Butler Books

This is a book that I wish I had 10 years ago when I was starting out managing major business development projects - the checklist model is sound and works to cut away risks.

It has an engineering bias but can be refocused to business development - but this requires some existing experience of project management to secure the maximum benefit.

If there is a negative, the book is a little thin - both in size and in business examples.

It is worth a place in a serious project manager type of business role.

This was a required text for an upper division history class on the U.S. West. It's a fast-moving, succinct review with special senstivity to issues of ethnicity, color, and gender. The white man is appropriately villified and the steely individualism of Frederick Jackson Turner's late nineteenth century frontiersman is debunked. There's a bit of romanticizing of Native American life and activity, and a touch of presentism, but it's a text that fills in some spaces pretty well when used alongside other texts. I wouldn't use it as a primary text.

Shorter than your average novel, Any Time Now does not disappoint despite its slender size. The male author writes from a woman's point of view with rare insight and caps this off with warm and believable characters all the way through.
With time travel a central feature of the story this book could easily have become bogged down with technical details but this does not happen and the human element remains very much at the centre of the tale all the time.
There are some nice touches of humour, which counterpoint the moments that make you sad or just make you sigh in sympathy. Every now and then a sparkling piece of prose causes you to stop, re-read just for the joy of it, and bring to mind truly beautiful images.
Although perhaps the 'bad guys' could be construed as a little stereotypical this does not detract from the story and the end of the tale leaves you feeling glad and happy that you made the journey.

This book does a fine job of introducing popular audiences to the long-neglected and much maligned Army of the James. Like most of the Civil War works of Edward Longacre, it is fairly well written, entertaining at times, and heavily focused on prominent personalities (as opposed to the common soldier). Throughout most of the book, readers are treated to a fascinating running narrative on the life of Benjamin Butler, the controversial political general who was the guiding spirit of the Army of the James for much of its existence. Indeed, there is almost as much attention devoted to Butler and his political ambitions as to the tens of thousands of soldiers who fought with the Army of the James.

Overall, this book does a fine job of exploring the origins of the Army of the James, following its often discouraging path through the bold campaign leading up to the battle of Drewry's Bluff, the establishment of a foothold on Bermuda Hundred, and the long seige of Richmond and Petersburg that followed. In this respect, a number of battles and skirmishes that have usually been passed over by other historians are given much-deserved attention. Throughout, the author admirably maintains his sole focus on the Army of the James, even after it was largely absorbed into Grant's forces after mid-June 1864. He also follows the fortunes of those units that were on detached service, such as Kautz's cavalry division and two divisions of the X Corps that were sent to capture Fort Fisher in early 1865.

Longacre devotes a modest amount of attention to the somewhat unique make up of this army. It always had a strong component of African-American soldiers in its ranks, and also is notable for being led by a majority of civilian volunteer officers. This led to tensions and dissentions at the highest levels, particularly with career officers like William "Baldy" Smith vying for leadership.

Missing from the book are the finely detailed accounts of the battles fought by the Army of the James. At most, Longacre provides the reader with an overview of these battles, tracing the movement of divisions and brigades, but only providing quick summaries of combat and casualties. In this author's opinion, the book suffers at many points from a lack of decent maps to better illustrate unit movements and battles. Those seeking a more detailed understanding of battles will have to turn elsewhere. For example, Robertson's excellent study of Drewry's Bluff titled BACKDOOR TO RICHMOND.

While it is true that the Army of the James was created in the Spring of 1864, this reader would have appreciated more information about the experiences of the various units and generals that joined the Army of the James prior to this year.

In the end, the reader may have mixed feelings about Longacre's sympathetic treatment of Butler. History has not been kind to this personality, and maybe for good reason. There is little doubt, however, that one will come to better appreciate the vital contributions and many sacrifices offered by the men who served in the Army of the James in the last year and a half of the Civil War.

Book review published in Mid-Valley Town Crier, January 3, 2003 in Westlaco, Texas. Reviewer is Sarah Cuadra. Column is: Butterfly Wings: "...Unlike other books with complex jargon, Ms. Butler matter-of-factly demonstrates a child's succes in the classroom ultimately relies on a child's parents. With research and a can-do and do-it attitude, Ms. Butler's book will inspire and move every parent to do their part in ensuring the academic success of their child.

I wasn't expecting a lot - after all, the book is for teens. I couldn't put it down. Just so you know, I know the author. But it's really a wild-ride book about a teen girl whose family life crumbless in a bizarre way.

When I read Susie Bright's series, I am always surprised and aroused. This edition was pretty good too, but it lacked the sheer heat of the 1994 edition. The 1996 edition seemed to be going for a more intellectual orgasm, much like 1995 did. I give it four stars because of a few standout stories that do the intellectual thing as well as the sheer sexual thing: The Letters, The Hit (in fact, I am still looking for the novel it is excerpted from), Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot (hey, anything by Bob Butler is good, geez). The other stories were worthy. Ms. Bright strikes again.

Early in 2007, Archie Comics announced that they were going to try a "new look" for Betty and Veronica. I grew up on Archie, so while I was initially skeptical, I was intrigued enough to pick the book up and try it out. In Bad Boy Trouble, a new kid comes to town. Nick St. Clair is the sort of rough kid who cuts up in class, stars fights, sneaks into movies and has no qualms about putting the moves on Betty while dating Veronica. Betty and her friends have to convince Ronnie to dump the bad boy before it's too late.

The aim of this book is pretty clear -- Archie Comics is hoping to hold on to readers (particularly female readers) who are starting to get a little too old for the typical Archie fare. The art style is less cartoonish and the storyline is a little more mature than we're used to seeing out of Archie and the gang. It actually reads like an old-fashioned romance comic, except the writing is a bit more sophisticated.

As a lifelong Archie fan, I'm okay with this. It's not a brilliant comic, but it's decent enough, and it's one that I think may appeal pretty well to the target audience. As long as Archie doesn't abandon the classic look, I have no problem with the occasional story in this "new look."

The Bible Thumpers were recommended by a guest speaker and I acted as the "point person" to obtain copies. I had to make several "trips" to Amazon as word spread. Everyone I know is delighted at how useful they are.

Readers that have read Roland Wauer's "A Birders Mexico" will enjoy this guide to all the islands of the Caribbean. This book is primarily aimed for birders and nature or eco-tourists. It is a joy to read and after getting it out again this morning to review it during breakfast I was almost late for work as it was hard to put down. It was also very difficult to make the transition from his discription of the Island of Monteserrat to my driving in the snowy cold morning to work.

This 238 page book is packed from cover to cover with information on the birds, forests, plants, and history of the Caribbean Islands with photographs and excellent pen and ink drawing of endemic island birds by Mimi Wolf. There is a checklist of 161 Island bird species in the first section of the book and an excellent list of references in the back. There is a chapter devoted to each island. Wauer walks you around the best natural areas of the islands recounting his personal visits there and the sights he encountered with his keen observation skills and rich knowledge of natural history. If you are a birder, or ecotourist this book will give you very convincing reasons to plan a trip and if you have already bought the tickets it will rachet up your excitement over it.

The only shortcoming of this book is the lack of maps or specific instructions to the parks and reserves mentioned in the book. A good compliment to this book would be Wheatly and Brewer's "Where to Watch Birds in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean" which has all the specific lists, maps and directions you would need. If you don't get this book (A Birder's West Indies) you will though miss out on a more literary and rich reading experience of the islands.