Collins Books

I wanted to read this book because of the family connection I have with it. My gg-grandfather was a member of the West Virginia 8th Mounted Infantry. As I read the book I realized I couldn't put it down. As Averell rushed to escape to the North, his decision to burn the Island Ford Bridge, my heart began to sink. For I now know what my gg-grandfather must have felt like to know that he was part of the rear guard that was left behind on the wrong side of the river. If you want interesting reading of a little known event in the history of the Civil War, then this book is for you.

I ordered this book hoping to learn more about my great-grandfather's regiment, which served under Averell in the Army of West Virginia. The excellent Order of Battle appendix told me right away that the 8th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry hadn't joined Averell's command by the time of this December 1863 raid, but that was my only disappointment. This is an easy reading, well documented story of a little known episode that shocked the Confederacy. More important, it is a gripping tale of men succeeding against the elements, and against overwhelming odds. Averell and his small brigade "marched, climbed, slid and swum" 355 miles through enemy held territory in the dead of winter, going without food and sleep, climbing mountains and crossing rivers, avoiding Confederates sent to intercept them, and striking the depot at Salem (today a suburb of Roanoke, Virginia) to threaten the lines of communication between Richmond and Knoxville. The book documents the extraordinary leadership and tenacity of Brigadier General William Averell, but it also highlights the streak of hesitancy that eventually caused Phil Sheridan to sack him during the Shenandoah Valley campaign of 1864 (in which my great-grandfather's regiment did take part). Abundant photographs and simple, readable maps complement the text and help bring the characters and the story to life. A truly good book, highly recommended for descendents of the Gray as well as the Blue, and for anyone else interested in the Civil War.

Generation Ageless

By J. Walker Smith and Ann Clurman

Generation Ageless: How Baby Boomers Are Changing the Way We Live Today...And They're Just Getting Started, by J. Walker Smith and Ann Clurman, is a book you must read. Why? Because people will be talking about it! And those in the know know to read this book!

Baby Boomers--you may have heard the phrase, this catchword many times; but did you know there are 78 million of them? After reading this book, I believe there are even more-for surely there are those, like me, who were born on the "cusp--9 months before 1946!" and see themselves more like boomers than any other group!

Yankelovich, Inc. began studying consumer values and lifestyles in 1958. As I started reading Generation Ageless, I did not realize how the activities by a company, about which I knew nothing, could be writing about--me! It was at first exhilarating--then it got downright eerie! Yankelovich chose to begin studying Americans through the gathering and analysis of data by generations. Certainly, they could not have projected at that time that the generation born during the years 1946 to 1964 would become the largest group of any during the last century! Due to the number of individuals, it is also perhaps one of the most influential groups of people in the past and for the foreseeable future.

Generation Ageless is extensive and covers many issues. In some ways, it is like reading a biography of 78 million people, in one book! In another way, it is pure demographics about Baby Boomers. At the same time, every marketing agent should be studying this as a textbook! Put all together, it is one of the most interesting and informative books I have ever read! It is an interesting read with both narrative and charts; however, with excellent writing, the authors have made what could be very dry into something that comes across in a personal fashion and includes information for anybody of any age.

Before reading this book, some of us may have begun thinking about planning for retirement or considering what we might want to do "with the rest of our lives." Even if we didn't feel like our lives were over, we might have felt that society was seeing us that way. Well, after reading Generation Ageless, we will find that we are all thinking the same thing--we are too young to retire...we want to continue doing the things we are now doing and we want to continue them for as long as we want to! So, we now have the key words to explain that! We are not going to ever get old; we are merely middle age-less! "How cool is that?" as one commercial declares.

Baby Boomers want to matter; they want to have a presence and an influence. "Or to put it in the way that best reflects the edge they give to it, it's a matter of immortality and morality." (p. xiv).

The book uses the terminology that has been coined in the past: the Matures, Baby Boomers, Xers, and Echo Boomers. I found it especially heartening that the Baby Boomers group has expressed many of my own thoughts, as I've grown older. We look back with some regret to that accomplished by the Matures. We worry about the Xers and Echo Boomers. But no matter what, Baby Boomers are going to stay in the game. And because there are so many, what Baby Boomers will continue to do for themselves will directly benefit others.

Baby Boomers, in turn, have been divided into the Straight Arrows, Due Diligents, Maximizers, Sideliners, Diss/Contenteds, and Re-Activists, with the driving force being the Maximizers. Readers may see themselves as having started out as one type of individual but changing, due to personal experiences, later in life. As the book says, "maximizers are the most enthusiastic Boomer segment. They want more of everything and they want more out of everything." (p. 188) While the book indicated that maximizers had something in common with every other segment, I thought perhaps another way of saying this was that we all had some part of us that were maximizers...at one time or another in our lives!

This book is fun to read! It is encouraging; it is disheartening...but it is about us! If we have an enemy, then the enemy is us. But if we also believe that our future will be bright, we also know that the Baby Boomers will be there, shining and basking in the light provided by that generation!

You'll be placing this book on a nearby bookshelf. It is a great resource of information. It gives you much to ponder. And it's fun to read and talk about! I highly recommend Generation Ageless.

The April issue of Writer's Digest arrived in my mailbox on Saturday and I've been in a snit ever since. "Publish Your First Book after 50," said the headline, but here's the real kicker -- "Who says publishing is a young person's game? Here are an agent's tips to writing and publishing well into your golden years."

Golden Years? Excuse me, but the writer must have been addressing his article to my 80-year-old parents. It'll be another quarter century before I reach MY golden years, thank you very much.

WD editors clearly haven't read Generation Ageless: How Baby Boomers are Changing the Way We Live Today ... And They're Just Getting Started.

"It is pretty well recognized that Boomers should not be addressed as 'old people' or 'seniors.' This language does not resonate with Boomers and usually alients them," say authors J. Walker Smith and Ann Clurman, of Yankelovich, Inc., a leading consumer research company that has helped marketers understand consumer values and behavior since 1958. "On the other hand, they are responsive to marketing that uses an active, lively, youthful tone."

Ours is a generation that not only can't afford to retire, we don't want to. We are constantly reinventing ourselves, breaking all the rules and looking for ways to make a difference in a changing world. And still, we are not satisfied, which opens a window for marketers who can make a convincing pitch.

Baby Boomers are not all alike, and the authors slice and dice the data so thin you can slip it into a dozen different pair of skinny jeans without even holding your breath.

Given that Yankelovich actually coined the term "Baby Boomers" back in the late 1960s when they first started collecting data on my self-absorbed generation, and they've studied our dreams, buying patterns, health habits, and values every decade since, they ought to know what they're talking about.

The book, though bogged down with buzzwords and text-book tedious at times, is a must-read for anyone who has a product, service or idea to sell to this influential group of 78 million consumers. Now where are my reading glasses ...

Great book, I highly recommend adults read with youth and discuss. I thought the ideas contained in this book were very positive and overall very appropriate for motivating young minds. I look forward to reading more from the author and sharing it with the youth that I come in contact with.

I bought this as a gift for my niece last Christmas. It was admittedly an attempt to expose her to other cultures and achievements. The best compliment was paid as she described the book to her teacher, who asked that she bring this in to read it to the class. I read this and its a good explanation of a brilliant man who thrived in his time. A good read for kids of any background.

I did not read this book until my mid-forties, but I would have enjoyed it at any age past about seven or eight.

Story: Jonas is twelve, and has grown up in a community where there is no crime, no violence, no poverty, and no misery. All of that has been methodically eliminated, in an attempt to create ultimate peace, harmony, and happiness. Everything is very well-organized and planned out. Couples are matched together based upon very good reasons, founded in the community's goals. Each couple has two children. The children's aggressive and sexual impulses are muted by medication. At age twelve, each child is matched with the career that best fits him or her. The Elders teach the children and train them in their careers. There is no pain; there is no misery; there is no poverty. And, there is no freedom. Freedom and individual choice and variety are the costs paid by the community for the peace, the harmony, and the . . er, happiness.

Happiness? Maybe contentment. No joy.

At twelve, Jonas is assigned his career: Receiver of Memories. He is trained by an Elder called "The Giver." And, Jonas finds out what the world could be like. He comes to understand the price that has been paid by the community, the price the community doesn't even realize it is paying, as they have all forgotten what life, freedom, and choice are all about. The Giver has not forgotten, and now, Jonas learns about that price. And, he refuses to pay that price.

What will the community do to Jonas, to preserve its harmony? I will not give that away here, but think about "Brave New World" or "Logan's Run".

"The Giver" earned five stars from me on two points: technical quality and content. Technically, this book is very well-written, with a fast pace, no lulls, three-dimensional characters, a well-described setting, and no plot contradictions. The nature of the community is described so well that you feel that you have been there, and you want to avoid going back.

It is the story content that really elevates this book to five-star quality, however. Diversity and conformity are issues that surround us, in the news, in our neighborhoods, in our schools, in government and politics, and in the courts. The Giver puts the debate under a microscope, and it leaves room for no simplistic answers. It portrays an artificial society where diversity has just about been abolished. It depicts the benefits of that society, the shortcomings of it, and the internal conflicts caused in the mind of the protagonist. "The Giver" gives no answers, but gifts us with a wonderful way to look at an important question. This is a great book for a classroom project, or for a parent to read with his/her child. There are discussion questions listed at the end, that can be used as a launching pad for an intellectual exploration of the issues portrayed.

I think that, while written for children, many teenagers and adults will enjoy it, and find it thought-provoking. While the reading level of the book is aimed at children, the concepts are relevant to all ages.

A non-spoiler spoiler: The end is intentionally ambiguous. While I have decided, for myself, what the ending means, each reader must make his/her own decision on what happened at the end. You get to choose. What a nice gift that is.

NOTE: This review appears on other, unlinked editions of this book.

Lois Lowry is one of those unique authors who has won the John Newbery Medal for children's literature twice. Once for the first book in this trilogy and once for a book about the Holocaust called Number the Stars. (Just as an aside only one other author has ever done that Madeleine L'Engle who I would also recommend highly.) I would begin by recommending any of her books; they are all worth the time and the effort. This trilogy is set in a post apocalyptic world. The first two books each focus on different community's who have recovered from the devastation differently, both have strengths and both have weaknesses. And a young boy must heal them both and the land if either is to survive.

The Giver
Lois Lowry
Laurel-Leaf Books
ISBN:0440219078

Jonas is a young boy who lives in a community with a lot of technology and many rules about it. He has only seen an airplane twice for planes were not suppose to over fly villages, it was against the rules. Children of the same age are raised together and each December they move up a grade, when the reach the age of twelve they are selected for occupational training Jonas in talking to his friend states about selections: "Jonas Shrugged. It didn't worry him, how could someone not fit in? The Community was so meticulously ordered, the choices so carefully made." However all the other Twelve's were assigned and Jonas was skipped then at the end of the ceremony it was announced that he had been selected he was chosen to become the `receiver of memory.' He was to learn all the history and story of the people and become an advisor to the council that ruled the village. It only happened every so many generations and only 1 keeper of memories was installed in each village. Jonas and his family take in an infant who is not maturing and growing quickly enough. The child is given a year extension, when the child is marked to me replaced (abandoned and killed). Jonas takes the child and runs away. Through the winter Jonas knows he will not make it and pours all the memories he has learnt into the child. But can he save the child? What will happen to him and his community? Jonas thought his world was perfect, that the elders had everything under control, that there would never be war again. But also a world without choices. Till he is given the knowledge of the past the choice to save a child or let it die?

Gathering Blue
Lois Lowry
Laurel-Leaf Books
ISBN:0440229499

Kira, is an orphan and she has a twisted leg, she lives in a village with very little technology and one that casts aside those who do not contribute. The weak, injured, and helpless are abandoned. However things are starting to turn around for Kira, she has been spared by the all powerful Council of Guardians, for she has a gift she is a weaver and can die cloths in ways no other in the community can. As an artisan she is installed in the palatial Council Edifice and spends the whole year working her trade, her primary task is to care for the Robe of Remembrance that tell's the story of this community. But with her privilege comes expectations that she will do the council biddings. She befriends a young boy and his ragged dog, Matty `The Fiercest of the Fierce'. Matt tells Kira about another village where people are not cast aside, where they share their food. Matt brings her a gift the color blue, and a blind man that is her father. She is torn between staying and leaving the life she knows, and the truths she can find out what will happen.

Messenger
Lois Lowry
Thomas Allen & Son
ISBN:0618404414

Matt has returned he is with Kira's father and living in the new community from beyond yonder. This village is guided by love and compassion, and guided by the `Leader' a seer arrived in this village one winter night many years ago on a sleigh with an older boy who did not survive the journey. The Seer can see the future and can often see for people what might be for his people. Matty is almost at the age where he will be named, he is hoping to be named `Messenger' for he takes message both in the village and to other villages which many can not do. But things are changing, the village is becoming hostile, starting to turn people away and the woods are becoming ferial and people are dieing. Can the Leader save the village, can the world be healed, what will happen to Kira, her father and Matty?

These three books will challenge you, after reading The Giver the first time I was overwhelmed and it haunted me for a long time. I went back and have reread it many many times. All three books raise questions about community, love, friendship, and care for other people. They also show dark paths that we as a people can go down, and how it can devastate all around us when we make the wrong choices for the wrong reasons.

The Glenstal Book of Icons: Praying With The Glenstal Icons by Gregory Collins OSB (Lecturer in Orthodox Theology, Benedictine University of Sant' Anselmo, Rome), presents diverse prayers and meditations on various icons from St John's Abbey's Byzantine chapel. Full-color photographs of the icons themselves (which in the monastic practice of lectio divina are seen as "texts" prompting meditation on Christian mysteries), as well as an extensive and erudite commentary on the practice of praying with these classic works of art and faith, make The Glenstal Book of Icons the next best thing to personally visiting the abbey to view these venerated icons on location.

The Glenstal Abbey in County Limerick, Ireland, is a wonderful place to behold. They are a Benedictine monastery, operating a school, a ministry of hospitality, and providing an expression of Benedictine spirituality in the modern world. The pattern of their liturgical and prayer life is a modified form of the ancient Benedictine structure; this book takes a particular aspect of this - praying with the icons that are in the Abbey's Byzantine Chapel.

Protestants particularly have lost the tradition of the use of art work as representative objects for worship. However, the debate over the appropriateness of icons and other imagery is almost as old as Christianity itself. There was a time when icons of Christ were banned because Jesus, being of divine nature, wasn't suitable for depiction. That Jesus could be depicted without violation of the 'no graven images' commandment took a long time to be decided, and finally was deemed permissible because of Jesus' human nature. Rare the depiction of God or God the Father as anything more than a cloud, a hand, or some other vague symbol meant to characterise, more than anything else, the mystery involved rather than an actual physical likeness. Michaelangelo's depictions on the Sistine Chapel ceiling are remarkable not simply from their aesthetic quality, but also in that the image of God is very direct and distinctly human in form. Williams devotes many pages of the introduction to looking at precisely the issue of the theology behind the depiction of Jesus.

However, icons are a special form of art. They are not simple paintings, however elegant, but take the form, from their origination to their veneration, as a form of prayer in and of themselves in very real ways. Christian art was a long time in developing (indeed, the earliest Christians were sometimes thought to be atheists since they had no visible evidence of gods around).

This book gives a brief introduction to the role of icons in liturgy and theology, relating it to both ancient and postmodern ideas. Prayer need not be elaborate or done with exacting precision, despite the appearance of many kinds of liturgies to the contrary. 'The work of prayer is very simple,' the text tells us, in making us mindful of the presence of God. The icons help remind the pray-er of this presence; while some prayers are often said with the eyes closed, it can also help for the mind to meditate upon the images as the prayers are said, aloud or internally as silent prayers.

Icons presented here include images of Christ in various times (baptism, crucifixion, ascension, etc.), the Mother of God, various saints (Basil, Nicholas, Athanasius, etc.), and the Trinity - unusual in a way, as both the Eastern and Western Trinity representations do not show the actual person of the Trinity, as iconography (particularly Eastern iconography) doesn't generally permit depiction of Father or the Holy Spirit in a 'personal' form.

Each of the icons is presented with description about what is represented in the actual artwork, what the symbols are often understood as being, and some historical interpretations attached to each. Each is also accompanied with prayers that can be said with and in front of each.

The book itself is in a small format, about as wide as an average hand, which means it fits into the palm perfectly, as if it were made for being carried and used on a regular basis. The printing and paper stocks used are superb - as much as I am generally loathe to describe books in such terms, the basic construction of this book is worthy of note, as it adds 'flesh' to the prayers being given out of this text. It is a joy to read from the sensory perspective as well as the spiritual perspective.

This book is the same size and shape as another volume from Glenstal Abbey, their book of prayer in the Benedictine form. Together these make a wonderful resource for spiritual retreats and self-study.

The Glenstal Abbey taps into an ancient history, but is itself a relatively new establishment, having been founded in 1927 as the first Benedictine monastery in Ireland since the Reformation (King Henry VIII dissolved monasteries as part of his Reformations in the British Isles). This book is a great reflection of part of their community.

I have to say that I love the book "God Bless Love". It is smso sweet and charming, even though it has some quite rude sayings in it! I would highly reccomend this bookto anyone who is looking for a fun and enjoyable read!

I love "GOD BLESS LOVE" very, very much! I met this book at B&B in England 6 years ago when I traveled with my best friend. I was very happy to read it. It was very pretty, lovely, and peaceful. It made me very happy and comfortable. I looked for it at many bookstores for a long time, but I couldn't find it. I knew that there is possibility to get it at AMAZOM.COM. If I can get it, I am the happiest!

In this book, Dr. Collins (currently Professor of Old Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis) provides an overview and an exegetical study of the theology of Miracles. It is written for a Christian audience addressing primarily the question of what constitutes the best Biblical view of miracles.

The book begins with a summary of the various views of God and His ongoing work in the creation. Both Christian and non-Christian views are presented, with a primary focus on three traditional Christian perspectives: providentialism, supernaturalism, and occasionalism. In the Biblical exegesis portion of the text, Collins attempts to demonstrate that the supernaturalist view is most consistent with a variety of Biblical texts. Finally, the relevance of this material to the scientific study or origins is presented. In particular, the Intelligent Design approach to the science of origins found to be consistent with the supernaturalist view of God's work in His creation.

This book is concise and well written, and summarizes opposing views in a fair fashion even while holding forth a particular position. It's contribution to the field is unique both in terms of Biblical exegesis and in the breadth of rival (Christian) views covered. The book's subject is clearly relevant to "science and faith" issues, and is recommended as background for anyone studying in that arena.

Part of the debate over the existence of God centers on questions about the possibility and "provability" of miracles. In this groundbreaking work, Dr. C. John Collins provides a thorough exegetical foundation for discussing God's action in the world within the framework of biblical Christian theology.

Collins begins by presenting and contrasting the options within traditional Christian theism. Supernaturalism "affirms the reality of God's action in both the `natural events' (created things upheld by divine preservation and concurrence) and the `supernatural' ones (qualitatively special divine action)." (pg. 123) God's actions are typically not detectable until He performs miracles and expresses his "potenta absoluta or creative power." Providentialism would be embraced by the "theistic evolutionist" who believes that God acted as a First Cause to set up the laws of nature to act and create, unbroken, throughout the history of the universe. Occasionalism views the laws of nature as the normal divine activity of God in the natural world, and a "miracle" simply implies that God intended something different to occur than He normally intends to occur.

He then explores the biblical passages that support a classically theistic foundation and relates these results to the philosophical, theological, scientific, and apologetic questions that this raises. Descriptions of events like the Virgin birth of Christ challenge both providentialism and occasionalism. For example, in the book of Matthew, Joseph is told in a dream, "Don't be afraid to take Mary your wife; for what is begotten in her is from the Holy Spirit." Such non-naturalist events clearly negate providentialism. And occasionalism is challenged here because "it is precisely because the miracles of Jesus are often emblematic of the coming of salvation that a supernaturalistic description of them is so suitable." (pg. 125)

Collins also effectively takes on the God-of-the-gaps position and answers with a persuasive "yes" the crucial question of whether it is intellectually responsible to embrace the biblical view of God's action in the world. Collins poses a difficult question: if supernaturalism is a correct view of God's actions in the history of the human race, is it appropriate to similarly apply such a view to origins? From his biblical exegesis, Collins notes that humans are made in the "image of God" which implies a detectable discontinuity between humans and animals. As Collins explains, sometimes inferences to design are the best explanation for various aspects of nature which bear the marks of intelligence, for "[n]o one expects that knowing more about rocks will change that inference [that Stonehenge was designed]." (pg. 171) Given reliable methods from Dembski and Behe for detecting design in biology, perhaps it is naturalism which is inappropriately filling many gaps for many scientists.

This book is a necessary read for those interested in the questions of what God's two books (nature and the Bible) have to say about if and when God acts in the world.

The author has artfully created a painful and powerful portrait of a woman ravaged by social conventions and the horrible perversions of sexual abuse. The book is extremely well-written...even so, it is painful to read simply because the horror of abuse wallops one right in the face. One's heart aches for Elizabeth. The story serves as a stark reminder that this is not just a "fiction" account. Many children throughout the world today are living Elizabeth's life. Although I've read other reviews of the book which claim a "hopeful" ending, I found the ending to be a resignation to the stagnant, love-starved state of a woman's bloodied heart. Elizabeth's decision to become a single parent is a cry of despair. Do read the book to get a true idea of how the abused feel.

This is a very emotional book. The central character is Elizabeth Wallace and it tells of her childhood stolen by abuse and dependence, her adolescence filled with confusion and her early womanhood leaden with the difficulties of coming to terms with her abuse by her father as well as the dependence and later the loss of her mother. The Elizabeth at the end of the book is a strong woman who, disillusioned with family life as she has experienced it, chose a commitment to motherhood on her own terms. It is a book that will bring home to you the destruction caused by alcohol and abuse and remind you that every child has a right to their innocence. It is an extremely well written book, which even though the subjects dealt with are at times far from pleasent, makes the book a pleasure to read. Definitely worth a try and you will not forget it in a hurry.

Thank you so much for giving me a preview edition of your new book. What an invaluable asset this will be to anyone struggling through the house hunting/ house building process.

You have coordinated all the services the consumer needs, giving order and structure to an often daunting task.

As a Realtor in Columbia County, where people are often looking for a comfortable second home in territory unfamiliar to them, I, personally, will be better able to serve the public with my new Real Estate "Bible" in hand.

Thanks again. With my best wishes and congratulations,

Stephanie W. Samuelsohn
Principal Broker
VantagePoint Realty
Old Chatham, New York

I've come to realize over the 12 years of selling real estate what an emotional experience looking for one's dream home is, even for those who own several homes. For many people, it makes a statement to family and friends about who they are. Some people get so caught up in the fantasy of finding the "perfect home" that they never buy anything. This is especially true in a rural area where the inventory is limited, lacking charm and "soul" and where most of what gets sold ends up going through extensive renovations.

"Good House Hunting" is a methodical guide to identifying housing traits and property features which, once renovated, will allow you to end up in your "dream home". Dennis Wedlick has given you the map to follow to get you to that place. Through customers' reflections of how they live and what specific features are important to them, Dennis works to help them realize their dream home embodying spirit, soul and sentiment.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this book. It will be a great help to me and to my customers!

Janet Cozzolino
Beach & Bartolo Realtors
518.392.2700

I first read this when I was about eleven, the same age as the character of the title. The story, style and characters are all tough, vivid and unsentimental. The main character is a disruptive, bullying loner from a broken home who's let down by everyone except his pet rat and a new girl at school called Rosie, a deeply compassionate African-American who befriends and helps him.

There's a particular bit in the book where Gowie is being caned on the hands by the headmaster for the latest in a long line of misdemeanours, and although the headmaster stops after one lash and dismisses him, sensing that the punishment will make no difference anyway, Gowie asks, "Aren't you going to cane me any more?" The headmaster says, "You want to be caned?" to which he replies, "No, but I don't want not to be." The headmaster continues to thrash him, and when he goes out, he says he was "crying for a lot of things that have nothing to do with having hands that hurt." It was written in 1979 but it's timeless stuff, like all great writing.

Rebecca Taylor

Gowie Corby is a tough English schoolboy who is enemies with everyone: Stuart, the self-important captain of the football team, Johnathan Johns, the brainy, prissy teacher's pet, and especially the odious and sniveling Heather. Then one day a black American girl named Rosie comes to school, and surprisingly, she and Gowie become friends. They are complete opposites; Rosie is brainy, hard-working, and optimistic, while Gowie is unstudious, rebellious, pessimistic, and fascinated by fictional horror. Gowie is able to confide his family troubles to Rosie and her friendship helps teach him how to get along with the people he despises. This book is written from Gowie's point of view, and his humorous narration of events and adept characterization of his teachers and schoolmates makes for a very interesting read. Viewed by another person, Gowie would just be another bully, but by reading his retelling of events readers can sympathize with him.