D Books

When my son was three, he made me read this book to him so many times that even now, 22 years later, I know the entire thing by heart.

Kids love this book. Parents do, too, at least the first 10 or 12 thousand times they read it to the kids!

I adored this book as a kid (I'm in my 30s now). I haven't gotten my new copy yet, but I think there is a lesson about temperance at the end, but that's not what I recall: I just remember the sheer joy of more, more, more. With books that use so few and such simple words, it's often hard for an adult to distinguish the adequate from the great. Speaking for my very young self, I can tell you that this book is great.

This is my favorite children's book - it is especially fun to read out loud. It has a cute level of humor and I've even had a class of 3-year-olds laughing at it. A good learn to read book - but also a good story in general.

I love reading this book to my daughter (2 1/2). I got it when i was a small child and have held onto it as one of my favorites. It is quickly becoming her favorite as well...the story flows so well its really fun to read...my daughter likes to see how fast I can read it without messing up.

I love this book. It lends itself to many activities with monkeys or spaghetti.

As a former law enforcement officer who served with a crime scene unit, an avid reader and contributing editor to a national law enforcement magazine, I am too frequently disappointed when a perfectly well told story falters over details of events,actions or other descriptions that are blatantly inaccurate. "Murder and Mayhem" is an excellenct source for writers who wish to avoid these mistakes.

Dr. Lyle not only provides answers to questions posed by writers accurately, his answers are presented in a manner that laymen (and espeically their prospective readers) can understand. The books added value is that the examples he uses are geared to specific literary situations.

This is a 'must have' addition to any mystery or cirme writer's reference shelf.

This volume contains detailed description of the why and wherefore of injury suffered to the human body. It covers injuries both traumatic and violent or otherwise... and treatments for. Highly recommended reading for the serious writer and the curious reader alike.

A writer's perspective, Dr. Lyle had a unique view of what is allowed and how to present it to a reader. This collection is composed of articles from a column first presented in Mystery Writers of America newsletter. It takes a little digging to unearth some specific detail and lacks an index.
When seeking specific information it is best to use what I've termed "the fingernail approach" -- run your finger down the page and soon or later you will find it. The book has some excellent line drawings for writers not versed in anatomy. A good place to start when searching for how to bump off your victim and confuse the investigation.
The style lends itself well to just taking it a chapter at a time to fill in gaps of knowledge before you go Net search. Remember in a investigation when confronting the killer, never ask a question you don't already know the answer to.
Writing as a Small BusinessSins of the Fathers: A Brewster County NovelNatchez Above The River: A Family's Survival In The Civil WarUnder the Liberty OakQualifying Laps: A Brewster County Novel

I've used this book as a reference while writing my first novel. Its very helpful. I'll use it again on my next. Cold Eyes

I have used this book numerous times since I purchased it new a year ago. If the answer I'm searching for isn't in this book, Lyle gives enough general information that I know what questions to ask my medical contacts when I touch base with them.

Definately worth full price, this book is packed with timely and detailed information mystery and crime writers need today.

Angela Wilson
Author

This is one of my favorite Perl books. It really serves what it says it will. It covers a great amount of Perl coding, but like the title says, goes into a lot of networking code, functions and so on. For Perl network programming, you really should have and use this book.

Just to say this is a big introduction (from starts to experts) to the network stuff through the magnific language that is perl.
Do you want to be a hacker? do you know enought of perl? Do you feel the only you need to be a hacker is some specific book that prepares to it? this is the one, BUY IT, at the end you will think this is one of the best books you have already read, i promise you.

(if you already know the net, it explains how to do the stuff in perl in an exciting way!)

This book is excellent. This is one of very few books that the author really takes time, has a good plan to write a book and have good understanding of the subject.

I read many computer books that are just repetitive so it can make the books thick enough to look like a 'good book' (May be this is what US raaders like). I try my best to avoid those books. Those books do not say much in hundreds of pages.

But this book is not that kind of book. Every pages are worth to read. It is quite easy to follow. (I do know a bit of TCP/IP from reading other books before I read this book.) E.g. Stevens TCP/IP books. Unfortunately he died and he won't be able to update those great books.

Some authors are not professional, they just copy here and there. Then they put everything together. Those are terrible books to read. Those terrible books explain some simple concept again and again and take up hundreds of pages that can be done in half of volume. It is not just wasting the readers time (time is money) but also wasting the resource (trees)! Even most college textbooks are that way. Sometimes it is even worst since they know you won't haave much choices!

I seldom to give 5 stars. This book does deserve 5 stars.

You will enjoy this one if you like networking.

Everything you wanted to know about Perl and socket applications. Lincoln is very good about explaining all concepts and providing lots of examples.

Lincoln is the author of the CGI.pm module. In addition, he wrote a book about CGI.pm that is the bible - a "must have" for anyone doing Perl CGI work.

Lincoln is a great guy. He wrote a Perl module for Napster. I could not get it running on my Win32 system (my linux box was at work). Within an hour of sending him an email, he sent me a new module for Win32 that worked great. Lincoln did not even know who I was.

This book has been in my wish list for pretty long time, and before I actually buy it decided to check it out of my school's library. Enjoyment started at the first chapters of the book that I read in the library's caffeteria. The book definitely covers all the aspects of the Network Progamming, not only with Perl, but in general as well.

In the first chapters of the book, Lincoln Stein makes good use of such OO modules as IO::File and IO::Socket to demostrate that difference between local file operations and remote network programming isn't that much different at all ( at least in Perl ).

Chapter 2 shows you several applications that are built on pipes. The best thing about the chapter was the signals part, where L. Stein shows examples, catching all sorts of signals that your progam receives and reacts accordingly. One example was reacting to pressing of CTRL+C sequence of keys to terminate the progam.

I would call Chapter 3 the heart of the book, since it goes over Berkeley Sockets, the base for Network progamming in most systems, no matter what progamming language you tend to prefer. It also explains thoroughly Sockets Addressings, Network naming conventions, protocols, services and a lot more. This chapter, together with the Chapter 4 alone are worth the whole price of the book, I believe. The chapter in the end goes over some common netwook analysis tools, such as "nslookup", "ping", so on and so forth.

Chapter 4 tells you all you need about TCP Protocol. Shows several examples as well. Goes over Adjusting Socket options, and their uses.

Chapter 5 is not anything newer supposing you've been following all the pervious chapters. Untill this chapter, L. Stein demonstrates the coding using much low level Socket API. here Lincoln starts using IO::Socket's Object Oriented Interface for its handy functionalities that enable writing Networking applications more relieving.

Chapters 6, 7, 8 and 9 takes you through writing several commong network clients such as SMTP/mailing clients, Telnet, FTP clients. Also provides their complete source codes in case you just feel likek copying them. Chapter 9 gets into the most fun part: LWP and HTML/XML Parsing. Spends good 50 pages on those. Very exciting indeed!

The rest of the book (another half) is dedicated for writing Server applications, which I haven't read. I am sure the rest is as exciting as it's been up to this point. But no matter what, I am greatefull to the book for such an exciting and informative coverage of the topics. It's worth every penny that you spend on it. Buy it!

This book is full of several remedies for many different illnesses, problems, etc...
Highly recommended.

This book is absolutely awesome! It begins by explaining what alternative medicine is, why pets get sick, and making the switch from allopathic to holistic medicine. It also describes, from A to Z, common ailments and how various vets treat them. There are snippets about how pets treat themselves for certain diseases, when to call the vet, and anecdotes pertaining to the ailment. It also has an extensive alternative healing resource guide.

I am in the process of learning about holistic health care for my 2 lhasa apsos and have recently purchased a few books on the subject. I started one book and set it aside to finish later. I picked up "New Choices in Natural Healing for Dogs & Cats" and couldn't put it down until I was finished! I was so impressed with the layout of such a large amount of information. This book is chock-full of great information and it is presented in a terrific format giving the read first the "The Signs" of the condition, then "The Cause" and the "The Solutions". The solutions can be numerous with the author offering different suggestions and not seeming to be biased towards any one particular holistic remedy. Directions are very clear, concise, and easily understood. Some choices mentioned are natural diet (which seems to be the first and obvious step towards better health care for an animal), natural supplements, herbal remedies, vitamins, aroma-therapy, magnet therapy, accupressure with diagrams shown, and of course, recommendations to call your vet to assist in dosage. Although you feel there is alot to learn, the information is broken down so well, it is easy to retain alot of what you read in the first go around with this book. I am sure I will be picking it up time and time again while working to get my dogs in the best possible health. Also included are some behavior problems. I guarantee you will learn some new and valuable information!

A friend knew how my aging dog, Nina, was quite ill and that my family was not planning a second surgery, as she might not survive the operation and, besides, the mass on her liver had grown back in a year. She gave me a copy of this wonderful book, which gives options for health care. Impressed with the book, I ordered many copies and have given a copy to others who love their dogs and cats and want an option to drugs or surgery. Here it is! Nina's had extra time with her family and I have a new respect for natural healing, for pets and for people. You should buy several copies of "New Choices in Natural Healing for Dogs & Cats", so you may share the love.

Amy has written yet another good book for pet owners. As the trend in natural healing continues, good resources such as this book, The Natural Health Bible for Dogs & Cats, 8 Weeks to a Healthy Dog, and The Allergy Solution for Dogs serve as important sources of information for pet owners. Read this book and start learning how you can work with your doctor to keep your pet happy and healthy.

"THIS COLLECTION OF WORDS AND PHRASES REPRESENTS TWENTY YEARS OF RESEARCH, of listening to how we Americans talk, of always having a pencil ready to jot down a clever rhyme heard or seen anywhere---on the street, on airplanes, in theaters, on bathroom walls."
---From the Introduction
[from the book of the front flap]

I write educational songs for a living, stuff in the vein of Schoolhouse Rock. I used to rely on online rhyming dictionaries until I found this book, which is about 20 times more thorough than any website I've found. This book has saved me countless hours and made my songs immeasurably better. I love this book!

I use this book often to write poetry. It is helpful that it has many phrases that I would not usually think of on my own.

I teach a college course in songwriting, and in preparing to teach the course did an extensive review of many rhythming dictionaries. This one is by far the best, for the reasons other reviewers have stated.

If you buy one rhyming dictionary, make it this one. It's the one I use.

Hi

It has been my good fortune to songwrite with many of the world's greatest songwriters, and to have had a bit of commercial success. So, for what it's worth, I offer the following review of this dictionary, plus a few other recommendations for aspiring lyricists and songwriters.

I own eight or nine rhyming dictionaries, and am constantly on the lookout for others, and basically, they all pretty much suck compared to this one. You certainly don't need any of them but this one, and I am continually surprised when browsing through bookshops to see many of those other lousy books on the shelves, but not Sue Young's excellent reference book. I don't know what the explanation for that is, but whatever it is, it has nothing to do with quality. If something has superceded it, I don't know about it.

Young's book has four main strengths which put it above the pack:

1.) It simply has a greater number of rhyming words than other dictionaries;

2.) It includes rhyming phrases, e.g., when you go to look for rhymes for "ground" you will find (amongst single words) phrases like "merry go round", "lost and found", etc. This feature is a valuable rarity.

3.) It arranges the rhyming options under each suffix in groups according to numbers of syllables: first there are the single syllable options, then the two syllable options, and so on. Believe it or not, I have a number of rhyming dictionaries which instead list options in alphabetical order (mixing up one, two, three, and four syllable options), obviously a cumbersome and time-wasting arrangement.

4.) Unlike those found in most other dictionaries, Young's rhyming lists include slang words/phrases, contractions, acronyms, obscenities, abbreviations, etc. Beat poets to Broadway lyricists to Ogden Nash humourists to rock writers will all appreciate these.

Perhaps I might also add that if you are an aspiring songwriter who wishes to enjoy commercial success (i.e., getting on the radio in whatever genre, or in broadway shows, etc.), Young's book could help form a kind of "starter reference package". The components would include:

1.) The New Comprehensive American Rhyming Dictionary by Sue Young

2.) Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus by Barbara Ann Kipfer (this is the best one out there).

3.) Any or all of the Sheila Davis lyric writing books, especially, "Successful Lyric Writing: A Step-by-Step Course and Workbook". (Davis' books are clinical and mechanical, but you need to know song mechanics in order to be a consistently successful songwriter. Her books are really good for this, though won't be appreciated by those certain that each aspect of a song is dictated by heavenly muses rather than largely being the product of conscious and unconscious mental effort).

4.) If you would like an in-depth, "artistic" perspective on songwriting by a successful songwriter, add to this list the Jimmy Webb book, "Tunesmith: Inside the Art of Songwriting". (This one isn't necessary, it just may be of interest to some people).

I should add that most of the other "How to Write a Song!" type books out there are total garbage, so I wouldn't even bother with them.

But by far the best thing aspiring songwriters can do is deconstruct their own favourite songs to see why and how they work, and then incorporate what they discover into their own catalogue of creative knowledge.

Anyway, bravo to Sue Young for coming up with the best rhyming dictionary out there.

I hope this review has helped someone. Good luck.

I'm beginning to realize that George Gissing is an author who is relatively unknown by the general public but who is frequently studied/referenced by academics. The main reason why I think this is true (and this relates to the book at hand) is that Gissing himself had more of an academic temperament than a writing temperament. He was very adept at analyzing the world around him and commenting on it to a point of depressing realism, but he wasn't a storyteller. In fact, he struggled with creating enough storylines in order to support himself. Thus, while his books give impressive looks at Victorian life, they don't always leave a reader fully satisfied.

Why do I say this so confidently? Well, as Gissing was particularly self-aware and as he was particularly oppressed when writing "New Grub Street," in this novel he writes about what it's like to be a writer in London in the 1880's and 1890's. He essentially writes about his own life and those he find around him, all of whom are trying to make a living on writing.

Gissings seems to portray himself through the main character, Reardon. When the story opens, Reardon is struggling. His sophisticated wife is getting fed up with their impoverished lifestyle and with her husband's inability to write decent material. Reardon, a sensitive soul, is floundering under mounting pressure and stress. He is torn between his desire to write sophisticated, meaningful material and the public demand for "fluff." The more stressed laid on him, the less he is able to create and stick with any plausible fiction novel. He becomes more and more fererish and unable to work, and he is devastated as he loses his wife's love and respect.

Around this central character Reardon, Gissing builds a very full and weighty cast of characters. A small sampling of these characters are:
- The embittered, older column writer/reviewer, Yule, whose temperament has made so many enemies during his career that he is still laboring hard to support his small family at the end of his life.
- Yule's daugher, Marion, who is very clever but who is also very vulnerable. Her education has made her too good for many positions and marriages but her lack of money makes her a poor match for the educated class.
- Reardon's friend Milvain, who is an ambitious young man who has no problem writing exactly what the masses want. He knows his talents, he knows the market, and he knows his stuff won't last for posterity. But he is determined to live a comfortable life, make a strategic marriage and become a semi-respected man.
- Biffen, another friend of Reardon's, sympathizes most with Reardon's situation and condition. Two peas in a pod, these men spend long hours discuss meter, prose and ancient poetry.

I found myself continually amazed at Gissing's amazing ability to get into the head of many individuals in his large cast and to see how the world makes sense through each's eyes. Gissing also provides us with a wealth of information about the Victorian publishing scene. It was amazing to read that writers and publishers then were struggling with the same issues writers and publishers are struggling with today.

Additionally, Gissing gives you an unglorified look at poverty and the impoverished educated class of London at that time. While Dickens' works on the poor is idyllic and sentimental, Gissing simply relates the life he has known. There is nothing exceptional or amazing, and Gissing seems to argue that poverty takes character out of a man rather then build up a man's character.

Overall, I found this to be a fascinating piece...though perhaps a slow read. For those interested in publishing, writing, realistic portrayals of Victorian England, or other such topics, this is a fantastic work.

Poor Gissing! I suspect his miserable, self-destructive life fuelled his wonderful novels much as (we now know) Dickens's traumatic "blacking-factory" experience explains so much of the nightmare world of those gargantuan fictions. Gissing greatly admired Dickens, and like Dostoyevsky, seems to have appreciated the grim side of Dickens most. Not much humor in Gissing; but there is the same shabby poetry one used to see in Bloomsbury back in the 1960s. The same wonderful appreciation of futile, obsessive scholarly lives. Gissing is a great poet and sometimes a rather fine moralist. His pictures of London rival those of the Master (Dickens --and Dore). Don't miss him. Start with "Workers in the Dawn" and "The Nether World"--his passion more than compensates for his crudities. Remember: he was also a very accomplished classicist--more of a scholar than any other major Victorian novelist! A not insignificant fact.

George Gissing's 1891 novel, "New Grub Street," is likely one of the most depressing books I've ever read. Certainly, in its descriptions of literary life, be it in publishing, or in my own realm of graduate scholarship, the situations, truths, and lives Gissing portrays are still all too relevant. "New Grub Street" itself points to the timelessness of Gissing's portrayals - as Grub Street was synonymous, even in the eighteenth century with the disrepute of hack writing, and the ignominy of having to make a living by authorship. One of Gissing's primary laments throughout the novel is that the life of the mind is of necessity one which is socially isolating and potentially devastating to any kind of relationships, familial or otherwise. "New Grub Street" gives us a world where friendship is never far from enmity, where love is never far from the most bitter kinds of hatred.

The anti-heroes of "New Grub Street" are presented to us as the novel begins - Jasper Milvain is a young, if somewhat impoverished, but highly ambitious man, eager to be a figure of influence in literary society at whatever cost. His friend, Edwin Reardon, on the other hand, was brought up on the classics, and toils away in obscurity, determined to gain fame and reputation through meaningful, psychological, and strictly literary fiction. Family matters beset the two - Jasper has two younger sisters to look out for, and Edwin has a beautiful and intelligent wife, who has become expectant of Edwin's potential fame. Throw into the mix Miss Marian Yule, daughter of a declining author of criticism, whose own reputation was never fully realized, and who has indentured his daughter to literary servitude, and we have a pretty list of discontented and anxious people struggling in the cut-throat literary marketplace of London.

Money is of supreme importance in "New Grub Street," and it would be pointless to write a review without making note of it. As always, the literary life is one which is not remunerative for the mass of people who engage upon it, and this causes no end of strife in the novel. As Milvain points out, the paradox of making money in the literary world is that one must have a well-known reputation in order to make money from one's labours. At the same time, one must have money in order to move in circles where one's reputation may be made. This is the center of the novel's difficulties - should one or must one sacrifice principles of strictly literary fame and pander to a vulgar audience in order to simply survive? The question is one in which Reardon finds the greatest challenges to his marriage, his self-esteem, and even his very existence. For Jasper Milvain and his sisters, as well as for Alfred and Marian Yule, there is no question that the needs of subsistence outweigh most other considerations.

"New Grub Street" profoundly questions the relevance of classic literature and high culture to the great mass of people, and by proxy, to the nation itself. For England, which propagated its sense of international importance throughout the nineteenth century by encouraging the study of English literature in its colonial holdings, the matter becomes one of great significance. The careers of Miss Dora Milvain and Mr. Whelpdale, easily the novel's two most charming, endearing, and sympathetic characters, attempt to illustrate the ways in which modern literature may be profitable to both the individual who writes it and the audiences towards which they aim. They may be considered the moral centers of the novel, and redeem Gissing's work from being entirely fatalistic.

"New Grub Street" is a novel that will haunt me for quite some time. As a "man of letters" myself, I can only hope that the novel will serve as an object lesson, and one to which I may turn in hope and despair. The novel is well written, its characters and situations drawn in a very realistic and often sympathetic way. Like the ill-fated "ignobly decent" novel of Mr. Biffen's, "Mr. Bailey, Grocer," "New Grub Street" may seem less like a novel, and more like a series of rambling biographical sketches, but they are indelible and lasting sketches of literary lives as they were in the original Grub Street, still yet in Gissing's time, and as they continue to-day. Very highly recommended.

I found Jasper Milvain, the "alarmingly modern young man," to be the most interesting character in Gissing's New Grub Street for a number of reasons, the most significant of which is that he evinces what can only be considered a modernist's consciousness in his approach to writing. That is, while it soon becomes clear to the reader that Milvain represents the antithesis of what Edwin Reardon personifies-i.e., the work of literature as an emanation of author's native genius-and thus one of the intercalated plots of the novel involves the incremental success of Milvain as a modern man of letters, and the concomitant gradual abjection of Reardon. In a manner of speaking, then, Milvain and Reardon's fates emerge from a common source, namely some sea change in the reading public's (the consumer's) preferences and tendencies.

Milvain identifies as vulgar the most lucrative market for the product of the man of letter's labor. The vulgarians, or "quarter educated," drive the market (479), and since they have been determined to desire nothing more than chatty ephemera, they have successfully opened an insuperable gulf between material success in writing and artistic success. Reardon's psychologically penetrating novels just aren't in demand. Therefore, there emerges quite an interesting conceptual shift within the nascent hegemony of the quarter-educated as established by their purchasing power: what was once considered healthy artistic integrity has transmuted into a peculiar kind of petit bourgeois hubris, if, in the new paradigm, the writer is more an artisan than an artist. Therefore, Reardon's artistically-compromised and padded three-volume novel, written with no other end in mind than to pander to the vulgar reader, nonetheless achieves only modest success because, the fact that it is indistinguishable from countless other similar works glutting the market aside, his novel is infected from his irrepressible integrity, and thus his novel becomes a strange sort of counterfeit, a psychological narrative masquerading as a popular novel. Reardon thus becomes a sort of Coriolanus among writers.

Milvain, on the other hand, is a sort of Henry Ford among writers; he reveals his particular genius when offering advice to his sister Maud about how to write religious works for juveniles: "I tell you, writing is a business. Get together half-a-dozen fair specimens of the Sunday school prize; study them; discover the essential points of such a composition; hit upon new attractions; then go to work methodically, so many pages a day" (13). In other words, Jasper has managed to streamline and to mechanize the writing process. He studies previous works, abstracts formulae from them, isolates the elements of these formulae, and then deploys and rearranges these elements to give his own writing a patina of originality. By treating writing as an exercise in manipulating formulae, Jasper exchanges "authenticity" (whatever that word means anymore) for the convenience and efficiency of not having to grapple with his own potentially mutable and recalcitrant genius. Jasper did not invent writing, just as Ford did not invent the automobile. But like Ford did with automobile manufacture, Milvain discovers those aspects of writing that lend themselves to mechanical reproduction. Thus he is able to capitalize on his time and effort, and effectively becomes the very machine Reardon believes himself to be but never actually becomes because of his lingering notions of artistic integrity (352).

Also of interest is the fact that Albert Yule is a sort of synthesis of Milvain and Reardon. Like Milvain, Yule attempts to streamline his own literary production by delegating some of the labor to his daughter Marian. However, like Reardon, Yule clings to the superannuated notion of the necessary individuality of writing: "[h]is failings, obvious enough, were the results of a strong and somewhat pedantic individuality ceaselessly at conflict with unpropitious circumstances" (38). In other words, Yule fails to recognize the obsolescence of the lone, learned genius within the realm of literary production. A market of vulgarians who demand occasional literary confections simply does not expect Works of individual genius. Moreover, even if they were in demand, works of individual genius are too ponderously inefficient to keep pace with the rate at which they are consumed. Therefore, Yule straddles the either/or proposition personified by Reardon and Milvain: One may preserve his artistic integrity and write "for the ages"--hence Yule, Biffen, and Reardon's fetishization of Shakespeare, Coleridge and authors of classical antiquity--and starve in the process, or one may write "for the moment" and actually turn a respectable profit.

The shadow of Charles Darwin indeed looms large over the events and characters of New Grub Street. The growth market brought about by the advent of the "quarter-educated" vulgar class, and their discretionary income coupled with their callow aesthetic sensibilities and truncated attention spans, represents a nascent economic, if not ecological niche, for certain social creatures to occupy. However, it's not simply a matter of being able to adapt one's skills to the tastes of these consumers. One must also be a prodigious enough writer to keep pace with an equally prodigious rate of consumption. Individuals like Milvain and Whelpdale are adequately adapted to this niche in that they satisfy the demands of this niche in terms of both content and output. Reardon panders to the vulgar taste only grudgingly and after long resistance and thereby cannot meet the production demands of this niche. Biffen absolutely refuses to pander at all. Alfred Yule does attempt to pander, but his mode of literary production is too inefficient to meet production demands, and he is also largely ignorant of vulgar literary taste. While more in touch with the vulgar reader than her father, Marian Yule is as inefficient in her literary production as her father. Therefore, each of the characters named above are equally maladaptive, albeit for various reasons, and thus their extinction by the novel's end strikes the reader as somehow inevitable. Whereas Milvain and Reardon's widow Amy are left to come together as the triumphant niche occupants and thus reproduce themselves in their offspring, should they decide to produce any.

I recently read New Grub Street, and I must say I was stunned by how much I enjoyed it. Gissing's prose and characterization hold up remarkably well. He's sort of an urban Hardy, though far more accessible to today's reader. I'd recommend this to any serious reader. Oh, and this novel is ripe for adaptation. A BBC miniseries would be great.

This is a touching book about the four chaplains who gave their lives for our soldiers. You will read a biographical background on each chaplain. Their love for each other and the love for the soldiers reached beyond the line of denominations. They gave their lives so that others may life. You can see their beautiful pictures in the stained-glass window at Washington's Cathedral. I had the privileged to visit several years ago.

I ordered this book for my father, whose brother died in WWII. The family was given almost no information at the time, but by piecing together details, my mother determined that he was almost certainly on a particular boat when it was sunk by the enemy. That fact was confirmed by this book, and it offered a lot of information that is offered only sketchily in other areas. We appreciate the author and the information he was able to provide families, as well as the story of the wonderful chaplains. My mother, an avid reader (particularly about WWII), said this was one of the best written histories on WWII that she has read.

If you ever feel that your fellow man has no regard for you, pick up this book and don't put it down untill you have finished it. What an inspiring story of four 'Men of God' and their dedication to that God, each other, and all those fortunate enough to have crossed their paths. You will be stunned by the character of each of these great men.

Everyone who's already reviewed this book has said so much about it that it's hard to find anything more to say about how well it's written, what a great gripping true story it is, and the amazing heroism of the four chaplains. This book is so well-written and has such a compelling and involving story that I read it in like two days, and wished there had been even more. Additionally, this heroic tale from WWII has special meaning to many of the people in my area (New York State's Capital District) because Rev. Clark Poling's church was in nearby Schenectady, providing a local connection.

The book itself follows a somewhat nonlinear format, going back and forth between the pre-war lives of the four chaplains and their lives during the war, particularly after they boarded the Dorchester and arrived in Greenland for a very brief stay before going back on the ill-fated ship. After this point, the narrative switches entirely to a linear format, discussing the ship's final night before being torpedoed by a German U-boat and the chaos, heroism, and tragedy that ensued. Not many people could honestly say that they would give up their lifejackets if their ship went down in freezing waters in the middle of the night (Rabbi Alex Goode even gave up his gloves) or remain calm in the midst of such frantic circumstances and such a life-and-death situation. Many people back then also weren't so forward-thinking about interfaith relations, with a Reform rabbi, a Catholic priest, and two reverends from different Protestant denominations being such close friends and reaching out equally to everyone on the ship, largely being nonsectarian apart from when they did things like conduct services. This was still an era in which many Protestants and Catholics didn't associate with one another, to say nothing of the rampant institutionalised prejudice against Jews, and, in a number of areas, against Catholics as well. They set a moving and heroic example for all time, not just in the area of interfaith relations, but also in the area of selfless sacrifice. It was interesting to read in the Afterword about some of the people who have since been awarded the Immortal Chaplains Prize for Humanity Award, such as the Japanese Righteous Gentile Chiune Sugihara, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Omri Abdel-Halim al-Jadah, a Palestinian Muslim who died while saving a young Israeli Jewish boy from drowning. The Afterword also provided information on what happened to the survivors of the Dorchester sinking and the near and dear ones of the chaplains.

As we find out all throughout the book, this tragedy could have been prevented (it was kind of like a smaller-scale Titanic) if only the Dorchester had been inspected more closely or refurbished, or if there had been enough lifejackets and safety instructions provided, and even after disaster struck, the casualties could have been reduced if the nearby American ships had begun searching for survivors and bringing them onto their ships right away instead of thinking nothing serious had happened or going after the attacking U-boat first, but even in the midst of such bungling and such a chaotic disaster, the amazing heroism of the chaplains shone through as well as it would have in calmer circumstances.

With a sickening thump, an explosion wracked the troop transport S.S. Dorchester - a German torpedo had found its mark. It was shortly after midnight, February 3, 1942, and the ship was about to sink into the deadly cold waters off of Greenland. As men panicked and struggled to find a way to save their own lives, four men walked amongst them spreading calm and encouragement. Helping everyone they could find, even giving away their own precious lifejackets, the four chaplains - Rev. George Lansing Fox (Methodist), Rabbi Alex Goode, Rev. Clark Poling (Dutch Reformed) and Fr. John Washington (Catholic) - sought to serve their God and the fellow men. And when the end came, survivors saw the four chaplains, locked arm in arm, praying on the upside-down hull of the ship, just before it dove beneath the waves.

This book tells the remarkable true story of four men who joined the American military as chaplains, their experiences at their Massachusetts training camp, and their final tragic mission. It is a story that is bound to bring a tear to your eye, but it is also a great story of faith and truly living the life of godly sacrifice. Overall, I think that this is a great book, on that I highly recommend to everyone.

simply,highly recommended.
the fact that part of the book [herb descriptions] is published on the internet, says something about the proper intentions of the writers!
clear,practical,full of information, not easily to be found elsewhere.

What a terrific resource this book is! This book is a comprehensive compendium of facts regarding herbal solutions. It is written in an easy to read style. To often today folks reach for the next "best" pharmaceutical when often a less expensive, less dangerous and sometimes more efficient solution can be found in nature. This book is a good guide for those willing to step outside of western medical mind-set.

YES, THIS BOOK DOES COVER THE NEEDED SUBJECTS THAT I AM INTRESTED IN.

Very informative. Well organized and easy to locate info depending on herb or illness.

Alan Tillotson is an experienced herbalist and independent thinker whose One Earth Herbal Sourcebook is useful for professionals and educated consumers alike. Trained extensively in Traditional Ayurvedic Medicine in Nepal, Tillotson draws upon a sophisticated herbal repertoire in dealing with MS, opthalmologic conditions, hepatitis C, diabetes and allergic rhinitis. He uses the best of Chinese, Ayurvedic and western herbs in protocols that are practical and effective. Written with humor and intelligence, the book is over 600 pages of useful herbal and nutritional advice. This is one of the better books of herbal medicine I own.

Ruth Bell Graham, the wife of Billy Graham wrote what I think is the most comprehensive Christmas book for children ever. It tells not just of the birth story of Christ, but the whole story of Christmas and Easter. It is a fairly long book for a parent to read in a single night, so I use it as part of my advent celebration and break it up into five nights...with the final night on Christmas Eve. It's been a tradition in our home for several years and it's something the kids look forward to. It's far better than reading "The Night Before Christmas" if you want your kids to know the true meaning of Christmas.

Excellent book for around the holidays. I know it is a kids book, but it is an all around family book.

This book is a wonderful keepsake. I feel it should be made a "classic". I want all my family to have it. I have started getting it for everyone special in my family as a keepsake for their children. It is a beautifully illustrated story about creation and will be loved by all ages. We display it in our home every year during the Christmas season. A must have for new babies!!!

I found my way to this book by accident in the form of a box of Christmas cards. I was shopping one Christmas season in a Christian bookstore I believe and came upon the most beautiful Christmas card I had ever seen in my life. The illustration was done by Richard Jesse Watson, and it happened to be of a shepherd boy bathed in the moonlight gazing at the sky. (entitled "O Holy Night") The detail was so realistic that it seemed as if I could reach out feel the roughness of his woven garments or pet the little lambs gathered around his bare feet. I felt as if I was there with him and all I had to do was look over my shoulder to actually see what he was looking at. It to this day takes my breath away. I bought the box with the intention of giving them to only the most special people in my life and saving a couple just to look at every Christmas.

After purchasing the cards and getting ready to send them out I noticed the caption on it saying that it was an illustration from this very book. I immediately headed back out the door to find it. I'm not sure what I expected the storyline to be of (not that it made a difference) because the cover art was so different from the card I'd bought, but once I saw it was written by Ruth Graham I knew I couldn't pass it up. The story about a boy who ended up having to stay at an elderly lady's home after getting stranded by a blizzard was sweet and endearing and I read most of it there in the store. The book, which depicts stories from the bible, meshes with the lush illustrations to turn out this highly acclaimed, award winning book.

I ended up purchasing at least 4 of them to give as Christmas gifts with strict orders to open immediately once the house is decorated for the season. All of the nativity (along with the other) illustrations make this book a pure slice of heaven. The richness and striking mood of every single picture is wondrous and fills me with more Christmas spirit than my heart can hold sometimes. I guess that's why I bought so many copies of it so I can share it with everyone I care about. Almost every Christmas I scan some of the illustrations to create my own Christmas cards for my friends making sure I tell them where the artwork comes from so they can pass this Christmas treasure on as well to their loved ones.

This is a great Christmas read that gives an overview of the gospel, from creation to Christ's resurrection. A boy is injured and must seek refuge with an older widow during a snowstorm. As he recuperates and waits for the storm to settle down, she tells him the story of man's fall and redemption through Christ Jesus.

This book does a good job of sticking to the true facts of the Bible without a lot of added fluff. I've read this aloud to my children a couple of times. It takes us a few sittings as it is fairly lengthy but it keeps them engaged.

The best part of the book is the illustrations. They are gorgeous! These are some of the most believable Biblical portrayals I have seen - not the stylized Italian sort or the comical characters which abound in Christian books for children. For instance, Adam and Eve are not lily white but look as if they could truly be the father and mother of us all. The portrait of Goliath is my favorite as he looks like a giant warrior might. His thighs are massive! And David is a young man, not a child, as Scripture would suppport.

I would only take issue with the picture of the angel guarding the garden of Eden. First, according to Genesis, there are angels (plural) placed at the gate. Secondly, although the American Indian woman is lovely, angels are only described as men and never as women in the Bible. Moreover, they always seem to invite dread (first words from angels are typically, "Don't be afraid") so I think a pretty angel lady is somewhat unlikely.

I highly recommend this book as a lavish picture book to be read at Christmas, or any time of the year. It helps children understand why the birth of Christ matters to them.

and get Dr. Fee's audio tapes from Regent College bookstore.
I studied with Dr. Fee at Gordon-Conwell while pastoring in Cambridge, Ma. Our church supported some of Dr. Fee's mission trips around the world. His books are all great, but his lectures, especially his exegetical NT book studies, are simply unparalleled, satisfying the intellect and the spirit and leading one to experience the Holy Spirit in the Word.

This is a wonderful resource, appropriate for anyone who is seriously studying Paul. It features detailed, thorough, analysis of passages from all of Paul's letters. Yet it doesn't become bogged down in minutiae. Fee's synthesis rises above the details to offer a compelling picture of Paul's Christology.

This book bridges an important gap in the study of Paul. It offers far more detailed analyses of scripture than the many theologies of Paul that have been written. Yet it examines the broad scope of Paul's writings in a way that commentaries on individual letters cannot.

This volume is primarily a scholarly work, but the author's own faith and love for the scriptures are readily apparent. I also recommend it for any academically-minded Christian who wishes to study Paul's letters for devotional purposes. I used this book extensively in writing a Masters' thesis on Paul's letters, but I also expect to use it for preaching.

Those who already own Fee's commentaries on 1 Corinthians or Philippians will find that there is a good deal of overlap between those works and this one--even verbatim repetition at times. However, this book is still worth getting for Fee's writings on other letters, as well as the synthesis.

Dr. Fee expects that this book will be most useful as a reference text and he is likely correct. This is not some 160-200 page large print book with a lot of fill material that you can read in a few days.

It is a thorough discussion (chronologically) of every Christological verse Paul wrote. It shows how Paul made frequent use of the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures (the SEPTUAGINT aka LXX)when he referenced our Lord Jesus in his letters.

I am only an interested layperson but I could easily follow Dr. Fee's discussions.

One of the more interesting concepts (perhaps very familiar to Bible scholars) that Fee uses is that of "echoes." An example would be how 1 Thess 4:16 (the Lord descending)is an "echo" of Psalm 46:6 (the LORD; i.e. YHWH, ascending).

Very useful for reflection and devotional reading. Buy it, its is excellent

If you are looking for a detailed, deep review of Paul's Christology then this book is for you. It is not a light read but it is also not so technical and erudite that the average reader would find it too difficult. Dr. Fee has presented the material in an systematic and academic fashion. I suspect that this book will become the textbook for many college classes on the subject. This book and the new book by Bowman and Komoszewski "Putting Jesus In His Place" should end the critic's claims that Jesus wasn't thought of as divine until the 3rd or 4th centuries.

If one's eye drifts across the shelves of my study, and if all the loaned books have been returned, you would probably find more volumes by Gordon Fee than any other. I am happy to add his Pauline Cristology to my collection. I am currently designing a new course on the Apostle Paul and this work is invaluable to my study of Pauline Themes.