Kentucky Books

A fascinating book for everyone! I learned so much!

This book provides a strong background into the man that ran his life, company and a city by the "Golden Rule". In a time when big business ruled and exploited the American worker with slave wages and no protection, "Golden Rule" Jones reshaped and redefined our ideas of the workplace and in doing so challenged a whole generation of reformers. Marnie provides a very well documented book on "Golden Rule" Jones with a heavy emphasis on his personal and professional struggles throughout his life. It provides a great insight into Sam's pre-success years in OH and PA when he had "Oil on the Brain". A must read for any Human Resource or CEO's in learning how to treat their employees with respect, fair wages and good benefits. This book would also be a great asset for any students of religion, sociology, American studies, urban policies and, or history majors. This book will transform you, and you will be transformed by the ideas of S.M. Jone!

great picture history, I found myself going back and forth through the book over and over again.

This book, first published in 1955, was reprinted in 1968. As a native of the Bluegrass and a patron of Keeneland Race Course for a large majority of my life, I am particularly interested now in the striking photos that remind me of how things actually were in my younger days.

There is a chapter on the Keeneland Race Track and also on the racing of Trotting horses and on hunting horses. Information about the beautiful horse farms of Fayette and surrounding counties, including the splendid houses, is addressed both in pictures and richly descriptive text. There are as well many beautiful photographs of horses, famous and otherwise, including yearlings, stallions, and foals. Also covered is the running of the Kentucky Derby held in Lousiville, Kentucky. The chaper on Tradions and Legends is particularly interesting.

Anyone interested in the state of Kentucky, the Bluegrass Area, vintage Lexington, or just beautiful racehorses in general will be mesmerized with both the informative text and the gorgeous vintage photos.

Keeneland and The Trotting Track are still operative today and of course the Kentucky Derby is an annual tradition. The farms of Fayette and surrounding counties are mostly still in business and this area remains the Horse Capital; however, this book completely captures all of the beauty of a more gentile and less technological time in Kentucky's history.

A very informative and beautiful book reflecting the beauty and southern charm of this area and the sport of Kings as it was 50+ years ago. The book makes me smile and owning it makes me happy.

HOUSE CALLS is an outstanding book about Dr. Mack Roberts, a 97 year-old country doctor in Wayne County, Kentucky who practiced medicine for 61 years-until he was 90 years old. Delivering over 4,000 babies in his lifetime, Dr. Roberts is a legend around South Central Kentucky. This book portrays the life of a not-so-typical country doctor through vivid descriptions of events and happenings. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the past and present of a country doctor in a poor, rural area!

The Binghams have always interested me and this book does a great job of telling their story. It is easy to read and well written.

This is a valuable book (resource) for budding entrepreneurs. It seems to try to cover all the bases for starting a small business, but it can't do them all well in the space available between its covers. The book is only 288 pages long. If you are in the planning stages of starting a small business, then I highly recommend you get a copy of this book. Read it, study it, and outline it. There are helpful checklists to help you grasp the subjects. You will come up with a plethora of keywords and terms that you will want to google to find Web pages giving more detailed (and maybe more current) information.

I am a SCORE counselor (Senior Corps of Retired Executives) who typically does face-to-face counseling sessions three nights a month. It would really be neat if my clients would read this book BEFORE they came to their session with me because they would pretty much be "educated customers" ready to ask educated questions. Our sessions would be so much more beneficial.

My favorite chapters were:

1. Initial business concerns
2. Your business' structure
3. Business start-up details
5. Sources of business assistance (SCORE is mentioned here)
7. Your smart business plan (and a good sample plan is included)
8. Obtaining the financing you need

The book is weak when it comes to how the Internet can be used in corresponding, hiring, and marketing. But this is just one example of how googling keywords and concepts found in the book will make the book more complete. Don't treat the book as authoritative on the law. It isn't. Nor was it ever intended to be. It is light on tax information as it relates to small business.

I was particularly impressed with the material presented in Chapter 2: Choice of Legal Entity. That subject is sorely ignored in most small business books, and it is critically important. It is a subject I regularly must spend a great deal of time discussing at my SCORE sessions. This book does a pretty good job on the topic.

Chapters 4 and 9 through 12 are easy to find fault with. The topic of each could fill a book. But having these topics covered definitely will help a budding entrepreneur know some of the issues they raise.

I would have liked the book more if Chapter 6 (marketing) had been less superficial. When I read it I got the impression that the author was more a public relations expert than a marketing expert. I generally categorize public relations as a subset of marketing. Marketing includes advertising, public relations, and a whole host of other promotion techniques. I did not get this message when I read the book. I also would have liked the book better if the Internet, email, and Web sites had been discussed more. But there are many books on those subjects. Therefore, I can't complain too much about the limited discussion of computers.

When you read this book it may feel a little like it was produced on an assembly line. Maybe it was? There are 51 versions of this book sold; one for each state and the District of Columbia. Content is king, and this book has it. 5 stars!

The Himalayas are extensively featured as asides in many geography and history titles, but until now have not been given their own complete coverage. ILLUSTRATED ATLAS OF THE HIMALAYA is the first in-depth atlas to focus entirely on the region, with its authors holding over 25 years of combined experience to do so: cartography, GIS and photography expertise creates an outstanding title. Presented in an oversized edition to embrace the fine photos, ILLUSTRATED ATLAS surveys local tribes, geological history, changes, and relationships between land and peoples throughout the region, using color key-coded maps and charts and plenty of color photos.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This is simply a marvelous book. I picked up an earlier edition a few years ago and still refer to it quite often for my own research into Lincoln. As Mr. Davenport stated in that edition, the book is a travel guide, not a biography. However, because of the fact that it is so well-researched and full of detail, it could almost pass for a biographical overview, especially of Lincoln's life in Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois, prior to his presidency.

I highly recommend this book for any Lincoln admirer, those who have a mild interest in the subject and especially for those who want to learn more. With Lincoln, there's always more to learn!

Inflections of the Pen, although a scholarly work, makes fascinating reading even for those of us not particularly schooled in the mystical work of Emily Dickinson. Crumbley combines masterfully poetic detective work with his own elegance of language to create a piece of work that both honors its subject and offers a first-ever look inside the mind of an ever-elusive writer. Even those untrained in the academics of poetry will find entrancement here. Additionally, I found it inspired me to look at other poets' work with a refreshed and inquiring eye. Thank you,Dr. Crumbley, for this remarkable tome.