Brian Books

I have listened to these over and over and get more out of them each time. Neil Gaiman is a brilliant writer and the actors in these audio plays are incredible. This is art of the highest order.

I'm a fan...Neil's worst works still qualify as excellent in my mind, and these are some of his best. I read these stories when they were published 10 years ago in a small distribution book called Angels and Visitations. Then I saw them reprinted again in another book some years later.

The two plays in this package provided my wife and I the best entertainment we were going to get while being stuck in 8 hours of traffic. Finally I got my wife to pay attention to Neil's stuff (she refused to read Sandman)and she dug it.

If you like books on tape, this is better. If you like reading Neil's work, you'll like it even better this way.

Neil, if you're reading this...can we have some more of these?

Two very disturbing stories from Neil Gaiman, this was a duet of short plays adapted for "Seeing Ear Theatre" and read by Bebe Neuwirth ("Snow Glass Apples") and Brian Dennehy ("Murder Mystery.")

"Snow Glass Apples" was a re-telling of Snow White with a ghastly vampiric twist, and from the voice of the Queen, who is anything but the Disnified villainess we've come to know and loathe. Snow White is herself a disturbing figure, and all in all, this was a very enjoyable re-telling of a classic, if a tad gruesome in its telling and conclusion.

"Murder Mystery" I found quite wonderful - it is a tale that includes the investigation of the first murder ever - an angel has been killed, and another angel is called to investigate. The B-plot story, however, just plain didn't make sense.

If I had to break them into two parts, "Snow Glass Apples" would get a '5' and "Murder Mystery" would get a '3.' Hence the '4.'

'Nathan

Two Plays For Voices is part of the Seeing Ear Theatre Productions from the Sci-Fi Channel. More television stations should follow their lead. These two stories told in the form of radio plays are terrific! I am a big fan of Neil Gaiman and this format brings two incredible stories to life.

Murder Mysteries is expertly presented and the twist at the end is a surprise to say the least.

Snow Glass Apples is a shivery fairy tale which cuts to the core of good vs. evil and that some things aren't always what they seem.

I'm a fan...Neil's worst works still qualify as excellent in my mind, and these are some of his best. I read these stories when they were published 10 years ago in a small distribution book called Angels and Visitations. Then I saw them reprinted again in another book some years later.

The two plays in this package provided my wife and I the best entertainment we were going to get while being stuck in 8 hours of traffic. Finally I got my wife to pay attention to Neil's stuff (she refused to read Sandman)and she dug it.

If you like books on tape, this is better. If you like reading Neil's work, you'll like it even better this way.

Neil, if you're reading this...can we have some more of these?

Hooper's book is no less than a work of a genious. What makes this work so great on the one hand is its scope as it covers chinese literature from its beginings up to the twentieth century, the various genres of literature and poetry that existed along the Chinese history and the fact that it provides excellent introductions to each and every subject it deals with (including historical introductions), and on the other hand, it's greatness lies in the fact that many of the works in it are lesser-known pieces by Hong Kong authors that Hooper discovered. The treatment of Lee Ding Fai is not as good as the rest of the book, but otherwise absolutely recommended.

This is an excellent resource for students/scholars of commonwealth and postcolonial literatures--I recommend it highly.

I liked this book, but I disagreed with the author's view on the functin of chiasmus in Timoth Mo's work. Other than that, first rate.

This is indeed a path-breaking book. Hooper has not only brought together in a most readable, even entertaining, manner a mass of widely different writings and sources; he has also provided us with a persuasive historical framework within which the further study of the hitherto neglected history of Hong Kong literature will be pursued. The book's steady attention to the diversity of Hong Kong literature is one of its striking achievements.

This pioneering volume explores Hong Kong culture and identity through the work of three writers--Timothy Mo, Ding Fai Lee, and Patrick Acheson--in the light of the region's literature as a whole. Sophisticated yet accessible, this book is a unique contribution to ongoing debates about identity and culture in Hong Kong. I found this an excellent introduction to Hong Kong writing from a studied, academic viewpoint, and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in postcolonial literature in the Asian context.

Inspiration can sometimes be difficult to find. If it is, look in quiet places. The brave are not always found in the spotlight, nor are they typical. They're the ones that see the cup as half full.

It is all, perhaps "one art" - mastering loss, mastering grief, self-mastery. Cheng has a familiarity with loss. She is blind and physically disabled, the obstacles she's had to endure enormous. Through years of physical pain during her childhood, she never lost her zest for life. The largest threat to her happiness was a system that wanted to separate a child from her mother. Juliet Cheng lost custody twice in America because she disagreed with the doctor's recommended treatments. "This would have ended my young life," Shirley says(52 Cheng). "They took me out of her loving arms and trapped me inside their gloomy hospital rooms in order to force the unwanted, harmful treatments on me" (52 Cheng).

Shirley Cheng cone again gives rise to and quickens reader's thoughts. Waking Spirit, Prose & Poems the Spirit Sings' combines her story with empowering poetry. This book matters because it reminds us to pay attention to the simple gifts of life. All we need is a little inspiration from the brave who've endured extraordinary hurdles, and then whisper the secret to how they did it. That is what readers will find in this book. Warm, luminous, and an easy pleasure.

Shirley received Honorable Mention in the poetry category of the New York Festival Competition. She has also been a finalist in the national Indie Excellence 2007 Book Awards.

If you enjoy reading the thoughts of someone who has confronted her own mortality, pain, and flawed body at a young age to emerge as a spiritual champion who "sees" the beauty around her, you'll love this book. One of Shirley Cheng's inspirations is that there are always those who have more problems than she does. If you draw from that lesson, you'll be counting your blessings all day long . . . and seeing the spiritual beauty of life, as well.

In the essays in Waking Spirit, Ms. Cheng recounts her spiritual journey in a way that would move a boulder to dance.

Her happiness is so pervasive that you may at first not be able to tune into it. Through a combination of essays, aphorisms, poems and haikus, you'll find yourself moving up in spiritual blessedness from this uplifting volume.

Here's one of my favorite inspirational aphorisms:

"Don't live each day as though it is your last; live each day as though it is your first."

Here's one of the haikus I found lightened my mood:

"Upon white bellies
Into waters penguins slide
Dressed in tuxedos"

Some of the proceeds from the book go to Christian Blind Mission International and Be the Star You Are!

So do yourself and those charities a favor by buying and being buoyed by this delightful book.

Shirley will grab your heart with the first pages of this wonderful book and keep you involved with the way she has with words. She is one of those angels that tip toes up behind you and just says "hello." You will not be sorry you picked up this book, you will be purchasing it for gifts for your friends and family. Inspiration is what makes the world go round and she has plenty to share with everyone. Thank you Shirley for sharing your gifts with all of us.

WAKING SPIRIT is a winner of the prestigious AVATAR AWARD for EXCELLENCE IN SPIRITUAL LITERATURE! As a member of the award committee I had the pleasure of reviewing Shirley's book. Shirley is a shining star in a world in need of light. Her writing is straight forward,inspirational and uplifting. To read Shirley's writing is to dance with life. For her, there is truly no mountain high enough. Rejoice in her poetry, essays and insights for her writing is a gift from whatever you call the Universal Spirit of Love.

Waking Spirit: Prose & Poems the Spirit Sings is an emotional journey into the heart of a young woman who has faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles, yet has risen far above them in courage and perseverance. A combination of thoughtful, emotional prose, sweet poetry and spirited haiku, this book can't help but make the reader feel powerful.

Waking Spirit begins with a foreword by Cynthia Brian, a New York Times bestselling author who met Shirley during a radio interview. It then takes you through a delightful concoction of stories and poetry, interspersed with "A Moment with Shirley"--an inspirational message for the reader.

I was drawn to the stories most of all, to that rare insight into the mind of an author who "dances" with joy in her heart. The stories of her relationship with her mother are compelling, although I know that they suffered many tragedies together and were separated for lengths of time by government policy. But they have conquered all! And that is what this book is really about. Conquering disease and not allowing it to hold you back. Overcoming obstacles of every shape and form so that one can reach his or her dreams.

Certainly each of us could learn from Shirley Cheng, a young woman who is blind and suffers from severe juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. She may be confined to a wheelchair in body, but her spirit soars far above, free and unhindered by negativity or pain. I have had the honor of calling her a friend for a number of years, and although we have never met in person, she has truly touched my life by her old-soul wisdom, which is far beyond her years. Shirley Cheng has delivered another work that is sure to inspire all ages, nationalities, whether abled, disabled or ultra-abled. I recommend Waking Spirit for anyone who needs a boost of encouragement or hope.

~ Cheryl Kaye Tardif is a freelance journalist, book reviewer and the author of three mystery novels set in Canada--Divine Intervention, The River and the bestselling novel Whale Song.

This is a very helpful book if you want to learn the trade of purse-snatching or if you've been a victim of petty theft. Walk softly in the shadows and carry a very big scissors. Dumb broads are always walking in the shadows with a big bag swinging off their shoulders. According to Mr. Kaufman, he's snatched more than 7,453 purses, mostly old ladies and cripples-hey, I'm not knocking him, I'm just saying. Looking forward to the sequel, "A Week In The Slammer," coming soon to a book store near you.

Walk in Shadows
by Nicholas Kaufmann,

"It was akin to having the hiccoughs and vomiting at the same time". (copyrite 1988 BS).
A few slops got smacked up the nostril leading to convulsions. I sneezed, rocketing the thumbtack out of my nose. A walk in the shadows, and then the likely stumble squishing the snail in the eye. Talk about blurred vision.
Upon seeing the title I thought it was a Charm(ed)ing title. No safe little morsels here. You ever get a lacrosse stick across the forehead? Yeah, me too; that is what these shadows are hiding.
Read 'em and weep ... er ... the shadows, that is, ... I have been summoned.

Brad (Author of Andy)

Check out Nick Kaufmann's collection to have your wits handed to you on a platter, carefully removed from you by his scintillating prose.

Despite what some reviewers would have you think, it's really not very often that a debut fiction collection comes along that trumpets an exciting new talent (at least new to me). I've probably only read three so far in my life. The first was Soft and Others by F. Paul Wilson, then more recently there was Douglas Clegg's The Nightmare Chronicles. Now, add Nicholas Kaufmann to that list. With Walk in Shadows, he shows a sure hand at horror, from the psychological profile ("Not That Kind of Story") to the kinetic escape (aptly titled "Go!").

There are several highlights in Kaufmann's debut collection (culled from several magazines and anthologies of which mainstream readers have likely never heard), beginning with "The Jew of Prague." This story starts out as a simple jewel heist and turns into something else. The atmosphere is the strongest point of this story and Kaufmann layers it on with gusto. Similarly, "VIP Room" is the most disturbingly sexy story I've read since Dan Simmons' "Dying in Bangkok" (as published in Lovedeath) and that is mostly due to Kaufmann's skill at setting the scene properly.

Unlike many authors, who seem to tread similar ground over and over, Kaufmann doesn't write the same kind of story (although many of them take place in his Quick City); each has a different tone -- and, surprisingly often, a different voice -- from the preceding one. This allows him to excel as the first-person narrator, since his "author's voice" is completely absorbed into the character (one prime example is with "Better Off with the Blues").

The only story in Walk in Shadows that shows its obvious origins in a themed anthology (a tribute to Jack Finney's The Body Snatchers), "With Its Sleeves Rolled," is a weaker entry, although it does manage to achieve the unthinkable: making Senator Joseph McCarthy a sympathetic character and causing the reader to think of Communism in a new way. Kaufmann's characters aren't always the nicest people (like the assassin in "The Dead Stay Dead"), but he manages to make them easy to identify with. Even the gang members in "Street Cred" -- which takes hazing to a new low, adding zombies to the equation, with complete believability -- are somehow familiar enough to elicit empathy.

"Voir Dire" is original to this collection and is another highlight. I read it prior to my own jury duty and it gets the details right, but it's really about fear: the universal fear of being found out, because everyone has a secret they wouldn't like discovered, however small. I've also ridden in a taxi in New York, but luckily it was nothing like "Hail" (a double entendre dealing with taxis and the weather). I must admit I didn't care for the ending, but I was willingly carried along up until then. Only "La Bete est Morte" was what I would call mediocre, and that only because the "surprise" was entirely predictable (in fact, I hadn't realized it was a surprise until it was revealed) and, without that, there was little remaining. This is a small complaint because the story reads so well that it almost doesn't matter.

But all of the stories in Walk in Shadows are great reading. The only piece I actually regret reading is not even Kaufmann's doing; that honor goes to Brian A. Hopkins' rambling introduction, in which he talks about himself for several pages, saving only a few paragraphs for praising Kaufmann. Aficionados of new voices in horror would do well to pick up a copy. It is filled with imagination and natural storytelling ability.

Last night I had sex with my boyfriend. His name is Jed and he's a mechanic. We didn't use no condom, so he told me that if I read this book while laying upside down on the couch, I wouldn't get preggers.

The thing is, they're aren't no pretty pictures to look at. Some of the words are real hard, like "shadows".

I borrowed a dictionary from Kyle, the sweet ol' pedophile that lives next door to me in the trailer park. Pedophile means that he's had sex with kids, but my mom says it's okay to talk to him because he's out of jail now, and the they wouldn't have let him go unless he was cured, right?

He's a sweet ol' man. Everytime I go over there he takes pictures of me with his digital camera. He espicially likes it when I wear my daisy dukes. Sometimes, I do housework for him in my bathing suit. He says it helps him with his arthritis.

He has this website with other girls on it, and they do housework for him in their bathing suits too. Some took off their tops while washing the shower. He says cuz they didn't want to get their clothes wet. Sweet, Sweet Kyle.

What struck me over and over about reading THE WAR OF THE WORLDS was the imagination that fueled this story at a time when men got around by horse and lit their homes with lanterns.

H.G. Wells envisioned space travel, mechanized warfare as well as a killer Heat Ray and a deadly Black Gas the Martians employed to destroy mankind. Simply amazing. And that was only this story! To think he would also write THE TIME MACHINE, THE INVISIBLE MAN, THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR MOREAU and THE FOOD OF THE GODS! Just think what his mind might have come up with had he seen the technology he forecasted in the 20th Century!

Another well-crafted aspect of this novel is how realistically he writes of the human slaughter as the Martians invade. Either on a personal level (the novel is narrated by one man with a section devoted to retelling what happened to his brother) or a description of the masses fleeing the attack, the story is quite believable. The chaos and carnage of the World Wars decades later kept coming to mind as I read the passages of the crowds fleeing London as the city and country are ablaze under the power of the Martian war machines.

The writing also holds wonderful description and passages. I kept hearing the authoritative voice of Richard Burton from Jeff Wayne's 1978 musical version of WAR OF THE WORLDS as I read the opening, as great a first page of any work of science fiction since.

And did the makers of the 2005 Spielberg movie bother to read the novels? I mean, come on: the section in the book of the men trapped in a house collapsed by a falling cylinder played so much better than the SIGNS rip off sequence with Tim Robbins in the basement in the film!

Even the ending is brilliant (something else discarded by the filmmakers in their effort to remain politically correct).

If I was an English teacher, I'd use THE WAR OF THE WORLDS as a reading assignment, exposing the students to the 1938 "panic broadcast" by Orson Welles and perhaps even show the movie adaptions to engage the kids. I wish my teachers had.

Note: I made some Mormon reader angry over my negative reviews of books written by Mormons out to prove the Book of Mormon, and that person has been slamming my reviews.

Your "helpful" votes are appreciated. Thanks. It took some effort to type up the following wonderful lines from this story about an invasion from Mars. I hope you enjoy them.

"No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinize the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in the assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most, terrestrial men fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And early in the twentieth century came the great disillusionment."

Don't miss the other great novels by H.G. Wells--"The Time Machine" and "The Invisible Man." The wonderful opening lines of "War of the Worlds" are worth repeat readings--note the phrase "across the gulf of space."

H.G. Wells is best known for his science fiction novels ("War of the Worlds," "The Island of Dr. Moreau," "The Time Machine," "The War in the Air," etc.) but also has an extensive background in the sciences and a keen interest in political philosophy. Specifically, Wells subscribes to Darwin's theory of evolution and believes that the people of the earth should unite under one world government that promotes universal education and a world economy. From this background and these interests, Wells writes his best-known work, "The War of the Worlds."

This novel follows the exploits of an unnamed narrator during a month-long Martian invasion. The inhabitants of Mars--a highly evolved, intellectually superior race of octopus-like brains--find that their planet is cooling to the point of being unable to sustain life. For purposes of survival, the Martians build a giant cannon and shoot "manned" projectiles to Earth as the first wave of a Martian invasion. These projectiles (ten in all) land in the greater-London area and are at first met with curiosity. However, once it becomes known that he Martians are bent on violence and conquest, the inhabitants of England's anxiety rises to a fevered pitch. The British army is useless against the Martians' highly advanced weaponry; the civilians panic and stampede into the countryside; those who remain in London succumb to a variety of mental delusions and insanities because of the hopelessness of the situation and widespread slaughter of humanity.

This reader found "The War of the Worlds" a very enjoyable read. The contrast between technologies (England of 1900 which relies on livestock and railroads versus Martian heat-rays, battle tripods, and black poisonous gas) a highly interesting part of the book. The literary technique of the narrator-protagonist successfully advanced the rising action, climax, and falling action. Finally, Wells' imagination is captivating--Martians (and the antiquated nineteenth-century way in which he describes them and their technology), the variety of human reactions, descriptions of Martian plant-life and physiology, the plans of man, etc., were all engaging and ingenious. This book is highly recommended.

Published in 1898 and set in and around turn of the century London, the story evokes the latest that was known at the time in astronomy, mechanics, and biology. Man had not yet flown and rockets were basically for fireworks. The story has been portrayed on radio, on the movie screen, and I believe even on television. Every telling requires some updating of the story so that modern audiences can get the effect of Wells' tale from more than a century ago.

Mars was thought to have canals and that would imply a civilization. Suddenly there are huge artillery blasts. Gargantuan enough to be seen from earth. These blasts continue for several days and shortly afterward a cylinder crashes into suburban London. It is too hot to touch and nothing more is aroused than curiosity. Finally, the end of the cylinder is screwed off from the inside and exit and begin working on something unseen. The sounds of hammering and machinery tell the people something is being built, but what they do not suspect or understand. Then the craft arises and the heat ray begins laying waste to the people, buildings, and anything in their path.

There are a couple things in the story that are different from most presentations. The creatures fire a canister of a black mist that seems to be a forerunner of the chemical agents of World War I. And the creatures are powerful, but not invulnerable. The people take a couple of them out along the way, but the creatures learn and become tougher in their attacks. More canisters arrive and more machines are built as the attack grows.

The life of the citizens in late Victorian society is also so different that modern life that the details of the story are also often changed, but you can read these differences for yourself. They make for interesting reading as a window on the past. Remember, the story was quite modern when written. And the violence and destruction was quite hyper-real for its audience, but seems tame by modern standards. Have we gained or lost?

Another fact that is often lost on modern audiences is that London was the capital of an empire that spanned the entire globe and controlled 40% of the world's land mass and a similar proportion of its population. The Martians were subjugated the greatest nation on earth as if they were, well, impotent natives out in the reaches of the British Empire. This aspect was not lost on its first audience.

It is still a powerful story and reads better than most of the adaptations show. The narrator is always merely an observer and escapes with the most fortunate of circumstances, but the story lets us meet more people than we get in a movie, and all the adaptations have to leave holes where some of the problems that time has forced into the story because of modern advances make the story implausible.

Still, the Martians end up the same way in every telling and for the same reasons. It is am important plot point, but knowing what we know now, probably quite faulty for an advanced civilization deciding to come and conquer Earth. Our own knowledge of bacteria and viruses would allow us to largely protect ourselves from such things as took the Martians and I doubt we would be so foolish as to enter another world so unprepared for this issue. But the people of the story were quite happy that the Martians were so foolish.

Read this book and you will be able to better judge the adaptations.

An extraordinary tale, War of the Worlds (the first epic tale about martians and man) tells of the great conflict which engulfs humanity when engaged against a power that greatly surpasses her own. Slowly informed of the alien lifeforms Wells soon bombards the reader with imagery of the future of warfare. Aliens terrorize as lasers vaporize, gas mystifies, while man remains helpless against this unslaught of futuristic intellegince. Drizen from house to streets to dens the narrator (one out of millions who flee before the martians, for what else can one do?) is eventually forced to observe the creatures that never rest, horrified by what he sees. After page upon page of war an eary silence suddenly echoes throughout the land, and the narrator ventures to find the world he knew a desert place as both martians and man are devasted and destroyed by the war which engulfs both worlds.

One of HG Wells most enduring novels it has the characteristics which would combine to define science fiction. Origenal and thought provoking it shocks and entertains the reader throughout the 200 paged tale. However, like all of his novels the revolutionary ideas and not the litary magnifisence of the text makes this one of the premere science fiction tales of all time. I recommend reading this piece of literature if you are in high school or above so as to truly apreciate and understand the intricate brillance of the War of the Worlds.

This was a very professionally written account of the lives of 15 very diverse people who also happen to be professional lacrosse players. The book really makes you view these athletes as interested in their sport, valued members of their community, and very different from the multi-million dollar primma donnas who play other professional sports. I definitely recommend this book.

After the Duke Lacrosse scandal, it was refreshing to see an upbeat well-written book about lacrosse. These players truly honor their sport, and make the casual observer want to learn more. The stories were interesting, and it was a good overview of the NLL, and the players who make the league work. I really enjoyed it, and hope to see more books like it.

This book was interesting, insightful, and sometimes even funny when explaining the lives of 15 "ordinary" people who have jobs, wives, kids, and play professional lacrosse on the weekends. It makes you realize how different pro lacrosse is from other pro sports. (And I mean that in a good way.) The writing was clear and engaging, and I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

It was great to finally read a good book on professional lacrosse. The writing was interesting and insightful, and provided a good mix of lacrosse history combined with people who play the game. I would definitely recommend this book for the lacrosse fanatic, or even the casual observer. I enjoyed it!

This book is filled with stories of professional lacrosse players. The players are atypical from other professional sports players, who are often filled with self-admiration and greed. Yet, they are not exactly everyday people either. The players do have full time jobs and families, but many of them are in noble fields such as teaching, law enforcement, the armed forces, fire fighting... Of course, it takes a noble character to be devoted to such an underpaid and under-appreciated sport. The players sacrifice their bodies, time, and some family commitments for the love of their sport. The writing is clever, and the author gives good insight about the players' individuality, achievements, reminiscences, and dedication.

The Wet Engine is a book with heart about the heart. This book is not only homage to his son's surgeons, it is a wild and ponderous exploration of that which is miraculous in creation and in our very souls. Yes, we hear about the particulars of his terrifying and then triumphant experiences surrounding his son's heart condition, but we also have the heart exposed to us in all of its metaphorical, allegorical, and literal glory. Like Annie Dillard at Tinker Creek, Brian Doyle muses poetically about an amazing array of facts and figures about our hearts. And, like Brian Doyle, he plumbs those facts and figures and evokes awe and laughter and tears and he gives little nods and gestures to suggest that some amazing creator-genius may be lurking in those details. Are they the finger prints of God? Thank you Mr. Doyle. A great read.

This book could have been so good. There are moments where it becomes richly profound and genuinely moving - such as when Doyle considers the place of his son in his life, heart troubles and all - but then he slips back into what felt like simple hero-worship of the (admitedly talented) surgeon who saved his son's life.

I really wanted to love this book, but when I finished I felt more disappointed than truly moved.

No one writes quite like Brian Doyle. He is lyrical, literate, unpredictable, unafraid, kind, and damned funny. In this book, he is also incredibly moving, as he writes about his son's wounded heart and the doctors who save him. As he explores all the emotions and science leading outward into the world from his family's journey, we share in his curiosity and his reverence and his joy. A fine book.

This is definitely a beautiful tribute to his son AND his surgeons!
To those who may feel as though the author has resorted to "simple hero-worship", I must tell you that you will NEVER fully understand the author's position. He does, in fact, worship those surgeons. He puts them on a pedestal and will never be able to thank them enough.
I know this because those same surgeons, (Dr. McIrvin, Dr. Iguidbashian, Dr. Hagup) also performed surgery on my son who was born with the same heart defect of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. They are the epitome of pure genius.
I bought this book in part because it IS a tribute to those men. How would you feel about someone who gave your precious child the gift of life and hope?
Thank you, Mr. Doyle, for this moving story of hope, strength, inspiration, and admiration.

I saw this book listed on your suggested items several months ago. I had purchased several of Brian's previous books and always found them uplifting and thought provoking. It was only a few days after I purchased this book, The Wet Engine that my wife had a heart attack so it brought home to me the frail qualities of our most important engine. Doyle writes with a very sensitive but yet funny style that kept me turning the pages even though I needed sleep. As his books go, I would recommend this one as a leap forward in his style and insight.
My highschool writing teacher told me that you need to write about something you know or are close to. Evidently Doyle understands this as all his writing is deeply personal and close to home.

An excellent book only spoiled by numerous typographical errors in the text although you will find the source code on the companion CD to be largely correct. Although Windows 95 is nearing the end of its commercial lifespan this series of books is still valuable to anyone wanting to write backwardly compatible Windows 98 applications. Although the typographical errors in the source code in this book are fairly obvious, some errors in the 2nd Volume in this series (Windows 95:WIN32 Common Controls and Messages API Bible) are are extremely misleading. For instance on page 677 it states that the EN_MAXTEXT message contains the identifier of the edit control in the low 16 bits of the wParam variable when it is actually in the high word of wParam. Another place it falsely states that the callback function used by the EM_STREAMIN returns nonzero to continue transferring data. However this series of books is still invaluable for anyone still writing in WIN32.

Despite any errors in this book. It has the 1 thing that is lacking in almost all books DECENT examples. Combined with the MSDN library, and Programming Windows by petzold you can go very far. Today most people are so enamored with visual basic and wizards they never bother to learn HOW windows works. This book along with vol 2, can help you in get a better understanding of windows event based programming! It is not the end all be all of books LOTS of win32 calls are missing (after all its been a few years since 95!). But it has the core of them. This book is an great item for any win32 programmers tool belt.

I have bought the 3 books which form the API Bible series - all of them very worthwhile, especially the Common Controls and Messages book. It mentions every Windows Message you are likely to encounter, and also how to code the common Windows controls. The examples, although in C, are easy enough to translate. I program with PowerBASIC, and the Bible series is invaluable to my work.

This book is simply brilliant! It covers absolutely everything about basic Win32 GUI programming: from creating windows to thread syncronization.

I'm new to Win32 programming, but found this book readable, with good explainations and examples, and it continues to be a excellent detailed reference. The CD which complements the book is also very good, offering updates to the book and code which can be used in your own programs.

However, I do regret the lack of information about Common Controls, and a Message Reference, which are in the second book, 'The Windows Common Control and Messages API Bible', which explains why I only give four stars.

Despite this, I would recommend both these books (and possibly the third for those interested in ODBC or Telephoney) for any Win32 programmer, old or new. In one word, indespensible.

This book is invaluable. Though I am new to straight API programming,(I previously primarily used Delphi), this book was easy to understand yet, concise and powerful enough to get a decent application running suprisingly fast. However, as this is the is volume one of three, important topics such as control interaction are left to the later volumes. This book is worth every cent and likely a little more!

This exhaustively researched, well-documented and courageous book is incorrectly titled; it should have been "Buddhism At War" as that is its focus. Perhaps the editors/publishers were unwilling to draw the ire of the religious community or the existence of Damieville's "Buddhism And War" required another title; perhaps "Zen At War" was just more marketable.

As Victoria's book elegantly points out, however, every sect of Buddhism in Japan was part of "Imperial Way Buddhism". Buddhism morphed at every opportunity into what the Emperor and his bureaucracy wanted. Every accommodation was made if the Buddhists could use it to their political advantage, even if it contradicted their teachings or enabled the massacre of countless non-Japanese sentient beings.

A fundamental entanglement in this book is that "Zen", which translates as "meditation", is somehow dependent on Buddhism or that the two can only exist together. Meditation existed in the country of Buddha's birth (and in other countries) millenniums before he was born. All Buddhists do not meditate and all meditators are not Buddhists.

There is little doubt, and growing scientific evidence, that meditation develops concentration, detachment, heightened awareness, focus, clarity, etc. That is why so many cultures and countries embrace it for war and martial techniques, but also enhanced performance in commerce, athletics, artistic creativity, stress relief, flower arranging, calligraphy, etc.

A leading contemporary Zen teacher, Toni Packer, once far up the American Rinzai Zen Buddhist hierarchy, abandoned Buddhism entirely, forming an iconoclastic approach, a Zen completely stripped of any Buddhist doctrine, dogma, ritual, hierarchy, titles, robes, etc. Buddhism is not necessary for Zen or for enlightenment.

This leads to the second entanglement in this book, that enlightenment is uniquely Buddhist and therefore must align with Buddhist teachings. Enlightenment, as well as available documentation can attest, has occurred in every culture, climate, religious background, century, etc. To evaluate enlightenment by whether it abides by Buddhist doctrine is backwards at best.

The real blame here is on a religion, Buddhism, which was exploited by a militarist imperialist society in manipulating and disempowering millions and enabling the most heinous crimes. Rather than criticizing just Buddhism, however, perhaps the time has come for us to reevaluate the concept of religion. The real truth is so simple; it is just to be in one's natural state. Why are these religions necessary?

This book gives an excellent perspective on the role of Zen in modern Japanese political philosophy. It has always played a critical role in Japanese military theory and the martial arts. In modern times it became an integral part of the political theories that set Japan on a course for military expansion in Asia. The book is well-researched and documents how top Zen leaders actively supported Japan's dreams of empire.

This book is critical reading for anyone seriously interested in Zen. Having committed his life as a Buddhist monk only to make these shocking discoveries must have been heartbreaking for Victoria, and it is remarkable that his tone remains as objective as it does.

Victoria is a refreshing and desperately needed antidote to Kapleau, Suzuki and all the rest the phony gurus peddling sundry brands of spiritual snake oil to vulnerable people desperately seeking some measure of assurance and comfort in this harsh world. His book reminds us that, however we may seek our own individual peace and spiritual security, we can never find it through lies, self-delusion, gurus and preachers.

A enlightening history of role of Zen Buddhism in the Pacific War. Victoria analyzes how Zen and the Japanese military affected each other. He takes the writings of the leading Buddhists of the time to tell the story. A classical study on how religion and society influence each other., even a supposedly peace loving religion can be twisted into an instrument of the state. Sheds some light on one of the forefathers of American Zen, D.T. Suzuki

What I found most disturbing about this book was not so much what Victoria had to reveal about the Zen culture of Imperial Japan, (don't get me wrong, that was pretty darn disturbing too)but rather the reaction that came from many, if not most, of North America's Zen masters. Almost to a one, they refused to even admit the core issue that the book arises: "If an _enlightened_ person can support an evil empire, what does it say about being enlightened?" No one doubts that Catholic Popes can committ evil acts (Dante fills Hell with them), but then the Catholic faith makes far lessor claims about the spiritual powers and insight of its clerics.

In contrast, Zen Buddhism makes the extraordinary claim that each and every Zen master is part of an intact person-to-person chain of direct mind contact to Bodhidarma, through to Guatama Buddha himself. Moreover, they maintain that this direct contact through the Zen transmission is essential to enlightenment, which cannot be learned "on ones own" or "through books". Moreover, Buddhist make the claim that Masters, and people they acknowledge as "awakened", have achieved some sort of real "awakening".

The cheesy responses that I have read and received from the Zen Masters I have read on the subject all invariably come up with the same sort of defence: cultural relativism. I was horrified to see this because it strikes me that not only were they willing to so "scale back" what "enlightenment" means that a deeply enlightened Zen master (ie: in Imperial Japan) would lack the discernment to see through government propaganda, it means that the individual modern master (ie: the one writing in "Tricycle" or communicating to me over the internet) lacks the discernment to see the profound implications of Victoria's book.

The process of reading Victoria's book and investigating the reaction of the North American Zen "establishment" made me totallly re-examen my understanding of Zen and Buddhism as part of the "community of world religions". It gave me an increased sense of my own worth as a Master of Western Philosophy and a student of world religions in the face of the significant claims exerted by Buddhists about their own implied superiority over these alternative spiritual systems.

I do not want to denigrate the significant and obvious merits of Buddhism and Zen, but _Zen at War_ has shown that there are no "priviledged" ways to wisdom. All are equally valid, and all are equally flawed.

As an aerospace engineer I consider this book an absolute must have. This book is usable as a reference work but also as a academic course textbook. It is extremely complete: From vector and quaternion kinematics to rigid body dynamics to static stability analysis. From basic aerodynamics to the derivation of aircraft force and moment coefficients. From state space models to robust output feedback design. Summarizing: Aircraft Control and Simulation covers the complete track from basic dynamics to a fully functional flight simulator. When you need a graduate level text on simulation and control theory that can also serve as a reference work you should look no further!

As an engineering student, I like the design of this book, 1st. And the contents are also pretty nice, so far. The complete review, however, should be done after reading the last page, I think.

Used this book as a reference book for a UAV Guidance and Control class. Worked well, but there is a revised and updated version.

This book is not meant to cover Flight Mechanics neither to discussing Aircraft Equations of Motion.
This book is really focused in aircraft flight simulation (not aircraft systems simulation) and aircraft flight controls.
This is really the most complete reference concerning flight control laws for all flight phases. The authors make extensive use of Modern Control in State Space formulation. Very few topics use Classical Control.
The text is undoubtedly a very good starting point for any engineer involved in flight controls and flight control laws design for new aircraft concepts, although, some more dedicated discussions are missing on some topics related to the newest technologies such as Fly-By-Wire, Power-By-Wire, Side stick use versus Flight Handling Qualities, Robust Control and Predictive Controls.
This book is a MUST for any flight controls engineer in introductory level. However, attention, you will need to take classes to go through this book. The authors do not delay the text flow to discuss minor details or lengthy mathematical derivations; they simply jump to the right point. Thus, this is very difficult to go through the whole content without help of an experienced Professor.

The chief virtue is its clarity. I've worked directly in this field since 1986, and wish I'd picked up the 1st edition in 1992 rather than finding the 2nd edition in 2006. Most of the material I've picked up through coursework and on-the-job training, but this book presents a thorough, practical and understandable development of each aspect of aircraft control and simulation. In addition, the 1st chapter provides the basis for incorporating oblate, rotating Earth equations into gravitational and kinematics modeling, which is the reason I bought the book.

Roughly, the book covers:
* Kinematics and Dynamics
* Quaternions
* Properties of Aircraft
* Simulation, Trim, Linearization
* Linear Analysis
-- State Space Models
-- Transfer Functions
-- Frequency Response
* Handling Qualities
* Stability Augmentation
* Autopilots
* Linear Quadratic Regulator
* Model Following Design
* Multivariable Frequency Domain Analysis
* Observers and the Kalman Filter
* Discrete (Digital) Control

NOTE: The 1st chapter of the 2nd Edition is substantially enhanced vs. the 1st chapter of the 1st Edition. Several practical needs are now covered in better detail. Quaternion math is added. An algorithm for converting from Earth-centered Inertial coordinates to Geodetic Latitude and Altitude for an oblate Earth model is now provided. If a flat Earth model is ok to use, the 1st Edition is a very good aircraft controls book. If a rotating oblate Earth model is also required, only the 2nd Edition will do.