Buck Books

What a wonderful book! My family loves being outdoors and watching wildlife; and this book tells a lovely story about a little duckling on the river and all the other animals he is seeing his first time out on the river. The photography is gorgeous and educational. It's better than an artist's rendering because you're seeing the real thing. My kids, my husband and I love the story and the pictures. This book has become the most frequently asked for story in our household. I highly recommend this book for young and old alike.

This is an excellent book to educate your child on wildlife and mother nature! The photography is wonderful and should excite us all to see her wonderful creatures both large and small. My nephews love it and ask to have it read to them time and time again!

This is a wonderful story with beautiful photos!! I have 2 small boys that love this story and ask me to read it over and over again. It keeps the young reader guessing about what is happening in the forest!! I highly recommend this book to everyone!

"A Negro League Scrapbook" paired with Sharon Robinson's "Safe at Home" would make a great gift for boys ages 10 - 16. Add a baseball glove and other gear and you are sure to score a home run with your loved one!
The history in "Scrapbook" should be taught to our boys at school or in church -- please don't let this history die! "Safe at Home" has great insight into the thought processes of boys dealing with death, moving, peer pressure, bullies, teamwork, hard work, and perseverance. This would also be a great gift for a new teacher looking for high quality history and / or sports books. Enjoy!

In 1998, my family visited the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. It was an unforgettable experience. To create this book, I paired a poetic tribute to the Negro Leagues with statistics, anecdotes, player profiles, and historic images of baseball players, teams and memorabilia. The result is a virtual museum of the Negro League's heyday during the Jim Crow era. Back then, African-Americans were treated as second-class citizens, but these black ball players were second to none. And their game was first class. The most rewarding part of researching this project was talking with baseball legend Buck O'Neil, who graciously provided the book's foreword. The book appeals to baseball fans and history buffs of all ages.

With the saturation of sports coverage today, great teams & players are as disposable as the paper boxes for a fast-food meal. That is what makes A Negro League Scrapbook so important for young people.

With a forward by the great Buck O'Neil, the book takes the reader through the pre-NLB era to 1947, when Jackie Robinson donned the Brooklyn Dodgers uniform and desegregated Major League Baseball. The rich history of NLB includes no discrimination in the stands, on the field or in the front offices.

Through the use of archival photographs - in a layout like a family album - and creative, short cutlines/overviews, the book can be a fun study tool for family members. It is important that our future leaders in all walks of life learn about the past today to forge ahead with a clear understanding of the journey to tomorrow.

Young people will not learn about NLB - or the pre-NLB era - in most history classes. And the names Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell, Buck Leonard, Josh Gibson and - importantly - Buck O'Neil need to be understood in an overall historical sense as much as appreciating their achievements on the diamond.

Carole Boston Weatherford has touched all the bases - and home plate - with a book that adults and children can share and learn from for many years.

Only two types of people should read "Passing the Bucks": people who own businesses and people who will someday die.

It is Norman Pappas' factual yet enjoyable presentation of personal financial essentials that separates "Passing the Bucks" from similar books. Believe me, I've struggled to read many of them in an effort to understand how to keep Uncle Sam at bay and preserve the results of a lifetime of work for my heirs and business partners. Now I've finally got it!

The author is an obvious authority on wills and trusts, business succession, insurance, estate taxes, corporate benefits and personal financial planning.

However, it's the WAY he brings it all across that makes it all so digestible. You can almost see this book - and its chuckle-filled Q&A format - as a TV series with Jerry Seinfeld or Tim Allen as the baffled businessman (hey, they're just sitting around counting their money now anyway).

The ease of finally understanding the alphabet soup of trust options (GRIT, GRAT, CLAT, CLUT, QTIP) makes us want to put together a plan NOW to protect our assets. I never realized that my children might only see 27% of my IRA dollars! And who knew that it costs me $155 to make a gift of $100 while I'm alive...but $222 to give the same $100 in a will when I'm gone? I know now!

As Mr. Pappas says, we and our accountants and lawyers are too busy putting out the day-to-day brush fires to deal with the forest fire that's just over the horizon.

I now feel confident that the people I love will be the biggest beneficiaries - literally - of my having read "Passing the Bucks."

Norman Pappas has made good on the promise in his book's title; it really does help the reader understand the obstacles to passing wealth from one generation to the next - and how to go over, under, and around those roadblocks.

This is a solid, common sense, easily-read guideline for those who are wise enough to learn from others how to preserve what it took a lifetime to build.

In "Passing the Bucks", Mr Pappas, a highly successful life underwriter and financial planner provides the highly affluent with an epicurean feast of wealth preservation techniques that he has used in over twenty-five years of hands on experience. The book is divided into two sections. The first deals with the passing of business assets, the second with personal assets. While written in a voluble question and answer format, the book is also a compendium of wealth transfer ideas that can and should be saved for future reference. Mr Pappas states that estate planning is a perpetual process that cannot be done in one afternoon with a group of professional advisors. The issues are complex and unique to each individual and must be continually reevaluated in the face of changing personal situations and governmental regulations.

"Passin the Bucks", is not, and does not claim to be a substitute for professional advice. Instead it should be used by the individual to gain knowledge so that he/she can come to the table with his/her advisors armed with the knowledge to carry on an efficient and intelligent discourse. With a little time and effort this volume will provide the affluent individual with information needed to preserve assets that have been acquired over a lifetime. So long as the government, through odious tax policy, continues to destroy family bussinesses and conficates already taxed personal assets, people like Mr. Pappas will be a welcome savior.

CGJM@AOL.COM

I have rarely read a book that portrays the insights into the psyche of dream forged, loved and given up, as well as this book. And, the depiction of the patriot and his love of country is one that anyone will connect with.

This title is little-known these days; I don't believe it's currently in print. Such a shame: this is truly a deeply humane, quietly-touching masterpiece.

Pearl S. Buck's "The Patriot" came out in 1939. From the very first, the novel riveted me to the characters. Reading the book almost 70 years later, we of course have the historical perspective of Mao Tse Tung's communist revolution that came to rule China in 1947. The portrayal of Chiang Kai-shek who was eventually forced to Taiwan as a shrewd politician who takes over as a revolutionary only to oppose the communists was extremely interesting background. I also greatly appreciated Buck's examination of the difference between Japanese and Chinese culture. The romantic love story between I-wan and Tama created the sweetness in the book. [Before I discuss plot, those who would prefer not to see spoilers should stop at this point.]

The story begins as I-wan is a young adult. He is thrown into jail for reading revolutionary literature where he meets En-lan. Because I-wan's father is a wealthy banker, he is able to secure his own and En-lan's release. The backstory from En-lan of the Chinese prisons and the routine executions of young men for political reasons is chilling. I-wan becomes involved in the revolutionary movement as his older brother I-ko becomes involved in the fast life of gambling and women. The house maid or slave Peony is told about I-wan's politics. I-wan's political activities put him on a death list which results in his banishment to Japan, while I-ko must be exiled to Germany for stealing from the bank.

This sets up Part Two of the book where I-wan is taken to the house of one of his father's associates, Mr. Muraki, who gives him board & room and starts him off in their family business. Muraki's daughter Tama graduates university and is prepared to marry an unattractive General Seki, just as I-wan realizes he has fallen in love with her. Tama's older brother Akio who is very businesslike has refused his father's request of an arranged marriage and lives with his girlfriend. I-wan hopes that Tama will refuse to marry the old military man. War intervenes in China. Tama's brother Bungi serves and returns home a changed man. One drunken night, he reveals his secrets to I-wan. This also serves to open I-wan's eyes that the Japanese papers do not report objectively about what is happening in China. After Akio's suicide, Tama also makes it clear to her father that she will not marry General Seki. I-wan and Tama's marriage is arranged through the traditional channels and begrudgingly blessed by his family. Two sons, Jiro and Ganjiro soon are playing about I-wan's home. But increasing war rumors circulate. I-wan meets I-ko at the harbor in Japan. I-ko urges him to return home and fight for his country. This is one of the most interesting parts of the character I-wan who loves his wife and children, but regards his Chinese nationality as important. It leads to his decision to depart for China to fight the Japanese.

Part Three reunites I-wan with his school buddy En-lan and the now revolutionary Peony who married En-lan. They fight in the mountains as communists against Chaing Kai-shek. An agreement is reached that puts them all on the same side to fight the Japanese. Differences in war strategies come to the fore as the Chinese adopt a more traditional guerilla war. I-wan comes to appreciate the sense of order in Japan which results in less chaos and criminality. The novel concludes as Chaing Kai-shek informs I-wan that he had I-wan's brother I-ko executed for a criminal. We get hints of how I-wan will bring his family to China to live in his family's land in Western China.

This is the first novel I've read by Pearl S. Buck. Her command of story, character and the broad universal themes of war & peace, chaos & order, duty to country vs. duty to family, makes this a breathtaking adventure. Buck is a master storyteller. "The Patriot" is an extremely satisfying reading experience. Bravo!

I really enjoyed this book. Well written and informative. Fun to read. I know I've read a good book if I keep referring back to it in my mind after I've read it. I particularly enjoyed the decoying sections. Well done.

Thank you Gary for this book. I bought it at the close of last falls hunting season and poured over it till this season. It took my calling to a higher plain than I ever imagined.
One area where I might humbly dissagree with you is the snort/wheeze call. I used the snort/wheeze in conjunction with an aggravated grunt and called in my biggest deer to date.
Everything in this book is gold. I've got twenty-five years of hunting under my belt and this distills the very essence of effectively calling deer.
Thanks again

Gary Clancy is probaly the world's best authority on decoying deer. If you have been wondering how decoying deer might work for you, or if you want to try it and are not really sure of the what type of scenario to set up or when to to try it, this book is for you.

Under his nom de foundation garment, Ophelia Bernice, Buck "Buck" Peterson reveals all the important stuff necessary to a real redneck wedding. For those who don't know the difference, a redneck owns their own double-wide trailer while white trash are more concerned with finding something to go with the biscuits, like food.
Planning a wedding is serious business when it's your fourth or fifth and the bride is pregnant with someone's baby and the groom is applying to the Witness Protection Program. The chapel needs decorating, the bridal gown has to be let out again, and the parents of the lucky couple must settle any long-standing feud before the first keg is tapped. Ophelia/Buck shows the crooked way to celebrating the sparkling occasion in low class high style, from bridal showers and bachelor parties to the service itself and the post-vow dove shoot, and the wretched hangovers the morning after. Any bride or groom-to-be would be most fortunate to have this handy reference guide now, before the June bridal season begins. The illustrations are cool, too, I guess.

This is perfect gift to give any bride to be or anyone that just loves redneck humor. It's really cute!!!

This wedding planner is toooo much fun. I bought it for several girlfriends and gave it to them at the showers...they all thought it was a hoot. The illustrations are great too. A terrific gift idea.

Mr. Godfrey provides a candid look at the Jim Crow South. The demeaning incidents of legal segregation are captured with a style that makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time. He describes his team's resilience to a system that attempted to defeat a people and where inequity was pervasive and not just in the South.

The poems are powerful additions and "Song for My Father" is an inspiration for all. It is a great commentary for what Fatherhood is all about.

Overall, the attention to team and dealing with adversity offers life lessons for all generations and ethnicities.

As a bookstore owner I am solicited often to carry literature but NEVER have I encountered a book so hard to keep on the self. The profit margin that it has created so far is awesome. I encourage investors in literature to take a closer look at this unsung hero's chronicles of the good, bad and ugly history of this country that we all know and share. The author has performed one signing so far and the book sold out within 45 minutes, it is a MUST HAVE!!!!

I read this book straight through and couldn't put it down. The book is so wonderfully written. The story leaps of the pages. It's so well done that it's like reading a movie. I've read many books, this is definitly one of the most life changing books I've ever read. I'm going to read it again and read it to my children. Thank you for writing a book that adds a major pillar to my development, history and image of perserverance that can carry me through life's challenges. I can't wait until more books come out from this wonderful author.

I am glad I took the advice of other customers and purchased the audio tape rather than CD version of this classic. Perfectly narrated...this novel must have rocked and shocked the United States. It is a literary wonder.

The unabridged audio of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is excellent in every way. This is a classic that should never be forgotten , and has more theology in it that most theology books. It also fairly portrays slavery and the arguments for and against. The real thing that makes this book so outstanding as in many audio editions, is the narrator, Buck Schinder. I don't believe I have ever heard a better reader who could make every character come alive with the correct personality. His mastery of the Negro dialect is amazing. This book is heartwarming as well as heartbreaking, and is full of truths, as Harriet Beecher Stowe did much research and many interviews with escaped slaves while writing it. I highly recommend it.

Uncle Tom is probably the most important single book written in the United States of America. No one is really familiar with American culture, literature, relgion, and history if she or he has not read Uncle Tom.

To understand this book, I would urge people to consult Eric J. Sundquist's book New Essays on Uncle Tom's Cabin (The American Novel) and Jane Tompkin's Sensational Designs. The 19th Century world and reader that Stowe aimed at read and understood things so differently, that you will miss much without knowing how to look at this book the way Stowe wrote to them and the way they read.

This book has a broad purpose: literary to decide what is wrong with the entire world and present an answer. If you follow the sweep of the book you will find Stowe takes on everything from whether the issues of the 1848 revolutions can be resolved on the side of Democracy, to the question of marital relations amogn the free and the white. The issue of slavery is not the book's only focus. It is, in fact, the solution.

Stowe's real thesis here is that American Chattel slavery is the number one evil in the world, that this evil corrupts every institution in society North and South and corrupts far beyond the borders of the United States, and that no compromise with it or avoidance of it is possible.

To Stowe, slavery is an abomination not just because of the cruelty, savagery, exploitation, and degradation involved, but above all, it is an abomination against God, the most unChrist-like behavior possible.

Thus the relgious solution she offers is to become more Christlike in your opposition to slavery and to finally undergrow the Christic experience of dying for your sins and being reborn in Jesus Christ. That's right, in Stowe's time evangelical Christianity, rather than being a fob for right-wing politics, was practiced by some of the militant and serious opponents of slavery.

Stowe creates figures that are Christlike who like Christ die rather than yield to sin and influence the others in their faith. The supreme figure is of course Uncle Tom. Uncle Tom, as a a pejorative, comes not from this novel, but from the Tom shows that blossomed in the late 19th century which were a presentation of a mock version of this story with racist minstrel like charicatures of the African American characters.

In this book, Uncle Tom is a physically majestic, heroic, dignified person, whose faith and dignity are never corrupted, whose death is shown as a parallel to that of Christ in the resurrection of the souls of all around him required to eliminate Slavery. If he is passive, never disobeys his masters, and seems to have not much of a material interest of his own in life, it is because to Stowe this a reflection of his Christic nature.

No doubt at best Stowe sees him as a "noble savage" at Best. There is no doubt if one reads this book and even more clearly STowe's Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin which provided documentation for this book's depiction of slavery, that it is clear that Stowe did not believe African Americans were equal to whites. Her then-current immigrationist views are expressed in the way the one intelligent independently acting Black couple presented here leave the US for Canada once they escape slavery.

Yet, this book accomplished the purpose it had. It galvanized millions of Americans and more millions around the world to dramatically oppose slavery. Uncle Tom was one of the first true international best sellers. In a smaller country, where literacy was lower, and when many people bought books through private libraries where families shared books and the book was often read to family gatherings rather than by one person, Uncle Tom sold two hundred thousand copies in its first year and sold a million copies between its publication and the civil war.

Stowe was honest in her afterward and in other writings to say that her description of slavery in Uncle Tom is much prettier and more nicer than slavery was. She believed an accurate depiction of slavery--Stowe had lived in Cincinatti on the board with slaving Kentucky and traveled through the South--would be so revolting that her target audience of Northern whites would not read this book.

Her book launched a torrent of responses from white southerners as could be expected. However, the popularity of her book encouraged white authors, but especially Black authors to write antislavery books that responded to Stowe. Some of the foundations of Black American literature by authors like Frederick Douglass, William Wells Brown, Harriet Jacobs, and Martin Delany are essentially response to Uncle Tom.

Perhaps the most dramatic is Delany's Blake or the Huts of America whose character is a double to Uncle Tom. However, Delany's hero does not submit to being sold "down the river." He instead runs away and travels throughout the US following the same course as the travels in Uncle Tom showing how slave conditions are so much worse than Stowe showed. Finished with that business, Blake leaves the United States for Cuba where he becomes part of a group of Afro-Cubans unwilling to suffer like Christ and Uncle Tom. Like the current leaders of Cuba, they start to organize an international revolution of Slaves and the oppressed!

A perfect "how to" book on travel. Required reading for anyone interrested in making travel simple. Internet sites listed are really "the Best" and lots of tips and insight on special tricks of travel. Informative and ENTERTAINING!!! Also fun cartoons!

I thought myself pretty savvy when it comes to finding good deals for domestic and international travel. But, after reading Dan's book I realized that there are so many 'inside' tracks that I didn't know about (coupon brokers, negotiation is acceptable etc etc). If you are a traveler and want to make the most of your travel dollars, you MUST read this book !

Travel Dan has outdone himself with this marvelous book filled with tips about traveling. Dan speaks from personal knowledge. He's been in the travel business for many years and applies his personal touch to the invaluable information. (...)

I enjoyed the interplay between the authors as they described the same events from their own perspective. An interesting approach that worked very well. This is a different kind of business story that shows a deeply personal relationship between the authors and how an idea can grow into a successful enterprise with hard work, dedication, and a little bit of luck. Very enjoyable and inspiring.

Pat and Craig Rider have superbly blended their hard-won business and team-building savvy with a compelling peek inside the marriage of two individuals who have learned to nurture their similarities and capitalize on their differences. "300 Bucks" isn't a pop-psychology book that will leave you with the false impression that you've got all the answers...but it WILL allow you to look at your business, your career, and even your personal relationships and start asking all the right questions. It will give you insights on dealing with people, managing change, rolling with the punches, and learning to make any kind of partnership more enjoyable and productive. The book is about a journey...through business, life and marriage. It deftly blends professional guidance, storytelling, and humor with the one thing we all have in common...human relationships. Pat and Craig are at the top of their field when it comes to building businesses, teams and success -- but their book is as down to earth and practical as they are. '300 Bucks' will leave you wanting more. Bravo! I look forward to attending one of the Riders' presentations or seminars!