Brian Books

Provides the real challenges for real change in today's culture and our love for past formula's, our disdain for a world we disagree with.

This book is not filled with a statistics that tells the church what it already knows - "things are bad and the church is losing effectiveness."

McLaren digs into our thinking habits and compares that to the culture around us. He provides a bridge that helps us maintain our spiritual integrity but reaches out to a world that has fully embrassed the postmodern philosophy.

The title does not accurately describe the contents of this book. Reinventing Your Church is not about comprimising the values and morals of Christ for the sake of the world, but just the methods of how the church chooses to communicate them. Brian McLaren really takes an honest look at why people are so turned off by church today. He states that our culture continues to change, and that churches need to adjust their mothodologies to spread the gospel effectively. He doesn't condemn any particular denomination, but explains how each church needs to understand who they are trying to reach and how to create an environment to welcome those individuals.

REINVENTING YOUR CHURCH

By Brian D. McLaren

There are many books being written these days on the need for change in the church. This book certainly should be included among the better in this category. It is remarkable for its clarity of thought and its balance in venturing into this somewhat controversial area. The author does not hesitate to suggest bold and radical departures from "tradition", but not without good reason.

For example, he distinguishes between renewed, restored and reinvented churches. "The renewed church is an old church that, after having lost touch with its own people, goes through a process of change in order to relate to them and better meet their needs again." (p. 20).

The restored church is the result of a sincere effort to establish a "New Testament Church". Often this involves resurrecting some detail of New Testament church life, and making it the litmus test of faithfulness to the Biblical pattern. For this reason, McLaren suggests that the restored church often becomes "The Church of the Lost Detail". The "lost detail" can be almost any form that is found in the book of Acts, such as speaking in tongues, elder rule, house churches, one church per city or whatever. McLaren is not nasty about it, but he does conclude that eventually this lost detail assumes a significance beyond all sane proportions.

"By contrast, the reinvented church not only changes its style, but it changes its attitude. Change is accepted as an unchanging fact of life. The reinvented church not only catches up to the present but also corrects those tendencies that would make it keep falling behind. It removes the anti-change bias." (p. 21)

The reinvented church is characterized by "paradigm pliancy". Paradigm pliancy requires a strategy of maximizing discontinuity, "which means not trying to fix up the horse to get a few more miles out of it, but burying it and looking for a new one. The journey is the important thing, not the horse that you take to get there." (p.23)

Perhaps the most significant aspect of this book is the fact that the author has actually gone through the trauma of "re-inventing" his church. In 1982, he planted a church that grew from 11 to about a hundred in three years. He was dismayed, however, that practically all the growth had come by transfer from other churches. He therefore proposed to his church that they "maximize discontinuity" by disbanding it for a period of ten months, after which they would launch a new church with a new name in a new location with a new mission of reaching secular people. Those who like lists, especially long lists, will love this book. The chapter titles are a list of 13 strategies for reinventing your church. In addition, many of the individual strategies consist of long lists as well. For example, he lists:

a) 14 observations on system thinking

b) 6 traditions to trade up for Tradition

c) 5 characteristics of an ineffectual apologetic and 5 new apologetic themes

d) 5 hunches on learning a new rhetoric

e) 16 conclusions on abandoning structures as they are outgrown

f) 7 characteristics of the new breed of leaders

g) A long (21!) list of problems in missions and a short (6) list of solutions

h) 5 core values of postmodernism

i) 15 ways of engaging postmodernism

A major thrust of this book has to do with better equipping Christians to engage meaningfully with unbelievers. He decries the "Christian nation" myth, which breeds an "us and them" mentality and makes us hostile to those to whom we should show compassion. For example, in his second strategy of redefining our mission, he insists that we need both more Christians and better Christians. By this, he means that the key to reaching unbelievers is to be better Christians, that is Christians who better incarnate the Gospel of Him Who was a "friend of publicans and sinners". Even more than seeker-sensitive churches, we need seeker-sensitive Christians. Instead, we often find Christians that are "seeker-hostile", as parodied in a Moody Monthly cover story entitled "Sinners in the Hands of Angry Christians".

McLaren has several excellent thoughts on leadership as well. The title of the chapter on leadership: "Save the Leaders" suggests the many perils that leaders face, and he expresses his regret that many qualified leaders have left, or are considering leaving, the ministry. Perhaps his most helpful insight on leadership is a list of reasons why imitating success in leadership can guarantee failure:

He also gives some very helpful guidelines for understanding and engaging postmodernism, which he sees as a reality with which we must come to terms. He writes: "Opposing postmodernism is as futile as opposing the English language. It's here. It's reality. It's the future." (p. 69)

McLaren questions the assertion that post-moderns don't believe in absolute truth. He suggests that the real issue may be one of absolute certainty. He further argues that post-moderns may care so much about truth that they are skeptical of the ability of fallible human beings to apprehend it or communicate it accurately. Seen from this point of view, it is easy to see how our certainty about knowing absolute truth can come across not as faith but arrogance. Furthermore, many post-moderns probably question our commitment to absolute truth because we seem to have such a hard time agreeing on what it is. He writes: "We have to distinguish between genuine Christianity and our (individual and various culture-encoded) versions of it." (p. 178)

There are several other very helpful chapters on topics such as leadership, church structure, apologetics, theology, and missions that make this book well worth the reading. It will be especially enlightening and helpful for those who are seeking to "go to" the lost and engaging them with the Gospel.

John Ed Robertson

November 27, 1998

This book is a "must read" for every church leader and Bible College student. If you are struggling with how to understand and communicate with those steeped in Postmodern thought this book has many answers. Its not just another mega-church "how to" book. Reinventing Your Church goes much farther. This book is a refreshing and practical look at what it will take to communicate Jesus to the world in the next generation. The chapter on missions is especially insightful.

Brian gives us a book that actually tackles the postmodern subject without losing the reader with philosophical jargon. I found that his approach is so practical because he is living it out. He writes out of experience and gives us a framework to enter this bold new world with a sense of optimism rather than fear, excitement rather than dread.

His writings on leadership and missions are a must read for every church practitioner.

I prefer the new Mermaid text to those in the anthologies primarily because the notes are on the same page as the text. I don't think the background to the play in the introduction is quite as thorough as it could be (the Oxford being more complete I think in that regard), but his notes are helpful and his history of production, though short, is revealing. I tend to side with those that attribute this play to Middleton, but who knows? The play itself is a wonderful mixture of the melodramatic revenge plot with a surprisingly comic over-view of the world in which it takes place.

PreShakespeare, but a lot of fun to read! I enjoyed it very much--- has to do with a man who is carrying around a murdered girlfriend for almost ten years-- he is planning revenge on the king...

This dark tragi-comedy resonates with the dramatic potential of Hamlet, but and edge particular to Jacobean Drama. A play which is still relevant today (many students related it to "The Godfather"), and brimming with cinematic violence, lust, deception, vengence, and, with all this, communicated through beautiful poetry.

Brian Gibbons, editor of the New Mermaids second edition (1991), describes The Revenger's Tragedy (1607) as a minor masterpiece. Judged against contemporaneous revenge plays like Hamlet and King Lear (and even Titus Andronicus), the term 'minor' certainly does not imply inferior. Minor or not, I agree with the four previous reviewers: The Revenger's Tragedy deserves five stars. Also, it is much easier reading than most Elizabethan and Jacobean plays.

Despite its title, The Revenger's Tragedy is no more bloody than Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy (fifteen years earlier) and it is certainly not as insanely gruesome and brutal as Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus (1594). No dismemberments and no cannibalism. Bloody, yes. But not excessively so.

Nonetheless, we learn of a murder, a rape leading to a suicide, and yet another aggressive seduction (or rape, if need be) that is in the planning stage. So ends Act 1. Revenge and mayhem follow.

The plot is not unduly complex. Vindice desires revenge for the poisoning death of his betrothed, Gloriana, by the lustful, aging Duke. Vindice also indirectly blames the Duke for his father's death, though "he died of discontent, the nobleman's consumption". Vindice is perhaps obsessive; he has retained Gloriana's skull and sometimes speaks directly to her.

In disguise he provokes discord between his enemies and leads them to plot against each other. (This ruse reminds me of Malevole's subterfuge in John Marston's play, The Malcontent.) A poisoned skull, a mistaken execution, and a murderous banquet highlight the later acts. The play concludes with an ironic twist, possibly added as a moral lesson, or simply to surprise the audience.

Hats off to either Cyril Tourneur or Thomas Middleton, or whoever may have authored this fascinating revenge play.

Update July, 2007: I recently encountered reference to this lesser known play in a murder mystery. Cecil Day-Lewis, Poet Laureate from 1968 until his death in 1972, wrote sophisticated mysteries under the pseudonym Nicholas Blake from the mid-1930s to the early 1960s. Thou Shell of Death (1936) is a revenge murder patterned on The Revenger's Tragedy. In the first scene Vindice speaking to the skull of his dead mistress says: "My study's ornament, thou shell of death, Once the bright face of my betrothed lady ...."

OK. The jury has more or less decided that "The Revenger's Tragedy" is not by Cyril Tourneur after all, but by Thomas Middleton. This is on strictly scholarly grounds. Either way, it scarcely matters, as this play is strictly sui generis. It's like nothing else either Tourneur or Middleton ever wrote.

The best way to think of it is as standing in a relation to the classic Jacobean and Elizabethan tragedies of Kyd, Shakespeare, Webster and Middleton sort of like the way Quentin Tarantino's early films stand in relation to previous Hollywood classics. Whoever wrote this, they were Taking The P*ss. The play starts in next-to-top gear, and accelerates into warp speed fairly quickly. Few other plays of the era (this is roughly contemporaneous with "King Lear", to give you an idea) are so ruthlessly efficient. The basic plot is put in motion by two brothers, Vindice and Hippolito, who are a bit cheesed off because the egregious Duke (of wherever) killed Vindice's wife cause she wouldn't put out. From here proceeds a bizarre and increasingly unlikely series of revenges, climaxing in a frankly chortlesome mass slaying. Vindice is the juiciest role - a bit like Shakespeare's Richard III, he guides the audience through the action, but with far greater economy and far less wrangling of conscience, not that Crookback Dick is noted for his remorse.

By the end, the stage is littered with bodies, and Vindice and Hippolito cheerfully go off to execution, with barely a qualm in sight. This is truly the most cynical and the funniest of all Jacobean tragedies. Whoever wrote it, be it Cyril or Tom, was thinking along the same lines Howard Hawks was on when he (Hawks) turned "Rio Bravo" from a Western into a chamber comedy. It's all thoroughly reprehensible, and great fun. You want depth, try John Webster.

There aren't many four-hundred-year-old plays that I laugh aloud at whilst reading, but this is one of them. Pace the opinion below, it couldn't have less to do with Jonson's careful layering of reality if it tried. It's a brisk, bleak, savage cartoon. Full marks, whoever you were.

Author Lois Hilton Spoon lived every word she wrote. Her courage during her long struggle with breast cancer will motivate and inspire others to trust in God and believe in miracles. Lois's love for God and her unwavering faith in Divine Intervention is evident on every page. With sparkling wit and humor and heart-warming intimacy, her inspiring stories will reach into every reader's life like a trusted friend, offering comfort and genuine concern.

This book is truly a blessing to be treasured and shared by all.

Written by Lois Hilton Spoon with the assistance of Brian Davis and Steve Dixon, Running As Fast As I Can: A Survivor's Guide To Winning The Race Against Breast Cancer is a powerful and personal testament to the strengths of life, hope, and faith. A religious wife and mother, diagnosed with terminal breast cancer, Lois is able to run and enjoy a marathon race one year after. Her personal story, and the meaning of her perseverance, love, and joy in life is revealed in this captivating, candid, inspirational and moving memoir.

What a wonderful, inspiring account of the daily life of dealing with cancer as shared from the heart of Lois's experiences. I have had the privilege of knowing Lois for the last nine years and treasure the time we have spent together. Her honesty, humor and love of life comes through the printed word to touch everyone who takes the time to stop and read "Running As Fast As I Can".

I found this book very hopeful. The stories pull you in and you want to know more. They are also very encouraging to anyone facing struggles, not just those diagnosed with cancer. The life applications and spiritual applications were very good also. I would highly recommend Running As Fast As I Can to everyone.

This book was great! The stories just pull you in and you want to know more about this person. I would love to read another book by this author. If you are going through a struggle of any kink I would recommend reading, Running As Fast As I Can.

Saving Sweetness by Diane Stanley is about an orphan named Sweetness. She ran off to the desert because she really hated the director of the orphanage, Mrs. Sump. Mrs. Sump hired a police officer to find her. But when the police officer found Sweetness she ran away because she didn't want to go back. The sun came down when the policeman was about to find Sweetness. He found Sweetness again but she started to cry. Then she ran off again. The sun came up and he wanted to find some shade. Then Coyote Pete, a criminal, came up and had his gun pointing at the police's badge, but Sweetness came and dropped a rock on Coyote Pete's head. By then Coyote Pete got arrested. The police officer adopted Sweetness and all the other orphans and Coyote Pete when to jail.

Mrs. Sump is a mean orphanage director. Mrs. Sump was nasty enough to scare the orphans. Mrs. Sump is so mean that she wouldn't let her dog eat anything. Only her cat could eat. She had the orphans scrub the floor with a toothbrush. She didn't like seeing the orphans having fun. She is so mean that she would marry a criminal! She went crazy because one of her students ran away.

This book is fun to read because it has a lot if action and it's has a caring part at the end when the police officer adopted all the orphans and had no problem about it. I like the way the author wrote something about how the police officer adopted all the orphans and was nice enough to take care of the orphans. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes love and care because the book is about an orphan who doesn't like the orphanage director but loves the police officer. The lesson I learned from this book is to take care of people who need help.

By Shawn

This book is the most fun to read out loud! What a treat for both parent and child ... teacher and students. I read it to my 8-year old girl and we both laughed out loud throughout the story. The subtle messages make for some great discussion as well. Themes such as : "Sometimes adults can use help from children", "Children have more power over situations than we sometimes give them credit for", "What goes around comes around", "Do unto others as you would have done unto you", etc. It is also a good book for discussing adoption/foster care. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

When the sheriff of a dusty western town "rescues" Sweetness, an unusually resourceful orphan, from nasty old Mrs. Sump and her terrible orphanage, neither the sheriff nor Sweetness know what they are getting into. Sweetness is quite the unlikely hero, but she succeeds in rescuing the sheriff time and time again, even while the sheriff believes that he is the one doing the rescuing.

A great story for children to hear or read, as they will enjoy the fact that Sweetness is the real hero. The language and illustrations of the story will mesmerize kids. Adults will have a lot of fun reading the book with an accent.

From the moment you begin this book, you will want to read it aloud and get caught up in the rhythm of the language..."Mrs. Sump doesn't much like seein' the orphans restin' or havin' any fun, so she puts 'em to scrubbin' the floor with toothbrushes. Even the ittiest, bittiest orphan, little Sweetness. So one day, Sweetness hit the road." Children appreciate the humor in the sheriff's attempts to rescue Sweetness from the perils in the desert.The illustrations are an interesting blend of mediums.This book is just plain, good ole fun.

This is the best of the California Young Reader nominees in it's catagory this year. I thought it was a real hoot, and I am adding it to our school library. It is funny and has a good message about adoption. I really think the children are going to have fun with this one.

This book is wonderfully funny and enlightning. It makes you look inward and see what need re-aligning.

I saw this book on someone's wish list and was immediately intrigued by the title and decided to buy it. I am glad that I did. I have a deep respect for pastors, or anyone for that matter, that can share their short comings and their long findings about themself. It's like, "hey those shoes look familiar.... I think I walked in those just the other day!"

The last thing that I want to hear from a pastor is how they were brought up in a Christian home and yada yada yada.... had a supergodly clean life.

Not only is Brian Jones a man after my own soul, but I really dig his writing style. He will have a lump in my throat the size of a Jerusalem artichoke and the next second have me lauging out loud.

Lemme share a part of the book. At one point in his life, while he was second guessing God, he is talking to a friend and says his life is much like standing on the beach and the waves are taking the sand from under his feet, and that scares him.

His friend says, and this is my new fave quote: "In spite of all of this, I promise you can count on one thing: when the last grain of sand is finally gone, you're going to discover that you're standing on a rock"

Peeps have to know this or they will never survive the firey darts of satan. It is my new prayer that I see people as Christ sees them and to have a compassionate heart for the lost.

For the longest time I thought that I had no future as I have not planned my life out well enough. But now, I realize that it was all His plan. I will use my own life as a testimony to others. God has given me talents that will give me an edge to help others.

Thank you to the one who open'd my eyes to this book.

"Zooming down Agape Blvd. with the top down!"

Life gets hard, harder, impossible, and we silently (or maybe not so silently) scream, what are you doing God? In Second Guessing God, Brian Jones comes up with some outstanding answers.

Just as Joshua directed the priests to put their feet into the flooding Jordan upstream from the people in order to stop the waters so they could cross into the Promised Land, so does God work beyond our sight and understanding-upstream--in our lives. Here's another of Jones' similes. Want God to work in your life? Think of Jesus like a taxicab driver. You get in the passenger's seat and let Him take over.

Pastor, leader of a support group for the sexually abused, fellow traveler in this world of trouble, Brian Jones draws examples from coping with his own problems as well as a large background of listening to others' problems. He shares a wide scope of problems with the reader from the simple (if there are any such) to the horrific. And through it all he continually shows how God actually is working. Most of us do not receive instantaneous miracles, rather, God gives us perseverance for the long haul.

Second Guessing God majors on how God is intimately involved in all facets of our life, working through others, through circumstances, through our own acceptance of living this flawed life. Jones gives us a strengthening list of what God is actually doing, illustrating each item with Scripture, experiences, and a wide variety of quotes from C. S. Lewis to F. Scott Fitzgerald to Bart Simpson. What is God doing? Working in power and compassion; understanding doubt is real and providing help; imparting insight and help through the very trials we don't want; giving help through others' witness; and, breaking what seems a brass-bound silence with His Word, the Bible. The closing section of this book turns us back to those institutions that help, urging the broken to avail themselves of that help and the rest of us to be really get in there and help. Jones looks at the church, the ministry, and that wonderful promise to all of God's own ones, Heaven.

Second Guessing God arrived for me to review right after a major problem caused me to spiral despairingly downwards. I can vouch for it. This book truly helps. - Donna Eggett, Christian Book Previews.com

Brian's transparent descriptions of his own spiritual journey assist the reader with realistic expectations of a life led for the cause of Christ. This book is a must read for anyone searching for meaning in his life.

"Second Guessing God" by Brian Jones shows how to live a purpose driven life rather than tell how in "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren. Not that I am knocking Rick. However I read Rick's book just prior to Brian's. When reading "Purpose Driven" my wife got mad at me because I would leave her to go downstairs to read in the quiet. With "Second Guessing God" it didn't matter what else was on because it was so engaging. The detailed and funny stories have a purpose and have me wanting to do more to serve God.

I am not sure the title "Second Guessing God" has the pizazz this book deserves. The humble but upbeat style makes this book very engaging. While reading I felt privileged to know Brian from his sermons on Sundays and to have received hugs and handshakes from him.

Well written, concise and to the point. Dunning has a wonderful sense of humor that makes this a pleasant very informative read.

Mr. Brian Dunning is making his incredibly well researched podcast more accessible to everyone. I bought this for a professor of mine and she loved it! I must say that Brian, aside from being incredibly cool in person, is totally committed to skeptical inquiry and critical thought and this book really shows that commitment, in trying to reach the widest audience possible. The transcripts are short and to the point, no unnecessary blabbering. So, if you have an interest in understanding the REAL details behind pop culture pseudoscience, or wish additional details to help in your daily fight against psychics, UFO's, and bigfoot, look no further!

Brian Dunning takes a thoughtful, scientific approach to dissecting faulty thinking. He is an equal-opportunity critic of flawed logic. His coverage of a certain topic will lead you to believe he's a paid consultant for a particular political group. Then the next topic will point the other direction. I guess the bottom line is that no political group has cornered the market on pseudo-scientific thinking. He's changed my mind on several issues. He's informative, persuasive, and funny. Judge for yourself.

Skeptoid by Brian Dunning is indeed a great book. It is a fairly quick read, and made for great quick breaks at work and around the house. As a fairly recent subscriber to the podcast (last 3 months) I hadn't read or heard most of the first 50 which are included here. My favorite was #29, Orbs in the camera. This one holds a special place in my heart, my brother and I would go out to graveyards when we were younger and take polaroids of this "phenomenon" and be excited that we captured ghosts on film. After getting older (and thanks to some critical thinking) Ive always wondered what those things actually were, and now I know. Hopefully we can look forward to Skeptoid #51-100 in book form soon.

This is a remarkable collection of incorrect beliefs laid bare. Brian has a knack for finding these nuggets of BS, researching the truth, and presenting the unbiased evidence mixed with insightful opinion. It's also very entertaining - I laughed out loud many times. Highly recommended.

What a great book. Loads of pix of the way things used to be. How many of these items do you remember in your grandma's kitchen? It was just what I wanted as far as seeing what is collectible these days. Values included in the book seem to be realistic. Will look for more like this from the author.

I have enjoyed this book very much. It is very informative. I own lots of kitchen collectibles, but was not sure of their use. Now I know. This book has covered a wide range of items and every page is bright and colourful. I'm sure others will enjoy this book as much as I do. It sure takes you back to the "Good Old Days". A great book to browse through and add to your collection.

What a delightful slice of Americana. I'm interested in mid-century America especially suburban living and this book captures a little bit of this so well. Look through the pages and it's clear that the author (and publisher) have taken some editorial effort to produce an interesting book. I was particularly pleased to see that this is not the usual dull looking, badly designed collectors book, full of amateur snaps of objects sitting on a table with several presented on the page as square photos.

The thirty-eight chapters probably include every popular kitchen gadget available at the time (all nicely presented as cutouts though missing light grey shadow effect that really would have completed each image) but nicely there are included period magazine covers, ads, pages from manufactures brochures and other graphics. Another thing I liked about the book is the addition of the packaging the utensils came in showing the design and typography, predictably lacking in any graphic design but showing vibrant colors and in fact anything to catch the housewife's eye while on the store shelf.

An ideal book for collectors and because of the way it has been editorially produced it will have instant nostalgia appeal and interest anyone who wants to know how folks lived a few decades ago.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

This book is great. There are so many kitchen items featured that it is amazing. It has been really helpful for me.

I just recieved Spiffy Kitchen Collectibles and was quite disappointed to find out that it is exactly the same graphics and photographs as contained in the Warmans Kitschy Kitchen Collectibles Field Guide, just in larger format. I saw they were by the same author, but didn't think they'd be exactly the same inside!

I look forward every day to reading the Pickles comics. Being an older person, I can relate to sooo much of it! I even cut out some of my favorites & put on the refrigerator. I bought the book 'Still Pickled' & loaned it to my neighbor, because Earl reminds me so much of her husband, John in looks & personality. She agreed after reading it. I certainly hope this particular comic doesn't stop in MY lifetime!
Thank you for making a happy moment in every day of my life!

This is great for anyone that's a "little more mature". Most couples will relate to the dialogue between this delightful couple. Grandparents will recognize the conversations with their own grandchildren. My husband and I thoroughly enjoy the book and are looking forward to the arrival of the other volumes.

We would love to have a daily calendar to send to others that do not have the fun of reading about the Pickles in their local newspapers.

Pickles are the funniest books. Is Brian Crane hiding in our home?
Is that how he knows us so well.

This Brian Crane has invaded our home, no other explanation for his hitting the nail on our heads

Brian Crane is without a doubt one of the funniest cartoonists out there today. His book "Still Pickled After All These Years: A Pickles Book" is just hilarious. You will find yourself laughing out loud while reading this book. It is amazing how easy it is to see real people...i.e., parents/grandparents in his cartoon strips. I highly recommend this book.

Brilliant history of the game. I grab and read anything I can by Brian Glanville. Excellent.

well the book was the best and i love to play soccer when i want to. It's my to play.I want to go to collage soccer some were were they play really good and to be a good thing for me. well maybe i will be able to go and play with the big boys.

Glanville brings wit, humor and a critical eye to his history of the World Cup. More than simply a dry rehash of scores and stats, this book almost has a literary flavor, painting pungent, vivid and memorable portraits of the players and their times.

You get a feel for the drama, the excitement and the raw energy of the World Cup. For example, it is not simply stated that the Brazilians cultivated Mexican fans in 1970, but Glanville adds such memorable lines as "The Brazilians pursued a shrewd policy of 'beads for the natives..'.

Glanville's description of players, even obscure ones, shows dry wit, a keen eye and someone who has done his homework. Most writers would have dashed off a conventional 3-word blurb. Not Glanvile. For example, in describing sturdy Russian sweeper Chesternev(?) Glanville speaks of him "sweeping up diligently in his crouching bird-dog style.." Likewise another player is described not merely as a fast winger but " a strongly-built, moustached, and melancholy figure, with fabled control and finishing power."

And indeed, so he was. You get the sense that this is soccer as it should be played- with supreme confidence and absolute conviction. Despite the literary flavor, this book has meat, solid meat. Who wants a simple rehash of what went down? Glanville begins every chapter with a background to the Cup- the sometimes unsavoury politics and posturing, the jealousies, the disappointments of good players who didn't make the cut. Then he breaks down the detail of the contenders- their strengths and weaknesses. Like I said, this is meaty analysis, not another
rehash of stats we already know.

The viginettes and scenes are amazing, Puskas eating monkey nuts in Chile, grousing about Hungarian football, Pele's audacious attempt to beat Viktor from 50 yards out in 1970, the father of Spanish player DiStefano in 62 flying in with a mysterious "magic linament" to heal his son, the "spontaneous" 1970 Mexican crowd that conveniently and noisly gathered outside the English team's hotel, keeping the players awake all night, before the match with Brazil, the blazing speed and mesmerizing moves of the deformed winger- Garrincha of Brazil, the cheeky "street" caper of Maradona's infamous "Hand of G-d" goal, the brave comebacks of Germany in 1982 and 1986, the redemption of the scandal-smeared Paolo Rossi, and so on.. You almost get the sense of being there on the field.

Those expecting a cheerleading tome for soccer officialdom would do best to look for another book. Glanville is not afraid to expose the seedy side of the game, nor criticize the FIFA bureaucracy, hooligan fans, coaches and abominable refereeing where warranted, nor do the cynical players and tactics escape his censure.

There are some minor quibbles. In his 1966 edition, Glanville correctly describes Brazil's swift right winger Garrincha as a mulatto, but in the 1970 edition, he is transformed into a South American Indian. In fact, Garrincha was part black, and this is confirmed in Joseph Page's book "The Brazilians". Of course with Brazil, racial categories are fuzzy, but Glanville does correctly point out that the introduction of black players in that country transformed the game. Some might object to Glanville even mentioning race, but it is interesting nevertheless to see the width of the Black Disapora, and the increasing blend of cultures in sports, and how sports can, in its own limited way, bring people together. Thanks to Glanvile, these glimpses range from "the Black Diamond" Leonidas of Brazil back in 1938, to the swift black winger Andrade of Uruguay circa 1950, to Gatejens, scorer of the shocking goal that upset England in 1950 (yes, the segregated, Jim Crow US had "colored" players), to the pantherine Eusebio and silky smooth Coluna of Portugal in 1966, to the corruscating Teofilo Cubillas of Peru of 1970, to the powerfully built sweeper, Tresor, of France.

Glanville's book is also invaluable for its many pictures of past players, particularly the older editions. The newer editions chop out a lot of interesting detail- after all the book can only keep expanding as the years pass. But all in all, a must read for every true soccer fan. Something for everyone- the young fan looking for heroes and pictures, the educated dabbler, or the hard-core afficionado.

Objectivity is absent at times in this very thorough history. I generally find Paul Gardener, Keir Radnedge, & Terry Crouch to be more objective. He inflates the importance and success of British Footballers. But, since England has never won the European Cup and last won the World Cup in 1966 I guess few readers will find his bias surprising. However, he does have a computer chip Knowledge of the "World's Most Popular Sport." He gives the most detailed accounts of the World Cups of the 1930's and 50's that I have ever come across. In depth analysis , vivid portraits of great players and games are in abundance. From the offensive oriented decades of the 1930's-50's, the defensive mania of the 1960's to Holland's "Total Football" philosophy of the 1970's.

You will learn about the most classic matches. From the exciting first final in 1930 between Argentina & Uruguay, the first overtime final in 1934 between Italy & Czechoslavakia, the "battle of Berne" in 1954 between Hungary & Brazil, to the formers shocking loss to West Germany in the final.

Other more well known games from the incomparable Pele against France in the 1958 semi-final, the controversial England win against West Germany in the 1966 final, to the match of the century between Italy & West Germany in the 1970 semi-final, & lastly Italy's unexpected triumph in the 1982 finals where they started as a 25-1 shot to win. The true fan will feel like you have just been at the stadium having viewed a classic match.

Finally, a literary and creative man writing about soccer! Mr. Glanville's encyclopaedic knowledge of the game and his plethora of behind-the-scene anecdotes make this book deliciously enjoyable. Each World Cup is peppered with authentic style making the reader feel like he is smelling chalupas inside Azteca Stadium or bratwurst in Munich's Olympiastadion. The poetic narrative of legendary games such as 1970's Italy vs West Germany or 1982's West Germany vs France is almost Nobel Prize material.

However, his British twist is conspicuously ubiquitous in the form of inflating paragraphs about obscure Scottish and Welsh footballers that most international soccer hounds don't know or care about... or in lambasting on Maradona time and time again! Objectivity may not be his forte, but Glanville's epic writing of a World Cup history is second to none.

Marsh, battered in body and spirit, finds his own cure in the migrant strawberry fields. His search for a killer puts him back in focus.

Greenleaf's language mastery captures the essence of the migrant worker's plight and engages the reader in Marsh's quest for justice.

This excellent Greenleaf novel opens with Tanner recovering from a gunshot wound in a hospital. He meets a young woman there who has many more problems than himself. She gets him back into "life". But later she is found murdered. Tanner has made promises to her and intends to carry them out. Villains had better beware. Great stuff!

Did you every wonder where your fresh strawberries come from? Or the pears, peaches, grapes, pineapples on your table?

Stephen Greenleaf explores the agricultural caste system through the voice of his private investigator first person narrator, John Marshall Tanner.

Tanner is a great narrator: an intelligent, world weary private eye. Tanner goes off to the strawberry fields of the Salinas area to investigate a murder, then two, and actually three. But this isn't a story of violent murder; it is a story of agricultural communities, of dating in the l990's, of small town politics, of family rivalries. Tanner's weapon is simple: he asks questions. The answers eventually fill in the pieces of a mystery.

This is a great read.

Strawberry Sunday, by Stephen Greenleaf, was nominated for an Edgar Award, 2000 -- and reading it, it's not difficult to see why. This is a mystery novel with a social conscience and a wry sense of wit. It begins with the hero, P.I. John Marshall Tanner in a hospital recovering from a gut shot and mourning the death of his close (cop) friend Charley Sleet, but most of the action takes place in the California Salinas agricultural community. Tanner has resolved to find out who murdered Rita Lombardi, a fellow hospital patient who wants to better the life of farm workers.

There are lots of red herrings, wonderful characters, and witty and often hilarious dialogues with them (and with himself). Tanner often reaches wrong conclusions and gets plenty of egg on his face, but in the end he prevails; he's a tough guy with loads of grace. Strawberry Sunday is a punchy, funny, touching novel. Read it.

As a long time fan of Greenleaf and Marsh Tanner, I thoroughly enjoyed Strawberry Sunday. I love books that inform and challenge me as well as entertain, and can always count on this author to accomplish that.

A rumor has been circulating that Greenleaf planned to retire the Tanner series, and with the last book seemed to have done so, in a most excruciating way. With this book, Marsh has been returned to me and I can imagine him, one of the rare really good people, continuing to do what he does best.