Barry Williams Books

Having just finished reading Song of Haiti, I can say that Larry and Gwen Mellon were great Americans whose work should be better known and widely honored...on American streets, on our stamps, on our money. We should all be proud to stand on a hilltop and scream, "at least one over-privileged American did the right thing!"

It's interesting to contrast Larry Mellon with George W. Bush, who was born with a similar set of privileges. Both men were products of wealthy northeastern families; both men were drawn to the rugged simplicity of the western cowboy lifestyle as a sort of antidote to the culture of the northeastern establishment.

But the similarities end there. After fulfilling his cowboy phase, Mellon turned the page, studied tropical medicine, and spent over thirty years improving the lives of the people of Haiti. In addition to building a great hospital, he used his ranching knowledge to build wells and irrigation systems throughout the Artibonite Valley. Bush by contrast more or less grew up a cowboy, then applied a certain brand of cowboy thinking to national and international politics.

It's shocking that Mellon's contributions are not better known. Let's hope that every time someone is crazy enough to want to name an airport or freeway after George W. Bush, it gets named instead after Larimer Mellon, the real national hero.

The book has two distinct sections. The first 100 pages is a report on the Mellon family lifestyle, and how a rich maverick Mellon got to Haiti. The rest of the book details Dr. and Mrs. Mellon's founding of a hospital and civil engineering projects in central Haiti.
An important finding is that the Mellon's hospital was founded on the humanitarian premise, "Reverence for life." Taken from Dr. Sweitzer's work in Africa, life refers not only to human life, but also plant and animal. This little detail is critical to understanding the book. Many missions to Haiti are Christian, while Dr. Mellon's hospital is distinctly humanistic primarily as presented in the book.
As all books on Haiti fairly present, doing anything in Haiti is hard, and without American financial support, very little work done lasts. The hospital Dr. Mellon founded did well as long as he provided two of the four million dollars needed to run it. His civil engineering projects, in which he was much more interested than medicine (he actually only practiced medicine 3 years), all crumbled when turned over to the Haitians. Many other cottage industries met the same fate.
The book thus captures the Haitian dilemna, how to serve in Haiti and lift up the Haitians to be self sufficient. If Dr. Mellon's millions couldn't do it, how can any of us with less money at our disposal. Never the less, we go to Haiti because we cannot not go, nor can we not go back after going once.
An excellent book about how a real rich guy did his best to follow his heart, not his accountant's advice, and another book about how a strong wife really does the grunt work while her husband plays with big boy's toys.

Truly an engaging read that reminds us that we can choose to turn our lives around at any time. Larimer Mellon did just that at age 37, first going to medical school, then founding a hospital in Deschapelles, Haiti, that is running to this very day. The author does well to follow their project and show how their lives were intertwined by others similarly interested in Albert Schweitzer's ethos. This idea of "Reverence for Life" has led to the existence, in the middle of poorest rural Haiti, of a thriving band of expatriates, native Haitians, short-term volunteers, and visitors of various sorts dedicated to humanistic ideals. Hospital Albert Schweitzer lives on, and you can be a part of it if you choose.

Song of Haiti is an absolutely awesome book! As a nurse who has done mission work in Haiti, I found this book authentic, a true inspiration, as well as a compelling, indepth view of the lives of many dedicated and compassionate people. Barry Paris' work describes the country and the people in beautiful and fullfilling language. Oftentimes, I felt as if I were in Haiti again experiencing the amazing, hard-working and loving people of the country. I've never before read a biography with such griping prose. I looked forward to my time to read because I became more and more interested in the life of every person described - be it Dr. Mellon and Gwen or Albert Schweitzer, or the nurses and doctors and friends with whom they shared their lives. I believe this is the way that biographical work should be written. Song of Haiti is thorough in that it covers the entirety of Dr. Mellon's life, touching on his downfalls as well as his high acheivements. I found that the realism with which the story is told is excellent and believable. The many everyday encounters and adventures are interesting and mesmerizing - it makes a person want to travel and experience the third world for all of the beauty and intensity it offers. I recommend this book to everyone, regardless of your interest in medicine, mission work, or biography. It is amazing.

The life of William Larimer Mellon is an example of the life Americans should dream for themselves and those they love dearly. For one who majored in biology and gave it up for 18 years in auditing the paralells to Mellon's change of career and motivations struck me deeply. On witnessing the WTC disaster personally (a few hundred yards away) man should strive for something in life and go for it. Barry Paris well written account of a life inspired by Dr. Schweitzer is highly recommended to all readers committed to God and American morals and values. If readers have a noble vision the price of this book is totally insiginificant to the highest rewards you will gather from reading it.

Use series of these books as a 3-rd source of study for Step 1 after Kaplan Q-bank and Q-book. A lot of question sare not USMLE-type format and there are a lot of explanations, but some time not consice and "watery"...

Get this whole series and you'll be sure to pass, if not excel on this exam. The questions and answers thoroughly cover the tested material. Don't be disappointed if you miss many of the questions, you'll find that the actual exam is much easier than this series!

By far the toughest of all the review book series. Teaches the fine points and concepts of topics beyond and more thoroughly than I learned in school! Terrific if you have the time and are not easily demoralized.

For comparison's sake, I averaged 66-69% on the exams in this series and in the 70-80% on the NMS exams and I got 240/95 on the USMLE and 669(99th percentile on COMLEX).

Hope this helps. By the way, Kaplan questions are closest to the real thing.

This is the Book. The questions r so hard that u must be really stupid. After doing all the BSS books I thought Step1 wasn't that tuff as everyone made it seem to be.

Taking small snapshots, William F. Buckley, Jr., delivers a wonderful portrait of a pivotal time in American politics and journalism.

From the 100 student activists who were part of the foundation to the modern conservative movement, to the oftentimes hilarious controversies caused by (wannabe) political insiders and adding new twists to key moments which may have faded from the pages of history, the 208 pages prove that richness is not only found in thick volumes.

The friendship of Senator Barry Goldwater and Buckley, Jr., are found on each page, but this is a story of two extraordinary personalities who pushed away the clouds and reached to the blue sky, due to the realization that a revolution in political culture could be had over time by flying high.

I have enjoyed reading William Buckley through the years, whether it was his fiction with Blackford Oakes as the protagonist or his somewhat self-indulgent mini-autobiographies. His writing style is absolutely captivating.

Flying High is a great read if you have any interest at all in the emergence of the modern day conservative movement. In light of the current political season and two candidates that are essentially trying to claim that they are moderate, or at the very least not on the extreme ends of the continuum as a liberal or a conservative, the story of conservatives not ashamed to identify themselves as such is somewhat refreshing.

I am struck by the sheer force of character and the price that is paid to be a person of character, particularly in the world of rough and tumble politics. If you have never read anything about Goldwater, this would be a good start and you will no doubt want to read The Conscience of a Conservative, actually ghost written by Brent Bozell, though released under Goldwater's name.

The year was 1964 - President Kennedy had been martyred, and now-President Johnson looked unassailable. However, there was one man on the Conservative side who seemed willing to carry the flag, and seek to turn back the tide of Liberalism that was flowing out of Washington DC - Barry Goldwater, Au H2O. And there was one man who was always there, even if he wasn't the man the cameras were pointed at, Conservative author and thinker, William F. Buckley, Jr.

This is a "what I saw at the revolution" type book. In a short, but informative narrative, Mr. Buckley takes us behind the scenes, showing who did what, and when, and why. I must admit to being largely ignorant of Barry Goldwater, but I found this book to be intriguing and informative, keeping me turning the pages and watching those heady days unfold.

Overall, I found this to be a very interesting book. It is short and easy to read, and yet packs quite a wallop - there is no unnecessary detail or wasted verbiage here! If you are interested in Barry Goldwater and/or where the modern Conservative movement came from, then you should get this book. I think that it is probably the perfect Goldwater Revolution book, and I give it my highest recommendations.

I found this book written about my political hero, by one of my favorite observers of politics fun but to light. First of all large parts of the small book really don't have a lot to do with Mr Buckley's relationship with the Senator. That is probably my main take. I also feel that (many would say hoorah) that Mr.Buckley's famed sarcasm and "snobbery" were mainly missing. I certainly wouldn't want every political observer to write with his style of sarcasm (wit), namedropping elitism (lucky and talented enough to be where the action is). But watching, or reading him shred countless liberals was fun. Onto my feelings about the Senator. There has been quite a bit written about him in the last decade and much of it has brought him down to earth from his exalted place in my life. That is not to say he is not still my hero but the opportunities lost because he couldn't or wouldn't say no to the Phoenix Mafia lead me to wonder the big what if question. No he wouldn't have won in '64 but the defeat could have been much smaller and possibly set 1968 up for a change that would have been wonderful not only for the U.S. but the world instead we had to wait until 1980. Final word, at Amazon's price it's worth it and it will be an enjoyable 2 days. Next Pure Goldwater I'm hoping it's effect will be similar to Reagan's Diaries. Interesting point it's funny how the personal and political stock of both Goldwater and Reagan have risen in the eyes of all thinking liberals (that of course excludes the likes of Huffington etc).

Dispite my mild dissappointment with the author, I enjoyed gaining greater insight into my political hero. While I do not consider myself qualified to critique anyone's writing ability, the author too frequently repeats certain otherwise interesting Goldwater quotes. Unfortunately, this impression will compete with my overall favorable feeling.

I found the book about the late, great Barry Goldwater engrossing and superbly written. I savored (awash in tears) every last page. This is the work of an author with immense talent and sensitivity -- even if the reader wasn't fond of the long-ago Republican presidential candidate, the outspoken senator from Arizona.

This book is spectacular...it gives an in-depth view into the life of Barry Goldwater, one of the founders of conservatism in America. What an interesting look at his life and accomplishments. Wonderfully written!

I happened to read this encomium to the late Senator Goldwater in the midst of the Presidential election imbroglio. Senator Goldwater's dignity, candor, courage and conviction stand in stark contrast with the crass self-interest of many of today's leaders, and their policy-by-poll approach to governance.

Barry Goldwater is one of the most misunderstood leaders of his generation . . . his consistently literal interpretation of the Constitution and unwavering fealty to the Rule of Law caricatured by a press with a penchant for oversimplification, and a viciously cut-throat LBJ political machine (aided by the Rockefeller wing of the GOP). It was only in the twilight of his life that this political giant was accorded the respect he deserves.

What a courageously written book this is. I don't necessarily agree with all of Mr. Curtis's candidly expressed opinions, but I've never read a movie memoir that was so openly honest. It's very difficult in our society to transcend social strictures against open vanity, regardless of how well deserved. It's also open about sexuality in suprising ways.

Mr. Curtis speaks as freely about his foibles and problems as he does about his extraordinary handsome face, which Edward G. Robinson, quoted in the book, called his sonne punim in Yiddish (beautiful face).

I grew up watching TC's films and have an original lobby card from "The Great Imposter" on my movie wall. His "Houdini" was among my favorite films when I first began going to them alone, as were his swashbucklers and later, his dramatic roles. I still think he's one of the most underrated actors of his era. He deserved the Oscar for "Sweet Smell of Success."

I think eventually this book will be recognized as a unique classic among movie memoirs. It's remarkable for it's fidelity to the truth as TC saw it as opposed to the fictions penned by so many others.

It's long past time to give this man some sort of major industry award.

I have enjoyed reading this book. I find Tony's blunt honesty amusing. I will be reading along and suddenly laugh out loud over something he has said just because it is so plain-spokenly blunt. Of course I would hate for that bluntness to be used against me.

Curtis is kind towards his first wife Janet Leigh. Maybe that is because she has been kind towards him. It seems that he doesn't have much to do with his other ex-wives. At the time this book was published he was married to a girl named Lisa.

Curtis also was/is very sensitive about his being Jewish and how he was picked on as a kid, and as an adult (the stuffed, taped tail-pipe in Germany-read the book to find out what that is about).

Curtis was always a very good-looking man and he knew it, and he's honest about knowing it. His idol was Cary Grant. He wanted to make movies with Marilyn Monroe and Mae West so he could say he and Grant were the only actors to make movies with both. Curtis' tale about filming "Sextette" with Mae West is hilarious.

I love his honesty, but there is alot of anger in him. Too bad he couldn't get therapy to work that out. It probably contributed to the break-down of his marriages, and his drug habits in the past. You have to give him credit for surviving though.

I have to say that his performance in "Sex and the Single Girl" is one of my very favorites. He and Natalie Wood had such a strong on-screen chemistry.

Explicit account from the man himself Tony Curtis of his vastly changing life style from his early days on the poor streets of the Bronx New York, to the high life as a young Hollywood star. One of the most well known celebrities that came from the later part of the Hollywood star stable, his biography is unusual in its style as it integrates the voices of Tony's friends and family along side Tony's own narrative, painting a very explicit and vastly interesting life. It pulls no punches and tells it as it is , and is a must read for all his fans. Including information On the Persuaders starring Tony Curtis and Roger Moore. ITC action adventure programme first broadcast in 1971

This book is perfect if you want to read about TC, other famous people, the movies, or a young boy who went through a lot and grew up to be famous and go through some rough times again. TC tells us about his childhood, his teenage years, his brothers, his women, his kids, his films, he makes us laugh and he makes us cry. He is an amaizing guy. This autobiography, with the help of BP, is a brilliant read. It's not just for people who were around in the sixties either. I'm 16 and have read this book twice. I recomend this book to anyone that is a fan like me, or anyone who likes to read a good book.

This book makes good use of real case studies over a variety of commodities.I found it valuable as a graduate geologist and I believe it would be for undergraduates too.As with all multi author books ,some chapters are better written than others.The information on data and software does needs enlarging,to be really helpful -and the figures in this particular chapter would be much more valuable if they were in colour. Otherwise a good introductory text.

This anthology begins with deskwork analysis of geologic maps and other information. From there, there are chapters on prefeasibility studies, remote sensing, geophysical methods, drilling programs, exploration geochemistry, etc. A series of chapters discuss case histories of exploration.

Financing is discussed, and a variety of technical information is presented. There is a glossary of common abbreviations, and illustrations on the use of statistics, as in the construction of borehole grids. There is also a helpful table of atypical colors that characterize many metallic compounds seen in outcrop (p. 80).

In evaluating different exploration techniques, John Milsom comments: "Geophysical interpretations are notoriously ambiguous but the gravity method does provide, at least in theory, a unique and unambiguous answer to one exploration question. If an anomaly is fully defined over the ground surface, the total gravitational flux it represents is proportional to the total excess mass of the source body." (pp. 134-135)

Very little attention is paid to the rare earth elements, considering their importance in recent years. However, there is data on the use of lanthanum as a tracer for geochemical exploration (p. 158), and cost-effective methods of analyzing REEs at background levels in geologic samples (p. 161).

I was happy that there is something available for kids that would introduce them to Shakespeare. However, I still had to use my own words even for narrative. You really can't do much about Shakespeare's words and you would not want to, but the narrative and other explanations should have been made easier to read. They read more like narratives for operas with "dote", "sprite", "vowed", "disdainful", "enarmored", "braying", "loathsome" etc all over the place.

My kids are under 10 and I was hoping that with my help they will enjoy the book. They did, but I had to really work on it.

Absolutely beautiful! Stunning illustrations and accessible retellings of Shakespeare's most beloved plays. An excellent early introduction for children and a wonderful edition for anyone who cherishes Shakespeare.

Read Naked Lunch. Just DON'T BUY THIS VERSION of William Burrough's Naked Lunch.


The Editors as well as the Publishers have destroyed what would otherwise be an American classic.

The publisher have diminished Naked Lunch by printing it in the cheapest possible way. This book is considered an American Classic. Why then, is it printed only in one soft cover edition? Why does the paper look and feel like a Newspaper? I dont know. All I can tell you is that this sort of material is unfit for a great book. This quality of this book is what I'd call disposible at best.

Even if this book was a little sturdier; even if it was printed on quality paper, with quality ink; even then I wouldn't want this to be part of my library. The editors did a horendous job "Restoring" this book. I'm all for editorial notes. I just think they belong in the back of the book, as END-NOTES. Even foot-notes would have been OK, I guess. The editors of this text have taken far too much liberty with Burroughs text, they've insterted notes directly into the text. I've seen this done before, I've never seen it done so often. On nearly every page it seems there is at least one editorial note. (The notes are in parentheses like this).

An example. You tell me if this warents disrupting Burroughs artistic vision.

" 'I think I'll catnip the jerk' (Note:Catnip smells like marijuana when it burns. Frequently passed on the incautious or uninstructed.) "

" 'I can tell you in confidence he is due for a hot shot' (Note: This is a cap of poison junk sold to addict for liquidation purposes. Often given to informers. Usually the hot shot is strychnine since it tastes and looks like junk.) "

I'm assuming these are editorial notes, and were not part of the original Naked editions. If I'm wrong just let me know and I'll remove this complaint. Still, isn't it time the Library of America stood up and gave us an authoritative Burroughs?

Burroughs' work is a reaction to post -1945 cold war America in its radical deployment of tone, style and content. It endured bans, censorship and obscenity trials before hitting bookstores in the early nineteen sixties. But for all that, its continuing power is as spiritual work that makes it more than merely a insightful document of its times.

"Naked Lunch" is no "Ulysses" and yet it shares a kinship with that masterwork. Not so much the use of stream of consciousness but in other stylistic aspects; discontinuity of plot and ideas, in its unreliable narration and author's desire to shock the reader. But more than that, both works contain a transformative imagination.

In subject matter "Naked Lunch" is more extreme than "Ulysses". It repeatedly forces the viewer to see sexual acts, physical violence and self-destruction in a way that is more than shocking. It is about the act of seeing itself, about imagination itself not tied to character or story but to pure vision whether drug induced or not.

The style - anti-narrative and anti-story - Dadaism in American garb, deprives the reader of any fictive crutch that could ease and blur the power of what is written. Even though those mid-century social outcasts, the homosexual and the junky are no longer as outrageous as they were in 1959, how they are depicted, laying bare the human impulses of disgust and destruction, retains the power to shock because in the fifty years since, we've seen many, many drug abusers and homosexuals in literature and pop culture but none of those portrayals are more raw and cringe-worthy than what Burroughs shows us.

The insistence on the otherworldly vulgarity, on the repetition of debased acts has an incantatory, ritualistic quality that only starts to make sense when Burroughs' invokes the Sollubi, an untouchable caste known for their debased existence. He ponders that they might be a fallen priestly caste that take "on themselves all human vileness." The same could be said of "Naked Lunch".

I picked up a copy of NAKED LUNCH at a local bookstore, because I'd recently rented the movie, which left me confused. I thought, well, the book probably sucks, but I'll try anything once. So I went home and thumbed through it, until I finally read the whole book in one sitting overnight.

This book is FASCINATING.

It's a study of addiction, insanity and sex. Without giving anything away, I can tell you that it's very different than the David Cronenberg movie, yet at the same time, it's all too similar. The book feels like "American Psycho," (another book) and it has a hint of Stephen King to it, but also, it feels completely new.

I don't want to give anything away, but I can tell you that if you like weird stories, you're probably going to like this book. It's full of all sorts of dark wonders.

~ Bronner

Reading William S. Burroughs' drug-induced, hallucinatory nightmare that is Naked Lunch was, is, and always will be, a hard book to read. There is no real narrative of any sort to be found in a majority of Naked Lunch, as one reads of the graphic, frequently disgusting world of Interzone and its inhabitants. What has always made Naked Lunch so remarkable is Burroughs' startling imagery that is as fragmented as a drug addict's thoughts, as Burroughs pulls no punches in these pages. If you have never read Naked Lunch before, chances are you will not enjoy what you read here, like many reviews here already state. That aside, Naked Lunch remains not only one of the most important pieces of literature to emerge out of the beat generation, but one of the most important, genre-changing works to emerge in the past century. This "Restored Text" features essays and letters from Burroughs, as well as what one would call "deleted scenes" were this a film as supplemental features, but regardless of what edition of Naked Lunch you read, make no mistake that it is a stomach churning, emotionally draining, and above all thought provoking, look into the mind of an addict in a dangerous world. If you have any sort of hesitations, try to put them aside and give Naked Lunch a chance at the very least. You may be glad that you did. Maybe.

I have read Ted Morgan's Bibliography about Burroughs - "Literary Outlaw" and Burroughs had an extraordinary life, and had fabulous insights based on his life and habits, and was blessed with awesome literary friends that came to his rescue when he most needed it. I highly recommend the Bibliography by Morgan, it was definitely a "five star" read. Based on this book I read Junky and the Yage Letters and find Burroughs's honesty in these books and letters to be an incredible description of happenings in his life. I highly recommend these books.

However, Naked Lunch, although obviously many think it has literary value, I have not found it. Enough of the psycho-sexual babble, on and on. The description of abuse of third world boys is more than I could handle, obviously demonstrating his inability to satisfy his real life desires. Dreams, hopes and hallucinations only the author, and obviously many others other than myself, find of incredible insight. I will give the man this - he did have a good perspective of the world from his travels and personal life, and he obviously had opinions and thoughts that ran contrary to the grain. However I really fought to finish this book, in hopes of finding the "meaning". I found Editor's notes and some of the outtakes much more interesting than the book itself. I do not recommend this book.

Although I purchased this book a couple of years ago, I hadn't gotten to it until just now. I moved it to the top of my To Read list after finishing The Last Town on Earth, which is a fictionalized account of the 1918 flu. I wasn't expecting the detailed history of how our medical profession modernized, and the history of the origins of Johns Hopkins, although I was pleasantly surprised to find it here. I also found the general policies instituted by the Wilson administration, utterly suppressing free speech and any discord about the war very interesting. The only problem I had with the book was excessive repetiveness -- sometimes I wondered if I were somehow re-reading a page I had read before, as descriptions or quotations were restated verbatim in several parts of the book. There were also excessive descriptions of similar events in different towns that didn't truly add to the book's point -- the impact and experience of the 1918 flu. Certain parts were reminiscent of The Coming Plague (another book which I highly recommend), and if you enjoyed that book, you will enjoy this one as well. I am very glad to have the knowledge gained by reading this book, and the only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 was the repetiveness of many of its points -- the book could have easily been 100 pages shorter with some good editing.

A detailed look at the horrible influenza epidemic that decimated not only the United States but most of the world in 1918, killing tens of millions and sickening many more. An excellent job of explaining the biological and medical complexities of the disease, detailing the history of often shoddy medical education in the United States, and relating the Spanish flu's human and emotional toll through vivid anecdotes of personal hardship and horror. The book reads well as a medical detective story and history, and also presents a useful lesson on the falsehoods routinely issued by government leaders and newspapers in the United States in a misguided effort to keep morale "positive," theoretically to help the war effort.

I liked this book it is a big thick book that takes a long time to read. If you enjoy history and you know it repeats itself. It is an interesting book to buy.

This book contains some excellent information, but i would recommend the abridged version. I don't feel the personal lives & quirks of all of the scientists involved in the story added any insight to this pandemic.

To me, this book really represented a missed opportunity to tell a potentially fascinating story. I found *The Great Influenza* long, overwritten, repetitive, and, most important (as several have noted) telling only the American side of a worldwide pandemic. Sometimes, the author seemed to be so in love with a particular theme or trope that he strained the narrative beyond all reason to fit it in. One of the more egregious examples was the long tale, at the book's end, of the career decline and death of biologist Paul Lewis -- whose work at the time, in fact, was generally unrelated to influenza -- apparently solely so he could end the main text by metaphorically declaring Lewis (who actually died in Brazil of yellow fever) "the last victim of the great influenza."

While certain sections -- notably the ones focused on the actual operation of the virus and the factors underlying its virulence -- were well handled and interesting, and while clearly prodigious research was involved, in general I'm afraid I found the book shaggy, poorly organized, too narrowly focused on the American viewpoint, and ultimately unrewarding.

Any true fan of baseball will love this book. Not only does it provide factual reporting, but is presented in a way that anyone who picks it up can read it & understand.

It is nowhere near a "long read," it's long, but is written in a way that it will suck you in until you flip that last page. I liked it so much I ordered a copy for my dad!

I am nowhere near a Barry Bonds fan, but this book doesn't 100% focus on Bonds. A great read!!!

Bought this for my husband... he loves it. Good read for those into Baseball and baseball history.

I am a big baseball fan so i had to read this book and , altough, it is a sad thing to find out how huge is this problem, i am grateful that those who have lied and hide this problem have been prosecuted.This book is a great account of the problems of drugs in sports.So far, everything that the authors have said in this book have been proven true.This book is a no non-sense approach to the story with the authors putting all the cards on the table and not holding back.I think their approach to the subject is fantastic and the fact that they have researched and documented all their information is a testimony to that.Great book!!

There is no way to make a positive case for anabolic steroids or HGH in any sport. The story of BALCO and the involvement of one of the biggest names in sports makes for an interesting read Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports albeit one of the darkest sides of professional sports.

Hidden behind a "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" back-drop, the book names people who became contenders by buying into the back street sales of steroids in order to build strength, enhance musculature, elongate careers and cheat their way into the record books with the excuse that they were better than other players but just needed that edge to be best, as though it was their divine right! Gone were the days of Willie Mays, Roger Maris, Hank Aaron and Mickey Mantle, those who made and broke records by sheer talent and will. The days of steroids were now foisted upon an unsuspecting public via Victor Conte, a self-made, self-serving and self-proclaimed nutritionist who became a "cocktail" mixer to the super stars of sports. Throw into that mix the world of Major League Baseball, who, along with its Commissioners, owners, managers, trainers and pumped up stars, turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to all that was happening around them. Together, they've turned a wonderful, healthy and beautiful sport that was America's Favorite Pastime into a debacle of muscle-bound "terminators" whose job it is to hit the long ball and keep people coming to fields and stadiums where they can witness the side-show of freaks which once was, the heart of American sports.

"Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports" details the story of how performance-enhancing drugs have entered the world of sports. As of this time, the case has not been completely wrapped up, with Barry Bonds still awaiting trial for perjury and tax evasion. The book is really a definitive reference to performance drugs, their composition, their effect in bodies and why they work. As banned drugs in most sports, there has been a constant game of cat-and-mouse between athletes and governing bodies to stay one step ahead of the other, to prevent these drugs from being used. In baseball's case, the only governing body for athletes and owners was greed, so using the drugs was winked at by both. The result of this was the creation of records by people who never would have come close to creating them. Equally incredible was the creation of "mutations" (for lack of a better word) in the bodies of users: Barry Bonds, for example, had his shoe size grow from 10½ to 13, his jersey size increase from 42 to 52, and his head grow two sizes, despite being bald - all in his late 30s, long after the normal body grows anything close to this much. No telling what kind of health risks he will be running in the years to come. This is no doubt, though, that this is a riveting book - despite what may seem to be a boring topic, the authors make it a thorough and interesting book.