Brian Books

The MySpace.com Handbook: The Complete Guide for Members and Parents informs parents about the risks of MySpace, how it works, and why it is so popular. T Brian Chatfield offers parent-friendly advice on social networking -- presenting real on-line dangers instead of media hype.

There is just enough information here to begin a MySpace profile. The book also includes pointers on customization, HTML, CSS, and safety. It fails to cover a couple of minor areas, but it's nothing that parents can't figure out on their own.

Chatfield deciphers the complex emoticons, slang, and shorthand used by teenagers on the internet. He gives examples of inappropriate messages parents should watch for.

MySpace is a platform on which teenagers can announce themselves, a wonderful tool for those who know how to use it. Parents have a responsibility to ensure their children are taking the right precautions. The best way to do this is to actively participate in the use of MySpace from the start, and The MySpace.com Handbook: The Complete Guide for Members and Parents equips concerned parents with the tools to do so.

Social Networking sites like Myspace.com or Facebook are all the rage in today's world for both children and adults. In many cases the sites perform a tremendous service. For an up and coming band, these sites are great marketing tools. For young teens, they can be a dangerous area. The recent disappearance and murder of a young Vermont girl, a case in which her uncle used her Myspace account to lead police down the wrong trail, only helps solidify the danger of these sites when used incorrectly.

I'd like to say that the information provided in this book is not new, and that parents already know about Myspace and how it works. Sadly, I know too many parents who don't pay attention to what their children are doing online and figure their children are smart enough to stay out of danger. For that reason, I urge every parent to purchase this book and read it thoroughly.

T. Brian Chatfield offers an insightful look into the history of these social networking sites before delving into ways Myspace can be a safe environment for your teens to socialize with one another. The problem is that few teens and even adults bother to read privacy practices and place too much information about themselves online. Chatfield covers many safety tips in THE MYSPACE.COM HANDBOOK. The best part is that he does it in an enjoyable, sometimes witty style that makes reading enjoyable.

THE MYSPACE.COM HANDBOOK covers everything from setting up and maintaining your Myspace account to learning how to recognize potential dangers online. Readers learn about blogging, joining groups, chatting with other Myspace users and more. Yet, all the while, there is strong emphasis placed on the most important part of Internet socializing, parents must be active in their child/children's activities. This is the most important lesson parents should learn from reading this book. If you are letting your child onto the Internet and ignoring what they do, you've got to use the advice in this book and become active.

If you've ever questioned the Internet lingo you see floating around online discussion boards and chat rooms, you'll love the guide that the author includes. Every Internet shortcut in existence is included. You'll learn what BRB, GYPO and NIFOC mean, if you do not already know.

Chatfield covers more than how to keep children safe from predators. Cyber bullying is also covered in length. While many schools have learned to prevent bullying, many bullies have moved to the Internet with tragic results. He also covers potential dangers from phishing, malware, spyware and keeping passwords safe.

Parents of pre-teens and teens should cover the material found in T. Brian Chatfield's guide with their children. It's not enough to simply hand your child the book to read, you MUST discuss online safety with them. Don't assume they already know it, remain active in their online socializing. It's better to be a little nosy than to find out when it's too late to help.

Speaking as an avid myspace user, this book did the website and its users appropriate justice. I recommend this book for everyone from myspace members that want to fully understand the opportunities myspace presents to the concerned parent not too sure of all that this website entails. This was entertaining yet insightful.

This handbook could be renamed A Parent's Guide of the Internet. It explained a ton of detail, from website history to detailed information. There were things that I thought would be over my head but in the concise and simple language the concepts were clear- such as the differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0.

There were sites that I'd heard of but had never ventured to understand but the book lays them all out carefully, even explaining their site history and details- Orkut, Bebo, Flickr, and YouTube. Many of us recall [...] from a number of years ago but didn't realize it had become [...] and it likely on its way to further extinction due to sites like MySpace.

The social forum details were something I wasn't clear on. The fact that MySpace has issued a Terms of Service agreement (among them, no one less than 14 can have an account) gave me some confidence that there are efforts to monitor outside of what a parent can do on their own. Additionally, no one older than 18 allowed in the under 18 forum and in the event they do attempt to mask their identity and participate in a minor's chat forum, criminal prosecution can occur. There is also software strictly for monitoring PC use that a parent can use.

Additionally, I began to understand the use of MySpace for me. The Keeping in Touch section discussed finding old classmates and friends- something that previously only use to happen by chance but instead is now often just a few clicks away. 5 out of 5 stars.

As a mom with a teen I have heard all the reasons why myspace was a must have. To add to my daughter's social dilemma, she is home-schooled. Her social life is limited to church events and friends staying over night. You can imagine all the moaning I heard when I said "no, you can't have an account". Her arguments were fair. She just wanted to be able to keep in touch. Her friends all used myspace and few of them still used traditional email.

Unlike most parents concerns I am not worried that a predator will stalk my daughter. We have a very open relationship and she knows the signs to look for. I am however very worried about what she is exposed to. I have a strong belief that continual exposure, no matter how slight, will have serious consequences on a child's development. Myspace was an area of exposure that is not acceptable in my home. As I understood the site to work my daughter would be bombarded with friend requests from unfamiliar teens, advertisements that may not be appropriate, and an inability for me to readily supervise her activities. [...] was simply off limits and I had no reason to feel any different. That was of course until I read the [...] handbook.

This book offered an amazing amount of information for the myspace user and parents of teens with myspace accounts. It touches in great detail on areas of privacy and how to protect yourself or your child. It shows how to avoid unwanted friend requests and advertisements. The book even explains how to use myspace in a way that shows how friendly social networking can be. There is a section devoted to protecting yourself and your teens from many potential threats and gives a realistic view on these threats. After reading this book I am confident that my daughter and I can work together allowing her to join the social network her friends keep begging her to join. I shared the information in the book with her and she was willing to work together. Not too mention thrilled that mom also wanted to share this with her.

Any parent that is having doubts about their teens on myspace.com needs to read this book. It is the most informative guide I have seen out there. Even parents with active myspace users should read this book to better understand what their teens are doing. Not a parent? This guide offers a cluster of information on how to create and maintain a unique and creative myspace account. This is a book you will use over and over again as you utilize all the possibilities with a myspace account. This book deserves 5 stars.

Pick up this book, open it to any page and begin reading. You won't be able to put it down. From "Laughter," a poem as lovely and delicate as the azure it honors, to the detailed drawings, artistic renderings, and delightful writings, it soon becomes obvious that Nabokov saw a universe in a butterfly's wing. How fortunate we are that he left this magnificent record of his thought and activity. Begin reading anywhere and soon you will be drawn into his world, a world always colored by the butterflies and moths that were his passion. Now I have to reread his fiction with a new eye. Nabokov's passionate life and work is an inspiration to the least of us.

"From the age of seven, everything I felt in connection with a rectangle of framed sunlight was dominated by a single passion," wrote Valdimir Nabokov. "If my first glance of the morning was for the sun, my first thought was for the butterflies it would engender." This was certainly an unusual way in which to view the world and one that not many readers, even those who adore Nabokov, have shared.

In fact, the ferocity of Nabokov's obsession with butterflies has only just begun to become clear with the publication of this gorgeous new book, a volume of heretofore unpublished and uncorrected writings on the subject of butterflies, edited by Nabokov's biographer Brian Boyd, together with Michael Pyle, an expert on butterflies. All translations were done by Nabokov's son, Dmitri, who has lavished his time and talent on his father's work for several decades.

Even those of us who cannot get enough of Nabokov and cannot praise him highly enough may find more than 700 densely-printed pages on the subject of butterflies a little much. As much as we love Nabokov, do we really want to read page after page of his highly technical descriptions of the various species of butterfly? Are these writings really important, from a scientific viewpoint? Is there any connection between Nabokov's passion for butterflies and his extraordinary fiction?

Although most people would probably answer "no" to the first two questions, the answer to the third is a surprisingly enthusiastic, "yes."

In his wonderful introduction, Boyd begins to elucidate the connections between Nabokov the writer and Nabokov the lepidopterist. We come to understand the novelist more completely and precisely by coming to understand that science that gave this unique author "a sense of reality that should not be confused with modern (or postmodern) epistemological nihilism."

It was while dissecting and deciphering his butterflies that Nabokov came to the conclusion that the more we inquire, the more we can discover, yet the more we discover, the more we find we do not know. The world, Nabokov says, is infinitely detailed, complex and deceptive.

Nabokov's important writings on butterflies are reproduced in this volume, but thankfully, in reduced form. And other kinds of writing by Nabokov have been blended over the scientific prose, beginning with the luminous meditation on butterflies from Chapter Six of Speak, Memory.

The poems, memoirs, letters, diary entries, criticism and fiction that make up this beautiful volume cover a period from 1941 to 1947, when Nabokov was at his most obsessive...as far as butterflies are concerned. This obsessiveness, however, is gorgeous to behold, as in a letter from Nabokov to Edmund Wilson about a lecture trip he made to Sweet Briar College. "The weather...was perfectly dreadful and except for a few Everes comyntas there was nothing on the wing." It always came down to butterflies.

Nabokov's interest in butterflies went far beyond sorting out and naming them. He was much more than a mere tabulator or categorizer. There is something exquisitely metaphysical, even mystical, about his approach to butterflies, something that also tells us of his quest to plumb the depths of nature's complexity. In his obsession, Nabokov sought to understand the sense of design that underlies the the physical world, and he also took enormous delight in the mysteries God chose to hide from human beings, leaving to them to seek them out or not.

As Boyd notes, Nabokov "preferred the small type to the main text, the obscure to the obvious, the thrill of finding for himself what was not common knowledge." His scientific writings overflow with minutiae, with obscure details, lovingly searched out, sorted, underlined, displayed. This preference for the complexity of life also underscores his writings, most notably his massive commentary on Pushkin's Onegin, the gorgeous and imaginative Pale Fire and Ada, a late masterpiece in which Nabokov's penchant for complexity reached spellbinding heights.

While only a small percentage of readers may want to study the scientific articles in this book, their very presence operates in the most subtle of ways to remind us that Nabokov, who referred to himself as VN, was also a student "of that other VN, Visible Nature." In his magnificent fiction, Nabokov offered the world a complete view of the complexity and richness of the human spirit. He might not have been so meticulous and so thorough were it not for his passion for the intricate world of butterflies, so beautifully on view in this book.

Yes, this book is the perfect companion to Nabokov's Blues and the stories of Lepidoptera spun in Nabokov's own Speak, Memory and Strong Opinions. You won't get the narrative read of Nabokov's scientific career as so aptly written by Johnson and Coates last year, but this is different fare-- the hard stuff-- letters, excerpts, drawings, complete works, interviews, speeches and expert commentary. Also, the book goes into all the aspects of Nabokov's work on butterflies, including the projects he did not complete. With this book and the other books of the centennial there will no further doubt about Nabokov's important contribution to science and the fact that, even minus literature, he could have made quite a name for himself in that field alone.

The prize is an unfinished short story, "The Admirable Anglewing", at an immediate stage of note-taking on index cards. It's an intriguing dead end, identifiably a two-strata Nabokov, but with a strikingly scientific directness not elsewhere seen.

The bonus is an unpublished continuation of The Gift (tr. Dmitri Nabokov), which formulates a general expression of evolutionary theory in a clear and useful way, as it relates to a larger understanding of problems in taxonomy, probably omitted for the same reason "The Admirable Anglewing" was dropped.

Notes for The Butterflies Of Europe, much of Nabokov's lepidopterological work (Russia obviously lost a lepidopterist of genius), "butterfly" excerpts from the fiction, and of course much, much more...

12 Exotic Brazilian Butterflies In a high Quality Frame 12.5" x 8.5" (Current bid: $65.00) * 12 Exotic Brazilian Butterflies In a high Quality Frame 12.5" x 8.5" (Current bid: $65.00)

I sincerely hope that these other items you recommend to potential buyers of this book, are NOT butterflies that were caught in Brazil and shipped to the USA, nor ideally even butterflies breed in the US especially for the purpose of later gracing someone's wall. Not very environmentally sound at all if the former, and karmically, still just as bad if the latter. I do not think that the editors of Nabakov's Butterflies would support this at all, even if they are all avid butterfly enthusiasts. Leave the butterflies in peace!

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A good old fashioned tale told around the fire, full of might and primal emotions of lonely wants and needs, but full of hope for the far reaching future. A true primitive fantasy of innocent friendships admist the rise of the first civilization known to man.

How fascinating to read of characters (Gilgamesh, Enkidu) who for me and doubtless many others, only live as strange names from Earth's earliest recorded history. At long last a novel (Never Grow Old) brings them fully to life, their rich personas captivating the reader so that each page of their story flys by with an eagerness to read on. Brian Trent has an incredible ability to create characters that live on for the reader after the last page is turned. His passion for history, his skill as a writer and his superb handling of historical dramas assure the reader of powerful personalities that remain forever indelible, adding a new dimension other authors have seldom explored. Never have I read historical fiction that is as informative, exciting and unforgettable. "Remembering Hypatia", and now "Never Grow Old", has me eagerly awaiting Brian's next book.

To be honest I've never heard all that much about the myth of Gilgamesh. So reading this book, I had no idea what to expect. Fortunately, that made for a pleasant surprise.

So, for other clueless people like myself, Gilgamesh is the God-King of Uruk, one of the city states of the Fertile Crescent. At the age of twenty, he feels his largest contribution as King has been to build a wall encircling the city for defense, and he wants to be remembered forever for great deeds. So when Enkidu, the very last of a tribe of semi-mystical beings (in reality I think he's a Neanderthal) emerges from the forest, Gilgamesh befriends him. Together they accomplish many great things, but Gilgamesh still wants immortality in some form or another. So when sent on a quest by Ishtar, the goddess of Uruk who lives in the city, Gilgamesh jumps at the dangerous task.

Even though this novel is based on a myth, the story within walks a fine line between science and mysticism. There are gods and goddesses who are present-but are they truly gods or are they people representing the gods? There are beasts of strange appearance-are the demons are just animals from another age that are the last of their kind? Is Enkidu really some type of magical being or he just something different? It was nice to see something that is shrouded in so much social history and mysticism, as all myths are, maintain the sort of beyond the real scope while being something that a normal, modern, science drenched person can relate to.

All in all, I really liked this book. I did find it to be somewhat of a slow starter, but after a certain point I just couldn't put it down. I was up late finishing this book. One thing that would have been nice: maps! Diagrams of the cities, of the temples....I'm an anthro major so I know what some of this stuff looks like but it's hard imagining buildings and cities from pre-history. Also a certain map plays a MAJOR role in this story and it would have been nice to see it. Still this is definitely something I would recommend and it's nice for me, as someone who mostly reads books by female authors, to find a male author I can really get into.

Four point five stars.

To the author: you tried to contact me, but I have no way to get back to you, so I'm getting back to you through this review. There is no email address on your Amazon profile and your website, for some reason, will not let me send an email. So, if you want to contact me, please email me at [...] . Thank you very much for your offer (does it refer to this book or another one? Because the moment I finished "Remembering Hypatia" I ordered this and I certainly hope another novel is coming soon) and I'm glad you liked my review.

Brian Trent really captures the story of Gilgamesh and re-creates a world so believable that the novel draws in the reader. After reading the first chapter I was so involved in the story that I actually called out of work to finish the novel. Brian Trent's newest novel may yet prove that this writer is a true intellect of history that even a story thousands of years old makes the reader feel as if the epic story of Gilgamesh happened only yesterday. I hope more people buy this book and become lost in the story of Gilgamesh.

This is a beautifully written and timeless novel of a young man growing into his role as king. Thoroughly absorbed by the lives of the main character, his friends, and his enemies, the reader faces the emotions and experiences common to all humanity, including pride, forgiveness, power, helplessness, rage, love, death, deceit, loyalty, bravery, terror, and humor. I laughed at, loved, feared, loathed, identified with and was shocked by the characters, in turn. The historical details are fascinating and add to one's sense of being drawn into the story. I literally could not put Never Grow Old down, and had it finished the day after I started it.

I learnt a lot about present World economics from this book. I recommend reading it for a better understanding of the situation we are in presently.

An exceptional economics book that tells the truth directly and in simple and completely understandable terms. Scuttles the Media and Political hype and presents what is needful and workable toward economic democracy that is now being submerged be the Global "Free Market" lies, myths and swindles.
Should be required reading for every truly patriotic citizen.

Ravi Batra is still at it, almost three decades since he penned the classic "The Downfall of Capitalism and Communism: A New Study of History". We have come a long way with this author since then and never been bored. Batra's thesis is that we have entered the era of financial capitalism, the last stage of the Age of Acquisitors, where an increasingly uneven distribution of wealth feeds into increasing financial leverage and speculation, until the system can't handle it anymore and collapses. Following the collapse is financial destitution of many and social chaos. Such an outcome is still the most potent form of criticism of Capitalism. If Batra is at some point proved right that
a) the Great Depression of the 1930s was no fluke and
b) that innovations and safeguards to our financial system adopted since then cannot prevent another meltdown,
then that is a major an indictment of our form of social organization and, ultimately, our way of life.

At the heart of Batra's writings are the ideas of his mentor P.R. Sarkar. Batra has done more than anyone to publicize the message of this giant of modern day Indian thought in the West. This book is yet another installation into that body of work. While the message may no longer be as novel or fresh as it was in the 1980s, his work now builds on three decades of experience, including a multitude of accurate predictions (although the most important one has so far been a spectacular failure - the Great Depression of 1990!). He is now more circumspect about such things, including the adoption of a fiat monetary system in the 1970s and how monetary policy has been successfully used to forestall a major crash. In one sense he is quite correct, our monetary and financial system is an ongoing social experiment. Batra's work is, if anything, a reminder that we take a lot of things for granted. It is healthy to consider the alternatives, such as if the systemic stability were to give way to catastrophe. Central banks all over the world now devote considerable resources into researching this question and government surveillance of the financial market is now commonplace with stock markets all over the world soaring. Interestingly, all of that, albeit important, is not really the key focus of his work. As the name of his new book suggests, it is the glorious new dawn of a world based on the sentient philosophy of his mentor that is his main message.

Time will tell if Batra and the ideas he promotes are the real deal. So far, he has yet to prove the worth of these ideas with his major prediction. However, he has offered many novel insights into how modern capitalism works. For instance, in the 1980s he was one of the first to talk about how the financial sector was becoming the key to social developments in the West. Today, we take such insights for granted. Overall, the ideas he is describing are more than worthy of our careful consideration. Let us also not forget that he made a prediction in the book mentioned above in 1978 that Communism would fall. It did. As is the norm for him, the book is exceedingly well written and the message as fascinating as ever. Batra tends to be a few steps ahead of the rest of us, even if it sometimes looks as if he going down the wrong path. Even if he has made a big misstep, in my opinion, he is still headed in the right direction. The ideas are serious and profound and also filled with hope. The book is highly recommended for the intellectually curious or those scoping about for a more meaningful approach to life than what the real world has on offer in the early 21th century.

The accredited economist and Professor of Economics tells the truth about concentrated world wealth and world government corruption that has manifested turmoil to today's civilization.

In laymans terms, he explains economic principles and social infrastructure cycles which justify his hypotheis: "The Downfall of Capitalism and Communism: A New Study of History". The imbalance of resources and wealth has proliferated CEO greed and government corruption, slowly eliminating the middle-class. Dr. Batra outlines economic and social history in simple terms to bring a REAL and unavoid conclusion to our financial fate.

His book does not provide hype nor fiction, but he attempts solidify his predictions with factual data. So far, his batting avg. is 90% on predictions. If you want a bite out of the Adam and Eve "apple", buy the book. It's an eye opener.

This book gave me a new perspective on world economic history along with insightful advice on what may be ahead.

Thank you Mr. Brian Daley for expanding a good story and making it GREAT!
If I haven't heard it on NPR when I was young or read the book years later, I
would not have created my own radio drama. If you love radio dramas and
science fiction, please visit my web site below. May the force be with you,
always.....

Mark McLaughlin - [...]

My main purpose in ordering this book was to find out what had been cut from the series after its first airing. I have only heard the second version that was aired, which was released on cassette and CD. I must say the small edits that were made, and they were all infinitesimal, actually make the audio series better. They're little excesses that when removed clearly improve the flow of the series. The one bit I wish they had left in was an extended exchange between Han and Luke before the turret sequence. Han tells Luke to lead his targets and "Invest in the future", a classic Han-sounding line.

It should be noted that this appears to be a first or second draft of the script. This becomes obvious when Heater is referred to several times as "Preacher" which I assume was the first name of the character in the script. Also, the dialogue overall is not as polished as it is in the series. Editing may have been done by someone other than Daley, or even the actors themselves, which would explain why Daley only had this version to give to the publisher.

If you've never listened to the series, do so before buying the book. I think it's much more interesting as an example of how editing can turn good writing into great writing than as a piece of writing itself.

After reading the books and listening to the audio adaptions, I can't watch the movies anymore. Buy the CDs/Cassetes...to borrow a line from Garrison Keillor, the pictures are better. Anthony Daniels intro and insight was worth the jacket price.

I am a Star Wars fan, like most everyone else in my generation. If you are like me, having lived and breathed Star Wars at one time or another during your life, you really owe it to yourself to listen to the Star Wars Radio Drama casettes, available from Amazon. Click here, here and here to link to the casette versions, although I found a boxed set of CDs from Amazon that really kicked. These audio versions are terrific, offering tons of material not in the movies, background on all characters, great acting by Anthony Danielt and Mark Hamil, great audio and sound effects, and much more. Recommended to all Gen X'ers. END

I am a Star Wars fan, like most everyone else in my generation. If you are like me, having lived and breathed Star Wars at one time or another during your life, you really owe it to yourself to listen to the Star Wars Radio Drama casettes, available from Amazon. Here is the casette versions, although I found a boxed set of CDs from Amazon that really kicked, but you have to search the Amazon database forever to find it. These audio versions are terrific, offering tons of material not in the movies, background on all characters, great acting by Anthony Danielt and Mark Hamil, great audio and sound effects, and much more. Recommended to all Gen X'ers.

I discovered this book by searching on amazon. I am only 3/4 of the way through it and my reaction is WOW! I picked up this book because I'm a newly wed and trying to make sense of the pull of my own needs vs. satisfying the needs of my wife. This book is a little more philosophical than providing tips on marriage. However, it did make me think of caring for my wife as also providing growth for myself. As a side benefit it gave me a new perspective on my work. As someone approaching 40, it helps make sense of life after my ideals of youth have turned into more practical responsibilities and choices. It is a more mature example of the self-help book. Not just overly selfish and inwardly directed, it is about caring for the growth of others and the ideas you value. It is rather short and not too difficult to read. I urge you to look for it.

I stumbled onto this text while reading Nel Noddings "The Challenge to Care in Schools." I believe that Milton Mayeroff's work provides a wonderful foundational look at what caring means. With great theoretical depth he paints a picture that shows how caring can change not only the world, but our intimate self. Caring begins with our desire to help someone grow, whether that is our self, another, an entity. In the end perhaps Mayeroff suggests to us that by caring we change how we view the world and that in itself foments change. I recommend this book highly as a life changing volume.

This wonderful little book outlines a kind of caring that can give order and meaning to our life. Mayeroff's caring is a process in which we selflessly help an 'other' (be it a person, idea, or ideal) to grow and actualize itself.

Caring requires effort: Knowing (many things about the other and ourself); Alternating Rhythms (incorporating feedback in our caring); Patience (I like his definition: 'Patience is not waiting passively for something to happen, but it is a kind of participation with the other in which we give fully of ourselves.'); Honesty; Trust (of ourself as well as of the other); Humility; Hope (as an expression of a present alive with possibilities); and Courage.

By caring for the other, we become actualized. By focusing on the process, we show our concern for the future through the care we take with what is present now.

Caring can give order and meaning to life, if the others we choose are inclusive enough. Then these others become what Mayeroff calls 'appropriate others' -- they enable us to be complete, 'somewhat as playing music enables the musician to be himself.' Appropriate others become a center around which our life can be ordered.

Mayeroff believed that through finding and helping to develop our appropriate others, we discover and create the meaning of our life.

There are two reasons I wanted to review On Caring. One, it is a wonderful book that has stayed with me since I first read it years ago. Two, when I read The Faithful Wife by Sigrid Undset, I marveled at how beautifully that book seemed to incorporate Mayeroff's ideas.

The concepts Mayeroff presents, are part of the Mission Statement of my company. Caring is a foundation stone that permeates every aspect of the company business. Caring is in our performance reviews, caring is in flexible hours, caring is in time off, caring is required reading for all employees and board members, etc. As Mayeroff states: "Caring has a way of ordering activities and values around itself" (p.65).

Caring is something we can strive to do every day. Many oppportunities will open up as we interconnect with others on a day to day basis.

I always try to live by these sayings, do unto others as you would have others do unto you and, what you reap is what you sow. To receive love you must give love. It is our life's cycle. At times in our life we are the doers, the givers, at other times takers, receivers.

To be the taker is not selfish but self actualization. It requires humility to accept love, especially when you are not feeling loveable. In these pages Milton Mayeroff gives us a philosophy of life in a nutshell.

It is a small book but nevertheless brings great comfort and peace to the soul.

Other powerful authors are Victor Frankl who wrote Man's Search for Meaning, Man's Search for Meaning Abraham Maslow, Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences and Rabbi Harold Kushner, When Bad Things Happen to Good People. When Bad Things Happen to Good People All powerful words filled with wisdom, life experiences and reality.

this made me laugh. i think his ideas are crazy and funny. my teacher said this was good and i think so to. i will read the book again.

I had to read a book this summer and read this one. I did a book report. It has funny things in it. I liked the story about the gangs and pets best. I don't like reading but this was not boring.

This book is filled with short stories that are very attention grabbing and full of "being a kid" action. The stories teach important lessons incorporating some of the values students have lost. Brian's book is very easy to read and with its intended design, the stories are condensed so to keep the attention of the reader. I believe the reading level is approximately middle school level. It is a wonderful teaching tool and the kids just love it. This can be read orally or individually. Thank you Brian for giving us such a valuable teaching tool!

This book was fun. Patrick does interesting things. He is funny. I like the stories.

Brian McNabb has given us a very satisfying group of stories, all about a normal boy growing up and making choices about who he wants for friends and about how he should conduct himself in his world of family and school and town. All the stories are told from the point of view of a young narrator between the ages of about 7 and 13. McNabb's talent comes in giving us an authentic voice. We hear a boy, not an adult pretending to be a boy. "Neckbreaker", though awkwardly titled, is my favorite of the stories. As it follows our hero over a period of several months, we see him gain insight into himself and others. It's a lovely rendition of an oft told tale. Much to McNabb's credit, he resists the urge to moralize. The stories are good as stories, they are enjoyable. Well done.

Of "our world, our wooden world," as O'Brian wrote in the Nutmeg of Consolation. As an O'Brian devotee who is compiling a quotation book for naval officers and mariners (The Literary Mariner; look for it next year), I have found this Muster Book to be more useful, in its own way, than even Dean King's excellent Sea of Words. King's work is mostly a wonderful timesaver--you needn't hunt up terms in other reference books--but Gary Brown's POB Muster Book is unique and indispensable: no where else will you find the attention paid to and the cross-referenced information on the characters, ships, and animals of the entire Aubrey-Maturin series (what one reviewer called the Aubreyiad, a term I like very much).

Once the book was in hand, for example, I was able very quickly to answer three questions that had been bothering me: was Awkward Davis and Awkward Davies the same man (yes); were the Dumanoirs mentioned separate characters (yes); and what were the names of the various cannon in Surprise.

There is a very useful and succinct summary outlining the entire series, and the lengthy essays on each of the major characters also walks through all the books from that character's perspective (warning: if you haven't read the Aubreyiad through, these will be spoilers). Gary Brown also makes good use of helpful references to biographies (Dean King's and Nikolai Tolstoy's--see my Amazon reviews) and to historical works. This is simply a stunning achievement.

As an academic, I was first introduced to O'Brian by a colleague who thought I might find it interesting to compare O'Brian's works to Jane Austen's. As I did so I became convinced that there was more than a chance connection between the authors' works, but with O'Brian's expansive Aubreyiad, trying to corroborate the simplest connection became so time consuming it was discouraging. I happened across the first edition of this book on Amazon, ordered it, and three published academic articles later, it may well be the most indispensable work in my library. So much so, that when a newer edition came out that included the last few novels O'Brian wrote, I had to have it. I haven't been disappointed. Whether you're a "fan" or an academic, Gary Brown's meticulous research is sure to add to your understanding and appreciation of the genius of Patrick O'Brian.

I must say that my recent purchase of "PO's Muster Book" is worth the investment. I wish I had bought it sooner.

I am not quite finished with all 20 and 1/2 volumes of the O'Brian 19th century odyssey, having only finished the first 18, but I became an Aubrey/Maturin junkie after reading the first two novels and watching the movie. Comprehending the wealth of people, places and events, real and imagined, combined with a liberal use of foriegn languages was difficult and intimidating. I was often confused, because I didn't readily remember names and places from one chapter to the next.

Fortunately, before I started no. 5, I discovered, through Amazon, the companion books advertized there. I purchased "Sea Of Words", "Harbors And High Seas" and "Patrick O'Brian's Navy". Problem solved. I constantly cross referenced my new literary tools several times a chapter to interpret the rich mix of story and detail woven together in O'Brian's romantic chronology. The downside is that I needed to carry a tote when I went to read at the coffee shop as well as use an extra chair to hold my not so portable library.

Recently, I have added "The Patrick O'Brian Muster Book" and I immediately liked using it. Actually, it could be a "stand alone" companion book, except that it is absent of maps, diagrams, pictures or a commentary on the life and times. I know that this type information is beyond the scope of "Muster" by nature, so, my other books are still important to me, just not needed by the night stand.

That said, I am pleased with the appearance, organization and thoroughness of "Muster". Formatted like Webster's, it is highly informational and allows quick alphabetical access to the who and the where along with the what and the when not as easily accomplished by the other companion books. I can quickly remind myself of the names and places and not lose track of the story in doing so. Additionally, it lists all O'Brian's books with a Cliff Notes style summary and along with each item is the cross reference of all mentions in the series by book and chapter. It has helpful optional references to deliniate the fact from fiction.

While I finish the series and re-read it, as I'm sure I will, "Muster" will be my favorite companion. Now, when I'm reading on the plane, I won't have as much baggage.

There are other companion books to Patrick O'Brian's world and works, but none better than this one. Being a foreigner and rather a recent fan, I really need the help of such books to attain at least the merest understanding of what's going on, so I own several others which I enjoyed enormously. However none is so complete and helpful as this one. Most recommendable.

Anthony Gary Brown's "The Patrick O'Brian Muster Book" is truly the ultimate literary companion volume for O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin nautical historical novels. Every serious fan of the series should get a copy. Every named person, animal, ship, or even cannon gets its own entry, very often exploring obscure references (and nicely cross-referencing multiple appearances throughout the series). This new edition of Brown's work covers the entire series, including the twenty-first volume left unfinished at O'Brian's death. It serves to enhance reading (and re-reading) the novels and will provide many hours of pleasant browsing for the serious fan.

One of those little jewels to read at any time. Each poem leaves you with something to think about and ponder. Beautifully done.

Each piece cradled within Brian Douthit's "Perfectly Said: when word becomes art" seems to be penned by a poet at peace in his place. All darkness is bypassed by the light of the love in his life. The torment alluded to in "Pleasurable Frustration" is delightfully desirous...

You delve into me deeply
Discovering facets I didn't fathom
Making me yearn for innocent folly
And wish for blasphemous rhythm
~pg. 48

It is the edge drawn in delicate hues that leads the reader to believe that the man gives in to the bite of passion despite the all-consuming love for his mate, and that nibble leads way to her melting into "them".

The lines:

She is the enigma
I strain to explain
yet in her eyes
I fathom infinity
~pg. 22

drawing "I Fathom Infinity" to a close, prove case in point. The unexplainable is given definition within the knowing that she is what makes him what he needs to be forever. As in "Perfectly Said":

She is light and tender grace
and the world is joy around me..
~pg. 11

there is no better way to explain all that leaves him at a loss for words in her presence. Their forays into a sensual place are couched in natural metaphors that bring an appreciation for God's creations even as your breath catches and you chew your nail to the quick.

To balance his equator in rhyme and time, Brian forays into deep questions with a grand attempt to answer them as he ponders "Answers to Everlasting Strands". Yet his sadly sweet dedication to Polly Klaas in "Polly's High Firefly Season" leaves us feeling her loss with each winking glimpse of a firefly dance. These brief and subtle glimpses into another shade of Brian's heartening character, in my humble opinion, are summed up in the last four lines of this book..

Meaning is found in many different places
Each of us different in how we choose to live
It could be a church, garden, or newborn faces
The real meaning, is how we love and give
~pg.86

A healthy respect for the reader's sensibilities glosses over any intrusion of the world's perception of the art of poetry. An exquisitely written book, offered in such a beguiling form is well worth the read and the time spent to read his words over and over again. A gem to be cherished and not left to gather dust on a far reaching shelf but to be thumbed, tic'd, dog-eared and worn to a condition of scotch- taped glory. This poet, as a person and a writer, is proof positive that sometimes God breaks the mold when he creates a "Master" without bowing to the stereotype of a man.

It has been my pleasure to make the acquaintance of Brian Douthit and to be included in his "Eyes of the Poet" project. Sharing the vision of contributing to the survival of poetry, my only hope is that we, as part of the Poetry in Motion movement, are successful in resurrecting poetry as a renewed art form.

~Diane Anjoue,
Author of Collection de Jolie-Laide, wanting to be lost within...
(...)

One of the characteristic's of Brian's voice is that it is coupled with humility as it expresses delicate love. I have a sense while reading his poetry that each line is eloquently penned as gently as one would carry a precious item home to a loved one after a long journey.

There is a lack of self consciousness within the pages of this love, a lack of ego centricism, as one glimpses into the most private elements of true love, and is drawn in with an old fashioned style of charm, so that it is moving to the soul.

Brian's devotion to poetry as an art form is also evident in the style he has carefully chosen to lay the words on the page. Each page offers a new breath of love. Without any sense of cunning or excessiveness, he moves us into a Renaissance of beauty and life interwoven with grace and innocence.

Clearly his poems are made from a large knowing, a greater sense of wisdom, and human relations, as he translates not only his heart, but tenderly of those he loves and might love.

One cannot help to go back again and again into the full spectrum of his emotions and style of expressing love here on earth. That in fact love is alive and not dead. It is not the end of love, not the end of the world, because as one reads Brian's poetry one discovers it is just the beginning of a revival in love.

Plain and simple this book is amazing. I do not need to try and use a bunch of poetic words to emphasize the love this book leaves you longing for. The book places you in a different world in every poem. The writing flows well and the feelings are very intense. I anxiously wait for Mr. Douthits' next publication!!

What great poetry in this book. I absolutely love it! A definate must have for the poetry lover...

This book is a great book for teaching about synonyms. It really helps the students get a better understand of what it is.

Brian Cleary has done it again. Pich and Throw, Grasp and Know: What is a Synonym delights and intriques children of all ages with ingenous use of synonyms. Add this to the outstanding collection he has given us already. Thank you for making English grammar so much fun.

Great stuff. Interesting word choices. Those crazy cartoon cats. I love how in this series of books which explains synonyms, homonyms, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions and more, Cleary can take the complex and make it simple, funny and teachable. He's also written one of my favorite books of poetry-- RAINBOW SOUP; ADVENTURES IN POETRY.

This book is a must for any school classroom and a fun read at home too. It is excellent for teaching what synonyms are and introducing great vocabulary words to boot. I highly recommend.

Energetically illustrated in a colorful cartoon style by Brian Gable, Pitch And Throw, Grasp And Know: What Is A Synonym? provides young readers with informative and entertaining explanations and illustrations of just what synonyms are. Also highly recommended for school and community library collections (and ideal for use by home schoolers) are the other outstanding and thoroughly "kid friendly' titles of the Carolrhoda Books series on the English language: Dearly, Nearly, Insincerely: What Is An Adverb?; Hairy, Scary, Ordinary: What Is An Adjective?; I And You And Don't Forget Who: What Is A Pronoun?; A Mink, A Fink, A Skating Rink: What Is A Noun?; To Root, To Toot, To Parachute: What Is A Verb?; Under, Over, By The Clover: What Is A Preposition.