Armstrong Books

Over all, Karen has managed to write an excellent book on the history of the city of Jerusalem. Unlike other "historians" who's prejudice is clear in their work, especially on the Crusade histories, karen's book here is easily understood & far from bias. I find this book to be very objective in dealing with the various elements & people who came to that troubled city. For those who are looking to condemn & judge these by gone incidents should look for less credible writers to fill their thirst, as this book is about citing the incidents, battles & struggle history for the city of, ironically, peace.

Ms. Armstrong fails to fully disguise her pro-muslim bias in this history of Jerusalem. While it is true that atrocities were committed by all parties (Jews, Christians, Muslims and others) at different times during Jerusalem's long history, she focuses primarily on those inflicted upon the Muslims, ignoring the fact that the Christian crusades occured after more than 300 hundred years of Muslim invasions upon Christian, Jewish and pagan lands, often brutally, and with disastrous consequences.
The "claim to Jerusalem", while a very touchy subject and one fraught with the landmines of what constitutes a claim, is presented with her usual bias towards Muslims, largely ignoring the very clear historical fact that it was the Jewish temples upon which all others were later built.
Very readable and complete, worth adding to your library if you can take it for what it's worth and balance the information with other sources.

Brodsky offers a wonderful history of wireless in terms of who and why, something that has been lacking in a wireless history book until this publication. Those interested in understanding the personal connections of the individuals involved through the development of this industry will want to read it. Those who are working in the industry or desire to break in as entrepreneurs need to read it. His last section on creativity is wonderfully useful. If you have the guts to truly innovate, or are doing so now in any industry I highly recommend this book. It was obvious the material was well researched (due to the limited information available on some of the individuals involved from a historic perspective, Brodsky did provide sufficient information to get his many points across, somewhat rare in a book that covers 130+ years through the development of an industry). There was only one element that I would have liked to see him expand on a bit more, and that was in the area of convergence. I think a few more pages devoted to the cable and telephone networks along with wireless would have rounded out this section perfectly; but then maybe not, as it potentially could have risked loosing the true focus of wireless.

Wireless is an amazing field. How many other products do you own today that you rely on more than wireless? A decade ago you likely didn't mind leaving home sans wireless; now, most of us feel naked unless our mobile (or handy or cellphone) is with us.

As an industry, the statistics are astounding: it's grown from a blip to one trillion dollars annually in wireless service revenue in 2 decades; 1.3 BILLION devices were shipped in 2007; and in 2008, it's the first year in human history when more people on Earth have a cell phone than do not; and would you dream of buying a laptop without wireless connectivity?

Unless you've been in the industry since the 1980's (as I have), it may be hard to fathom how the wireless industry came to be. Ira Brodsky successfully tackles the breadth and depth of wireless to create a readable and enjoyable understanding of the technology, the industry, and the pioneers who've created what none of us can live without.

I would recommend this book to all who enjoy reading the thread of history, or want a better understanding of what the future of OFDMA, WiMAX, LTE & 4G holds.

Armstrong is a fine reader and a fine writer. To be honest, I found her overall premise that the development of the individual in the novel drove the development of the individual in society a little thin, but who cares? The rest of the lit crit is so rich, so enjoyable, interesting and insightful, that it really doesn't matter. I recommend this book to anyone who has dipped into any English-language novels from the relevant period. How Novels Think is an extremely well-written, smooth, lovely read.

I love Armstrong's work, but this seems more dense than previous books of hers. The information is good and solid, but just be prepared to spend some time digging through this and thinking, which isn't necesarily a bad thing.

This isn't Charlotte Armstrong's usual fare. One or two of these stories could be called mysteries, but most aren't. They're dated, as you'd expect, but marvelous in their own way. One story utterly puzzles me; the rest show a splendid grasp of human nature. They'll surprise you.

What was going on with Charlotte Armstrong when she put together the volume she called I SEE YOU? She must have been in one of those moods where she longed to be taken seriously, to be recognized as more than a genre writer. These moods struck her from time to time, usually to grand results, but sometimes it wasn't such a great idea. I'm a big fan of her two "straight" novels, THE TROUBLE IN THOR and THE SEVENTEEN WIDOWS OF SANS SOUCI, but there's no denying that as she grew older, her style got more and more mannered, nearly pretentious, and she got to be all about wisdom--paralleling the mood of the nation, I suppose, in the 1960s when we started importing every kind of spiritual wisdom from Zen Buddhism to Carlos Castaneda. I SEE YOU (1966) is a very different sort of book from her first, classic collection of short stories THE ALBATROSS; the jacket copy boasts that it is a seven ages of man book, and it's true, the first story is about an infant confronting a clown at a circus (and being scarred for life) and the final story, the title tale, takes place in a nursing home, its heroine an elderly woman who's just about given up her lease on life. To run the gamut from infancy to old age Armstrong had to repeat two stories from THE ALBATROSS, so it's funny to see two of her classics, THE ENEMY and MISS MURPHY, standing in respectively for "childhood" and "adolescence," whereas in the original we just thought of them as infinitely clever and touching crime stories with a twist. Here they have to carry a symbolic weight they don't really support.

The tragic thing is that, in order to make this happen, she had to edit out some real winners, stories that remain uncollected to this day, because they did not fit her chronological scheme! Someone should print a book of Armstrong's uncollected tales: for ten cents I'd do it myself!

But at the end of the day I SEE YOU would be a book to cherish just for the fact that in it Armstrong reprinted "Motto Day," a long short story that might be the very best thing she ever pulled off in any medium, and not a crime story at that. Four disaffected young people (not as young as they used to be, around 30) decide to change their lives by pulling a penny apiece out of a tobacco tin, each penny wrapped in a motto, or cliche, a guide to living, and they vow to live by the mottoes they get for 12 hours on a Monday. Only 12 hours--how much trouble could they get into, how much of a commitment is 12 hours? The answers surprise me every time I read this magnificent, juicy story.

George Armstrong Custer met his fate at the Battle of Little Bighorn. The Indians were there in masse waiting for 'this good day' to kill their enemy. It is neve a good day to die. But we have have to sometimes. Some sooner, some later.

Wilma Mankiller is a former principal chief of the Cherokee Ntion out in Oklahoma; whe has previously written an account of her chiefdom. I thought the lovely Indian woman on the front cover of her, but it is the head chief woman of the Northern Cheyenne, Gail Small. It was Audrey Shenandoah who said, "The main difference between our people and the world around us is the thankfulness and respect for the Earth, our environment, and the natural world. In our way, every day is a good day."

I think we are all thankful to be alive on the earth at this time. Some don't show respect for the natural world, having spent all of their growing up years (and adult, as well) in the inner cities. Al Gore must be part Indian, as am I, because he wrote books about the environment and championed the cause in his campaign for President of the United States.

It is indeed a good day every day we live. A few years ago, I did my first creative writing for an online Senior Newsletter. I did not know that it was edited and mostly supported by the Native Americans until I wrote an article about being part-Indian. My mailman, a Cherokee, was most respectful to me after that; I don't know how he knew about it as he is not a senior. It was fun, but I was used and abused, let down in a big way by this group. Were I not part Cherokee, I might have ended up resenting the way I was deceived by Valerie who'd promised me a free lunch, but not once made herself known to me.

I do much better with the "every day is a good day" on Amazon.com. Who needs those who use others, for whatever reason! They are no wiser than the white folks. My mother's family were from Union County (Irish, I think) and they are more honorable country people than any Native Americans.

I've attended several of their PowWows here in this town and taken photos of the same costumes, year after year, Their dancing is just shuffling feet as they go round and round in a circle. The men preen as the women show their pride, especially the two white women married to the beautiful males of the Indian Nation. My son looks more Indian than the young one from the Cherokee reservation who talked with me about the red-headed, blue-eyed faux Indian at one of the PowWow.

This is an excellent and clear told story of the Battle of Little Big Horn. I read this to my fifth grade son and we both "enjoyed" it. It is a very sad tale told from the perspective of people that were at Greasy Grass. I truly recommend this for ALL teachers that teach our children about westward expansion and ALL parents that want our children to learn the truth and the importance of the truth. It tells the story of Native Americans and the destruction of their life and culture.

Thomas B. MARQUIS had given Us a Biography of "Wooden Legs: A Warrior Who Fought Custer". This time, he presents Us a deep analysis of CUSTER's & RENO's mistakes on the Little Big Horn Battlefield... to throw it. But, he goes further and tries to explain the defeat... And so, we learn that the 7th Cavalry Troops were (very) Young (also see Douglas D. SCOTT, P. WILLEY and Melissa A. CONNOR's "They Died with Custer: Soldiers'Bones from the Battle of the Little Bighorn"), inexperienced and were soo influenced by the fear to be tortured by Indians warriors when captured, they prefered kill themself. MARQUIS' thesis sets on a serious investigation and, its demonstration is soo that if we are troubled, we may not reject it without carefullness. This book is a document very usefull to everybody tries to understand the defeat. To read... with the usual openmind, but to read urgently.

Good insight into the historical and strategic problems facing the American Indians regarding their weapons as well as problems the army faced. Mr. Marquis' conclusion that Custer's enemy was his own men's lack of experience and training, thus leading to the only way out for them is insightful and interesting.

This book was entertaining as well as historically enlightening. It provides the reader with an interseting look at see the "politics" at work in the midst of what oftentimes seems to us as a cut-and-dried period in our Nation's history. It certainly adds dimension to the reader's perception of that era.

Having read many books in the genre of historical novels, I approached this work with certain expectations. I look to authors of such works to find a period in history populated with people of interest and "fill in the blanks" left by historical accounts. For examples, conversations leading characters from one point to another, along with emotional accounts that go beyond the sometimes dry reporting of the historian are all appropriate.

I was not prepared for an author (who had obviously done her historical research) to choose deliberately to ignore certain key events in the lives of her characters or, in essence, re-write actual history.

George Armstrong and Elizabeth Bacon Custer are certainly fascinating characters who lived through fascinating times in United States history. The author has chosen a wonderful backdrop ranging from the Civil War through Lincoln's assassination, and Indian wars on the Plains, culminating with the loss of Custer and his command in the Battle of Little Big Horn. Much of the work is taken, almost word for word, from the three books Mrs. Custer herself wrote in recording the Custers' life together from the close of the Civil War to the final days at Fort Lincoln (Tenting on the Plains, Following the Guidon, and Boots and Saddles).

I was distressed to see circumstances of the Custers' wedding deliberately falsified, real historic acts attributed to different persons for the sake of presenting a fictionalized romance between Mrs. Custer and a soldier in Custer's command, and specific recollections of Mrs. Custer directly attributed to someone else.
These devices detracted from the story, in my opinion, and could be very misleading to a reader who reads this genre for historical background as well as for a good novel.

Those who have researched the lives of General and Mrs. Custer will find this book entertaining and will have the ability to separate the misleading from the reliable historical fiction. No one should use this book as a basis for understanding these real and human people.

The mixture of case study presented in the context of a ESL book works out to be a great tandem in this book. I highly recomend this book to anyone who is teaching advanced students interested in learning English in a business context. Unfourtunately the book canot be purchased here with the cassette. Too bad becuase I believe it is the keystone to the sucess of the this particular book.

The mixture of case study presented in the context of a ESL book works out to be a great tandem in this book. I highly recomend this book to anyone who is teaching advanced students interested in learning English in a business context. Unfourtunately the book canot be purchased here with the cassette. Too bad becuase I believe it is the keystone to the sucess of the this particular book.

Massage is one of those topics difficult to describe using just words. So Roger Pozeznik illustrates his "Massage for Cyclists" with a simple two-photo system for each technique: putting the two side by side helps the reader interpolate the motions necessary to do the moves. In addition to the photos themselves, what makes this book helpful is the division into functional parts: pre-ride, post-ride, and maintenance massage. There are two kinds of stretching described as well. Pozeznik is practical about massage's benefits without veering outside the bounds of his topic. At all times he stays attuned to the needs of athletes on the verge or at the end of a hard day's riding. Since I have offered neck-and-shoulder massage for years -- knowing that what I was doing was helping, but not knowing why -- it was especially grayifying to read the chapter on neck massage and realize that I had lucked onto a sequence almost identical to that which Pozeznik recommends. Cyclists looking to increase flexibility and suppleness, and to enhance recovery, will enjoy this book. Besides, massage is great fun. ("Sort of" by one's self, and "Absolutely" with a partner!)

As a Registered Massage Therapist I was expecting more. Although I was pleasantly surprised by the photos in this book, I was dissappointed at the descriptions of technique in this book. Pozeznik, a Certified Massage Therapist himself, needs to be building the image of Massage as a valid Therapy, useful in countless applications. This is very difficult to do when he does not use proper names to refer to technique or strokes. I understand that this book was written for the average cyclist, or lay-person, still a proper glossary at the back of the book would have solved the problem of terminology. To say I was more engaged by the forword written by Edmund Burke is not far off point. Still the book does outline a fairly useful series of pre- and post-ride sessions. A useful book to have in my library, but by no means does this book give a complete start into the field of Sports Massage.

At the beginning of this book I asked "Why Momma's life lessons?" and "What are they like" now I know. The author loves God with all her heart and takes the Word of God seriously. Let me encourage you to read and reread the sections in this book wholeheartly because it is very powerful; you will be able to grow, learn and teach your child or someone else's child the foundation that we must stand on as parents in today's society. Many times we are aware of these things ,but need reminding. Don't underestimate your child. The natural dependency and openness of a child is so precious. He or she is a blessing from God, so teach them Momma's life lessons...

The author has put into words the thoughts and lessons that many of us have learned but never seem to get the chance to organize, express, and write down. This book makes me think about my own lessons learned and how do I share them with my loved ones and others seeking to improve themselves. It was good to read a book that was easy reading yet at the same time makes you contemplate life and what's it all about.