N Books

I USED THIS BOOK FOR YEARS, MAKING ALMOST EVERY PATTERN IN THE BOOK AND LOANED IT TO "SOMEONE". I FELT I WAS IN WITHDRAWAL WITHOUT IT SO I PURCHASED ANOTHER. THE PATTERNS ARE SO VERSATILE AND THE TECHNIQUE CONTINUES TO BE MY FAVORITE TO TEACH AT THE LOCAL QUILT SHOP. EVERY STACK-N-WHACK I ENTERED IN A COMPETITION HAS BEEN AN AWARD WINNER. BETHANY IS A GENIUS TO HAVE CREATED THIS DRAMATIC TECHNIQUE AND TO ALLOW US TO REALLY APPRECIATE OUR LOVELY FABRICS.

I purchased this book to go with the companion book. I received it the day before I got the companion book from a friend who went to town and purchased it and brought it back.!! Speedy delivery.
Thanks

I decided to tackle a stack-n-whack for my second quilt and loved this book! The beginning couple of pages did a great job of explaining the basic process. I found that cutting out the pieces was the hardest part and once that was done, the blocks went together so quickly. I can't wait to make the same quilt again in different fabrics and compare the two results! The illusions in this book are also so amazing that it makes my quilts seem so much more professional because the design appears so complicated to a novice quilter!

I decided to tackle a stack-n-whack for my second quilt and loved this book! The beginning couple of pages did a great job of explaining the basic process. I found that cutting out the pieces was the hardest part and once that was done, the blocks went together so quickly. I can't wait to make the same quilt again in different fabrics and compare the two results! The illusions in this book are also so amazing that it makes my quilts seem so much more professional because the design appears so complicated to a novice quilter!

If you are just getting into Stack and Whack, get Karen's first book. If you really love it and want more ideas, this book will inspire you. It's such fun to see what Karen makes using today's large scale prints - she deserves a quilter's hall of fame award for inspiring many to play with prints! The mirror-image variations in this book are interesting, but I've had a hard time finding fabrics that are appropriate for them (the color saturation on the back needs to be almost as rich as the front for these to be effective since you are using both sides).

Wonderfully written. The characters are very well drawn out, especially Graceanne and her mother. The story is told from Graceanne's brother's perspective. Although many people in her life see Graceanne as being a misbehaving "problem" child, it is clear from the way she treats her siblings and friends that Graceanne is one of the most loving characters I have ever met. I was sorry that the book ended. I want to know more about what happens in their lives. I highly recommend this book.

Very true to life story of a fractured family. You will have a hard time putting it down.

Once I began reading this book, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I was anxious to get back to the story to find out what happened to these children, always hoping that some drastic event would change their lives for the better. The writing is so vivid that you can easily picture the settings and feel their pain. The ending leaves you haunted and wishing to go back and make it right for them. I highly recommend this book as one of the best that I have read.

The minute I finished this book I wanted to talk about it with someone. I wanted to explore the rich Missouri setting, the strong characters that are authentic and interesting, and the issues of racisim and child abuse that rage through this novel like the river that floods Graceanne's home town.

In a nutshell, Graceanne is a spirited highly intelligent child who is the sole recipient of her mother's violent abuse. She remains strong, witty and true to herself throughout the entire novel. I strongly disagree with a fellow reviewer who believes that Graceanne "got what she deserved" because she was such a willful and devilish child. I believe her antics, such as hiding out in the school's flooded basement for two days so that she could be "Champion for Eternity" in a game of hide-and-seek, was her way of not letting the abuse do her in. It was her way of preserving her soul.

At first I was really worried that the child-abuse scenes would be too vivid. I worried that they would be the central imagery of the story. They aren't. Whitney uses them just enough, and is detailed just enough, so that you know how sick the mother really is. The author often makes you laugh and smile at a small town childhood, and small town kids getting into small town mischief.

This is really a story of kids overcoming the hands that life has delt them. Charlie overcoming his club foot, Graceanne her abuse and Wanda the racism that plagued that era of American history. These kids perservere with such charm and such thoughtfulness. In the end you are cheering for them, and praying that happiness will follow them beyond the wire hanger beatings of their childhood.

This is a book that sticks with you. Read it.

What an amazing book! The soul-touching story, combined with some of the most incredibly natural, infectious humor since Mark Twain, makes this one of the most uplifting books I've read in recent years.

The main characters -- 9 year-old Charlie, the narrator, and 12 year-old Graceanne, his sister -- are immensely endearing and admirable. They are growing up -- along with their older sister, 16 year-old Kentucky -- living with their recently-divorced mother on the 'wrong side of the tracks' in a small town in northern Missouri in the early 1960s. Their dad isn't in the picture much -- an alcoholic soldier who beats their mother, he's sent packing early on in the story, and makes himself scarce after his exit.

The mother, Edie, would probably be diagnosed today as being neurotic or psychotic. In her never-ending struggle to 'keep up appearances', she constantly nags her kids about their manners, the company they keep, &c. On several occasions, she asks out loud 'What have I ever done to deserve such demon children?' She takes most of her frustrations with her life, along with her complete misunderstanding of her children, on the intelligent, precocious Graceanne. On several occasions, she beats her until she's bloody. It's easy to understand how the kids would come to see themselves as a burden to her -- if it weren't for their seemingly indestructable spirits.

Graceanne is a tough child with a reputation to match. Near the beginning of the book, Charlie (actually short for Charlemange, which should tell you MORE about their mother), who has a correctable club foot, is musing about being bullied by the other children in town. He dismisses worrying about the other kids with these thoughts about his sisters (from p.9): 'The two worst bullies in Cranepool's Landing were ALREADY exercising their license as family members to beat me silly -- "whale on you, young man" -- on a regular basis, leaving all other potential assailants the status of respectful, but backward, admirers of my sisters' originality and prowess.'

Graceanne has an IQ of 165 -- and Charlie's is a very respectable 139. The author gives these children -- especially Graceanne, acquired by Charlie possibly simply by being in her presence -- incredible voices. Graceanne's use of newly-absorbed vocabulary words doesn't come across as much as an attempt to show off as it does as a means of asserting her inteligence and individuality in an atmosphere that tends to crush it.

She is also a universally feared and respected softball player. Some of the parents of the other kids even suspect that she's a boy. From p.248: 'She could hit anything that came at her, and she'd slice the ball belt-high through the infield, so close to the player she was aiming at that most players couldn't possibly catch it. A couple of parents complained that Graceanne was trying to peel the skin off their kids; the ball would come so fast and so hard and so tight that the only sensible thing to do was to hit the dirt when they saw it coming...'

There are several notable events in the book -- which takes place over the course of a little over a single year, from April 1960 to July 1961. It is the time of the Kennedys and Camelot, of the boiling pot of race relations in American coming to a head, before Vietnam -- a time of innocence and discovery, tailor-made for an imagination and spirit like that possessed by this young heroine. After her parents' divorce, her mother is forced by economics to move her family to a 'bad' part of town. Graceanne becomes fast friends with Wanda, the young black girl who lives next door -- which brings out some revealing comments and feelings from her mother, showing her to be anything BUT the color-blind person she has professed to be.

There are some tender, poignant moments in the novel as well -- both between Graceanne and her friend Wanda and between the siblings. Little brothers at this age historically do not endear themselves to their sisters, or vice versa. Through the course of the book, Charlie wrestles with what he eventually recognizes as growing feelings of love for his sister. From p.275, he wonders about his feelings that are awakened by hearing Elvis' 'Love me tender': 'I wondered if I loved anyone tenderly. I knew I loved Mike the dog, who you couldn't sing an Elvis song to because he was an animal. And I looked around and saw Graceanne with her doll hair and her glasses and her soft skin and I thought maybe I loved her, who would laugh at me if I sang Elvis to her. It came as a big surprise to me that I loved my sister.'

The novel is filled with moments like these -- but the action sequences never become over-the-top or unbelievable, and the touching moments never become maudlin. The author transposes her vision of this story onto the page with an easy grace and eloquence, touched with humor and sympathy for these wonderful characters. This is a story that can be enjoyed by adult readers -- and indeed, I came away with the impression that it was written for them -- and intelligent young people as well. It's quite an achievement.

This book is extremely well written and I would highly recommend it. As a former Jehovah's Witness, I was able to identify with so much of the story - not the sexual abuse (although I learned of some sexual abuse that occurred and was covered up by the elders) but I have seen so many mothers who were like the author's mother. One of the reasons I first began to question the Watchtower religion was because of the way the children were treated - or mis-treated would be a better description. Kids spanked who were noisy during the lengthy adult services, pinched when they fell asleep at late night meetings on school nights, etc. etc. But that is mild compared to what the author endured. I enjoyed this book very much.

This book was a bit like therapy. It was helpfull to hear a story so much like my own. She is a powerful writer, and honestly portrays what can go wrong in the JW cult.

Joy's memoir is a stark reminder that abuse in all of its various forms is devastating to individuals and relationships. Because it is her story and she was raised by parents who were Jehovah's Witnesses, it includes much of that lifestyle, religious doctrine, and terminology. Joy does a fair job at explaining some of the little understood doctrines when they appear in her story.

If you are looking for a diatribe or poison pen against Jehovah's Witnesses or the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society you may be disappointed. She neither attacks nor excuses them. She more often reflects on the confused contradictions she experienced trying to make sense of the wide gap between what was taught and how it was lived.

Having studied the Witnesses and their organization for more than two years I was familiar with many of the ways they apply scripture to their lives and Joy's descriptions are fair. The fact Joy's parents and step-father clearly took some of them to the extreme only confirms they were unbalanced people. I have some close personal relationships with a few Witnesses but probably could not get them to read this book as they would likely view it as apostate writing.

The book serves to remind us how men and women in any religious following who fail to use the good minds God gave them to discern good from evil but instead faithfully, but blindly follow a religious organization as proof of loyalty to God, can find themselves quite quickly in horrible circumstances.

Joy's book also gives hope to those who seek a relationship with God rather than an organization.

I felt that the book was very well written and engrossing. Having suffered through a very similar situation in my youth with this particular religion it was a comfort to me to know that during those lonely years that I truly wasn't alone: Other people were going through the same confusion and frustration that I had been through. Mrs. Castro did a great job of explaining the JW thought process and the total lack of respect they have for women. They are very willing to place uneducated men to call the shots in their congregations. They allow these men to make decisions that they have had no training, no experience and no business in. The mere fact that they are men is the only qualification many of them need. I felt Mrs. Castro also did a great job of showing how manipulative the JW's are. The "truth" is not what they are interested in at all. Preservation of their beliefs, right or wrong is what fuels them. The book must have been difficult for her to write but I would think cathartic also.

I could not put this book down. The mental and physical abuse that Ms Castro and her brother received is unbelievable. As we move through her incredible life it is inspiring that she was able to rise above her circumstances and find peace within herself and create a loving enviroment for her son. I have no history with JW, but would recommend this book to anyone. Beautifully written. Can't wait for the next book by Joy Castro.

The author offers interesting perspective to our eternal soul, and some of the passages in the Bible - especially about Jesus. He does contradict his position about Mediums and "cold readings" at certain points in the book, but all-in-all this is a good book - worth the price.

Robert Brown is a phychic sensitive who shares what he's learned about life & so-called "death" in his book "We Are Eternal".

He begins by discussing his "early years" - including the fact that he started off as a "certified skeptic" - with his original goal being to prove the non-existence of psychic abilities. From this point, he shows how & why his views changed, as well as when he realized that he actually had this gift that could be used to help others in so many wonderful ways...

Mr. Brown then goes on to discuss what he's learned over the years regarding various "major" life topics, such as:

Suicide - you can't run away from anything, even through death.

Death of Children - there is a "reason"

Disease - the need to maintain positive thoughts, the damage of prolonged negative thoughts, and the need for there to be a balance between the body & the spirit

Disabilities - we all have the "right" body for our mission

Religion - it's time for people to move away from "blind" faith, and return to their spiritual roots. He also discusses the good and the bad of some of the world's largest religions.

Some of the other topics discussed include: pets, reincarnation, karma, life after "death", and what happens to "evil" people.

Overall, I found this to be an easy, interesting read. As such, I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in spirituality &/or the "paranormal". An open mind is a must!

My husband and I lost our 20 year old son, Nathan. Our grief was intolerable.We had so many questions; where did he go, does he still exist in another place, who is with him, helping him? The day after his memorial service, we found ourselves in a book store looking for answers. We both at different times picked up the book, "We are Eternal". We thought this was a sign for sure that we were to read it.
While reading the book, We were able to find strength in knowing that he still existed, that this was not the end for him but rather a new beginning. My husband, who rarely ever reads, read it at least 20 times. We became stabalized and when we fell pray to our grief, we read it again and found strength. This book got us through and continues to get us through the toughest times of our lives.
We will never see death the same way again. It has forever changed our understanding of who we are and what we are here for.

I'm giving this book five stars because I think that unlike Beatrice Eadie and Sylvia Browne, this author is on the level and actually gets communication from the people we consider dead. Beatrice went much too heavy on Jesus Christ, who is, after all, just a man, and Sylvia is, I believe, someone who makes it up as she goes along and sometimes contradicts what she has previously written. I don't believe a word she writes. So when I come across "the real thing" I have to give it five stars.

The subtitle of this book is "What the spirits tell me about life after death". The problem is that this book does not live up to that promise. It tells next to nothing about life after death. For that, your best bet is Journey of Souls by Michael Newton, the very best book ever written on the subject, taken as a unit with his second book Destiny of Souls. Newton's third book doesn't add much and focuses on less interesting matters.

What did I learn here about life after death? I forgot. Not much. Warning bells started going off early, when the author was simply too chatty, taking too much time to tell us his early adventures in mediumship, making us wait too long for some information of substance. Whenever an author does that, you can reasonably suspect that he isn't going to tell us much.

Give me a minute to remember ONE THING that I learned from this book about life after death. He said that we fall into four different basic types - teachers, healers, warriors, and philosophers. I'd be a teacher. I am always shooting off my mouth about things. Communication is a mania with me, which is why I write so many Amazon reviews. Also, I can take a kid who is failing high school math and turn him into an A student in one or two lessons because I have a gift for teaching, by determining what the person already knows, and building on that, rather than by following my own agenda and hoping he gets it.

I can see myself spending a lot of time with the Akashic records, viewing Napoleon's battles, seeing history develop from a bird's eye view, that sort of thing. I'm always reading books now, in this stupid life. Imagine how much I'll be "reading" back home, when the "books" are what we call reality.

I wish this book lived up to its subtitle and told us much more about what our lives are like when we leave this life. I have so many questions. None of them are answered here.

If you've lost a loved one, have psychic intuitive abilities that you are trying to figure out, if you are a fan of Jonathan Edwards or James Van Praagh or Tiffany Snow or Sylvia Browne, this book will be a pleasure. Understand what it is like to live the unique life, one where no path is there to follow, and the trail blazing is left up to you. May we each be as bold!

This book was a great hit throughout my second grade art classes. They have been looking for characteristics of Picasso and Matisse in every art work we see. Then I read it to one of my first grade classes an hour before Christmas break began. They had so much fun creating self-portraits using the techniques of either one of these artists that several didn't want to leave the art room. I'd post some of their artwork if I could. It's been a wonderful experience.

What a fantastic book to introduce some masters to your child. Wonderful, bright pictures and an adorable story!

Such a humorous and educational way to learn about the two masters of 20th century modernism. My son has this book and I've given it to other kids and everyone loves it, and they amazingly retain and remember the facts about the real artists as well. Excellent way to expose your child to the arts in a way that's fun and memorable.

Whether your kid knows who Picasso is or not, this is a fun play on Famous Artists and their feuding ways. My Kindergartener loves this book.

This book is my daughter's favorite. We have read it every day for the past 9 or so months and she has most of the punch lines memorized, (e.g., "mootisse was not like the other bulls" "it was a modern art mess" "the silence was broken" "i'm tired of this crowded cow town"). After reading it the first time, she said she wanted to draw with paint. And she did. Now we do watercolors all the time and she knows that Picasso and Matisse were great artists. This book provided a fun and funny way for her to learn about two art masters and their styles while also teaching a lesson about conflict resolution.

We have taken this book on flights across the country and overseas. The illustrations and the story engage my daughter to no end. The description of this book is for 4-8 year olds but unlike Roberto: The Insect Architect by Nina Laden (also a funny, well-illustrated book), I find Pigasso/Mootisse to be appropriate for a younger {pre}reader as well. I'm back to buy more copies as gifts for all the kids that I know.

I own several screenwriting books and consider this one to be in the top 3 (McKee and Vogler being the other 2). The reason is because this is one of the few screenwriting books with information coming straight from successful screenwriters. This is key, because through their insights you can better understand how they work, think, and live. And this ultimately affects your writing positively because a lot of the uncertainties during the writing process are discussed. It won't teach you about structure etc, but it contains information that to me was equally vital: how to think as a successful screenwriter.

In real estate they discuss the three "L's" Location, location, location. This is the three "W's" Write, Write and Write more. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to write a screen play.

I always find it frustrating when I go to Amazon and look at the reviews that are posted and find that they are at least 2 to 3 years old. So I decided to at least make a more up-to-date review.

First and foremost, this book is NOT a `How to Write a great Script' book. This book is about screenwriters and their knowledgeable insight on the practice we all know as Screenwriting. These established screenwriters ( Akiva Goldman: A Beautiful Mind, A Time to Kill, and the up coming The Da Vinci Code Steven E. de Souza: Die Hard, 48 Hours.) reference their past experience on what works, what does not work, and what habits you need to establish to have a successful career in the shark infested waters of Hollywood. Not sure how many hours you need to write day in day out? Thinking that you are the only one with a spouse and kids, fearing that you will not have enough time to write? Arrived at Hollywood lost with no plan of action on how to get your script read? Worried that you born yesterday and began sending inquiry letters to agents and producers? Fear of rejection (it is inevitable) from everyone? All these topics are discussed and more in this book.

This book is required reading for all serious screenwriters. I also suggest Breakfast with sharks by Michael Lent, The Art of Dramatic writing by Lajos Egri, Story by Robert Mckee, Making a good script Great by Linda Seger, and The Writer Got Screwed by Brooke A. Wharton.

This is a must read for anyone who aspires to be a screen writer. Any wannabe writer has their own personal favorite blogs, a blog that helps inspire, motivate and teach them. This book is almost a best of those blogs from successful writers whose movies they have written have actually BEEN PRODUCED.
The one main theme of this book is just write and write and write because you love writing and not because you want the Hollywood celebrity lifestyle. Great writing will open a lot of doors for one and most importantly, keep that door open.
In my opinion, I like to study and and read how successful writers from all genres got their first break, their work ethic and how most importantly they work through writer's block and rejection. Again, Karl Iglesias' book does that successfully.

I was lucky enough to meet Mr. Iglesias at the Screenwriting Expo. He knows his craft, he loves the business. And he's brutally honest in conveying the realistic odds of breaking into Hollywood. While no one ever says it's easy, he can tell you just how hard. This book is a must read for any aspiring screenwriter. Interviewing some of the greatest screenwriters, they all are forthcoming in telling their own tales of struggle, achievement, success, and most of them, frustration.

This book may be geared toward all screenwriters, however it succeeds in leaps and bounds, by telling the realistic truth any up-and-coming screenwriter needs to hear. Too often people are putting together a script hoping to win the lotttery, sell it for mid-six figures, and not taking the time to understand that the money should never be the motivating factor of writing any script. And if that's your only motivation, you'll never succeed in making your dream come true. This book reminds those of us that do it for a different reason, what that reason is. It's the love of writing. Anything else, any other reason, is simply a waste of time and energy.

Mr. Iglesias lays it out in plain view, through interview after interview, just how much of an uphill battle it is get someone to simply give your script a look, and even then, chances of your selling it are slim. Nicholas Kazan once spoke at a seminar. He told them to go turn in their registration forms and go home. He then told them that if any of them seriously entertained that advice, they would never make it. It's all about challenge and it's all about sacrifice. This book will help you realize how important both of those things are.

have a problem with using words like "brilliant", "masterful" and "intelligent." But willing apply all words to this brilliant book, masterfully research and intelligently told.

The author gives a very full and complete treatise on Brown versus the Board of Education, but of greater interest, he writes of all the history that lead up to the ruling.

An exceptional book chronicling an extremely important issue in our country's history.

This is certainly the best book ever written -- the best book that ever will be written -- about race, law and American society. It is a remarkably insightful history and one of the most stunning existing examples of narrative journalism. It is a masterpiece.

I'm a fan of nonfiction works and this easily moved to my top 5 favorite books. When I was growing up there were no courses on the contributions blacks made to America. There was no black history month. And I was cheated. I'm a 50+ white woman who lived through desegregation and had no clue that it was a struggle. I honestly don't remember a time when my elementary classes were all white but they must have been. I do remember clearly when my elementary class stopped being all white. That was when Richard Harris became my Batman buddy. On the aftenoons following the show we would go to the neighborhood soda shop and have a coke and discuss all the action of the previous evening's show and check for new Batman bubble gum cards with the intensity that only 5th graders can bring to such an important endeavor. It felt normal to chat Batman with Richard; and I'm so sorry for all the children that had such a dumb practice as segregation rob them of those moments.

This book read like a thiriller for me. Couldn't put it down. Underlined and highlighted parts. Read other sections out loud to my husband and to some friends at work. This is American history. Everyone should have the opportunity to learn about the value of education, the value of varied experiences and the perseverance to acquire the rights that should never have been denied to the black people. It's made me hungry to know more and I'll be keeping my eye out for other works by Kluger. Excellent author.

I just finished this book, A Simple Justice, and it is fantastic. It's the story of Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, which is the landmark Supreme Court case that desegregated compulsory public schools in America. But it's so much more than that. After reading this book, I felt almost ashamed of my previous ignorance to the struggles and condition of black america at the hands of almost everyone else in the country. It is comprehensive in its scope and perspicacious in its analysis, sparing no feelings on either (or rather, any) side. I believe myself to be, for the most part, a judicious man when it comes to philosophical or sociological observations, but Kluger was able to open my eyes to angles I had previously missed on issues I thought I had resolved long ago. So if you're not too scared of big books, this one's worth the time.

Long a mainstay of every 1L's pre-law school summer reading list, SIMPLE JUSTICE is more than a retelling of the tortured history of the landmark cases now known collectively as Brown v. Board of Ed. It is more than a retelling of the agonizing struggles of both gifted and ordinary people---black and white and every other---to reverse the four centuries of racial disparagement that make up the ugliest of all underpinnings of the American Experiment. What SIMPLE JUSTICE is, is an exhaustive sociological history of race relations in the United States to the 1950s.

It is a book every American should read. The endemic quality of racism in the American psyche is so overwhelming that it is easy to lose the human element. SIMPLE JUSTICE restores that element with sensitive, intelligent writing, exhaustive and documented research, and a tone which is pitch perfect, strident when need be, reasoned and thoughtful throughout. Ultimately optimistic, SIMPLE JUSTICE will renew your belief in the American system even while tempering it.

In it's retelling of nightmarish incident after nightmarish incident (the explosive and hideous lynchings are often easier to understand than the equally hideous and more subtle segregation and caricaturing that endured for, it seems, ever), SIMPLE JUSTICE shows us an America riven by its view of itself as a noble nation being eaten by the canker in its soul.

Although many Americans now consider race discrimination passe, it is not so hard to see the continuation of a pattern of violence toward blacks and the denigration of the black experience, even today. And yet, there is more, for not only are Black Americans denigrated, but White Americans as well, both suffering because this nation is only a fraction of what it might othewise be.

SIMPLE JUSTICE is a crucial Civics lesson. Read it to learn. Read it to know. Read it. Read it again.

An American friend was profoundly moved by the suffering she saw in Tibet recently...as red china gears up for the Olympics.
Palden Gyatso's is an incredible story of suffering and faith.
Tibetans' face an ongoing now 60 year struggle to retain their heritage and to not be `disappeared' up by a communist regime.
When I was much younger I read a book `With God In Russia"..this is its buddist counterpart!
What struck me about the other reviews is that they don't mention we the free world ESPECIALLY THE USA is now on the hook to Red China!
AND IT CAN HAPPEN ELSEWHERE!
MAO KILLED 60 MILLION...OR SO THAT'S THE NUMBER I READ....the other accountas of the book don't take this into account..what happened in Russia/china/tibet/Vietnam/north korea can happen elsewhere.....and china grows richer and stronger year by year.

I recently met Palden Gyatso at a Dalai Lama teaching and bought a copy of his book there, mostly as a way to support him. Though I read all the time I rarely finish a book as I usually lose interest 2/3 of the way through and move on to something else. But this book was an exception - incredibly interesting and inspiring - I finished it very quickly.

This is a great book. I am an activist for Tibetan independence and knew much about the atrocities taking place in Tibet since 1949, but this book put a face to the facts. I highly recommend this book if you're interested in Tibet, Buddhism, or in learning about a remarkable man who went through horrible oppression and has emerged gracefully.

I've read a few books about the sufferings of Tibetans by now, but still, this book managed to affect me and make me stop and think. Again and again. First of all, how has nothing changed since this book confirmed that China is continuing to do all it can to wipe out the culture, religion and spirit of Tibet? I know I have responsibility to speak up about this (and I will) but I still can't believe that higher powers up there did not stop China by now.

Anyway, back to the book- Palden Gyatso is the image of courage, compassion and inner strength. I read passages of how he was tortured and bullied and then would flip to the inner photo of this tiny, frail man-astonishing! I see now that the determined and strong look on his face at the UK Independence rally co-exists with the gentle, loving portrait on the cover and it's a wonderful combination. This book reminded me that it takes deep courage to stand up for who you are and what you believe in but there is no greater purpose for each of us than to aim for that goal with all that we have.

Read this book to better understand why Tibet needs our support but also to re-instill your own will to be a decent,kind and courageous human being.

This book is a testimony to the endurance of the human spirit, able to overcome the most nefarious system perhaps the world has ever known. The fact that Palden Gyatso is able to relay his story to you and me is nothing short of a miracle after what he had to endure for years inside China's prison system undergoing "reformation." The stories of torture, starvation and freezing nights will stay with you forever and make you question how strong your own beliefs are and whether you could do what Palden Gyatso did. I do not wish to reveal too much, but will say that calling the story compelling is a vast understatement.

This book is as important now as ever. China has the 2008 Olympic games and yet these brutalities continue to occur. Not to mention the fact that China is now relocating Chinese into the Tibetan region, threatening forever one of the world's great cultures through dilution of the society and culture.

Buy this book and see both the horrors of mankind and also his greatness in what he can overcome. If you like this book, I would also recommend Ama Adhe's book from a woman's perspective in the same system. We often hear the word hero, but rarely is it so appropriate as it is in describing these amazing individuals.

As one who can personally relate to the stories told by Schaeffer, I just couldn't put the book down. He cycles from view to view of multiple characters, fully examining the situations and events throughout the book. The multiple viewpoints don't lend themselves to individual favor, aka good and bad people, but more to the thoughts and actions you commonly wouldn't assosiate with people put in these situations.

Great book, very detailed and descriptive of events you wouldn't associate with a military enlistment.

I loved this book. Mr. Schaeffer is not only a very, very good writer, he also captures the feelings of an unlikely military family. I highly recommend this book for military and non military. If you are a military family, you will cry, we always do. If you are not, read it anyway, it's a good read.

I have read Schaeffer's Calvin Becker trilogy plus the book (title escapes me) written jointly with his son. Baby Jack starts out sounding written in one voice (Frank's) which I was finding a little disappointing. The author surprised me as he introduced new voices to further the story a definite new twist. I hesitate to say more for giving away the story. A must read for all families with sons and daughters in the military. It is also a must read for those of us who oppose the war in the Middle East to remind us at what cost we have the freedoms we have today.

Baby Jack

Todd Ogden, an acclaimed painter with works in museums around the world and a supposedly successful thirty-year marriage is living in and painting his two hundred year old house when his youngest son, Jack joins the Marines instead of going to college. Jack goes to Iraq and is killed. Baby Jack is the story of how his baby son is coped with by the baby's grandfather.

Recommended for fans of Frank Schaeffer

Gunner December 2007

This is an extraordinary book about the meaning of service and sacrifice. Given that we are at war, it is a book that "must be read" if we are to understand that the war is being fought by a very few and their loved ones. It is not a political polemic. It is the story of a young man who chooses to become a Marine and the profound impact of that choice.

Highly recommended.

This was one of my favoret books... a must read!!!! In the first book, you begin to think captain Bligh is evil but in the second book he seems verry reasanable guy...

Having chanced to see the Mutiny on the Bounty movie starring
Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson recently, I immediately resolved
to obtain and read the book.

I can only add my praise to the preceding reviews. The
quality of the writing, the details of the sailing life
of the time, the descriptions of the characters, were all
excellent.

If you know of young readers enamoured of Harry Potter
and the like, get them a copy of the Bounty Trilogy
and encourage them to read it while they await the final
Potter tale. They won't be disappointed with the
adventure nor the struggle between good and evil men.

To all those actively seeking hardy adventure from the comfort of a chair:
Look no farther, your search has come to an end. This is it. This is 100% total immersion into a world of adventure. So this thing comes in three equally consuming parts. I mean who writes an entire book about sixteen guys stuck on a small wooden paddle boat out in the middle of the pacific, and makes it a treat to read? Hardy adventure seeker I have your fix, and it's not a quick fix, it's a time consuming gem that will have you in its grips until the last page is eaten up. I have to admit that I can't think of an adventure novel(trilogy) that I've enjoyed this much. Quality entertainment. Quality.

Do your self a big favor and read this book. Make sure you read all three parts- The Bounty, Men against the sea, and Pitcairn's Island. It is an absolute shame that most people have only read the first book because the other two are just as good if not BETTER! My personal favorite is part three ,the last book, where the mutineers find an island and try to start new lives there.
Then, be sure and check out the movie - Mutiny on the Bounty starring Marlon Brando. That one is the most accurate version, and I have seen all three.
And then dream of being one of those lucky sailors landing at the paradise know as Tahiti.

Buy this book and read within a week, and you WILL want to explore to the south pacific.

This is an amazing epic of 18th mutiny of the H.M.S. Bounty. Although the tale has been fictionalized as an historical novel, it portrays the conflicting cultures of that time as the forces of racism, imperialism, autonomy and autocracy clash on the high seas. The trilogy is comprised of three novels: The first is Mutiny on the Bounty which chronicles the abuse of Captain Bligh, the mutiny led by Fletcher Christian narrated by midshipmen Roger Byam. Men Against the Sea, narrated by ships surgeon Thomas Ledward, picks up the tale at the mutiny and chronicles the amazing feat of Captain Bligh in returning 19 souls to England after being set adrift in a twenty-three foot longboat with only seven or eight inches of freeboard. The trilogy concludes with the tragic, yet redeeming tale of Pitcairn's Island where the mutineers made their home.

On the surface, Captain Bligh is the villain and Fletcher Christian is the hero. This has been ingrained into our culture to such an extent that any hard-driving taskmaster will not doubt inherit the name Captain Bligh by those under his charge. Yet, Nordoff and Hall resist the temptation to draw these lines so clearly. Yes, Captain Bligh was his own worst enemy. He was so sold out to an autocratic model of leadership that he was incapable of recognizing the autonomy of his men- the needs of his men were subordinate to the success of his mission. Now, men will often subordinate their needs to the need of the mission, or even give their lives for it, if the mission is a noble one; but supplying breadfruit to feed slaves did not fit that bill. Yet, once set adrift, Bligh now becomes the hero navigating his overloaded longboat 3600 miles to safety- a deed that must rank as one of the most remarkable feats of seamanship and leadership in history.

This is also a story of imperialism and racism- the two are inexorably intertwined. British imperialism, carrying the white mans burden to the South Seas, lead to the inevitable conflict between the two races. The sailors, obviously enjoyed the company of the Tahitian woman, even fell in love with them; yet, the idea that the white race was superior was a festering boil just under the surface that exploded when the mutineers made their home on Pitcairn Island. It is interesting to note who was the more civilized race when the conflict arose on Pitcairns Island, the European men acted like savages, whereas we see a measured dignity among the Tahitian men.

What I find interesting about the other reviews written on this book, is the omission to mention what specially brought peace to the Island- it was the rediscovery of the Bible and man's submission to the will of God. Without transcendent values, each man was out for himself and the result was anarchy and death; but when the survivors submitted their will to God's will, peace and harmony was restored. This is an amazing epic and well worth the read.