Long Books

As the author of, The Second Virgin Birth, I have to say that Hopkinson book is very believable, with well developed-characters with amazing dialogue that surrounds several action-packed stories that will keep you guessing the entire time. It's an easy read, and extremely well written.

The stories are short but packed with depth and information. Fantastic writing from authors who should be paid attention to. A must buy for anyone interested in postcolonial writing, science fiction, race, and gender among others.

Speculative fiction, at least that popular in the West, usually projects Western and White attitudes into the future or supernatural situations. This important book, which gets its title from a quote by Harriet Tubman, collects stories on such matters from people of color who have been informed by the colonial experience in their homelands. These submissions often utilize non-Western storytelling techniques featuring unexpected moral constructions and non-linear plotlines. Thus, several of these stories seem to have abrupt and inconclusive endings, but that's if you perceive them in a standard linear fashion. Meanwhile, a common motif in this collection is science fiction treatments of White/European colonialism through the eyes of aliens who are being colonized by humans. That's a great twist on a trusty sci-fi device, but many of these writers apparently came up with the concept before constructing their plots, leading to some stories that are very contrived and preachy (the most heavy-handed example is by Carole McDonnell).

But on the other hand, the stories here are almost uniformly haunting and incredibly thought-provoking for informed readers of any culture. Karin Lowachee and devorah major really make the aforementioned humans-colonizing-aliens motif work in exciting ways. Tobias S. Buckell offers an intriguing space war with a Mesoamerican twist, and Opal Palmer Adisa brings redemption in an alternative history of slavery. Wayde Compton creates a marvelously updated version of a piece of old African folklore, to illustrate post-human discrimination, while Larissa Lai finds the inherent humanity and prejudice of supposedly inhuman robots. The most moving tale here is by Celu Amberstone, in which humans who have been forcibly relocated by aliens to a new planet try to connect with this strange new Earth in a Native American fashion. As with any collection of stories by different authors, some submissions here work better than others, with preachiness being a common drawback. But overall, this is an especially stirring collection of tales that tackle shopworn sci-fi and fantasy concepts from fresh non-Western viewpoints, offering the reader new ways of looking at the past, present, and future of the real world. [~doomsdayer520~]

Nalo Hopkinson and Uppinder Mehan have joined forces to produce a powerful and insightful anthology of Science Fiction literature from a broad spectrum of experience and (counter) experience. Please note, Amazon doesn't credit Boston-based professor Mehan (who teaches at Emerson College) with having much to do with this book, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out he had just as much say in assembling the contents as did his co-editor, Nalo Hopkinson, the famous novelist of Canada whom many credit as being the "next Octavia Butler." Together they make an imposing duo and they are wise indeed both in what they decided to do for and the people to whom they appealed for new work. The result is smashing and one of the very best books of 2004.

Wayde Compton's "fairy tale" is almost too beautiful to describe. A "growing ball of light as bright as a sky full of half moons" appears to our hero and tells him that his name is Mr. Polaris. By the way, the hero is called Lacuna and thus describes the position of writers of color, often, marginalized within the already marginalized community of science fiction. That is, it's a world filled with its own rules and domains, yet those in charge of the dominant culture regard it with skepticism and even violence, based on the fear of losing their own Antaean strength--the exploring strength of the colonizer.

The blind Victorian writer Celu Amberstone contributes a diaristic and chilling account of a mother-daughter relationship gone tragically wrong. In this brief and pointillistic tale, the daughter is called "Sleek" and she is almost like the spirit of the mother before society's pressures (and the pressures of colonization) took the free will out of her. The months and the days are each given beautiful and poetic names. The penultimate entry will bring tears to your eyes--even if you are a rock.

I wish I had time to list all the stories and what makes them good. Before I sign off I could add that, although Compton and Amberstone are both Canadian, the anthology has many writers from other parts of North America too, including the USA, as well as from other parts of the world. This world--our world. The editors have skillfully suggested to their readers the ways in which all science fiction embodies aspects both of colonizing and post colonialist teleology. It's an eye opener. Hooray for Arsenal Pulp for bringing us the news in this handsome and durabe volume.

In 'Starlight', John Shea offers narratives that can be read on many levels, with even the most superficial, literal readings being worthwhile. However, it is Shea's reflections on the stories that help us to reach deeper meanings, which resonate with the soul's journey through the miracle of Christmas. His style is lucid and with a (seemingly) effortless use of metaphor, he weaves the threads of the stories into his reflections. There is such depth and subtely to his text that each rereading enriches my soul and gives another glimpse, another facet, of the relatedness of human beings to the miracle.
This is a favourite quote: "We are like flies crawling across the Sistine Chapel. We cannot see what angels and gods lie underneath the threshold of our perceptions. We do not live in reality: we live in our paradigms, our illusions we share through culture we call reality, but the true reality of our condition is invisible."

As Christmas becomes the holiday season and is more and more commercialized, this book allows one to reflect on the spiritual side of Christmas. A wonderful read that will even pull the spiritual out of Santa Claus. Shea has a wonderful way of saying much with few words and in a way to that is understandable to all. If you have been feeling a bit out of touch with the true meaning of Christmas with all the social events and shopping this book is a good way to recover Christmas.

"We can embrace the (Christmas) season in such a way that it is not a harried time that depletes us but an invitation into a consciousness that sustains us...When the season is working well and we are cooperating with it, it renews our soul," writes Shea in this new edition of "Starlight," first published in 1992.

His reflections explore the "theological truths" of Christmas as expressed in the Bible, tradition, experience, culture, reason, and imagination. The stories, for which Shea is famous, are rooted in poetic and mystical traditions of the spiritual masters. Chapter 5, "The Magi Ride Again," for example, focuses on "the abundance of poetry and story" rather than the scarcity of historical data regarding the Wise Men. Shea shares and reflects on numerous Magi stories, essays, and poems with their own messages. There is the legend of the wise men as young, middle aged, and elderly (Christ talks to every age in the life process) and O'Henry's Gift of the Magi (a gift of no value in the eyes of the world may become priceless to the eyes of faith).

Shea also addresses the broader theme of a "defiant" Christmas, in which we experience the relationship between God, our neighbors, the earth, and the universe "and defy anything that ignores or obstructs" this view. Adopting this defiant attitude, he suggests, allows us to celebrate the season of Christmas all year long. The book "Starlight" would be a good starting place for individuals and groups wishing to make more of Christmas than a seemingly endless series of shopping trips and social gatherings.

I pick it up each year as Advent rolls around. It gets me really ready for Christmas. I never get tired of reading it year after year. It is especially good, I would feel, for folks not of a religious bent. It gives fresh insight to the Christmas season.

This is a seminal work by the author. One of the best overviews of the topic that can be found, even though in some places (for clarity) the details are rather skimpy. It is to be highly commended to anyone doing research in the area.

The author has prepared an extremely accessible treatment for the time series analysis of long-range dependent processes. The book can serve as a wonderful introduction to the topic for novices, as well as a valuable desktop reference for practitioners.

The author does a very good job of keeping the prerequisites from mathematics and statistics to the bare minimum. On the mathematics side, you'll need to solid understanding of undergraduate calculus, including infinite series and sequences. I recommend Apostle's two volume set Calculus, Vol. 1 and Calculus, Vol. 2 . Elementary probability and statistics are required, and Rao s Linear Statistical Inference and Its Application is a nice introduction. Finally, you'll need some exposure to the ARIMA analysis of time series. Try Brockwell & Davis Introduction to Time Series and Forecasting.

In the first chapter, Beran provides a wonderfully intuitive introduction in which he asks the reader to consider what happens to time-honored statistical techniques for estimating mean & variance by sample mean and sample variance in the case the usually IID (independent, identically distributed) assumption is no longer valid. This leads quite naturally into a discussion of the autocorrelation function for stationary processes, which is at the core of the investigation. The chapter concludes with a number of real-world examples of long-range dependent time series. Note that the author uses the term "long-memory" to be synonymous with long-range dependence. This is not necessarily a widely adopted practice, so take care when reading other authors. The Nile river data set is introduced at the end of the chapter, and this data will be referenced repeatedly throughout the remainder of the book.

Chapter 2 introduces the formal definition of long-range dependence in terms of the rate of decay of the autocorrelation function of a stationary time series (or equivalently via asymptotic properties of the spectral density function). Next, self-similar processes are introduced, with the most well-known of these being fractional Brownian motion. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the fractional ARIMA model, which is emphasized in the remainder of the text.

Chapter 3 is a short chapter which records the limit theorems needed for the asymptotic distribution of maximum likelihood estimators found later in the text. The results are stated and motivated, and the author provides copious literature references if the reader is interested in tracking down the mathematical proofs of these results.

Chapter 4 begins study of statistical inference for long-range dependent processes, and this starts with the Hurst R/S statistic. This discussion is reinforced with the use of the Nile river data, together with chart plots for a number of sample statistics.

Maximum likelihood estimation of the Hurst parameter H in fractional ARIMA models begins in Chapter 5 with a focus on time-domain techniques, although analysis of spectral density plays an important role. The exact Gaussian MLE and Whittle's approximate MLE are introduced and asymptotic normality of the estimators is established via use of the limit theorems of Chapter 3.

The emphasis shifts to spectral density and frequency domain in chapter 6 by considering techniques based on periodogram analysis. The fractional EXP model is introduced and considered as an alternative to the fARIMA model studied so far.

Up to this point, the main object of study has been stationary Gaussian processes. Chapter 7 provides a glimpse of some techniques used to non-stationary processes, or non-Gaussian stationary processes. This is an active area of research and the treatment here is provided to give the reader an appreciation of these issues, rather than a comprehensive review of the state-the-art.

Chapter 8 is principally concerned with estimating the mean and standard deviation for non-centered processes, as well the problem of predicting future mean values.

The question of performing linear regression on dependent variable with long-range dependent explanatory variables and long-range dependent innovations is discussed in Chapter 9. This is a must read chapter for econometricians and anyone working with economic time series data.

The next two chapters are brief, and touch on topics such as goodness-of-fit tests, simulation and fractional GARMA processes. In the final chapter, the author includes SPLUS programs along with data sets (including the Nile River data).

Very interesting at a theoretical as well as practical point of view. Covers in details all aspects of long-range and short-range dependance, be it all heuristic and more formal methods that permit to detect dependance in time series.

Not recommended for those who don't have a mathematical background (graduate) or don't want to spend too much time on the formal aspects of self-similar and related processes.

Maybe some of the chapters require a deep understanding of a particular application field where long-memory does appear but there are enough exmples so that reading it a second time enables to develop a strong intuition of what memory is when applied to time series.

Very interesting at a theoretical as well as practical point of view. Covers in details all aspects of long-range and short-range dependance, be it all heuristic and more formal methods that permit to detect dependance in time series.

Not recommended for those who don't have a mathematical background (graduate) or don't want to spend too much time on the formal aspects of self-similar and related processes.

Maybe some of the chapters require a deep understanding of a particular application field where long-memory does appear but there are enough exmples so that reading it a second time enables to develop a strong intuition of what memory is when applied to time series.

This is one of those page turners books that you can't lay aside. You have to go on to see what is happening next. Great Plot!

This was one of the most terrific books that I have read in a long time. I laughed, I cried, I hated the men, I loved the heroine, Just couldn't lay the book down once started. Stayed up till 2 am one night reading. It is Wonderful!!

Well, Sharon Long's "Sunshine" gave us both a wonderful escape from the mundane. Laughter, tears and shared interest from the book pleasantly filled more than a couple evenings dinner chats. For the same cost as a decent steak dinner you can fill not only your tummy but your mind and heart! A roller coaster ride of love, hate, sadness and joy. "Great book Sharon J. Long and good luck with it"; quoted from Jerry D. Coleman author of "Strange Highways"!

This book was a excellent read I found it most interesting I was sad the chapter was ending and excited the next was beginning , I will be wanting to read this again cant wait for the squeal Anything I might add might ruin the ending .

Yo I just finished the book. I really enjoyed it! I don't know where to start! I don't want to say the book was scary because of the tough guy that I am, I will say I turned on the big light to finish reading instead of the little desk lamp! The monsters were killin! That Mahellithraith monster had me looking over my shoulder and the Boss-She was a tough Kessel, quick too! I wish I could kick Baron Hundredfoot's ass myself though! I think he is a hustler. I think he is going to be some kind of sinister individual in the next book, sneeky guy! I think it would be a good read for teens, I don't think that any younger ages would follow to well. I can't wait to see what goes down in the The Gray Man. I just want to tell H. Wolfgang Porter to keep up the outstanding work Dawg, you are the man! I guess your going to have to turn these into movies one day!

Dude tales from the long road kicked ass! I borrowed my friends copy to read on the plane and once I started reading it I couldn't put it down! Dude the whole time I'm reading it I'm there! I can see and hear everything that's going on. The fight scenes were *%$@%! brutal! The whole time I'm thinking how the hell is this Wolf Walker going to pull the ambassador out of this mess? The monsters in the Demon's Spine were no joke! There was even some pretty hot sex in it too! Sure would have liked to see some of that in Lord Of The Rings! I think H. Wolfgng Porter has a hit and I'm waiting for the next book. I will actually buy that one! I agree with the other reviewer thay need to make a movie out of this!

Have you ever wanted to read a Fantasy/Adventure that let you go past all the 'kiddie' stuff? I don't know who H. Wolfgang Porter is, but he must have heard me! Actually, I bought the book by mistake, but I'm glad I read it. Tales from the long road was awesome! The story was not what I expected. I'm a fan of books like Lord of the Rings and when I saw it was about elves and men I thought it was just going to be another ripoff. Not even close. The story didn't start out the way I expected. Every time I thought I had the plot beat, Mr. Porter hit me with something unexpected. Amazon says not to blow the story by giving anything away. I will say this; don't let your kids read it, it ain't Harry Potter! Be prepared to read about flesh and blood characters and some down and dirty action! Oh yeah, some parts are scary as hell! I can't wait to read the next book. Hopefully, they'll make it into a movie! I definitely recommend this book... WATCH OUT FOR THE GIANT RATS! Sorry, I had to say it.

I never read science fiction or fantasy book before this one. Now I'm hooked! I always thought this stuff was just for kids. When my wife gave me this book I looked at it just to make her feel good. Once I started reading, it turned into a real page turner. I'm still not sure what a Psaycahlien is, but this Wolfwalker is one and he's my kind of guy! There was lots of two-fisted action, double crossing bad guys just like old Mickey Spillane had and there were some serious monsters. I don't know what was scarier those kessel rats or that mahellathraith thing! Oh, and don't forget the ladies! I'm an old man and the women in that story brought back some fond memories! I wouldn't have minded being in Wolfwalker's place for some of that action! I see everybody keeps asking when they're going to make it into a movie. Just save me a ticket when they do!

These books are great for a quick read. You can open anywhere and just start reading. Great for when you just have a couple of miniutes.

The Bathroom Readers' Institute has produced another great volume of the best useless knowledge you'll ever read about. The only problem is that I still can't put it down when I finish my business. So, it is the end of January, I'm almost done with the book, and have to wait 11 months until the 19th edition.

I have read probably ten or so bathroom readers...and I would give every single one of them five stars. I'm absolutely addicted to these books, and I will eventually read all of them. Unfortunately, I didn't keep track of which ones I have read.

The neatest thing about these books is that you can amaze your friends with the most obscure information! Like, when you are on an elevator...you can say things like "Would you like to hear about the history of elevators and how they were invented?" Or....you can tell them amazing stories about things like "the gimli glider" (Google it).

Keep up the good work Uncle John!!! (and the BRI Staff)

That I want to go to the bathroom every time I see this book, reminds me of Pavlov's dog that wanted to eat each time it heard the bell ring - now you know I m kidding... Seriously, this book is interesting to go through, not only because the contents are crisp and well-researched, but because they are varied in subject, length, format and treatment. No two consecutive articles are of the same type and length, or for that matter, subject.

The Bathroom Readers Institute (B.R.I) has come up with this immense collection of information, jokes, anecdotes, and other trivia from all sources of information imaginable at this time, brought about in a near-random order. The articles are arranged under numerous headings like A Blunderful life, Bathroom news, Life is strange, TV of not TV, Crème de la Crud, Hut hut hike, Forgotten history, Pop-pourri, Business, Food for thought, That's death, Canadiana, Wordplay, I will survive, Mouthing off, Law and order, Americana, Toys and amusement, Myths and legends, Music, Heroes and villains, Reel stuff, Origins, The printed word, Pop science, Words and origins, Spies and conspiracies, Animals, Tricks and hoaxes, Politics, Public lives, and finally, Answers to teasers. All in all, this is a 500-odd paged compendium of trivia - some funny and others, informative.

That being said, it doesn't have to be read only in the bathroom, but anywhere, anytime... in fact, it still stays on my desk (near my TV flipper) where I can reach it whenever I want to and can, rather than where it was intended to be. But that is a matter of preference, isn't it?

Yet another Great Osprey Book filled with photo's and information on a Personal level from Pilots and Crew

Carl Molesworth's VERY LONG RANGE P-51 MUSTANG UNITS OF THE PACIFIC WAR provides a riveting combat history joining others in the 'Aviation Elite Units' series; this focusing on the pilots who called themselves the 'Tokyo Club', and who flew through monsoons and more to attack a heavily defended target at the heart of Japan's capitol. Black and white and some color photos liberally embellish the battle and technical descriptions.

This was a fine summary of the little known activities of the VLR (Very Long Range) fighter units. The difficulties encountered by the pilots and their aircraft are well described.

The P-51 and P-47 pilots who flew VLR missions to Japan in 1945 must have had cojones of steel! Imagine flying 650 miles in a single-engine fighter over the unforgiving Pacific Ocean, battling hordes of Japanese interceptors over the Homeland and then making the return trip, all the while hoping that wonderful Merlin engine upfront wouldn't miss a beat! The story of those epic - and butt-busting - missions is well told in this Osprey volume, #25 in their 'Aviation Elite Units' series.

Award-winning author Carl Molesworth chronicles the VLR missions flown by the pilots of the 15th, 21st and 506th Fighter Groups of the 7th Fighter Command starting in April 1945. The initial escort missions were fiercely opposed by IJNAF and IJAAF interceptors; later missions, less so due to the Japanese decision to conserve their resources to combat the expected U.S. invasion of the Homeland. But when the Japanese refused to come up to fight, the P-51s just went down on the deck, strafing Japanese targets at will.

By war's end, the P-51 pilots had scored 452 air and ground kills at a cost of 121 KIAs or POWs. Because of the sporadic nature of the air combat, few pilots scored the magic five kills to make ace. Nevertheless, these missions required an extraordinary physical and mental effort from the pilots involved and Molesworth's book stands as a tribute to those indomitable airmen.

As with other Osprey titles, this one is illustrated with over 100 photographs. The book benefits however from eight pages of absolutely gorgeous color side-views by Jim Laurier. Laurier's work is top-of-the-line; his artwork is so sharp you can even count the rivets.

Recommended.

We have the whole "Little Blessings" series of 7 books, and we absolutely love them. My mother gave these to my daughter for her 1st birthday and they are her absolute favorite books. They are a bit long for a 21 month old still, but I'm looking forward to many times reading them still. An absolute MUST for any Christian family!!!

I absolutely love the Little Blessings books. Before I had a child of my own, I did a ton of babysitting for others. One little boy that I sat for had these books. I loved reading them to him. He really enjoyed these stories and better yet, they teach you about the Lord and what He's all about. They have ones that explain prayer, the cross, about God, about Jesus, about Heaven, and about Angels, etc. Not only do the kids learn, but you pick up things as well. All information in the book comes from verses in the Bible. The book answers many questions that you or your child may have concerning God or Jesus or how to pray. I bought almost everyone of these books to read to my son. I hope that he will be as enthusiastic as others were. Plus, they rhyme and what kid doesn't like rhyming books? It's a great way to spend quality time with your little one. I totally recommend purchasing these books.

This book has a beautiful message and artwork. Worthy of being a part of every Christian's library.

The author has done it again! This is a fine book, one that is accessible to children and yet a wonderful read for all ages. The artist's work perfectly compliments the text. I am buying this book for my friends and for their church libraries. I high recommend it!

Anthony's book has helped our family come to terms with a very difficult decision. My wife and I have been anxious and sad at the thought of moving her mother to a long-term care facility. After reading "Who Moved My Dentures" we have a much better insight into the matter and feel more informed and less worried. As difficult as it is still going to be, just because of what it means to leave a house that has been your home for virtually your entire life, Anthony takes much of the edge off of the situation. His encouraging and warm first-person account of his experiences provides a balance to the negative press that long-term care facilities sometimes receive. He not only gives encouragement and support but also is humorous and enlightening, giving the reader a truly personal glimpse into the day-to-day lives of the wonderful people that live here and the dedicated people that care for them, including Anthony himself. If you will EVER have the need for information regarding long-term care, this is required reading. Great stories, great lives, great book!!

This book gives a comprehensive view of the realities of making decisions when it comes to placing loved ones into nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The stories and events explained in the book are enlightening, happy, sad, and quite true. Having gone through such an experience, I wish I would have known about this book as it would have provided comfort and assurance in knowing the decisions our family made were the correct ones when it came time for the assisted living and nursing home experiences with our dad.

Cirillo makes hundreds of visits to the various institutions described in his book, so he sees firsthand the challenges and difficulties that we all must face someday, but he presents it in such a way, that makes for interesting and valuable reading.

This book is a must read for all those that have aging loved ones that may be facing elder care alternatives and it will definitely help ease the burden of decisions that will ultimately have to be made. I recommend this book to everyone.

I wish I had this book when I had to weigh my options for putting a family member in a nursing home! Cirillo covered most of the relevant issues, and also provided some nice life-lessons for us all.
Cirillo writes is a very casual style. You almost feel like you are sitting down with a story teller, who happens to be a trusted friend. His allusions to his "old neighborhood" of South Philadelphia provide a nice slice of life. You can tell that Cirillo speaks from experience and with a passion for his commitment to long term care. This is not the cold synthesis of a researcher; rather stories with a purpose from a warm-hearted, well-organized educator, entertainer, and long term care professional.
This book is something that every potential client for long term care should read.

"Who Moved My Dentures" is must reading for baby boomers contemplating nursing home care for their parents, or thinking ahead some years when they may be residing themselves in such an institution. Many of us are apprehensive about aging, and Cirillo does a great job dispelling some of the myths of aging in America and what it's like living in an assisted care facility. In addition to being a healthcare professional, Cirillo entertains in diverse assisted living facilities, more than 300 shows a year on the east coast. Thus, he writes from an insider's view, and he has a unique perspective gained from experience at many different institutions. The myths Cirillo addresses in each chapter are the questions many of us with little experience have about such institutions; e.g., are they places to die vs. a temporary home to enjoy life, what types of activities can you do there, friendships, romance, visitors. The biggest take away for me was the information presented about long-term care insurance. The costs associated with assisted living, as with other health care costs, are very high in America. An unplanned extended stay in such a facility can severely impact the financial resources of families without some type of insurance protection. I recommend this short book (163 pages) as a good initial resource for someone considering assisted living.

We love this book!!!! I read this to my son who is 9 1/2 years old and has ADD. He has such a short attention span with any book I read to him. He actually looked at the photos and listened to me read this book without taking his eyes off of it. The rabbit is cunning and the wildcat part is histerically funny, we laughed and laughed. Thank you and You need to keep writing more funny books about this funny rabbit, wildcat.

I was enchanted by Br'er Rabbit when I was a small child. Now as an adult, I find myself emamoured with Compere Lapin! "Why Lapin's Ears Are Long" is a truly delightful story of a mischevious rabbit who knows what he wants, usually gets it and sometimes a little more than he bargained for. It's easy to find yourself laughing while reading this story aloud with a Cajun accent. The stories and illustrations are equally wonderful! Hope Madame Doucet plans to write more Lapin tales!

The pronunciation guide is the subtle difference in this children's book. Granted, the stories are amusing and the illustrations captivating but the real enjoyment comes from reading the story to a child "in character."

I participate in a program in California called Rolling Readers. I am currently reading to a class of third graders. The children were enthralled with the book both with the stories and with the illustrations. They begged me to find more stories of Compere Lapin's antics. I cannot imagine a more successful book from their point of view.