Adams Books

Please understand that my son did not even acknowledge there were other children at the library story time until he had been going for approximately one year. The presence of the other children either:

1) totally blew his mind and he couldn't process it;

or 2) dismayed him through watching their unpredictable behavior.

Now understand, this child has been around people from the very start (we have a big family), and he gets along well with adults. But he doesn't click well with other kids, and the idea of making friends with one of these specimens was really too much for him to imagine at age 4.

But this book, with its pun on "making" friends, really clicks with him. It sort of lit the light that doing stuff alongside another person is a first step to friendship. The ending line, that they stayed friends forever, I just gloss over -- this child comprehends "forever" and would scoff at the very notion that a predator and two prey animals would stay friends through the next snack time, let alone forever.

We still read it. It is very well illustrated, and we all need reminders about making friends through being friends.

This is the best children's book I have read in years. Adam Relf is very talented. I have ordered and preordered his other two books.

This picture book is so refreshingly sweet and innocent. It immediately became a favorite of mine.

My daughter loved this book at 5 years old and still loves it at 6. She loves the wonderful illustrations and the story of friendship. She has labeled this one as one of her favorites. I love the large pictures - it was perfect to read to her Kindergarten class in the Fall. Even my youngest daughter at 2 1/2 loves it. I highly recommend it.

This is one of the sweetest children's book I've ever read. It writing and art have such an innocence unlike anything in today's world. It's definitely a book for kid's of all ages.

Mrs. K is a wonderful teacher -- caring, warm, and energetic. She inspires her students by treating them as individuals and by making her classroom very interactive. Her students become "teachers" themselves when Mrs. K is in the hospital. Although Mrs. K's illness is discussed, it is not frightening for children. I hope all teachers will take time to read this book and share it with their classes.

I revelled in the charming illustrations. Gustavson has managed to create a clever, believable, and thoroughly entertaining world that could only be accomplished with a deft hand and and a sharp, thoughtful mind.

Okay, so I'm biased. The illustrator is a dear friend. However, I can express without lying that it is one of the most beautifully illustrated children's books I've seen. The story takes on a "not so scary" view for children of illness. Miss Borden has written a learning tool which helps to exclude fear and sadness, and allows us to look toward survival.

Mrs. K encapsules what we envision our favorite teacher to have been like. She motivates learning by incorporating amusing tactics, such as dancing, to teach subjects on a different level. Her courage through her illness leaves her students always remembering the stronger side of Mrs. K and everything she taught them in Room 3, even making them teachers to one another. Children & adults alike will love Good Luck, Mrs. K!!

When I first read this book (silently to myself), I thought it was okay. The very first time I shared it with a class (4th grade), the book came to life. What a powerful story of learning and living. A student reported to me today that she repeated "KEMP-CHIN-SKI" on the soccer field and her team scored soon after. Oh, the great, far-reaching power of a wonderful, affecting book.

I really enjoyed reading 'Her Daughter's Father' You get caught up in the book and can't wait to find out the ending (don't look). I even have a signed copy of the book (thanks Anna). I can't wait for more of her books, though she knows it is very hard to keep up with my reading.

Her Daughter's Father was a thoroughly satisfying read. Jack is a delight!

A wonderfully emotional and satisfying read. I loved it!

I read SuperRomance for great characters and emotion-driven stories. "Her Daughter's Father" has all this and more. Anna Adam's characters draw you in from page one. You'll cheer with their victories and gasp when they stumble. And, most important of all, you'll turn the last page and wish you could see what these wonderful people will do next. Buy this one and dive in. I garuntee you'll enjoy the ride!

This emotional story was incredibly well-written and had me hooked from the first page. Unlike some romances I've read in the past, where only the hero & heroine really come alive for the reader, every character in this book was three-dimensional. When telling a friend about the story, I felt like I was describing real events that happened to real people. When I finished reading Her Daughter's Father, I felt like calling everyone in my family to tell each of them that I loved them (which will make more sense when you read the book and see all the family members and how hard they're trying to communicate with each other) I can't wait to read more Anna Adams!

Arrived very quickly and in very good condition. Thank you!!

The idea that the best ideas seem obvious after they have been pointed out juiced my desire to find more creativity. There's something very teasing and encouraging about the idea that the answer might somehow be there in plain view if I could just see it...sort of like one of those puzzles that kids play where you find the tiny pictures hidden throughout a larger picture. That the answers to complicated problems might somehow be very plain if I could but see them, makes me want to keep searching.

The additions to this edition (added later by the author) are the reason I give the book 5 stars. Simple and only a few pages, these check lists of exercises offer practical ways to open eyes and wisdom to see the answer.

I especially liked his thought that you know you're close to the right answer when you can easily explain it to anyone, they all get it, and they all react with wide-eyed, "why didn't i think of that, it seems so obvious."

I read this classic after reading it's recommendation by the teacher in "the art of profitablility" by Adrian Slywotzky (also a book worth the study).

I really liked this little book. It was a gift from a top copywriter and I really appreciated it. It is a quick, easy read but contains valuable information including notes made years later by the author helping to explain his thoughts. Although written long ago much of the information is timeless. Highly recommended for everyone involved in advertising and marketing or in business. Ah shucks, I'm going to make my kids read it.

Although originally published 51 years ago, this timeless treasure is the best sales and marketing book ever written. It is a must read for all of us who market and sell products, services, and/or ourselves (which includes just about everyone).

A great quick read with a valuable lesson!!

I found this in the Rizzoli bookstore and had to slit the shrinkwrap to see what the book was like. Then sat down in a soft chair to browse through it but after a half hour decided it made more sense to just buy it and read it at home. Not disappointed. The book covers everything in great detail - lots of text - with pictures of hotels from the Chilean Andes to London and Paris and New York. A "must have" for people interested in travel and hotels and architecture.

I was assigned to teach at the Master Degree class on "Facility Management" subject focusing on Hotel Facility. I have gone through several books regarding hotel design. I think this book is the best of all. Any designer who reads this book back to back will certainly understand the whole concept. It is not only about how to design the hotel as an architecture piece, but the reader will also understand the hospitality business. This book also covers the design and management issues of related topics such as "Restaurant", "Entertainment Venue" in the hotel. It is the 'must have' for all architects who want to design a hotel efficiently. It can also be a good book for anyone who is in the hospitality business and currently in charge of renovating or upgrading the hotel space; or the hotel's representative who need to communicate with architects or interior designer. This book can be the great tool to evaluate the result of the hotel construction project or even to 'correct' it. The tables and formulas for space calculation in this book are easy enough for anyone to understand. This book can be of great use to all building design professionals. It can also be a valuable one for any people who is interested in hotel business.

The work of hotel design and planning is different from other architectural works; it requires an indepth understanding of hotel business. Therefore, the hotel architecture became one of the toughest job for architects. (Another job is the hospital architecture.)

However, this book proposed design guidelines for a hotel fit to the business pattern. First, it explains various types of hotel properties. Second, it shows not only design guidelines for facilities but also planning approach methods for location selecting and size determination. Finally, if you read this book, you can consider efficient management system of the property from the early phase of design.

Among numerous books on hotel architecture, I think this book is the most outstanding resource.

I am an Interior Design student and found this book very helpful in completing a hospitality design. It provides a breakdown of the areas of the hotel, the different types of hotels, and the type of customers that use them. It really helped me in laying out the floor plan. There are also some awesome color pictures of fabulous hotels in the world. I highly recommend for anyone interested in hospitality design.

This a book that be should always be close to you if you work in the hotel development industry.

Adam Selzer's HOW TO GET SUSPENDED AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE tells of a class project where a teen's class is chosen to make educational videos for younger grades. Leon's determination to create something outrageous changes to a genuine desire to make sex education something real - until the program's director suspends him for its disturbing content. Real issues are revealed in a novel about sexuality and censorship.

I read this book last March, but since 2007 is almost over, I can honestly say that of the hundreds of books I've read all year, this was one of the most enjoyable. As a past member of the gifted pool, I had many a flashback to all the crazy stunts that inevitably seep out when a bunch of intelligent smartasses get together. Leon is so engaging and worth rooting for, and Selzer's writing is just plain hilarious. It's refreshing to find a writer who doesn't feel the need to condescend to young readers. I can't wait for Pirates of the Retail Wasteland.

Eighth-grader Leon Harris takes on an assignment to create an "educational" video and decides to make it artsy and avant-garde in order to spread the message that what pubescent kids are feeling is normal. And that goes double about masturbating. He thinks it'll change the world. One of his teachers thinks he's a Satan-worshipping immoral miscreant who should be expelled and thrown in jail. Suddenly the entire student body rallies around Leon and it becomes an issue of free speech and artsy subversion vs. what should and shouldn't be taught in public schools. It's hilarious and, if not totally realistic, at least very human.

I harbor perverse love for misfit adolescent main characters - adolescent either physically (Stephen Chbosky, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower) or emotionally (Mark Spitz, How Soon Is Never?) - and Leon is immature, smartassy and sassy, bless him, and they need to make more kids like him.

Eighth-grader Leon has a project in his class for gifted and talented students. Each student must make his or her own educational video to show the lower classmen. What subject do you think a hormonal teenager will choose? Of course, sex education.

Despite his wanting to see pictures of naked people, Leon wants to show the kids that puberty is normal. Hair grows, things change, you have certain urges, and everything's like a big explosion. With his friend, Anna, Leon creates an avant-garde sex ed. video, which is informative, but kind of weird.

Before showing it to the lower classmen, Leon first debuts it to his teacher, Mrs. Smollet, who finds it immoral and disgusting. Naturally, she goes to the principal, who suspends Leon. During his suspension, the townspeople debate over Leon's sex education video. Is it too graphic for sixth and seventh graders? After this huge debate will Leon be allowed to show his video and come back to school, or be expelled forever?

Adam Selzer creates a funny and enjoyable book. The characters are well-written and defined. You'll enjoy this book and laugh throughout; this is a book you don't want to miss!

Reviewed by: Jeremey

Adam Selzer clearly remembers what it's like to be in the "gifted" class in middle school -- and an outsider. The hero of "How to Get Suspended and Influence People," Leon Noside Harris, reminds the reader of the gifted kids they knew in their junior high days: smart-alecky, disheveled, ahead of their age, and out-of-step with the cool kids. And that's the way they liked it. These are the kids you used to describe by saying, "He's either going to be a great success or end up in jail."

Leon is supported at school by a gaggle of like-minded friends, and by teachers who want to lift him up and slap him down. At home, Leon's lovingly dysfunctional family will remind you of Bill Bryson's parents in "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" (Selzer and Bryson both grew up in Des Moines, albeit 30 years apart -- was there something in the water there?).

Young readers will relate to Leon's efforts to "fight the power" and make La Dolce Pubert. Adults will laugh as they remember their junior high days -- or the junior high days they wish they had.

This book is easy to read, and packed with no-nonsense advice about how to try a case. Get it.

Fine is an admirer and advocate of New York Appellate Court Judge Herbert Stern. Stern taught a superb 10-day jury-trial course at the University of Virginia. Fine takes it one step higher. You will put the opposition in the shade if you follow the tips in this book.

Ralph Adam Fine's approach to winning trials is insightful, and debunks many tenets of conventional wisdom about how to best represent one's client at trial. After practicing as a commercial and civil litigator for ten years, I was interested to see what Fine had to say about my own opinions and preconceptions in this regard.

Fine shows that many conventional ideas about how to examine witnesses, and how to present one's case, are simply wrong. And he wraps it into a single unifying theme, which is that the jury must see the lawyer, the advocate, as the truthgiver. The lawyer must be advocating his or her case at trial in everything he does, and everything he doesn't do. I loved reading about Fine's number one rule in direct examination--don't ask "what happened next" questions. Fine rightly points out that it is the lawyer's job (through skillful questioning--a technique that Fine also explains) to be responsible for controlling the testimony of each witness, and a cop-out for the lawyer to depend on a witness to testify in a manner advocating the lawyer's case. Quite right, when one thinks about it, but many trial advocacy clinics and seminars teach the "what happened next" approach in which the lawyer surrenders control of the testimony to the witness. Fine rightly considers this approach to be a cop-out by lawyers but almost all lawyers I have opposed in court have done this.

Fine provides similar insights about how to speak in opening and closing arguments (note that Fine calls it "opening ARGUMENT" because *everything* the lawyer does at trial is to argue the case, albeit within the rules.) This book's suggestion about how to construct opening argument is excellent, and alone was worth ten times the book's modest purchase price.

Essentially, Fine dissects the trial process and provides insight into each, from opening to closing, covering direct examination, cross-examination, how and when to object (startlingly, the answer is mostly "do not object" and here Fine makes his case incisively). Even more usefully, Fine explains how to handle opposing counsel's objections by "backing up but not backing down." A wonderful insight!

One thing I would like to have seen in this book would have been a separate chapter on how to conduct bench trials (trials in which there is no jury, such as most probate cases here in California). But really, Fine's approach should be pretty the same in bench trials and perhaps this is why the book lacks such a chapter. Still, Fine is an experienced Judge and I would welcome reading his thoughts on this subject.

The book itself is well-written with many pungent examples from actual trials in which Fine mercilessly criticizes (or rarely, praises) the techniques of actual lawyers in real trials. But he does this always with the purpose of illustrating his theory of the lawyer as truthgiver.

Much of what Fine says are concepts that many of us were groping towards in the backs of our minds--but Fine lays it out clearly and rigorously, in a sort of Unified Field Theory of trial advocacy. In doing so he validates some of our notions about how to be advocates, and overturns others. Some of his insights, such as his take on making objections (not to), and his rejection of the "what happened next" approach are genuinely novel. This book is a must for the trial lawyer, except for my opponents who I hope never discover this book.

Judge Fine has written an insightful and witty nutshell on trial advocacy. His book is succinct, easy to read and has plently of solid advice. It is one of the best books on trial skills available. He covers the basics of all major trial skills (i.e. opening, direct, cross, and closing). I wholeheartedly agree with the premise of his book: the reason why there are not better trial lawyers is that they have simply been taught the wrong way to try a case.

Although there are memorable lessons from every chapter, I particularly liked his chapter entitled, "Why Irving Younger Was Wrong." For the young lawyers reading this review, it is important to know that Younger may be the most famous trial advocacy instructor from the 20th Century. He is famous for creating the Ten Commandments of trial lawyers. The author successfully argues that five of the commandments are flat out wrong. Perhaps Younger's worst advice is to "save it for summation" (commandment number 10). Fine succinctly points out that this commandment is flawed because jurors have already made up their minds about the case before closing arguments. If you wait until then to make your point to the jury, it will be too late.

Another great chapter is "A Trial Is Not an Evidence Test." That chapter teaches that you should not try and prove to a judge and jury how much you learned in law school by obejcting to every piece of evidence that is offered by the other side. Instead, Fine points out that you must realize that making objections can be very detrimental to your credibility with the jury. In short, jurors find objections annoying and believe that you are trying to hide the truth when you make them.

I've read a bunch of trial ad books recently, playing catch up after ignoring trial ad in law school. I hadn't wanted to be a trial lawyer, but now that I have a taste of it, I live for it.

This book is the best, hands down, nothing else even close. I would not recommend it as your first introduction to trial ad. That intro should be (if you're getting there via books) Sidney Lubet's Modern Trial Advocacy. That too is an excellent book, thoroughly laying all the groundwork. For instance, you won't find the nuts and bolts of impeachment in RAF's book, but you will in Lubet's. But RAF's book will show you how to take those nuts and bolts and assemble a bulldozer.

If I had to crystalize RAF's approach to one concept, I'd say it's the insight that trials are about you the attorney as truth-giver. You start with that, and make every part of the trial your argument. Nevermind telling the story through the witness, you argue through the witness. It's your job to present your case, not anyone else's. The witness is your tool.

You'll find a better discussion elsewhere on a couple specific topics of trial ad. Handling expert witnesses is more fully discussed in The Power Trial Method, by Gross and Webber. And in particular David Ball's discussion of jury selection, in Theater Tips and Strategies for Jury Trials, is way beyond RAF and probably anyone else. (I bumped into another lawyer at a CLE recently who was gabbing on some of the same stuff about jury selection, he had attended some conference on the subject, but I don't know his source, and he gave only bits and pieces, and nothing beyond Ball's discussion.)

Win Your Case, by Gerry Spence, is great, a crucial read, but not quite the magic key to the kingdom that Spence makes it out to be. You come away with the notion that his overall approach works best if you choose your clients and cases to fit. I'm a solo attorney taking mostly public defendant appointments, so I get little chance to choose. Both Spence and RAF excel in presenting great examples of their points in action.

The Trial Lawyer, by David Berg, is another worthwhile and important read, but is more like the best of the conventional wisdom on trial ad, with notes from the front and commentary.

RAF skewers many of the sacred cows and current fashions in trial ad, naming names and taking no prisoners (half of what Irving Younger says is suicide).

RAF writes with the same simplicity and impact that he recommends you seek in taking your case to trial. The book is a breeze and a joy to read.

Reviewed by Sondra Fowler for Reader Views (1/06)

Jay is the story of a teen age boy who, after the death of his mother, chooses to run away and become a hobo rather than enter a foster home. Many colorful characters are met along the way including another run away boy, LT, a young hobo who becomes a mentor of sorts to the untried Jay.

It was a quick, easy read well within abilities of early teen readers. The characters and situations are nicely written. I would be interested to see what this author could do with a more complicated adult plot.

I found the book itself to be dark and somewhat melodramatic. Even thought Jay had lost his mother, and balked at a foster situation, I found it very disturbing that a boy as young and uncertain as Jay was would think to escape by hitching rides on trains. Though the writing itself was descriptive and engaging the story seemed open ended with little in the way of closure.

I found "Jay" to be insightful and entertaining. This railroading teenager's adventuresome tale is is interesting and educational at the same time. There is a whole part of life and society I rarely thought about before. One of my favorite things about the book was the interesting turn of phrase. The clever use of language and carefully selected words shows know the author put a lot of thought into this book. I found that added another dimension to the action, making you ponder and experience more deeply this engaging adventure. You will enjoy this book!

Author W. Royce Adams has done it again. This action packed story of a teenage runaway is both captivating and exciting. Jay, a sixteen year old, narrates his story. Adams has used this voice to capture language that portrays a mixture of a young teen's bravado and innocence.

As each chapter races into the next Jay finds himself faced with new challenges, conflicts, and danger. When his mother died he became an orphan. In a desperate attempt to avoid being placed in a foster home Jay struck out for California by "catching out" on a freight train.

Adam's word pictures and brilliant descriptive phrases have captured the mindset, geography, and environment of mid America.

This is a story that should stir the emotions and imagination of even the most sophisticated of teen readers.

Rebeccasreads highly recommends JAY for teens who think running away will solve all their problems.

You might have met Jay before, in ME & JAY. Now, after his Mom's died, he is faced with being taken care of by the state. Instead, he puts his stuff: a photo of his Mom, a Swiss Army knife, & a twenty-dollar bill into his back pack, & jumps on a freight train heading... anywhere...

Along the way, somewhere in the American Midwest, in a world where huge freight trains & flat cars can maim or kill in an instance, Jay survives a hobo round-up by an armed gang of thieves; days & nights of fear, cold & hunger... until he meets up with a youngster like him who teaches Jay a thing or two about avoiding trouble.

Then they find a group of older hobos with a roaring camp fire, food to spare & lots of interesting stories to tell.

While W. Royce Adams has written a fine & riveting adventure about a boy on the run who joins the sub-culture of the hobos, & includes a lot of history, & scenes of fun as well as danger, he does not encourage or romanticize this lifestyle.

Outstanding!

Jay Thornton is sixteen-years-old. When his mom died, Jay knew he would be put in a foster home. Fear of the unknown had him running away instead. Jay "catches out" on a freight train thinking he would live the romantic hobo lifestyle, foot loose, free, and no one to tell him what to do. Instead, Jay discovers constant physical dangers, the fear of being caught by train gangs or the police, hunger, and facing the elements.

He joins another young man, only slightly older, who goes by the alias Liberty Two. As Jay slowly learns the life of the hobo, he does much thinking. Will he remain a hobo and merge into its hard lifestyle? Or will he return to the town he lived in and see if a foster home could give him a chance of a better life?

***** This is the sequel to a previous teen novel titled "Me & Jay". You do not have to read the first to enjoy this one though. This book begins two years after the previous book ended. Watching Jay, as his travels went along, gave me a glimpse into a subculture that I never dreamed existed. This story is a real eye opener. Though the story is fiction, the names in the book are real. The author lived this life for a time (and has the scar to prove it, according to the Forward in the book). Therefore, the author's experience allowed realism to shine through in his writing. I recommend both books, but this one is the best of the two, in my opinion. *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

The fundamentals haven't changed, and news events just make this book more relevant each year. Until the insane lawsuit trend stops, it is ordinary honest people who are at risk of losing their assets. Starchild's book addresses a number of safe, conservative techniques to gain some degree of protection - protection that is not always available through insurance

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of Keep What You Own, by Adam Starchild (or whatever his real name is).

Although the publishers of this book (Paladin Press) are perhaps best known for their more radical, esoteric titles, Keep What You Own is actually a fairly conservative book when it comes to asset protection advice. It shows you the pros as well as the cons of most methods it covers, which the majority of books on this subject completely fail to do.

From Nevada Corporations to Offshore Trusts, most of the well-known methods of asset protection are covered in this book, and usually in fairly good depth. Despite having already read several books on asset protection in the past, Starchild actually brings up some extremely good points that many other books fail to mention. Some of his insights on Nevada Corporations were especially eye opening.

Although not an attorney, Starchild has obviously done his homework. There are a few asset protection methods you can tell that he is obviously biased towards (Swiss Annuties for example), but for the most part he provides a very unbiased look at each method of asset protection, and clearly explains why (or why not) it might be the right vehicle for you.

On the downside, the book is obviously in need of an update (it was originally published in 1995), although the vast majority of the methods he describes have changed little since the original publication. Also, he seems to pepper the book with references to companies that you have the distinct impression he is financially linked to. Unfortunately, writing under an assumed pen name does not add to his credibility.

On the whole though, Keep What You Own is one of the better asset protection books I have read. It would be great to see an updated version of this title, but 95% of it is still applicable to today's laws. Before you buy in to any of the more questionable asset protection schemes that you see advertised, you would do well to get a copy of this book. It reveals the good, the bad, and the ugly, when it comes to asset protection strategies.

An offshore haven is simply a country other than your own. To an American, it's anywhere you bank outside of the U.S. Why invest in offshore havens? Because when you invest outside your own country, you are no longer tied to its restrictive financial laws, and can protect your assets, save taxes and build your wealth easier.

Most of us have been hoodwinked into thinking that offshore havens are illegal, too risky, or otherwise unworthy of consideration. Don't believe it. Financial expert Adam Starchild will dispel myths and misconceptions about offshore banking and reveal how you can:

Achieve total secrecy and and financial privacy
Transfer your money offshore, and keep it safe from lawsuits, creditors, the IRS, etc.
Use offshore havens to legally avoid, defer or minimize taxes
Invest globally and build your wealth
Pick the offshore haven that best meets your objectives
Choose the right offshore bank and maintain an account -- easily and safely
Do business offshore -- and reap extraordinary benefits
And more!

Many people who elect to become structured offshore do so because they feel persecuted by government, claim-minded litigants, and even investigative journalists. Often it is less an election than a matter of simple survival. In spite of assurances of fair trials and opportunities to be heard, assets are at risk if they remain in your home country or if you remain within the range of the agencies or individuals that would attack you. The natural law of envy provides that the greater your success, the greater the likelihood that you will become a target for several character types, each with a different agenda but all proximately motivated by the natural law. That is, the means and immediate goals of attackers may take different forms but at root, each is driven by the natural law of envy.

Unfortunately, it is impossible for anyone, including us, to live in this world without confronting such ugliness in some form or another. Cloaked in a thousand forms of self-righteous crusading and victim restitution, all efforts share a common goal of taking away your assets. For example, armies of IRS bureaucrats, working 40 hours a week in positions with little hope of advancement, are paid to audit you and simply cannot help but enjoy the prospect of acquainting you with financial adversity. They may not personally realize economic benefit from their work, but their gratification derives from knowing that at least you will not enjoy your former wealth.

Today your wealth and ability to do with it as you please are in great danger. Not only is there a proliferation of thieves and parasites armed with sophisticated electronic weapons that can steal our money, but the government itself -- the very institution we should rely on to guard our rights -- is after our wealth more persistently and maliciously than any thief in the world.

All over the world, governments are becoming more and more predatory. They reach for more and more power, and they squeeze more and more money out of their citizens... by any means they can. There is almost nowhere on earth your money is safe anymore.

Powers to confiscate money, under the guise of "drug laws," are growing in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, and many other countries around the world.

Historically, appropriation of wealth has taken many forms -- and it's gone on for centuries. For instance, in East Germany alone, 9,870 industrial and commercial enterprises and about one-third of the entire land area capable of agricultural or forestry use were confiscated between 1945 and 1949. The same thing has gone on throughout South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe.

Do you do business in the U.S.? You should know that new banking regulations make it a federal crime not to report certain transactions -- of as little as $3,000. There is no requirement that the money be involved in any criminal activity -- it is a crime to simply not report the transaction. The penalty? Liability for a five-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine. And -- the law allows the federal government to confiscate any funds they allege to be involved. Plus, bank tellers can collect huge rewards -- up to $150,000 -- for turning you in, if you are subsequently convicted of a criminal act, and subject to a civil fine or forfeiture of money or property.

Governments all over the world are trying to figure out how to crack down on the Internet and on-line communications. They're deathly afraid they'll lose their ability to tax, seize, and control their citizens' money.

The recent Bre-X scandal is a perfect example of how you can be cleverly robbed from anywhere in the world. Bre-X was one of the hot mining companies listed in Canada, but the investors who were fleeced were from all over the world. In a nutshell, fake drilling reports ran the stock of Bre-X from pennies all the way to $22.50, after a 10-1 split. When it turned out the reports were fake, some $4 billion in wealth disappeared almost overnight as the stock plunged.

As you can see, these threats are global. Governments don't protect you -- they're just part of the problem. And other threats cross borders and continents in the blink of an eye.

It doesn't matter whether you're wealthy or average, an individual or a company, or where you are in the world -- the assaults on wealth, from government and crooks, is growing, and you are at risk.

Adam Starchild believes that your wealth should be secure -- safe from the government and safe from thieves. In Keep What You Own he shows you some specific strategies to protect your wealth.

I read this small book in one sitting a couple of years ago and now pick it up several times a week to read as called to read. It is, of course, about knitting. And it is about events and memories in the author's life that help me, as a reader, recall those same things in my life.....and more importantly, there is a deep spiritual presence in this collection of words that speaks to me. Maria Fire is an incredible writer of prose and poetry....but even more so, she writes from her soul....a rare gift for those of us lucky enough to have found this book. Thank you, Maria, for your gifts of writing, of courage, of memories and of love to the world.

I'm neither knitter, nor poet, but I was so charmed by this small book, I tried to read it through in one sitting. I didn't make it. Fire's exquisitely wrought, compact vignettes filled me with such wonder, I found myself reading each one over and over. Such hope, humor, poignancy, grace and redemption, rendered in the sparest of lines.... Again and again I was reminded of people, places and turning points that were important in my own life. The book is a paean to knitting and haiku to be sure, but it's a much broader and deeper hymn to life. Now that I've read it, I can't believe such a treasure is available for only $10. For the foreseeable future, I know what my friends and family are getting for special occasions.

Maria,
I read this book on a 2-hour flight to Chicago with Bob last weekend. Totally fascinated. I recognized a lot of memories, yet some were surprises. I LOVED the memories of SUG, and how before seatbelts were invented, we bounced around in the back of your daddy's station wagon.
much love, kc

Poet Maria Fire's Knit One, Haiku Too is a book to keep on the bedside table. It goes down like a spoonful of honey. This delightful book of haiku poetry and inspirational reflections centers around knitting and is designed (I'm guessing) to fit into the outside pocket of a knitting bag. I'm not a knitter of yarn, but of yarns. As a writer and teacher of women's writing retreats, I am enthralled with Fire's insights and use of language. As interesting as the book itself is Fire's story of its birth: how author Bryan Robinson approached her about writing it and how his agent helped the book on its way. In the midst of the process, Fire became ill and went through surgery. Here is a 17-syllable taste:

Yarn looping in yarn
Tactile and magical, like
Two sticks make a fire

I love this little book and I'm not a knitter (I've spent more than two years trying to knit one hat!).

Maria Fire is a knitter. She is also a poet and a teller of stories. The yarns that compose this gem of a book come in a rainbow of narrative hues. Stories from her past--of the old woman who taught her to knit, of friends who knit their way through sadness, of children and men who learned to knit. There are gleanings from other writers' stories about characters who knit, and of course, there is haiku. "Kitting with spirits/shedding again and again, what you think you know." One haiku for each narrative on a separate page of its own with the image of yarn or knitting needles to purl the two together.

In one of my favorite stories in this book, "Stitches that Danced," Fire tells of the time she took her young boys to see the movie White Nights with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines. On the way out of the theater afterwards the boys "threw their hand up over their heads and sprang into the air. They left me behind, vaulting like Baryshnikov all the way to our small Toyota." Afterwards Zach, her eight-year-old signed up for a program of modern dance for children -- a "summer in the park" offering. For the recital, he wore the flowing and golden-flecked silk scarf that she had knitted for him. "As he danced with his friends, the scarf fluttered behind him," Fire writes. "He told me he felt like a magician making gold in the air." Is this not an enchanting idea -- young boy who thinks of himself as a magician dancing gold in the air?

Fire knits more than gold into this lovely little book.