Radio Books

Growing up in Lima, Ohio during the Depression Era was a time of great adventures for Duke Murray! In these affectionate memoirs, Duke (aka. Dr. Emmett Murray, a retired family physician), tells 35 favorite stories from his boyhood years in the Midwest.
After some early mishaps, Duke's entry into grade school opens new worlds of enjoyment. Horace Mann Grade School and its vast playgrounds get long and affectionate descriptions. Adventures on his own find Duke up at dawn to watch the Big Top circuses set up, hauling huge ice blocks while working at Lima Ice and Coal, training the family beagle to hunt and to win show prizes, and taking X-rays of steel castings at a tank plant. Duke helps an eccentric neighbor go after night crawlers, and he faces death and family alcoholism in a school friend's life.
The book conveys the atmosphere of daily life in the 1930s, and Murray's contemporaries will find many a brand name and Age of Radio show to identify with. But Duke Murray goes beyond these to describe also the sounds, the tastes and the smells of the time. "Saturday Night in Lima, 1930s Style" is a golden example of his talent for evoking atmosphere.
Murray communicates a special fascination with life on the farm and the industry and humor of farming people. He describes the big meals, the homemade ice cream and grapes from the arbor. But his fondest memories are of making hay, raising chickens, cattle and hogs, and watching his aunts put up canned food stores for company in the days before modern refrigeration.
The book goes on to describe the dawning realization by America of the inevitability of World War II, and the rather frightening experiences of enlistment and service by all the three Murray sons in the U.S. Army. The book's chronology ends with Duke Murray in medical school, entertaining himself by winning a tall tale radio contest in Columbus, and singing barbershop quartets with his dissecting partners over their cadaver.
These tales will be especially enjoyed by fans of Lima and Allen County, who will respond with glee to references such as the Lima Rescue Mission and the Kewpie Hamburger Restaurant. However, the stories are more than local memoirs in that they evoke the 1930s overall, and depict the universal struggles of a young person learning to fill his shoes in America.
The book includes a map of Duke's old neighborhood, his immediate family tree, an appreciation of his storytelling history, and contact information. Come Reminisce with Me sounds a note of optimism with its attitude that life presents experiences from which lessons may often be derived. Dr. Murray shows that happiness and laughter can happen anywhere, and that life may not be perfect, but that it still offers a lot to enjoy, appreciate and be grateful for at every turn.
Reviewed by Robb Murray, July 1, 2003

Dr. Murray sews together his stories seamlessly. The stories are both quaint and hysterical. His eye for detail gets down to the last inch of the scene. He has a way of drawing you into the story so that you won't want to miss a beat. This book is great for the summer beach bag.

This is a book of many Special Stories. So well written you feel you were there. It is one of those books you cannot stop reading till you finish that last Story.

This book transforms you back to a simpler time in life and one where neighbors really cared about each other.Life at the time might not have seemed so easy but loyalty, manners, patriotic spirit and faith were essential ingredients to a wonderful childhood in the Midwest. You can almost picture yourself in the middle of the neighborhood the author describes and can visualize the characters he describes. It is so pleasant to read.

I must confess that my initial interest in "Come Reminisce with Me" was one of local history. But what I discovered was something deeper than descriptions of Lima, Ohio in the 1930s. Murray's simple style and delicious imagery of youthful experiences took me back to a time in my own life when each day was a new adventure. These memories are intricately woven with humor and humility, joy and compassion, leading the reader through youthful rites of passage on the road to evolving maturity.

Share this book with your friends, kids and grandkids and watch what happens. It's sure to spark dialogue about some of life's most endearing and enduring experiences and values.

Patricia Smith
Allen County Museum

Don my friend, what a great job you did on this book. It is fresh, humorous, and easy to read. Way to go!!
John in Dublin

Great to see a book that comes out and tells the truth about Talk Radio. Funny how so many of the critics of talk radio never actually LISTEN to it

This is a great book!!I bought a copy and it is great to read while eating lunch, and all my coworkers asked about the book, and they went out and bought it as well.

The book is extremely informative and well written, and reads well because it continues to capture your interest one topic after the other!

As we are only a couple of months before the holidays, this will make a great stocking stuffer!

The author has done a fantastic job of chronicling the many stories he's heard on the many popular talk radio shows. People who would have otherwise gone unsung are written about in this book. He pays tribute to this very unique form of entertainment and information.

He feels that talk radio is important. It, unlike the regular media, gets the views of real Americans across. In addition, he feels it's powerful in that the callers actually take stands and get things done.

So whether or not you agree with the politics of talk radio, you'll enjoy this book. The stories are about real people. Good people. Well meaning people. And it's truly an American story, well worth reading.

Don has a down to earth way of getting his message out. His insightful reviews scattered throughout the book of history keeps on subject. This allows the reader to understand the deeper roots as he lays the groundwork for the meat and potatoes of the message. While this is clearly the author's personal view and comes solely from his heart every American who loves this country will relate, be enlightened and not be able to put it down. Maybe we all need a little more talk radio to learn from and books such as this! I hope Don is planning to write more in the near future! "2-thumbs up"

Travelling with Michael is to say the least exhilarating, fun, adventurous and a journey of discovery. While many can only dream of actually making the trip, Michael Palins' books are the next best thing. It's not just where he goes, but how he does it and perhaps most importantly: seeing it through his mind's eye, which needless to say can make humor out of nothingness. All you need is to relax and have the urge to increase your imagination. A wild but educative ride!

Michael Palin does it again with Full Circle. Starting in Alaska Michael travels anti-clockwise around the rim of the Pacific Ocean visiting countries as diverse as Russia, Korea, Viet Nam, New Zealand, Colombia and the west coast of North American. He tells of his adventures getting to and exploring some fantastic natural wonders, visiting a Russian gulag with a former inmate, the relief of Japan, the Vietnamese reactions to a westerner, the biggness of Australia and the hardworking people of South America. The section on the United States is short and not always sweet. Palin is taken aback by the physical bigness of Americans, and rush, and loudness. By the time he reaches Canada and attends a "lumberjack" fair (no singing Mounties included!) he really "wants to go home". We also learn a bit about how the series and book were produced, his wife Helen and their children, and that being on a job for the BBC doesn't always mean smooth sailing! Michael's friend Basil Pao took the photographs - he also joined Michael on "Around the World in Eighty Days". I can highly recommend this book and not only to fans of Monty Python - it doesn't end how you might expect!

As always Palin has produced a great travel book and series... this I found better than his "80 Days". The other thing people might find interesting about this travel book is that it takes us to some places which are hard to reach even in this day and age, so this is the only way we can know them.

Also suggested- "Hemingway Adventure"

Full Circle is just as good, if not better then his othertravel/comedy books. It is simply magnificent.

I've seen the 10-part Full Circle tv series, and I had a serious addiction from the start. When it ended, I went through a withdrawl period. I silently rocked myself in a chair in my room repeating "I must get the book,... must find book...must read book." I've got it now and I'm back on a Full Circle high. The book goes into details that they never had time for on the series. It tells you everything that you would have noticed had you been in Japan or Australia or Chile.

Ahh... I can imagine myself right now on the streets of China getting a massage from a blind man.

I'm ALMOST done with this book and am looking forward to the next book(s) in the series. Its a wonderful mix of modern American times, magic, adventure and sci fi, where a couple of young kids/tweeners learn the value of their skills and how to be unique!

I purchased this book after hearing the author talking about it on TV. My pre-teen loves this book. I have purchased books in the past but this is the first she started reading and can't stop talking about it. This was one of my best purchases and at a great price.

Wow! What a story!

Louis Proof is a teenager in East Orange, New Jersey. When the book opens, Louis one of the most popular students in his class. He is helpful, kind, and smart. He accepts an invitation to go to a wonderful amusement park where all of your wildest dreams come true. After things go a little wrong there, Louis leaves and mysteriously collapses and falls into a coma.

When Louis awakens, it is three months later and everything is different. Many adults are being replaced with replicas of themselves -- and they are a child's dream. They let their kids do anything they want. Slowly, Louis realizes that he is the earth's only chance. Earth is being taken over by Galonious, a very funny but evil person. He takes away a person's inhibitions and promises freedom. Some people steal and vandalize while others commit murder.

I spent some time speaking with my fifth-graders about this concept and I believe that they found it as scary as I did. The story doesn't come to a conclusion, as there are supposed to be sequels. The hero is also African-American, which is a first, and there are many references to popular culture which makes the story fun.

Enjoy reading THE MARVELOUS EFFECT!

Reviewed by: Marta Morrison

Being an adult who still reads what are called "chilrens novels", I was pleasently suprised that kid in me has been re-awakened in Marvelous fashion. Troy CLE has infused Hip-Hop, True teachings, and a world of fantasy into the "Marvelous World" of East Orange New Jersey...I would say more but the Crims would get me. Then as young Brandon would say, it would be "on". I highly recommend this to anyone who has children of their own, or better yet, to anyone who has a child's heart... Bottom line, "it's marvelous darling". Peace.

This is a beautifully written book that will instantly engage even a reluctant reader. It's fun, it's deep, it's alive with a lively plot and creative setting. I use it for an urban book club. Most of my kids have never read a book over 100 pages, yet they finished this book ahead of schedule. It's a very smart book with great vocabulary and themes that are rich for discussuion. This author has written a book that kids can see, hear and feel.

After teaching English for several years, Judy Muller worked her way from small-town radio up to network television.

Her short, readable memoir is by turns poignant, moving, and hysterically funny. The copy that I checked out of the library had many dog-eared pages and I quickly grew to expect laughter -- that is, to hear myself laughing out loud -- when I reached one of these frequent waystations.

I knew that Judy Muller teaches a graduate course in broadcast journalism and I checked this book out of the library because I thought it might provide some good insights into the specifics of delivering the news. Beyond learning that radio reporters actually write their stories (but many TV reporters don't), which for some reason I found surprising -- you mean they don't just wing it? -- I learned very little about the mechanics of broadcast reporting, yet "Now This" is so accessible, and so funny, that I read the whole book anyway.

The editorial reviewers (above) have pretty much covered the topic areas of the book, so let me mention something other reviewers have not emphasized.

In anecdote after knee-slapping anecdote, Muller really captures a prevailing disjunction, a gap between the way the Big Media Powers that Be (back in New York) see the world, and the way the rest of us see it out here on the other side of William Penn's woods.

Judy Muller must have zillions of these stories under her belt by now, and now that she's gotten her memoir out of the way, it would be great to sit back and enjoy hearing her recount some episodes from her travels through small-town USA.

I look forward to a sequel, especially if it as as funny as the original ... Now This!

Judy Muller's unique combination of sharp wit, keen perception, brutal honesty, and personal courage gives us a glimpse into radio and TV journalism we can't get from just listening or watching. The book is a triumph, fleshing out the real people behind the talking heads. Her frank description of personal alcoholism is heart-wrenching, and her tale of the prices paid, and the gains made, in her profession should be required reading for anyone seriously considering a career in journalism. A fine read on several levels. Thanks for sharing, Judy!

This is easily one of the best written, most thoroughly delightful books I've read in many years. If you are a parent you will love it! If you're interested in radio you'll love it! If you're interested in TV you'll love it! One of the few books I've read in recent years where I truly hated to see the last few pages coming up.

Now, this is why Judy Muller is one of the very best correspondants on television--she's obviously a superb storyteller on the air, and when she's got some real time, boy can she ever write 'em down. Ms. Muller says up-front in her book that she comes from a whole family of storytellers. The lady's got great genes.

Judy Muller's wonderful book is a treat for anyone interested in an inside look at the whacky world of television news. Ms. Muller has a terrific sense of humor which keeps the reader doubled over throughout. I read the book cover-to-cover in one sitting, then gave it to a friend who also found it impossible to put down. We both had a good laugh together afterward comparing notes on our favorite stories from the book.

Ms. Muller also infuses her book with fascinating tales from her vantage point on history and poignant moments about dealing with life's problems. Her story is told honestly and from the heart. This is easily the best book by a television newswoman since Linda Ellerbee's "And So it Goes."

I love this book. If you enjoy cultural trivia you would enjoy this book which is made up of 3-5 paragraph stories. I started reading them to my 10 and 12 year old kids and they love them.

I have both This book and I believe its called More of the rest of the story. To give you an expample of why I loved this book Im going to give you a short preview of one of my favorite storys Im not sure which of the books its in but I liked both books equally

A man was engaged to a woman named Lucy she was the daughter of a Senator Who a President named Ambasador to Spain Lucy Broke off the engagement cause she went with her family History tells his This man killed this president for a different reason and he may have killed this president Anyway But could he have been thinking about Lucy too.

Paul Harvey of couse tells this story better I was trying not to give anything away But this story led me to go buy a book on this particular asassination.

It was a fun book, full of very short storys.

I read this book about 15 years ago and was delighted to find it on amazon. This is a keeper, one that you can browse through over and over again. It contains stories of little known aspects of the lives of very well known people and is rather like an encyclopaedia based on People magazine. The element of surprise at the end gives a delightful twist to each story.

As Napoleon indicated, History is the lies upon which we've all agreed. There is no such thing as a work of history that doesn't leave some important element out. Partly that's to make history more palatable for a new generation -- who really wants to know about dentistry in the Colonial era when we're reading about George Washington and his false teeth? No matter what the reason, though, once an item is left out of history it tends to disappear permanently.

Unless Paul Harvey Jr. gets his hands on it.

Paul Harvey Jr, who writes the short vignettes for his father's radio show "The Rest of the Story," has a gift for uncovering forgotten facts. Did you know there was another Three Stooges? Did you know Jack Benny was invited to join the Marx Brothers? Did you know one of our Founding Fathers kept his wife chained in the basement because of persistent congenital madness? I hadn't known that.

This book is an incomplete collection of Harvey's vignettes for his father's show. Some are published under the name "Paul Aurendt," and if you can find them, jump on them with both feet. However, this book provides a good primer for the forgotten corners of history, and also allows you to own copies of the vignettes Harvey has made famous over the last 25 years. One can only hope that Harvey's example will inspire more historians to investigate the forgotten corners of history and find what's been otherwise forgotten. I'd buy more of these books if more of them were available.

Paul Harvey is a master at condensing the essence of a story into a few short paragraphs. These transcripts of his popular syndicated radio program serve as great models for anyone looking to create intriguing little stories for business presentations and sales letters. Highly recommended.

I'm going to meet this guy some day and laugh as loud with him as I did when I read his book. Yet, it's almost satire. Penetrating, poignant and schizophrenic. I loved it.

Seldom does a theological work that is full of depth in its scholarship bring gut wrenching guffaws that cause my husband to actually ask me why I'm laughing so loud. Rathbun's work is as easy to read as it is poignant in its message. This is a must read for anyone who has ever wondered, "What's up with that whole Christian thing?" A Christian reader will never again be so steady nor so sure nor so quick with all the answers. This is a book that reminds us of the core of Jesus' message, "Love as you are loved."

I guess this book has been out for awhile and I'm probably behind the times (or maybe the author was ahead of his time). I underlined a lot in this book. Here's one of my favorites:

"After all, what takes more faith - to believe that God can save you and offer personal fulfillment and comfort, or to believe that God can reorient the whole world from one of hate, greed, fear and personal gain, to one ruled by peace and justice? A world where there is Good News for the poor, releases for the captives, the recovery of sight for the blind - where the oppressed are free, and all live according to God's good favor. What takes more faith - to believe that God can save you or that God is going to save the whole world and wants you to help?" - pg. 86, Rev. Lamblove (aka russell rathbun)

The best line is on page 110, but don't skip ahead. You gotta read the whole thing, then the punchline will blow you away.

I hope it's not too late - I want to join the revolution!

Russell Rathbun has just raised the bar for Christian fiction. Post-Rapture Radio is fiction - forget for a moment the adjective Christian - at its very best. It is inventive, humorous, shocking, provocative, philosophical and at times quite depressing. It's almost existential. Rathbun has a message, to be sure, and it's directed at Christians. However, unlike most "Christian novels with a message," the message does not weigh the writing down.

In the book, the narrator discovers a box containing various writings of "unknown crazy preacher" Richard Lamblove. The writings include sermons, journal entries & miscellaneous scribbled notes by this man, whose only proof of existence appears to be the documents in the box. Most of the book consists of these various writings, interspersed with notes by the narrator, who is trying to make some sense of the writings. Lamblove is at odds with what he perceives as the "Contemporary Christian Church Conspiracy" that surrounds him and it's either driving him crazy, or driving him sane. Or perhaps both.

There will be a number of people who simply "don't get" the book, which to me only shows how brilliant the book is (all great books are not understood by the masses). Some will hate it because it pushed various buttons, and we all hate when our buttons get pushed. Many will love the book, just because it's so well-written and relevant. My reaction, however, was that I began to identify so closely with Rev. Lamblove that I experienced moments of near despair (a near existential moment - another sign of a great book).

The only shortcoming of the book, in my opinion, was that the Lamblove character is a pastor. The way the book resolved (I won't give the ending away) was fine for Lamblove, but what about the majority of people in the church? What options are open to those trapped in their own Contemporary Christian Church Conspiracy, but without the resources and opportunities of the leadership (not that he gave any specific answers there, either)? I need to ask Rathbun ... perhaps he'll write a sequel.

Ouch!! Once I got his literary device, his satirical critique hit home with both humorous and distressing poignancy! The sad truth is that many leaders in desperate need of updating of their methods and models will fall victim to a wholesale exchange of contemporary style for contextual substance. Russell Rathbun's critique of ultra-modern Christianity is a must read poking fun at our attempts to contemporize ministry without the accompanying and necessary spiritual depth, character, and authentic (and ancient) substance of the gospel. Ouch, ouch, ouch!!!

Nice book. But in this edition, there is no chapter title on each page, so it's a little difficult to track the chapters.

There is at least one author who may remind you of Stephen Leacock, namely Garrison Keillor of Lake Wobegon fame, but Leacock should be recognized as the ultimate master of quaint, bucolic humor. Leacock, who died in 1944, became arguably the most prominent Canadian humorist of his day (and probably of all time). What is ironic about that claim is that Leacock worked for most of his life as a professor of economics. We do not usually equate economics with humor, preferring to think of that profession as one of bow ties and supply and demand charts. Throw that presumption out the window and pick up a copy of "Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town," Leacock's best known work available through the New Canadian Library series.

For me, one of the funniest sections of the book was the introduction written by Leacock, where he gives you some background about himself and his profession. This short piece of writing quickly gives you an idea of the type of humor you will find in the actual sketches: a very sly, very quiet and clever type of humor that often takes a while to sink in. Leacock does not rely on rim shot jokes or manic posturing in his writings. Instead, he creates the fictional Canadian town of Mariposa and populates it with small town archetypes that are wonders to behold.

All of the characters are hilarious in their own way: Mr. Smith, the proprietor of the local hotel and bar, full of schemes to earn money while trying to get his liquor license back. Then there is Jefferson Thorpe, the barber involved in financial schemes that may put him on the level of the Morgans and the Rockefellers. The Reverend Mr. Drone presides over the local Church of England in Mariposa, a man who reads Greek as easy as can be but laments his lack of knowledge about logarithms and balancing the financial books of the church. Peter Pupkin, the teller at the local bank, has a secret he wants no one to know about, but which eventually comes out while he is courting the daughter of the town judge. All of these characters, and several others, interact throughout the sketches.

Leacock has the ability to turn a story, to make it take a crazy, unexpected twist even when you are looking for such a maneuver. That he accomplishes this in stories that rarely run longer than twenty pages is certainly a sign of great talent. By the time you reach the end of the book, you know these people as though you lived in the town yourself, and you know what makes them tick.

Despite all of the crazy antics in Mariposa, Leacock never lets the reader lose sight of the fact that these are basically good people living good lives. There seems to be a lot of feeling for the citizens of Mariposa on the part of Leacock, which comes to a head in the final sketch in the collection, "L'Envoi. The Train to Mariposa," where he recounts traveling back to the town after being away for years, with all of the attendant emotions that brings as recognizable landmarks come into view and the traveler realizes that his little town is the same as when he left it years before.

I suspect there is a historical importance to "Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town." These writings first appeared in 1912, a time when many people living in the bigger Canadian cities still remembered life in a small town. In addition to the humorous aspects of the book, the author includes many descriptive passages concerning the atmosphere and layout of Mariposa, something instantly recognizable to anyone who grew up in such a place. Nostalgia for the simpler life of the small town probably played a significant role in the book's success.

I look forward to reading more Stephen Leacock. While much of the humor in the book is not belly laugh funny, it does provide one with a deep satisfaction of reading clever humor from an author who knows how to tickle the funny bone. You do not need to be Canadian to enjoy this wonderful book.

no hype. i couldn't stop laughing as i was reading this. and i mean laughing out loud. in a cafe. with everyone staring at me. but i didn't care. and i couldn't help it if i did. it's just too hilarious.

Like the heading says, this is the funniest book I've ever read. Leacock was a comic genius and this is his best work. Buy it, read it, love it.

Perhaps the finest comment about Stephen Leacock in the last half century is that "he is a
Will Rogers for the 90's."

Rogers, of course, is one of the most beloved of American humorists -- he was killed in
1935 when his plane crashed near Point Barrow, Alaska. Leacock died on March 28, 1944.
Like Rogers, he had been Canada's favorite humorist for decades.

Sunshine Sketches is about Orillia, Ontario, Canada, where Leacock had his summer home
on Brewery Bay (he once wrote, "I have known that name, the old Brewery Bay, to make
people feel thirsty by correspondence as far away as Nevada.") His home is now maintained
as a historic site by the town of Orillia. I lived there for almost 30 years, and the people of Orillia are still much the same as Leacock portrayed them in 1912.

These stories about various personalities in town were printed in the local newspaper in the
1910 - 1912 era, before being compiled into this book which established Leacock's literary
fame. The people portrayed really lived, though some are composites; the events are of a
kindly humorist looking at the foibles of small town life. Once they came out in book form
and soared to national popularity, everyone in town figured the rest of the country was
laughing at them because of Leacock's book and he was royally hated in Orillia to the end
of his life.

Gradually, and this took decades, Orillians came to recognize that genius had walked
amongst them for several decades. (It's hard to recognize genius when your own ego is so
inflated.) Orillia now awards the annual "Leacock Medal for Humor" -- Canada's top literary
prize for the best book of humour for the preceding year.

Leacock died when I was six, but I did know his son, who still lived in town. I delivered
papers to the editor of the "Newspacket," Leacock's name for the Orillia Packet and Times
(where I worked) and the rival Newsletter. The Packet had the same editor in the 1940's as
when Leacock wrote about him in 1910.

But the book is more than Orillia; it is a wonderfully kind and humorous description of life in
many small towns. The American artist Norman Rockwell painted the same kinds of scenes;
it is the type of idyllic urban life so many of us keep longing to find again in our hectic
urban world.

Leacock realized the book was universal in its description of small towns, and in the preface
he wrote "Mariposa is not a real town. On the contrary, it is about seventy or eighty of
them. You may find them all the way from Lake Superior to the sea, with the same square
streets and the same maple trees and the same churches and hotels, and everywhere the
sunshine of the land of hope."

True enough, which gives this book continuing appeal nearly a century after it was written.
All great writing is about topics you know, and as a longtime resident Leacock knew Orillia
well. As for Leacock himself, he wrote, "I was born at Swanmoor, Hants., England, on Dec.
30, 1869. I am not aware that there was any particular conjunction of the planets at the
time, but should think it extremely likely."

He says of his education, "I survived until I took the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in
1903. The meaning of this degree is that the recipient of instruction is examined for the last
time in his life, and is pronounced completely full. After this, no new ideas can be imparted
to him."

In reviewing Charles Dickens' works in 1934, Leacock wrote what could well be his own
epitaph: "Transitory popularity is not proof of genius. But permanent popularity is." The fact
his writings are still current illustrates the nature of his writing.

In contrast to the sometimes sardonic humor of modern times, Sunshine Sketches reflects
Leacock's idea that "the essence of humor is human kindness." Or, in the same vein, "Humor
may be defined as the kindly contemplation of the incongruities of life, and the artistic
expression thereof."

Granted, this book is not what he recognized to have widespread appeal to modern readers.
In his own words, "There are only two subjects that appeal nowadays to the general public,
murder and sex; and, for people of culture, sex-murder." Yet, anyone reading this will
remember scenes from it for much longer than anything from a murder mystery.

In today's world, where newspapers almost daily track Prime Minister Tony Blair's dash to
the political right, Leacock wrote, "Socialism won't work except in Heaven where they don't
need it and in Hell where they already have it."

He described his own home as follows, "I have a large country house -- a sort of farm
which I carry on as a hobby . . . . Ten years ago the deficit on my farm was about a
hundred dollars; but by well-designed capital expenditure and by greater attention to
details, I have got it into the thousands." Sounds familiar to today's farm policies ?

It's what I mean by this being a timeless work.

Leacock himself noted, when talking about good literature, "Personally, I would sooner have
written 'Alice in Wonderland' than the whole of the 'Encyclopedia Britannica'." This is his
'Alice' and it well deserves to be favorably compared to Lewis Carroll's work.

By all measures, it is still the finest Canadian book ever written.

I thought that the book Who Was That Masked Man Anyway? by Avi was very, very good and I would recommend it. It was about a boy who loved radio so much that was all he could think about, so he did badly in school. He and his friend Mario Calvino go on "daring" adventures trying to get rid of a "public enemy" (also know as Mr. Swerdlow, the man who was renting out a room in his parents house). It was a very funny and enjoyable, and I think that is very good and I think that everyone should read it.

This book was very good bacause it has old shows and alot of oldies action .I like any thing that is like an old cartoon which I like anything that was made in made in the 1800's.That is why like this book and gave it four stars.

Genre: Non-Fiction
Three Sentence Summary: This book is about a kid who's brother is in Vietnam. He camoes home and has to stay in his brothers room. He tries to get him married and get the tenant to go away, so he could get his room back and talk to his friend.
What I liked most about the book: What I liked about this book is Frankie trying to get Mr. Watson out of his brothers room.
What I didn't laike and why: It doesn't tell the whole story, because at the end it just says that someone gets married and it doesn't tell what happened to Frankie's friend.
My favorite character and why: Frankie is my favorite character because he is funny and he's also kind of a fool because he doesn't think about the consequences.
The line that menat something to me and why: "Who was that masked man anyway," because the woman still couldn't figure out who he was.
What I would say about this book to someone else: Read it! it wil get you to predict what would happen next and it doesn't get you off guard. It goes in order.
One question I have after reading this book: What happened to Frankie and Mario.
My strongest reason for recommendation: It is interesting because it keeps you going, it makes you finish it and not put it away. It's addictive. It's suspensful.

Incredible! Avi has outdone himself this time. Using old radio, old wars, and new minds to create a fun, adventurous novel. His funniest book ever. If you haven't read this book yet, you haven't seen Avi's best book next to "The Man Who Was Poe."

... I was intrigued by the 1940's backdrop (I loved Number the Stars and Summer of my German Soldier--this was nothing like them at all). It is a comic romp following a pair of over-imaginate boys who listen to radio shows the way modern kids watch saturday morning cartoons. Avi even includes snippets from The Green Hornet and other popular radio shows of the time. A pretty school teacher and a war-injured big brother get mixed up in the boys attempts to aid the war effort in their own unorthodox way.

Solid understanding of wireless propagation channels is necessary to be a good wireless system designer and also a researcher. Part II of this book provides an excellent coverage of channel models and propagation mechanisms. It is a must-read material for graduate students in the wireless communications field. I also particularly studied chapter 19 on OFDM. Related concepts are very well explained.

I highly recommend this book for graduate students and researchers. It will surely be one of your favorites.

There are many reasons to recommend this excellent book. First, it is a very thorough review of important basic and new concepts in wireless communications. No matter what you are searching for, it is very likely that you will find a first answer in this textbook. While offering different levels of detail, the author has also managed to remain very accurate in the explanations, which is a rare quality among general textbooks. Finally, the list of references is really extensive for readers highly interested in very specific topics.

I bought this book because I needed to brush up my wireless skills for a project during this summer. I liked the table of contents; it seemed to include pretty much anything I would need. But when reading it in detail, I was even more impressed by the skill of the author in explaining the most tricky aspects of wireless systems, mixing verbal explanations, math, and examples. And the book is at just the right level to bridge the usual communications courses I had heard, and the really advanced research monographs and papers. To summarize, this is simply a great book - 5 stars without a doubt.

This is a very excellent textbook for both advanced undergraduate and graduate courses. It covers almost every aspects of wireless communications without losing depth. The further reading section at the end of each chapter is very usefull to readers who want to explore more on particular topics. It is a good sumary.
The book will be a good tool for those who want to get more detail understanding of emerging technology like UWB, MIMO, OFDM propagation model and wirelss standards such as GSM, WCDMA, WLAN,...

This is an excellent book that can be used both as a reference for practicing engineers and as a textbook for teaching wireless communications. The book provides the tools to understand the state-of-the-art wireless technology, theory and practice. Topics covered are wide-ranging starting with the presentation of the requirements of wireless communication systems and the technical challenges involved in communication under multipath fading conditions. The book proceeds to present a thorough description of the wireless channel. It then continues with an in-depth presentation of techniques for designing transceivers for communication over the wireless channel. In this part, the reader will find clear, detailed descriptions of technologies currently in use such as CDMA, OFDM and multiantenna systems. In the last part, the book discusses wireless standards covering both cellular and local-area networks. Review questions and exercises are collected in a separate chapter.