Adams Books

In 250 pages, Jeremi Suri manages to do what other books do in four times that length. Suri makes brilliant connections between all aspects of the Cold War and what happens beyond it. Suri is an incredible writer and historian (see: Henry Kissinger and the American Century) and deserves recognition for his comprehensive and concise works.

Although the other reviews I read here were justifiably positive, I just wanted to mention that this book is also a very worthwhile read for almost anyone with a passing interest in recent American history and its impact on modern politics, irrelevant of the readers background. Jeremi Suri writes in a wondefully clear and concise manner that allows the reader to immerse themselves in the period of history he is discussing and consider it from every perspective without any particular bias. I highly recommend this book to everyone -- if you buy it you will not be dissapointed.

In this book, Suri puts a new twist on the period of detente in the late 60's and early 70's. He explains how the social uprisings centering around 1968 forced world leaders in the United States, Europe, and Asia to pursue detente in order to keep reign on their legitimacy domestically. The research and documents used in this book are both credible and excellent. I had Professor Suri for a class and he is an excellent lecturer. This book is like a lecture from him, but he has time to go into even deeper detail on the subject at hand. We were required to read it in his class, but it is a book that I have read twice since then because it is that good. Anyone with interest in the Cold War or US foreign policy will love this book!

The main thesis of POWER AND PROTEST is best summarized by author Jeremi Suri himself at the end of this brilliant and original exploration of post WWII international relations and their impact and continuity with domestic policy: "In previous decades [the 40s through the early 60s] the Soviet-American rivalry had provided a simple bi-polar framework for both competition and cooperation. This inherited architecture now proved inappropriate for a world in which citizens besieged their leaders, small nations challenged the influence of larger states [France and West Germany; Hungary and Czechoslovakia in the East] and China acted as an independent great power [dealing directly with France, for instance, instead of through their "big brother states, the U.S. and Soviet Union]. The international environment had grown multipolar, but the United States and the Soviet Union desired the continued power and standing they had possessed in the earlier bipolar setting. What Kissenger called a new 'structure of peace' would protect the benefits of order and stability for the largest states despite the fragmenting trends in world affairs. This was the conservative core of detente, and the drive behind the central accomplishment of the superpower summit [between Brezhnev and Nixon in 1972]" P.256.

His supporting thesis that "The strength of detente derived from the fact that it addressed the fears and served the interest of the leaders in the largest states," is well and amply proven with reference to original source material from each period he explores. With state documents and memoirs, he dramatically shows the panic of the world leaders as they confront their suddenly, inconveniently active citizens, who, given reason to hope in the early 60s with their leaders' charismatic rhetoric about the "New Frontier," the "Great Society," "Great Leap Forward," "Communist Construction (and DeStalinization)," ironically had their rising expectations dashed by the very same men those who activated these hopes. In their tussle for power, and in their attempts to prove their systems or their insight into world and domestic politics were superior, Mao, DeGaulle, Kennedy, Johnson, Krushchev, Willy Brandt, and others came to fear the chauvinistic idealism they had unleashed in their charismatic rhetoric. Ironically, this leadership cohort, especially the most powerful actors, the U.S. and Soviet Union, felt compelled to reach out to each other, put aside the inflammatory anti-communist and anti-capitalistic rhetoric, and demonstrate to their unruly citizens and client states that as nations they could and would work together in peaceful coexistence. Suri likens these two states to "overmuscled wrestlers" who were constrained by the potential of mutally assured (nuclear) destruction to muzzle their client states' inflammatory rhetoric. The exception that proved the rule, according to Suri, was Vietnam. It was seen by Kennedy and Johnson, as well as by Chinese and Soviets, as a proving ground that would show which set of political arrangements was superior. Far enough away from the U.S., China and the Soviet Union, it met the requirements of a showcase war for all.

As Suri says: "Each of the great powers gained from stability when confronted with the prospect of wide-spread disruption. D?tente assured that the international system would operate smoothly so long as policymakers adhered to their objective 'national interests.' The problem, Suri suggests, is that national interests are "not objective laws, but instead contested ideas," and that "Detente's fatal weakness grew from its inability to address the claims of citizens and small states that refused to accept the status quo because of its perceived injustice." By this he means "From the day that Nixon and Brezhnev signed the Declaration of Principles through the end of the 1970s, the leaders of the great powers suffered repeated criticism for ignoring concerns about national self-determination, human rights, economic fairness, and racial and gender equality."

He notes that "Agitation around these issues had triggered the global disorders in the 1960s that initially made detente appear necessary as a source of stability. Ironically, political leaders reacted to the criticisms of injustice voice in the previous decade by isolating and containing dissent rather than by creating new sources of popular consent." "Detente reflected traditional balance-of-power considerations, but also included a set of policies that deliberately constrained domestic dynamism. Instead of eliminating the suffering and dissatisfaction in the Cold War, it tried to make it all seem 'normal.'"

Global protest, Suri suggests, was given impetus by state programs. College loans and grants, necessary to build a new technocratic citizenry who would through science demonstrate the superiority of their respective political systems, backfired as thousands of young people were herded together in colleges and universities all over the world. There they found a literature of dissent waiting for them by such authors as Solzhenitsyn, Marcuse, Galbraith, and Harrington. Armed with these anti-state and anti-"system" discourses, students around the world developed a common language of dissent and protest, a language soon taken up by the disspossessed all over the world.

Summing up, he says, "Skepticism toward authority is now a global phenomenon" that has grown out of the conservative core of detente and its stepchild, globalization. "Leaders are no longer loved or feared. In some of the largest democracies they are ignored by as much as half of the electorate, which refrains from voting. Leaders are frequently profaned by international media that play on public distrust of politicians. In this cynical environment, we are still living with the dissent and detente of a previous generation."

POWER AND PROTEST is a landmark work of history. Scholarly and highly readable, it is unsurpassed in tracing the roots of dentente as a conservative reaction to the political engagement of the demos across all types of states.

I was amazed at the effects that this book had on my Bird-brain. Our mind is only limited by our beliefs. The author backs up all of his assertions with facts and real life examples. Several mind-expanding accounts of people all over the world who are not limited by a "confined consensual reality". Changes your beliefs and your experiences will follow. I highly recommend reading this book.

Powers of Mind is brain candy. It is intuitive, original, and fascinating. One of the most informative and interesting books on the subject that I have read. The author lightens up normally dry reading with humor, sarcasm, and other literary devices. If you are interested in the extended issues of psychology, and parapsychology, then this book is a must read. Everything from LSD and "mind opening" experiences to ancient perspectives and interesting historical fact.s

One of the best non-fiction books to come out of the mid-1970s was this wonderful tongue-in-cheek exploration of a whole raft of different mind-expansion techniques by the best-selling author Adam Smith. From Rolfing to EST, Smith includes us in his often humorous attempts to gain genuine insight into how the human mind works, and how we can each individually overcome the limitations, liabilities, and lamentations associated with living with our minds. And, as Smith tells us again and again, your mind is not necessarily your friend.

Although he writes in a self-deprecating and quite comedic way, often he uses his wry and laser-sharp mind to show us things well worth knowing. Indeed, this book is not a throwaway effort, but is a very helpful and essential guide to a plethora of different philosophies, techniques, and modalities dealing with different ways of gaining further self-awareness. Smith asks himself if he really could, as is claimed by some adherents, learn to control his blood pressure, stifle headaches, or learn to pop himself into an alpha state? And by the way, he asks, what is an alpha state, and why do we want to achieve it? How useful is meditation, and what can it really do for us?

In reality, this is aground-breaking effort to introduce the field of consciousness psychology, of the whole field surrounding questions of the mind-body connection and how to approach getting involved. What makes sense and what doesn't become more apparent as we accompany Smith through adventures in Arica, or Transcendental Meditation, or what Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard refers to as the post-relaxation response. In an aside, Smith begins to question his own ideas about what is real and what is not, and the ways in which our own so-called reality paradigm predisposes us to seeing, interpreting, and experiencing the world around us in a particular way.

I found myself particularly astounded by his own experiences in a sensory deprivation tank, and how he seemed to experience out-of-body experiences associated with these excursions to the far reaches of consciousness exploration. I lost my only copy of the book in a fire last year, and just recently re-acquired another copy through the Amazon out-of-print book service. It is an unqualified joy to be re-reading it again after all this time. Do yourself a favor a get yourself a copy too. I know you will love reading it too. Enjoy!

5.5 stars

You will NEVER find a better deal on this site than Powers Of Mind for a penny.
This is one of the most underrated and unfairly forgotten books I can think of. When I found it in my Dad's library and read it at age 12, it changed the way I saw life and my mind and why I am on this planet.
Reading it 30 years later, it's just as powerful and enjoyable.
Smith is really George Goodman, a brilliant mind who wrote some of the best books on money and Wall St, including Paper Money and The Money Game. Here he turns his brilliant brain to the various modalities of consciousness expansion around in the mid-70s, the peak of such pursuits. From yoga to acid, biofeedback to tennis, sensory deprivation tanks to EST, and on and on, he checks it all out. What makes this book so enthralling and loveable is the author's constant awareness of multiple perspectives and his willingness to be deeply curious, wrong, and in awe, often all at once.
Smith calls it exactly as he sees it; if he thinks something or someone is a fraud, he gently points that out. If there is more to something or someone than meets the eye (a major theme), he evokes the mystery while never judging or discounting the "impossible". It's tough to write about the nebulous, but Smith does it in such an elegant way that you feel both smarter and happier every time you put down this book. He's also funny as hell at many points; imagine the 200-IQ uncle/grandfather/best friend you always wanted, and here he is.
Great writing can be like a drug in your brain, expanding and enlightening your basic take on the world as you read. This is just such a book.
I can not recommend this book highly enough. At a penny for a beautifully bound hardcover first edition, this is well beyond the no-brainer category. It's a full-brainer, and it'll be even fuller and happier once it's encountered this book.
God bless you, Mr, Goodman, wherever you are. You've made my life a lot more fun.

If you have been looking for a book to make you feel good about being good to yourself, this is the one to read.

Enjoyable,inspiring and easy reading for those of us who put "us" off.

This is one book that you will keep by your bedside, carry with you to the beach or to the office. In these stressful times being alone is often suspect, considered, somehow, a failure. Ruth Fishel gently takes us through our days, our fears and our longings and offers a means, through solitude, to find our true Selves. "Precious Solitudes" is a loving companion, reminding us daily that we are precious and our time alone is precious.

A book with an inviting title that delivers what it promises. Precious Solitude is a perfect retreat companion, but provides an extensive menu of ideas for how to relax, refuel, and rejuvenate even with our everyday lives swirling madly around us. Adopt just a handful of suggestions from Ruth Fishel's latest and relearn the meaning of the word "calm." You'll be glad you did -- and honestly, so will those around you. Incidentally, if you're tempted to dismiss the notion of solitude as an unimaginable luxury, then you need this book even more than most of us!

I've always had a problem with being quiet and alone with my thoughts. Ruth book includes the thoughts and feelings of a diverse background of people toward the subject of solitude. I found that I'm not alone! Precious Solitude frees the reader to transform any negative feelings toward solitude to something positive and productive.

I found a personal message in the chapter titled "Walking". I'm working on loosing weight and my doctor told me I have to walk 1-hour a day. No skipping - no excuses! I've been ignoring his directive for two weeks now. I just couldn't find anything productive about walking alone an hour each day. I've put all of my energy into not doing it and complaining about how hard it's going to be. "Walking" changed my perspective on the entire situation. Now I'm looking forward to my 1-hour walks. I'll have time to myself to think, plan, enjoy nature, get centered, focused and loose weight! I learned that solitude can be a very productive time!

Precious Solitude is written in small vignettes and is very easy to read. Excellent book!

Simply put, this book is by far, the best Domino book on the market.

I get bored easy, and this book kept my interest (finished it in two days). I like the way important information was presented in tables--easy to use as a reference. If you can't afford to take the Lotus Classes on Domino/Web....get this book! Also, after reviewing the Lotus sampe exams, I would recommend this book as a study guide. NUMEROUS typos in this book (but I can learn to live with that). Wish it was out in R4.6!

An excellent book to take one from "traditional" Notes application development to development of web applications. Unfortunately, the publishers did a TERRIBLE job of copy editing: references to figures that don't exist or are mis-numbered, paragraphs that end in mid-sentence, mis-formatted tables with items listed in the wrong column.
Deserved much better pre-publication from the editors/publishers and a higher rating.

My students have asked me many times if there are third party books about Notes and Domino that I would recommend. My answer was always no until I read Professional Developer's Guide to Domino. The authors' enthusiasm about Domino made me want to start developing and hosting web sites for clients and I'm not even a developer. The authors presented information about Domino in a easily understandable format. The book is full of useful development techniques and administration procedures. As a consultant, I have used the information in the book to help design and support Notes infrastructures. As an instructor, I found new and better ways to describe how some Notes/Domino processes work. If you are in the groupware profession, add this book to your collection and it will be used more than the official documentation. When was the last time that you picked up a yellow Notes book just to read?

Paul Thomas Anderson, writer-director of the absorbing Sundance fave HARD EIGHT (1997), the brilliant, sprawling 70s epic BOOGIE NIGHTS (1997) and the utterly enthralling, 3-hour mosaic of pain, sickness, death and loneliness in the San Fernando Valley MAGNOLIA (1999), returns to form yet again with his utterly bizzare and very fascinating sounding 90 minute dark romantic "comedy" PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE (2002). The film stars Adam Sandler and Emily Watson as two nearly insane people. Sandler plays Barry Egan, a lonely businessman (his only friend seems to be a co-worker named Lance, played by Anderson comic relief fave and ensemble lover Luis Guzman) with 7 abusive sisters. Watson plays Lena Leonard, a quirky young Englishwoman who is one of his sister's (Mary-Lynn Raksjub--love her!) friends from work. They get (jokingly) set up on a blind date (I believe they meet first, then go for dinner), and love is in the air. He plans to buy lots and lots (and lots yet again) of pudding for a chance to win frequent flier miles in a contest. This will lead to a Hawaii trip that would go right, but Barry's depressing recent past stands in the way. He was conned upon calling a phone sex line (to a woman named Georgia)--seems she wants more money than he should have to pay and this leads to a dangerous group of Utah thugs coming to the Valley to collect for their sleezy pimp leader (played by the great Philip Seymour Hoffman, the only actor yet to be in all 4 P.T. Anderson pictures). This all combines to what sounds like one of the best new films of the fall season, and possibly one of the best of the year. Ebert and Roeper loved it and it was a hit at many film festivals it attended. Sounds great. Anderson's script is shorter than MAGNOLIA's 194 pages or BOOGIE NIGHTS' 152, and even his debut HARD EIGHT'S (no script published yet--the running time was 101 minutes!). This (literal) change of pace for the Altman-Scorsese-Demme-influenced young auteur promises a "joy ride" of epic proportions, if not length. His scripts (including this) are published as "Shooting Scripts". This means it's gone through some changes since the "Reading Draft(1st draft)", but Anderson thinks visually, directs very much in that vein, and has been known to write very much like that. His scripts contain much camera description and as little scene description as possible. As he said in the BOOGIE NIGHTS script book introduction, "I've come to realize that my function as a director is to be a good writer...My obligation as a director is to deliver the actors a good script, thus making my job as a director describable as 'hanging out' and watching them go. No good actor needs direction beyond 'Let's do another one' and 'Keep it simple.'...There is no flour and sugar...this is a script written for actors. An actor does not need a full description of their character...This is how most screenplays are written... This sort of thing must be written by writers who have no interest in meeting or socializing with actors. If you have written this and you can find an actress to play this part, as described, you will have a bad actress. Actors do not need this, they don't want it. Don't give it to them; they will not read it anyway. This is writing for studio executives. Studio executives do not make movies. They pretend that they make movies. This is a script written for the people who really make the movie, people who physically put it into existence, and all they need are the facts. Pure and Simple." This is a philosophy that is rare and much needed in Hollywood and Independent Cinema nowadays...Scripts rely too much on the "telling" of a story and not enough on the "making" of a story. People who know where their story is going before they pick up a pen, type one letter, or even think of an idea, will never write a great screenplay that way. You have to let it unfold for you and for the audience...

Paul Thomas Anderson, writer-director of the absorbing Sundance fave HARD EIGHT (1997), the brilliant, sprawling 70s epic BOOGIE NIGHTS (1997) and the utterly enthralling, 3-hour mosaic of pain, sickness, death and loneliness in the San Fernando Valley MAGNOLIA (1999), returns to form yet again with his utterly bizzare and very fascinating sounding 90 minute dark romantic "comedy" PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE (2002). The film stars Adam Sandler and Emily Watson as two nearly insane people. Sandler plays Barry Egan, a lonely businessman (his only friend seems to be a co-worker named Lance, played by Anderson comic relief fave and ensemble lover Luis Guzman) with 7 abusive sisters. Watson plays Lena Leonard, a quirky young Englishwoman who is one of his sister's (Mary-Lynn Raksjub--love her!) friends from work. They get (jokingly) set up on a blind date (I believe they meet first, then go for dinner), and love is in the air. He plans to buy lots and lots (and lots yet again) of pudding for a chance to win frequent flier miles in a contest. This will lead to a Hawaii trip that would go right, but Barry's depressing recent past stands in the way. He was conned upon calling a phone ... line (to a woman named Georgia)--seems she wants more money than he should have to pay and this leads to a dangerous group of Utah thugs coming to the Valley to collect for their sleezy ...and leader (played by the great Philip Seymour Hoffman, the only actor yet to be in all 4 P.T. Anderson pictures). This all combines to what sounds like one of the best new films of the fall season, and possibly one of the best of the year. Ebert and Roeper loved it and it was a hit at many film festivals it attended. Sounds great. Anderson's script is shorter than MAGNOLIA's 194 pages or BOOGIE NIGHTS' 152, and even his debut HARD EIGHT'S (no script published yet--the running time was 101 minutes!). This (literal) change of pace for the Altman-Scorsese-Demme-influenced young auteur promises a "joy ride" of epic proportions, if not length. His scripts (including this) are published as "Shooting Scripts". This means it's gone through some changes since the "Reading Draft(1st draft)", but Anderson thinks visually, directs very much in that vein, and has been known to write very much like that. His scripts contain much camera description and as little scene description as possible. ...

One of my new favorites, "Punch-Drunk Love" is a unique and spectacular story about a man who doesn't know how the face the world around him. That man is Barry Egan. He has seven sisters who have verbally abused him since he was little, causing him to, now all grown up, get into violent outbursts. Barry's a quiet and shy guy, but if his button is pushed things can get out of control. He meets Lena, a very strange and peculiar girl herself. Love falls upon these two, but Barry's even facing more problems after being blackmailed by a phone-sex operator. But when all else fails, he knows that he has a love in his life in this very oddball and dark comedy.

I'm glad they came out with a script version of the film that you can buy. Paul Thomas Anderson has written a magnificent picture that's so easy to relate to , it's scary. The stuff that occurs you can see happening in real life. It's realistic and surreal at the same time.

This is the shooting script, on blue, pink, and yellow colored pages that symbolize when the revisions were made. Technical terms such as camera angels are included as well since it is a shooting script. Even little changes are mentioned as well. I love the dialogue that was written and you can tell that P.T. had Sandler in mind for the part, because nobody else would've been able to pull it off. While it's not your typical comedy, I thought it was hilarious. It pretty much follows the movie, although some things aren't there or changed due to changes that occurred during the shooting. It's pretty much all there for the most part.

"Punch-Drunk Love: The Shooting Script" is a great purchase for anyone who loved the film. It may not had been the most popular movie to come out of 2002, but it's #2 on my list. The pages fly by with ease, and when you're done with it you want to read it again. I can't wait for this movie to come out on DVD. I'm counting the days. A spectacular script for a spectacular film.

I love being able to read P.T. Anderson's shooting scripts. His films are fabulous. I believe one of the negative reviewers partially misses the point when harping on the misspellings, the rambling monologues and how PTA's scripts are saved by the actors. The whole point of a script is that it is the first rough draft -- the framework -- upon which a movie is built. Of course there are going to be improvements between the script and the final product. The reason to buy this, or any, shooting script is to see how the project evolved from script to screen. In the case of Punch-Drunk Love -- much more so than Boogie Nights or Magnolia -- it's fascinating to find that almost every important scene was tweaked, sometimes in a major way, before this wonderful film reached the screen. ... It's a great chance to get some insight into the stages of the creative process of one of America's finest directors. ... BOTTOM LINE: Does this book have all the bells and whistles of the Boogie Nights and Magnolia shooting scripts? NOPE. Is it essential for the PTA fan? YUP.

This was the first "Quiller" novel I have read and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a "thinking persons" book. It read a chapter at a time only to be put down to absorb the logic and planning of Quiller. I won't give anything away, but reading Robert Littel's endorsement was chilling...if the CIA didn't read this book, perhaps some others did. This is a good read and I hope you enjoy it as I did.

...this author did to the spy thriller--don't be put off by the number of pages, each is fast-paced and the writing style is both accessible as well as being completely original--with all the hoopla over Brosnan quitting the Bond series, Broccoli and co. could do no wrong using this character and series as a template--HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

There is a lot more info on the Quiller series at www.quiller.net, a fan site.

Elleston Trevor honored me with a rare author's proof and I have a particularly soft spot for this Q caper, not least because it demonstrates his nom-de-plume Adam Hall's absolute determination to give readers full value, starting with each story sending Q down an even more suicidal hole than the one before.

Of all the adventures, 'Solitaire' is the one that most resoundingly drives home a lesson taught by 9/11, namely that you can wire and bureaucratise your spook setup all you like, but it counts for naught unless you have the requisite 'ferrets' working the dark side and able to deliver the right intelligence for the automatons to crunch.

This is an assignment Q wants - badly. He owes a man a death and he'll get it. Mission: thwart a terrorist group, for which (as so often) Q needs to be drawn into the opposition's den.

The 9/11 connection takes the form of Quiller aboard a jetliner with only seconds to defuse a bomb.

My opinion is neither here nor there: everything this spymaster poet delivered was exquisite and brutal and this is one of his best. With book trade heros like Otto Penzler doing their thing, we'll perhaps see Hall recognized for the master he is, and a new generation of readers flock to the Quilliad.

Full marks to Amazon's editors of these reviews to permit the link to the fine homage page to Trevor's work.

Anyone who enjoys top-rate thrillers and hasn't yet discovered Quiller is in for a major treat.

Revenge On Rairarubia, book 4 of the exciting series The Rairarubia Tapes Series, is the book I reviewed. In this book of the tale, Molly Doogan and her best friend, Netty Parmet, are just getting back from Rairarubia, a land from a story that originally was thought up of by Molly and her father. Once they returned, in the circle of nine stones that took them there sat an egg, a LARGE egg. They looked at the huge eggshell in
the portal, and they found a small, but very noticeable, crack. In panic, the two take it back to Rairarubia. When they get there, a dear friend named Bovert greets them. He sees the great egg, and he falters. He tells them the danger of the Gremerkles, the large type of bird trying to escape the egg of a jail. As he tells them about the large animal, the roof of the greenhouse
collapses, revealing a giant Gremerkle. When all hope seems lost, Queen Romey comes and kills the beast. After the rescue, she tells them a large predicament that involves she and her husband, King Sam: Their daughter, Princess Tracy, has
been kidnapped by the Gremerkles. A rescue party is sent out, but Romey gets kidnapped and is infected with a deadly disease. Then another party is sent out: now to rescue them both! A
traitor is about. He is seeking his revenge on Rairarubia. Who is the villain? What does he have in mind? Will Molly's secret of Rairarubia be revealed? The tale goes on...

This reviewer thought that this book was great, even though he did not read any of the other books. This book was very good, but the book could be longer and more descriptive. The story need a lot more detail. But,it is an enjoyable book that can be read by anyone.

Rebeccasreads recommends REVENGE ON RAIRARUBIA for fans of Molly Doogan & Netty Parmet, & the fabled land of Rairarubia, about which the two girls write for a school project.

You will be overjoyed at this new & exciting adventure in which Molly must return a mysterious giant bird egg they find in the ring of stones in Molly's bedroom, before it hatches.

In real life, only minutes pass between each book in this series, whereas on Rairarubia sometimes it's been years. So when Molly sees the egg beginning to crack, there's only one thing they can do, take it back from whence it came... except life has moved on in that fantastic world... where they find old friends & new enemies.

& this time the connection between real life & Rairarubia must be joined because Molly needs to bring her doctor mother to help friends survive a beastly plague.

Royce Adams' Revenge On Rairarubia is an engaging fantasy novel young readers ages 9 and older. The fourth volume in the superbly written "Rairarubia" series, Revenge On Rairarubia has a self-contained plot and story that makes it the perfect book to jump in and start following the wondrous happenings on the fantasy world of Rairarubia and the ordinary young girl from our world who becomes involved in its wild ways. She and her best friend must confront giant birds trained to carry off animals and children, a deadly plague, and more in their quest to stop a villain who desires vengeance upon the land and all living things. Revenge On Rairarubia is an exciting story for young readers, and if they aren't already familiar with the three earlier volumes by Adams, Rairarubia (1882897366...), Return To Rairarubia (1882897447...)and Raid On Rairarubia (1882897560...), will quickly set off in search of them!

Molly Doogan and her best friend, Netty Parmet, return on what may be the last of this incredible young fantasy series.

The nine stones formed a circle in Molly's room again. This time within it was a giant bird egg and it was hatching! Thinking quickly, Molly returned it to Bovert in Rairarubia and the adventure begins!

There seemed to be a traitor in the realm training giant birds, Gremerkles, to carry off animals and children. Romey and Sam have married and their daughter, Princess Tracy, was one of the stolen children. The team must rescue the children quickly! Romey and Sam get tricked and become infected with a deadly plague that may kill all in Rairarubia as revenge from an unknown foe! The only hope was for Molly to bring her doctor mother to Rairarubia.

***** I read this book in one sitting! It was fantastic! I can only hope this is not the last in this series. I have become fond of the characters and the magical realm of Rairarubia. This series is perfect for fifth grade and above. Yes, even adults will love it. I sure did!

Author, W. Royce Adams, has a remarkable talent for writing in a way that teens and pre-teens can easily understand and enjoy! I urge parents to purchase this series and read them with their children. Highly recommended! *****

The collaboration of Cathy L. Clamp and C. T. Adams, Road To Riches: The Great Railroad Race To Aspen is an historical novel set in late 1800s America, and about the men of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad who put their backs into a no-holds-barred race against the Colorado Midland Railroad to determine who would be the first to reach Aspen Colorado in 1887, and with that achievement, reap the rich rewards of serving as transportation for tourists, businessmen, and anyone who would buy a ticket. An enthralling, original, deftly woven tale of cut-throat competition, backstabbing, war against the elements, amazing human feats and so much more, Road To Riches is exceptionally well crafted and highly recommended reading.

Road to Riches is an enjoyable book, with a flair for western United States history mixed with a nicely woven tale of humanity. Ms. Clamp and Ms. Adams have succeeded in bringing the trials and tribulations of crossing the Rocky Mountains to life. The sources cited and historical documents provided only add to the scope of the story. A must-read for railroad enthusiasts everywhere!

This book is superb in combining historical events and the personal challenges leading to the construction of a railroad line to Aspen. An outstanding representation of the race between competing companies. The photographs from that period are very interesting and help 21st Century readers better understand some of the obstacles. I would highly recommend this book.

I have read voraciously for decades and have frequently found that an historical novel can be a great read. Such is the case, here, with Road to Riches: The Great Railroad Race to Aspen. The authors have picked a great historical topic which would have stood on its own AND they added compelling fiction to raise it to the level of a "great read."

This is the ultimate account of a corporate whistleblower whose life was torn to shreds as a consequence. Not only did the European Commission successfully prosecute HLR as a result of Adams' information, but they stood by as both his and his family's lives were systematically destroyed. I read this book seven years ago and I still grit my teeth at any thought of Roche, the EC, and especially those god awful Swiss.

You MUST read this book. The more people who know the story, the better. Pharmaceutical cartels aren't as sexy as Big Tobacco, but Stanley Adams' ordeal blows even the dramatised Hollywood account of Big Tobacco's "Insider" completely out of the water.

This book has left a mark on my life and despite reading it over ten years ago I can still remember the tale in some detail. I recommend it to anyone who wishes to understand the true power of the multinnational

A most distrurbing tale of what happened to an executive of a Swiss pharmaceutical company after he had left the organisation.

Doing what he felt was right for the good of consumers and the EC, he passed cartel and shady dealing information to the European Parliament.

His subsequent arrest, the 'suicide' of his wife, and his ensuing struggle for freedom will bring a genuine tear to the eye of even the hardest reader.

I have tried to contact Stanley Adams and John Prescott (who assisted him in his plight) but to no avail.

All in all a gripping read - at times you will not beleive it is NON-fiction.

I read the book more than three years ago. Even though I have forgotten most of the details of Mr Adams's story, I am deeply impressed by this man's courage and ability of not showing even the slightest sign of grudge agaisnt those who have played him out. This shows that he is a very forgiving and loving guy. I admire him for the way in which he reacted to the whole incident. It's a very touching story, undeniably. May he live in peace and happiness forever.

I had heard of Charley Parkhurst, but would have thought a story about a stage driver who swears and spits, gets blinded by a horse, and dies of tongue cancer would be an unlikely choice for a children's book.

Wow! So beautifully done that if you don't know who Charley was, you'll be drawn in, and if you do, you won't find the foreshadowing obvious or cloying.

I humbly opine that the cryptic rhyme is superior to that of Shaw, although I very much enjoy the Sheep in a Jeep series.

The first day I had this book in my hands I read it out loud to 50 fourth graders (a group who normally consider themselves way too old for read alouds) and it was one of the best received books I've ever had the pleasure of reading. I will now search for everything written by Verla Kay.

A picture book with a surprise twist even this grownup couldn't guess? You bet! I loved ROUGH, TOUGH CHARLEY! Verla Kay wrote an exciting biography on a lesser known character in history without ever letting on regarding the surprise at the end of the story. And Adam Gustavon's illustrations ROCK!!! It's exciting, rough, tough, and everything in between! I highly recommend this book for all families to enjoy together! MY kids LOVED it!!!

Verla Kay did a great job of entertaining and informing in Rough, Tough Charley. In a quick cryptic rhyme read I was finished with this book and smiling. I am not a historical fan but I am glad that I have added this book to my collection. She has made history fun. And the ending....I didn't expect. Clever, very clever!

In the old west, Orphan Charley lived and worked in stables from a very young age while carefully hiding a potentially life-changing secret. Though he was gruff and unusual, he was also punctual and in high demand as a stagecoach driver. Late in life, Charley ran a stage stop, voted in elections and joined a lodge. It wasn't until his death that it was discovered that Charley was really a woman.

Based on a true story, Rough, Tough Charley is a unique children's book to be treasured. Verla Kay's "cryptic rhyme" is reminiscent of Nancy E. Shaw of Sheep in a Jeep fame and Kay's folksy style will appeal to fans of Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved Books (Winters), yet she blends the styles to create something nearly exotic with flawless cadence. The illustrations perfectly complement the text to fashion a children's book for the ages. This author has won many awards for her work.

My three children give it six thumbs up. This mama agrees.

Armchair Interviews says: Both boys and girls will love the story of Charley who lived a life unlimited by gender in a time when gender mastered what a person could be.