Bridges Books

Kantar is exceptionally readable, with a sense of humor which makes a difficult subject enjoyable. He goes through much material, but quite thoroughly and clearly. It's a book that needs to be studied - not merely read - but a good student will gain enormously from Kantar's work.

I found this to be the best book to improve bridge for an intermediate player. I've read it four times and learned from each chapter each time. Since one plays defense on half the hands, it provides the best time investment to improve one's bridge play. It is also an entertianing read. I have recommended it to the bridge players I mentor.

The book focuses on leads, signals (Attitude, Count, Suit Preference), and how to card (what card to play in 2nd or 3rd spot), rather than general defensive principles.

The content is excellent, well presented (humorous!!), and best of all, has lots of quizzes. None of this skimming a section and figuring you know it, the quiz will let you find out for certain.

2 warnings:

1) make sure your partner is using the same techniques, otherwise you may get worse results. Its not that the ideas in the book are radical, they are mainstream. But if pard doesn't understand your signal, they may do something weird and you will be worse off.

2) The book is a bit technical (5 situations where this is a suit preference signal. If Dummy wins with a Q then signal count, otherwise ... If you can see the X in dummy then pard will know to do this, else that, etc.
You will need to reread it several times, and probably make notes.

VALUABLE STUFF, but ONLY as part of a partnership that understands each other.

Kantar today is more noted as a bridge instructor than a bridge player. But one must remember that he is both and his latest book demonstrated both the instructional and practical sides. It is (as usual) clear, concise and ro the point. I like Kantar's prose, his ease of explanation and the way he sets just the right tone. Of course, he discusses the bid, the opponent and, most important, keeping track of the play while counting the cards (the one thing that separates the professional from the amateur). Good book with tons of examples.

This is a great book on defense, because Kantar covers almost every intermediate situation comprehensively and give you black and white rules for every situation. He doesn't in this book consider varied leading/signalling conventions but just gives one way to play, but that's fine as he explains his method clearly and shows why he recommends everything he does. I'd recommend it to every player.

This little book has been really helpful to me in dealing with others.

It explains where people are at emotionally - how to tell where they are at - and how to get your communication across to them.

I took communications courses in college, and this information has been far more valuable to me, in terms of practical use.

If you have ever experienced trying to communicate with another person - and ending up feeling like understanding just didn't come about, no matter how hard you tried - then get this booklet! It explains why this happens, and how to overcome the barriers. It's universal, too - you don't need to give someone a lengthy personality quiz to understand them better! Just by observing the person you can figure out how to communicate with them. It's a gem of a book!

This is fundimanetal, and important data, anyone can use to improve thmeselfs and deal with people around them.
How would you like to be able to handle that obnoxious co-worker? that rude salesperson, or even a family member.
Find out what chronic tone people operate in every day, and how you can be cause over them, and help them too.
People who give false data, and negative viewpoints on this technology have something to hide, and are often distructive to society.
Find out about those type of people by reading "overcoming ups and downs in life" also by L. Ron Hubbard. This will compliment the Tone Scale Booklet

This is a hands-on utility manual for anyone interested in people. It is a totally workable and useful booklet which, when applied to real people, in real life, with people we meet and come in contact with everyday, we are given a tool not only for understanding people's emotional behavior, but it allows us to interact powerfully with people and communicate with them in ways that make a difference. A must-read, and a must-apply easy-to-grasp manual of human relationships.

If you want the truth, here it is. Swallow hard, open your eyes, and look: this is how things work. These basics are very easy to read, and open up worlds of practical application for you to discover on your own. Make sure you do not go past any misunderstood words. Very simply, the data in this booklet came to light after hundreds of thousands of years or religion, philosophy, and science. It is not an add-on, but a resolution of questions and problems - do not treat it lightly.

I learned how to talk to an angry person. That sometimes comes in handy. It's common sense because it works and is natural. Try it.

This book was a excellent read and very informative and I would highly approve of it for a better understanding of what christ did for us being a sinful people

If you want your soul enriched, your mind renewed, and your heart impassioned, read the book.

Go figure, a theology that you won't want to put down! - This vital topic (the atonement) is explained in a thoroughly Biblical and readable way. - I'm thankful to the authors for their fidelity and attention to the Biblical texts without getting lost in the controversial areas of the atonement. Reading this book reminded me how we so need to major in the vast riches of what can be clearly understood. I was humbled; enriched; encouraged; and sure of my faith after reading and studying this book.

In The Great Exchange, Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington show us what the apostles taught in scripture about the atonement, patterning their work after George Smeaton's The Apostles Docrine of the Atonement, a classic study written more than 130 years ago. There are two sections in this book: a first section summing up the teaching of the apostles on Christ's atonement and placing this teaching in it's historical context; and the second--the bulk of the book--examining the apostle-authored texts dealing with Christ's atonement, moving from Acts through Revelation.

The authors are firmly convinced that the message of the cross is central to true faith.You can't read more than a few pages of The Great Exchange and not clue into how much these two gentlemen cherish the doctrine of the atonement. Over and over, page after page, they show us from numerous texts that the apostles are teaching us a precious truth:"..[T]he Great Exchange that results from the death of the perfect sacrifice is a twofold substitution: the charging of the believer's sin to Christ results in God's forgiveness, and the crediting of Christ's righteousness to the believer results in his justification."

There you have it--the great exchange of Christ's atonement. If you desire to better understand and appreciate this great exchange--and we all should, shouldn't we?--this book is the right place to start. It's good theology coupled with writing that anyone can understand. I plan to add it to my short list of theology books for the lay person, but it would be well-suited for any pastor or teacher, too.

I have just a few very small complaints, too small to mention were this an ordinary book. But it's not ordinary; it ought to be a classic based on the depth of content. It's that depth of content that makes some of the awkward phrasing, like "equally as", for instance, worthy of mention. There are also a few factual errors that I found as I read and studied along. The text says, for example, that the phrase "in him" occurs twice in 2 Corinthians 5:21 and it's only there once. (It occurs occurs once more in verse 19, and this is probably the second occurrence intended.)

In addition, there are more than a few places where statements are made that are undoubtedly correct, but that I'd like to see defended more explicitly. Let me show you what I mean. The book states, "As God, and as co-maker of the law, Christ was under no obligation on his own account to be under the law or to obey the law, and, as a result, he is capable of giving his voluntary obedience away." I don't disagree, but I couldn't give the reasons why this statement is right. I wish the authors had given the reasoning behind this statement and several others like it, perhaps not in the text, but in endnotes or appendices.

I do hope The Great Exchange becomes a classic, because it is a wonderful tool for expanding the reader's understanding of Christ's work and increasing their love for Christ himself. I highly recommend it, and if enough of you buy it, maybe they'll take care of my quibbles in the second edition.

I have been a fan of Jerry Bridges for several years. I was first introduced to Bridges when I picked up 'Transforming Grace'--a warm and refreshing treatment of the grace of God and how we can practically apply the liberating truth of God's grace to our daily lives. Then I read The 'Pursuit of Holiness,' followed by 'Discipline of Grace' and then The 'Gospel for Real Life.' Needless to say, I quickly learned that Jerry Bridges is not only doctrinally in-tune with the truths of the gospel; he is relentlessly passionate about the gospel. When I heard that Bridges was teaming up with a close friend (Bevington) to write a thorough and accessible treatment of Christ's atonement, I was excited to devour the truths I knew would be clearly and practically expounded in their work. I was not disappointed.

'The Great Exchange' is, in simple terms, a book about the gospel. More specifically, it is a book that explains what the Bible teaches about Christ's substitutionary atonement, and how this atonement makes us right with God. The theme verse of the book is II Corinthians 5:21, "For our sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." In chapter after chapter, Bridges and Bevington explain, from from many Old and New Testament passages, what it means that Christ became sin on our behalf so that we could become the righteousness of God. In a word it means that Christ, the sinless one, was charged with our sin, while we, in the Great Exchange, received Christ's perfect righteousness.

Bridges and Bevington also focus on the representative life of Christ, explaining that the fullness of Christ's atonement not only happened at the cross; it was occurring over the course of his whole life, while Christ was walking in perfect obedience to God's law on our behalf. Christ was our substitute, not only in his death, but also during his life--he lived a perfectly righteous life in our place and died the death we deserved. As a result, God can now justify those who trust in Christ because he credits Christ's righteousness to them, while transferring all their guilt to Christ; a guilt that has been fully paid for at the cross. God remains just and we receive pardon from sin and perfect righteousness.

Bridges and Bevington also emphasize the truth that the work of Christ's atonement is not a work that happens on the inside of us (although it is the grounds for God's work on our hearts), it is an external, finished, objective, historical work that has already fulfilled the law of God in our place. There is no work left to do; that is why faith is the instrument by which we receive the benefits of this great atonement.

In the latter two-thirds of the book, Bridges and Bevington take the reader through every major passage in the New Testament that speaks of Christ's work of representation and atonement, mining each text for precious truth. Major passages from the book of Acts, all of Paul's epistles (excluding Philemon), Hebrews, I Peter, I John and Revelation are examined and proclaimed. The final product is a Scripture saturated exposition of Christ's work for our salvation (there are over 1000 Scripture references in the book, and only five references from other sources). Well-written and throughly grounded in Scripture, this book is one that deserves to be read and reread.

I know how easy it is to be tempted to think that we, at some point in the Christian life, get beyond the gospel. When I oblige this temptation, I am usually led into paths of self-righteousness and spiritual frustration. On the other hand, when my mind is enraptured by the fullness of Christ's work on my behalf, I find what Christ calls, "rest for [our] souls" (Matthew 11:29) and power for obedience. For these and other blessings, I recommend this book to you.

"Kisses From a Distance" was recommended by a friend and I'm thankful to her for that! It's a very readable memoir, touched with humor and filled with first-hand stories handed down to Raff Ellis. His narrative flows easily and the photos add much interest. I drew many connections to my own Irish great-grandparents' experience. They immigrated to NYC during the Irish Potato Famine. I just wish I had the treasure trove of letters and photos that Raff has. They are priceless. All Americans are descended from immigrants, so we can all identify with "Kisses From a Distance," no matter our ancestors' ethnicity. Kudos to Raff for this labor of love.

I so much enjoyed this book so much I found myself slowing down towards the last pages because I didn't want it to end! Someone recently said facts are numbers, dates, and events . . . the "story" is something else altogether. As a first born child of immigrant parents, it brought my own family history to life while helping me to fill in many gaps. "Kisses From a Distance" is filled with many interesting historical facts . . . but the author's true gift is his ability to bring the past to life in an objective and hearfelt way as he tells his family's "story!" Liked it so much bought several copies to give to others.

Raff Ellis's story of his family's immigration experiences can be read as if it is an engrossing novel in today's market of published written works. Combining his miraculous discovery after the death of his mother, of a cache of over 200 letters, extensive research and visits to Lebanon, the author is able to tell in narrative form the family's trials and tribulations. I found myself continually referring to the family trees to keep track of all of its members and their interactions.

The highlight of the story for me was in the fact that I discovered more about one of Raff's brothers, Al, (like how he got his name) with whom I worked for 5 years in our parish in Andover, MA. This past June I also visited him in South Africa where he is pastor of a mother parish with three "outstation" Zulu parishes. I came to realize that we all have family and personal backgrounds that make us who we are. Don't miss this fascinating tale of one family that journeyed to America, becoming a part of the whole of our nation of immigrants. You won't be able to put it down. The story will be circulating in Andover and wherever else it finds its way. Pass it on, for that is what storytelling is all about!

I teach a course, Writing Your Memoirs, in which I not only encourage and instruct students in writing their own stories, but to read the stories of others. I read a lot of published memoirs---in fact, it is one of my favorite genres---and provide my students with bibliographies of Recommended Reading.

Raff Ellis' "Kisses from a Distance," the life stories of his immigrant parents who came to America from Lebanon, is a book I'm definitely adding it to my Recommended Reading list. It's a good story, very readable. It is obviously a long labor of love, good writing, and much research.

Especially interesting is the way this author interweaves the past, the lives of his parents, and the present, his commentary on the research, talking with relatives and others in Lebanon who knew his parents. I hope he will now write of his childhood growing up Lebanese-American, and bring the story up to the present.

I highly recommend "Kisses from a Distance" to everybody who likes to read memoirs, is interested in the immigrant experience, and who appreciates history and good research.

Raff Ellis has done an incredible job of chronicling the struggles, courage and dreams of immigrants coming to America in the early 20th century.
After discovering numerous letters written to and from his mom he was able to put together this historical and fascinating sequence of events that led to his fated life as an American. His eloquent writing style makes this story interesting, enjoyable and a great lesson in American history.
This is a must read for anyone, but especially for those who've had family members migrate to America from foreign lands.

Lungbarrow: The last of Virgin's New Adventures to feature the seventh Doctor that is perhaps the rarest Doctor Who novel ever and deservedly so! Lungbarrow is an epic conclusion not only to the New Adventures of the 90's but to the seventh Doctor era in general. It is an epic journey into the question at the heart of the series: just who is the Doctor?

Like Marc Platt's TV story Ghost Light which was an alien invasion story wrapped up in a ghost story, Lungbarrow is a "who is the Doctor really?" wrapped up in a murder mystery / conspiracy thriller. In fact Ghost Light evolved from what would have been the TV version of this story which is interesting to note because of some of the similarities between the two. Both stories find a central character (Ace in Ghost Light, the Doctor here) to a house that hides of the darker aspects of their past. Here though the Doctor is accused of not only causing the house of Lungbarrow to fall into chaos but accused of killing its leader as well in his first incarnation (the Hartnell one). While it is a murder mystery with the Doctor and his companion Chris seeking to prove the Doctor's innocence, there is also a conspiracy story unfolding on Gallifrey with Romama, Leela, and Ace as the Celestial Intervention Agency puts some plans into motion of their own which also include the Doctor's past. Yet while all this is going on there is a running question throughout: who is Doctor and where did he really come from? By the end of the novel there are plenty of answers and a few more questions raised as well. It's a complex story that means that unless you have a very good knowledge of the series (or a good reference work like Ahistory: An Unauthorized History of the Doctor Who Universe (Second Edition) near by) you may get a little lost But don't let that deter you.

Platt seamlessly, and epically, brings together elements from the entire history of the series up to that point. There are appearances or references to companions from throughout the New Adventures run plus plenty of references to the books and TV stories as well. Here we finally get to see the background of the first Doctor's "granddaughter" Susan and discover how she fits into the entire equation of the series as well. Platt is dead on in his characterization of each of the TV characters which helps to make Lungbarrow one of the truest to screen Doctor Who novels of all time.

One of the true highlights of Lungbarrow is Platt also gives some much needed back story to the Time Lords, their home world Gallifrey and to the Doctor himself. Platt takes back to the founding of Time Lord society to reveal few surprises. We get to see the much fabled "dark times" of Gallifrey's past and finally meet the mysterious co-founder of Time Lord society known simply as the Other. The Other in fact has a strong connection to the Doctor's past which is only revealed as the novel is coming to its climax in one of the best pieces of Doctor Who writing ever. Plus Lungbarrow makes a nice intro for the 1996 TV movie as well making this the last true story for the seventh Doctor. While it is loaded with enough connately references to make any new fan scratch their heads this is novel that any serious Doctor Who fan should enjoy

It is the broad range of things brought together that makes Lungbarrow is the true epic that it is. It is the culmination of the (nearly) first thirty-fve years of the series in all its forms. With its answers to some of the show's fundamental questions, to the reappearance of old characters, to the "dark times", the revealing of the Other and the lead in into the TV movie Lungbarrow covers a lot of ground and covers it brilliantly. Lungbarrow is an epic story that only a handful of other Doctor Who stories can come close to matching its scope, characters, and (for lack of a better word) brilliantness.

Sadly it is (and almost certainly will remain) out of print, a hard copy of this will cost you a chunk of money. Is it worth that chunk of your money? Well worth the price of buying it in my opinion because if you love the series then this is a must-have.

Back in the day (and by "day" I mean late eighties) a fellow in charge of Doctor Who the TV show, Andrew Cartmel, came up with an idea of eventually revealing more of the Doctor's past. The last two seasons had spent a lot of time showing that the Doctor was quite a bit more mysterious than he had seemed at first glance and this "Masterplan", as it were, was going to slowly peel back the layers and show us some of this. But then the show got cancelled and those who had heard of this plan couldn't see the ultimate results of it until almost eight years later, when this book came out. And whoa, did it reveal. If you were a regular viewer of the show or buy the DVDs, you may remember a tale called "Ghost Light". Remember how awfully complicated and dense that one was, and how you felt stupid upon watching it because you were pretty sure ninety percent of it had gone over your head? Yeah, this is written by the same guy. Apparently the initial plans were that this was going to be an episode in the last season (replaced with "Ghost Light"), although for the life of me I cannot see how they could have made this into a TV story with the kind of budget they had at the time. It would have looked terrible, probably. However, the nice thing about the print medium is that the imagination needs no budget and thus the results are near-glorious. There's two things going on in this book but only one of them is really important, the secondary plot about the CIA (not the Earth one, bear with me) and the High Council fighting it out yet again really only exists to give the other characters something to do in between revelations. The meat of the story resides in Lungbarrow. The TARDIS drops the Doctor back at his old house, which doesn't seem to really exist anymore, and we meet his Cousins, who have been festering in there for nigh on six hundred years, waiting for him to come back. Needless to say, things get a bit awkward. The concepts that Platt sketches out here are nothing short of fascinating, he weaves bits of Gallifreyean history, myths and whatever else he can grab into the mix and what you get is this heady concoction. The House of Lungbarrow becomes a character in the novel, the Cousins scrambling around underneath it are pathetic and contemptable, pitiful and mad, a dozen different things. His characterization are fantastic, he makes everything readable and yet alien at the same time, the Doctor switching between caught off-guard and in masterful control of the situation. In it, we're treated to scenes of a young Doctor, his leaving of Gallifrey, and flashbacks to the beginning of Gallifrey's history, with glimpses of Rassilon and the mysterious Other, who is connected to the events more than you'd think. The ideas are fascinating enough that you don't want those portions of the book to end, on some level it's like they condensed Gorminghast down to three hundred pages. There's a mystery afoot and the Doctor solves it but at the same time the Big Mystery (Who is the Doctor?) is left with pieces still uncovered, so we're not told the whole story. But what are told tells us more than anything we've seen before and it was definitely worth the wait. You don't even realize how huge the cast is, so skillfully does Platt juggle them. Sadly, this is the last Seventh Doctor novel (he regenerated in the TV movie the year before) and nearly the last New Adventure before the BBC took over. Though, to be honest, I'm not sure where else Virgin could have gone from here, this seems both a natural extension and a natural conclusion to everything they had been working towards. An essential story for fans, I left it sitting on a shelf for ten years before I read it but I'm certainly glad I got to it. Good luck finding it though, since it went out of print, although I think the BBC did put it online. The New Adventures at their best.

Well it's about time the mystery of The Other has been revealed. A plot thread set up in the tv series in Rememberance of the Daleks. Actualy you had to read the Target novel of Rememberance to catch all the Gallifrey flashbacks with Rassilon, Omega and the Other.
It's always nice to see Gallifrey in the Doctor Who books. With no finacial restraints, writers can pretty much make what they want as far as the Doctor's homeworld goes.
Seeing the almost undefeatable Seventh Doctor cower before his family was different. Knowing finally that our favorite Time Lord comes from somewhere is a nice refreshing character development.
The character of President Ramona has come a rather long way since his appearance in Happy Endings. Here we see that it is the Gallifreyan Politico that corrupts a person.
I wasn't a big fan of Marc Platt's refrence that Leela and Andred may be the Doctor's parents. -bleh-
Seeing Gallifrey's past and the Doctor's connection was also an interesting spin and hearing the First Doctor reference Gallifrey as a planet full of Valeyards and Vampires was a catching phrase.
Also finally seeing as a fan, The Caretmel Masterplan come full circle, it may have well have been a good thing that the Fox movie hit when it did and the rights revoked. I think as far as the Seventh Doctor goes with Virgin, his life had been played out. Even Lungbarrow establishes he is due for a regeneration. However I always wondered where the series would have gone without the TV movie.
The Dying Days was proof that they could have taken the Eighth Doctor many, many miles beyond the scope of Seventh Doctor stories. But without the movie I think the New Adventures would have died and vanished...
I agree with some of the other reviews here, "Farewell Seventh Doctor", you will be missed. Doctor Who is dead... Long live Doctor Who!

I really, really loved this book. I never really got on with the NAs when they were being produced [but then I was about 7 when they started so forgive me]. Recently though [well over the past year or so] I have been tracking them down and enjoying almost all of them.

This book is a very good end to the NA series, and although the links to the TV movie seem a bit contrived, they work better than a lot of the series' more fragile inter-book links. At times it's difficult to tell whether what you're reading is really good, imaginate metaphoric prose, or actual occurances; once you get the hang of Platt's style though the book is greatly entertaining. It's true that not a lot actually happens [what does, though, is big] but the book is mostly concentrated on exploration of character - the Doctor's especially - and there are some interesting turns. The Cousins are all well crafted and really stick [I found myself fighting tears when Innocet "folds her thoughts away in the dark"], and some moments are truly surprising.

the connections to Ghost Light are obvious, given that Lungbarrow was the script they felt gave too much away for season 26 of the TV series, turning into Ghost Light instead. It's also really interesting to compare what happens in the book with what would have happened on TV - check out the author's commentary on the BBC Doctor Who website, in the E-Book section. Also, if you can't get hold of a hard copy, the whole book is available from this e-book section, complete with a few revised/extended/additional scenes.

This is the third time I've read LUNGBARROW, and I think it's the first time that I've actually understood most of it. Yes, this is one of the most complicated, detailed and multi-layered books that the New Adventures produced, but ultimately one of the most rewarding. The more one thinks about it, the more there is to appreciate. It's remembered now mostly for the sections set during the Old Time on the Doctor's home planet of Gallifrey and for the return of the Doctor to his ancestral seat, the House of Lungbarrow in the Southern Mountains of Gallifrey (after a mere six hundred seventy-three year absence). Platt continues on with the story that began life in the so-called Cartmel Masterplan and which was further fleshed out in Platt's own TIME'S CRUCIBLE. But LUNGBARROW is far superior to that previous NA. On a second (or third or fourth) reading, we already know what the great "revelations" will be, so we can focus more on how we arrive at them. And that's the most interesting part of this journey.

First, as for answering all of the questions about Who the Doctor is... In that respect, all the important speeches go to Leela, who simply argues that the Doctor is a mystery, full stop. Of course, the novel itself does go a little farther than that. We see some critical moments in the Doctor's life before he initially left Gallifrey. But the details are sketchy. Some things we see, other things are left to our imagination. The audience is constantly kept a layer away from the action. The most important questions are merely suggested, and not answered. Why does the Doctor do this? Why does he pick one course of action and not another? What is his motivation? We never get anything like a full picture, which leaves the Doctor with a few secrets still intact. The book sits comfortably, balancing between tying up some loose ends from the past, while offering some hints about what will be coming up in the Doctor's future (namely the Paul McGann movie which had aired about a year before the publication of this novel and contained revelations of its own). To be honest, on paper, I'm not thrilled about some of the answers Platt provides ("Grandfather indeed! I've never seen you before in my life!" Ttpppth!). But I can't fault the book for its imagination or its scope. It's to the book's credit that the things that should have annoyed the daylights out of me didn't really bother me much at all.

And now that I've addressed the point that most discussion concerning this book revolves around I'm going to move on to more interesting topics. Don't get me wrong; the tantalizing "secrets" about the Doctor, the Other and their history are all very interesting, but what I take from this book is mostly its range of storytelling, its superb setting, and its memorable characters. The Doctor's cousins are fascinating. Most Time Lords have forty-four cousins, but we only really encounter six of them, which makes the book much easier to follow than it would have been otherwise.

In fact, I'm having difficulty separating the characters from their setting in my mind. I cannot imagine the House of Lungbarrow without the cousins, and the cousins themselves simply wouldn't work without the overarching support of the House. I'm not quite sure whether to describe the House as another character, or the characters as parts of the House. I suppose I'll have to be boring at this junction and just say that it's a bit of both. Certainly they play off each other; the stranger the cousins appear, the more sinister the house becomes.

Platt's characterization is a gift. Not only for his own creations, but also for the established characters that he's writing for. His Leela is deadly accurate, taking what was a fairly hokey idea (Leela choosing to stay behind with Bland Character #3) and actually exploring it in an interesting way. At times, the number of previous characters he's writing for can feel as though it's about to get out of hand. But Platt manages the Doctor, Chris, Ace/ Dorothee, Romana, Andred and two K9s (plus a few Special Guest Villains) in style, although poor Chris spends his last story as a regular having someone else's dreams and flashbacks. No one new to Doctor Who would be able to make heads or tails out of any of this, but then no one new to Doctor Who has any business starting here.

I get the feeling that world-building is something that Platt enjoys doing in his fiction. He's certainly very good at it. The passages involving the workings of the Houses, the Looms, the Gallifreyan rituals, and so on are completely engrossing. Although he's populating Gallifrey with different item, he's using a similar method to the great Robert Holmes, who had an uncanny ability to build up an entire universe by tossing out a few details, painting in some specifics while leaving others to the imagination. It's a rare talent -- one that has served both of these writers well. Platt's prose drew me in utterly, driving up the tension with each passing page, while juggling several items at once while building a fascinating world, and intriguing people.

For me, a good rule of thumb is that if I needed a long time to finish a novel, then it generally means that I was bored or I plain loathed it. But I took my time with this reading of LUNGBARROW, happy to drink in the atmosphere and deliberate over the details. I didn't feel a need to read quickly, because I was in no hurry to finish. I knew what questions would be asked, I knew what answers would be offered. I had much more fun stopping to smell the roses. Good-bye, Seventh Doctor; you'll be missed.

This book is Great. It involves two characters by the name of Lexie and Casey. The suspense is killing. It might Force you to read the next chapter. John Prophet also did anexcellent job describing whatever he was describing with great detail. He also has a whole series of books that you can read once you've read this one. I know i want to read more.

The book "Mystery at Salt Marsh Bridge: A Casey Miller Mystery (Casey Miller Mysteries)" by John Prophet is a great book. The suspense and all of the surprises with Casey and Lexie's findings. The whole idea with flashbacks and foreshadowing is great! The details in this book are perfect. John Profit does a wonderfull job with describing all of the places and settings in the mystery. I also can connect with the relationship between Lexie and Casey; something that I love. Casey and Lexie at first want nothing to do wtih eachother and, by the end of the novel, they cant stand being apart. I'm sure all teenagers can connect. Well, I DEFINITELY recmmend this book to anyone who likes suspense novels and mysteries.

-- Karissa Oliveira

This is one of the best books I've ever read in my life. It is one of those books that I never want to put down and keep reading until I fall asleep at night. John Prophet is an excellent author that keeps you on your toes as you read each chapter. With all the excitement throughout each chapter it makes you feel like you're actually there watching everything happen. I would recommend this book to anybody who enjoys reading adventures and mysteries or to anybody that just likes to read! Enjoy.

Don't miss this mystery book - it's going to put both Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys out of business. My seventh graders couldn't put it down, and many of them, previous R.L.Stine only readers, went on to read the whole series. Even those avid Dan Brown readers dove into the adventures of Casey and Lexie and tried to figure out one turn after another of thier mysterious adventures ... then they'd write to John and make suggestions for other books. You can contact the author through his website, too: www.authorsden.com/johnprophet This is a great book and the first in a fantastic series. Read it, have fun with it - we even made game boards and played it!

This is a book I really enjoyed and I couldn't put it down. Casey and Lexie try to solve a hundred year old mystery. While they try to solve it the janitor from the library, Jake Colby, tries to get in there way so they can't solve the mystery and even sends them a life threatining note. Casey also promised a friend in the town he used to live that he would never tell anyone an important secret that they kept between thenselves about the death of another boy.

Bailey is the kind of friend every woman would love to have. She is full of spunk and vinegar and she has high morals. She's not easily intimidated and things that would have us running for cover only intrigues her into sticking her neck in further to investigate. I understand this is the first of a series and I am anxiously awaiting the release of the next book. Highly recommended. The perfect book for a lazy afternoon, whether at the beach or curled up next to a roaring fireplace.Ricochet

Escape to a world of wealthy people with hired help, interesting lives, and intertwining stories.

The beauty of this book is the constant twists and turns that keep you guessing. I'm famous for figuring out what's going to happen next, but this book stumped me all the way to the last page. A perfect mix of romance and mystery keeps me anxiously waiting for the next book in the series.

From the first page of Kimmell's new mystery, any animal lover is captivated, caught up in the warmth, humor and charm of the writer's delightful portrayal of the cat in the story. Bailey Ferrol has "a long running disagreement with her cat Eddy over the ownership of some bunny slippers." Eddy removes various parts and displays them in his bed from time to time to highlight his prowess as a mighty hunter. Kimmell's humorous and compassionate style reminds me of the joy I found in the early Cat Who .... mysteries by Braun.
Her depth of character portrayal extends to a multitude of warm and lovable human inhabitants of David's Bridge and its surrounds. Located in the beautiful horse country of the Shenandoah valley of Virginia, the story moves smoothly and energetically through many small mysteries with never a dull moment.
Bailey starts out with the assignment of a simple background check of three potential employees for a position at a prestigious horse farm. Threats against Bailey come early but the gutsy lady really shows her stuff when Eddy is threatened. Older mysteries of the theft of jewelry and some horses come to light as Bailey probes into the background of some of the candidates. Then a violent storm rolls through the little valley town exposing human bones of a man who has been missing for nine years.
This true cozy mystery contains no overt violence, and will keep you turning pages till the end. I can't wait for the next installment in this delightful series.

Pam did a great job of introducing her characters and the town of David's Bridge. I hope this is the beginning of a long series as I loved this one. Pam, work hard on getting the next one out, I can't wait to see which character is explored next!

I think Bailey Ferrol is great and Kyle is a hunk! Keep them coming Pam, I want every one that you write.

Sherri

First in a new mystery series starring private investigator Bailey Ferrol, the Mystery of David's Bridge is a charming read, well suited to an afternoon curled on a porch swing accompanied by a tall glass of cool, southern sweet tea. And cake. Readers will delight in the hometown feel of the book's pacing and long for the simple life, with a few mysteries thrown in, such as that in the much-loved Mayberry RFD scenarios. Only instead of the Carolina's, David's Bridge is a small town in Virginia; and as in all small towns, its residents, their individual habits, hobbies and quirks define the character of the place. David's Bridge is no exception.

Bailey has inherited her father's investigating business, as well as the law enforcement relationships he built. As her father's daughter, Bailey not only continues to fill her father's shoes, but adds a feminine flair as well. Single, smart and savvy, this heroine is ripe for romance and intrigue-but she also enjoys hot cocoa and spending time with her cat, Eddy, when he's not destroying her favorite bunny slippers.

The "mystery" of David's Bridge is multi-layered, beginning with a simple set of background checks on candidates for Jaqueline Ranier's personal assistant. Ranier, along with her husband, owns Triple Oaks, a wealthy horse farm.

A bigger mystery is uncovered, though, after torrential rainfalls reveal the bones of a long-missing womanizer whose favorite prey were the women of the area estates. How do background checks on prospective employees tie in with an unsolved murder? This question keeps the pages turning in David's Bridge.

The candidates seem simple, at first. Grace, an 18-year-old local airhead with no experience, except in the field of man shopping; Tammy, a shy but talented seamstress and typist, and a horse lover to boot; and Valerie, presently employed as a personal secretary at another large horse farm near Charlottesville.

As Bailey begins her investigation, unusual facts about each candidate become known and pique her interest to go a step further and find out the underlying motivation of each of the applicants. Bailey becomes curious, careful..., and conniving when a series of hang-up calls, a misspelled warning note and a threatening photo of Eddie the Cat follow one another early in the investigations.

Pros: Interesting mysteries and a well-thought out twist tying them together. Characters are believable and interesting.

Cons: Dialogue is a bit overdone (common in first novels) and unnecessary information slows the pace of the story. The back cover blurb should have guided the book's plotline-the touted mystery is not introduced until two-thirds of the way through. A flip-flop of the plot line could easily solve this problem.

Recommendation: If you like quaint, hometown intrigue, this is the book for you, and more will follow. If you like fast-paced, sophisticated intrigue along the lines of Grisham and Sanford, this is not your cup of tea - but give it a try anyway, for a change of pace.

Bottom line: This is an author to watch as she works out the kinks in plot development and writing style. With a few minor touch-ups, such as switching around the plot line and tightening the dialogue and narrative, The Mystery of David's Bridge is a more than a worthwhile read. It is a jewel to treasure and take out to rediscover time and again. I predict the next book in the series will be faster moving as the author has introduced the backstory in this first of the series. I will be reading the next book to follow Bailey Ferrol's escapades.

Going to an engineering school, we deal strickly with SI units. For the most part the book deals with them too. But often, it seems like the problems that would be good for me to try, are in inchs and mils and lbs and all the imperical crap.

Now i only gave it 1 star less. Considering most of the engineering world laughs at imperical crap, which i dont blame them.

Besides for that, the rest of the book is pretty good. The lack of explanations could be worked on. (not in the problems, but in the information prior to the questions). I luckily took a physics on electricity before i got this. Which helped me alot, especially when dealing with OhmMeters.


I would by this book if you want to great in your EE classes. But you may want to have someone who can explain some things. Or just do some demensional analysis to figure out why things are the way they are. And resistance and others like that will make sense.

If your having trouble with an EE Intro class - this is a good book to get

Great explanations and fully worked out problems makes it a great study aid

I initially picked up this book to do remediation on my first circuit analysis course, and have continued to use it through the second course. I call the Shaum Series my "secret weapon" for doing well in EE classes (and physics too, actually). The few pages of exposition at the beginning of each chapter are clear, concise, and mostly complete (Electric Circuits by Nahvi is more rigorous), and the problems, half with detailed solutions and half with just answers, are on-topic, perfectly-tailored, and numerous.

If you are taking circuit analysis courses, EE or not, you would be a fool to not have this book in your bag.

This is an excellent supplement for electrical technology and electrical engineering students taking a first course on circuit analysis. It is a particularly good companion to Boylestad's "Introductory Circuit Analysis", which is a standard circuit analysis text that has insufficient examples on several subjects. This outline starts with the analysis of DC resistive circuits, goes on to AC circuits, and also covers power circuits, transformers, and op-amps. There is a good chapter on complex numbers and phasors, an understanding of which is essential for the study of circuit analysis. There is no need of differential or integral calculus although the book uses derivatives in the chapters on capicitors, inductors, and transformers as needed for voltage-current relations. Even though there is not one integral shown in the book, the outline is still useful to engineers since circuit analysis courses mainly use only algebra.
This book also presents necessary tools such as PSPICE, the computer circuit analysis and simulation program for PC's. SPICE is the standard for analog circuit simulation across the electronics industry, and knowledge of its syntax is essential. The outline also covers the use of advanced scientific calculators in the context of solving actual problems.
Besides being a good source of examples and solved problems, this outline does a pretty good job of outlining the basic theory of circuit analysis. I highly recommend it.

Pritchett's novel is a touching and brilliant work of art. Her evocation of place and of the human relationship to the landscape is wonderful.

John Gorka sings, "Life is full of disappointment, yes and I am full of life." This could be Libby's life he sings about.

Sky Bridge is set in Eastern Colorado, and I bought it because I like to support local authors. This book is literally an award-winner, though, and I have to say that having read it, I can see why. Gritty, romantic without being sentimental, well-characterized, and gripping. Laura Pritchett has a facility with words - she uses just enough and wastes none. She has met my rough-around-the-edges neighbor and made her Libby's mom. She has met the heartbroken man, the lonely hippie, the good-hearted rancher, and she's brought them all to life in this book. No one is a stereotype, and we like all of them. Well, most of them.

How funny was it that the author showed up in my daughter's classroom on Back-to-school night, and then again when I was walking with friends in my rural neighborhood. It IS a small world, and this IS a book worth reading!

I taught this book in a 20th Century Fiction class, and the students loved it. I've also know book clubs who've enjoyed reading it. It's one of those rare books that does it all --appeals to young and old readers, provokes great discussion (about immigration, love, parenting, and morality), while being a compelling read. The characters are original, the story is intriguing, and the landscape is extremely well depicted --not just by description, but by how it shapes people. The most impressive thing about Ms. Pritchett's writing, though, is her ability to put into words thoughts and feelings that seemed ineffable. In reading this book, you'll discover a deep human connection, and realize we're not as alone or as far apart as we sometimes think.

I first read this beautiful book when it came out a couple years ago, and the vivid characters and landscape have stayed with me. Pritchett has a gift for creating characters you care about deeply-- intimate portraits of people who are somehow tough and tender at once, painted with raw, honest strokes. I love the narrator's, Libby's, voice, which is poetic and real and always striving to get under the surface to express how things really feel. A memorable read by a talented writer.

This is a book about LOVE: what it is - and what it isn't. It's about sex: how it can make you laugh - or cry; can fill you up with joy - or pain. And then the consequences of all of that: babies, children, human beings, citizenship ....
Sky Bridge is also about the consequences of abuse and oppression: just how hard living is for some people, in this case persons on the plains of Eastern Colorado in modern times, be you legal or illegal, American or Mexican.
Sky Bridge is about all those things told through the ruminations and conversations of a twenty-something female, Libby, who believes she is "stupid and ugly." Libby thinks this is so because her mother, Kay, has drilled that into her. Quite obviously, though, she isn't. Libby is remarkably aware, sentient, and intelligent. She is also loved by many: her boyfriend (who she rejects); her boss (who she betrays); her activist neighbor; her co-worker; her mother's boss, and her humanitarian friend. Seemingly, this doesn't make sense, but that is author Laura Pritchett's brilliance - she portrays the human condition as it is: irrational and confused.
As loved and admired as Libby is she feels isolated and alone, because those closest to her: mother, sister, best friend, all abandon her in different ways.
Pritchett writes beautifully, some scenes are simply gripping. And now, with this "illegal immigration" issue being put forth by politicians - this book is especially timely and a must read!

I read the entire book from cover to cover and viewed the CD the first night I purchased it. Have you ever read a book that you couldn't put down because it held your interest? Surviving the Fitness Game is an awesome book that gives inspiration from a true life story. The fitness CD is easy to follow with exercises that can be done by both young and seniors.

Survivor Amazon Contestant turned Author JoAnna Ward combines user-friendly fitness and nutrition tips with daily devotions. Her simple, yet effective guidelines help those seeking ways to incorporate spirituality with caring for the body-temple. Thank God for JoAnna's insite and creativity!

Surviving the Fitness Game is the key to creating a healthy body from the inside out. Joanna Ward not only teaches key excercises to loose body fat and tone muscle, but she teaches us about our spirituality and its connection to our health.

This book is excellent for everyone, from the gym fanatic (like myself) to the gymphobe (like my mother), looking to be fit and healthy. Start working out today, buy the book it's a MUST!

Surviving the Fitness Game provides the motivation needed to get going and take great care of the body God blessed us with! We all know what we should be doing, but lack the motivation to actually get up and do it. The daily devotionals help put things in proper perspective, reminding us to step up the program towards physical and spiritual health!

Surviving the Fitness Game is a practical and realistic guide to losing not only physical weight, but emotional and psychological weight as well. Thanks to the concepts outlined in the devotional I have gained a closer relationship with God, a brighter outlook after the demise of my 15 year marriage and I feel better and look better than I have in years! The first step is to take the first step and positive results will follow. I recommend this book for anyone in need of losing any type of negative weight in their life.