2D Books

After a review of 12 different textbooks for Beginning C++ I have selected Ivor Horton's Beginning ANSI C++: The Complete Language, Third Edition for use in my semester length college level Intro to C++ programming and my Intermediate C++ programming class. This is a community college and most of my students have NO programming background or experience. This text provides comprehensive semantics and syntax analysis of all examples. None of the confusing "shortcuts" and partial explanations found in most books. The author consistently uses "good programming" practices and provides clear and concise explanations for his use of specific constructs. I am especially delighted with the breadth of coverage and the well constructed index. Horton wrote the text that I used to learn C and I am happy to see he has continued to write with the same attention to detail and clarity. Highly recommended!
Can be used with any ANSI C++ compiler/IDE.

Ivor Horton does the incredible job of making learning C++ enjoyable. The book is very-well measured in terms of the pace with which is increases in complexity. The amount of detail is extraordinary, and yet the presentation is engaging and entertaining. Horton's got all the hallmarks of a world-class trainer. I fail to understand how anyone can give him less than five stars!

This book is great for the beginner. It assumes that you have no prior programming experience and sets about getting you some. By the end of the book you will be able to understand and program with simple objects. The only bad part is that Wrox is now denying that they published this book on their web page and no longer have the sample answers to the exercises. Luckily I found a copy that I backed up before they took it off the web page.

It looks to me as though this edition is just a rewrite of Horton's previous edition. This book covers the ansi/iso std. of 1998, not the current standard. They seem to have put a new cover on the book and raised the price. BAD, BAD, BAD!!!!

The same applies to his new "Beginning C Programming". This has no reference to the new C99 standard at all.

Despite the book having relatively quite a number of errors here and there (considering it's now in the 3rd. edition) and coming with a slightly steeper price tag, it's still a book every professional C++ programmer should have on their reference shelves.
The overall flow is very logical and sensible. Presentation is clear and with simple reinforcing illustrations. For e.g. the concept of Namespace has been explained in such a simple and clear manner, the method to pass-by-reference and it's difference with using pointers is well explained. I've searched for details about the notation - function_name<data_type>(arg_1, arg_2) - i.e. template parameters in Deitel's C++ text but to no avail. I found it readily explained in Horton's book. This may not be a one-on-one substitute for Deitel's text but if you're serious about C++, then get Horton's along with Deitel's.

I love this cookbook. The recipes are great, the photographs are great and amazon has the best price hands down. It is my standard wedding gift.

This is really a GREAT cookbook! Terrific recipes, extremely creative pictures, fantastic "stories" to co-incide with the recipes. I've given this book as a gift for multiple bridal shower gifts - accompanied by a gift certificate for Victoria's Secret. And, most recently I bought it as a wedding gift to accompany salt and peppermills off of the couple's registry and wrote a fun note - reminding them to always keep their "marriage spicy!" This book is tastefully erotic (no pun intended!)

The book itself is great, but my cover is all dirty and scratched up, which is disappointing.

I have been giving this book for engagements, anniversaries, or any excuse I can think of since it came out in 1997. The photography is beautiful. The recipes work on multiple levels, whether introducing the reader to a completely new ingredient or taking a new approach to a familiar ingredient, & are rarely intimidating. Thus, preparation becomes anticipation, also an aphrodisiac, instead of trepidation. The only complaint I ever heard from a recipient of this book was from my cousin, who prepared a complete aphrodisiac meal for her husband of 1 year using this book: "It must have been too strong because he skipped foreplay and intercourse, and went straight for the post-coital nap!"

I gave this book to my husband for Valentine's day and he loved it! Very sexy, well put together for the romantic cooks of the world!

This is a nice personal interest read about a well to do Armenian family living in northern New Jersey. What makes it different is the undertone of a family tragedy suffered in faraway Armenia during 1915. During that time, the Young Turks of the Ottoman Empire sought to kill or dispossess 1.5 million Armenians of their lives and property. The author's grandparents suffered enormously and their parents and siblings died through the most brutal methods. When the Balakian was growing up, there was always something under the surface of their family. The author's parents did not educate how their family suffered during this time. When the author does a term paper on Turkey for his high school class and gets an A, his father is angered on the subject he selected.

The one thing that stands out in this memoir is that the Turks still deny they did anything wrong. A recent amendment in the U.S. Senate was defeated due to Turkish pressure to label this a genocide. This despite the fact that this happened over 90 years ago. Somehow the Turkish people and nation chooses to not assume guilt on one of the first mass murders in the world's history.

The book gets off to a slow start with several chapters on Balakian's grandmother. Some of the writings suggest mystical happenings like the black dog and blue lady. After that the author focuses in on his family and the tragedy of Armenia. One thing that I think the author got wrong is when the Young Turks assumed command of the Ottoman government. Two Sultans ruled from 1908 till 1920. They were figureheads to the Young Turk government. Other than that, an interesting read.

A very good, well written story of the author's discovery of his own Armenian roots and the genocide of 1915 of which his grandmother was a survivor. It also is about one half of an autobiography, detailing the author's upbringing in suburban New Jersey.

The first three parts of the book are subtitled Grandmother, Mother, Farther. I feel the book should have jumped into the Armenian part of the story much faster. A better course might have been to make the leap from Grandmother to the old country and then fill in the backstory of the author's upbrining in New Jersey.

According to the dusk jacket, the author was born in 1951, as was I, so I can testify to the veracity of his account of those times.

Much of sections set in Turkey during the time of the Armenian genocide are given over the official documents about the event, as if the author were uncertain his own word would be enough to convince the audience. Given the Turkish government's commitment to denial on this issue, I suppose that is understandable.

I just finished reading this book. It tells the story of a boy growing up in the 1950s who along with his Armenian grandmother who shared a love of the NY Yankees growing up in New Jersey. It also tells the trauma of the past telling the story about some of his family members killed by the Turkish government in 1915. It is well written and I loved the story. It's a really good book if you want a good read. It was both happy and sad. It also brought back a lot of memories of a bygone era. I liked it a lot.

The story of the author's grandmother is the same as the story my grandmother told me. Yes, her entire family was killed by the Turks. As a small child, I attended the Armenain school where all of us would compare stories as to how our grandparents survived the death marches. It is a very nice story that tells about history, a history that is kept hidden for many political reasons. Until the world fully ackhowledges what happened to the Armenians, and punishes the Turks, many more genocides and attorcities will take place. After all, if the Turks can get away with the torture, killing, rapes, and genocide (while countries such as the United States let them get away with it), then other similar regimes will committ similar attorcities.
I storngly recommend this book.

Peter Balakian's book, "Black Dog of Fate," tries to be too many things
and sadly fails at many of them. In essence, it is an attempt to tell a
sort of Armenian-American story which I find not overly interesting or
compelling. I wish the author had done a bit more in-depth work to learn
about his people and their rich heritage before embarking to represent it
or explain it or share it with non-Armenians, for he has much more to absorb
and understand himself first. I find the Armenianness in this book to be
tentative, unengaged and unconvincing. Pity, since the author seems to
have a lot of passion in his pursuit of other aspects of his life such as
football, the Yankees, modern poetry, and exposing Turkish attempts to
buy (among others) Princeton professors to act as mouthpieces giving
legitimacy to their vile historical revisionism, practiced by the
"modern" Turkish state and its organs.

It seems to be all the rage these days to elevate personal histories and
family testimonials into the realm of fiction and novels. The "I" and "we"
and "us" occupy center stage and the reader is invited to enjoy the
intimacy that must surely be in place via this artifice. But is it realy?
Since in order to make this legitimate, the writer must distance himself,
at least initially, from all this old world exotica, and like the reader,
question their validity or relevance in present day North American
society. What are all these old world, old fashioned ghosts and traditions?,
is the first cry of writer and reader alike, only, ofcourse, to be followed
by a sharp bank turn where the writer steers the satisfied and in-place
reader towards the opposite viewpoint wherein *this* culture and *this*
lifestyle become suspect in light of some tentative spotting of cultural
wealth that has been traded in or abandoned in order to swim swiftly towards
materialistic, memory-free, self-redefining, "comfort" seeking and buying
mores.

In the Balakian tale, one encounters suburbia instead of substance,
worldly goods acquisition instead of deep roots that steady the soul,
immediate family and relatives running away from their true identities either
towards surrealism, the abstract and unemotional, or else towards medicine,
respectability and detachment. Young Balakian observes but never
understands "the grandmother" for she is shielded culturally from being
able to reach him by her very offsprings who can not and will not instill
the Armenian identity he will eventually seek but never quite find. Their
crime is self-denial and a march to the tune of America's mixmaster
piper. "Be unlike your past and your future will be brighter," seems to be
what America promises, at the very least. The intermediate generation listens
and adopts this credo and Peter is left to find out but never quite
understand just what cost his ancestors have paid to remain Armenian and
to preserve our culture before the final denials on New Jersey pateos while
enjoying, as if to serve sweet irony, full course Armenian meals and the
mixing aromas of delicacies from the old country every Sunday.

Peter is lost alright, but as the book sadly shows, he remains lost.
Paraphrasing or quoting Ambassador Morgenthau does not an Armenian genocide
expert make. Personal family testimonials of the Turkish atrocities does
not a genocide history make (For that, read Vahakn Dadrian's "The History
of the Armenian Genocide" Berghahn Books, 1995). Episodic accounts can be
dismissed by the Turks as hear-say and as mere isolated incidents, leading
to more harm than good (for if better evidence existed, the arguement
goes, why would anyone resort to such flimsy fare?). For the story to have
worked, for the story to have *really* worked, as I would have liked it to,
Balakian's life and lifestyle would have had to have changed
significantly and his child rearing practices would have had to reflect
it, and his relationship with his wife who, like him, is not leading a strongly
Armenian existence, would have had to have changed, solidifying his roots,
celebrating his new found identity, and nurturing the metamorphosis by
sustained community involvment and grass roots movement participation
which, alas, never appear on the pages of this book. How else to explain
the lack of a turning around of the tide of assimilation to which Balakian
is a grand personal witness, except that the transition has not occured?
The ship of Armenianness sails by Balakian. He is finally aware enough to
be able to identify the ship and wave it goodbye and write about it, but
not resolved enough to climb aboard. That is how the book fails and that is
how his story fails. This is a story of assimilation and loss with a bit of
mid stream self awareness thrown in. For a real story of an Armenian
finding his roots and letting them take root in his own life and future,
read Mark Arax's book, "In my Father's Name (Simon & Schuster, 1996),"
where the transition is real and the early youth of disaffection is
replaced by a profound adoption of our essence revealed in exquisite
frankness and power by Mark Arax. One can only hope that Balakian's
partial reorientation towards our culture and traditions and essence will
somehow continue and that some day he will wish to live with a more meaningful
attachment to our cause and needs than merely as an able observer (not
withstanding his laudible actions as an April 24th -- Armenian genocide
commemoration speaker and an exposer of Turkish infiltration in the US
academic arena by buying spokesmen turned professors who mascarade as
unbiased researchers). This criticism I direct to the predecessor of this
genre of American Armenian writing first and to Balakian second. I speak
here of "passage to Ararat" by Michael Arlen (Hungry Mind republication,
1996) where a disinterested soit-disant Armenian goes to Armenia in the
70's and by the end of the short trip is somewhat more closely touched by
this strange people's woes and dreams. Too little, too late, and always
detached, is all I can say to these meagre displays of ethnic or cultural
reorientation. Much more needs to be absorbed before the essence is
transmitted to future generations to take and behold.

However, I remain hopeful that future transformatory stories and ethnic
identity survival stories *will be* written which will show that the tide
of assimilation and cultural abandonment are not the only outcome of this
experiment of transplanting peoples and cultures to this continent we
proudly call our home.

I personally didn't mind the interpretation of a white man (Neidhart) translating Black Elk's legendary stories into a published work of art. The book was a very easy read and insinuated deep emotion and spiritual awareness. I higly recommend this book to anyone who has the slightest interest in Indian culture and tense relations between Indians and Cowboys (Federal Government)

Both Thomas E.Mails and John Niehardt have brought to life the true nature of the Native American in their masterly renditions of their interviews with these Medicine (Holy) men, both Fools Crow and Black Elk. The result is an understanding of the simple honesty, good nature and trust that initially left them so open to exploitation. More importantly, they demonstrated a sincere belief in God that the 'White Man' was singularly lacking in the early pioneers. Their beliefs ran parallel with the Primitive Church as established by Jesus during his ministry in the Middle Ages.Fools Crow

This is an exceptionally moving book for anyone yearning to know more about Native American spirituality. Black Elk was truly a man filled with the holy spirit. It reminds me of the book, Walking the Trail, One Man's Journey Along the Cherokee Trail of Tears. Both are highly recommended.

It says on the jacket of this book that Black Elk Speaks belongs in the company of 'religious classics'. Maybe so, but even if you regard his visions as indicative of a religious experience, the parts of the book dedicated to the description of these visions make for rather tedious reading. The real meat of the book is his decriptions of the last of the major indian battles at Rosebud, Little Big Horn (Custer's Last Stand), and Wounded Knee. Black Elk and his friends were there, and lived through those harrowing days. A must-read book for anyone who wants to know how it really was.

_Over the years I have read this book in the wilderness and in the wasteland. Every time that I have reread it I have come away renewed.

_There are just so many levels on which this account can be appreciated. It is one of the best first-hand accounts of plains life- from camp life, to the march, the hunt, courting, healing, etc. It is also one of the best first-hand accounts of historical events- the Fetterman Fight, the Wagon box Fight, Red Cloud's Treaty, the Custer Fight, Wounded Knee... It is also a first-rate autobiography of the deepest thoughts of a man who fears that he may not have lived up to his God-given destiny. But, above all, it is a legitimate Revelation from the world beyond.

_At times Black Elk seems to despair that he didn't live up to his great vision. Personally, I do not see this. He did what he was supposed to do. First, he brought his vision to his people in the form of the magnificent Horse Dance. Then, in his twilight years, he wisely brought the same vision to the outside world in the form of this book. This was too powerful and universal a vision to be confined to one people alone. Every part of it resonates with the Perennial Philosophy, the eternal religion that underlies all true Tradition- from the World Tree at the center of the people's hoop, to the certain knowledge that the things of this world are but a shadow of the true Reality of the next.

_As far as the sacred herb of four blossoms is concerned that he saw at the end of the forth ascent- that was the rebirth of the sacred tree from sacred seed. This book is that seed.

This book truly speaks to the mind, body and soul. It is the FULL TILT BOOGIE! Am on the mend thanks to this wonderful book of wisdom. It was recommended to me by a dear friend who always has one handy to share with onother suffering human being. I plan to do the same. The breathing lessons have been so valuable and restoring...I can continue to live my life with mindful presence, making each day better than the one before. Thank you Jon Kabat Zinn for sharing your wisdom and essence of life.

this book is a classic. it is a readable, deep, and broad presentation of information that is relevant to anyone trying to live mindfully during these frenetic times.

The book is very detailed regarding how one stress clinic helps their clients. The author has some very good points, but is long winded.

I am about half way through this book - it was a little bit of a culture shock to get into this way of thinking and acting, but I am enjoying the challenge and think that it has already got me thinking about how I deal with stress and everday events - I have been dealing with some serious medical issues, and need to reduce my stress - I believe this will help - the psychologist who recommended it to me thought very highly of it and was convinced I would benefit from it - I think I will....

I bought this book in the middle of a year-long battle with insomnia--not the typical life-changing trauma that brings many others to this book, but insomnia destroyed me both physically and emotionally. My doctor suggested anti-depressants, and a friend suggested Full Catastrophe Living.

I never touched the anti-depressants.

Jon Kabat-Zinn is the voice of calm all throughout this book, never imposing his method on you but simply making suggestions that he's seen work in his practice, both personal and professional. The first section offers mindfulness activities that you can immediately put to practice: meditation to help separate your self from your thoughts; a body scan to simultaneously connect you to and release you from every section of your body; and yoga to strengthen your muscles and flexibility, both physical and mental.

The second section shows how those methods have been proven to work, through both scientific research and anecdotal evidence. It is a section for those still reluctant to give themselves over to what they may perceive to be the "new age" or "weird" practices in the first section. If you've been practicing as suggested in the first section, the second section will verify to your head what you feel moving in your heart and body.

The third section offers a variety of lifestyle and anecdotal advice for specific ailments and disease, from insomnia to headaches to cancer. Through all this, Kabat-Zinn is at once compassionate and scientific, speaking to and reassuring all shades of his audience.

Together, these sections taught me to listen to and have faith in myself. The book showed me that mindfulness is not some new-fangled craziness but a path to peace and self-knowledge. Eventually, my sleeplessness went away, but that was more a side-effect of the practice, a natural reaction to the peace I learned from myself through this book.

Castaneda's books are garbage designed to make money from gullible hippies, and there are plenty of them still around. Caveat emptor, to say the very least.

I recently struck up a conversation with a stranger at a local book store, and he handed me a copy of this book and told me it was life-changing and that I had to "trust him" and read it. Never the one to shy away from "fate" (or whatever you want to call it), especially when it comes to someone physically handing me a book that is considered "life-changing," I knew I had to read it and set out to do so the next day. And simply put, I thought it was insightful but I was somewhat disappointed and don't really get all the hype.

Perhaps I had extremely high expectations (as one would when the book recommender tells you it was life-changing); perhaps its a generational thing; or perhaps I read too quickly, as I read the book in one day. I am planning on re-reading it again more slowly. I have a feeling I might get more out of it the second or third time around, as other reviewers have suggested. However, it just wasn't as mind-blowing as I thought it would be and can't understand how others loved it so much, as to consider it life-changing?

I definitely have my share of underlined passages that I thought were very important and insightful, and will take away with me after reading this book, however I thought it was a little corny at times, for lack of a better word. I hated how don Juan kept testing him and while I understand it was so he could come to his own realizations, it just frustrated me as a reader. I felt there was just too much written about how he wanted answers to all his questions and was disappointed when they weren't forthcoming.

In addition, the book presupposes that attaining this type of power, "stopping the world," and becoming a sorcerer like don Juan is something one should want to attain, but why is that necessarily so? Without contact with others (except it seems his other sorcerer friend), and without any personal history, which he simply gave up, what exactly are the benefits that don Juan experiences? Why should anyone want to become a sorcerer like him?

I am sure those who love this book are going to consider my thoughts naieve and comment that I'm ingnorantly stuck in a world where things are what they seem, but I am truly happy in this world where I have a personal history, connections to others and a clear sense of my life and place in the world. Perhaps having a strong religious identity prevented me from buying into these assumptions as well? Or perhaps having read only one of Carlos Castenedas books, I am missing the complete picture that would make this more interesting or relatable?

Despite my somewhat-negative comments, I do recommend this book, as I found it thought-provoking and interesting. It would make an interesting book-club selection, because it provides wonderful fodder for discussions and opinions. However, I wouldn't recommend this book as "life-changing."

That might not come from reading this book alone, as it is the third most believable of the series. When I was a student, I like many others I know who will confess to having read a Castaneda book or two when pressed, went through a couple of years of Castanedism, reading the 8 classics 2 - 3 times each, and even the later four, quite different books a couple of times. Being someone who likes to give the benefit of the doubt until conclusive evidence proves otherwise, I must admit to only getting suspicious by this, the third book. The second book, A Separate Reality, picks up on the supernormal happenings, but still these are within the realms of possibility, when one considers Spiritualist literature. By Tales of Power, when at the end Carlos throws himself off a cliff and only survives by becoming pure perception, bouncing elastically back and forth between the two inherent realms of all creation, the tonal and the nagual, the game was up. In Carlos' terms, my assemblage point had just experienced a considerable shift into the realms of disbelief. The cocoon had burst. I read the remaining books still interested, but with the growing realization that I'd been had. Bizarre ideas not found in any other spiritual traditions, such as the necessity for people on the path of knowledge to kill their children to reclaim the power they'd lost to them, plus fill in the holes in their cocoons the children had caused, made me wary. This was surely not a philosophy the whole world should turn to, or else we'd be living in a fearful, lonely world with every man for himself.

However, this would be fine if the books weren't made out to be non-fiction. While I have seen these books placed with science fiction books in many libraries, in most European bookshops they're still sold with real, non-fiction 'Mind, Body, Spirit' books. The reason I give this book such a low rating is that an intensive study of his works, the books by his various colleagues, plus Richard De Mille's intelligent criticisms, can only lead to the conclusion that Castaneda, the writer, used Don Juan and Carlos, two fantasy characters, to verbalize his own beliefs, which were culled from his own spiritual and academic experience. That there are not some useful nuggets of wisdom, or advice in these books I do not deny. That is their very attraction, plus the belief that it all really happened, and is a new spiritual revelation. But as these are mixed up with increasingly bizarre assertions and beliefs (by the Art of Dreaming it seems all pretence at non-fiction had been given up), it is doubtful whether a lifetime devoted to these practices (as opposed to say, real shamanic practices) would lead to spiritual improvement. If you must have a Castaneda book in your library, rather get The Wheel of Time, a selection of the spiritual highlights of the first eight books, but consider it rather 'The best of the personal philosophy of Carlos Castaneda' than anything to do with Don Juan or Shamanism. This understanding may not have the romantic mix of wild Mexican deserts, ancient wisdom, wise old men and naive westerners which captures the hearts of so many, but it is a lot closer to the truth.

The anonymous ghost-writer at Schuster and Schuster who corrected Peruvian immigrant Castaneda's English for at least all of his earlier works (a sample of his writing from 1969 reveals it was still far from perfect, not like what is in books), giving the books their special character, certainly deserves more credit than he or she gets. But they are not written well enough to succeed as fiction, hence their continued classification as non-fiction, besides the intense academic embarrassment it would cause copyright holders UCLA to have to admit such a dramatic change in classification, from fact to fantasy, after having previously given the author a doctorate for his work! I give this book one star on the basis that any book claiming to represent the truth which is later found to be fraudulent deserves no stars by definition, so I must give the minimum rating allowed. The day this book is reclassified as Fiction, I will up my rating to 3 stars though, as it is a quite entertaining and authentic piece of fiction-posing-as-non-fiction.

Probably the most significant book I have ever read. That doesn't say a lot but hey I never like the bible. For some its almost petty to the number of polished novels and books already on the market and waiting for you pocket book. I must say though, this is quite the exquisite example of whats possible in our world or reality to get metaphyiscal. Many of the writes or teachings of castaneda are just that but this book to some is a starting point from which to begin the journey. The not-doings and small samples are just a small example for what in it. I highly recommend this book for anybody. Maybe you'll get hooked maybe not. Either way, some may care to read it.

Carlos Castaneda was one of the most controversial writers of the twentieth century. Some in academia branded him a fraud for claiming his stories were biographical rather than fiction, while lauding him as a great novelist for exposing a mass audience to otherwise inaccessible philosophical abstractions they claimed were largely plagiarized. Each of his works is a piece of a larger puzzle, which makes it impossible to critique any one book without addressing the larger context into which it fits.

His first two books, "Teachings of Don Juan" and "A Separate Reality" describe experiences induced by ingesting psychotropic hallucinogenics prepared by a Yaqui Indian shaman from Sonora, Mexico he called don Juan Matus, and accounted for his becoming a guru to a generation seeking short cuts to spiritual enlightenment, as well as his lifelong interest in the relationship between perception and reality, a theme now explored in many popular books on consciousness and quantum physics. Unfortunately, these books remain his best selling works, in spite of Castaneda refuting their importance in his later works. Readers would be best served to skip these and avoid the risk of being turned off to Castaneda and missing the more stimulating works that followed.

His third and fourth works were "Journey to Ixtlan" and "Tales of Power." In Ixtlan he admits to over-estimating the value of his drug experiences, which caused him to overlook the more profound teachings of don Juan which became the focus of future writings. What emerges is a spiritual discipline dating back to the Pre-Colombian Toltec sorcerers of Latin America, culminating with don Juan's departure from our world, effectively ending Castaneda's direct affiliation.

In his fifth and sixth works "Second Ring of Power" and "Eagles Gift" Castaneda suffers strange flashbacks of what seem to be memory fragments of events he is unable to fit into any logical time sequence. In his seventh and eighth works, "Fire From Within" and "Power of Silence," Castaneda succeeds in reconstructing his lost memories, which derive from teachings previously administered by don Juan while Castaneda was in a "heightened" state of awareness.

In books nine and ten, "Art of Dreaming" and "Active Side of Infinity," Castaneda focuses on what he describes as inorganic predators from another dimension, some having the power to imprison humanity in "ordinary reality" so they can feed on the dark emotional energies we produce when succumbing to the negative thoughts they insert into our minds.

In later years several seemingly substantiating works appeared by two of Castaneda's female apprentices, Taisha Abelar and Florinda Donner-Grau. In addition, two scathing exposés were also published by two of his ex-wives. The first, "Magical Journey with Carlos Castaneda" by first wife, Margaret Runyon, offers little corroboration, since her marriage pre-dates the time when the bulk of Castaneda's adventures were claimed to have occurred. While steadfast that Castaneda was a sorcerer, she doubts the existence of don Juan, even claiming authorship of many of the concepts Castaneda ascribed to him.

The second, and more credible work, is "Sorcerer's Apprentice," by well-known writer Amy Wallace, daughter of the late best selling novelist Irving Wallace. Here again, we find little corroboration since the time of the events she describes is well after the period when Castaneda's relationship with don Juan is alleged to occur. What the book does provide is a troubling look inside Castaneda's final years, a picture of descent into what seems sexual addiction and possibly madness, leaving one to wonder if Castaneda was just one cup of cool-aid short of a Jonestown.

Many have asked why I put any stock whatsoever in Castaneda. A story from my autobiography, "The Vortex" may shed some light. A year before Castaneda published his first book I had an experience that would remain a mystery until Castaneda published "Power of Silence" twenty years later.

For a brief time, in my youth, I became a practicing Muslim, meticulously performing the complex prayer ritual five times a day. Then one night, sitting in my car, frustrated and complaining at not being able to find the address of my next sales appointment, something inside me snapped. It was as if some part of me had disconnected from my body and assumed control, lecturing me about my lack of discipline. A profound calm settled over me, rendering me simultaneously detached and engaged. For two days my sales figures soared. It was as if no one could say no to me. On the evening of the second day I decided to put my new state of being to the acid test by visiting my parents. Their behavior was so uncharacteristically supportive I hardly recognized them. It was enough to convince me that I was now living in an altered reality. But by the following morning I had returned to "normal." So distracting had this event been that I completely forgot to perform my Muslim prayers, and in fact, never did so again.

Twenty years later, in a chapter of "Power of Silence" entitled "Place of No Pity" Castaneda describes a very similar experience. In the aftermath of the event don Juan explains that humans are like televisions stuck on a channel called "self-preoccupation," lacking the energy to tune into any of the vast array of other channels available to us. To change channels, he explains, we first need to accumulate energy, by practicing rituals that are deliberate, precise and repetitious. Do this long enough and eventually our stored energy precipitates a shift to a channel where self-importance and self pity become impossible. Once this happens we connect with the force that controls the entire universe, a force don Juan called "intent," and everything can be bent to our will and even more channels can be opened, assuming we remember to keep practicing the rituals that save our energy.

This one realization alone was enough to inspire me to dedicate my autobiography "To Carlos, with gratitude."

Maxwell Austin van Lack, Author of The Vortex: A True Story of Passion and Karma

The case of Kitzmiller versus Dover Area School District is the most significant court battle between creationists and secularism. It was not, however, a battle between Christians and Atheists because many of the plaintiffs were also Christians. They fought to keep religion out of school and for the right to have the sole responsibility of where their children should receive their religious learning. The court delivered its judgment on 20 December 2005. Several books had since been written about this case which demonstrated another instance of fact being stranger than fiction. Four of the better books were written by journalists and writers covering the trial and so their accounts were partly reporting and partly eye-witness. The books included "Monkey Girl" by Edward Humes, "The Battle over the Meaning of Everything" by Gordy Slack, "The Devil in Dover" by Lauri Lebo, and "40 Days & 40 Nights" by Matthew Chapman. In addition to these books, at least two of the experts at the trial have also written about it. Barbara Forrest updated her book "Creationism's Trojan Horse" and Kenneth Miller wrote "Only a Theory". The latter two books are philosophical and scientific assessment of "Intelligent Design". The others cover the issues and drama of the trial in Dover. If you have time for only one of these books, it would be hard to choose between Slack and Humes. Lebo's book is the shortest and so that might be a consideration. I prefer the wit and style of Slack, but Humes appears a little more detached. It is difficult not to note the implication of the Kitzmiller case. As the writers end their accounts, one is left with the distinct impression that the "Intelligent Design" movement has suffered a huge body blow. Slack, Humes, Lebo, and Chapman have shown how the attempt to pass off Intelligent Design as a science failed. Judge Jones' said in his judgment, after reviewing the evidence of the events and actions of the board members and the experts called on their behalf, "To assert a secular purpose against this backdrop is ludicrous".

Monkey Girl is one of the most challenging, eye-opening, involving books I have read. Edward Humes' commitment to Evolution is strong throughout, but he presents in well-written detail an overall balanced account of the Darwinism/Intelligent Design court controversy in Kitzmiller v. Dover, PA.
Monkey Girl stumbles a bit (3-5) when Humes states that Copernicus showed the Earth was no longer "the apple of God's eye", that the Enlightenment's founding father deists believed in a distant creator, and that Darwinism showed that man was akin to a marsupial or a mollusk; that it provided the "proverbial last straw for the faithful." This is an interesting take on history. Millions of religious folk around the world still worship weekly, knowing full well the earth's proper placement in the cosmos. I don't think that people leave the faith because Copernicus made them do it. As well, the writings of the founding fathers sway more towards the concepts of Jonathan Edwards rather than Charles Darwin, and many people don't believe that humanity is a "happy accident", hence the court case and, of course, Monkey Child.
This aside, Humes presents clearly the ignorance of the Dover, PA school board in forcing the idea of Intelligent Design (ID) without knowing much about it, or much about Evolution, and discusses the implosion of the ID camp as the confrontation headed to court. Achieved too was the reality that ID, while argued to be scientific, seemingly is interchangeable with the religious idea of creationism, as even Rush Limbaugh stated (292). Kindly, Humes does not completely excoriate the Dover school board leader, but later shows the difficult circumstances he was under, and keeps him from being two-dimensional.
As a Christian, I was challenged at how the conservative Christian movement is seen through the eyes of others. The words of Pat Robertson, Ann Coulter and the exploits of Kent Hovind were sad to read. I now have a better idea of what Darwinism is, want to study more the stated proofs of the fossil record, and came away with stronger doubts about the young earth idea. The ID movement did not come across well, but it did not seem that Humes had an axe to grind. He did the work of a good investigative reporter, and was able to make a difficult topic readable to a non-science person like myself.
However, I did not "convert" to Evolution. It surprised me that the noted Evolutionist Stephen Jay Gould could not "destroy" the lawyer and anti-Darwinist Phillip Johnson in a debate (68), and thought that Humes too easily dismisses Michael Denton's book Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (129-131), which impacted Michael Behe to study and promote the idea of Intelligent Design. Kenneth Miller's idea that ID turns God into a "tinkerer" (267) loses impact by suggesting that God would choose distant deism rather than a close relationship to creation. And, even though Darwin's theory did not discuss abiogenesis (how non-life became life), I think it needs to answer it: Evolution's biggest gain would be to show abiogenesis in action: until then both Evolution and Christianity claim origin non-empirically, that is, by faith. Too, Humes' epilogual comment that the Bible is "rife with proven geographic, scientific and historical inaccuracies", that outside of the scriptures there is no record of Christ, and that the Bible contains "no eyewitness accounts of Christ" (348) is embarrassing for Humes. As an investigative reporter he should have studied the works of Lee Strobel, another investigative reporter, rather than write such blatant inaccuracies. That he writes these things to me shows his being influenced by an a priori commitment to Darwinism, and I came away wondering if this commitment led him to shade other aspects of his book due to his beliefs.
Most decisive for me were the concerns of the Christian teacher Jill Gonzalez-Bravo, whose teaching of Evolution brought consternation to her students as it showed they were not "born for a purpose" (172). Humes' sympathetic portrayal of her loses force when he states that her concerns might be shown to be "baloney" (173), that questions of purpose could be answered outside of the classroom. The problem with this is the lecture I attended in May of 2008 at Colorado College where the renowned Darwinist Alex Rosenberg of Duke University stated unequivocally that Darwinism, which was fact, was incompatible with the Abrahamic Covenant, that is, with the Old Testament and by extension the New. Should I take the word of Humes, a journalist who claims that questions of purpose may have a role outside of the classroom, at home or in a church or synagogue, or of Rosenberg, who holds that Evolution has determined that religious purpose as practiced and believed in by many is a falsehood? It is this very issue, expressed ably by Gonzalez-Bravo and brushed asise by Humes, that gives me pause. True, the theories of gravity, the big bang, relativity, quantum theory, atomic theory and plate-tectonics are adhered to in spite of "gaps"(93), but none of these challenge the role of purpose and meaning as does Darwinism, and for that it should be judged more strictly, even as a science.
All that said, I came away as an avowed (non fundamental, non young earth toting, non ID spouting) theist, and I do this due to my worldview. I say this out of respect for Humes. He wrote a lucid, erudite, page-turning book so convincing I could have gone either way were it not for my a priori commitment to biblical theism. While Evolution could have been God's method of creating the world, it should not be used to replace the Almighty, and I value the words of Kenneth Miller that "science rules out the supernatural because it is science that is limited, whereas God is not." (267, as interpreted by Humes) The author Anthony Esolen has stated that life is remarkedly different for one whose view of the universe is not colored by a few beliefs that are in turn believed to be revealed by an almighty God. If God is the personal creator the universe is a deep and rich place; God is the "tinkerer" who enters into the lives of His children who are made in His own image and likeness. Without this the universe, to Esolen, is rather flat and only impacts us environmentally and in faddish moral good or evil. Darwinism might just be incompatible with Christianity as it has never encountered something so rich, but continues to intelligently develop computer programs to show that Intelligent Design (in whatever form it may have taken) might just be superfluous to world Evolution. There is much to consider in the ongoing debate about Evolution, much outside the scope of Monkey Child. It is worth the read as an account of Evolution in the culture wars, but does not deal well with some important questions, ones that are not "baloney".

Anyone with even a minor interest in the "Intelligent Design" movement will find this book engrossing and educational. It is also a frightening look at what can happen when zealots dominate school boards. Judge Jones emerges as a modest but stalwart defender of enlightened thinking, and the rest of the characters in this drama of science provide more than enough entertainment to keep readers happily turning pages until the end. A must read.

Newly released in paperback, "Monkey Girl," by Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward Humes, chronicles the true story of "Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District," an epic six-week ("forty days and forty nights!") 2005 court battle that could easily have been dubbed "Scopes Monkey Trial II."

Writing in brilliant, lucid prose, Humes takes us behind the scenes, introducing us to players on both sides of this fascinating drama.

Believing Darwin's theory of evolution (the origin of species by the mechanism of natural selection) to be "Satan's tool," the Dover school board sought to introduce "Intelligent Design" into the school's curriculum.

The plaintiffs, believing "Intelligent Design" to be a Trojan horse concealing creationism (or "Creation Science") fought to keep religious doctrine out of the public schools.

Clearly sympathizing with the plaintiffs, Humes points out that, by its very nature, science deals only with natural phenomena which can be empirically verified or falsified; hence, the supernatural (an Intelligent Designer, a.k.a. God ... or perhaps space aliens) is outside its purview.

A captivating account of a tense chapter in America's culture wars, "Monkey Girl" shows how "Intelligent Design" is a serious threat to the separation of church and state and an attack on science itself.

The title of this book is taken from an incident involving an elementary-school student who said she would like to know more about Darwin's theory of evolution, and several of her classmates began taunting her with the epithet "Monkey Girl."

The "Monkey Girl" in the title is one of the victims of the gross ignorance enacted by the Dover (Pennsylvania) Board of Education in 2005 as its majority members tried to slip creationism into the science classroom. She was a student who was made fun of because her parents accepted the empirical truth of biological evolution. It's an apt title for this very readable account of the Kitzmiller v. Dover "second Scopes trial" that ended in a victory for proponents of evolution. It's appropriate because ad hominem attacks, non sequiturs, and outright stupidity are characteristic of the style practiced by the parents of children who call others "monkeys."

Edward Humes made his reputation as a true crime writer. He has now branched out into other fields, and I am very glad he has. He brings rare reportorial skills and great energy to any subject or event he writes about. He writes clearly and without any phony humbug, and he does his research. And he is admirably fair.

However, it's hard to say just how "fair" this account may seem to those who believe in Intelligent Design or creationism or, for that matter, in the literal interpretation of the Bible. The plain fact is that ID is not science, and a literal interpretation of much of the Bible is blatantly false in a scientific sense. Furthermore, although it is difficult to say nice things about True Believers in this sorry context, amazingly enough Humes does just that. Even though the real instigator of this embarrassment to the Dover school district, onetime Board President Bill Buckingham, revealed himself as someone who would (and did) lie under oath, who is grossly ignorant about matters of science and faith, who doesn't play fair and bullies people--Humes nonetheless describes him in a way that elicits sympathy for him.

One does not however feel sympathy for the Discovery Institute with its Intelligent Design Trojan horse "wedge strategy" with which it hopes to replace science in the classroom and ultimately, as Humes has it, win America's soul. Such people are playing for power. They want control. They want to replace the scientific method with appeals to authority for whom they hope to speak. They want to put God in charge so that they, as those who are in a position to speak for God, have the power and the authority. They are like Pat Robertson and his ilk who believe that any lie (and ID is a lie) is okay if it is done in the name of God.

Humes not only covers the Dover trial in depth but he gives the historical context in which it occurred as well as information about previous trials covering similar circumstances, including the famous Scopes trial and the precedent setting Edwards case from 1987 in which the Court ruled that creationism is religion and cannot be taught in the public schools. This is the case that got the Discovery Institute and others to come up with ID to further their anti-evolution agenda. Intelligent Design has been described as creationism in a tux. The conservative and Republican Judge John E. Jones III who presided over and ruled in the Dover case decided that ID was simply creationism (no tux), and that is basically why the Dover Board lost the case.

Humes makes not only the principals in the case come to life as he describes their actions, but he also makes crystal clear the legal and scientific arguments, which to the uninformed may be difficult to follow. This is a good book for people who are not experts who want to know what happened in Dover but also want to understand the issues involved.

Curiously enough Humes' epilogue contains a devastating mini-review of Ann Coulter's book "Godless." Humes waded through it (something I would not take the time to do) probably because one of the intellectual leaders of the ID movement, William Dembski, helped her with the science. Humes quotes a three-sentence passage from Coulter in which he identifies "five lies and one ludicrous error." (p. 346) In doing so Humes makes what I think is an important point that clarifies a lot of what this struggle is about. He writes:

"Perhaps the most outrageous lie contained in this three-sentence passage is Coulter's claim that liberals think evolution disproves God. In truth, the exact opposite is true: It is conservatives who think this way. Religious conservatives, not liberals, have tried to ban evolution from the public schools for decades because it contradicts their literal reading of the Bible." (p. 347)

Scientists in general and especially evolutionary biologists in particular know that evolution says exactly nothing about the existence or non-existence of God.

It is an irony of the times in which we live that some of those who most strenuously claim to be Christians are the ones who tell the biggest lies and tell them most often.

Common sense was at the right place at the right time, written by the right person. It created an inflection point that changed the world!

Most major changes in life are cause by events called inflection points. An inflection point is an event that changes how you view the world, who you are, or your life in general.

Think 9-11. People in the United States felt safer before that day. After 9-11 we realized our vulnerability to terrorists. There are many inflection points in our history.

Tomas Paine's Common Sense created a major inflection point in history!

In early 1776 Thomas Paine published a 46 page pamphlet called Common Sense. It helped inspire the writing of the Declaration of Independence and motivated a nation to start a revolution.

The book was written for the common man and was estimated to have sold 120,000 copies within three months of publication and 500,000 copies within a year. It is worth noting that this was in the United States when there were only 3 million people--and many couldn't read!

John Adams and others had been arguing for the United States to become an independent nation. The release of Paine's Common Sense was the inflection point that caused the nation to become independent.

Thomas Paine used his Critical Thinking skills to determine that the time was right to inspire the people to take action. He argued convincingly that the young nation had to make a choice for independence now--not later. Paine explained that within fifty years the personal interests of individuals who would acquire status and money by then would resist such a change. And, the colonies would be more established and would resist such a change.

"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right." ~Thomas Paine

The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

This was an excellent point of view that is very straight to point when it came to how to deal with the british and some very practical advice on how a democracy should be run. It even goes as far to give an alternate view on how the constitution should be written, and some of faults of the draft at the time which ultimately went on to be ratified.

This book was originally written as a pamphlet in 1776. It was crucial in advancing the thought and spirit of the American Revolution to the masses. I found this book to be amazing in how forward thinking the author was. Declaring "The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind". He spends the first part of the book logically explaining that Monarchy is wrong and having heirs to a throne is ridiculous. He uses the bible as part of his argument that kings and kingdoms are man made and the origin is corrupt so they should be done away with. He goes on to explain how a fair practice of representation in government could take place in the colonies after independance. He writes that America had no logical need to submit to Great Britain's dominion any longer and that after the treatment America received, she had every right to independance. Paine predicts that America would emerge as a powerful nation with its natural resources and location. He says that the pride of kings results in wars. He states that in a monarchy the King is law, in a democracy Law is king. This book is a wonderful trip into logic and reason concerning Americas independance, I enjoyed it. Thomas Paine's vision of America came true, and you can read that vision in this book.

Larkin's treatment of Thomas Paine's COMMON SENSE is one of the finest I've ever read -- and I have virtually everything ever written about Paine on my shelves. Superlatives don't really measure up to the full usefulness of this text, ESPECIALLY for educators.

Examples of the extraordinary contents include:

A cogent and accurate introduction to Paine and COMMON SENSE.

The text of COMMON SENSE itself is profusely annotated by Dr. Larkin.

A timeline for Thomas Paine.

A solid Works Cited section

Appendices that include Jefferson's notated version of the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE that shows which words and phrases were edited OUT of the declaration and what was put in place of them.

Important antecedents to COMMON SENSE by Jefferson, Adams, and John Dickinson.

Key replies to Paine's COMMON SENSE by Charles Inglis, James Chalmers, William Smith, and the redoubtable John Adams.

The full text of Paine's AMERICAN CRISIS No. 1.

In my opinion, Larkin's work is simply the best single treatment of Paine's COMMON SENSE in existence. He makes it look easy to bridge the gap between readability, accessibility, and scholarly excellence. Were I asked to teach a class on this topic or even on the Revolution itself, this would be a first choice for a text.

By the way, Larkin is just the most recent of a distinguished group of English literature scholars who have contributed some of the finest work in the field of history. Lit professor Alfred Owen Aldridge is another distinguished contributor to Thomas Paine historical studies.

If you're interested in the subject matter, this book is a MUST HAVE.

Until I actually sat down and read Common Sense, I had no idea how incendiary these writings were. No wonder the King wanted Tom Paine's head on a platter. Boy, it is lucky for Tommy that the colonists won that mess because his butt would have been in the dumpster. And his criticisms of the British generals and their battle plans are hilarious.
Old Tom and all his Tom Foolery was really something. He had the gonads all right. Talk about a guy looking for a fight! This was the street talk of the day let me tell you.
This was the man behind and truly responsible for the American Revolution - make no mistake this man is the culprit.

This book is so funny! It is absolutly as good as the first two, and not at all boring. Georgia may be self obsorbed and snotty and so on, but that is only part of her charm! If you are tired of depressing serious books that are very deep and meaningful read this. You will never get tired of it! Even after i've read it a zillian times it is still so funny. I laughed through basically the whole book. If you read it and think it is not as good as the other ones, fear not, the fourth is even better! It tkes so little time to read it is worth it even if you hate it. (The content is so not explicat)

This book was in mint condition and in other news rocked the socks off of all the other books I've read and let me tell you I am georgous but a bookworm majorly. I am going to read the whole series. Georgia is frisky, witty and funny +wild. (strangely very similar to her huge cat Angus)

I found this book hilarious! It was very well written and very understandable! I have read other reviews from her other books in the series from adults and they dont like it which is why i think that these books are mostly for teenagers. Adults tend to find Georgia rude and disgusting. They dont understand that the books are supposed to be fun and the rudeness is the funny part!

I am a teen like georgia and i just love these books! they are so easy to relate to and are hilarious!!! georgia, along with her many, many thoughts, is crazy, straight-forward, and soo funny. I would recomend this to any other teen girl because i am almost positive they would love it too!

Sadly 'Knocked Out By My Nunga-Nungas' was not only not as good as the first book in the series but not even the second.
Georgias time in Ouch Eye Land was borderline boring - where is that laugh a minuet humor? The story line with the parents is not nearly as interesting as in the past, same with Angus and Libby. Then we get to Jas - she has become highly annoying and stuck up, Im waiting for her and Tom to break up to bring her back to reality. "You have to let Jas rave on or you never get to talk about yourself" how many times have we heared Georgia say that?! And how many times have we un-caringly heared Jas go on? Too many thats for sure.
I did like the Dave The Laugh story line in this one, and most events that happened beyond P.70 were funny. I hope the fourth one doesnt continue the downwards spiral, I would hate to give a Louise Rennison book a 3/5.

Nancy Drew
Book Two
The Hidden Staircase

Nancy Drew is on the case of the hidden staircase. The eighteen-year-old sleuth is busy with two mysteries to solve. Her friend, Helen Corning has asked her to come to her family's ancestral home to help solve a mystery, involving a ghost. Just before Nancy leaves, she is visited by a man who tells her that her father is in danger and she had better not let him out of her sight.

Nancy's dad is working on a case for the railroad. Men are protesting the railroad going through their property and a crooked lawyer has told them to hold out for more money. After Nancy's dad assures her that he can take care of himself, Nancy reluctantly goes to help her friend.

Missing jewelry, strange noises, shadows, a moving chandelier, and footsteps at night, all plague the women at the Twin Elms Manor. But when the same strange lawyer comes to the door to the manor, trying to buy the property out from under Helen's great grandmother, Nancy is very suspicious. On top of that, Nancy's dad was last seen by a taxi driver who was taking him to meet his daughter, but he never arrived.

Can the crooked lawyer have something to do with the ghost? Can he also be involved in the disappearance of Carson Drew? How does the ghost get into the manor? And how does the spook always know when the coast is clear?

The suspense will keep you reading from beginning to end, in Nancy Drew's second mystery, The Hidden Staircase.

There are several ND books that I read as a young child and now my daughter reads them too. The Hidden Staircase is one that I put at the top of my recommendations. It is excellent mystery reading for kids age 9 to 12 (or for those of us who just like a trip down memory lane once in a while). The thrill is still there!

I bought this little notebook for my mother who is an old school Nancy Drew fan and she was thrilled with it! It is a nice size to use as a purse notebook, well made binding, quality paper and there are printed illustrations on the pages - so it isn't just a blank book with a Nancy Drew cover - it is a total Nancy Drew themed blank book. Really nice small gift item.

This book was for my grandaughter. I read it before giving it to her and found it to be very entertaining and appropriate for my 8-year old grandaughter. She is reading it now and enjoying the book very much.

I did have to get this third party because it wasn't available when I went to order it. I am glad to add it to my collection. Putting aside what is obviously wrong with it (the derogatory portrayal of the African-American servant) this is a pretty good mystery story. It is much different than the seventies version I had read before, not just the language, but even the storyline changed, with both the elimination and addition of characters. My only problem is the big gold seal on the front of the dust jacket. If this is supposed to be an accurate reproduction of the original book, it should not be "defaced" with a seal stamped on the front advertising "The Originals." I would have preferred that be put inside the book. I did enjoy the internal advertisements of other series in the end pages.