John Wayne Books

This book gives a very frank and personal view of John Wayne as a father and regular guy. I found it very moving at times and it brought Duke into perspective as a human being and not just the giant Hollywood icon. Like many others, I admired him from the time I saw my first John Wayne movie and I still watch them today. I had one opportunity to meet him which I regret did not work out. I'm glad Aissa Wayne shared her memories with us.

Aissa Wayne (the author of this book and daughter of John Wanye)wines and complains thoughout the whole book. Making this very disappointing if you were hoping to read some good stories of John Wayne behind the camera.

I have to admit I haven't finished this book but am enjoying it so much. It is a totally different view of John Wayne. Much is revealed about his first two marriages. The view through the eyes of a small child is different indeed. You will see a side of John Wayne that was never publicized. It's a good read that's getting better everyday.

Another excellant book . It must have been difficult for Aissa

to write all this down , but I , as a John Wayne fan , am glad

that she did . Thank you Aissa , for telling us who your

father really was . He will allways be our " HERO " .

Jack Yannuzzi

I am close to the same age as Aissa and from the time I was 10, while other pre-teen girls were obsessing over Bobby Sherman and David Cassidy, I was crazy about John Wayne -50 years my senior. This adoration carried over throughout high school and was so well known that one boy, trying to secure a date, only succeeded by impersonating John Wayne's familiar drawl and naming his jeep "The Duke." In Tucson, the whole town loved John Wayne and affectionately dubbed a Saturday Night midnight viewing of his earliest 1930's westerns - "The Worst of John Wayne." All my dates knew that I had to be home by 11:45 PM because this weekly event couldn't be missed. When he passed away, my friends sent sympathy cards to me and I truly mourned him.

For years, I avoided this book because I thought it would read like "Daddy Dearest." After reading it, I am only sorry that it took me so long to order it.

Aissa presents a candid and honest view of her famous father - through a daughter's eyes. She speaks with love and pride of her father and yet also addresses the downside of being a child of such a famous icon as well. Some of the ways that her father showed his love toward her were so incredibly sweet that I actually envied her childhood. And some of his strictness - especially towards his sons, was so indicative of how men in that era believed that "real men don't cry" and that it was their duty to instruct their sons to be "strong and silent."

In reading the book, it is so clear that John Wayne deeply loved his children - but Aissa was probably his favorite. I believe that her father showed his love the most by not always being the "nice guy," but by often being pretty strict. Parents can't always be friends with their kids during the teenage years because authority is questioned and undermined so much during those years, but it is obvious that John Wayne was strong and responsible and wanted to prepare Aissa with qualities that would carry her over to adulthood. The fact that Aissa became an attorney speaks volumes in that her father would be so immensely proud of her as this was an ambition of his as well.

In many ways, I identified with Aissa because my father was also "larger than life" as a commanding officer of the Green Berets. Ironically, he passed away from lung cancer 5 years before John Wayne. Although not famous, as children of an officer, we were required to present a façade and behave in a manner that would enhance my father's career so I understood to some degree the resentment that Aissa felt growing up. Likewise, I think that we all were somewhat mortified to be around our parents in the 70's. I also know what it is like to have such a vibrant force depart and how angry I felt because he had died and how lost our whole family felt for so many years afterwards. So this book was like reading part of my life. Aissa states that for so many years she was attracted to men like her father and I can see now why I idolized John Wayne.

The one area of the book that I questioned was John Wayne's relationship to his personal secretary, Pat Stacy. I remember the Barbara Walters interview and I am almost sure that he actually wiped a tear away during the interview and then stated that he had found a woman that he really loved. Also, Maureen O'Hara - one of the Duke's best friends, mentions in her book that John Wayne and Pat were in love and that she was glad that he could share his last years with a woman he loved. Likewise, he bought Pat a house right across the street from him as I think in his own mind John Wayne would not want to openly "live with" Pat during that era. It is understandable that Aissa did not want to see that her father was in love with another woman other than her mother. But I believe that John Wayne would want Aissa and Pat now to be friends because he loved them both so much. Personally, I believe that both Aissa and Pat wrote books about John Wayne, not to financially benefit from it, but rather because they felt they owed it to his fans, to themselves, and to John Wayne, himself.

Two things that I wish had been included in this book: Aissa did not mention that her father had been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, with the words " John Wayne - American." I think that this award must have meant so much to her father - almost more than all his other awards. Also, one of my favorite memories of her father was when he appeared on the hugely popular "Laugh-In." He wore this huge bunny suit and had a deadpanned expression and only John Wayne could have gotten away with this. It was hilarious and it just made me think so much more of him that he could be so vulnerable and confident enough to do this.

I have a great amount of respect for Aissa for writing this intimate and honest account of her father through her eyes. We all felt that the Duke "belonged" to us and I am sure that it wasn't easy to share her famous father with the world.

This cookbook is a 'must have' for anyone who works in a professional pastry kitchen. Period.

I love this book. I wish it would've been the Baking and Pastry text at my culinary school. It has so many good recipes and method descriptions. I also like the presentation section which pulls everything together for the professional pastry cook/chef.

Chef Gisslen shows you concise and usable methods for preparing every type of pastry found in the modern kitchen. Full of reference material and photographs, this book guides you to better baking. His recipes are consistently successful and easily scaled to large or small service.

I cannot say if this particular B&P book is really any better or worse than any number of other similar texts. It is the textbook from cooking school a few years ago. Even today despite the number of baking and pastry books I have since bought, this one is still the one I use most often, and the first place I go to when I need a correct, authoritative B&P recipe. Even most of my home baking comes from this book.

The chapters are well chosen. Each one covers one subject, and I have yet to come across a category of B&P that is not covered by this book; it even includes confectionery and sugar work. The TOC also lists all of the recipes in the book in chronological order, making it easy to find a specific recipe. It also has nice explanations of the basic types bread and cake procedures; the recipes, for the steps, then refer you to the appropriate type of dough or batter method. It has also has charts on baking failures and likely causes, which I have used more than once or twice. The one odd thing I noticed is that the yields are kind of low for professional recipes, like a couple of loaves of bread or a couple of cakes; good for culinary students learning in a kitchen or even at home. There are large quantity recipes, but they are hidden in the back where you are likely not to notice.

Also note what it does not have. It does not have really basic culinary info like how to operate in a professional kitchen or how to tell when bread dough is properly kneaded or how to fold batter. It is a list of proper make-up procedures and recipes only.

I'm a culinary student and found this book to be pretty well-written. This was the assigned book for my culinary baking and advanced baking classes. It showed me how to make all kinds of pastries, breads, muffins, scones, etc. I also used the following books which helped me prepare for the type of questions encountered on my baking exams:
Study Guide for Baking: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations by Melissa Heilman
Study Guide for Advanced Baking: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations by Melissa Heilman
These study guides helped me get very good grades on my baking exams in culinary schools. I give these 3 books excellent ratings.

Dottie Brewer has a lot to say about life's choices, mistakes made, and lessons learned. A fresh, witty, and wise voice, she inspires us to get moving on life's paths, ordinary and extraordinary.

We can all relate to this book. I loved it. It's a great read.

I really enjoyed reading this book. The author really gives some fresh insight to life in her book that is about an unusual event in her life. Don't miss this one.

The title would lead you to believe that Dottie's Brewer's book is all about the numbing ordeal of marrying one of the those people who've had their fifteen minutes of fame and don't know it, but the tales between these covers completely eclipse that small portion of the book. Dottie's story is an optimistic one of how being positive through life's traumas can get you through some pretty bleak times like being married to John Wayne Bobbitt. It'll bring a smile to your face and put hope in all the right places.

Ahead of the trend...Brewer's "stream of conciousness" style brings to mind the current focus on opinion style books. Much in the vein of Terri Hatcher's "Burnt Toast" and the like.

This woman's down-to-earth, unjaded look at her world and the world around her is endearing. Dottie's writing style is like dishing with your best girlfriend...she will make you cry and leave you laughing.

Brewer's story is the story of everywoman growing up today, learning as she goes and faced with a comnpletely new set of options and obstacles from those that went before us. Dottie looks at each one and moves through them (from breast implants to abusive relationships), of course hindsite is 100%. Because this is written after-the-fact it allowed her to step back and take a more complete look at some situations...and probably was a little cathartic.

...and then there is that part about John Wayn Bobbitt, inquiring minds want to know!

Well...I love to cook. So when I came upon a book called becoming a chef, I basically jumped at it. I thought that it was very well written. I think that it gave me more knowledge on becoming a chef and about the restaurant business.

This book takes you in-depth into the life and passion of a chef using well-known chefs as examples. It's a breath of fresh air with insights to inspire and aspire. You'll love this book whether you are just curious or you're already in the business. You'll find out how common the lives of well-known chefs are from their struggles to their road to success.

As a professional chef for the past ten years I find this book interesting and informative. There are many good stories from other chefs in the industry and will be helpful for young culinary students.

It was required reading for me for intro to culinary careers. Since culinary arts, and specifically pastry, is my passion and mid-life career change, much of the book didn't help. Also, like another, I found the first part really boring (especially after having just finished Making of a Chef by M. Ruhlman). It's good if you think culinary is something you may want to do or if you are looking at the different schools and options other than formal school.

When I began reading the book, I thought it was a complete waste of money- the begining was just aweful. BUT, after a while it gets so interesting that I did not want to put it down. I give it 4 and not 5 only becaUSE you cannot begin a book that is full of good stuff with the most boring stuff: disappoint people with the first chapter- its a waste of a great book since poeple will not want to keep reading it!!

It's mindboggling to think that the Duke has been gone almost 30 years now. John Wayne died on June 11, 1979 and for millions of fans, the world seemed a little less bright, a little less comforting, a little less fun. Since then there have been a score of books on Wayne, his films, his politics, etc. This 2000 coffee-table tribute from author Jane Pattie and Western Classics ranks as one of the best. Bulging with photographs and information, it's a great read and a fine tribute to a singular actor.

In some 275 pages, author Pattie lovingly traces Wayne's life and film career. The book has a ton of info on the Duke: a decade-by-decade breakdown of his films; a filmography; a bibliography; chapters on his screen duds, cinematic sweethearts and sidekicks, the Three Mesquiteers series, his 26 Bar cattle ranch; Michael Wayne's list of the Duke's top 10 films; Wayne memorabilia; John Wayne's legacy; and so on. Along with Pattie's narrative, Maureen O'Hara and a number of other actors and family members supply - often heartfelt -reminiscences of John Wayne the man and the actor.

Then too JOHN WAYNE...THERE RODE A LEGEND is a visual treat for fans of the Duke. Over 460 black & white and color photographs, movie posters, comic book covers and artworks compliment the text. This is one treasure trove of a book!

In short, I enjoyed this book immensely. It's marvelous reading, a visual delight to boot and comes highly recommended.

Enhanced with a foreword by actress Maureen O'Hara, and graced with an informative text by Jane Pattie, John Wayne: There Rode A Legend is a gorgeous, superbly illustrated coffee table book showcasing the life, career, movies, deeds, and memories of the world famous actor John Wayne, best known for his many classic American West movies. Filled with both color photographs and black-and-white television and movie stills from before the firm establishment of color TV, John Wayne: There Rode A Legend is a remarkable tour of and tribute to the actor's life and work, from the 30's to the 60's. Of special note are the highlights that reveal John Wayne's humanitarian legacy, from when he had a gravely ill Navajo girl flown to a hospital 100 miles away on his personal plane to the creation of the John Wayne Cancer Institute years after the great actor's death from stomach cancer. John Wayne: There Rode A Legend is beyond compare and enthusiastically recommended for Western film buffs and the legions of fans of a truly unique actor and his enduring work.

All I can say about this book is that it is the best book out there about our national treasure, John Wayne. He is as popular today as he has ever been and it was a pleasure to find this book through a friend. It's a huge book, with great, rare photographs about Duke's West. I had read some of the other reviews, and I was also not aware that Duke was a cattle rancher in real life. The book is brimming over with great art and photographs. If your looking for a gift for a friend or just to give yourself a treat, this is the book for you. I was impressed as much as the great 'impressiveness' of the book.

This book is a book Mr. Wayne would have enjoyed. The pictures and text is excellent. The true cowboys of the west were not of the moral statue of Mr. Waynes Movie roles but they should have been. Yes he made some less than able pictures but they were rare. And of the many western stars - ie- Mcrea, Scott, Ford, Holden. Lancaster, Cooper, Flynn- they were very good but John Wayne star shines greater and will forever. He was the embodiment of the Western American. He was what young boys hoped to become, and grownup they regretted never becoming!!!! Thank you Mr. Wayne for your life in films.

For the western movie or John Wayne fan this is a must add to your library. A bit about the man and a lot about his western films, and the films are where the legend springs. Well done with lots of pictures and Michael Wayne's pick of his dad's ten best western films, which I as a fan of the genre, would concur. Maybe not the greatest actor ever, but certainly a darn good one who was underrated for most of his career, and one who gave a picture of the west that, while perhaps not terribly accurate, has endured for decades because it celebrated most of the positive attributes of the spirit that made the country what it had become, at least as of mid century.
There have been few actors that have reached the statue of this man, and endured for anything close to his run of popularity. Recommend the book for what it is, the celebration of that portion of a career that made the man an icon.

This is a great book that shows the natural born ability of a deal maker. This book shows how Wayne can spot a business that has a lot of potential and take it over to make it a giant. This was a great book,

B. Fitz

This is a great book that shows the natural born ability of a deal maker. This book shows how Wayne can spot a business that has a lot of potential and take it over to make it a giant. This was a great book,

B. Fitz

This book tells the story of a guy w/ modest means and how he created two of the best businesses in U.S history starting w/ nothing. This is not just some ego pumping motivational biography. This book tells you exactly what is required of you if your goal is to build a business starting from scratch and putting everything together working over 100 hours per week and eventually listing your company on the NYSE and becoming a billionaire. Wayne is the ultimate deal maker, and you can see very clearly in these pages how one can reach the highest levels of business succes through extremely hard work, and single minded determination and drive. Bottom line if you want to know what it really takes to build a 2.5 billion dollar net worth and get your name on the Forbes 400, and also building an international multi billion dollar company from scratch... well than spend your money on this book you won't be dissapointed... Blake bldgassets247@yahoo.com

I liked the book really well. I was suprised that Wayne was completly a self made billion-aire. When other guys like Donald Trump was in private school wayne was doing odd jobs to earn money. I just wish I had invested in Blockbuster when I was in high school.

That's the return an investor in Blockbuster in Jan. 1987 would have had. And for Wayne's investment, $17.5 million, that grew to $600 million in 7 years.

This is a truly intriguing story of how Wayne (and team) built TWO multi billion dollar companies, Blockbuster Entertainment and Waste Management. The author, Gail does a great job of taking you through Wayne's early days when all of his garbage company's credit lines were exhausted and meeting the day to day expenses were a struggle, up to the point that he realized that the best bet was to go public so he could use the stock as currency for rapid expansion. And rapidly expand he did. In the 10 months between March and December 1972, Waste Management bought 133 different businesses.

During his forays in the water business Wayne and his right hand man Steve Berrard scooped up 16 water companies in eight months, going from zero to the thirteenth largest bottled water company in the nation, which was sold to Clorox for a profit of $16 million within 3 years.

Berrard's deal making skills:
-Don't paint yourself into a corner
-Never say anything that won't let you come back in the front door
-Don't say something is a deal breaker
-A deal is never dead if you don't let it die
-Always let the other side set the initial price
-Always leave room to back up
-Recognize what the other side really wants out of a deal
-Know when to walk
-Don't take no for an answer

Talking about Blockbuster Wayne would point out that the stores were paying for themselves in roughly 3 years from the cash flow. (mental not for business buyers)

As anyone who reads my other reviews or my blog knows, I zero in on the structure of the deals mentioned in the book. Interestingly you get a good idea of how the whole Blockbuster - Virgin deal was structured. Blockbuster was to be an even partner in Virgin's 15 stores in Europe and have 75% ownership of the US stores (other than the LA store which they had 1/3). Virgin would retain managing control along with its 25%. Blockbuster would fund the expansion.

Great Quotes:

"The biggest lesson I learned is that when you say you're going to do something, be darn sure you do it."

"Huizenga held fast to two rules: Don't loose a deal because you're not paying attention to it and never talk about it until its done and in writing."

"His father says, Wayne is still driven by the same force that's driven him since the purchase of that first garbage truck in 1962. (The Deal) The excitement of making the deal. I think that's what drives him"

By Kevin Kingston, author of: A 20,000% Gain in Real Estate: A True Story About the Ups and Downs From Wall Street to Real Estate Leading to Phenomenal Returns

"Introduction to Biblical Counseling" has been a standard text in nouthetic (from the New Testament Greek word "noutheteo" meaning to exhort out of concern leading to change) counseling for over a decade now. Pastor John MacArthur and Professor Wayne Mack successfully edited a fine introduction to the history, theory, and practice of nouthetic counseling.

The authors focus their thinking around three core concepts: the historical role of lay and pastoral counseling in the local church, the sufficiency of Scripture in the change process, and the methods for implementing such care. The first two sections develop this historical and biblical approach to counseling. These sections are followed by sections on the process and practice of biblical counseling (all of the process sections were written by Professor Mack).

Readers of this text will receive a clear introduction to the concepts central to nouthetic counseling. What they will not receive, and no book can provide all one needs for counseling (other than the Scriptures), is information on what might be called "parakaletic" (from the Greek word "parakeleo" meaning coming along side with encouragement for one suffering) counseling. In other words, "Introduction to Biblical Counseling," while a fine overview of the historical and biblical role of helping believers to overcome sin and to grow in sanctification, is not an introduction to the historical and biblical role of helping believers to deal with the evils that they suffer in a fallen world.

Historically and biblically, both lay people and pastors have always dealt with both suffering (the evils we have suffered) and sin (the sins we have committed). "Soul care" is the historic term used for the process of sustaining and healing those enduring unjust suffering. "Spiritual direction" is the historic term for the process of reconciling and guiding those struggling with personal sin issues.

In the decade since this book was penned, nouthetic counselors have focused more on this area of suffering. To date, they have yet to collate their thoughts into a one volume set like "Introduction to Biblical Counseling." Such a publication will be a welcomed edition to the growing training literature of nouthetic counseling.

Reviewer: Dr. Bob Kellemen, author of "Soul Physicians: A Theology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction" and "Spiritual Friends: A Methodology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction."

I am a Christian counselor, and I am disappointed with this book in how it evaluates Christian counseling. This book is intended to be a textbook, but it is full of bias, bad logic, and wrong assumptions toward Christian counseling and Christian psychology.
The author claims that Bible is sufficient to deal with every kind of emotional and psychological problem. Therefore, psychology, especially those developed by the anti-Christian psychologists, should be expelled out of churches. Psychology will only degenerate the power of the Holy Spirit in the realm of healing the emotional problems. The author attacks Christian psychologists, saying that they made a compromise. They replaced biblical wisdom with secular wisdom. Yet I don't know any Christian counselor or psychologists who do not uphold Bible as their ultimate authority. The author assumes that ALL Christian counselors think that secular psychology is superior in dealing with emotional problems. This can't be further from the truth.
The author also attacks secular psychology as money-making business. It encourages people to pay money to get years of counseling only to be addicted to it. This is a very obvious bias. It is very clear that NOT ALL psychologists are business-oriented. Many of them are sincere in trying to helping people. Saying that they are all going after money is an INSULT.
Also, the author assumes that psychology is not true science, therefore is psudo-science. It is true that a lot of concepts of psychology cannot be verified by scientific method (How can you prove the existence of id, ego, and superego by science?), but it does not mean that every kind of counseling cannot be proved effective. There are many researches that evaluate the outcomes of certain counseling techniques. Some of them are ineffective, of course, but many of them do have positive outcomes. The author ignores these researches and say that all counseling methods are ineffective and cannot be scientifically verified.
Many of the counseling techniques used by Christian counselors, according to the author, are strange and unbiblical. The author then gave several examples of such techniques that I don't know any Christian counselor would use. I wouldn't use those techniques either, and I am a Christian counselor. This is a bias.
The author wants this book to be a textbook in counseling class. I believe that it's not objective enough to be a textbook. Sorry. Only one star.

This book is rooted in the authors' foundational belief in the "sufficiency, superiority, and practicality of Scripture for dealing with all the issues of life." The information given proceeds from many years of biblical counseling practice as well as insights gained from personal biblical study and teaching others.

All aspects of biblical counseling are addressed from the "Theological Foundations of Biblical Counseling" to "Biblical Counseling and the Local Church." This is a basic guide to the principles and practice of counseling as a unique Christian ministry. In other words, the material is Scripturally accurate and is not based on humanism or secular theories of psychological counseling.

The book is divided into four parts. First, the historical background of biblical counseling is presented covering the paradigm of the English Puritans up to the Twentieth Century. Second, the theological issues of the sinfulness of humanity and God's answer to it through Christ's atonement are discussed in regard to counseling. Third, the process of developing a relationship whereby counseling can take place is practically examined. Fourth, how biblical counseling can be practiced effectively within the local church setting is offered.

This comprehensive volume provides essential help for pastors and local church leaders as well as others in the body of Christ who wish to become confident and effective in counseling those who seek their help. In fact, it is a textbook used in some biblical counseling seminary courses. However, it is just as valuable as a resource in the local church and for personal study.

In addition to a Table of Contents, this work includes an Appendix that has a Personal Data Inventory form useful for gathering background information from a counselee. An Index of Authors, Index of Scriptures, and Index of Subjects is provided along with a notable List of Contributors.

- D. Garland

Thank God for restoring His counseling to His people. Pschology has polluted our fellowships for too long. I'm so glad that there is an awakening and restoration to the ways of the Lord. We do not need to incorporate a lost world's philosophy into the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. This book is uncompromising and boldly states the truth. The Bible is sufficient for all situations. Let's hold up the Sword of the Lord in this time against the lies of the enemy of our souls. He has spead his hopeless poison long enough.

You will not be disappointed with this reference book. It was written by the faculty of The Master's College and is an important resource for anyone who is getting into counseling people from the Bible. I think it is one of the foundational works for a biblical counselor to read. At the end of it, you will find FAQs that will be very helpful to your work.

Be aware that if you are into psychology at all, you will not agree with this book. Its stance is that the Bible is completely sufficient in and of itself to help people find the answers to mental and emotional problems.

What else can be said about John Wayne? The quotes in this book are wonderful. They really reflect the genuine hero that Wayne was. If you listen really hard while you enjoy these bits of his wisdom, you can almost hear the magical voice of The Duke. If you are a fan, you must have this book!

With all the John Wayne had to say in his movies and real life, this book was somewhat of a disapointment. It has some, but not all inclusvie, and not even some of his best one-liners.

Great book full of common sense and insight into the man. Proof that when you look up American in the dictionary, it says 'see John Wayne'. Why didn't we ever make this man President?

I've been a fan of "Duke" for over 30 years and I've read a lot about him, and I can say that "The Quotable John Wayne - The Grit And Wisdom Of An American Icon" by Carol Lea Mueller is one of the finest. Not simply another boring biography like many other books, this book succinctly gets to the 'True Grit'...the spirit behind the legend of the man. Chock full of interesting anecdotes,memorable quotes and tasty tidbits regarding Duke's attitudes about God, America & family values, it's all here. Good job Ms. Mueller!

The John Wayne fanatic in our family (who, by the way, has nearly everything John Wayne) was excited to receive this as a gift.

I always enjoyed reading the Bizarro Tales when I was a kid. They were funny to read, because they did everything backwards on their planet. If you are a Superman fan, I think you will enjoy these stories which are a part of the Superman universe.

This is subversive, dangerous, anarchic, wonderful, gut-wrenchingly funny stuff. These comics first appeared in Adventure Comics in the early 60s. They're more on-target now than they were then. (It probably seemed silly in 1963 when a dieting Bizarro-Lois ordered a steak.)

See Bizarro become a trial lawyer, direct a horror film, and dress up as President Kennedy for Halloween. There's not a clunker in this book. Don't miss it.

You know, as much as I appreciate the plethora of "Bizarro" reviews for this book, I feel there should be at least ONE straight review for people who aren't in on the joke. So in case you don't quite get it -- Bizarro is Superman's imperfect duplicate. Everything he does is the opposite of Superman. That's pretty much the gist of it.

This book collects the "Tales From Bizarro World" series from the old Adventure Comics title -- stories about a whole planet of Bizarros, including Bizarro-Lois Lane, Bizarro-Jimmy Olsen, Bizarro-Lex Luthor, Bizarro-Supergirl and even Bizarro-Krypto the Superdog.

Amazingly, these stories were written by Superman creator Jerry Siegel himself. They're pretty simple, pretty light, and some of them make absolutely no sense even in BIZARRO logic. It's fluff, but it's enjoyable fluff. It's pure, beautiful Silver Age wackiness, and it's well worth the read for any fan of Superman or goofy comic books in general. Pick it up.

SUPERMAN: TALES OF THE BIZARRO WORLD is a collection of stories that ran as backup features in Adventure Comics #285 - 299 (1961 - 1962). They follow the adventures of Bizarro #1 and his family on the cube-shaped planet Bizarro World (Htrae), which is populated by imperfect duplicates of Superman, Lois Lane, and other familiar supporting characters from the Superman titles. Xaime Hernandez supplies a cover that is an excellent tribute to Action Comics #1.

Fittingly, the humorous introduction to this collection is written by none other than David Mandel, the writer of the "Bizarro Jerry" episode of Seinfeld. What follows is 185 pages of weirdness, courtesy of regular writer Jerry Siegel and artists John Forte, Wayne Boring, and Curt Swan. Of course, we're all familiar with the Bizarro grammar, which throws standard rules out the window. In addition, teeth are brushed with shoe polish, flowers are pulled from weed gardens, alarm clocks signal the time to go to bed, cars have square wheels, and best of all: everyone knows that Bizarro #1 is really Bizarro Clark Kent. The stories are absolute chaos, with plots frequently shifting directions and concluding nowhere near the initial premise. But remember, this is the Bizarro World, so no complaints here! Also, they are quite funny - there are some priceless bits of dialogue, and for some reason, the fact that Bizarro Perry White smokes exploding cigars makes me laugh every time I think of it. John Forte is the primary artist for these stories, and his depiction of life on Htrae captures the oddball mood of Siegel's stories perfectly, with bent skyscrapers, multiple planets in the afternoon sky, and colors that would make any visitor from Earth vomit.

If there's any complaint I have for these stories, it's that Siegel sometimes overdoes it in reminding us that Bizarro culture is so different from ours. For example, while a Bizarro will indeed drive its car through an intersection on a red light, I don't need to be told that, on Earth, we stop at a red light, in order for the gag to work. The stories would work more smoothly if Siegel had just left the interpretation to us. But that's a small complaint - I spent more time laughing at the stories than nitpicking. Cheers to DC for a well-deserved reprint!

This book am so awful. Sometime me read and feel very mad at universe. Me read to me 4 year old son. Most comics am not violent enough for he. This am 'cause made long time ago when comics having more blood. Now we talk bizarro all over house. Make us sad sad sad.

Grudem and company, have done us a favor in taking on the issue of correctness and obedience to ethical norms in Bible translations.

The 'dynamic-equivalents', such as The Message by Peterson, fall short of the
litmus test. They divulge the author's lack of respect for God's inspired Word, and lack of faithfulness to its purity.

The literal, word-for-word versions have a strong case for upholding the perfect, completed Word of God.

'And in terms of the history of English Bible translations, dynamic equivalence is almost wholly a modern phenomenon.' pg 63

And, no dramatics are called for from the pulpit. Definitely no scripture twisting.

I long have been a supporter of the literal translation (or as the English Standard Version puts it "essentially literal."). Having been a disciple of Jesus Christ since 1992, I first grew in grace (2 Peter 3:18) using the NIV along with many others. The church I attended, however, used the New King James Version. The NIV and the NKJV were world's apart! Then I attended Bible college where the required Bible was the New American Standard (NASB). Again I found the NIV, the NASB, and the NKJV to be vastly different.

In 1996 the New Living Translation came on the scene. At the time I was a youth pastor and begin to use the NLT to teach the teens. However, I soon found the New Living Transltion to be very free in its translation and it just didn't seem biblical.

Have you felt the way I felt? Many Christians get confused with so many different Bible translations now on the market in the English language. While millions of disciples in China long for one Bible, we have hundreds in many different styles. In fact far too often the Bibles in America represent lifestyles rather than God's truth. We have come a long way from the days of a literal translation such as the King James Version in 1611 to now dynamic equivalent's such as the NIV or the New Living. What we need is some wisdom on what Bible translation is best.

This book is such a book. TRANSLATING TRUTH offers a look not only at the English Standard Version (ESV) but also all literal translations such as the New American Standard, the New English Translation (NET), or the New King James. It helps you to see why an essentially literal Bible is the best. It offers a candid look at the NIV and the New Living and why they simply are not good translations.

Overall this is a solid work and features some great writers such as Wayne Grudem, Leland Ryken, and John Collins. Your knowledge of the Bible will grow and you will won't to purchase a literal translation when you are done.

The 5 authors were on the team that produced the ESV. They take a position that their translation method (their term is "essentially literal") is preferred. They show bad examples of translations from paraphrase versions like The Message and good examples from the ESV and others they see as similar. They show a mixed bag from the NIV and TNIV of both good and bad examples, but one should know that the NIV is a main competitor to the ESV. I agree with all the examples they give.

They also claim that ambiguous words should be left ambiguous, which I also agree with. In some sense, this book is an extended (positive) ad for the ESV, or failing that, similar translations like NASB and a (negative) ad for the NIV and anything even less "essentially literal".

A concern I have is that they do not seem to see that even their translation involves interpretation and commentary by the understandings they have and the word choices they make. For example, they are complementarian, so do not expect any verses to use an egalitarian word choice or understanding. One needs to be aware when reading any translation that all translations involve interpretation and should be seen as the translators attempt to get you to more easily agree with their interpretation, whatever it is.

They do not discuss the Concordant Literal Version, which takes their method even further than they do, perhaps because it is not very well known.

If you are interested in Bible translation then this book will be of great interest. Yes the writers firmly have the ESV in mind but i do not think that in any way clouds their argument.
This puts the case for a literal word for word English Bible translation. They use many examples, argue fairly and make many interesting points. The book reads well for such a technical (at times) discussion. They acknowledge that all English Bibles are in some ways interpretations but their case is; lets try and minimize our input and leave the reader to make their minds up as to meanings and ambiguities.

If you are of the opinion that the Bible is the word of God then by the time you have read this book you may have some strong feelings about such translations such as The Message, the NLT and such like. regardless of what "camp" you may be in this is a challenging read and well worth the effort.

When demonstrating what they consider the inferior translation methodology (dynamic or functional) the writers zero in on the New Living Translation. The problem is that their criticisms (some of which I heartily agree with) applies to the older edition of the text. The NLT was updated in 2004 and this book was released in 2005!! I understand that when the book was authored the criticism applied, but since its publication, the NLT has been replaced in most stores by the 2004 edition. The newer edition has made a number of improvements in light of the criticism when it first appeared. Therefore this book's arguements are already dated when it was released. They should have relized this and went back and changed the references to the NLT. One wonders how much changing would need to be done in order to make their criticisms applicable to the newer NLT. Maybe because the changes would be so extensive that they went ahead and released this book anyway. It is a moot point, the book's criticism's against the older NLT edition is no longer applicable. People are updating their copy of the NLT with the newer 2004 edition!