

Bob didn't WANT to use his fiddle for gain, but it always saved his rear when he was in a real pickle. He finally travels to the Dallas-Fort Worth area during the depression, which wasn't a good place to be, to tell you the truth. He gathered up a couple of guys to audition for a spot on the Light Crust Flour radio spot--Back in those days, companies hired musicians and various entertainers to perform on the radio and at live concerts. Usually, the name of the band was surprisingly enough the name of the product being pitched. In this case, whomever played for the Light Crust Flour company was named "The Light Crust Doughboys." Funny-sounding, yes, but back in the day it was a sure-fire way to make a connection with the blue-collar families that listened to the music on the radio while also being spoon-fed a healthy dose of advertising.

To make along story short, Bob and his boys were a hit. Contract disputes; however, with the head honcho of the Light Crust organization led Bob to lure his bandmates away to Tulsa, OK, where they set up shop and were known as "The Texas Playboys." Huge fame came to Bob and his band. He had the largest band in the world, and had many people laughing at the sight of anywhere from 20-30 bandmembers lining up on stage at one time on any given night. His band rivaled, and probably even surpassed, Benny Goodman and any other mainstream Big Band-style band. Almost like our nation's standing army, if you were approved by Bob Wills to be good enough to be in his band, you were "on call" and could travel and make good money whenever the opportunities presented themselves. Bob was driven, and was a definite Type-A personality who had everything done his way. I can't remember the real number, but he made sure his entire band knew BY MEMORY hundreds of songs, if not thousands. He wanted to be able to play a dance anywhere in Texas, or any other state for that matter, and he wanted to strike up his band in an instant if a spectator from the crowd hollared at Bob to play a certain song.

This brand of customer service made Bob Wills a legend. Every band member knew his role. Every band member knew he'd be cut from the team like a washed up NFL player if he didn't measure up. They practiced all day long, almost every day of the week. They would sometimes travel way out of the way on the way back home from a tour to go and play a funeral for someone, and then REFUSE to be paid for the performance and even for expenses of traveling out of the way. Bob would slip a down-and-out person a few bucks so they could buy their child some food or some shoes...and he'd make sure it stayed a secret as long as it could. In the book, there are countless witnesses who say they knew Bob was so generous because he knew what it was like to go days without a meal and have nothing but what he had on his body at the time. Bob was never consistently financially wealthy because he gave most of it away over the years.

Sadly, Bob had severe faults that often outweighed his good deeds. He was a drunk, sometimes missing performances and thus placing a huge burden upon his band to let the crowd know that "Bob has the flu and can't come out of the tour bus to play." People must have prayed for Bob a lot, wondering how one man could contract the flu as often as Bob did. He had a knack for anger and foul language, and he could "let you have it" (as we say in Texas) at a moment's notice. He couldn't stay married for longer than a day or two, though a couple of marriages were longer than the other three dozen that had failed miserably, and it was mostly due to his overly possessive handling of his wives. His wives were made to stay in the home all the time, especially when Bob was away on a tour. He feared his wife going out and potentially striking up a relationship with another man while Bob was away. The same thing happened every time: The wife couldn't stand Bob's suspicious nature and lack of trust, and who could blame them? If a bandmember stepped out of line on the tour...he'd find himself with a one-way ticket home and he might not ever be asked to go on future tours ever again.

Lastly, the attack at Pearl Harbor paralyzed his career. Almost all of his bandmembers signed up to join the military in the days after the attack. The good 'ole days were over for good. He drifted away. And then as time went on, several country-western artists (Merle Haggard) paid tribute to Bob and recorded a reunion CD with some of Bob's surviving bandmates. At this time, Bob was crippled from a severe stroke and sat in a wheelchair in the recording studio. "Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys, For The Last Time" has Merle Haggard at the helm for many songs, and he does a great job. During one song, "When You Leave Amarillo, Turn Out The Lights..." Bob breaks his paralytical silence and moans audibly on the CD at different points throughout the song. It's a sad sound, and I think it's due to the fact that Bob's memory was not as plagued as the body was at the time...Amarillo held a special place in his heart because his one "true love" lived there when he was a young man. He had lost track of her, but found her in Amarillo and went to her house with flowers for what he knew would be a great reunion of two kindred spirits. The father greeted Bob and told him she was just engaged and the soon-to-be-groom was on his way at that very moment to see her! It crushed Bob something fierce, and he stayed until the young man got to her house. Bob stood right up in the man's face and let him know that he better treat her well. He assured Bob he would, and then Bob wallked out of the door and back into the cold Amarillo winter...crushed, heart-broken, and without anything to really live for. To me, this incident was the beginning of a dark and terrible time for Bob. He went a long time before clawing his way back to the top, and I seriously doubt he ever forgot that cold Amarillo evening. Listen to the song, and hear Bob's groaning when the lyrics say, "...when you leave Amarillo, turn out the lights..." There's something there that says Bob might as well have died in Amarillo than continue on with the thought that he missed marrying his true love by only a few days or months. I am married six years now, and thank the Lord I will never know what that feels like. It must be awful.

Bob represents all of us: We want to do good for other people, even when we have nothing to give or everything to lose. But we also do bad when we know we shouldn't. And through the good and the bad, what's really important is that we never give up trying to do what's right in the face of wanting to do what's easy and convenient for that part of us that desires to do bad. Bob was so eerily conflicted inside: "Do I use my fiddle like some bargaining chip, as a cheap trick to dodge the bullet? Or am I really playing the fiddle because I love it and I want to spread joy to people who love this music?" I think he loved his fiddle, and he loved the music he made--it shows in the quality and in the passion of his music. It was that hint of suspicion that he had of himself, the part of him that said, "Bob, you're using the fiddle as some sort of tool to get what you want, and it's wrong for you to betray the true nature of music to do so" that tore Bob apart all his life. I don't think he ever found peace with himself. He was his harshest critic, and that's a sad thing. When you see older folks from his era get all misty-eyed when they hear his music or when you ask them about Bob Wills and what he meant to them when they were younger in Bob's era...you know he was way too hard on himself. But he couldn't enjoy it to its fullest potential. Born a victim, died a victim. Born to physical poverty, died with emotional poverty. And it was Bob who robbed himself and made himself poor in the end.

The music? It lives on. In dance halls across Texas. On classic country radio stations. In the books. On the CDs. In the hearts of people who know a good fiddle lick when they hear it. As Waylon Jennings sang one time to the enormous cheering of some dance hall's patrons who were listening and dancing to Jennings' live performance, "...In Texas, Bob Wills is still the King." For that, Bob should be proud had he lived a little longer. He would have been a richer man for it.

You would do well to get this book, and read it. It'll teach you a lot of life lessons. Some day, when I have the money...I'm going to make a movie out of it. And what a masterpiece it will be. "The Texas Playboys are on the air!"

-- Pecos Shafer of Amarillo, TX.

This is one of my favorite Sabrina books! Sabrina, Salem, and Valerie go back to Ancient Egypt and the cat goddess Bast falls in love with Salem. They take away Sabrina's powers and she must find a mirror to get them back and save Salem. You should read it if you're a Sabrina fan.

I stopped reading the Sabrina series a while ago due to the last 5 or so books not been very good, but then I decided to give it one more chance and began my 25th Sabrina book "scarabian nights". I have to say that I was very impressed, I realy liked this one and was glad to see that Valarie was involved and its not about Sabrina and her family as that has got real old. I would go as far as saying this is one of the best Sabrina books, so read it! If you like it I also recomend "showdown at the mall", "Prizoner of cabin 13" and "sabrian goes to Rome". ENJOY!

After a magical vacation to the Egyptian pyramids, Aunt Vesta brings Sabrina a super souvenir. The ancient charm is suppose to help the teenage witch with her cat chores, but instead it transports Sabrina, Salem and Valerie back in time to ancient Egypt!

Salem is thrilled. After all, the Egyptians really knew how to treat their feline friends-they worshipped them as gods. But when the cat Goddess Bast falls hard for the fast-talking black cat, she puts him under a love spell & locks his traveling companions in the maze of the Great Pyramid. As Sabrina & Valerie wind their way through the life-sized puzzle, they enlist the help of some magical figures-and a handsome young pharoah on hiatus from his sarcophagus. But can they bring Salem to his senses before Bast morphs him into a mummy?

I think Scarabian Nights is a pretty good book. It's basically about Aunt Vesta's gift to Sabrina, an "Ushabti," a little doll kind of thing. Sabrina wishes she could go back in time with her friend Valerie since she's bored. But she really doesn't mean to wish that. But the Ushabti really takes her back in time with Valerie and Salem, her magical talking cat. Queen Bast, the ruler there, likes Salem, and says she wants to marry him. But then Sabrina finds out the chilling secret: She sees cats turned to stone on the walls of Queen Bast's kingdom. Queen Bast had turned all the cats she was about to marry into stone! What can she do to protect Salem and get out of Queen Bast's kingdom with Valerie and back home!? I'm not going to give away the ending, but I can tell you a series of adventures happen when Sabrina tries to save Salem and get them all back home!

This book sort of drags on in the middle of the book, but except for that, this book is so interesting I couldn't put it down!

After a magical vacation to the Egyptian pyramids, Aunt Vesta brings Sabrina a super souvenir. The ancient charm is suppose to help the teenage witch with her cat chores, but instead it transports Sabrina, Salem and Valerie back in time to ancient Egypt!

Salem is thrilled. After all, the Egyptians really knew how to treat their feline friends-they worshipped them as gods. But when the cat Goddess Bast falls hard for the fast-talking black cat, she puts him under a love spell & locks his traveling companions in the maze of the Great Pyramid. As Sabrina & Valerie wind their way through the life-sized puzzle, they enlist the help of some magical figures-and a handsome young pharoah on hiatus from his sarcophagus. But can they bring Salem to his senses before Bast morphs him into a mummy?

This book was the second book I got. I thought it was a very good book. I read in like 3 days. I liked the part when Ruthie was trying to act like a guy by doing those gross guy things!! I read over and over again until I got a new 7th Heaven Book. I love to watch the show. I watch it every night when I can or when I'm not doing anything else..... I really hope that you 7th Heaven fans will read this book if you already didn't. If you do I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!!

i thought this was a good book i mean it was very interesting (for me anyway) this is the only book i will read unless i have to like in school but that is the ONLY book i will read out of school, but i can't read them all as fast as you can make them can you make them. can you make some for the older age levels please because those would probebly be just as good.

I have read alot of 7th Heaven books, and Secrets was my 2ed favorit. I would recomend this book to kids 5-10 no younger because they will start to keep secrets.

Mary and her basketball team get there season cut shore because there grades drop. So Mayr and her team trash the schools gym and the get arressted will the camdens clear her name? read to find out! I would reccomend this book to anybody ages birth to death it has a great moral.

BOOK REVIEW

In this book Lucy one of the sisters. Is on her high school student court team.
Her sister Mary is in her signor year of high school and on the varsity basketball team. The girl's grades dropped so they can't play anymore. So they go out to eat and think about trashing the school gym. Then they sneak in and start to T.P everything and then they graffiti every thing and than they get caught by the police and the school principal and they get in a lot of trouble.

I do recommend this book if they like the T.V show 7th heaven an like to read. I would recommend this book because it is interesting and funny. It was a page turner because at the end of a page it did not tell enough information so it was a cliff hanger . So I kept on reading the book. I did enjoy this genre because I love this T.V show and this was about a show I had never seen. There were surprises in the story like when Mary and her friends got caught and when they decided to trash the school gym and when Simon got suspended for a whole week.

When my son graduated from Army chef school, I couldn't resist presenting him with a signed copy of this book. It really was the perfect gift! He loved it and so did his classmates and instructors. Guess Army cooking really hasn't changed so much over the years. lol He intends to try several of the recipes as a lark. He's going to let me know how it goes.

this is a great cook book, not only for M*A*S*H* fans but, for anybody who enjoys cooking. the titles of the recipes are all M*A*S*H* related. THERE ARE COCKTAIL RECIPES!!!!!!! a must for any true M*A*S*H* fan. the col. Flagg truth serum is very good stuff. your girlfriend will love it!

As a true die hard fan of MASH I can honetly say this "takes the cake!" After flipping from beginning to end I actually attempted Hunnicutt's wife's cookie recipe.

Needless to say they were AWESOME, and my wife and my family enjoyed them until the last morsel. I'm now looking through the book for more wonderful morsels of goodness.

Jocularity! Jocularity!

This book is a funny look at life in a fictional mobile army surgical hospital through the eyes of an army private. Igor is not a well trained army cook, but is forced into the role of cook by the army anyway. In spite of his lack of great cooking skills, the recipes he includes in his book are actually quite good. My sons, both of whom are extremely picky eaters, have made several of the simpler items included in this cookbook and have enjoyed the results of their efforts.

This book is not for the master chef or for the hardcore food critic. The recipes are fairly basic and don't require a lot of unusual skills or ingredients. However, the story, the pictures and the recipes are fun and useful.

If you are a fan of M*A*S*H, as I am, you will really enjoy this book and find the recipes a nice addition to your own collection.

In 1950, a country bumpkin named Igor Straminsky answered his country's call to duty and, as an unwitting Army private, soon found himself in the most hostile environment that the planet could ever serve up. No, we're not talking about Korea. We're talking about the men and women of the 4077th who queued up three times a day with plastic trays, growling stomachs, and growing suspicions that they'd more likely meet their deaths at the inept hands of their new cook than they ever would in confrontations with the enemy they'd come to fight.

"Dear Ma," Igor wrote home, "Instead of letting me work at something I'm good at, they're gonna make me do a job I don't know anything about! Radar, the company clerk here, told me that he thinks the Army does that on purpose."

Still, a job was a job and the beleaguered young private wasn't going to let the ongoing sarcasm of Captain Hawkeye Pierce dampen his spirits.

HAWKEYE: It's inhuman to serve the same food day after day. The Geneva Convention prohibits the killing of our taste buds.

Suffice it to say, Igor had plenty of time to hone his craft (such as it was). His stint in a mess tent chef's hat, in fact, lasted 8 years longer than the actual Korean War. When the hit television series M*A*S*H finally bowed out in 1983, almost 125 million viewers tuned in to say goodbye, the largest audience ever for a TV show.

"Ma!" he wrote, "I'm sure you've heard the news...IT'S OVER! I'll probably be home by the time you get this letter but I wanted to write it anyway. I'll make everybody dinner when I get there but could somebody else please serve it?"

Fortunately, Igor's efforts to please the palate weren't left behind on a helicopter pad. His alter ego-Hollywood actor/writer/entrepreneur Jeff Maxwell-has compiled the best of Igor's mess tent magic into a hilarious book entitled "Secrets of the M*A*S*H Mess: The Lost Recipes of Private Igor."

Testimonial from Colonel Potter: "There seems to be a misconception here-those recipes weren't lost! We did our best to hide them."

Within these wacky pages--which are replete with black and white production stills, "dog-tag" quotes, and letters home-the author not only gives us generous dollops of homegrown culinary advice but demonstrates a talent for memorializing his Army experiences and friendships with his own brand of signature recipes:

* Hawkeye and Trapper's Swamp Spaghetti
* Winchester's Upper Crusted Chicken
* Hot Lips Tri-Tips
* Pork Choppers with Barbeque Sauce
* Stuffed Seoul
* Radar's Teddy Bear Turkey Loaf
* The Colonel's Kernel Stew
* Toasted Tank Tuna
* Hunnicut's Homesick Cookies
* Intravenous Drip Dip

IGORISM:
Hawkeye told me he went to school for twelve years to be a doctor. I trained in boot camp for eight weeks to become a soldier. It sure takes a lot more time to learn how to save a life than how to end one.

As clueless as Igor seemed to be whilst unveiling inventive concoctions such as "Cream of Weenie Soup" or "Hot Potato Pucks", he shows remarkable clarity in laying out instructions that are fun and easy to follow. Whether you're mustering your troops off to work or school with "Frontline Flapjacks with Chocolate Gravy", settling in for an evening flick with "Movie Night Popcorn Shrimp" or dazzling your next book club group with "Forward Marsh Melts", there's no denying that Igor knows what it takes to please picky eaters.

IGOR: Peas or carrots, Sir?
HAWKEYE: Oh, a little of each will be fine.
IGOR: Good, because I don't know which is which.

He has also included a short section on drinks, including "Pre-Op Novocaine Shake", "Swamp Swill Martini" and "Suicide is Painless", the latter popularized in song for both the original film and the TV series.

Testimonial from Hawkeye Pierce: "Can't wait to try the recipes. There are several people I'm trying to kill."

In real life, by the way, Maxwell is the inventor/purveyor of a kicky Bloody Mary Mix called Chico Rico™ which won a People's Preference Award in the 2003 International Zesty Foods Show. The mix, which he describes as "Lip Smackin' Fire & Spice", is available at Bristol Farms or through his website at http://www.chicorico.biz/order.html.

While dinner is cooking, TV trivia fans will find themselves well entertained with Maxwell's behind-the-scenes anecdotes as well the convoluted journey that took this affable actor from the bowels of the Print Department at 20th Century Fox to stand-up comedy to the elation of playing a character with an actual name on a hit series instead of just a credit as "Soldier 1". The proliferation of candid shots suggest the slap-dash happiness of an overgrown kid who has not only found himself at the summer camp of a lifetime but in the thick of new friendships destined to last forever.

HOTLIPS: I thought you might enjoy being the Charity Officer for me. You'd be so good at it.
BJ: Oh really?
HOT LIPS: You have such a nice smile. Not liking you is the same as not liking a collie.

Last but not least are the bittersweet tugs of nostalgia which remind us that the 4077th wasn't just Igor's family and his home-away-from-home but a weekly part of our own family as well.

"Dear Ma," his letter began, "We all just found out that Colonel Blake gets to go home. Lucky guy-sure wish I was gonna be on the plane with him!"

In the third season finale, "Abyssinia, Henry", marking actor McLean Stevenson's departure from the cast, viewers will recall the heart-stopping moment when a stunned Radar announced that Colonel Blake's plane had been shot down en route to Japan. There were no survivors.

It was moments like this that reminded us of what good writing can be. And it's books like "Secrets of the M*A*S*H Mess" that demonstrate Private Straminsky has a definite calling in top brass cuisine.

"Short and Sweet" is just that. Jerry Maren's book covers his 60+ year career in and out of Hollywood, and is loaded with rare photos. Who knew Maren was in Star Trek the original TV series, Lidsville, Bewitched, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, New Zoo Revue, and many others, in addition to well known roles such as a Munchkin in Oz. Edited by Stephen Cox, author of some of the best TV and movie books ever written.

Very enjoyable! What a great career Jaren Maren has had -- so much more than the Lollipop Munchkin that I never knew. His story is told in a very down-to-earth manner, with lots of great behind-the-scenes photos and anecdotes. I'm glad that I've had the chance to meet this Hollywood Legend in person, and now know his history a lot better!

Jerry Maren's "Short and Sweet" is an absolute must-read!!

While many only associate Jerry Maren with his iconic role of the Lollipop Kid in the Wizard of Oz, this pint-sized super star has done so much more!

Savor the hundreds of rare photographs and clippings that Jerry has kept in his own personal collection for decades. Many of the photographs have never been published before.

You'll be amazed by the list of stars that Jerry has worked with. He was the entertainment for Jimmy Stewart's bachelor party. Yes, THAT Jimmy Stewart! And, did you know Jerry and his tiny, talented wife, Elizabeth, were in the classic Seinfeld episode "Yada, Yada, Yada"?

While reading this book, you'll follow Jerry not only along the Yellow Brick Road, but through the streets of Hollywood, until you land on the Munchkins Star on the Walk of Fame.

Short and Sweet is the one sweet treat you can devour and not have to worry about the calories!!

The book is terrific. It reads like a sincere account of Jerry's life told in his own words and from his own perspective. His candid opinions and anecdotes about famous people and situations puts this in a class of its own. I can only imagine Andy Williams's face when he read what Jerry had to say about the odor emanating from his writers' offices, for example. I was expecting to read something about Shatner but I suppose his co-stars have already done that to death.

I couldn't believe the number and quality of projects Jerry's been involved in. Some I already knew of and others were interesting to learn about. The book brought back memories of my own childhood with Buster Brown, the Wienermobile, Mayor McCheese and the gang, H.R. Puffnstuf, etc. I especially enjoyed the Oz stories and the question-and-answer format. That was a nice idea. I certainly learned a lot.

A must read for the fan of, well, anything!

Jerry Maren is as sincere as his book. He is a warm and gentle person. I know because he is married to my sister Elizabeth. The book is a honest account of his life in Hollywood and is worth the reading. Rhett Barrington

Who would have ever thought my kids (10 & 8) would love Speed Racer so much that we ended up getting them a book about Speed Racer's history. They love it and keep reading it over and over. Any book that a kid will read over and over again is a GREAT book.

This is a great book. Even non speed racer fans will love it. It is very informitive.

Good ol' Speed. Forever stating the obvious in his trademark excitable tone. Speaking of which, this book is perfect for "Speed Racer" fans to get excited about.

Author Elizabeth Moran hits the track with infectious enthusiasm and leaves in her backdraft plenty of fun info on all the various iterations of "Speed Racer," from the original manga and Japanese series to the imported version I grew up with... to the newer versions, including a proposed live action film that never got off the ground. Moran includes the requisite episode guides (and rates them!), plus interviews with both the Japanese and American creative teams, racing terms, a complete dictionary guide to Speed's world and transcripts from the ESPN "Nascar" commercials. And wait until you read the original Japanese lyrics to the now-classic theme. Yep, even master auto-designer Pops Racer couldn't have done a better job, because this book has more features than the Mach 5!

What's especially neat about this is that it's all in glorious full-color! The design matches the vibrant and vigorous animated series. A fun package, and highly recommended for any "Speed Racer" fan. Go, Speed Racer, go!

...ESTE LIBRO CUENTA TODO, LA HISTORIA DE SU CREADOR,DE LOS PERSONAJES,RESEñAS CAPITULO POR CAPITULO,HASTA COMERCIALES CON METEORO Y UNA FUTURA SERIE Y PELICULA.NO SE LO PIERDAN....

This book is a thorough and complete look at that great show, Speed Racer. It starts out with a quick look at the theme song of the show, the characters, the Mach 5, and the people behind the characters' voices. Then, the book launches into the best part of all, a one-page synopsis of each of the 52 episodes, complete with a picture from the episode. After that the book continues with the history of Speed after the show, complete with images from the new Mach Go Go Go show, and a glossary.

This book is a wonderful stroll down memory lane for anyone who grew up watching Speed and the gang. My eight-year-old son, who is a chip-off-the-old-block and a Speed fan too, did not find too much in this book, but it is not intended as a story book. What the book is designed to be, it is wonderfully, a guide for fans of Speed Racer. I enjoyed this book and think that you will too!

Oh, my God! This hasn't been updated yet? I thought that after waiting almost 12 years for a revised edition it would have happened by now!!!

Michael and Denise, please, for the love of Spock!!!!!......update this tired old beloved history of the future!!! I'm beggin' ya! I'm sitting here with credit card in hand ready and anxiously waiting!!!!

I wouldn't use this to prepare for a history exam (although it does cover some actual history pretty well), but this book will tell you anything and everything you ever wanted to know about what happened when and where in the Star Trek Universe... at least, up until 1996 franchise time.

Movies and episodes of DS9, Voyager and Enterprise past that year are left out, for obvious reasons. Hopefully, given the lack of tv series/movie activity, they'll take the time to come up with an upgraded version of this book. An interactive CD-ROM would be nice, too.

Worth getting in the meantime, though.

As it says in the introduction, there are many contradictions and empty spaces in this history, but if there's a need to understand the way Star Trek works, it's an indispensable reference book. Also for writers who want to create between the time lines listed in the book, it is a very well organized tool, and when possible, it reveals the contradictions or problems found by the authors in conjunction with the original writers, so you can fill in the blanks of the history or propose new theories. Well, it's a must have for those REAL Star Trek fans!!!

P.D.: if you want a perfect book, please read the I-Ching...

A great reference that starts several billion years B.C. to about one thousand A.D. This book has up to Star Trek: Next Generation First Contact, Deep Space Nine Season Four, and Voyager Season Two. One favorite section of mine is the alternate universes section with ALL of the alternate universes up to date. Now I'm waiting for an revised edition...

Everything I need to know about Star Trek is in this amazing book. The only problem I have with it is that I bought it when Star Trek Deep Space Nine was ending it's fourth season, and in the book, it goes up to the end of it's fourth season. I had no idea what was happening for two years! Oh well, now I know. Anyway, this book really helped me to understand the world of Star Trek, and the amazing thing is, that everything in this book has followed history so far! Anyway, I reccommend this book to any true Star Trek fans!