Butler Books

Jill Butler's books are always a pleasure. The graphics are charming and the information is excellent. I read them to my 5-year-old granddaughter who's been to France seven times. She loves the books and recognizes some of her favorite landmarks. Reading them is so much more fun (and less boring for me) than so many other options. Do I have a plot? You bet. I plan to kidnap my granddaughters to Paris and want them to feel at home.

While the graphics are cute and the pronunciation guides are somewhat helpful, I was disappointed in this book. It seemed to me to be only one step better than any vocabulary list you can find. I found it only minimally useful.

An interesting tome that is practical and precise. Valuable for the first time traveler to Paris. Bon voyage!

I had borrowed this book from the library during a tourist-French class. The teacher told me she used to teach from this book. It's a great size to fit in a purse/bag and I'm going to bring it when I go to France this summer. With the pictures, I think it's better than a regular translation mini-book.

I spent a week in Paris for business earlier this month and had only 6 days' notice about the trip. I don't speak French and I had never been outside of the U.S. I found this book, Rendez-vous with France, at the local library and it was my saving grace throughout the week. By using the book and its charming illustrations, I was able to communicate with shuttle drivers, hotel staff, street vendors and wait staff. I literally could not have gotten through the week without it! Since I was in Paris for business I didn't really get to EXPERIENCE much of Paris, but I have already bought this book and Jill Butler's next book on wandering in Paris for my next trip.

My kids and I just got back from Yellowstone and Grand Teton, and this book made our trip even better than it would have been without it. The funny thing is that I almost didn't buy this book. I refused to be one of those people who experience Yellowstone from my car, so a book called "Scenic Driving" didn't appeal to me at first. But Yellowstone is so huge that even if you plan to hike every day you still need to drive between trailheads, and as a result, you spend a lot of time in the car. My 13-year-old son narrated the entire drive and we ended up seeing things and doing things that we wouldn't have otherwise done. This book helped us understand what we were seeing and led us down roads I would have passed up if it weren't for this book telling us what was around that corner. (By the way, "A Ranger's Guide to Yellowstone Day Hikes" was a great book too!) I can't recommend this book enough. It's a must!

We used our copy of this book to plan our main drives around both parks. Except for a very few instances the scenes were exactly as described and exactly where they were supposed to be. The wildlife viewing recommendations for the most part were spot on. We recommend this a an invaluable resource for those planning to drive most of the roads and entrances to both parks. We lent our well beaten copy to other couples since our return and both couples raved about how useful this book was to their planning and daily events.

I love the detailed descriptions she writes mile by mile which will be very helpful to have in the car as I drive through the parks myself. It has also prepared me for what to look for.

As a "map lover" I like the detailed maps of different sections of the park even more. But . . . I have two complaints: 1) Her maps do not include everything she describes. To me, that is the purpose of a zoomed in map of one section of the park! 2) In her written description she talks way too much about the fire of 1988! But overall I have found the book helpful in my preparation for a visit to both parks and plan to carry it with me.

I purchased many books as a reference for our first trip to Yellowstone, this is the one book I decided to take with us and we used it everyday, the information given was interesting and easy to follow. We felt like we had our own personal guide. Would recommend this book to anyone.

Amazon is not so great about removing older versions of books and this is one example - if you are going to buy it, get the 2006 version. Now, about the 1999 version....I will agree that it is helpful for driving through the park, but it's only good if you are traveling in the direction she has written it in. For example, if you are traveling a particular leg from north to south but she has written the guide traveling south to north, it is really difficult to follow. The book Yellowstone Treasures by Janet Chapple is written with mile markers regardless of which direction you are traveling in, so I recommend it over this one. Chapple's book is also more comprehensive.

This is a great book to start thinking and re-thinking juicy spiritual concepts. I love the format - short and sweet. It's a great conversation vehicle for couples, groups, etc.

Gina Orlando

50 Self-Help Classics: 50 Inspirational Books to Transform Your Life, From Timeless Sages to Contemporary Gurus
50 Success Classics: Winning Wisdom for Life and Work from 50 Landmark Books
50 Spiritual Classics: Timeless Wisdom from 50 Great Books on Inner Discovery, Enlightenment and Purpose

In the first instance, I have bought these three books in one go because I have been fascinated by what the author had done: He has practised what is known as the highest level of reading. Mortimer Adler, in his classic book, 'How to Read a Book', written in the forties, had called it 'syntopical reading'. It's actually reading a number of books of the same genre, more or less simultaneously & then synthesising the key points.

Secondly, the author, who is a graduate of the London School of Economics, somehow impresses me with his ability to synthesise the big picture of each of the books that made up the entire collection. For apparently a left-brain thinker i.e. economist by training, this has been a very remarkable feat, as his synthesising endeavour has been essentially more of a right-brain activity. Well, I must compliment him for a job well done.

Before my final decision on buying the three books, I have been thrilled by the prospect of reading three books, which in turn will give me access to one hundred & fifty books.

For each book, the author has very artfully as well as skillfully selected fifty books to made up one collection. I may not agree with his selection, but I must admit that I can't default him at all.

Take the first book, '50 Self Help Classics', with timeless wisdom, as an example. Out of the fifty books he has selected, I have read only seventeen of them. I have those books in my personal library.

For the second book, '50 Success Classics', I have read & still own sixteen of the landmark books on winning wisdom selected by the author.

For the third & final book, '50 Spiritual Classics', covering timeless sages & contemporary gurus, I have read only & still own three of them, namely 'The Tao of Physics', 'The Way of the Peaceful Warrior' & 'Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'.

For those books I have read previously, totaling thirty-six of them (probably stretching over three decades of my life), & upon revisiting them again in the trilogy, which actually took me one whole weekend to complete, starting on Friday evening & finishing on Sunday night, I must say that the seemingly marathon reading experience has been very refreshing & uplifting. It has also given me the opportunity to check & verify whether the author has captured the key ideas or essence of those books. I don't think I can find fault with the author in this respect.

Not only that, in the first book, I am very impressed that the author has cut through the bewildering array of choices to bring the essential ideas, insights, and techniques from the `literature of possibilities'. In works that span the world's religions, cultures, philosophies, & centuries, he summarizes each work's key ideas & finally makes clear how these legendary classics can educate, affirm, & motivate anyone searching for the inspiration to make a meaningful life change.

In the second book, the author is back with his wide-ranging collection of enduring works from pioneering thinkers, philosophers, & powerful leaders, like Napoleon Hill, Stephen Covey, Kenneth Blanchard, Baltasar Gracian & Christopher Maurer; from the inspirational rags to riches stories of such entrepreneurs, like Andrew Carnegie, Warren Buffet & Sam Walton to the leadership lessons of Sir Ernest Shackleton, Eleanor Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln & Nelson Mandela, just to name a few.

In the third book, I believe the author has captured the very best in spiritual writing: They include personal diaries & compelling biographies of such diverse figures as Gandhi, Malcolm X, & Black Elk & Eastern philosophers & gurus including Krishnamurti, Yogananda, Chögyam Trungpa & Suzuki; & Western saints & mystics such as St. Francis of Assisi, Herman Hesse & Simone Weil. For each book in this volume, the author offers insightful commentary on how these classics can help spiritual seekers everywhere bring personal beliefs, values & practices squarely into the center of their every day lives.

Reading the three foregoing books has been quite a breeze because the meaning of each work is initially captured 'in a nut shell' at the onset, coupled with a representative quote as well as cross-referencing to similar work. In each work, appropriate sectional headings in bold print make it really easy for the reader to follow the author's train of thoughts over some six pages. There is also a short biographical sketch of the author of the respective work.

I must admit that the third book in the trilogy has been the most challenging for me to read as I normally do not go for such stuff. To put it bluntly, it's not my cup of tea. On the other hand, the curiosity streak in me has been too overwhelming, since I relish the thought that I could read fifty spiritual classics in just one book!

Overall, & for all those books I have not yet read at all (some of which I have not even heard of), I really enjoyed digesting the author's bite-sized summaries (in actuality, they are only the main ideas, context & impact of each title, to give a taste of the literature, so to speak) in the three collections or volumes, even though some of the titles are relatively esoteric for me. The entire reading journey has been enlightening, inspirational & yet humbling in some areas. Best of all, there are useful tools & practical techniques to take away from each collection!

For the first & last book in the trilogy, namely, '50 Self Help Classics' & '50 Spirtual Classics', the author has respectively provide a list of additional 50 books. The titles are certainly enticing! Well, all I can say is this: I wish the author will repeat his syntopical reading exercise covering these books & add two more volumes, that will make a quintulogy, for all the readers out there, including me!

As usual, all my three books are now scribbled with my own hand-written marginal annotations as well as my fancy colour marker symbols. Additionally, there are also colourful sticky notes in between selected pages. My next personal assignment is to transfer all these notations into mindmaps with Mindmanager Pro.

To end my review, I have one last humble comment to make. Out of the one hundred & fifty bite-sized summaries, I still don't quite get it from 'The Bhagavad-Gita' as outlined in the author's '50 Self Help Classics'. I have not read this work before although I have heard about it. [J Y Pillay, former Chairman of Singapore Airlines, who is credited for building the airline to what it is today, A Great Way to Fly, has vouched for this ancient Hindu scripture as an inspiration for his leadership success during an interview.] However, in the same vein, I found that I could relate quickly to Deepak Chopra's 'The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success' but simply not this one! I may have to explore other avenue.

In site of the above minor short-coming, I strongly believe that the three books in the author's trilogy are really an intellectual treasure!

If you are expecting a traditional viewpoint with this book, you will not get it in reading "50 Spiritual Classics". It is heavily weighted toward Eastern religion and philosophical thought, which is fine, but it is definitely not balanced. He prefaces his review of the Christian works he presents as being "too Christian" for some. If you are into "political correctness" then this book is for you.

Butler-Bowdon is my guide through the literature of inner -development. His books have helped me grow as an individual and continue to help in my research for the books I choose to write to help humanity. His knowledge is exceptional and his choice of books is perfect. He truly is an expert in this area. I recommend his entire series and genuinely cant wait to get Psychology Classics. Thanks for helping humanity with your writing Mr. Butler-Bowdon.

10 stars

Author, Your Daily Walk with the Great Minds and Upcoming Release of Eastern Wisdom for Your Soul.

My review can be summarized with the simple statement that this is BY FAR the best book I've ever read so far in the genres of spirituality, philosophy, and religion, and in fact in any genre. It provides truly meaningful exposure to a diverse kaliedoscope of spiritual viewpoints which, for the most part, I find to be complementary and reinforcing, rather than contradictory and conflicting.

The result for me has been profoundly tranformative, and I think that will be the case for many others who read the book, provided that they do so with an open mind. For those who are diehard skeptics or dogmatists, perhaps this book will even open many of their minds.

I'm eagerly looking forward to reading many of the books summarized in this book, as well as the three other books in the "50 Classics" series written by the author.

In short, I can't recommend this book strongly enough, and it's no accident that all of the prior reviewers gave it 5 stars. I've given copies of this book to quite a few people, which is something I've never done before with any other book.

Let me say it in another way: if you were stranded on an island and could have only one book, this would be the one to have.

This is a wonderful book, especially if you're from the Badger state like me! My children love it, it is fun, educational and has wonderful artwork.

A few updates about this book: ABCs of Wisconsin was selected as a CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center) Choices for 2001. Additionally, the readers of Madison Magazine voted Alison as one of the Top Three Artists in Madison for 2001. [...]

This book brought back great memories of my childhood growing up in Wisconsin. Alison Relyea did a wonderful job and look forward to more books illustrated by this talented artist.

If you are looking for serious facts about Wisconsin, don't buy this book. Although the illustrations may be whimsical, most of the facts could pertain to any state--there's poison ivy in North Carolina too. All of the factual information is contained on two text-only pages at the back of the book, and children are not going to sit still while Mom reads these facts to them. Having grown up in Wisconsin, I was looking forward to reading this book. I was extremely disappointed.

Amazing illustrations...great whimsy...interesting facts. And, I even learned a little about Wisconsin that I didn't know about! Of all our ABC books, our kids select this one first to read.

This is a wonderful book - lots of great ideas, the pictures are beautiful, and the patterns are clear and easy to use. My warning - when I made the kimono pj's, I found that the pants pattern did not allow enough room for a diaper. I have substituted another pattern I had on hand for the bottoms, and just love it now. Everything else I've made up has been just great. I can't wait to make the cheeky monkey bag!!

This book is everything you hope...and more! Amy Butler is known for her beautiful fabric and fresh ideas but I have a stack of her books on my shelf that I have loved to look at, but have never been inspired to make something from immediately. This book is the complete opposite! Each project is one that you will really want to make and is full of patterns, not just ideas. The projects themselves are unique and are not basic items that you could figure out on your own. I made the soft book for a baby shower gift and it was a huge hit! The kimono pj's are next on my list. You will love this book!

This little book will not disappoint. It is filled with beautiful pictures and patterns for any skill level - and, oh yes, inspiration! This book has truly taken my sewing and crafting to the next level. Once you make one of Amy's projects, you realize that you now have the tools and techniques to put the pattern aside and create something of your own. Wonderful, wonderful book.

Great ideas and pics in this book. I am in the process of making three of the projects. THe instrucions are easy to follow and not to mention her material is terrific.

I have Amy Butler's "In Stitches" pattern book, and have loved it! This book is very similar in layout, and I love the coil binding so it lays flat. Don't be overwhelmed...sometimes her patterns seem long, which in your mind equals complicated. But they are long because they are written so detailed which make them easy and fun to complete. I love the cute little patterns for baby (especially the kimono top and pjs) and the bags for mom. Another fabulous book from Amy Butler.

Knowledge is simplification of information. The book is very well written. It distills years of work into a persuasive style for readers. Go through the "deep-dive" and feel refreshed. Strikes a chord deep down - all those examples.

Butler's book has one of the best cover images I've see i awhile. A fish leaps into the air, leaving behind other fish swimming peacefully in their glass bowl. At first he seems bent on self-destruction, till we realize another bowl is waiting to receive him. It's mostly hidden at the edge of the page and it's emptier.

The image is appropriate bcause Butler's book ultimately is about finding vision and image. He keeps referring to the Hundred Careers exercise: choose your top 12 from a list of 100. Then (and this is the important part) uncover common themes.

Usually I get nervous when career counselors urge clients to work with specific choices, because most people carry inaccurate stereotypes of careers with them. Accountants can be extraverted and sales people can be shy. But I sense that Butler works with each person's unique perceptions of the careers, although he doesn't say so directly.

Another reviewer suggests that a reader might need a guide to work through the process. I'm more concerned about translating insight into action. If you're an artist trapped in a banking career, how do you carry out the exploration you need? How do you find your new life? OK, a creative decides to become a freelance artist, but things get a little more complicated in real life. Every freelancer I know (including me) has to deal with creating systems to get the work done, marketing, staying motivated, and dealing with dumb things like more ink for the printer and why hasn't the bank transferred over your account forms.

Of course, vision can be compelling. A strong vision can motivate career changers to find solutions, sometimes almost effortlessly.

I can't help comparing this book to Herminia Ibarra's book, Working Identity, also published by Harvard Universiety Press. Ibarra emphasizes the zig zag pattern of actions most people take to find their next careers. Most people I know operate that way. They just take one step at a time till they realize that somehow they've landed where they're supposed to be.

Ibarra also targets midlife career changers -- people who have achieved some success and accomplishment. This book seems directed to younger people who have less at stake. For example, a 35-year-old woman who leaves a high-powered financial career to become a high school teacher, reducing her income from $106K to $34K. Some people make those kinds of moves and never look back. Others realize they miss the lifestyle of the larger salary. Still others get bogged down by conditions of working, like paperwork.

I can't help wondering how this woman will feel when she's in her fifties and sixties. And I hope she likes teaching, because it's going to be hard to make a shift back to the corporate world from just about anything else.

Definitely Getting Unstuck holds value for people at the early stages of their career searches. I would recommend it to anyone who's looking for a new way to think about career change. But I've seen people who need to get unstuck not just from their jobs but from their analysis. Exploring possibilities is fun. Translating them to realities - and living with the aftermath - gets a whole lot more complicated.

often fall into psychological ruts that can lead to feelings of fatigue, worthlessness and even guilt. During such periods, falling asleep at night and getting out of bed in the morning both become difficult. Making decisions gets to be almost impossible. If this state persists intensely over a long period, clinicians call it depression. When these feelings are short-lived and intermittent, psychologist and career change expert Timothy Butler calls it an "impasse." Though uncomfortable, an impasse is good because it can act as a much-needed catalyst for a meaningful metamorphosis. Unfortunately, many people do not know how to get "unstuck" from an impasse. That is where Butler's savvy book comes into play. He provides insightful, hands-on advice telling people who feel stuck how to move along and make necessary, valuable changes. For his exercises to work, the reader must spend time on them and be open to letting them take effect. We applaud Butler's life change program and his intelligent psychological guide. Learn how to overthrow that impasse, and go forward new and fresh.

This is probably the 50th self help book I've read and it is by far the best one yet. Parts of it remind me of the book "Feel the Fear and do it anyway", another highly recommended book for anyone feeling stuck. I have felt stuck, particularly in my career, for well over 4 years now. However, this book gives me a lot of hope, something I've been missing for a while.

The book makes several great points about not over analyzing everything, the danger of your ego/superego and how they holds you back, and fear. One of the most important points the book makes is that right before we are about to take a step forward, the superego comes in and criticizes what we are trying to accomplish, thus holding us back.

Lastly, the book helps you tap into and figure out what your passion in life is (career). So if you're feeling stuck in your career or life in general, I highly recommend this book. It beats all the career books I've read, as it delves deeper into your personality and what is holding you back to help you get to the bottom of it. There is a section on personal values and how often times we work for a company that isn't in alignment with our core values, which causes major problems.

Overall, very insightful and helpful for anyone in career crisis.

The book's title drew me like a magnet. It was so precise. And I said, "yes, I am stuck and need help in getting unstuck". After starting and succeeding, or not so, at many ventures in life, I have lately been feeling stuck.

Don't want to do the same things again that I have been doing for over thirty years. Is it mid-life crisis? I don't know. What else can I do? I can only do what I know... But is it relevant anymore? Have I become a has been? Self doubt, self pity, and helplessness have begun to creep in.

This book has been very helpful. It provides a systematic approach to analyzing the problem and an opportunity to get to know yourself. Some answers may be disturbing. You may find out that what you have been doing all your life so far is perhaps not what you ever wanted to do. You may not even have begun to do what you really wanted to do in life, are good at, and have a passion for. Perhaps, it is not the end of the road, but just the beginning.

I wish that I had read this book 10 or may be 20 years ago. That would have changed my life. I still have to find courage and discipline to change. But this book certainly provides the nudge that I have needed.

Author does have a tendency of self accolades in places, which really are not needed, as the work speaks for itself. But, nonetheless, the book is a great and very helpful work.

Anil Aggarwal
anil@datagenius.com

I've never broken even over many years of prospecting and searching for the Lost Adams Diggings. But I wouldn't trade a moment of it. This book will help the reader by giving an excuse to go into the wilderness. The first time you look into the bottom of a pan and see glitter will be a moment you'll remember the remainder of your life. Buy it and do it!

I thoroughly enjoyed Gail Butler's book. Sometimes I felt as if I was there with here. Its an easy read and very instructional. It makes me want to go to California or Arizona and start digging, panning and nugget detecting. If you have only been coin shooting and want to know what it is like to prospect and detect for gold this book is a great one. Read it.

Severance combines two theories: that consciousness is retained after decapitation for 90 seconds, and that, in heightened emotional states, people speak 160 words per minute. The book is sixty-two stories, at exactly 240 words each, from the heads of decapitated people: kings, queens, farmers, girls, businessmen, jihadists, authors, and mythological women, men and animals. It's a fantastic book in its originality, its concept and, yeah, its execution.

I can't remember the last book of poetry I read, and though Severance is labeled a book of stories, I have a hard time believing this is anything but the suggestive, dewy dream-state that a good set of poems can capture. What has surprised me most is how small scenes or visions from the stories float in and out of memory throughout the day, and how Butler connects history, sex and war across time in common and uncommon lives. Whether or not you enjoy poetry, this well worth reading out loud.

Severance is a book in which the author has set a tough restriction on himself - each story-poem is to be exactly 240 words long with the content reflecting the 90 seconds of thought between a head being severed and the lost of consciousness. There is no end of sentence punctuation - a technique that helps provide a sense of urgency / confusion / prattling. While the book itself labels the pieces "stories" I would label many of them as prose poems because the language itself moves to the foreground.

From Chin Chin Chan beheaded for "maintaining a romatic correspondence with an American girl ...": "moon no longer a blossom a pearl a lantern in a lover's door but a bodiless face, mine, in a train window, she on the platform trying not to look at me directly, as if she were there for someone selse, and the train hurtles in the dark and I stare into the stars and not even a poet could find the moon in this sky no even Li Po in a boat with quill and ink ..." Wonderful.

However, some story/poems I had trouble linking to the individual speaking because I knew too little about their lives to make the pieces fit. It was not the the characters were too obscure; rather that the pieces (rightly) focused on parts of their lives not taught in history books. Given the author's ability to provide sufficient background in many entries, this is not a failure of the form but a failure either of the reader or author. Labeling them prose poems would warn the reader that this stories require the close reading given poems not the casual reading often given prose.

As one of the publisher reviews points out, Severance is really a series of prose poems, which is made obvious by the explicit device of keeping them the same length according to the formula (1.5 minutes x 160 words/minute). In the sense that they are meditative more than narrative, they work better when thought of as poetry. Then you can see the variety of language possible within the form, which shows the different kinds of reflections of the characters depicted using the form. These are, after all, meditations about language use in extremis (including what animals would say if they could speak and, pace Wittgenstein, what we would understand from them if they could speak), and together they create a haunting and beautiful depiction of lives remembered. If you had only 240 words to sum up your final thoughts, what would you say? Do it in a minute and a half, knowing they're your last seconds on Earth. That kind of evanescence--not necessarily rushed, not necessarily resistant to death--is what Butler captures so well. The set of poems has pathos without sentimentality, and charm without preciousness. Read it, and be glad your time is not yet up, and your head is still on your shoulders.

Robert Olen Butler has the creativity and ingenuity very few people can match. Severance is one of his many story collections that make us see the world in a different way. All 60 stories take place after a decapitation from the point of view of the severed head (thus the title) and after reading, we begin to think in broken fragments because that's how potent his writing is. You will not read another book like this, unless you buy Intercourses or another from Butler, and it is worth perusing through a few times, enjoying the fragment of beauty within the pages.

There are a lot of things to admire about this collection--Butler is very creative with his choices of heads and often tackles the question of what final thoughts may go through a mind in its final 90 seconds between decapitation and death (according to the famous epigram by Dr. Dassy D'Estaing) in intriguing ways . Butler manages to surprise often in this historical sequence, from convicts to unfaithful (maybe) spouses to beasts and myths to royalty. The premise itself is intriguing--a sequence of monologues from decapitated heads working on the conceits that a head can live for 90 seconds after decapitation and humans speak at a rate of 160 words a second when in a "heightened state of emotion," for a grand total of 240 words for each monologue. Butler also mixes humor and pathos through many of these choices, to deal with the horror of violence (as in the monologue from Nicole Brown Simpson) to the lighter side of decapitation (as in a chicken chosen to be an evening meal).

But despite all of this praise, I must admit that I found the basic motif a little tiresome in its less than stellar moments. Butler is very much of a formalist, and sticks to his guns when it comes to form rather than exploring within it. Butler's best book, _A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain_, suffers less for this and only stifles itself in minor moments. In collections like _Tabloid Dreams_, however, the conceit (in this one, Butler takes _Weekly World News_ headlines and uses them as the ground situations of stories) wears thin after some gems because he remains rooted to that premise rather than exploring the boundaries of it.

This book suffers the same fate. While the choice of subject matter is intriguing and promising, and his attitude of pathos and humor is wonderful, and monologues like Nicole Brown Simpson and Cicero and a mythical dragon are inspiring, and even though there are some thoughtful correlations made here between the French Revolution and Henry VIII and the modern 'war on terror,' it is the 240-word formula of the monologues that wears thin after a while. Rather than play with the limit, the monologues become 'just another 240 words,' and Butler doesn't seem to play with what defines 240 words but restricts himself to formality in this respect rather than creativity.

In the end, my attitude may just be curmudgeonly, but I would rather read the work and be delighted by it in all ways rather than be reminded constantly of its format.

Having seen enough movies and tv shows featuring Hickok as character, I wanted to know the story behind the legend. This book does it. The author is an authority on Hickok and has written extensively about him. The book is clearly well-researched and heavily annotated. All that to the side, it is an entertaining read.

Hickok would have done as well today as he did back then. There was truth to his reputation. He was tough, brave, charming, funny and a peerless gunman. At the same time, he knew how to exploit his reputation and did so. That's what makes him so interesting today. Here is a person who knew the value of self-promotion and celebrity a century and a half ago before they became the science they are today.

Joseph G Rosa did a wonderful job in his research. The world, in an effort to depict Wild Bill as an exciting, rutheless, bloodthirsty gunfighter, has tainted the man behind the name. He was anything but bloodthirsty. His desire was to make things right, he was soft on the inside, behind those iron fists, was a caring, gentle man. Rosa did an excellent job as he gives us a true glimps into Wild Bill's world. He starts at the begining, when Wild Bill was just a child and goes from there to his adventures into becomming the gunfighter that we learn about reading this book, not the gunfighter Hollywood depicts, he was never that man. Anyone wanting to learn of the true west will enjoy reading this book.

While others seemingly do scant research about Wild Bill or they are unable to communicate, Rosa's "They Called Him Wild Bill" is simply the best biography about Hickok I have ever read. The book is documented with both a myriad of legal documents and newspaper accounts (the latter can certainly be misleading, as they can be today), and Rosa is a gifted author.

You might find that your conception about Wild Bill changes after you read this book. (And if you saw that "laughable" movie titled "Wild Bill" with Jeff Bridges playing Bill, you'll realize why I call that movie "laughable" if you do read this book.)

You might not care for Wild Bill if you read this book, or...

Well, read it and decide for yourself.

No one presents Hickok as does Rosa. Period.

I've read several other books on famous Western characters that by far surpass this work. Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Custer, Billy The Kid, etc.. After reading some reviews here, I purchased the book and read it. I was very dissappointed in it. It gives a little info on James Butler Hickock's younger years and just briefyly covers his various "gunfights". The book states that he killed an estimated numbers of men but doesn't go into a whole lot of detail about them. The author plugs in lot of "hearsay' of the time and then attempts to dispute alot of it but not very successfully. The contains a lot of letters from various individuals and then the author states that the content of these letters are untrue. So why print it then? He also includes a large amount of information about "other" Wild Bill's throughout the book which to me was a waste of time. I didn't by the book to read about other people who were also called Wild Bill. Overall, pretty poor. Should have bought a different book. Don't waste your money.

Make no mistake, this is the most meticulously researched and likely the definitive biograhy of that great American archetype, William Butler Hickok, known to history as "Wild Bill." Mr. Rosa spent decades researching this book and his thoroughness and dedication show on every page. The real "Wild Bill's" life is full of holes, obscured by myth and legend, and to Mr. Rosa's eternal credit, he has done as much as anyone could to sift through that to close the gaps and bring to life a sharp picture of the real man. Also brought to life by Mr. Rosa is a cast of original characters, friendsand enemies alike, who crossed Wild Bill's path. Yet there is a cost to the reader: You too will sift through numerous lengthy documents, reminiscences, newspaper reports, and letters printed in type difficult to distinguish from the author's own text (editor's fault). These verbatim transcripts often seem interminable and are difficult to wade through at times. Much of that stuff could've been slipped into appendices or end notes. This is not a book for casual or easy reading but an absolute must for anyone interested in the real history of the American West.

Actually written by Kimberly Allen, based upon the stories her husband, ex-butler Christoper, told her. This is a handy but brief look at a butler's training and life, with some colorful stories and useful boxed areas where hints on table service and caring for clothing and china scattered randomly through the text.

A Butler's Life by Kimberly K. Allen and Christopher Allen is more than the story of how the "other half" lives. It is a picture of dedication and work ethics which are much needed in our world today. It elevates the world of service to its rightful place of honor in the world and does so with a delightful sense of humor.

This book is delightfully written and goes well beyond an interest in domestic helpers. Mr. Allen's experiences with people and places around the world hold the readers attention throughout. His humor keeps us anxiously expecting the next turn in a fascinating journey.

This book is based on the experience of C. Allen, not only does he show how to do every day service. But he is the living proof that a true butler cannot be made at some school, it comes from the hard, as he writes in his book: a glorified waiter! Well this one earns my respect.

If you are in the industry of servicing the wealthy in private homes and estates, you will relate to this book and read it front to back with many giggles. If you are thinking of entering the industry of private home/estate employment, it is a must to forsee what really happens behind the scenes. Written by one of the best in the industry! I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of the book and am a veteran agent to those who service private homes. A must for anyone in the industry!