King Books

Even though I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the author had a tendency to introduce characters out of sequence. For example, sometimes background information would be provided on a person who was not involved in the progression of the story until several chapters later. By breaking up the sequence in this manner, the flow of the story was impaired and choppy. The author's sentence structure also tended to be loose and brief. Also this oversimplification made reading the story easier and faster, I did feel like the book was written for a younger audience.

Again, the subject matter was facsinating and the author obviously did a lot of work to uncover a wealth of information on the life of a relatively obscure racehorse. If you're interested in racing trivia, or are simply looking for a captivating sports story, then this book should cater to you!

John Eisenberg's story of Lil E. Tee is one of the most fascinating horse racing stories you will ever read. A horse with suspect breeding, chronic colic problems, bad legs and who changed hands several times (including once for a mere $3,000) went on to win the Kentucky Derby over several royally-bred colts plus the so-called unbeatable Arazi. He also gave an accomplished jockey, Pat Day, his first (and so far, only) Kentucky Derby winner, when Day himself thought Lil E. Tee was one of his worst Derby mounts ever.

John Eisenberg has provided a well-researched tale of the life of Lil E. Tee prior to the Derby. Interviews have been conducted with pretty much all of the principles of his story and those tales have been woven into an entertaining story that reads almost like fiction.

"The Longest Shot" isn't quite the masterpiece of Laura Hillenbrand's "Seabiscuit", but I think that this book might have great potential as a movie, because it really is a true equine "Rocky"!

MacBeth, grandson of Malcolm II, was no savage usurper and regicide - just as his cousin, "the gracious Duncan" of the play, was not a gentle king but a weak and foolish king who was going to be a disaster for Scotland, and died, not murdered, of battle wounds. While the Queen Gruoch, who had more right to the throne than either Duncan or MacBeth, was never the female monster portrayed in Lady MacBeth, but a woman of great character and courage.

Nigel Tranter's story of the historical MacBeth and his struggle to make and save a united Scotland, of his love of a greatly - wronged young woman, of the humane laws they sought to establish, the battles he was forced to fight, the ancient Celtic Church he supported against the incursion of Rome and the ultimate price he had to pay. To a large extent, the book is also the story of Thorfinn, (MacBeth's half-brother) Viking Earl of Orkney.

Ranging all over Scotland and the Hebrides, the story also goes to Norway, Denmark and Rome. Canute, Edward the Confessor, Siward of Northumbria, King Sven of Denmark, Pope Leo IX, the Saxons and the Normans are amongst the host of forceful characters who stride across the huge and colorful canvas which Nigel Tranter has brought to life.

This book takes the Scottish history concerning MacBeth from the area of Shakespeare's play to how this important king figures in the flow of Scotland's development into the nation and people that spans the Highlands and the Lowlands. It is in MacBeth's time that the Kingdom of Alba grows to encompass Galloway, Strathclyde and Lothian. This book presents dramatic details of the relationship from the lesser kings of Scotland (that would come to be known as the 13 Belted Earls, kings in their own right) to that of the High King (Ard Righ). The description of the coronation of MacBeth is worth the entire reading of the book. If a reader is interested in medieval re-creation or in understanding how the traditions of the nation have an impact on the people, this is a great place to start. (This scene reminded me of the scene in Dune where Paul claims the Dukedom before the great battle, avoiding combat with Stilguar.)

As is typical of Mr. Tranter's fictions, he doesn't list his references for this particular work. For the historians, it is difficult to know where the history and exact fact leaves off and where you are standing fully in the fiction. However, as an endorsement of Tranter's work, I have always found his historical facts to be accurate, leaving only the dialogs to the fabrication of the author. (Of course, this is what one would expect of a Historian turned novelist.)

But the work is not just a fancy story telling of the history. It contains characterizations that make it stand out as an excellent work of literature. We see a character (MacBeth the Mamor - Earl) struggle with the succession of Kings, where he has a claim to the title. Subsequently, we are introduced to the Viking blood of Scotland and the struggle as one King dies and leaves a Tanist throne in a state fit for civil war. As MacBeth becomes King of Scots (Alba) through the circumstances that will confuse a reader if they thought Shakespeare was a recounting of history, we watch the character develop with doubts and concerns that add dimension.

The aspects of history that I could not confirm as of my writing of this review, was the use and introduction of mounted knights in Scotland via Norman Mercenaries. What a concept to consider as a person scans the history from 1050 A.D. to the days of Wallace and Bruce and the days of King Edward of England. Also, my follow-up history research has been unable to confirm the detail of MacBeth's travels to the Pope and Rome, the first King of Scots to make the journey. These are details that add so much realism that you sometimes forget you are reading a Fictionalized-History and not History itself.

(I suppose I should add that I am quite a fan of the author, and own some 20 volumes of his books)

They (aged 7 and 5) loved this book. It is written in clear English, that nonetheless gives a feel for the names amd action of the characters. It is abridged enough so the kids don't get bored, but is complete enough to be faithful to the full-length novel. We just finished reading it aloud 5 days ago and the kids REALLY wanted to know what happens next.

Unfortunetely, the second installment of the story is not yet published. So, my family is now waiting impatiently for the next bit.

The only thing that could be better were the illustrations. They were small and in black and white. While I know that making the book larger and with color illustrations would have made it more expensive, I would have been willing to pay for it.

Excellent book.

It is about a boy named Emrys. He lives in a small village. One day a cruel and ruthless king named Vortigern wanted to build a watchtower in the village. He told the men to work as slaves to build the tower. When they had finished building the tower it fell! So they built it again and it fell again. What they needed was Emrys's blood. When the guards had found the right child Emrys told them that you needed to kill two dragons. They dug a hole where the dragons lived.
I don't want to tell you what happens next. You'll have to read the fantastic book Merlin and the Dragons. What I liked about the book is that it had a lot of verbs, adjectives, and nouns. What I liked about the illustrations was that they had a lot of detail. I liked the characters because they were greatly drawn and they were very cool. It was a great book and I really enjoyed it. I would compare this book to MERLIN. What ages I would recommend are 6 and up it is also a great read aloud book. The moral of the book is even if you are different you can make a change.

Merlin and the Dragons is a very good book, because there are dragons in this book. Dragons are my favorite animals because they breathe fire, and they look cool.
There were lots of cool action scenes. My favorite action scene was when the tower falls because the dragon's eggs are rumbling.
The illustrations looked real. The illustrations helped me understand the book, because the words aren't very descriptive.
I recommend this book for 7 to 70 years old.
The theme is that some people are sometimes alike.
There were lots of conflicts. There were dragons fighting. And there were kings fighting the dragons.
These are some of the characters. There were the kings armies; they were really strong, because they killed a dragon. There were two dragons, they had red and white scales, long tales, and they breath fire. The king has a gold crown.
Now I will tell you some of the story. Once upon a time there was a boy named Arthur he did not want to be a king yet. One day he had a bad dream so he went to Merlin. Merlin told him a story about another boy, who's a king too, and he wanted to build a watchtower. And the king's workers finished building it and the next day it fell down, then the king's workers built it again and again but it still fell.
Later the king's workers dug under the rocks and they found two dragon's eggs, then the king's workers smashed the eggs and the eggs hatched into fierce dragons.
If you want to know the end read the book.

It's a highly interactive marketing workbook. It encouraged me to use my common sense and what I know about my business to develop simple, effective marketing plans that really seem to work! I was VERY surprised!!!

I also like the way it's written. It's very easy to read, has lots of graphics, and probably 100 or more mini-marketing plans, many of which I was able to put to use right away!

I figure if he's been successful at 6 buinesses, I'll try what he says!

Great book!

If I ever decide to teach a marketing class I'm going to use this book as the text.

The content is good; in some places it's excellent.

Two excellent worksheets focus on charting who your customers are & where your sources of business come from.

One of the best worksheets is "Worksheet for Potential Customers." It takes up an entire page and is the best way I've seen to target each group of your potential customers and decide how you will market to each of them.

Another idea made easy is putting together a `sound bite.' Some people call it your 30-second commercial. King's step-by-step instructions make it a very easy exercise to do.

King also mentions "The Brand Called YOU" a concept that promotes making * yourself * the brand. You = your business in the sense that customers aren't buying your product or service, so much as they're buying you. This also works when you're selling yourself as an employee.

FAST COMPANY magazine spent a good part of an issue in Aug/Sept 1997 on this and I'm surprised that King's book is the only marketing book where I've ever seen it mentioned. The idea was (is?) so radical Fast Company gave it a separate web site.