P Books

This book is one of the best books about the fire service I have ever read. I hung onto each and every word. It was though I was there sometimes.

During the tumultuous period of the 60s when author Dennis Smith wrote Report From Engine Company 82, the book was a cry for help from exhausted, frustrated men. Men who cleaned up in the aftermath of other exhausted and frustrated inhabitants of a society stretched to the breaking point.

As I type this, a younger firefighter in a comfortable, air-conditioned fire station among a population that by-and-large respects my profession, it's easy to forget the sacrifice of our past brothers who unceasingly fought fires, city hall and the population they served, until they had forged the modern fire service.

It's an important book for new firefighters to learn how the iron men of old did the job. And for the general reader it's a testament to both a volatile period in our nation's history, and to the timeless strength and courage by which good men have always worked to keep back the chaos of barbarism and destruction.

I spent 10 years in the fire service in both engine and truck companys. While I have many memories and stories to tell, the author, Dennis Smith, sums up the life of a fire fighter in an urban environment about as well as can be possibly told. Trying to balance the unpleasantries and sadness against the satisfaction of saving a life or helping a family overcome one of life's most agonizing moments is very well portrayed in this book. This is what a fire fighter's life is about folks. There is no other book that I can remember that tells it any better than this. If you're thinking of a career in a big city fire department or for that matter, if you're even thinking of becoming a volunteer fire fighter this book is a must!

I first read this book 20+ years ago, when I was under 20 years of age myself but streetwise from being the "wheels" (with a driver's license and a car) for various escapades all over Chicago in my raucous, hard-partying and utterly politically incorrect youth. Many aspects of "Report From Engine Co. 82" stuck with me through the years, and I've re-read it several times. Now I'm 40 and an ER RN in a Chicago hospital where we see more than our share of the extraordinarily dysfunctional lives of the people who live in poverty in the neighborhoods that surround our hospital -- the type of job and environment Smith portrays so well in "Report From Engine Co. 82."

"Report From Engine Co. 82." tells truths about the nearly inescapable poverty and illiteracy of people scraping by in lives that are marginalized in every possible way because they don't -- can't -- really care for themselves appropriately because they don't even know how. Poverty isn't what it used to be -- but it's still as screwed up as it was in Smith's first book. Most of our ER visits aren't really emergencies, just as most of the calls Company 82 responded to weren't emergencies, either. Nowadays, people call 911; when "Report" was written, that 911 system didn't exist yet. But not much has changed since then, in terms of what the firefighters/paramedics respond to and bring to the ER.

Most of the "emergencies" he sees are not emergencies. The non-emergencies, combined with the real emergencies, portray the dangerous and unthinking way poor people live through a combination of lack of resources, lack of experience with the "straight" world, lack of common sense, and minute-by-minute survival thinking. Most of these emergencies and non-emergencies are easily prevented -- if people had common sense, proper parenting, and a normal instinct for self-preservation.

These qualities, however, are surprisingly hard to come by in poverty, and this is what Smith dramatizes. The heroin overdoses. The stupid kids doing stupid things because they are constantly left unattended and to their own devices. Kids who shoot themselves in the thigh or foot -- or worse -- "playing" with guns. Fires that kill children because space heaters provide the heat slumlords refuse to provide in their code-violating buildings. The incipient hatred and distrust poor minority neighborhoods have of the white emergency personnel and firefighters who respond to their calls. The huge cultural gaps that make true communication and understanding so difficult -- even when you're both the same race and both speaking English.

What Smith accurately portrays is the way poverty-stricken people "live in the now" -- people whose entire lives are spent with no real financial or material stability or security. These are people for whom the concept of saving money for the future is impossible, either as a concept or a reality. People for whom making an appointment days or weeks in the future, and actually remembering to get to the appointment, is nearly impossible. Their main mode of thought is: what do I need to do now, what do I want to do now, what do I need or want to do in the next five minutes. This inability to think about and plan for the future is endemic, as is the inability to prioritize that which really matters -- one suspects because most of these people realize on some level they have no future that truly matters to the rest of society, and they're incapable of living as the rest of the "straight" world lives because they never have, didn't grow up with it, and don't know the language of living that life, let alone the mindset.

These are the people and children who have no insurance, no health care, no glasses when their vision is bad, no braces or dental care when their teeth are bad; who never use birth control (to prevent pregnancy OR to prevent disease transmission). People who don't understand why it's inappropriate to come to the ER with an upper respiratory infection and get pissed off when they wait hours for care while higher priority, higher-acuity patients (in respiratory distress, cardiac arrest, heart attacks, asthma attacks, and overdose, etc.) are taken before they are.

Conversely, these are also the people who shun health care until they are so sick they can no longer avoid it, and discover they have cancer... Cancer that could have been prevented or at least treated, often saving their lives, had they ever had regular health care -- but who are now consigned to an inevitable death they will blame on the healthcare providers who couldn't save them because they were at a stage beyond saving or treating in any way other than palliative.

Smith's New York is NOT the New York of Sex And The City. This is the New York of the infants whose welfare mothers don't immunize them, but have the latest, most expensive coats and boots because conspicuous consumption is how they live: you show how much money you have by wearing all that your money has bought you (rather than doing the far less glamorous but sensible things more responsible people, whose children were WANTED rather than accidental, do). The New York of the kids having kids who have kids, all of whom have never known proper parenting, nutrition, or health care. The overdoses. The children who come in with accidental poisonings or burns from household chemicals because no one was watching them. The attempted suicides with anything and everything -- cold medicine, knives, guns, illegal drugs. The kids raised by siblings because the parent is completely incapable, if they're even around, with or without the additional problems of substance use/abuse, addiction, or domestic abuse. The families which are largely single-parent families -- and where the parental figure may be an elder sibling, aunt or cousin who cares more for the children than their biological parent(s) does or is capable of doing.

This is also the world of the terrified illegal immigrants who wait so long to call for help because they're afraid of INS (now ICE) and deportation; by the time they do, they're often too sick to save. The penniless old people whose pensions don't cover their living expenses and who don't call for help because they're terrified of being discharged from the hospital to a nursing home and losing what little autonomy and material security they have left. The fractured families (with utterly dysfunctional dynamics) who interfere with the paramedics' jobs -- as well as the tight-knit families who are rich only in love for one another. The people who refuse help they desperately need because they fear and distrust the paramedics and firemen trying to help them, and because their healthcare illiteracy is such that they have no idea what is necessary to save their lives, and so refuse or avoid medical treatment that could stop problems in stages when they're still treatable. The mothers who speak no English, who superstitiously fear that emergency treatment will kill their children, yet who are so desperate to save their babies, they don't know what else to do, because all home remedies have now failed. The endless numbers of people who let their prescriptions run out or try to save money by taking less than the prescribed doses and then have severe health problems that wouldn't happen if they bought and took their meds as prescribed -- but who, for multiple reasons, can't and/or don't. The people who beg not to be brought to the hospital because "people DIE in the hospital" -- people who don't understand that their neighbors and family members who died in the hospital, died because they waited far too long to call for help, and were therefore were beyond saving when they finally got to a hospital.

Anyone who works in public service as a fireman, cop, nurse, social worker, or psych intake worker in a big city -- and in poverty-stricken, crime- and drug-infested suburbs and rural communities -- can relate to Smith's book. For everyone who majored in something else, this book opens a door and exposes the lives of people you don't even know exist, people you don't acknowledge when you're forced to share a bus or train with them during rush hour (or who you intentionally avoid by driving in your own car, despite the expense of gas, insurance, and time spent on the commute): the people who don't work, or the people who work wage-slave jobs like janitor, maid, fast-food worker, security guard, who can barely pay their bills or care for their children with what little they make -- or who blow it all on liquor and/or drugs and/or gambling (or all three) to escape the miserable hopelessness of their lives. The kids who have the latest "stuff" -- whether it's the shiny ten speed bicycles Smith writes about, or today's video games and cell phone/mp3 player/cameras -- but whose parents can't or won't give them what they really need: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a stable environment from which to emerge every day to deal with the life-endangering risks of walking to and attending public schools that do little more than babysit and warehouse kids whose futures include teen pregnancy (and the late-term, life-threatening miscarriages that go with total lack of prenatal care, with or without drug use), repeated incarceration, and shorter-than-average lifespans due to the daily likelihood of violence in their communities and their lives.

Smith's portrayal of this kind of poverty is not pretty but it is not unsympathetic -- there are glimpses of beauty and hope, mostly in the young women and children who haven't yet been ruined by their surroundings. Smith tempers it all with a matter-of-fact acceptance that although it is his job to care for these people, he may never really understand them because he's now too removed from that life, and he takes on faith that they possess human qualities they often fail to demonstrate. But some do show their humanity, and those are the people he does it for.

Smith does an excellent job of portraying the paradox that the job of these firefighters and paramedics is to help and save these people, which by its nature includes finding them WORTH helping and saving, at the same time as they move and live as far away from these neighborhoods and the associated poverty, crime and drug problems as they possibly can. This is not merely a racial difference. There are plenty of black and Latino paramedics, cops, firefighters, nurses and doctors who straddle the gulf (some might say 'minefield') between their class and the class of the people they help, in circumstances that are at best trying and at worst nearly impossible to help them transcend for any sustained length of time.

Smith portrays the sympathetic detachment required to know that this is what you do, all day, every day you work, with only the hope that one or two out of ten people will actually genuinely and sincerely thank you for what you do or have done for them -- which is that elusive reward you get, one that can make it all seem worth it when it happens -- and to hope that when you show up and give this of yourself on every shift, there might be one kid or teen who sees what you're doing, who still has enough time ahead of them to see this glimpse into another world... A world it is just *barely* possible for them to enter given enough determination, education, mentoring and drive, and sadly also given enough instinct to discard much of what they learn in their families about how they THINK the world works, versus how the world REALLY works for the more educated and better-off people who run it.

The fact that Smith can show all this without denigrating an entire class of people -- does, in fact, portray them with humanity and the grace one occasionally sees in these circumstances -- is because he also recognizes that he is not that far removed from the kind of poverty he sees on the job (he grew up poor, too). He recognizes and accepts that he is that kid who admired firemen as a boy and saw a different world -- he is that kid who made the leap to the next class up, to the working class and blue collar as opposed to poverty-stricken. He understands the dysfunction -- the drinking, the drugs, the abuse -- that occurs in the neighborhoods Co. 82 responds to because it occurred in his neighborhood, his family, his poverty, while he was growing up.

This understanding that few "get out" -- and that he was one of the lucky few -- underscores with sympathy his otherwise stark portrayal of the job of a NYC fireman in the 70s when NYC was not a desirable place to live and people did their best to escape "the city" as soon as their financial circumstances permitted it.

The uncensored version of this book (which is the one I've read multiple times) also shows the bizarre split someone who works as a fireman/paramedic, nurse, or doctor must negotiate within themselves -- the intimate knowledge you have of the bodies of the people you must save, which is merely part of your job but which you can't really talk about to any family member or lover who isn't in one of these fields. I don't mean merely intimacy with people's genitals -- though there is that, such as the way the Smith describes heroin overdoses getting icebags put under their testicles (negative stimulus, designed to bring unresponsive, unconscious people back to responsiveness and consciousness). I mean the intimacy of seeing people stripped of their modesty and dignity, voluntarily (prostitutes) or involuntarily (the terribly sick), whose personal space and body integrity you must necessarily invade, often in less-than-respectful or diplomatic ways because there is no time for those niceties when someone is dying and you're trying to save them. People who don't work in these fields can never really understand how you can be unaffected by the nudity, exposure and/or intimate knowledge you have of these total strangers, and the disinterest or casual attitude with which you greet what would shock most everyone else.

And, of course, you're not unaffected by this knowledge. Sometimes you're disturbed, or someone or something sticks in your mind -- the things you've seen or had to do -- and is recalled in inappropriate moments with your loved ones. You're not unaffected, you're just emotionally calloused or you compartmentalize it, in order to repeatedly perpetrate and endure this violation of the boundaries between strangers and its inherent power imbalance: you, as the emergency personnel, never have to reveal any of these intimacies to your patients... but they must necessarily, willingly or not, reveal them to you. This includes the mentally ill and the hopelessly drug-addled or dopesick (or both, combined) -- sometimes the most disturbing intimacy of all: the insides of their heads and their distorted, sometimes frighteningly unhinged, perceptions of the world around them.

Before anyone decides to dedicate their lives to becoming a firefighter, they would be wise to start their research here. Some 30+ years after it was first published, this book still shows remarkable insight into the lives, struggles, and emotions of a professional firefighter. When I started on the road to becoming a firefighter, being a volunteer and reading Dennis Smith books asserted in my mind that my life would be wasted doing anything else. For others, this may convince you that the job is not for you. It isn't for everyone. Either way, this is a very enjoyable read and worth the time and money for anyone, not just firemen and wannabe's.

highly recommended. For every beginner this is a very good choice, it covers ALL of the basics.

The book is wonderful for a beginner. It tells you the tools you need, talks about how to make beads, miniture furniture and many other projects. It is a very basic book that hits on pretty much everything to help you make beads.

This book has more information in it than any book I've found so far on Polymer Clay.

There is enough information on the basics to get a beginner started. How to handle clay, storage, baking, and differences in products.

There is such a variety of techniques and projects that you're sure to find some you're not interested in as well as a LOT that you love.

Most of the other books I've found on Polymer clay specialize on specific uses. This one shows the range of things that are possible, and how to do them.

This will get a beginner started and give you ideas to get started in your own direction.

This book has a great range of basic techniques with clear pictures as well as some good projects too. This is an essential addition to all polymer clay users libraries.

As someone who has worked with polymer clay before purchasing the book, I was pleased with some of the tecniques presented in this book that I had never even thought of or tried. If you are someone who is ready to dive in to using polymer clay, this is an excellent way to get started.

I have been gaming for over 15 years, ond only recently picked this up and played at a con. I love it. It's simple, easy to learn and play, and has an inherent flexibilty that makes it easy for Keeper's to make a judgement call on events not covered in the rules. (When in doubt, the Luck roll is a good bet).

If you want real horror, ignore the WoD and make it Cthulhu!

The Call of Cthulhu system, as written in the 5.5 and 6.0 versions, is one of the most complete systems I've ever found.

That is amazing, considering exactly how LITE the rules system is. There are very few hard and fast rules, with almost everything being handled by percentile dice. The system is very organic, with characters increasing in skill by performing them.

The characters in a Call of Cthulhu game are more 'real' than some similar games from other companies. They have a great sense of depth due to the occupation system used. Also, considering how lethal combat is in the game, you are greatly encouraged to think your way out of problems.

One other area that has been found by my group to be important is the ease of transfer from one 'style' of play to another. Whenever we are wanting to run any type of realistic game set in any era, we always look to the Call of Cthulhu rulebook for ideas. So far, we have run a wild west game and several other genres using the rules in this book.

The works of master horror writer H.P. Lovecraft of the 1920s have influenced almost every single good horror writer to date, from Ann Rice to Stephen King. COC is likely the best RPG ever put to print, and the publisher Chaosium just makes things easier for players by adding content from their various supplements with each new edition. A typical game session has your characters snooping around for clues, and interrogating various NPCs (non player characters), and then implementing a course of action. The climax of a campaign also often (unfortunately for players) includes one of the hideous deities of the Cthulhu Mythos, such as Azathoth, Cthulhu himself, Dagon, or, possibly the worst, Nyarlathotep, trickster god with a thousand avatars or "masks". COC is the only game that has ever given me, as the gamemaster, chills reading a supplement in the middle of the day. I also recommend picking up one of the numerous Cthulhu Mythos anthologies of short stories. Prepare to be scared

I first read these tales in an "Armed Services Edition" of HP Lovecraft stories, back in 1944! Sitting underseas in a US Navy Submarine in the South Pacific, scared to death, and lonely for home, these stories gripped me so completely, I forgot my real fears of war.

That old book, now tattered and yellowed with age, was read by my son and daughter, who now want to pass it on to my grandchildren. It's time for me to replace it with a new Penguin edition before is falls apart, totally!

Lovecraft's writing has many weaknesses, flowery language, poor characterizations and vague plots. I see all these faults now, but they never bothered me when I first read him. Women don't seem to be a part of Lovecraft's world, and that is a shame. His stories were too short to correct these faults. Modern full novels, in the Lovecraft tradition, like "The Riddle of Cthulhu," are written with many of HPL's faults corrected; like the inclusion, for example, of unforgetable characters, romance and a believable plot. Still, the "Call" is the source and the classic horror book. You must experience these classic stories, then move on to today's modern "Lovecraft Style" novels!

Doesn't it tell you something, that *every* review for this edition of this book gives it 5 stars? (Some of the out-of-print editions have reviews here too.) And let's face it, us RPG enthusiasts are not the sort of folks to shy away from criticizing.

Some people will say the Basic Roleplaying rule-set is outdated. It's true that games like Unknown Armies and Godlike are pretty cool, and I know people who are using those rules for their CoC games. But just try introducing a newcomer to those rules, or getting someone who's only played D&D before to convert. They get dizzy, I tell you. Nope, for a simple, elegant rule-set that just about anyone can grasp right off the bat, Call of Cthulhu's Basic Roleplaying has still got it, after more than 20 years. The rules fade into the background, where they belong.

And unlike other games with their multivolume core rulebooks and endless splatbooks that you *need* if you want a fully fleshed-out campaign, everything you really need is right there in this one rulebook. Heck, every time Chaosium does a new edition, they comb all the supplements for spells, monsters, skills, and so on, and add them into the new edition--to save you time and money! Chaosium even printed the entire short story, "The Call of Cthulhu," in this edition, so newbies can get a taste of what it's all about.

If you've got an older edition of CoC, you don't need to buy this one--the rule changes are quite minor. Unlike D&D, a new edition doesn't make everything you already know obsolete--"editions" of CoC are back-compatible with older editions and old supplements. Chaosium does new editions to keep the book in print and to make it a little better every time, not to force the fans to spend money. I bought it because my old book was getting worn out, and I wanted a more durable hardcover edition. Now I can loan out the old book to players. But I'm really happy with the little changes, and it's nice to have some of the information that used to be in adventures and supplements all gathered together in one book.

In the 2nd book in The Cat Who...series, we meet again James Qwilleran aka "Qwill", a newsman for the Daily Fluxion. Returning to writing for a paper after several years absence trying to get his life together in which excessive alcohol was a factor, Jim has sobered up and sought gainful employment. After having been assigned to the art beat on his previous assignment for the Fluxion, Qwill is happy to be given a new assignment...until he discovers what it is. He is given the daunting task of writing a weekly magazine style insert titled "Gracious Abodes" that will focus on the world of interior design. Knowing nothing of the topic, Qwill throws himself into his new post, and quickly discovers that he has a lot to learn. When a home is robbed that was featured in the first edition of Gracious Abodes, Qwill wonders if his new assignment will be a curse. Several more mishaps occur with each edition, and Qwill begins to believe that someone is out to make the Fluxion and himself look bad. With the help of KoKo and the addition of his new cat, Yum Yum, a long-standing friendship and crime-solving trio is formed.

This is my favorite cozy mystery series! I had read all of the books in the past, and wanted to read them again for a second time. This time around, I have chosen to listen to them on CD, as I love the voice of George Guidall. Some of Qwill's background is explained, and it was interesting to revisit how Qwill found Yum Yum and where her unusual name originated. For those that have not read the series, I do recommend reading the first several first. Many others can be intermixed, but this book offers good insight to the way that Qwill and KoKo relate to one another in future installments. This is a great series by my favorite author!

The first book in the series is called "The Cat who Could Read Backwards". Enjoy!

Jim Qwilleran is a reporter for the Daily Fluxion. He's been working the art beat for the paper despite knowing nothing about art. His editor reassigns him to work on a magazine about interior design, of which he is equally ignorant. After he and his photographer do their first main feature on a private residence, the house is robbed. This starts Jim down a road that gets more and more complex and leaves him grasping for an explanation as to why every place they feature in the magazine has some sort of calamity immediately afterward. Thankfully, his Siamese cat, Koko, is there to give him the solution.

This is the second book in the "Cat Who..." series and it continues most of the pattern from the first. Jim gets a new home, takes on an unfamiliar assignment at the paper, a murder occurs related to his story, and he investigates with Koko's help. The supporting cast is pretty strong with some interesting personalities. Jim gets a girlfriend who is especially appealing, but she doesn't become a permanent cast member. The whol book is less than 250 pages, so you might well imagine that pacing is not much of a problem. Things move along smartly and is wrapped up satisfactorily at the end. This book also introduces Yum Yum, the female Siamese that becomes Koko's crime-solving companion.

Many people fall in love with the "Cat Who..." books and devour dozens of them. The writing is light and easy to digest. After reading the first two books in this series, I haven't gotten hooked but they were enjoyable reads. Fans of the series, would certainly do well to read this book, since it introduces Yum Yum. New readers don't need to read either this novel, or The Cat Who Could Read Backwards (Cat Who...) in order to enjoy the later entries in the series, but they're a good place to start just the same.

This is an enjoyable audio fit for the whole family. Crime is committed but the story is told without using graphic language or imagery. George Guidall's "reading" ability brings the characters to life.

What more can be said about this book that hasn't been said below. I will say that the shinanigans are in full swing this time with KoKo and Qwill and things are sure to get even crazier with the edition of Yum Yum.

In this second installment in The Cat Who... series we find Qwill on a new beat journaling the many different and eccentric people of the designing world. With each additional Gracious Abodes hot off the press comes a hot crime. Does someone have it in for Qwill and the Daily Fluxion or is it merily coincidence. Find out and more in this latest backstabing and fun addition of the Cat Who....series. With this one in the bag you will surely want to get your claws on the next in the series The Cat Who Turned On and Off and find out what Qwill, KoKo and the newest addition Yum Yum are up to.....

Lilian Jackson Braun's second novel in the "Cat Who" series is not only a worthy successor to it's predecessor it is even better. Even though the writing was quite good in the first book the story seems to flow better in this book and there are less jerky movements in the story. And a very good story it is!

When we last left veteran newspaper reporter Jim Qwilleran he was reporting on the art scene for the Daily Fluxion, an assignment that he wasn't thrilled with at first but one that he had warmed up to. Suddenly he finds himself with an assignment that he knows even less about than art, he will be covering interior design. He was, in fact, placed in charge of putting out a weekly magazine insert called "Gracious Abodes", an assignment that would lead him into another adventure with his faithful cat Koko.

Since most decorators could use the publicity a newspaper spread on their work would provide Qwilleran has no trouble in getting help finding houses to profile. He first hooks up with decorator David Lyke who gets permission for the Daily Fluxion to do a photo shoot in a home occupied by an old money family that has more than the normal old money quirks. Just after the first edition of " Gracious Abodes" hits the streets the home in question is robbed of a valuable Jade collection. What's more, the lady of the house is found dead of an apparent heart attack, which police theorize was caused be fear during the burglary. Of course this incident makes the Daily Fluxion look bad, especially since the rival paper plays up the burglary. Qwilleran immediately suspects a set-up and even begins to suspect that his new girlfriend whom he found in another decorator's office is part of the plot. He gets really suspicious after the second edition of his magazine comes out and the next day the police raid the place. It turns out that his second featured home is a cat house, pun intended.

Things get even more bizarre for the ace reporter when his neighbor and prime decorating contact David Lyke is murdered. The more Qwilleran sniffs around, the more he is convinced that he is being set-up but he can't quite put all of the pieces together. Once again, Koko saves the day by both pointing out the solution to the jade heist and also the key piece of evidence in the murder. Along the way, Koko manages to save Qwilleran's life and personally capture one of the suspects. This is one amazing cat!

This is also the book that introduces the reader to Qwilleran's second cat, Yum Yum who enters the picture to keep Koko from engaging in the behavior that led to the title of the book. We only get a short glance at Yum Yum in this book but I feel sure that she will turn out to be just as clever as Koko which will make for even more interesting reading in the next installment.

Altogether this book is whimsical, light and very fun to read. Also, as in the first book of the series the characters the reader will meet in this book are fantastic and colorful to say the least. Give this book a try and see what Koko can cough up for your enjoyment.

This has to be among the best of Wodehouse. As so many other reviewers have remarked, the novel has a fluid feel to it; total and complete chaos. Starting with an ominous phone call from Aunt Dahlia, Bertie jumps from bowl to bowl constantly in the soup.

I loved the quotes from this book, on things being gruntled and what not. The characters are also amazing. Sir Watkyn Bassett, the treacly Madeleine, with Spode running after Bertie wanting to break his bones, the dog Bartholomew (this was perhaps one place where I almost laughed out loud) which terrorizes Bertie and Jeeves when (I think) they have to take shelter on top of the cupboard-Bertie goes to great lengths introducing this terrier. The moment is when they throw a candle at Bartholomew and it eats it.

The cow creamer plays no small part in the plot. It is a hideous silver jug that uncle Tom collects. Aunt Dahlia wants Bertie to 'sneer' at it by saying that its modern dutch, which might lower its value, apparently.

There is also Stephanie Byng and stinker Pinker who constantly trips over things. And constable dobbs, Aunt Dahlia herself, and Gussie Fink Nottle. There couldn't have been a more ridiculous set of characters than here.

This,and perhaps some of the Pig books (Pigs have wings, and Summer Lightning come readily to mind). I wish the world were as nice as that depicted by Wodehouse.

Believe it or not, I am 74 years old and had never read
about the trials and tribulations Jeeves put up with
Bertie Wooster. I have never laughed so much in my life.
I am now going to get my hands on every word P.G. Wodehouse
ever wrote. I truly would have loved to meet the man.

The Code of the Woosters, by the inimitable P. G. Wodehouse, is a fun and enjoyable romp with Bertie Wooster and his Man Jeeves. This novel features numerous plotlines, including but not limited to, the battle over a cow creamer, a lost notebook, romantic entanglements, the theft of a policeman's helmet, a potential jail sentence for Bertie, a dictator, and more romantic entanglements. Each plotline is brought to a conclusion by the brilliance of "Plum" the excellent English humorist. The book is full of hilarious one liners and brilliant wit. Amazingly, this novel was first published in 1938, yet it is still full of timely situations.

This novel of classic comedy introduces us to Totleigh Towers and its owner, Sir Watkin Bassett. Several memorable mainstay characters are in this book including Gussie Fink-Nottle, Aunt Dahlia, Madeline Bassett, and Stiffy Bing. Any journey taken with Wooster and Jeeves is time well spent. This classic series endures because the characters are wonderful and memorable. A 5 star fun-filled romp.

An early critic of P.G. Wodehouse complained that his second book was identical to his first, only the character names had changed. In response, Wodehouse resolved to continue writing identical stories, but to keep his character names the same. And so, The Code of the Woosters is nearly identical to all other Jeeves and Wooster novels; Bertie gets into a sticky situation, inadvertently makes things worse, and is ultimately rescued by Jeeves. Could any one of them possibly be any good if they are all so unoriginal? Yes. In fact, they are all excellent. How? Wodehouse was a genius; reading any one of his books will prove it to you. His characters are unforgettable. His narrative is brilliant. Above all, his books are hilarious, and The Code of the Woosters is one of his finest.

Betram (Bertie) Wooster, a lazy, bumbling (but well meaning!) gentleman living in Britain during the early 1900's, is pressured by his aunt Dahlia to steal a cow-shaped milk creamer from Sir Watkyn Bassett, a magistrate who once fined Bertie five `quid' for `pinching' a policeman's helmet. The task is made complicated by the presence of Roderick Spode, the amateur dictator who founded `the black shorts' and who is a friend of Sir Watkyn; Spode is watching Bertie like a hawk and threatens to break his neck if he sees Bertie so much as glance at the cow-creamer. Things go downhill when Gussie Fink-Nottle (a newt fancying friend of Bertie's) suffers a snag with his engagement to Madeline Basset (a dreamy girl who holds opinions like `the stars are God's daisy chain,' and who thinks that Bertie is madly in love with her). Bertie rushes to patch things up between them, but nearly becomes engaged to Madeline himself. In the end, only Jeeves, Bertie's brilliant, (almost) all-knowing manservant, can guide Bertie out of these troubled waters.

If you aren't familiar with P.G. Wodehouse's dynamic duo, you owe it to yourself to read this book. I guarantee you won't be able to stop laughing. Nearly every line is comical. The narration itself (the story is told by Bertie) is positively hilarious. And so, I give The Code of the Woosters the highest marks I can!

After every two sentences or so, I had to put this book down and howl like a hyena. This was my first Bertie and Jeeves book and I think it's a comic masterpiece. In Code of the Woosters, the plot spins faster and faster until the immensely satisfying end, where everyone gets what he or she deserves.

Wodehouse's comedy has no mean side to it - his writing remains engaging without resorting to the snideness that many humor writers employ. I still can't figure out how Wodehouse keeps my attention and keeps me laughing when his general theme is the unwavering silliness of the English twit. I'm heading to the bookstore for more.

Gave a glimpse of the professional swimming world. Starting with kids beginning swimming to Olympians from the perspective of professional coach. Entertaining and more appreciative to the sport. But too late for me to join.

Very nice book about swimming as a sport and the people, swimmers and coaches and more, in and behind it. One of few great books about swimming.

This will go down as the best swimming book ever written. The facts of non-fiction with the fluidity of a great novel. PH Mullen has written the aquatic masterpiece.

Seriously inspiring, got me through a lot of long practises.

P.H. Mullen's Gold in the Water is a story that i first came into contact with a couple years ago. It is a fast paced true tale about average men trying to accomplish their goals. Reading the story over and over has helped me get through the hard times in and out of the pool. You don't need to be a swimmer to appreciate this story, but it does help. As I am in film school now, this is one story that can inspire more people then Remember the Titans with the Olympic power of Miracle. I encourage every athlete, Olympic fan, parent, or anyone who has a goal to accomplish to buy a copy of this book and one for their coach or mentor. It is a book to read over and over again.

The Marva Collins story is an inspiring story of a teacher who was passionate about teaching and excelled through the odds set against her by the school system.

marva collins is such an idol and inspiration for me. she is so full of morals and has a brilliant answer for all of life's problems. get this book if you want to hear the most intelligent things from the most intelligent human being walking the earth! she is HIGHLY underrated as an educator and everything! i really needed to find her b/c as she says, "in this slippery world we all need something to hold onto...." thank you Marva, I love you and God bless you!

I first read Marva Collins Way several years ago, and have reread it many times since, to help guide and clarify my thoughts about education. She has revolutionized public education, and people's perceptions of it. She has also effectively refuted the growing slew of people in the highest places
of academia who stubbornly cling to long-discredited theories about the intellectual inferiority of certain races in this country. I would recommend this book to anyone, and ask only that you read it at least twice, because it has too much to absorb, to just read it once. It will possibly alter your concept about education, and just who is capable of learning. If you use Marva's concepts as a teacher, I guarantee powerful results!

I read about 70 pages of the book and unfortunately lost it during my travel. I will be buying this book again. Marva is an extraordinary teacher who has taught me at my middle age that NO CHILD CAN FAIL TO SUCCEED in school. She has achieved this with such re-sounding success that one would want to have a teacher like her for all children in the world. I have no words to express how great the feeling is when you know that every child has all the potential to succeed.

I have been re-reading this book (0r parts of it) every year since I first read it in the 1980's -- it is an inspiration to anyone in the teaching profession. I also give it as a gift to the special teachers that I know or that have made a difference in my own childrens' lives.

This was an entertaining read, especially the depth of case studies. Allen used the term "branding signals" several times in this book, which I found to be nice illustration on how to articulate brand equity. As a former brand consultant and now client, I recommend it as a value-added thought piece.

This book is as branded. Allen P. Adamson quietly takes you step-by-step through establing a brand idea to refining it to the purest form -- a power brand driver known as the brand name. He demystifies the process without overloading readers with details or resorting to gimmicks. The writing is solid, the organization logical. Key takeaway: Be in your customers' mental "save as" folders in a positive way -- and work to stay there.

I've just finished reading BrandSimple and wanted to thank Allen for writing this book.

We are at a stage in the life of our company in which we are using branding & positioning to go head-to-head with companies that are much bigger than us and BrandSimple has saved us from making many mistakes that would have cost us dearly in both the short & long term.

Beware though, that this book has been written in a compelling manner which is true to its mantra (i.e. keeping things simple) and will make the reading of other most other marketing books much more difficult.

I re-read "BrandSimple" while navigating through airports over the weekend. Remarkably, it was even stronger the 2nd time around, and 1+ years after my initial read. Few books of any genre can make that claim. I was reminded of just how much great, immediately actionable knowledge Adamson has captured in this book. I've worked in branding and marketing for 17 years and feel strongly that BrandSimple should be compulsory reading both for the branding veteran as well as the relative novice. Kudos to Mr. Adamson...

Michael Draznin

I thought it was a fairly valuable read. The thesis is really simple. To create a strong brand you must find a simple idea that is differentiated and relevant. You then build the brand by focusing on specific points in the customer journey, and craft the brand interactions to send signals that will shape the perceptions of the consumer.

The weak parts of the book were that some of the ideas seemed too simple or obvious, and it was repetitive at times. I loved the analogy which compared the mind to a computer desktop and brands to computer files. The more associations and images you have of the brand, the larger the file appears when you click on it. The brand must say something relevant and meaningful to get you to save as.

The coolest thing I learned was that all the pencils at BP are made out of recycled plastic coffe cups, which I didn't know was possible. Overall it is a good book to read if you are interested in the fundamentals of building a brand.

I highly recommend this book as a source of intuition for econometrics. As a Ph.D. student working on my own research I find this book very helpful when I want a quick and easy explanation. This book is also good for clarifying some basic concepts that never got adequate explanations in my econometrics courses. I only wish that this book had a little more coverage on limited dependent variable models.

Not many scientists can write but Peter Kennedy is NOT one of them. He presents the mathematical and statistical information in clear, concise language. A wonderful AND informative read!!

It's a great book. The author uses easy language and makes the reader udertand the econometric analysis more clearly.

The product arrived in a timely manner and I have no complaints. I would use this seller for future transactions.

This is the fourth edition of a very popular text for an introductory graduate level course in econometrics. Although designed for econometricians and economics majors, the book has a lot to offer the statistician (time series analyst). There is good coverage of both the classical econometric models and the classical ARIMA time series models. The difference, as Kennedy points out, is that most univariate statistical time series models use only the past history to model and forecast the future while the econometric models emphasize the inclusion of economic predictor variables and not the past history.
However, in recent years, and partly because in fair-fight forecasting competitions the Box-Jenkins time series methods have done better than the econometric models, the econometricians are beginning to incorporate the Box-Jenkins approach in their models. As Kennedy points out,the new theory of multivariate ARIMA models is providing the econometricians with a methodology that is similar to their simultaneous equation models.

One nice feature of the book is that it treats classical linear regression theory early, highlights the key assumptions and then provides specific chapters that cover how to deal with the violations of the assumptions taken one by one.

The book is clear, up-to-date and has an excellent bibliography. It introduces the structural econometric time series approach along with multivariate Box-Jenkins methodolgy. Advanced topics such as dealing with roots on the unit circle in Box-Jenkins models and cointegration are covered. Also robust estimation procedures are discussed. It even introduces bootstrap methodology and the Bayesian approach to inference.

There is some coverage and some warnings about neural networks. Models for count data, duration, linear structural equations and instrumental variables are all presented in an introductory way.

Emphasis is placed early on the concept of sampling distributions for estimators. A clear understanding of sampling distributions is essential to understanding classical frequentist statistical approaches. Much confusion can arise when these concepts are glossed over.

The impact of this novel is materially diminished by its reliance on obsolete paradigms of the previous century. Science seeks to reanimate creatures of the past not with incantations, wall inscriptions and the usual mumbo gumbo of witchcraft and sorcery, but with the information storing capacity of DNA macromolecules and cellular implants. In Lovecraft's works, as in certain scriptural references, matter is endowed only with minimal capacities to create the inorganic realm - but living creatures need to have the influence of nonmaterial spiritual influences from BEYOND. Lovecraft hints at methods and materials used in the "experiments" he describes, but relies too heavily on "fancy" language to create atmosphere...a practice losing its impact after frequent repetition. His work would have proved prophetic if he invisioned the capacity of inanimate matter to link free energy with self-organizing potential. Beyond these failures of prescience, the novel also exhibits artistic failures: the plot develops much too slowly......the material would have fit more comfortably in a short story or a novelette....... it seems H. P. might have started writing a handbook for tour guides of Providence, R. I. and took a sudden turn on Route 2 in Cranston - that excursion being included is an obvious diversion from the main story line. The reader might also consider an amusing thought postcard of the of the REAL Providence and its appeal - consisting until recent times - mainly of sidewalk art of prostrate bodies, crowds of pan-handling bums, or rats scurrying about freely in daylight along the canal. In spite of these comments I would recommend this book. Read this volume and then go for a walk in the environs described therein ---watch out for ..."shunned culverts, hideously dark - wherein lurk formless masses rubbing softly in the depths...evoking delerious thoughts of sodden, ravenous rats....."

If you want really classic Lovecraft at the top of his form, then this novel is it. It is a good, tight, driven read- except for the extensive prose tour of his beloved old Providence near the beginning. Yet, even this detailed introduction helps to weave an unmatched atmosphere that draws you deeply into Lovecraft's world. This is an ode to Providence, and to those unobtrusive and unlikely heroes that would keep it safe from cosmic evil.

Lovecraft carries us from colonial days to the "modern" 1920's in this tale. We are introduced to the hidden brotherhood of dark magicians and necromancers- those to seek to wield unnatural power from beyond the grave and beyond the stars. So much concentrated occult information, or rather enticing hints of such information, is packed into the narrative. Mystery within mystery unfolds. Yet, it is rather ordinary men that are called upon to confront this inconceivable evil, even though it threatens their very sanity.

Besides being an extremely well written tale of supernatural suspense it also serves as a teaching tale. There is madness out of time and a horror from beyond the spheres that threatens to entrap and destroy the unwary. Do not call up what ye lack the power to put down. Upon this depends more than can be put into words- all civilization, all natural law, perhaps the fate of the solar system and the universe. Perhaps even more than this- all because one fool opened a door and there was no one there with the knowledge to close it...

This is the type of story that you sit back and imerse yourself in the setting. With each new tid bit of information the horror of Joseph Curwen becomes clearer and clearer. The final chapter however sent chills down my spine, as Dr Willet searches through Curwen's undergroud, antedeluvian laboratory. The dank putrid odors, the slime green walls, and the horrific wailing from the darkness... the build up is phenominal, and the pay off will have you sleeping with your lights on!

Great read, you will go back to it again and again.

At 48,000 words, this is the longest tale that H.P. Lovecraft ever wrote. It is also his best.

This novel has both good plotting and an otherworldly atmosphere that pervades the book. The setting is 1920's New England where there was a revival in interest in the occult. However, the key to the tale is the 18th Century New England scene that Lovecraft had a lifetime interest in.

The character of Charles Dexter Ward was based on Lovecraft himself: a lonely intellectual who was an antiquarian who detested the Industrial Revolution. Ward's research into the occult leads to the reincarnation of one of his ancestors who in turn hatches a plot with both Ward and one of Ward's friends for a mass resurrection of the dead who would become mindless zombies dedicated to both the destruction of heavy industry in America as well as the forced expulsion, if not mass murder, of the Roman Catholic immigrants who Lovecraft detested so much from America.

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward is a fantasy/horror novel that tells you a lot about its author. H.P. Lovecraft was a self-styled aristocrat from a decadent Old Money family who bitterly hated the Roman Catholic Church and especially the Irish and Italian immigrants who by 1928, when this novel was first published, had already assumed a position of political power at the expense of the WASP elite that Lovecraft was a member of. Clearly, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward was reflective of Lovecraft's religious bigotry and his hateful tendencies towards certain ethnic and religious groups. It should come as no surprise that during the 1930's, Lovecraft frequently praised Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward is a uniquely powerful and compelling work by a master of horror fantasy.

Charles Dexter Ward is a young man in Providence, RI who is fascinated by antiquities --- too fascinated, perhaps. He becomes obsessed with an ancestor, an alleged warlock named Joseph Curwen who escaped persecution in Salem over 200 years before and fled to Providence. A unusually long-lived ancestor, I might add.

If you aren't used to reading Lovecraft, or other writers of the same time period, the language and writing style might be a little tough at first, but it is well worth getting into. Lovecraft leaves a lot to the imagination of the reader --- a device that works quite well in this story.

This is one of my favorite novellas --- actually, one of my favorite stories, even. I first read when I was in high school, and I have re-read it every few years ever since. I re-read it again a couple of days ago and I still love it. This is Lovecraft at his best.