Clubs Books

This book is perfect for people wanting to do beginner (and even a couple moderate) hikes in the White Mountains. It is very easy to use and detailed. All hiking books should use the format of this book. I highly recommend it.

If you are looking for more agressive hikes or multi-day trips, get the AMC White Mountain Guide with maps.

Being an avid hiker and an avid reader of hiking guides (when it's too cold and white to hike), I purchased several hiking guides to help me plan my recent vacation to New England. This guide is by far the best of that lot.

This guide describes 50 hikes in the White Mountains (45 in northern New Hampshire, 5 in extreme western Maine) divided into 8 regions by geography. Each hike contains detailed directions to the trailhead, a very good map that shows you almost everything along the trail except contour lines, and a description that usually lasts for several pages. The descriptions are divided into two sections: the first just gives directions for walking the trail along with the major highlights, while the second gives lots of information about the scenery (animate and inanimate) you are likely to see on the trail. In fact, this guide gives you more information on the forest and fauna than just about any guide I have ever read. Length of the hikes range from 0.5 miles to 5 miles with the average at 2 or 3 miles. Also, some of the trails can be combined to form longer hikes of up to 10 miles.

This guide emphasizes hiking with kids, so one might think the appropriate audience is somewhat limited. However, as a single man with no kids, I can attest that this guide will be useful to anyone interested in White Mountain hiking. In fact, much of the information "intended for kids" I found to be just good information about the trail's natural setting (as described above). So don't think this guide is one of the specialized type; it can actually be used by a very broad audience.

If there was one drawback to this guide, it would be the significant changes that have occurred on some of these trails since the book went to press. On my personal hiking journeys, I discovered:

1) the trail to Arethusa Falls (highest in NH) has been rerouted and
2) the Old Man profile in Franconia Notch has collapsed.

So there will need to be an updated version published in a few years. However, the publication date is still fairly current, and trail changes are beyond the author's control.

In summary, this is an excellent guide that anyone interested in White Mountain dayhiking should own. Very highly recommended.

This is a terrific book to use when you are going to hike in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It is rich with information presented in an easily accessible format. Useful introductory chapters tell you how to get the most out of the book, make suggestions for hiking with children, and discuss the natural history of the region, including line illustrations of plants and a few animals. A map shows the location of each of the 50 hikes, which are divided up between the Franconia Notch, Waterville Valley/Squam Lake, Kancamagus, Crawford Notch, Pinkham Notch, North Conway, Evans Notch and North Country regions. An easy-to-read chart lists all the hikes and their difficulty level, distance and whether or not there is a river, a waterfall, a lake or pond, a view, rock ledges, wooden bridge, blueberry bushes or special geological feature on that particular hike. A short introduction to each region details facilities available such as camping sites and visitor centers. Several pages are devoted to each hike, including length, elevation gain, time requirement and difficulty level, a description of the trail, highlights for kids, directions to get there, a map and a photograph. The book concludes with a bibliography and index.

If you get one book to help you explore the White Mountains, it should be this one, particuarly if you are hiking with children.

Now in an updated and revised second edition, Robert Buchsbaum's Nature Hikes In The White Mountains continues to be the premier guide to New England's White Mountain waterfalls, mountain ponds, blueberry patches, and outdoor adventures for the hiker, backpacker, and nature enthusiast. Mixing trail descriptions with natural history, Buchsbaum provides a series of hiking opportunities including a map, distance, estimated hiking time, elevation change, and level of difficulty. Nature Hikes In The White Mountains offers natural sites and activities for children; sidebars on natural features along the trail; detailed driving instructions to reach each trail; and a quick reference chart for selecting the perfect hike. Whether for a day hike, a weekend excursion, or to plan an outdoor vacation, Nature Hikes In The White Mountains will prove a much appreciated, practical, and even inspirational guide!

Went to the White Mountains with another adult friend and picked this book because the walks looked about our speed. The directions are great, descriptions and nature discussions also very informative and entertaining. I particularly liked the "what the kids get out of it" feature for each walk. I particularly recommend the walk to Diana's Baths, a waterful near North Conway, NH.

An excellent text. I still assign it in my Wilderness in Lit course at Salisbury University and lend students my copies. They should bring it back into print.

"The seat of the soul is where the inner world and the outer world meet. Where they overlap, it is in every point of the overlap."

"News of the Universe" was originally issued as a Sierra Club book and contains poems selected (and sometimes translated) by Robert Bly. The book is worth buying just for Bly's introduction and his analysis of 'Dover Beach'. Frequently, I find myself dipping into "News of the Universe" for inspiration (like a Protestant choosing a random verse from the Bible). I keep this book at work for the times when I feel really out of touch with the Natural World. Then I open up "News of the Universe" and find (for instance):

"In the heart of man/There sleeps a green worm/That has spun the heart about itself,/And that shall dream itself black wings/One day to break free into the beautiful black sky" - Galway Kinnell.

Somehow as I sit in this dry little cubicle, surrounded by gray cloth, plastic plug-ins, and Corporate slogans, the poems that Bly selected for this book make me feel less isolated from the true Universe. The poems ring True. They refresh. Since that was Bly's stated intention when he collected the poems, you ought to try them yourself and see if they work for you.

Borges once quoted from a chinese encyclopedia: "...every animal falls within one of the following groups : a)property of the emperor, b)stuffed, c)trained, d)little pigs, e)mermaids, f)mythological, g)mongrel dogs, h)included in this list, i)shaking like crazy, j)too many to be counted, k)drawn with a very tiny brush, l)etc., m)just hatched and n)those that look like flies." We laugh, but all our orders, kingdoms, classes and phyla are just as silly and laughable. This book of poems is an invitation to put aside for a while the rational mind that creates encyclopedias and sets and classes (what Bly calls the old cartesian order) and to experience the universe like the animals do, to perceive nature as something new and strange.
This book helps us achieve that goal by means of poems that unsettle rational thought, for example: "In the Aztec design God crowds/ into the little pea that is rolling/ out of the picture. / All the rest extends bleaker/ because God has gone away.// In the White Man design, though,/ no pea is there./ God is everywhere,/ but hard to see./ The Aztecs frown at this.// How do you know he is everywhere?/ And how did he get out of the pea?"
If you enjow little shocks like that one (what pretentious people call epiphanies) buy this book, it is filled with them.

Most of the books we read, no matter how startling they may be and no matter how much seeming "News" they may bring us, somehow end up fitting quite comfortably into our mind. We read them, we may be excited about them for a while, but they are soon set aside and we move on, quite unchanged, to fresh pastures.

Rarely, very rarely however, a book will happen along that truly rocks us, a book that has the power to shift our mind into a different register, to provide us with a whole new way of seeing. Such books have the effect of somehow altering our mind, re-structuring it, opening up new synapses, and thereby enabling or empowering us see the world in a wholly new and different light. These are golden books, bearers of striking truths, of real "News." Perhaps we need to be intellectually and emotionally ready for them, but when they do come they can effect a radical change in our outlook on life.

Despite many years of intensive reading, I can think of only two or three books that have affected me in this way. One of them was by the British writer, Douglas E. Harding. Another was the present book.

One of the things Bly's 'News of the Universe' taught me to see was that modern human beings are a very strange lot, a life-form that is totally and utterly obsessed with just one thing - itself. Most of our waking moments are occupied with people-related matters. We are almost manically people-obsessed. We read books about people, watch movies about people, think and talk incessantly about people. And we don't find this odd.

We are concerned with what people are saying, thinking, feeling, doing, wearing, drinking, eating, buying, building, plotting, loving, fearing, suffering, etc. But always it's people that our attention is focused on, and we often completely overlook the fact that people are just ONE among the many MILLIONS of earth's interesting life-forms, and that even the earth itself is just one of an infinite number of worlds.

In other words, in our constant people-centered busy-ness what we overlook is - THE UNIVERSE. People, of course, are important. But what about the rest of the universe? Robert Bly's invaluable book has been written to redress the balance. He seems to want us to see just how totally wrapped up we are in ourselves, and that this obsession is neither wholesome nor realistic. It is in fact a form of madness and extremely dangerous.

'News of the Universe' is a book of some 300 pages and is divided into six main parts. Each of these six parts consists of a brief essay followed by a generous selection of poems which serve to illustrate the themes of the essay.

Bly's book would be worth having for the poems alone. He has brought together a rich collection of both the familiar and the unfamiliar, from many periods and cultures, and the non-English poems have been very well-translated. I often return to my own well-thumbed copy, purchased about fifteen years ago, to re-read my favorites.

One of these is the poem 'GOLDEN LINES' by Gerard de Nerval, a poem which could serve as a manifesto for the book. It is preceded by this epigraph from Pythagoras : "Astonishing! Everything is intelligent!" Here are the opening lines, slightly adjusted since they should be set out as poetry:

"Free thinker! Do you think you are the only thinker / on this earth in which life blazes inside all things? / Your liberty does what it wishes with the powers it controls, / but when you gather to plan, the universe is not there. // Look carefully in an animal at a spirit alive; / every flower is a soul opening out into nature; / a mystery touching love is asleep inside metal..." (page 38).

These lines bear careful pondering by our manically people-obsessed world, as do many others in Bly's carefully culled selection. But almost as impressive as the poems are Bly's introductory essays themselves. Personally I consider them to be minor masterpieces, and I find myself often returning to them also. Despite their brevity, it would be impossible here for me to convey an adequate idea of the sheer freight of true "News" content that they carry, real "News" that is vastly more important for us to become aware of than the trivia which passes for 'news' in our popular media.

Basically what the essays and poems set out to do, and they do it very effectively indeed, is to demonstrate that what Bly calls the "Old Position," the "pride in human reason" and "the conviction that nature is defective because it lacks reason" has had the effect of "deforming all poetry and culture" (page 3).

What we must learn to realize and to fully embrace is the notion that human consciousness is only one of the many kinds of consciousness operating in the universe. We cannot continue to deny consciousness, and therefore value, to the non-human, and on the basis of this fundamental error proceed to separate humans out and pretend that the rest of earth's living matrix doesn't matter. Such a procedure has led to a grotesque deformation of our civilization, and it can only end in the complete destruction of all life.

This, needless to say, is not the sort of news that most of the inhabitants of our media-befuddled world want to hear. And this because collisions with reality are usually painful. But for the few thoughtful and courageous and concerned who are still out there, and who would like to re-tune to the Universe, I would urge you to acquire a copy of Robert Bly's book. It's a luminous book, and definitely one of the most important books I've ever read. It may just give you a new and more realistic outlook on life.

"The seat of the soul is where the inner world and the outer world meet. Where they overlap, it is in every point of the overlap."

"News of the Universe" was originally issued as a Sierra Club book and contains poems selected (and sometimes translated) by Robert Bly. The book is worth buying just for Bly's introduction and his analysis of 'Dover Beach'. Frequently, I find myself dipping into "News of the Universe" for inspiration (like a Protestant choosing a random verse from the Bible). I keep this book at work for the times when I feel really out of touch with the Natural World. Then I open up "News of the Universe" and find (for instance):
_________________________________________________________________
In the heart of man/There sleeps a green worm/That has spun the heart about itself,/And that shall dream itself black wings/One day to break free into the beautiful black sky. - Galway Kinnell.
_________________________________________________________________

The poems that Bly selected for this book make me feel less isolated from the Universe. The poems ring true. They refresh. Since that was Bly's stated intention when he collected the poems, you ought to try them yourself and see if they work for you.

There is also a sense of the presence of Death in them--what Bly defines by the Spanish word "Duende" in another one of his anthologies--so much so, that many of the poems in this book can be used as elegies.

The information in this book is easy to understand for an OES newbie:)
Very helpful and informative!

This book is an excellent resource for anyone who is contemplating getting an Old English Sheepdog. It has a wealth of information on the breed and I found it a great help in preparing for our new puppy.

A great book for those who own anb OES or thinking about getting one. There is alot of information about these dogs and this is the best I have found

Well, the American Kennel Club has found a book that merits it's seal of approval. If all of their breed books are this good, they'll put everyone else out of business. It is that good. Details about the breed, pluses and minuses, basics of training and healthcare, tailored to the breed. Just great. I would recommend this series to anyone who is a first time dog owner, or who wants a comprehensive book about their breed.
I've read a lot of breed books, training books and magazines, have dog breeders and trainers in the family, and this is the best breed book I've seen.

This book is a lot of fun. It is a look, find and count book. The pictures are beautiful and the kids love to look and find all the animals. They would read this over and over even if they had hundreds of other books to choose from. The pages can begin discussion about habitat and the animals or countries where the animals are from. I highly recommend this book for children from 2-8.

This book helps the kids learn numbers and also how to search for animals/birds in a picture. The artwork in this book is beautiful.

Both my kids love this book. My 18 month old son wants us to read this book several times during the day. I am going to buy several copies of this book to give as gifts to other kids.

This is, by far, the most beautifully illustrated childrens book I have ever owned! As a preschool teacher, I have read and re-read this book to hundreds of children. They all love to find the hidden animals. Some childrens books have illustrations that, to me, say, "I'll just scribble anything on the paper...it's just a kids book." Atsuko treats this book as artwork....and that is truly what it is!!! It is a pleasure to look at all of the beautiful scenes on every page.

If so, then you must see this book. It is just absolutely beautiful, and can be enjoyed by both children and adults. I have an extensive collection of children's books featuring gorillas, and this is by far my favorite for very young readers. Ms. Morozumi obviously loves her subject matter as much as I do.

The art work in this lovely book is incredible. It also lends itself to reading and re-reading. For the youngest children, you can point at different parts of the lovely pictures (they are set in different seasons and environments), and as they mature, you can "hunt" for the different animals in each picture. (one gorilla, two budgerigars,...nine cats...). A true gem!

Spiritual path and makes you want to be wild and free like our ancestors and indigenous brothers and sisters.

Paul Shepard was an extremely brilliant man, most of whose writings focused on how we humans became what we are. I began with Dr. Shepard by reading his book, Coming Home to the Pleistocene.

Coming Home is a truly great book, but now I would recommend The Only World We've Got to anyone reading Shepard for the first time. It's an omnibus of some of Paul's essays and covers many subjects. It's a bit easier to read than Coming Home.

Shepard's books are not overly easy to read. They require concentration and either a massive vocabulary or a handy dictionary. (I've opted for a dictionary.) But the ideas contained in his writings are superbly enlightening.

If you're interested in how the lifestyles of our ancestors over the last several million years made us what we are today, you'll find Shepard's many books fascinating, thought-provoking, informative and enjoyable. I strongly recommend Paul Shepard's writings in general and The Only World We've Got in particular.

I used Shepard's works a few years ago among supplemental books for a course I taught theological students regarding their awareness of science and nature. People may recognize me today as the co-author of the recent "Nabokov's Blues: The Scientific Odyssey of a Literary Genius" (1999)(which I must mention to make my major point about Shepard and his books). My point concerns the world's own "right of passage" regarding urgent dictums akin to "its the only world we've got". What we see in Paul Shepard and his work reflects a level of awareness typifying the keenest of polymathic minds from, say, the 1970-1990's. However, many people do not realize that before that (before the major books of environmental awareness were well-known to the public [Carson, Ehrlich, Meadows et al., etc.] and thus germinal in most minds) writings about nature by even celebrated literary writers, like Vladimir Nabokov [as in The Gift], or great "nature writers", like Edwin Way Teale, peculiarly LACK a sense of this urgency. Recent writings on these latter authors (who shared 1999 as their centenary year) brought this question to the fore when comparing them to the "levels" of modern eco-awarenss in men like Shepard. Observers were stunned-- how could men like Nabokov and Teale who wrote so genuinely, and with wondrous detail, concerning nature, "miss the point" [i.e. no "urgency"] regarding what we see as the environmental crisis today. A fine reading of Shepard's works (this "Reader" among them), provides the answer. If ones reads far enough back in Shepard's writings-- and then follows the development of his major theses enculcating URGENCY in eco-awarenss-- one realizes that what one is seeing IS precisely the germinal stage of that sense worldwide. Before that, for writers even as sensitive to nature as Nabokov or Teale, its seemed that no matter how assaulted nature was around them, and in their writings, "it still had someplace else to go". Somehow, great writers of nature of that earlier era never had that "personal epiphany" when a "line in the sand" was drawn for them. It seems so odd to scientists today (especially those working overseas) who experience that epiphany very day. With this in mind, Shepard's works are perhaps one of the best examples of that awakening and seeing them in that historical perspective gives them even more life.

Paul Shepard (who also wrote The Tender Carnivore, which is also highly recommended)was one of the most insightful and brilliant thinkers of our century. This book has the power and impact of Thom Hartmann's "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight" and the insights of Michael Tobias's "World War III." Highly recommended.

Have you ever wondered why we dream of animals or see them in the clouds and stars (e.g., Ursa Minor, Ursa Major, and Bootes)? Have you ever wondered why Paleolithic men decorated their caves with animal art? Have you ever wondered why we share our homes with animals, entertain ourselves at zoos, or why some of us eat meat? Or have you ever wondered why "mass society delivers itself into military hands" (p. 138), or seeks comfort in "massive therapy, escapism, intoxicants, narcotics, fits of destruction and rage, enormous grief, subordinations to hierarchies that exhibit callow ineptitude at every level, and perhaps worst of all, a readiness to strike back at a natural world that we dimly perceive as having failed us" (p. 156)? Ecophilosopher, Paul Shepard addresses all of these questions, and more, in this fascinating Sierra Club Reader. "The generic human in us knows how to dance the animal, knows the strength of clan membership and the profound claims and liberation of daily rites of thanksgiving," Shepard writes in this book's Preface. "Hidden from history, this secret person is undamaged in each of us and may be called forth by the most ordinary acts of life" (p. xx).

A friend recommended this book to me as a good introduction to Paul Shepard's ten other books. In the first Chapter, "The Eye," Shepard studies the human eye and how it differentiates us from species. In Chapter Two, "On Animals Thinking," he argues that the human mind "and its organ, the brain, are in reality that part of us most dependent on the survival of animals," that "living animals are a necessary part of the mental growth of humans" (pp. 22-3). Whereas Darwin "rediscovered" in 1859 that man was an animal, Shepard's book considers what animals tell us most about ourselves (p. 107). "Physiologically," he writes in Chapter Five, "from the neck down, so to speak, [man] is an omnivore whose diet is about three-quarters plant products, like a bear or boar. By looking only at his gut one might predict that he is a kind of oversized raccoon. Yet the patterns of life set by hunting-gathering peoples are centered on the spiritual and ceremonial eating of large mammals. Behavior and culture are more wolflike than bearlike" (p. 113). Men "wolf" their food, as they say. "Man is a fat-making, fair-weather carnivore who can eat more than three pounds of meat at a sitting. He is also a primate snacker, a connoisseur of ripe and unripe berries, of frogs, crabs, and insects" (p. 131). Like animals, "men need, in their nonhuman environment, open country with occasional cover, labyrinthe play areas, a rich variety of plants, animals, rocks, stars; structures and forms numbering into the thousands, initiation solitude, transitional and holy places, a wide variety of food organisms and diversity of stone and wood, nearby fresh water, large mammalian herds, cave and other habitation sites, and so on" (p. 135).

In Chapter Six, Shepard examines how we have "broke bonds with the earth, soil and nature," and how the human spirit has become dissociated "from seasons and celestial rounds" (p. 149). As a result, civilized culture has become stuck in immaturity; "to remain a child," Shepard observes, "is not an appropriate individual destiny, nor is it a norm for our species" (p. 160). He encourages us to free ourselves from our cultural immaturity.

Nature writer, Barry Lopez calls Shepard's writing "endlessly stimulating." Paul Shepard was an original thinker, and this brilliant book offers an eye-opening and imaginative look at ourselves, and "the only world we've got."

G. Merritt

This is my first Ngaio Marsh novel. It is in many respects similar to an Agatha Christie in that the suspects are interviewed one at a time and then gathered for the final denoument. I guessed wrongly whodunnit, but the murderer and motive make sense when revealed. However, the murder doesn't take place until well into the book, and I got caught up with Martyn's story. The suspense for me was whether she would get the role and attain her dream of stardom. Ms. Marsh must have known a lot about the theater since there is a lot of detail about sets and actors. For a contemporary "closed set" murder mystery also based in England, I would recommend Christmas is Murder: A Rex Graves Mystery by C.S. Challinor.

Like many struggling young actresses before her, Martyn Tarne has a private fantasy of stepping in for a leading lady taken ill. In true Ngaio Marsh style, Martyn's dream is made a reality, in a twisted way; having just missed an audition at the Vulcan, Martyn wangles a job involved with another show set to open in a few days - as the leading lady's dresser, since Helena Hamilton's regular dresser just went into hospital. Martyn, a New Zealander who was robbed upon arriving in England, is alone and broke, and thankful to get *any* job until she can get on her feet - even at the Vulcan, where her mother's immensely famous cousin Adam Poole is both leading man and director.

The small cast and other Vulcan personnel involved in the production feature quite a few mirror images and parallels in their situations and their relationships with each other. In several scenes, actual reflecting surfaces underline this - shop windows as Martyn trudges to a late audition, a picture under glass of one character that reflects another, and so on.

Martyn doesn't want to establish herself on the London stage solely on the strength of her relationship with Poole - but she's ideally suited for a supporting role in the play requiring a woman who strongly resembles the lead. By contrast, Gay Gainsford, cast for the part on her uncle's insistence, requires heavy makeup and acting skills outside her scope, and is as prone to hysterical outbursts about her loathing for the play even as Martyn tries to fade into the woodwork and hang onto her job. Both women's relationships with older men in the company result in protective and sometimes over-protective reactions as clashes occur in the high-pressure atmosphere of the last few rehearsals and opening night.

As for the men associated with the Vulcan, Clark Bennington, Gay's uncle, is a once-fine actor now in a supporting role as an alcoholic both on stage and in life. On a particularly galling note, he seems to be playing second fiddle to Adam Poole in his marriage as well as his career - Helena Hamilton, the leading lady, has a career that eclipses Bennington's and tends to inspire devotion in most men, though she seems to collect only the young and artistic variety. Most of the other men on the scene apparently don't qualify, being either too old (her devoted admirer Jacques, the director's assistant; Gay's admirer Darcey, supporting player; the crabby playwright Dr. Rutherford) or ambiguous. All the men except Jacques and Poole do their bit to make the situation worse - even the playwright, whose "helpful" feedback is loaded with unprofessional attacks on the junior members of the cast, driving them almost to the point of breakdown when he isn't tactfully headed off.

The story plays out in a very compressed space and timeframe, set almost entirely within the walls of the Vulcan and mostly upon the opening night of THUS TO REVISIT, whose first performance ends with the discovery of the body of a member of the company; the investigation is wrapped up before daybreak.

I recommend James Saxon's unabridged recording of the text; Marsh's stories tend to function very well when performed, and this is no exception.

Drive in totals:
- Two deaths (poison); a third from a previous incident in the same theatre is referred to. (The Vulcan is not the same theatre as the Dolphin, which appears in other stories).
- One sexual assault (off camera, referred to indirectly).
- One openly homophobic character; it's made clear that that's only one of many unpleasant aspects of his rude, bullying personality.
- A character from A SURFEIT OF LAMPREYS turns up as a young constable.
- This story isn't about Alleyn, really; he serves to bring the truth of events and various motivations of the real main characters to light. Alleyn's personal life and family aren't a factor.

There's never a dull moment at The Vulcan Theatre--especially when a starving actress named Martyn Tarne walks into the job of dresser for the show's leading lady. What with a gifted but nasty author, an alcoholic actor, a hysterical bit player, and a host of other neurotics, opening night is more unnerving than usual. In fact, it's pure murder, and Inspector Alleyn is soon on the scene.

Ngaio Marsh is one of the great mystery novelists of the 20th Century, and she is particularly known for her skill at creating believable characters in memorable settings. But she is also uniquely gifted at portraying the complex world of the theatre, a task she takes on in several novels but never better than here. Marsh captures the contrast between the out-front-glamor and the backstage hysteria with the knowledge of an insider (she was, in fact, a theatrical director herself), and in VULCAN she offers a remarkably accurate, powerful vision.

Although it is occasionally beset by some of Marsh's less admirable tendencies, NIGHT AT THE VULCAN is easily among the best of the best, a novel that will not only fascinate you with it's look behind the grand curtain, but keep you guessing in terms of plot as well. Recommended.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Who would've thought that so many murders could occur in theatres? But then again, it's all a case of life imitating art, and no one does this better than Ngaio Marsh. It's not surprising when you realize that she was a stage director/producer in New Zealand. _Night at the Vulcan_ beautifully captures the atmosphere unique to the theatre, while laying out a very clever case of murder made to look like suicide. This is all told through the eyes of Martyn Tarne, a young lady newly arrived to the London theatre scene, making it all the more interesting. The only reason that I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5, was that the identity of the murderer became a little too obvious, in my opinion, but all in all, a fantastic read.

Night at the Vulcan has everything; sympathetic (and endearing) characters, lots of Shakespearean quotes, realistic dialogue, two very different (but equally satisfying) love stories, gorgeous prose...all of the things I read Ngaio for. The character of Martyn Tarne is one I wish Ngaio had re-used in a later book (like she did with some characters from "Death of a Peer" and "Killer Dolphin.").

Ngaio Marsh is my favorite author, and Night at the Vulcan is my favorite Ngaio Marsh. 'Nuff said.

Who belongs to the strange, mechanical voice that is giving orders to Reginald Spencer about how to
handle his business, Spencer Enterprises? When Reginald doesn't respond soon enough to please the voice,
his only son Aaron Spencer is killed in a unique manner. But Reginald still has not rehired enough of the
workers that had to be let go for the financial survival of the company. He then loses his only daughter.

Cooper and Cutter, the hired killers, don't know who the voice belongs to either, they just know he pays
very well, so they follow his orders to the letter. They receive the orders over the phone, and when the job is
done they find the money in a designated area. What could be simpler?

Cutter likes to finish the job cleanly and leave, but Cooper is a sadistic slice-and-dice man who likes to take
his time until the last gurgle emanates. He kills not only for profit, but in his spare time he kills just for the
fun of it. No, not for gratis, no one has hired him for these fun seeking sojourns. It's simply for his pleasure.

Detectives Jim Stanton and his partner Shelly McGuire are with the Wright Valley Police Department
working the violent crimes unit. They knew this one was going to be a hard case to work on when they learned
the victim was Reginald Spencer's son, and in particular after learning how Aaron died. They could not have
been more right.

This is Mr. Miller's second bone-chilling novel. It starts off with a bang - - uh, no, sorry, it starts with -
- well never mind, you'll see; it's just what it takes to capture your full attention and hold it to the last page.

You know the characters. They are everyone, yet no one. You see them in your neighborhood, stores,
malls, hanging around airports, anyplace you might go. They are that real in the story, along with plenty of
action to keep you reading.

Mr. Miller is an excellent writer who knows how to make his characters come out of the book at you,
or you are pulled into the book with them. However you like to read, this is one in which you are sure to
become involved.
Review by: Shirley Truax

This book will keep you on the edge of your chair! Two psychotic killers are in battle to see who is the most psychotic! Who will win the battle? Will both survive? And just WHAT are they using as their weapon???

You won't put this one down until all those questions are answered! Very well written!!! Way To Go Tim!!!

Epstein LaRue, Author of "Crazy Thoughts Of Passion," and "Love At First Type." Chief publising agent for Epstein Publishing.

...OUT OF NOWHERE is a suspense/thriller with a little humor and even some very light romance, all shrouded in a mystery that keeps you guessing until that very last page. OUT OF NOWHERE is an absolutely absorbing thriller that you will not be able to put aside until you figure out who the voice belongs to. And I do not think you can figure that out until the end. I didn't. And then you will laugh because it was there all the time.

I recommend that everyone read OUT OF NOWHERE. It is a book that you will not forget in the near future. Mr. Miller is a very, very talented author. And he continues to prove it with this second book. Don't miss the chance to see Mr. Miller's star rise on the horizon in the literary world, because it is on its way and moving fast. I know I definitely will be there. I hope you will be too.

Talented author, Tim Miller, provides another fascinating read with his newest thriller OUT OF NOWHERE. He pits two hired killers against an unscrupulous business tycoon-all directed by an anonymous voice on the phone. Detectives Jim Stanton and Shelly McGuire are thrown together to solve the case. OUT OF NOWHERE kept me turning pages to try and figure out who is the mysterious voice on the phone. Two times I thought I had it solved, then the story twisted again, totally confounding me. I raced through to the final twist, enjoying every minute of the action on the pages.

I highly recommend OUT OF NOWHERE to readers who like fast paced thrillers with a sprinkle of humor. The chemistry between detectives Jim Stanton and Shelly McGuire has me hoping that Mr. Miller is working on a sequel!

Out of Nowhere is one of those books you wish you could stop reading--but you can't. You HAVE to finish it. you have to find out who is pulling the strings behind all the bad things happening to the richest man in town, Reginald Spencer. The man who owns the plant that supports the town and has been laying off LOTS of workers.
You HAVE to follow the work of Jim Stanton, newly widowed, and his new partner, Shelly McGuire, as they put the pieces together. You MUST know if the killers are smarter and more determined that the detectives following them.

Out of Nowhere is not a "cozy" read. If you like sunshine and sweetness in your mysteries--well, you won't find much of that in this book. The killers are brutal, the descriptions can be graphic. I found it hard to decide which of the two killers was the most frightening--loose cannon Cooper(who LOVES blood-and inflicting pain)or cold-so very cold- Cutter(who kills because it's his job and he does it without emotion).

Mr. Miller displays his knowledge of the police scene effectively. The politics of police work show up in Stanton's dealings with his superiors and with the mayor and Reginald Spencer. Stanton tries to do his job in spite of interference from higher ups.

A real highlight of the novel is the byplay between Jim and Shelly as they move from antagonism to teamwork to a hint of something more personal. Shelly McGuire is a wonderful character! Her wit, intelligence and courage add a great deal to the story. Her no-holds-barred approach to life fills the book with enery and a great deal of excitement. She is definitely an asset to Jim Stanton's work on the case.

Reginald Spencer is being blackmailed by a person unknown. He has been ordered to call back all of the workers he laid off in an attempt to save his failing business. When he doesn't move fast enough to sulit the disembodied voice on the phone--people die in horrible ways. First, but not last, is his only son who is a victim of the two hired killers--in spite of professional security protection.

Spencer is reluctant to lose his fortune and people pay for his reluctance. He tries to run and tries to hide but he's being watched. Will he pay the final price? Stanton and McGuire struggle against the unknown mastermind as well as the deadly killers.

Out of Nowhere is full of twists, turns and surprises. There is a great deal of depth to the story. The characters are real--even the evil ones. Miller brings Cutter to life(if that word can be used for someone so cold and deadly). We see part of the story from Cutter's point of view. We see how and why he works. We delve into the madness of Cooper's bloodlust. We see the struggle of good against evil in the battle of wills between Cutter and Stanton. And we're not sure which will win.

I found my emotions and my intellect involved in this book. I liked Stanton and Shelly(actually, I loved Shelly!) I felt revulsion and fear for the behavior of Cooper and Cutter. And I really disliked Reginald Spencer for being the creep he was. I hope to see Jim and Shelly again.(hint, hint, Mr. Miller)

Since innovative thinking on ways to balance packaging and the environment is always in short supply, I was curious to see if Paper or Plastic: Searching for Solutions to an Overpackaged World by Daniel Imhoff would contribute something new. Though the book did indeed start out as a polemic against packaging, it quickly changed into a more productive--and provocative--course.

Imhoff, Executive Director of Watershed Media, reports on what is realistically possible in terms of the latest technology, from a new generation of zero-effluent mini-mills to the latest thinking in natural capitalism, eco-intelligence, design, and biomimicry, all as applied to packaging. (The biomimicry section alone will spur many ideas for the creative package designer.) Imhoff also covers the newest generation of bioplastics from a variety of suppliers, reviewing pros and cons of each material. Case studies show green packaging done right.

Also included: a comprehensive checklist for assessing the environmental impact of packaging before the designer makes a selection decision. The list includes attributes designers should keep in mind when selecting materials.
This is a well-written, fairly reported, attractively put-together book that deserves a place on the bookshelf of any designer or materials specifier. The 168-page trade paperback is available for $16.95.

Capsule review by Dave Newcorn, Vice President New Media, Summit Electronic Media.

There are environmental causes that stir the emotions--the plight of whales and baby seals, the fate of redwoods, or the metastasis of suburbia. But Daniel Imhoff would point out that the most pervasive and fastest-growing environmental problem is so commonplace it's invisible: packaging. Styrofoam containers from a fast-food meal, the anti-theft blister packaging that encapsulates retail electronics, or the common aluminum can and plastic bottle are all part of a waste stream that composes some 300 pounds of garbage per person per year, headed straight from the shelf to the landfill.
Apparently mindful of the fact you can read only so much about polystyrene peanuts and polyethylene bottles, Imhoff has organized his book into punchy little essays, short case studies, and colorful charts that survey the extent of the packaging problem, along with a range of solutions that some companies are trying.

Imhoff points out that packaging is increasingly the product itself--a method corporations use to market feelings of familiarity, uniformity, or purity. To illustrate, he would have you consider evolution of the egg: It is nature's perfect packaged food source, with its container, the shell, being durable yet entirely biodegradable. For years, eggs came in molded paper pulp. Now the most expensive of them frequently come in molded plastic trays, derived from petroleum products. (Nature's Promise, which markets eco-friendly eggs, requests on its tray that you recycle the plastic packaging, even though few municipalities take such containers.) And lately eggs come as pre-scrambled "pasteurized real egg product," in capped cartons at premium prices--far removed from the simple egg. The packaging will be with us decades, maybe eons, after the egg has been cracked, scrambled, and eaten.

As its title implies, packaging choices for environmentalists are dilemmas, with few simple solutions: Would you rather bag your groceries in the products of clear-cut forests or petroleum? He holds up companies such as Aveda, the Minneapolis-based cosmetics company, as pioneers. Aveda worked to eliminate toxic or less-recyclable plastics from its packaging line, and strove for 100 percent recycled plastics in its containers, risking profit margins in the process. Other companies are experimenting with novel products, such as biodegradable plastics.

But even these are merely "less bad" solutions in a world full of packaging waste. Imhoff concedes that packaging offers a good deal of convenience and that making upright choices involves giving up some of that convenience. He recommends carrying a mug and a reusable water bottle, eating in instead of getting takeout, buying in bulk (which reduces packaging waste), buying from local farmers and farmers' markets, and toting around cloth bags. When the cashier asks the question in the book's title, Imhoff suggests, hand over a cloth bag and say, "Neither."

If every person in America understood the energy, chemicals, natural resources and money that went into creating packages, it's likely our consumption habits would dramatically change. Imhoff does a great job of detailing the hazards and challenges of packaging, without being preachy - he lets the statistics and facts tell the story. This book informs, amazes, and startles the reader.

I really liked this book for telling me about things that I haden't thought of before, although I thought myself to be an evironmentally aware person. Some of the statistics are breathtaking. Facts are supported by visuals and an attractive layout. As a general reader with no specific education in the environmental science field, it was a bit dry for me at times, but well worth the read. I made lasting changes in my every day life due to the book, and can't get the statistics about plastic bottles and only small amounts of the actually recyclables making it to a "next life" beyond the garbage dump out of my head. Quite life changing.

This book is excellent and a very easy read. It does a great job of breaking down the different products and their impact on the environment. There are great examples of companies that are doing their part to help reduce the negative impact on the environment.

Just in time for the holidays -- I'm buying Paula Easley's Warehouse Food Cookbook in mass quantities. As a cookbook collector, enthusiastic eater and someone who wants to make the most out of grocery specials, I love every page of this book. The recipes are creative and the book is written in an and easy-to-read (and use) format. Ms. Easley's great recipes, charm and wit, make the Warehouse Food Cookbook a great read and an excellent resource. I give Paula Easley's Warehouse Food Cookbook a top rating!

This is a great book to learn to buy and store in bulk. An added bonus is the wonderful recipes.

Being recently reestablished as a single and relocated adult I need all the help I can get in rebuilding both my social graces and enviroment. A small lakeside cabin in rural Georgia does not match the authors isolation in bush Alaska. However, similar challenges of supply and storage do exist. It's 50 miles to the nearest Sam's or Costco. Not over snow and ice covered tundra, but over even more dangerous back roads and freeways into downtown Atlanta. Ms. Easley's book has been a great help not only in planning and purchasing, but most certainly in presentation.

Warehouse Cookbook is a beautiful work of art, and I am sure also a labor of love which all cooks can appreciate! I think that the recipes sound wonderful. In fact, I have just purchased two of the books, one to give as a gift! On the final page of the book, ideas are requested by the author. I love to cook and especially hunt for books that focus on low-cost, frugal cooking. The idea of focusing on warehouse shopping is excellent! My only suggestion, however, is that I would really love to see more day to day practical insights & how to's on a daily basis with daily type foods such as those that are hinted on pages 8 & 9, Ingredient Cooking Secrets. I would love to see a monthly menu with monthly family recipes included, like the recipe for meatloaf, and a grocery list to go along. The idea of how to utilize a box of Costco tomatoes is excellent. I would like recipes and breakdowns on many items to make cooking lowcost and affordable for families. Hope this is helpful. It is sent in not to criticize, because the book is truly a beautiful cookbook that I will treasure. But, rather, it is sent to encourage because Paula Easley obviously has alot to share with others. Also, I would love to know more about her adventures and life in Alaska. I hope Paula publishes a second book because I would surely purchase it!

Hi, I'm Paula Easley's nephew, Kale. I just wanted to say that this is a very good book. I looked through it, and I have to say that it looks good. My step-dad edited it, and he said he thought it was really good, too. I even asked my little 2-year-old sister what she thought, and she said "yes" she liked it. Then she said,"Go away. I reading the newspaper. You be really quiet."

When I'm reading "Perfect Pigs" to my preschoolers, I give Mr. Perfect Pig a pompous, know-it-all personality. They like to catch him tracking mud through the house or leaving sandwich fixings all over the counter for someone else to clean up. Then they all tell Mr. Perfect Pig how he should act in each situation. I like the way it is divided into categories such as home, school, with friends. I think they also like the comic strip type layout.

I heard all about this book from my friend, the soy sauce. I read it and learned a lot about manners. Before I read this, I would roll around in the mud before school, but not anymore! I learned that was a no no. I would also snort and chew with my mouth open when I ate. Heck when i saw somebody with a lunch i wanted, I would dive onto the table screaming like all hell broke loose and tackle the person, steal thier lunch, and run away. But not I know its not polite to scare the crap outa people to get thier lunch. Streaking in the hallways is also looked down upon. Who woulda known?

As part of our school counseling program and character education program, I read Perfect Pigs to my students. This is a fun book and gives the students a different viewpoint on manners. It also helps me promote reading and literature with the students.

My boys love this book..it's funny and helps to teach them essential manners at the same time. We have the softcover and I wish I had bought the hardcover so it would last longer.

I loved thsi book when i was little and still do. imean a book about Pigs and Manners what could be better. The laughs never stop i mean Pigs...manners lol well if you like comics and think people with bad manners are funny. Or even it you think pigs are cute this book is for you! This book should be featureed on Reading rainbow and given a thumbs up by levar burton. I <3 PErfect Pigs!!!!