W Books

Who would believe that a book on the Theory of Relativity could be written for the masses? Well it was, and this is it. The concepts that the book conveys are mind boggling, yet quite understandable at the same time. You'll never view space, time and the world around you the same again. It's a quick read, but as you'll learn, time is relative.

Suppose all matter in the universe is expanding at a uniform rate and that "gravity" doesn't exist. Also imagine standing atop the Leaning Tower of Pisa and releasing two cannon balls. One weighs one ounce and the other ten pounds. Because the earth is rushing up to meet the balls, both seem to fall to the ground at the same rate. A cannon ball fired into the air seems to follow a curved trajectory back to the earth as the ground rushes up to meet it. A comet passing close to the earth seems to be "attracted" to the earth as we are pushed upwards towards it. Einstein says "gravity" is the effect on the path of a moving object caused by distortions in the geometric structure of the space-time continuum caused by mass. But space is "nothing," so how can "nothing" be distorted? Could the earth and all matter be expanding uniformly and unnoticed by us? Could this expansion be the real cause of what we call "gravity" and not the distortion of "nothing"?

This problem, somewhat simplified here, has been bothering me since I first read this book some forty years ago; if anybody can help enlighten me on this, I'd be glad to hear from you!

Mr. Barnett, a journalist, crossed over into the arena of science, a subject that he had not studied in college. And to the world's amazement, he captured on paper a clear and easy to read explanation of the genius and elegance of Dr. Einstein's theories concerning the very small (quanta) and the very large (space and time).

I feel that this book is a must for any home library. If you are experienced in physics, this book is extremely interesting because it delves deaply into the philosophy that brought Dr. Einstein to his great accomplishments. For those that have little knowledge of relativity, the universe, and quantum matters it offers a great introduction with a minimum of complex math. A simple way to understand how Dr. Einstein changed the entire universe. I have studied Albert for years. This is the first time I have read anything that gave me such an insight to his personality and thought processes. HONESTLY, the best book I have ever read.

This is absolutely the best book on any scientific topic intended for the general reader that I have ever read. It is one of very few books about science I have ever read that I could seriously call a "page turner". Einstein's theories are presented in such a manner that anyone reading the book can understand the concepts without trying. I have read other books that discussed Einstein's theories, but none of them presented the ideas with such lucidity and simplicity, while at the same time not losing the depth and profundity of the concepts.

Dear Rev. Lynn,

I just read Piety & Politics and wanted to say "thank you". I just said it by joining Americans United for Separation of Church and State, but wanted to say it personally and publicly.

As an atheist I all too often fall into the trap of lumping all Christians together as bible thumping religious fanatics who, in spite of my Vietnam service, Bronze Star, and Army Commendation medals, perceive me to be "non- patriotic, perhaps not even an American" as G Bush Snr. once said, simply because I reject their "beliefs". People who would happily force our children to recite prayers in school, control reproductive rights, intercede into family decisions of when the terminally ill should be allowed to die, impose their biblical interpretations upon our secular Constitution, indeed subjugate anyone who's sexual preference, personal philosophy, or religious views do not parallel theirs.

I know this isn't true. I know that the people of whom I speak aren't the majority of Christians, but I need to be reminded of that from time to time.

Thanks for reminding me, and thanks for helping preserve American's freedoms from those who would truncate them.

Yours truly,

B. Centre

I highly recommend this book. While it's pretty easy to make the argument that our country is better off continuing with a secular government, what is difficult is refuting all the false rhetoric, and there is a ton of it, from those that would prefer we mutate into a Christianist nation (as Andrew Sullivan would put it). Rev. Lynn puts forth a highly readable argument that our nation's future interest is best served following the legacy of our founding framers, an argument firmly grounded in the ideals that were ratified by the founding framers in our beloved Constitution.

Lynn is also no slouch in the history department, doing a far better job for example of refuting Christian Nation historical revisionism than Jon Meacham's American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation while requiring a lot less sentences to do so. In fact, Lynn sells himself short by using the back of the book cover to market his book to the choir; his respectful tone towards Christianity while defeating arguments we'd be better served with a Roy Moore fantasy could have garnered a more effective response from the public if he'd also marketed this book towards conservative Christians as well, many are whom are unaware of their sects' legacy of supporting separationism or how far their current day leaders really want to go in regards to increasing government power to endorse a particular version of faith (e.g., already working on attempting to re-supress birth control).

I'm knocking off a star for my standard reason: no footnotes, inexcusable in this day and age. As a member of the Americans United for the Separation of Church & State, I have complete trust in Rev. Lynn's integrity; but any author who wants to put forth an argument based on a set of premises should footnote those premises. I also thought his occassional references that he's pro-choice was uncalled for and reduce the odds of his changing minds of anti-abortionists. While the pro-choice platform stands a better chance of succeeding if we maintain our constitutional republic's disestablishment nature, the platform itself has little to do with the argument on whether we should continue to limit government power on religious matters. I can only assume that Rev. Lynn is out soliciting pro-choice interest groups to join AU, which I found distasteful.

As someone who has probably read too many of these separation argument books, here are some highlights I particularly enjoyed that are unique relative to other books I've read on this topic:

1. President's Grant's failed attempt to amend the constitution to remove mandatory Protestant instruction in public schools while refusing aid to religious schools to make Catholics more welcome in the public school systems; an effort that took place during one of the first times that Christianists were initially able to break down the wall somewhat (for a complete history, see Susan Jacoby's Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism).
2. The end-game objective of the Bush administration's efforts to fund religious organizations rather than government providing services directly as an end-run attempt around our civil rights.
3. The willingness of certain conservative Christian organizations to suppress speech on issues in staged debates (Rev. Lynn directly experienced this as one of the debaters), essentially stacking the deck on what questions could be posed to the forum and therefore censoring their events.

First let me say, the Rev. Barry Lynn writes very clearly and logically, so following his argument is easy. He explains what the First Amendment is, what it tries to accomplish and why we need it.

The simple truth is that most religions think they have the real truth, the whole truth and all of god's will, and hence everyone must believe in Jesus, Allah, the angel Moroni, Krishna or whoever. Even unbelieving atheists have a tendency to think they have "the real truth." The problem is, with everyone "knowing" the only and final truth, how do we live together without constantly arguing with one another. Obviously, we must be tolerant of the other fellows belief and agree to look for what we believe in common, and not constantly fight and argue.

In this situation all faiths must be treated equally, and especially the government must not prefer, or push, or support any one faith in preference to any other. It is especially important no government body, i.e. no public body, school, court, administration, etc. favor the Christian religion, because Christians are the majority, which might easily overwhelm a minority faith.

The First Amendment simply implements this concept. It informs the government to stay out of all religions, don't push any, don't even think of favoring any, don't even say a public prayer, for all prayers are sectarian supported by one but not another faith.

A few years back I was listening to a news report about how first time homeowners were struggling with the complexities involved in buying their initial home. The report stated that the Bush Administration was planning on using members of its faith-based initiative to help buyers navigate the confusing maze. HUH??? What does the church have to do with offering information on buying a home? I was already aware that Bush was attempting to allow faith-based groups to discriminate in hiring despite being government funded which made this kind of handoff of government responsibility even that much more offensive. As bad as I thought it was, it was far worse and far more cynical than I ever imagined.

Rev. Barry Lynn has long been vilified by the Religious Right but the truth is he may be about the best friend Christians have. The author writes, "church-state separation has been a great boon to religion". Among industrialized nations the United States has been rather unique in its continuing observance of expressed religious faith. The United States was also groundbreaking in its establishment of a secular government. Coincidence? Barry Lynn's argument is that it is America's secularism that has allowed religion to thrive. In most European countries the churches are subsidized by the state. As Rev. Lynn states, "They want for only one thing: congregants" So why is the Religious Right so eager to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. Lynn believes that the ultimate goal of the Religious Right is to create a theocratic state with themselves in charge. I have to respectfully disagree. As little respect as I have for Dobson, Robertson and the now deceased Falwell I really doubt they believe they are going to somehow take over the American government. A much more likely scenario is that the church would be consumed by the government.

George W. Bush has been characterized as perhaps the strongest ally that Christianity has ever had in the Oval Office. The truth is the Bush Administration has used religion more cynically than probably any administration ever. The faith-based initiative was nothing more than a sop to try and woo evangelicals and finally make some headway with black voters. Bush continually used religious issues and his own purported faith to try and shore up his base and push his agendas while religious leaders like Dobson and Robertson promoted policies important to Bush and the GOP. I can remember Dobson presenting a wish list to the GOP that included eliminating the capital gains tax because I guess that's what Jesus would want.

The author writes a much needed defense against claims by Rev. Jim Wallis that the ACLU and Rev. Lynn's Americans for the Separation of Church and State are nothing more than the flip side of the Religious Right. I wrote in a review of `God's Politics' that Rev. Wallis was way off base in his attack on secularism which was a real shame because he presents himself as a bridge between fundamentalists and moderates.

Rev. Lynn's point is that it is the struggle that makes the church strong. In fact struggle is an integral part of the Christian faith. As the author writes, "Why should they give more on Sunday if they already paid taxes to support religion?" Are churches going to work harder to attract members when they're supported by the government? It wasn't secularists or atheists who pushed for separating Church and State. It was Christians who hated having the government write prayers or give tax money to other denominations or ban certain beliefs. The people who dreamed of a wall of separation between church and state lived through the results of their union. Perhaps secularists and atheists should lobby for the wall to come down. It's likely to be the easiest and quickest way to render Christianity irrelevant.

I notice that Amazon is selling Piety and Politics paired with Letter to a Christian Nation in the Best Value section. I found Piety and Politics far more readable than Sam Harris's angry polemic. Between the two this is definitely the one to get.

`Piety & Politics' by The Reverend Barry W. Lynn is a catalogue of, as the subtitle states, `The Right-Wing Assault on Religious Freedom', from his position as director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. For starters, let me say that I am in almost 100% agreement with everything Dr. Lynn says. He makes a far more reasoned and levelheaded case against the extremes of American fundamentalist Christians than the archly polemical `Letter to a Christian Nation' by Sam Harris. It is even superior, albeit far less broad in scope than Tony Campolo's `Speaking My Mind'. My agreement with the good Pastor Lynn may have something to do with our both having been raised in that most Christian oriented of blue state cities, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, home of, among other things, the Moravian church in America and neighbor, in Allentown, of the most important Lutheran-oriented college in the country, Muhleberg College.

If I have any argument with Pastor Lynn, it is in the fact that he does not look deep inside the psyche of the `Christian Conservative Right' and explain its workings. But, before getting further along with that thought, let me say that what Lynn has accomplished is utterly necessary and quite valuable. It reminds me of a cross between Al Franken's cleaning out the Conservative Augean stables of misrepresentations and the strategy of the first Bill Clinton presidential campaign, where his media staff examined opponents statements and news in general under a microscope, and immediately replied to any and every misstatement or refutable claim. It is that kind of vigilance which must be maintained if we are to maintain both religious and personal freedoms.

One thing which strikes me as really unfortunate about this struggle is that while Christian scriptures and the U.S. Constitution agree almost perfectly in letting the state do its thing and letting believers get on with their worship, or freedom from it, the Christian Right Wing persists in forcing their brand of belief on various venues of the country at large. One must even puzzle over how this agenda became connected with the Republican Party, since my most favorable depiction of Republican doctrine includes the principle of expanding, not limiting personal freedoms.

So, while Pastor Lynn's story is one of vigilance, it does little to help us understand the opposition.
Therefore, I offer this as a suggestion for Pastor Lynn's next book.

Please be clear that a large part of Christian doctrine involves vigorously spreading the faith, a doctrine that is amply stated in scriptures. While some denominations are more militant about it than others, bringing in new members to the Lutheran or Baptist or Anglican, or Catholic or Orthodox or Pentecostal or Presbyterian confession is on everyone's agenda. And, routine aspects of even the most mild-mannered denominations (my Lutheran denomination, for example) sound pretty militant in their native habitat. Just today we had a hymn which commanded us to be `...soldiers of the cross, Lift high his royal banner. It must not suffer loss...! Pretty strong stuff from a tame corner of Pennsylvania. Let me join this with the fact that I lived through exactly the same public school bible readings, prayers, and Christmas pageants in High School as did Pastor Lynn. For all I know, we attended Liberty High School together, albeit not in the same class. All this was quite taken for granted and pretty comfortable for an obedient Pennsylvania Lutheran teenager. One can even believe that prayers are genuinely effective in focusing our mind on the task at hand, so they would seem to be ideal as a mental ritual to get the day off right. (Of course, as Pastor. Lynn more than adequately demonstrates, things are not so rosy for the non-Protestants forced to either participate in or embarrassingly abstain from such rituals).

So if the Christian faith includes a belief in taking its message to all nations, how can a fellow Christian, the Reverend Lynn, oppose the efforts of the good Reverend doctors' Falwell, Robertson, et. al. This is surely why true Christian believers accost Dr. Lynn with such anger at Cleveland airports. One can go even further and cite the Christian doctrine that justice comes only from God (See Romans, especially), so how can courts dispense justice without Christian underpinning.

The problem with this belief is that Christians don't have a monopoly on the divine source for justice, as the Greeks had this idea at least 400 years before Christ (see The Orestean Trilogy by Aeschylus). Our legal theory does, in fact base itself on both traditions in maintaining the DISINTERESTED status of judges.

The problem with Falwell and Co, as Pastor Lynn adequately demonstrates, is that they have an almost total disregard for the truth, and consider the most transparently fallacious ad hominom arguments to be OK, as long as it's for THEIR Christian cause. The one saving grace is that they underestimate the intelligence of the American public, most of whom can sense the perversity of their arguments for what they are. The use of the worst kind of dishonest tactics coupled to an honorable doctrine leads me to the conclusion that Falwell, Robertson, et. al. are NOT interested in advancing Christianity, they are interested in personal political power. As such, they deserve no respect from honest Christians. I am all for encouraging prayer, Bible study, stirring hymns, and Christian liturgy, as long as my audience has signed on to the fait which recommends these practices.

I thank God for Pastor Lynn's vigilance and his sharing this information with us so that we can better understand this dishonesty.

This is a great book, especially if you are Irish-American. I couldn't put it down. After this, read All Souls, Easter Rising, Castle of the Fynns... Slices of life about growing up Irish in American in the 1960's and 1970's....

Anyone who reads Dan Barry's regular columns in the NYTimes will welcome his memoir first as if from a friend and buddy. Barry has given us, however, an extraordinary and, yes, radiant account of a man who would tell stories. He grew up in a haze of cigarette smoke, beer, and his father's howls of agony from migraine, but also with his mother's stories, his father's songs, and his siblings' affections. He traces his own journey to high school (casual boy torture on the school bus); St Bonaventure University (where he discovered you could make a job of tellling stories) to his early career in Rhode Island and then at the Times. He loves baseball, his mother dies, he and his beloved struggle first to conceive and then to adopt a child. He is diagnosed, and survives, a gaspingly terrible bout of cancer. Memoirs come by the handful, but Barry's is so vividly sketched, all the protagonists so fully present on the page, the prose so wickedly sure and sweet, that his sings close and real as a heartbeat. Wonderful.

As with all fine Irish writers, there's a poet's heart in Dan Barry.

Pull Me Up, A Memoir is Barry's masterful landscape of his life and family, wondrously painted with words poignant with pain and breathtaking in beauty. Never mind that the setting is the same Long Island I grew up in, nor the fact that this Irish-American love song calls to my own heritage, nor even the fact that there are personal connections I can trace to many of the people and places he writes about. The soul of Barry's story is its firm grip on universal human fears and foibles, how he captures the heart-piercing trials of childhood, youth, illness, addiction, and family.

Any reader who ever felt alone or insecure as a teenager, grew up with a sick parent, or whose family struggled with monthly bills will cherish the emotional depths to which Barry dives to harvest the treasures of his past. A truly rewarding read.

Kathy Carroll
http://www.oneclearcall.blogspot.com/

When I finished reading Dan Barry's book, I was hungry for more, but not so much on the same topic. Instead I wanted to find another book with narrative so well-written it would inspire me to fill my leisure time with nothing but reading. Sadly, there aren't many books that do that.

This one did. Perhaps it's my own connection to growing up in the same era, though I'm a bit younger. Maybe it's because we're both journalists, though books by journalists don't always merit reading sprints.

For me I think what astounded me was Barry's ability to be honest, allowing us to see the weaknesses of the people in the book and see those people as human, rather than evil (with a couple exceptions). As a reporter Barry has seen some amazing things, but that's not the focus of his book. Those things are sidelights in a story about family and about growing up. That takes amazing skill. I'm glad Barry lived long enough to tell us about it. In another 40 years or so, I'll be excited to read the sequel.

This is the best memoir I have ever read, beautifully written. While my Irish family is very different, I loved reading about his. I'm recommending the book to everyone.

While I enjoyed the book, it wasn't very original. I was hoping to find out additional information that wasn't already contained in Passions Child: The Extraordinary Life of Jane Digby by Margaret F. Schmidt, published in 1976, Charles River Books. This book didn't provide any additional information, despite the author's claims.

I adore biography - especially those of the great characters of the second half of the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries. I knew of Jane Digby el Mezrab from Irving Wallace's Nymphos and Other Maniacs which I read many years ago and also via several biographies of Sir Richard Burton. This is a well written, carefully and extensively researched book which benefited enormously from the author's good luck in uncovering much new, previously unseen and unpublished family material in Dorset and New Zealand. This, the author says in her acknowledgements, is more satisfying than the publication of the book itself. I agree, for this sort of discovery is palpably thrilling and the author's excitement shines through her narrative.

This biography reads like fiction and Jane Digby, firstly Lady Ellenborough, was one of those larger than life people who followed their own path, irrespective of the mores of their own time. Following Jane's life is a tour through the drawing rooms of Regency England, several European and Balkan courts to the deserts of Syria and Arabia. It is the story of a woman (thrice divorced) who eventually found happiness and fulfilment with a man of great nobility from an entirely different race, culture and religion. Jane's interest in the minutiae of life in Damascus in the mid 19th century makes fascinating reading and her wit and fondness for her adopted "tribe" in the desert is moving.

Highly recommended!

Jane Digby led a life of glamorous scandal - mostly played out during the reign of that most prudish of rulers, Queen Victoria. Biographies of her in the past have not been too successful as her story is obscured beneath layers of misinformation generated from the tabloid press of the time, and from well-meaning interference by such people as Richard Burton's wife.

Lovell has done a stunning job in digging through all the sources and turning up a great deal of new information on Digby which finally exposes her life in all its strengths and weaknesses. It is interesting how much you can dislike a subject and still like a story and that is what happened for me with Jane Digby. I found her as a person to be rather flirtatious and passionate and not very sensible. She did so much for 'love' and was so disappointed by in it. She married four times and had an equal number of well-known lovers as well. There is a litte on her childhood but the story really begins from her first fatally flawed marriage to Lord Ellenborough. As Digby's life progressed I felt Lovell managed to capture her increasing commonsense and growth as a person. The story of Digby is so amazing - she travelled all round Europe creating scandal as she went until finally settling in Palmyra with her last husband, an Sheikh.

Her life is part a travel-logue of Europe in the mid Nineteenth century part brilliantly readable scandal. A truly flawed subject, she makes great reading and Lovell has done a great job in presenting her.

When the then Pamela Digby Churchill (later to be Pamela Churchill Harriman) shocked British and European society with her string of marriages and romantic alliances, she was actually following more in the footsteps of an ancestor than blazing new ground. Over a hundred years before Pamela romped her way through Europe and America, the Honorable Jane Digby, Lady Ellenborough was embarkening on a series of affairs that drove her from England and eventually to the desert where she spent her final years.

Mary S. Lovell could have potrayed Jane Digby as a heartless tramp or made her a cartoon maneater that wouldn't be out of place in a Jackie Collins novel. At times, Jane Digby's life does seem larger than life and more like a daytime soap opera. Her lovers included crowned heads of states and even her own beloved cousin. Her final years were spent as the wife of a Beduoin chief, performing the traditional female duties while the tribe was traveling. Luckily, Mary S. Lovell is a carefully biographer who sorted through masses of documents to find the truth behind the rumors and legends.

Along with the legacy of her scandals, Jane become a mother several times. Her children, mostly seen as more annoyance than objects of affection, where left with their fathers when Jane moved onto her next adventure. Tragically, one of her daughters succumbed to madness and two of her sons died in childhood.

If you adore biographies or have come across the name Jane Digby in your reading, "Rebel Heart: The Scandalous Life of Jane Digby" is must read.

An excellent and accurate account of Jane Digby - A woman ahead of her time. Several surprises and facts are in store and would be great interest to students of the Middle Eastern culture, in particular the Bedouin tribes, the Arabian horse, falconing, Salukis and the social customs and manners of this golden era of history. Couldn't put it down. Very highly recommended!

Having read a lot of WWI books and books on sniping this one takes the cake. It's written in the autobiographical tradition of Teddy Roosevelt and will impress the old and young alike with its vivid imagery and colorful prose. Great read.

Mr. McBride has written a book that nearly perfectly talks about what can be expected from a modern infantry man. He talks about sniping, putting in a properly sighted machine gun, raids, and patrols. Honestly, this book is so good that most Army ROTC and Marine Infantry instruction may want to have their future officers and NCO candidates read this book.

I will give you a story that really stuck me as being ahead of its time. Now, this book was written in the mid-1930s. However, Mr. McBride knows the problems of lugging ammunition. A soldier with .303 British (about equal to modern NATO 7.62 ammo) could only carry about 200 to 300 rounds. So, Mr. McBride thinks the armies should carry ammunition of about .27 caliber. That is almost exactly 6.8 mm. This is exactly the same solution the US Army discovered after 5 years in Iraq.

I liked this book. Mr. McBride thinks both the British and Canadian Armies did much better with their training time than the US military. Indeed, he thinks the US Army and military is overly tied up with paperwork. And that observation was made in 1918.

This is a five star book by a soldier who knows his field craft. Pay attention to his anti-sniper traps. They are still useful today. Also, the book is great for telling about how the Germans would leave abandoned grenades after an attack. Some were rigged to go off if picked up.

As written before, this book is five star. Mr. McBride writes a book about the birth of the modern infantry man. Indeed, their is little difference between a Tommy of WWI with a Lewis gun and a Grunt in Vietnam carrying an M-60 machinegun. In 50 years little had changed.

The modern professional soldier can learn a lot from this book. Some university military history departments may want this book for an individual study of a hard infantry man.

A thoughroughly enjoyable, mesmerizing, collection of a soldier's WWI remembrances. Somehow manages to be more than the sum of its plainly told, shy, politically incorrect, wars is hell but you get used to it parts. It ends up assembling and describing bit by bit the remarkable character of the author.

Also notable to me for how it reaches across 70 years to contrast how we've changed as a people. For example, I don't think this book would be published as written today. The editor would have probably added more polish, removed some of the namecalling and stereotyping and would have thus diminished the book.

As a rifle shooter with a historical interest i bought this book. If your looking for an overly dramatic or gruesome account of life in the first world war trenches dont by this book. From what i can tell it is a written collection of memories by the author. These memories are written in a matter of fact, straight talking way which does not hide the authors zealous approach to his task of being a soldier.

Although at times slightly rambling i found this an interesting read and at times amuzing. A good reference if you are interested in rifle shooting or battle history.

It might not be written in perfect English, and it's not always politically correct, but it's definitely always enjoyable.

You get the whole WWI experience from the author's point of view, including enough "war stories" to satisfy any reader.

McBride includes technical details, anecdotes, and just good old story telling, in this tale of a machine gunner / rifleman in the Great War.

The size of the book is appropriate for carrying in the field. The narrative is concise and well presented. The pictures of the birds are easy to reference. The real test of a field guide, though, is how useful it is when there is an unidentified bird in front of you. I will not know that until I get back from S. Africa in March but this book appears comparable to the better guides for US birds.

We wanted to label all the photos of birds we took in South Africa. This book made it easy to locate the drawings of the birds. . .drawings that were very lifelike. . .and attach the names to the photos. We highly recommend this guide.

This guide looks perfect for my needs. I have looked it over carefully, even though I haven't had a chance to use it in the field. I definitely like the quick reference guide to bird types inside the front and back covers and the color-coded reference to bird groups. Look forward to using this guide in the field.

Well worth the money to enjoy your trip to South Africa even more. Even with a good guide (like we had with Transfrontiers) it is well worth taking a strong field guide like Birds of Southern Africa. That way when your guide is trying to tell you what you are looking at, you can see the picture up close and get a better idea. We have done many trips to various parts of Africa and this is one of the best guides we have used.

Warning: using this field guide will make you dissatisfied with many other field guides. You will enjoy studying and using this guide.
The illustrations are large and detailed, distinctly more accurate than most guides. In addition most are just beautiful works. They are grouped in species settings with juveniles, alternate plumage, flight and significant field marks highlighted.
On the opposite page: written description, habitat, abundancy status and call descriptions with a range map plus the Afrikaans name.
As an example of the illustrations: the Laughing Dove is illustrated by two flight poses and a profile. The profile has arrows noting 'no hind collar', 'cinnamon back' and 'black-flecked necklace'. The written text notes marks that distinguish this bird from a Cape Turtle-Dove.
The cover is plastic coated and the pages have a lesser water resistant coating.
A lot of attention to detail went into creating this book --colored coded page edges according to bird group, groups of waterbirds and hawks in flight for comparison, a checklist near the index and internet addresses of birding resources in the area.
All this in a work that I carried in a large pants pocket every day.
It just makes me wish such books were available for many more areas.

As I started to read Slaters Fall I was automatically enticed. You wanted to know what everyone was talking about. What happened?? I wanted to read more. I couldn't put it down. It left you wanting to know more. What was Carl trying to say to the officer??? Will definitely buy to see what will happen. Slaters Falls - Official ABNA Entrant

I enjoyed the preview of Slaters Falls. It made me laugh with some of
the references such as those to the board game Clue and to the priest
watching Passions & Guiding Light.

In my opinion, some of the descriptions were a little long (that's the
quibble I mentioned in the headline), but that can be easily fixed with
minor editing.

I really liked the tone of the excerpt being a "dramedy." (I don't
know if the whole novel is like that because I only read the excerpt.)
I think it works well in this kind of material because it gives a good
balance to the different aspects of the story.

I'm interested in seeing the rest of the novel because I want to see
what happens to the interesting characters that have already been
introduced and find out what other personality types the author is
going to create.

Mr Grant knows how to hook a reader. He gives you a reason to get into the story right away. Some books start out with so much back story, by the 10th chapter its starts getting to the point. I dont want to know everyting right away, who killed who and why, and now lets all go catch the killer. All of the ending is at the begining. I feel that when Mr Grant writes, its like watching a rose bloom. You see the outside petals slowly open up and cant wait for the whole rose to open. Thats how I felt when I started to read this novel. I cant wait to buy it and see how it unfolds.

Gripping right from the start never giving the reader a chance to get bored. I was so disappointed when I realized there was no more to read. I want to know what Carl whispered to the cop, what happened to Jeremy and what "secrets" are hiding inside. I can't wait to read the rest. Fantastic job!

If the synopsis doesn't grab you, the opening lines will. We get a picture of the character of the small town through brief points of view of its inhabitants as a life-and-death drama unfolds.

Of course, some of the townsfolk blame it on the music the kids are listening to nowadays. Then, there's the movies....

The inhabitants of Slaters Falls are gathered at the Bank, waiting for a tragedy to unfold:

"In a small town, bad news travels fast, but potentially tragic news travels at a speed second only to lightning."

My personal shero is the librarian, Ruth, who's at first the only one with any sense in the crowd. The descriptions of her are priceless as "prim and proper but capable of telling it like it is" and "able to quell a rowdy group of fifth graders with a single glance." Then, there's her dirty little secret:

"if they knew their prim and proper librarian had once, while she was a student at Wellesley College during a protest in the 1960's, removed her bra on Boston Common, marched topless through the streets, and burned the bra on the Massachusetts State House lawn at the foot of the statue of Captain Myles Standish."

Then, there's the priest. I've wondered what men of the cloth think in confessionals, too. Fr. Mulroy's ponderings gave just enough of a good laugh before the action started up in earnest.

Matthew W. Grant can dish and he does in this great small town mystery. He depicts his characters with accuracy and humor. His narrative seldom wonders off the point. His timing, both tragic and comic, is close to flawless. If the rest of the manuscript is as good as the excerpt, a quick polish would have "Slater's Falls" ready for submission.

Matthew, I very much enjoyed the excerpt so far and I'll be waiting for the book in earnest. I can't say I'd want to live in Slaters Falls, but I've very much enjoyed my visit. Thank you and good luck.

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RZR11YJABGDYK This is a video review of Spanish Verbs and Essentials of Grammar

If you need a book that will give you a good, quick review of Spanish grammar, this is the one you need. Everything is explained, from the present tense to the Spanish subjunctive.

What separates this book from others is that it doesn't drill a bunch of rules into your head. Instead, it gives several examples. Many people learn better from examples because it is the context that tells you what you need.

Brandon Simpson

This is an excellent book on Spanish grammar.

It is composed of many short chapters each dealing with a specific topic.

The explanations are clear and to the point. They are well organized. The chapters on the subjuntivo (subjunctive) are exemplary in this respect.

There are no exercises--the book is thin--but many examples illustrating the salient points.

The book is lightweight, unlike almost any other grammar book I've seen and bought, so I took it into work many days, using it during lunch or on the commute. Often I would bring along a sheet or two of exercise or homework that I had scanned or copied.

The advantage of this book is its conciseness, clarity, excellent organization, and its portability. The disadvantage is the complete lack of exercises.

Supplement it with The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice, the best overall in my opinion, for the exercises and additional coverage and you'll be pretty much set for grammar. At least, these two did it for me. They were totally superior to the pathetic required--and hugely expensive even when used--textbooks.

Because of its low cost and since there's always room for improvement no matter how excellent a product is, I plan on also purchasing the new 2nd edition.

Buy this book. This book provides a comprehensive guide to verb use and grammar. Other topics include idioms, pronunciation, practical rules, time, suffixes, numerals, letters and extensive vocabulary. The book is easy to read and examples are abundant. The topics are easy to find because the book is brief and well organized.

As the editor of the Learning Spanish Products Reviews (LearningSpanishProductsReviews) site, one of my responsibilities is to review learning Spanish book that are listed on Amazon. I am also a native Spanish speaker and a professional private Spanish instructor, and the author of two learning-Spanish products offered here at Amazon:


1. Anna Rivera's 1000 Plus Most Powerful Spanish Words

2. Anna Rivera's 800 Plus Most Powerful Spanish Phrases

This a rather compact book that covers both Spanish Verbs and the fundamentals to Spanish grammar. In 33 short units, the author Ina W. Ramboz covers the major verbal and grammatical concepts of Spanish. The books is arranged so that each unit is dedicated to covering one particular concept. This enables the user to quickly and easily find specific information.

In addition to providing explanations to help the student understand the key concepts of Spanish verbs and grammar, the author also gives the student numerous examples to guarantee that the student grasps a full understanding of the material and is well on her way to mastery of Spanish verbs and grammar. Unlike some books that use impractical situations and uncommon vocabulary to demonstrate usage, this book uses contemporary vocabulary that reflects real-life situations that one is likely to come across while living in or traveling to Latin America.

Unlike many of the books on the market that cover both Spanish verbs and grammar, this book is small enough to be conveniently carried with you almost anywhere, but also thorough enough to be considered a true guide to mastering Spanish verbs and grammar. If you need to quickly develop a thorough understanding of Spanish verbs and grammar, but you lack the time or patience to read books such as Spanish Verbs and Tenses, the Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice, etc., then this may be the book for you.

The author does a great job of thoroughly explaining our memory, how it works and more interestingly, he gives you over 150 key ideas you can use to improve YOUR memory.

While there is no drug that's proven to improve memory in healthy adults, Klemm's techniques work!

It's ironic that he gives his readers (presumably who perceive themselves to have less-than-stellar memories) so many techniques to learn - I will be hard pressed to remember them all - but how many techniques you remember is not important, as long as you focus on the key techniques that really matter to you.

For small business owners, his techniques will be especially helpful for remembering customers and contact names and faces, details about your business - and for remembering what you read in this fast-paced world we live in.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to improve their memory, look smarter, network more effectively and feel more confident in your ability to remember key information and make a good impression on others.

Bill Klemm has been with us for a while. For about 40 yrs now he has been teaching and publishing books and articles on brain function. And if we've been paying attention we've been adding to our brains capacity throughout this period. But, if you're like me, and have just discovered Bill and his work, your in luck.

Bill's new book has a slightly silly title, but it's no lightweight little piece of fluff. Instead we are treated to a delightfully thorough, behind the scenes analysis, of how we create memories. As you can imagine, being a Ph.D. an all, there are some big words included within. But no to worry, Bill's worked long enough with his students to realize that everyone learns in a specific fashion and he offers several slants on his subject.

While he includes numerous common methods such as pegs, the picturing of related things hanging off a system of pegs, to acrostics, where the first letter of each word serves as a cue, to acronyms, think YMCA, he also offers us a host of other easy methods to increase our memory.

But the real helpful bits are why, how, when, where, and how much we are capable of remembering. And along the way we also learn how sleep can play an important part, how alcohol can be detrimental, and why we no longer need to subscribe to the myth that getting older means getting forgetful.

This is science at it's most fun. We all can't be Ph.D.'s, but with this little book we can astonish the grandkids, one up our college buddies pulling all-nighters, and best of all remember the name of that hunky guy or gorgeous gal we met at that party last week and now run into at the grocery store.

Here's a book on improving your memory by one who knows what he's talking about. Bill Klemm is a professor of neuroscience who, for 40 years, has been publishing research on brain function.

Patt Morrison of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "What a maddening thing a memory can be, dodging away from you when you're trying desperately to snag it, descending around you like a collapsing tent when you most want to forget it." How true.

Bill Klemm comes with help for this "maddening thing." He offers insight on how to remember. He shows the reader how to cooperate with his brain, learning how it works best. He gives advice on how to best study for an exam. He clues us in on the role of sleep and dreaming in forming lasting memories. Are there supplements which can help us? Are there chemicals which hinder?

I've read lots of books about memory. This book, though, isn't like others I've read: it isn't a book of tricks ("How to amaze your friends in ten easy lessons"). This is a book of substance: a review of the science of memory. I've grown from it, and I enjoyed it.

The work of Bill is very relevant for absolutely every age group from
young to old. As I read this book, I realized some of the issues one
has to keep remembering things, places, events, people's names; and the
tools one can utilize to turn the situation around. Because of the
insight Bill provides, this book is a confidence builder; a must read
for those interested in improving their memory, becoming more effective
at what they do and feeling empowered.

Dr. Klemm strikes a chord, again and again, addressing a variety of situations in which we think our memories "fail" us: in school, at work, at a party, around the home, the office. Scientific and lab experiences aside, the book offers a lot of tips for changing the way we learn and recall. / Simple ways to learn social skills like remembering the names of 10 people you just met. Using a skeleton outline instead of taking notes in class. And, for long-term recall, figuring out the answers rather than memorizing them. But Thank You Brain is more than a how-to book. When Klemm points out the short attention spans of today's kids he opens a discussion about the need to change the way our teachers teach their students. "Yes, it's true that learning is hard work," he says. The brain works harder to learn a new thing than it does to maintain a memory or a process. Exercise the brain by learning unique, foreign processes and the brain gets intricately involved in learning the requirements for the new subject, and you keep it active, alert, sharp. Klemm talks about the FOCUSED brain and how difficult it is to divide its attention, for example, when driving and using a cell phone. And how drug abuse hijacks the brain's coping system, takes it out of the loop and removes its power to manage emotions. He says recall is not the same as memory. Recalling someone's name is easier when all the original cues are present, such as when and where you knew that person in the first place. This is a fascinating read and one that gives the reader the knowledge to sharpen his own memory and recall.

This author's life story demonstrates how a refusal to accept society's "labels" and a strong determination, coupled with a strong faith in God can overcome even the most challenging and disappointing events in life. Several times while reading this book I had to stop, pause, reflect, sometime cry, sometime laugh and at other times feel encouraged. Just knowing that this author endured many of the same disappointments, hardships of being a teenage parent, ridicule by society and so called friends validated my pain and my struggles. This should be a required reading for all teenagers.

In the book True Vine, Fountain writes a timeless and powerful message of truth and consequences. It is a personal testimony that speaks to youth and adults alike...if you believe in (God) a power greater than yourself and apply positive action (faith and hard work) to fuel your beliefs, there is absolutely nothing that you cannot do. My grandmother used to say "He (God) may not come when you want him, but He's right on time". Fountain uses bits of wisdom like this, as shared by elders in his family, to help us understand the power of faith and the proof as is manifested in his survival and ultimate success. Long after you read this book, you will feel the despair of an impoverished K-town; and, it has to make one think about how many neighborhoods exist today where children and families barely survive (and many don't) through unspeakable horrors, insufferable living conditions and unbelieveable hardships -- in America, the richest country in the world? But the saving grace in this story for me is that John W. Fountain not only survived and succeeded beyond his wildest dreams, but that he cared enough to honestly share his story with the world. True Vine is a true story -- one that reveals some of the hidden truths about family, community, poverty, its victims and its survivors. True Vine is a branch of knowledge that provides us with food for thought about problems and solutions that we, as individuals, as viable members of communities and organizations, can all take part in -- righting the wrongs -- fighting poverty and violence. With faith as our foundation, one step at a time, we can help build prosperity in underprivileged neighborhoods for future generations. Fountain can be likened to the "voice crying in the wilderness" from which many will hear and be saved. This book is truly a fountain of revelations. It is much more than a personalized how-to-succeed book. There is a lesson in every chapter that should be read by every child and every parent in America. I am certain that this is not the last time we will hear from this great author. I for one, will be looking for more.

With True Vine, John W. Fountain has created an inspirational beacon. Not only has he trail blazed a path for all of the inner-city youth struggling in the jungle of poverty, he has written a travelogue of hope for all the souls who may have lost sight of their dreams.

This is one of the best books I have read, and will most likely be among my top 10 for the year. I wrote something down from this book that I know I will take away with me and remember for a long time: "You can't stop dreaming or you start to die."

When I first picked up this book, I was worried it would be a non-stop preach-fest; it turned out to be an inspiring tale of despair, hope, and faith.

Even though I grew up in a ranch house on a cul-de-sac in a well-to-do white Chicago suburb with grassy lawns and two-car garages, this book made me feel like I grew up in the poverty stricken neighborhoods of the west side of Chicago. It made me feel like a part of John W. Fountain's circle of friends and family.

This is the kind of book that comes along only once in a while. True Vine is a true treasure.

I found myself unable to put this book down even for sleep. It's one of those books you read from cover to cover, then promptly begin to put together the names of friends and family who simply MUST read this book.

I was deeply touched by his unwavering faith and integrity as he wrote about his life in the Chicago ghetto--up through poverty, his setbacks in life, and again recouping to claim a better life for himself and his family. I was most impressed by his early and continued determination to lead an exemplary male life, not wavering in his responsibilities to provide security and leadership no matter the adversity. His strong message of faith is a personal one, clearly and directly told. It is a touching, sincere, very warm book and so worth your time and money. You'll love it, I'm sure of it.

I was feeling pretty down when I picked up True Vine, I knew that I needed to know that I wasn't alone in what life was throwing at me at the time, I had no idea that this book would Re-new my Faith, and give me the Courage to keep going on. My sad, went to glad, my downs went to ups, my bad, went to good, and My Spirit Soared!!!!!!!God put John W. Fountain on this earth to give us our Faith Back, and to know that through God, all things are Possible, God Bless and Keep John, can't wait for book number two........