Meyer Books

A great guide for the collector who wants to identify the different fossils in the slabes he has collected.

The Fossils of Florissant written by Herbert W. Meyer is a wonderful collection of flora and fauna from the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument just outside of Colorado Springs, Colorado in the shadow of Pikes Peak. Encased between layers of volcanic ash from an erupted volcano 34 million years ago are animals, leaves, and plant life at the time and are remarkably well preserved.

"The Fossils of Florissant" is a collection of different museum specimens all brought together in one readable tome for not only the specialist paleontologist but the causal reader of interest as well. This book is easily followed and is laid out well. There are ample illustrations and photographs to whet the readers interest making for a book to keep. These fossil specimens are so well preserved that a color patterns of tiny flies are preserved.

"The Fossils of Florissant" is a feast for the imagination as one wishes to understand life's history on planet Earth and this is a clear snapshot into time as it was on a wooded lake shore some 34 millions years ago in the Eocene. There are pictures of flowers, spiders, and insects galore making this one of Earth's richest deposit of life on Earth in this time.

The reader will enjoy this book as it is. The book is well appointed and there is pictures of fossilized vertebrates from this time even thorough they are small. The larger vertebretes are only fragmetary but this show that this area was a one time teaming with life and is a good cross section into how life was at that time. If you have any scientific background you'll enjoy this author's prose. Even if you are a casual reader, you'll enjoy reading about life's past.

"The Fossils of Florissant" gets a solid five stars from me. This is a highly readable well illustrated book that will capture and hold your attention till the end. The study of geology and paleontology at plases like Florissant clearly shows that the world is, if for nothing else, an everchanging, evolving place.

This is a delightful book, well written and profusely illustrated, about one of the world's premier fossil insect and plant localities. It is written for the serious paleontologist, as well as the casual inquisitive reader interested in the natural world.

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is remarkable because it constitutes a highly detailed snapshot of life at a time when the earth was entering a period of major climate change. The setting is a 34 million year-old forest, along a lake teeming with exceptional diversity, in the shadow of an erupting volcano. Due to the outstanding quality of preservation, many unique fossil plants, birds, butterflies, spiders, bees, and fish from this site appear to have met their demise only yesterday.

During the last 100 years, a large number of prized fossils from Florissant have been scattered to museums all over the world. The author has traveled extensively to find and catalog these specimens, and assemble a collection of color photographs printed in exquisite detail. He meticulously reconstructs the ancient ecosystem from the fossil record, at times much like a detective unravels clues from a good murder mystery. Interesting twists abound. For example, why is the only fossil of the tsetse fly-the blood-sucking, disease-carrying scourge of equatorial Africa today-- found at this location high in the Rockies?

When it comes to fossils, big is not necessarily better. Dinosaur books have grabbed the imagination of many in the last few years, but The Fossils of Florissant, by Herbert Meyer, is a newcomer that deserves to be at the top of the heap.

Six years ago, my mother, suffering from Alzheimer's, stopped eating. I knew she would die soon, and went looking for something to help me through the transition. I can't remember how I came upon this book, but it was perfect for me. It's short (@50 pages), eloquent, and compassionate. It made me confident that I too could compassionatley and with clarity, be with my mom as she died, and that she would have a good death. With the help of this book and our local hospice, she did indeed have a good death about three weeks later. I have no regrets, just comforting memories. I have given this book to about a dozen friends and acquaintances. I just ordered five more copies, one of someone now, and more for later. I highly recommend this book.

Meyer's book is the best I've read that gives a down-to-earth, lay-language explanation of the implications of end-of-life care decisions--like do-not resuscitate orders, tube feedings, etc.--from a religious and spiritual perspective. The author, an experienced hospital chaplain from Austin, Texas, in this brief book provides enormous insight and guidance to families and patients.

This easy to read, easy to understand, quick read on death and dying shows the dying process in an entirely different light than what I had previously envisioned in the physical aspect. As I read the book, I found that I reached a more comfortable feeling about death, both from the perspective of being the one dying and the potential caregiver. I feel so strongly about this book that I am going to buy copies for each of my family members and use it as as tool for friends who are facing decisions about dying either for themselves or loved ones.

Annette Meyers has spent time both on Wall Street as an Executive Search Consultant (or head hunter) and on Broadway as an assistant to director-producer Hal Prince. She worked on A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, A Little Night Music, Company and Follies. She has published seven Smith and Wetzon mysteries, Repentences, Free Love, and Murder Me Now. She is a past president of Sisters-in-Crime and is current president of the International Association of Crime Writers, North America.

A plane crash leaves Wall Street headhunter Leslie Wetzon wandering the streets of New York with amnesia. Leslie wakes up at New York City hospital as a Jane Doe, and the blood on her dress suggests violence and death. She escapes from the hospital after a sinister looking man appears claiming to be her uncle. Leslie knows if the man finds her she will surely be murdered. Her photo makes the rounds of the newspapers with the name Mary Lou Salinger, and Leslie also knows that isn't her real name. It isn't until her dog, Izzy, recognizes her on the street with her ex-boyfriend NYPD Detective Silvestri on the human end of the leash that Leslie begins to piece her life back together. In the meantime, she needs to make major decisions involving Silvestri before her life will truly re-emerge:

"In the elevator, she caught Silvestri's hand. 'You know I have to do this.

The rest of what I lost is going to come back. I want to be ready for it.'

'I know. I just don't want to let you out of my sight.' He took two keys

Off his keychain and gave them to her.

'I'm back and I'm staying,' she told him. 'And I'm broke.'"

Annette Meyers knows how the use the diversity and glamour of New York City to best advantage in her Leslie Wetzon/Xenia Smith mysteries. Her plots are character driven with snappy dialogue and engaging drama, obviously a product of her many years on Broadway. Not only does she tell a story, but she manages to attach a bit of allegory, so that the reader has a real feeling of satisfaction at story's end. Smith and Wetzon are virtual opposites, which makes for many comedic moments. All in all, HEDING rocks.

Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer

Annette Meyers knows how to spin a mystery. I've read all the Smith & Wetzon books and this one was a great "read". Even though there are recurring characters in the series, there is no reason you can't read this as a stand alone although you'll probably want to read all the titles. What makes the stories fascinating is that Ms. Meyers writes about things she knows well: New York City, Broadway and Wall Street. The urgent sense of the writing from the first page will have you hooked.

She escapes the thugs chasing her with assistance from a blind man and is his seeing eye dog, but the Good Samaritan took a bullet for her. Later the cops find Jane Doe suffering from hypothermia in Central park and take her for treatment at Mount Sinai. She has no idea who she is, but a trustee on a tour of the hospital sees her. Louis Gold claims Jane is his niece Mary Lou Salinger. The name does not feel right and her "Uncle" Louis strikes fear in her heart so TJ, as she calls herself Temporary Jane, flees the hospital.

At an all night diner, TJ meets Zoey Kanter. They help each other with TJ filling in at the counter when Zoey has a seizure; while afterward Zoey gives TJ a place to crash. Later Zoey takes TJ to meet her mime troupe, but the amnesiac victim wonders who she is because Mary Lou allegedly died in a plane crash. Who can she trust, and why do thugs want her silenced?

This is a terrific woman in peril tale starring a bewildered protagonist who has no idea why people are chasing her, but knows that those who help her end up hurt or dead. The tale hooks the audience from the moment that TJ uses a bus to flee Jersey for Manhattan. Fans of tense dramas will not be HEDGING their bets to read the latest Smith and Wetzon tale as this is a suspenseful winner that will send readers like this reviewer looking for the previous six Manhattan mysteries.

Harriet Klausner

Who would ever think that a woman used to the commodities of modern life would accept the love of a stranger in Africa? Who would ever think that a tribe African would accept a woman not capable of cooking? Paul Meyer makes you believe this is possible in this book! This book takes you to places in Africa few people attempt to understand. I thought I would read a romantic novel, and I found a poignant criticism of the material world and the commodities we enjoy, through the search for happiness and peace of these two characters. At the end you want to know more about their future.

This poignant story builds and builds. It will delight and surprise you! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Paul Meyer has written a cross-cultural love story that provides a fascinating look at both the customs of Kenya and the complexities of human relationships. The chapters are written alternately from the viewpoint of a kidnapped American woman and a resourceful young Kenyan man, each trying to find a comfortable niche in the world. Most enjoyable!

I'm a software developer, and spent some time looking at beginner's HTML books recently because my dad asked for a recommendation. This book was my favorite of the ones I looked at.

This book is perfect for newcomers to HTML. The author focuses on all the right things, drawing special attention to common areas of confusion, such as: pairing of HTML begin/end tags; resizing images; alignment of text around images; and so on.

The book starts with super-simple samples. Note: unfortunately, there's a serious mistake in the very first HTML sample! Near the top of p. 28, where the sample has one line which says, "", cross out the "<>", so that it just says, "Hi, my name is Paul Meyers". But don't let this mistake worry you; it's the only one I saw in the book.

The author has a breezy, joking style which I think will work well for beginners, preventing them from being intimidated. But he knows what he's talking about.

This book does not talk at all about fancier stuff like Javascript, ActiveX, and so on. And I think that's a good thing. Those are deep subjects which shouldn't be discussed in a beginning book.

One other problem: The book frequently refers the reader to an accompanying web site, however, that web site is empty! As of this writing, the site says, "Under Construction." Hopefully they'll fix this soon.

As an update to an earlier review, the companion website for this book is online and up-to-date. The online support adds to an already tremendous resource.

This book is a can't miss for beginning web designers. The author's simple, step-by-step writing style makes web development possible for the most novice web user.

This book doesn't miss a thing. Filled with plenty of very explicit examples, Paul Meyers finds a way to bring a virtual instructor into your computer room.

This is a can't miss for the novice web designer!

Meyer was a former Communist, but he atoned for this by the many contributions he made to the anti-communist cause and to the conservative movement. The latter, I believe, owes an incalculable debt to him. Before 1960, Meyer, who was at the time a senior editor of National Review, began arguing that there was no inherent contradiction between the two major streams of the Right in America, free-market principles and traditional values.

        He further argued that if the conservative movement was going to succeed, adherents of both lines of thought, natural allies on most issues, must be fused together. Supporters of a conservative economic policy, he taught, couldn't expect their policies to be enacted without the backing of social-issue conservatives. And it was equally true, he continued, that social-issue conservatives couldn't expect their policies to be enacted unless they allied with economic conservatives.

         The presidential elections of 1980, 1984 and 1988, as well as the congressional elections of 1994 and 1996, were manifestations of the wisdom of Frank Meyer.

In this book, Frank Meyer attempts to consolidate two threads of conservative tradition (later referred to as fusionism) - that of libertarian conservatism (stressing individual rights and economic freedom); and that of natural or traditional conservatism (stressing virtue and order). Meyer makes the case (persuasively I believe) that while many in the conservative movement tend to stress one tradition over the other, there is no inherent mutual exclusion between them. In short, there ought not to be a rift between those that focus on different elements of the conservative tradition. Essentially, Meyer presents the individual (not community, not "society", and not the state) as the atomic unit. And from that unit radiates out all other constituent beliefs about the individual - the right to life, liberty, and property - including the freedom to pursue virtue as well as vice. Yet despite this valiant effort made by Meyer, the tension between the two traditions of conservatism still exist to this day. Those wishing to understand that tension in a historical context would certainly do well by reading this book. In any case, whether one agrees with Meyer's attempted fusion, In Defense of Freedom is a wonderful read in conservative expression.

Meyer was an influential thinker in the neoconservative movement. He basically argues that American Conservatism is the fusion of two lines of thought or ideas that are in Europe thought contradictory (and maybe this is part of the reason why Europeans have such a big problem with American conservatism). These two ideas are the importance of individual freedom and the importance of tradition or a code of ethics needed to civilize an otherwise naturally savage species.

This is what Thomas Sowell calls the "constrained vision" of human nature. Liberals tend to embrace the "unconstrained vision," which assumes that people are just naturally good and that ignorant policies are the only thing keeping us back from developing the utopia we could easily create. Liberals believe that if high-minded third-party decision makers tell the public how they should live their lives and impose their values on everyone else that utopia would only be a few years away.

The problems with this thinking, according to the constrained vision, is that first, in order for the government to have the power to create such a utopia a totalitarian regime must first be established, and second, even if a totalitarian leader managed to force his (or her as may soon happen) vision on everyone else, according to the constrained vision this will likely only make things worse, not better. Most social "programs" have unexpected consequences, and have historically only tended to make the problem in question worse than it already was.

According to the constrained vision we should focus on process and incentives, not lofty outcomes. Welfare might have a lofty outcome for example (to lift people out of poverty), but when one focuses on incentives created one sees that welfare will only create more poverty. People with the unconstrained vision in the sixties saw this before it even happened. When Barry Goldwater heard about welfare he said all this will do is create a caste system in America. Paying people to not help themselves is about as strong a reinforcer to NOT help yourself as could possibly be created.

So instead of people preempting your decisions and telling you how to live your life, conservatives emphasize individual freedom combined with an emphasis on classical virtues such as stoicism, reticence and honor. This is a recipe for fuller, more self-actualized citizens who create more and together, through good competition, make society a better place for all who live in it, including the poorest. (There really are no "poor" people in America after all. The average person who lives below the poverty line works 16 hours a week and spends $2.50 for every $1 earned. This is a behavioral problem, not a societal problem!) Liberals instead focus on instant gratification, getting in touch with "feelings," and the destruction of personal responsibility, which creates a society of dependent complainers who have been conditioned out of helping themselves. This removes the incentives to succeed by destroying meritocracy and in the end pulls everyone down to the mean. Society as a result will suffer.

Conservatives emphasize fairness in process; liberals emphasize fairness in outcome, which necessitates the creation of unfair processes in order to force the preconceived "fair" outcome. This unfair process typically punishes success and resourcefulness and rewards laziness and sloth. Thus we can see that conservatism is not so much a religious movement (this is a HUGE misconception), as it was actually spearheaded largely by completely secular thinkers whose common feature was an opposition to all forms of fascism, which includes all forms of socialism.

Meyer thought that liberals tended to be relativists who deny the existence of right and wrong. Their relativism, which they think makes them "enlightened," really only makes them gullible and susceptible to naïve social planners who want to rush in and "fix" everyone else's life. Frank S. Meyer, along with William Buckley, were the fathers of "fusionism," which is the stance much of modern conservatism is based on.

The authors remind us that personal development can fall short if there is no follow through. With their practical suggestions and easy-to-follow techniques, readers improve their retention of what they need to learn. Know Can Do! is worth the investment.

I am a great fan of Mr. Ken Blanchchard. I have read his most of the books. And this book "Know Can Do!" is also a one of the great books, which explained that how, Repetition, positive attitude and followup can fill the gap of learning into actions. Must read.

- Thanks Rajiv

I must confess I am a Blanchard fan. The Situational Leadership, One Minute Manager, and other series are concise, helpful, and easy to put into action. Know Can Do gives one the tools to put knowledge into action. Many people are constantly looking for the next best thing instead of really putting an effort into what they already know. The author, using a story, of course, shows how to learn, review, and apply learning. By learning and reviewing a few things instead of shallowly learning a lot of things, you will accomplish more real change. all real accomplishment comes from focus, and this book will help internalize that concept.

Blanchard books are great on CD as well and will yield more return than the morning radio show. Plus, now Amazon is giving better prices on audiobooks than ever before!! A win/win.

Years of walking with the Lord and studying God's word are evident in the book Life Lines by Dave Meyer. Mr. Meyer selects some of the most poignant and relevant scriptures from the pages of the Bible on which to reflect, giving readers extra insight into God's word. These encouraging and challenging truths shoot arrows straight into their intended targets.

Mr. Meyer writes insightful meditations sure to stir a Christian's heart. Start your day with Dave and his understanding of what God has in store for you.

Do you seek wisdom and insight for your daily living? DO NOT pass up this book!! Truly one of the best books I have read, and as a reviewer, that is saying something! This is one book that will be on your "do not ever dispose of" shelf, and one you will refer back to many times. Comprised of a short saying, a Bible reading, and a short paragraph or two describing more about the saying and verse, this book is best experienced by reading one or two, pondering them for awhile and coming back for more, even though you will hunger for more and more as you begin reading. Dave Meyer has a winner in this book , and I am greatly impressed with his tremendous insight into God's word. The phrases themselves are truly touching, and though-provoking too. The Bible verses he has chosen are wonderful ones, and I have walked away a much more involved Christian because of reading this book. I will NEVER get rid of this book, and have refered back to it several times already, when discussing Bible studies with my group. Definitely am looking forward to more offerings by this God-touched author, which is not surprising with Joyce Meyer as his wife and soulmate.

This book is one of my new favorites. I like this book because it challenges me to go higher with God. This is a mature book written by a mature man. His years walking with the Lord are definitely shown in his writing and revelation from the Word of God. This book is definitely not for the christians who don't want to grow. This book is easy to read and gives you meat instead of milk. :) Don't read this if you don't want to go to the next level.

This is a great book of stories. I like to read before bedtime in the evenings, and usually I take several evenings to finish a single story. However, with this book, I found myself wanting to read more than one story in an evening.

I use a benchmark to decide whether or not a story is good. If I keep thinking about it for hours (or days) afterwards, that means it was a good read. The stories in this book produced images that stand out so vividly that, in memory, it is as if I saw them in a movie or even in real life ... the boy charred by lightning, dangling from the windrower as it goes round and round ... the deer carcasses hanging from trees in the night.

No other author has produced lingering images in my mind that are any more vivid than those generated by these stories. The only other author who did as good a job of that (for me) was Isaac Bashevis Singer.

I've had the opportunity to meet Kent Meyers in person. He gave a talk for Northern Hills Writers, our little group here in Lead, South Dakota. It's amazing how much effort he puts into his work, and it has paid off in this collection of stories. Reading Kent's work is not, however, a lazy affair. Your mind's eye must be open.

This is my 3rd Kent Meyers book and I can't recommend them highly enough. What a writer! His works are as emotionally jarring as those by Chuck Palahniuk without all the violence and the craziness. This is a book of short stories and each one packs a wallop.

One of my favorites was "Abiding by Law" which speaks to the universality of human emotions, our fear of the unknown and love for the safe and familiar, the strong drive to protect those in our family. This story has a wonderful aha moment, when a man's protective shell is cracked by a smile and a bow, a gentle nudge from one of those amazing people who are able to form bridges between people, and he is able to reach out a helping hand to his neighbor.

In "Making the News" a farmer creates sculptures out of cars.
"We were in the grove. Mammouths Resurrected come into view. Ed'd turned three cars into mammoths, put thick legs and trunks on them, and tusks,and he'd half-buried one so it looked like it was climbing out of the earth, and the second one was leaping like it'd just shook free, and the third was in full run, its trunk raised. From a distance they really did look like mammoths. The rock pile of all the rocks Ed's father and Ed and Gray had picked out of the fields was in the center of the group, and second mammoth looked like she was leaping over it, her front legs curled up for the leap.

'I don't see how he does it,' Paul Alcorn said. 'Everywhere you turn, there's something new.'

We stood looking at the sculpture, the wind making light scatter through the trees.

'It's like he's trying to bring it all back,' Paul Alcorn said. 'That's what it feels like. Everything that ever happened here.
Everything that's lost, he's trying to retrieve it.'"

A fine and very satisfying collection of stories with a strong sense of place (southern Minnesota) and the people who inhabit it. Meyers' stories represent the narrative tradition found in "Winesburg, Ohio" and "The Spoon River Anthology." He has a gift for capturing the way rural Midwesterners speak, and each of the stories is a dramatic monologue in a distinctly different voice. He also has a remarkable ability to evoke in words the experience of physical sensations -- qualities of air and movement, nuances of deeply felt emotion and memory.

There are frequent references to the topography of the land and the traces left behind of geological ages past. This awareness of prehistory and the cycles of seasons, migratory birds, and extremes of weather, frame the lives of characters who live and work in rural communities and on family farms. A young man is struck by lightning while operating a combine. A crew boss at a corn processing plant must deflect the mounting rage of an itinerant employee. A young woman struggles with her father to hang onto a farm he no longer wants. A young farmer restores a section of his cornfields to wetlands, so geese will stop again on their seasonal flights. Two bored teenagers invent a death-defying game played out nightly on country roads.

Although often haunted by isolation, loss, and regret, these are richly experienced lives, lived by people reminded daily of their vulnerability by the vast, open land around them and their dependence on one another.

Jan explains, describes, and personifies a different sense of obeidance than I have read anywhere. After reading her book I not only have a better sense of what obeidance looks like I am finding myself listening and "leaning in" to Him better. It is one thing to read a book that helps you understand something like obediance but it it is another thing to read one that pulls out of your heart better desires. Jan's writing is captivating and comfortably compelling.

I was familiar with Jan Meyers' writing through my wife (who was impacted by Jan's other book 'The Allure of Hope'). I hoped that Listening to Love would also be thought provoking reading (it is for men and women), but I had no idea how important the book would be for me personally. This book has helped me with the tension I have felt for a very long time as a Christian, and has helped me to not be apologetic for that tension. The tension for me has been this: I want more freedom as a Christian, but I don't want to lose sight of what my freedom is all about. I want to fight for good things, but I know at some point I must hand over the outcome to God. My favorite chapter was "Listening to Reality - Losing our Religion" - it revealed how we all can make religions out of anything, even very precious, good things, instead of worshipping Jesus himself. I also appreciated the chapter "Recognizing His Touch - Relinquishing our Ideas about Healing" - full of examples of how God's beauty shows up in many situations that we, in our limited sight, would say are "unhealed." Take your time with this book. It will challenge you, and give you rest, even as you battle.

Jan must have been reading my journal. Every day, I eagerly awaited time in her book, or as I called it, "Coffee with Jan." She seemingly knew my dilemma before I did. I was stuck trying to hear from God. I was fruitlessly trying to live with more passion. I wanted more of God's goodness, but the old places that I had found it were trickling it out in diminishing amounts. Jan eloquently drew me back to the heart of the story. She incorporated humorous and painfully true stories of Jesus moving through lives. In profound ways, Jan talks of how easy it is for us to go to completely good, holy things rather than to Jesus. How? Because we begin to make God in the image of those good things rather than allow him to be as big and mysterious as he truly is. I understood through the scripture references, music and movie references and the incorporation of the landscape scenes from the American west. Jan was also a close friend of Brent Curtis (co-author of The Sacred Romance), a man I have respected and loved from afar. Thank you, Jan, for telling about and giving me memories of a truly good and honorable man. And for helping me stand under the weight and beauty of Jesus, who can be both known intimately but not fully known. This one is right up there with Wild at Heart for me in number of jaw-dropping revelations.