Blair Books

This book attempts to place Einstein's work during the 1920s in a social-political and scientific context. I do not have a strong background in physics and I found most of the scientific explanations and descriptions to be confusing, if not completely unintelligible. On the other hand, I found his analyses and description of historical and cultural events in post-WWI Germany to be superficial. Perhaps someone who has a stronger background in physics might get more out of it, but I warn you - don't place too much faith in Bolles' views on history and politics!

I abandoned the book after the fourth chapter. I am not a physicist, but I have read quite a lot about quantum theory and philosophy and Einstein's life, so I was very interested in the topic of the book. I found the author's style, however, very annoying. He does not keep to a timeline, but meanders off in five different directions page after page, and digresses left and right before telling what happened. The book reads more like a chat with a slightly tipsy gossip, who has to bring in every little bit of juicy information about the neighbors and their cats before relaying the main story. I finally gave up when the author tried to explain quantum theory by the properties of springs in the mattress where Einstein is supposedly making love to an actress! (Page 43 for those with prurient interests! ;)

This is one of those books, for which one thinks, that I wish I had read this book years ago! The book clearly shows that how Quantum Mechanics, is NOT a theory. While going through undergraduate Physics program, I used to be bewildered by Quantum. Countering your Profs did not help at all, since you were faced with the canned responses, that "it works"! This book has put me at the highest mountain, that my personal objections to the "theory" were being echoed by Einstien himself!

A very good book which just cracks open the entire Modern Physics revolution in a very concise and simple way in front of all to understand, in the spirit of Einstien himself, who was against the notion of incomprehesibility, even when it came to expalining the laws of the Universe at large. The book puts the reader right next to the Physics gaints of the century, in a very personal way. The picture comes vividly. It's a must have and a must read.

However at some junctures, the book reveals some information, which makes one think about the sources. For instance, the tram ride in Berlin (Einstien & Bohr), while trying to go back home, but keep missing their stops, since they are busy arguing over light quanta. The author regrets, that no passanger heard/witnessed the talk or seeing how pathetically they have been missing thier stops..if there is no account from witnesses, what is the source of our esteemed author? Makes one think. Besides, the editor should pay close attention to typos.

I found this book to be a little too slow in developing the theme but it is well researched. In the first part, the author tries to describe the post-war Germany and give the reader a sense of the social setting of the time. This is interesting, but I feel that it sometimes also overshadows the main theme -- which should be about the quantum revolution. Had the author been a little more judicious in weighing the materials, it could have been a more absorbing book.

Also, the last famous Einstein-Bohr debate (regarding the "black body emmission on a scale" experiment, in which Bohr defended Heisenberg Principle by using Eisten's own General Relativity) is, in my opinion, one of the most profound and fascinating examples of "thought (or theoretical) experiments" in the history of Physics (others include Einstein's chasing a light beam and Galileo's free fall of two objects with different weights), yet it only appears in the second-to-last chapter and does not get the detailed analysis that it deserves (the author does describe it in detail and has some, but in my opinion not sufficient, commentary).

Despite these flaws, I enjoyed the book and it is well grounded on thorough research.

Einstein Defiant by Edmund Blair Bolles is a great book that recounts the conflicts between some of the greatest Geniuses of our time. The book explains how Einstein believes that there is order in the universe and you can apply a law and therefore an explanation to everything. Bohr on the other hand believes that there is a form of randomness that takes over and that laws may no longer apply when dealing with quantum. The author obviously has a great love for physics and the scientists that expand the frontiers of physics, because only a person with such passion for physics could write a 300 page biography dealing with physics that has a lot of technical information and keep the reader entertained at the same time. I thought it was a great book and was exceptional in comparison with similar books as it did a great job of explaining some confusing concepts and ideas. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone as it is interesting to see into the minds and achievements of geniuses and it is very entertaining. I really enjoyed this book.

Why are Victorian novels so long? Among other reasons one which stands out is that they were often serialized in popular magazines. This novel of 1873 was serialized in "The Fortnightly Review." It is one of the six novels comprising the Palliser Series which deals with the British upper crust and politcs as the fortunes of Prime Minister Platangenet Palisser and his feisty wife Glencora are examined. In this novel they play a minor role sharing gossip about Lizzie Eustace and nothing much else.
Lizzie Eustace is the fetching and sexy young widow of Lord Eustace. She has given birth to a son. Lizzie is similar to the scheming Becky Sharp who proceeded her by fifty years and Scarlett O'Hara who came seventy years later and a continent away. Lizzie claims that a 10,000 necklace was given her by her late mate but the family wants it as an heirloom. That is the plot of this 800 page novel!
Lizzie is courted by Lord George Carruthers; refuses marriage to the stupid and dull Lord Fawn and is infatuated with her cousin Frank Greystock. Frank has tied up with the good but colorless Lucy Morris who is a governess to the Fawn family featuring Lady Fawn and several of her daughters.
The novel becomes a mystery story as the diamonds are stolen from Lizzie? Who took them and why? Check with Miss Crabstick her maid and rich
but dishonest jewel dealers in London. Trollope goes to Scotland Yard to follow the case as Lizzie comes under a cloud. Lizzie is exonerated but she is a nefarious lady who cannot tell the truth always searching for a handsome Corsair to whisk her away on a stallion of her romantic imaginings.
A good side tale is that of Mrs. Carbuncle and her ward Lucinda Roanoke who seek to wed a title and filthy lucre. Lucinda is to wed Sir Griffin but backs out as the man is an odious and offensive nonentity.
Trollope includes a few chapters on fox hunting of which he was a clumsy but devoted adherent. The book is filled with humor, mystery, romance and closely observed English aristocratic life in the 1870s.
Unlike other of his huge novels this one moves at a quicker pace though the reader is wearied with the umpteenth explanation of what happened to the jewels recounted by various characters.
Anthony Trollope deserves high praise for his storytelling abilities which place him in the top rank of Victorian and British authors. This is one of the best of the Palliser novels. Enjoy the complex Lizzie Eustace as she will take you on a journey through many pages with her panache and deceitfully sly ways.

Anthony Trollope was a writer well-known in Britain during the Victorian era, but until I was introduced to The Eustace Diamonds during a local book club, I had never heard of him. Trollope is famous for his lengthy "exposes" on middle class Victorian society, and this one is a real hoot! His prose is easy to read, and although the book is a bit lengthy, it is well worth the time. The Eustace Diamonds is essentially a Victorian "soap opera" but the characters and situations are so well-drawn that one can easily believe the same absurdities occurring in the modern world. What I like most about this novel is that the "heroine", if you can call her that, gets just what she deserves in a wonderfully ironic ending.

I suspect that Anthony Trollope who knew the language so well and used it so nicely would have sneered at the adjective "exciting" to characterize this exquisite novel. So over-used, so vulgar, so trans-Atlantic an epithet! Well,maybe so. Nevertheless, that is the word that springs inevitably to my mind--vulgar though it may be!--when I think of Trollope's picaresque heroine in "The Eustace Diamonds." Trollope's plots are usually pretty formulaic; we read him for his wonderful characters. But, in this novel, the plot of more than usually intriguing and the anti-heroine is a triumph.

Anthony Trollope's `The Eustace Diamonds' is sometimes referred to as the third of his Palliser novels, but this is misleading. This novel is only loosely connected with the series, and can be read and enjoyed without the knowledge about the other `Palliser' novels. And though many would prefer his earlier works, `Diamonds' shows considerable merit of its own with its satires on the world he lived in, and vivid portraits of the intriguing characters..

The novel is best remembered for beautiful Lizzie Eustace, strong-willed (and unscrupulous) heroine. She claims that her late husband Sir Florian Eustace `gave' the precious diamonds of the Eustace family to her, and she is determined to have them. Of course, such an expensive thing cannot be `given' so casually, and the family's lawyer Mr. Camperdown starts to fight to regain what he thinks is the heirloom of the Eustace family.

But no one can stop Lizzie. After brief mourning, we find Lizzie engaged to Lord Fawn, indecisive, but respectable gentleman. While timid Lord Fawn soon regrets his hasty decision, and hesitates to marry her, Lizzie has plenty of time to think about the alternative plans - how about Lord George, or her cousin Frank Greystock? Frank is already engaged to Lucy Morris, but Lucy is only a governess, and he is MP, isn't it? But whatever her final choice may be, Lizzie is determined to teach Lord Fawn a lesson before that.

But things get confusing when the diamonds are `stolen' by thieves in he middle of the night. (`The Eustace Diamonds' was originally published in 1872, only four years after the huge success of `The Moonstone' by Wilkie Collins.) But what really happened to the diamonds is not the novelist's real concern because he reveals it very soon. I will not write that part. I can only say Trollope's idea is very ingenious.

`The Eustace Diamonds' is not a detective story, but the fate of the characters is as interesting as the discovery of The Moonstone. Will Lizzie get what she wants? Will Frank marry Lucy? Trollope, whose digressive habits sometimes damage his works, succeeds in creating the tightly-constructed plot here. Plus, there are some funny in-jokes. In one scene Lizzie changes the date of her letter, and the narratives about her action can be taken as Trollope's own commentary on the meticulous details of Collins' novels.

Not everything is good, I must say. The chapters about hunting are, I thought, a bit lengthy and Jewish characters, though they are relatively minor ones, will be called negative stereotypes.

But I find the book very amusing with the lively characters and interesting story, especially Lizzie Eustace, who often mistakes lies for poetry. `The Eustace Diamonds' shows the author's clear vision of the society. The satires are often biting, and the narratives are incisive. (Though very briefly, Lizzie appears again later in `Phineas Redux.')

From the very start of this novel, you know that you're not going to like Lizzie (Lady Eustace), the main character. She's one of those women who does ANYthing she can to get her way...and she'll be damned if she doesn't get it. She can flirt, act sweet and innocent, step on other women's toes, turn on her tears in a timely manner...and all of the men are just bending over backwards to help her. She was born with nothing, and she's going to get what she wants in life. She starts out by getting herself a rich husband who will conveniently die right away and leave his riches and jewels to her. But, wait, did he "correct" his will in the exact manner Lizzie wanted before he died? Well, it doesn't matter, she'll get what she wants (the Eustace diamonds) in another manner---wear them around and refuse to take them off! It's difficult to contradict this extremely clever woman, but she has enemies who are certainly going to try. Some of her "tricks" to get her way just want to make you scream--she can be SO cruel and heartless.

This novel is a battle of wills...a woman and her enemies. You don't have to like her, but you must admit she's on a higher playing field than everyone else...and she should at least get credit for her effort and her cleverness! Everyone knows a woman like Lady Eustace and hopes she gets what she deserves. This book will show you if she does. It's very long, but the political plots that are a part of the other books in this series are left out and make for an entertaining, can't-put-it-down read.

I thought The Exorcist novel (written by William Peter Blatty) was truly frightening and a brilliant novel so I bought The Exorcist BFI Modern Classics by Mark Kermode as a companion novel.

5 Stars for Mark Kermode for his companion novel, it provided an excellent insight into the making of The Exorcist movie. Plus there are lots of on set pictures (including ones of Linda Blair in full makeup as the demonic child Regan MacNeil)as well.

Lots of details regarding how the book was written, the many scripts to be used for filming, how the scenes were made, deleted scenes, etc.

I recommend it for any fans of 'The Exorcist'

Author Mark Kermode, well know as one of the biggest fans of THE EXORCIST did a good job and goes very deep in the background story of the scariest movie of all time.
The problem with this book is, that Kermode never talk about real exporcism and the sequels, plus the size of the book is too small.
But still four stars !

I love it! It has good pictures! Read it if u like the exorcist as much as me!

Kermode's book is a very concise, informational guide to a difficult but significant film. The Blatty-Friedkin collaboration is closely explored, and the book's earlier edition quite likely influenced the release of the significantly improved 2nd "version you have never seen" of The Exorcist in recent years.

I'm a tremendous fan of William Friedkin and his seminal horror flick The Exorcist. But I'm kind of torn about this book. On the one level, it's nice to have a serious book that considers so many angles on the film, the director, and the source material.

However, this is now the 3rd edition of this book in about five years. Actually, this is called the 'Revised 2nd Edition'. I bought the first two, now why should I plunk down more money?

Mark Kermode is apparently obsessed with this film, maybe a bit too much. As if two books and a part in numerous Exorcist documentaries were not enough for him, we have another edition of the book. Take it easy, Mr. Kermode, it's one movie. I would rather have another BFI book on another Friedkin film (French Connection, Sorcerer, To Live and Die in LA, etc.)

If you don't have either of the two previous editions, I would highly recommend this. I'm guessing the update was primarily to address The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen (one of the most shameless movie titles ever), which of course, included scenes Kermose certainly had seen, and written about in the first two books. But overall, a reverent book.

Header pretty much tells it.

Ness comes across as a fairly dull individual.
Could have done without quite a bit of the info on Cleveland.

Book is gripping and a real pager-turner when the author stays with the slasher and his victims...alas, there isn't enough of it here. Also, what compounds the problem is that the butcher was never caught.

So, what do you got? A John Gilmore SEVERED type of tale? Not quite, because John Gilmore is the superior writer and his book is a compelling read every step of the way (even though John Gilmore was not certain of who did Elizabeth Short in, either.)

But hey, some scribes are born true-crime writers, some are not.

I did say when the author of Torso stays with the bodycount and the ensuing manhunt the book is a scream--by that I mean it just might make your lunch back up.

The Kingsbury Run murders were gruesome and the killer seemingly mocked Cleveland, Ohio, Public Safety Director Eliot Ness in executing the perfect crime.

The crimes - still unsolved - were committed in the mid- to late-1930s with the victims surgically butchered; the heads, arms, legs and torsos cut by someone who seemingly had a medical expertise in removing body parts. Only three of the fourteen victims were ever identified.

Ness - who took center-stage in the investigation - was criticized for the inability in finding the killer. Police detective Peter Merylo actually believed that there were at least 40 murders in Cleveland, Youngstown and Pittsburgh, Pa., spanning three decades that were perpetrated by the individual.

Torso captures the frustration of Ness and the concerns of the public and city leaders while discussing the various theories and suspects. In as much a political as safety decision, Ness ended up raiding & burning several shantytowns in The Flats to clear out an area where it was felt the murderer could feast on any number of "nameless" victims.

According to The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, a film on the murders could be released in 2008. While that may bring new focus - and books - on the crime, Torso will surely remain an outstanding resource for those seeking an understanding of those frightening years.

In the 1930s over a dozen murders were attributed to the "Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run", a ravine that runs through Cleveland Ohio and contains this stream and railroad yards. Most of these bodies were unidentified: headless, the arms, legs, and torso were cut up by someone who knew anatomy or butchering. It was never solved, altho one suspect was made to confess, repudiated this confession, and then found a suicide in jail. Such serial murders were rare in America; earlier serial murderers did it for money and left this trail. No motive was ever established for these murders. Most sex murderers are the product of large cities, which have anonymous victims or perpetrators. Chapter Eleven summarizes these cases.

This book is about the later career of Eliot Ness. After Chicago, he was put in charge of the Alcoholic Tax Unit of norther Ohio. He cleaned out bootleggers, hitting a still every day. Organized crime made Cleveland a safe haven for criminals on the run. Corruption had spread everywhere; neighborhood crime had greatly increased. Harold Burton became mayor, and chose Eliot Ness as Director of Public Safety to oversee the police and firemen. (Burton later became a Senator, a friend of Truman, and was appointed to the Supreme Court.) The ineffectiveness of the police was due to widespread corruption and complacency. With Prohibition gone, Ness prosecuted gambling and union racketeering. Ness cultivated a good relationship with reporters, and got favorable publicity. He tried to purge corrupt policemen but was met with silence. Then a police captain was caught in a cemetery lot racket. Another owned a restaurant which fronted for a gambling room. The bodies found in Kingsbury Run highlighted the corruption.

Cleveland had been the worst city (after Los Angeles) for traffic deaths and injuries. Ness purged the traffic division, began arresting drunk drivers, prosecuted ticket fixing, gave harsher penalties for unpaid fines, and started tougher automobile inspections. Ness promoted traffic safety with a public awareness campaign. He began an Emergency Patrol with first aid training to reach any accident within two minutes. This cut traffic deaths by half, and he received national recognition. Some of the increased traffic fines were put back into the police budget. Squad cars now had two-way radios. A single phone call brought police assistance within 60 seconds. Ness was criticized for wasting tax dollars, but in one year overall crime dropped 38%, robberies by 50%! Public success was followed by private problems: divorce, late night socializing, stories of drinking.

Ness later resigned to join the Federal Social Protection Program during WW 2. Afterwards, he became a businessman but was not successful. His campaign for Mayor of Cleveland flopped. He later met Oscar Fraley and began to write his book. Just before its publication, Ness died of a heart attack; he never knew of its success.

Not long after his "Untouchables" days, Eliot Ness experienced many successes as Public Safety Director of Cleveland (OH). Unfortunately, capturing the 'Torso Murderer' was not among them. A relatively little known crime, this serial killer haunted Ness' time in Cleveland. This book is both a look at Ness himself after his Chicago accomplishments, and an examination of one of America's greatest unsolved serial killings. If you are interested in either subject, this is an excellent purchase.

The book's title is somewhat misleading us into believing that the 1930s `The Untouchables' character of Elliot Ness ran a serial killer investigation. Half this book is the life and times of Ness who happened to be Director of Public Safety in Cleveland while his skid row turned up mostly unidentifiable dismembered remains of vagrants, it was Ness who gained the most attention throughout the investigation by eventually burning down the homeless slums of the Kingsbury Run district in an attempt to clean out, tag, and fingerprint potential victims in the making, probably destroying the killer's Cleveland homeless hunting grounds, also a turning point event in Ness's career, a prohibitionist alcohol distillery buster, who once put away the national crime lord Al Capone, sadly failed systematically to progress his ratings with the city, eventually becoming involved in a hit and run accident that cost him an election run as Mayor, the over-hyped but none-the-less interesting account of Ness is all here, but maybe a little bit more than a seasoned non-crime fiction reader would care to expect, means you get only about 100 pages of the Torso investigation, where we concentrate on the city coroner Dr. Samuel Gerber and Detective Peter Merylo.

Ness comes into play now and again, obviously as a propaganda figurehead designed to play to the media, backfires most of the time he does appear by getting involved in the wrong thing at the wrong time, still had a very high success rate in exposing corruption, and did work on a number of highly constructive policies like getting kids off the streets and stressing the fight against disease, obviously behind the scenes worked with the ""good guy"" force heavies getting all the important political prohibition work done (alcohol prohibition was a failure not because alcohol is safe to use but because prohibition itself actually increases the prohibited drugs risks, usage rates and overall crime goes up because of it, a statistical fact). It is reading the situation of these same propaganda violent cops becoming cold case serial killer squads, even before the term serial killer was used, makes it an absurd situation of bad police management for the 21st century reader to contend with, and was the reason Ness went bust in the end and even more importantly, why the killer got away with so much in the first place.

Thus the investigation in Torso is not like any other, the cops are a different breed (just like out of a comic book meaning useless in real life) and the concept of `stranger killing' was not even present then. The classic book "The Complete History of Jack the Ripper by Philip Sugden" is based on the police records at Scotland Yard of the investigation at the end of the 19th century, news paper clippings and various memorandums that followed with surprising valid detail (all 500 pages of it). Torso reads like trying to find anything factual as if anyone except the leads could read, write or file reports, pounded and smashed their way across Cleveland in the hopes of stumbling across a sexual sadist who would suddenly admit to picking up homeless people, decapitating them with a large blade while they where asleep and or tying them up beforehand so they could not escape, a paraphiliac, expertly removed all the appendages after death with `knowledge of surgery' and bisected the body, sometimes used chemicals or freezers to keep his victims, would then wrap the pieces and begin his very strange dumping process which ranged from never-found victims, to victim's body parts appearing in the middle of the city for everyone to see, going to great lengths to leave two incomplete victims from different time periods together in the same spot, it stands to reason that Dr. Samuel Gerber and Detective Peter Merylo would give us a much better angle, and it is with the medical evidence that Gerber comes off as a sort of new-wave criminology serial killer expert, knowingly prevented other coroners from going near the victim's body parts, rightly asserts himself as a scientist in among all the investigative despair, leading some to suspect and challenge Gerber himself, after his conclusions that a recent severed leg was the work of the same hand, this statement exonerated various numbers of peoples who where obviously rotting in jail on suspicion of being the killer.

Merylo correctly guessed that the killer was somewhat mobile in the area and probably moved on after the killings that did not stop at #12, Merylo at the end of his career guessed that it was probably above forty. Dr. Francis E. Sweeney is the mystery Ness suspect not named in this book but the evidence is circumstantial at best. Gerber may have given the investigators a better idea of who there man was if he did not also subscribe himself to propaganda theories (druggie maniac). It is almost a certainty that if the investigators conducted better searches of abandoned train carts that they would have discovered the killer's `laboratory', a series of abandoned carts containing three different bodies that came from Youngstown after being there for almost a year, was almost certainly that unacknowledged lab of his, but Gerber did not examine these bodies. From the victims that could be identified all where prostitutes or homosexuals. The killer probably killed them away from his home, suggesting that he lived homelessly or with a family, certainly hung around the lower classes of society, befriended vagrants and some other loiterers who where happy enough to sleep with him in train carts (if this fact you are reading now had have been known at the start it would have probably prevented more death), resided in the general area and probably killed and mutilated several times before the first official Torso was found, meaning he learned his `surgical skill' that way.

He should have been caught earlier. Torso is a shallow account of the subject matter but still essential non-fiction crime literature.

If you're a fan of either A) the Grateful Dead or B) musical/PA equipment then this book is fascinating. For people that don't know anything about the Grateful Dead it's an eyeful. (Few people realize how forward-thinking they were.) Steve Urbauer

Yes, I thought this would be more like the Beatles Gear book, which is a true testament to information about their gear....
The Dear Gear book unfortunately ties the gear in with the story of the Dead, which I already knew......
The big questions I had are where is the qeuipment currently?....what happened to Mickey's 1968 drumset?.....
Too much info on the story of the Dead and (for me)not enough on the instruments themselves......

A must have book for the gearhead deadheads! Jackson details the instruments and sound and recording systems for every era of the Grateful Dead. He also includes some background info on equipment and their manufacturers. His information comes from many interviews with band and crew members, photos and discussions with other people involved with the band and equipment in that time period. He also makes several listening recommendations, so that the reader can hear the particular set-ups written about in the book. If you are interested in the type of vocal mics used in the Wall of Sound, or the power amp used to power the Fillmore Auditorium shows, then this book is for you.
This is the best Grateful Dead book to own along with DeadBase and the Taping Compendiums, in my opinion.

This well-written book provides both an overview of the progression of the Grateful Dead alongside a detailed description of the equipment the band used at each step along the way. For the gearheads out there, it's a great read. The same holds for Dead fans and fans of music from the golden era in general. It's really enjoyable.

If you're into music technology, this book is a must-read. It's a breezy, well-informed overview of the Grateful Dead's evolving battery of instruments and sound systems, with plenty of good photos.

My only gripes are:

1. There isn't enough technical detail. For example, we get many pictures of Phil's amazing "brown" bass, but no diagram showing which knobs and switches did what. Tape track assignments for more than a couple of tunes would have been nice, too.

2. There isn't enough philosophy. What were the engineers and musicians thinking about when they made design decisions? More in-depth interviews with key personnel ... especially Bear ... would have been fascinating.

THE BOOK WAS GREAT, IT COVERED ALOT OF AREAS IN HIS LIFE THAT I LEARNED ABOUT, A GOOD BOOK TO READ. A GREAT KEEP SAKE. I'M GLAD I BOUGHT IT. HE WAS A GREAT PERSON AND IS TRULY MISSED.

In A.D. 2101 War was beginning.

Captain: What happen ? Operator: Somebody set up us the bomb Operator: We get signal Captain: What ! Operator: Main screen turn on Captain: It's You !! Cats: How are you gentlemen !! Cats: All your base are belong to us Cats: You are on the way to destruction Captain: What you say !! Cats: You have no chance to survive make your time Cats: HA HA HA HA .... Cats: Take off every 'zig' Captain: You know what you doing Captain: Move 'zig' Captain: For great justice

This book will leave you in tears, laughter and every other emotion. I bought this when it first came out and read it. I wasn't very emotional then, cause Dale was still with us. But now the he's left for a better place with God, this book makes me cry when reading it. It is great book all about his life on and off track. A book that I will cherish forever. ...

In A.D. 2101 War was beginning.

Captain: What happen ? Operator: Somebody set up us the bomb Operator: We get signal Captain: What ! Operator: Main screen turn on Captain: It's You !! Cats: How are you gentlemen !! Cats: All your base are belong to us Cats: You are on the way to destruction Captain: What you say !! Cats: You have no chance to survive make your time Cats: HA HA HA HA .... Cats: Take off every 'zig' Captain: You know what you doing Captain: Move 'zig' Captain: For great justice

This book is informative enough about Earnhardt but is written on a third grade reading level. I'm an Earnhardt fan but found the readability of the book to be pathetic. Of course, I guess the author was writing to his audience.

I bought three books (this is one of them) to give as gifts from amazon. I was apprehensive they would not be on time for a golden wedding anniversary and 50th birthday of a close relative.

Firstly, the books where in mint condition with superb contents and apropos for the occasion (good guidance from brief descriptions by amazon) and best of all delivery was precise. Provided tracking was accurate with a couple of days to spare.

Amazon is still excellent in all aspect as I keep dealing with it! KUDOS!!!!

This is a fantastic book and a great reference to help you get through some of the challenging times as we age (most of the challenges are in our head).
The Next Fifty Years gives you some grounding, puts your life into perspective. I love it.

I thought I had ordered the book but it seems the CD was ordered instead. Fortunately the author was kind enough to refund my money but I was very disappointed. After researching what had been the communication problem, the person who was circulating the CD as part of her lecture series was advertising the CD under the book title then stating she was replacing the book with the CD. I personally feel that is an inappropriate way to advertise her product and it should be done separately. I may reorder the book at a later date obviously through a different Amazon distributor.

I liked this workbook. It is comprehensive and divided into four sections: Thoughts, Cultural Attitudes and Myths about Women Aging; Who we are, Who and What We Live With; and Looking Forward. In her introduction, Blair suggests that we skip sections which do not apply to us. All of her short essays are followed by space in which to respond to questions such as "how does this feel?" or, more specifically, asking for a response to the issue addressed.

There were sections which did not pique my curiosity and I did read through those quickly. However, on a whole, the issues addressed are those which we, as women in the second half of life, should be thinking about. Her style gives us an opportunity for reflection, but does not ask us to spend hours thinking and writing. One could work through a section or even a few pages, put it down, pick it up and still follow the flow of the concepts.

Blair's book is intended to be used as a personal journal but could be used in a discussion/writing group following the study guide in the back or any other format deemed fitting for a group of women. It is well written researched and easy to follow.

The titles of her essays are enough to entice one to read. For example: Myths to Not Live By, Changing Tempo, Aging Can Be Fun? Ages and Stages and An Attitude of Gratitude. There is a long bibliography and a study guide. Her writing is pleasing and her flashes of humor and mini-stories about herself keep The Next Fifty Years from being a dry workbook. Blair feels that "we have an assignment to make clear our role in society: to inscribe the possibilities of age on the guideposts to the future."

by Judith Helburn
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

Thought-provoking, comprehensive, and chock full of pertinent information, Pamela Blair's book is an invaluable guide for the woman crossing over to midlife.
The reader can explore every aspect of what lies ahead for her as an older woman in 150 short essays that range from cultural attitudes and myths about aging women to such practical matters as health, finances, and relationships.
The author poses questions at the end of each essay to which the reader can respond to by journaling right in the book, making it a highly personal experience.
As an added bonus, a study guide is provided at the end of the book for women who wish to meet in discussion groups using The Next Fifty Years.
This book is the perfect companion for the woman who wants to better understand and enter in celebratory fashion midlife and beyond.

- Chloe Jon Paul

This book is a handy little pocket guide. There is a beginning key to direct the user towards the right type of dragonfly, and useful information and descriptions of the anatomy of the insect. There is no way a book this size can include every species; they make sure they have enough representatives of each family that if you do not find the one you are looking for you can at least narrow the search to the family before looking further. This is a nice and inexpensive guide.

I bought this book because it received good reviews at this site. I knew virtually nothing about dragonflies/damselflies at the time. I love this book because it is small enough to carry in the field and the illustrations and other info are detailed enough to identify those little critters IF they rest long enough for a good view.

Although I already had other more advanced books, I am glad that I bought this book also. It is well laid out, and very helpful to a newcomer to Odes. This book delves into many aspects of the Dragonfly life cycle, and contains many useful photos.

This concise little guide is designed with the beginner in mind with its tons of information on distinguishing the difference between dragonflies and their cousins the damselflies. It come replete with lots of large photos of many of the major species of Odonata. Its only shortcoming is that is tends to lean more to species of the eastern United States. For this reason, family species like the Setwings, among others, are omitted.
Especially helpful is the introduction and easy id charts on the inside of front and back covers. This little book is worth its weight in gold on account of these charts alone!

Stokes does it again. Great first time book if you are interested in Dragonflies and Damsflies. Has great pictures and U.S map of where they live. I truly enjoy looking at this book over and over again. Great size for traveling or just having in you backpack.

I have always been a fan of this book and its practical easy to use format. This is the one book that tells it like it is, if entering a science fair project in a state or regional science fair. However, readers should be aware that this title has been completely revised and updated in 2004 by Bochinski and is better than ever with much information, so I would get that edition instead, that is, "The Complete Handbook of Science Fair Projects, Newly Revised and Updated," it is the orange/yellow/blue cover - also while you're at it be sure to get "More Award-winning Science Fair Projects" by the same author, similar format, green/blue/orange cover - but different and very interesting projects, check it out.

Being the bookworm that I am, I highly recommend this bewitching title containing spells, charms and recipes for 50 prize winning science fair projects. There is also a nice list of 500 topics that can be used to get ideas from which means that I always have plenty to work with and am ready to move forward with any project straight away! I keep it as a handy reference guide next to "Hogwarts, a History."

Being the bookworm that I am, I highly recommend this bewitching title containing spells, charms and recipes for 50 prize winning science fair projects. There is also a nice list of 500 topics that can be used to get ideas from which means that I always have plenty to work with and am ready to move forward with any project straight away! I keep it as a handy reference guide next to "Hogwarts, a History."

I liked this book. It he;lped me find a topic. It has good science projects in it that you can do that are winning projets. There are all types of projects if you want biology, phisics, math, chemistry, it has alot. I really liked the one on Bees behavior and I am doing that one for my project.

It helped alot by giving good examples of winning projects!!!!!!!!!!!!

What an awesome book!

Both my kids, ages 11 and 6 1/2, love doing the mazes in this book, which range from fairly simple to extremely difficult. It's a great way to see them working together and having fun.

A unique and enjoyable maze book. My daughter is 5 and a maze freak and she really likes just looking through the maze books to see which maze she wants to tackle for the day and this book has a lot of choices and a variation in difficulty. I put stars at the top of the pages for the mazes she is allowed to do. I would recomend this book to a child over the Preschool age unless they are very talented with details. A first grader would probably love the book.

When my daycare kids get a little wild, I bring out this maze book and they will sit together QUIETLY to work out these great mazes!! They do fight over the book, so I just ordered three more!!

My son LOVES mazes and is very good at them. This box has a mix of difficulty levels, but several of them are quite hard. Those, of course, are the ones my 6-year-old wanted to do first. I would recommend this book to older children (at least finished first grade). I wish the publisher would have put age recommendations. I managed to put the book up and will get it out again next year. More color would have helped make the book agreeable for more ages as well, not only making it more attractive, but making following the maze passages easier.

Again for my son. He is a Maze Crazy kid and loved this one the best.