Reviews Books

I fully agree with everything the other reviewer has said, but I thought it should be noted that Roderick Jaynes is the psuedonym under which the Coens both jointly edit their movies

that should make the dour introduction all the more enjoyable for the Coen fans out there

The Coen brother's films have never failed to astonish and entertain me. From BLOOD SIMPLE to FARGO, they have shown an uncanny knack for vivid characteriziations and photographic style.

But the question is, are the scripts as good by themselves?

Thankfully, the answer is yes. The Coen's scripted prose is dramatically satisfying, and makes one yearn to see the films again, which is the highest compliment I can give them.

BARTON FINK is a bold and unusual piece, centred on a playwright who ends up selling his soul in Hollywood. It may sound like the usual pointless drivel, but the Coen's take a surprisingly dark twist into the bizarre, with insane roommates, creepy bellhops, and drunken authors. It only never fully captures the ominous presence of the hotel Barton stays in. On film, it is the most foreboding motel since Stanley Kubrick's THE SHINING.

MILLER'S CROSSING (my favorite film of ALL time) is a different period piece. It centres on Irish gangsters in the 1930's. But while the plot is an ingenious homage to the gangster film's of Bogart and Cagney, it is the dialogue which makes it shine. Once again, astonishing characterizations rule the day, as the conflicted Tom Regan plays both sides against each other for reasons even he may not understand.

An added bonus is the introduction, written by the Coen's sometime film editor. It is an unusual choice, as he goes to great lengths to describe how much he does NOT like the scripts, or film in general. It serves to heighten interest in their content, and does prove that the Coens are not for everyone. For those of us you cannot wait for their next film, this is a treat.

It's 496 pages of baseball stats - the real kind, not the contrived Bill James geekazoid kind -, in about seven-point type. It tells you how many hit (50) Renny Duarte allowed in 50 innings for Caracas of the Venezuelan League. If you find the availablity of that fact incredibly cool, then buy the book. If you don't, or if you're some sort of commie-pinko-girly-man who doesn't realize that baseball is the true foundation of the civilized world, then buy something else.

Mrs Landingham, what's next?

Baseball America's 2008 Almanac is a real winner. I have been buying baseball record books since 1951 and have found the Almanac is the most comprehensive review of the previous season to be found anywhere. All major and minor league stats from 2007 are included along with a look at independent leagues, college and high school baseball, player drafts and obituaries. I find the format in which stats are presented for each major league team and its farm clubs together preferable to showing minor league stats by league. It's a reference book any real baseball fan should own.

Man, oh man. Where has this book been all these years I've been playing - and losing - at fantasy baseball? I've never seen it in the bookstores but this has got to be the absolute best approach to winning your league. I've never looked at stats this way before, but it sure makes sense that we've been evaluating players all wrong. Shandler has won experts leagues with it and heck, if Rob Neyer and John Hunt use it, there's got to be something to it.

This book is a must-have for any fantasy baseball participant. It offers concise reviews and predictions on most major leaguers in a frank and humorous way. His statistical approach is unique and almost always on the mark.

If you're like me and you grew up reading Bill James' baseball abstracts, then the Baseball Forcaster is for you.

Shandler uses sabermetric analysis to look at the numbers behind the numbers in order to evalulate players skills. Those skills are what translates into stats.

Its a good book to read whether you've been doing fantasy baseball for years or just starting. Heck, its a good book to read if you're not interested in fantasy baseball, but want a systematic approach to analyzing player performance.

My only criticism is that it doesn't really have much analysis on minor league players (although it does have comprehensive Major League Equivalency stats for minor leaguers, there is no commentary).

Its one of the two baseball books I couldn't live without (the other one being the Baseball Prospectus). Its what I base my preseason scouting on, and I always have it handy during the season. I only hope too many other owners in my league don't start buying it.

As every fantasy baseball competitor knows, many publications out there contain important statistical data necessary to prepare for your upcoming season. But Shandler's book is different. This book not only provides data on every major league player, it gives you brilliant insights on how to INTERPRET that imformation. Shandler even includes stats for minor leaguers -- and a Major League Equivalency Table that helps make these stats relevant when looking for those all-important rookie bargains.

The only negative I can find is that this book is geared for traditional ROTO League players, not Points League players. But the statistics included, along with Shandler's baseball acumen, really make this book indispensable for ANY fantasy league team owner.

I used Shandler's book last year and finished in the money. Money that I used, not coincidentally, to pay for THIS year's book.

Need to learn about the clathrin triskelion? It's in here. This book goes well above and beyond what I learned in Cell Bio and is amazingly concise in its consolidation. Will definitely be a welcome necessity for med and phys studies.

This book is the most brilliant book I read since the last 10 years. It is valuable, useful, and helpful in the field of histology. I recommend it for medical students and science students.

This is an excellent review book and it helps nail down concepts in pathology and beyond. It is difficult to find sometimes - but Kaplan has the book for the regular price of $29. I am not sure what fun and exciting version some of the used book sellers have that is worth $124. Great book, but watch what you spend. Be patient and you might be able to find a better price elsewhere.

The book is actually 405 pages. There is a great deal of information presented in a unique fashion which made it more interesting to read. I learned pathology from a different perspective through Dr. Brown's book (Thank you!)and was able to supplement and strengthen any previous knowledge. There were numerous (through out the book) typographical errors which need to be corrected.No erroneous info however. An excellent book.

This book is a lot of fun and really enjoyable reading. The Barbra thing is a hoot! This apparently is the first of an annual series - I can't wait till next year!

There are some wonderful essays in here. Two of the best include one about producing by a producer who worked for Robert Redford. Very interesting look at the producing life, which I've rarely seen written about. And another utterly fascinating essay by a homosexual who explains why homosexuals idolize tough, bitchy, ballsy female stars like Madonna and Streisand and Judy Garland. I've always wondered why homosexuals would idolize these type women (why women, they love men?) and this essay is an articluate glimpse into the homosexual mind.

I would give a copy of this to everyone I know, and place it in every medical waiting room or attorney's office serving those with disability or injury. Articles and books by physicians, patients, and the family members and friends who care for injured or ill family members and friends appear everywhere. Best of the Bellevue Literary Review includes personal essays, poetry, and fiction by known and emerging authors and poets. Bellevue Literary Review, the magazine, is published by Bellevue Literary Press out of the New York University School of Medicine. I teach world literature, and also read literary and other magazines as fast as they are published. I have also cared for ill family members and others for most of my life. I rate Best of the Bellevue Literary Review at the top of the list both in the quality of the literature, and in the message conveyed.

A 2008 anthology of ~90 short stories, essays, and poems drawn from the NYU School of Medicine's semi-annual literary journal.

Each entry deals in some way with illness or coping, although sometimes minimally and often peripherally. There are doctors and hospitals, but most of the pieces are about people in ordinary community. Combined, they threaten toward darkness. Yet in the midst there's a hilarious, satirical fantasy, and poems that leave me with a "Wow!"

All of the writing is first-rate -- after nearly every entry, I found myself flipping to the contributor bios in the back to learn more about the writer. Highly recommended.

Wild Bill was one of my all time favorite B-western heros. Still love his movies.
Like to have more on dvd " Callin' Wild Bill".

There was something about "I'm a peaceable man", when Bill Elliott would look you in the eye and say that line. Of course we fans knew him as "Wild Bill", and when you went to see him on the big screen, you got exactly what the marquee said...plenty of thrills, adventure and loaded with action. My personal favorites were the "Red Ryder Series" or "The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok" an ongoing character that would appear in many films to come...as Hickok and Wild Bill Saunders. Elliott was a natural for the western, his riding abilities and fight scenes were the caliber of Buck Jones and Bob Steele. Seems the more films he made the better his acting and scripts were.

Bobby Copeland's book on "Bill Elliott:The Peaceable Man" is chuck full of answers to all the questions his fans had from early on. The forward by actress and co-star Peggy Stewart gives us a real insight of the man who was so peaceable. Plus other stars Gabby Hayes (his sidekick), Dub Taylor (another sidekick), Roy Barcroft (king of the badmen), Terry Frost (another badman), Tom London (a favorite of mine, did a lot of westerns with Wild Bill and many others), Marie Windsor (appeared in the film "Hellfire", a big favorite of mine) and Tex Ritter (teamed with him in many films)...all have expressed the same sentiments, Wild Bill was one of best-liked people in films. What you saw on the screen is what he really was...a great human being.

Copeland's coverage of the life and times of Elliott is very touching and entertaining. In his book there is His Biography...In the Comic Books...Ranking His Popularity...They Knew Bill Elliott...His Horses...They're Talking About Bill Elliott...Personal Life...Bill Elliott's Obituary...His Principal Sidekicks...Fred Harmon(Cowboy Artist, Creator of Red Ryder)...Bill Elliott Look-Alike(Ronnie Aycoth)...The Real Wild Bill vs. The Reel Wild Bill...Non-Starring Films of Elliott...More About the Author's Favorites...About The Author. There are many photos of stills, behind the scenes and personal pictures. My favorite is a rare photo of Gene Autry, Bill Elliott, Roy Rogers and the president of Republic Studios Herbert Yates during the peak of the studio.

I found myself being transported back in time, Mr. Copeland's book has opened my eyes to what a wonderful unselfish person Bill Elliott was...only wish I could have met him. He was one of a kind...a peaceable man!

Total Pages: 194 ~ Empire Publishing ISBN 0-944019-31-5 ~ (1/30/2000)

William Attaway's BLOOD ON THE FORGE powerfully depicts both the Black migration to the industrial north after WWI and the startling hell-like environment of the vast iron & steel works of the era. No other writer--novelist, sociologist, historian--has ever captured so well the compelling, visceral experience of the humans working these sacrificial jobs. As Attaway walks us through the vast furnace & forge areas of the works, our own skin scorches along with that of his worker-protagonists. We become party to the daily struggle to survive the most appalling working conditions.

This novel deserves a place on the highest level of our American esteem. It's tragic Attaway was unable to produce more work, since both his vision of the American experience and his fictive language were intense, revelatory and precious to anyone wishing to know and acknowledge this nation's true industrial and racial history.

I have not read my grandfather's books, but i am planning on doing so this summer. I love to write as my grandfather did, i am currently writing a science fiction book,the subject matter is very different to his books, but when i write it remineds my father of his father when his father would write. I never met my grandfather but i feel he is always with me.