Owens Books

I had to read this book for an AP Biology course and it was absolutely amazing!!! The way that they describe these encounters is simply amazing. Great Book easy to follow it's a book that you just don't want to put down until you finish it. I give it 5 stars no doubt I highly recommend this book to all. One the greatest books i've ever read.

Wonderful book that enables one to live the experiences of this dedicated couple who gave so much to the animals of Africa through their research. This book tore at my heartstrings and made me even more excited about my upcoming trip to Africa.

I do not wish to write a review, other than to say I read this book many years ago and it has stayed with me. Mark and Delia's story was fascinating and I was enthralled with their descriptions of the Kalahari and the animals they observed. I wanted to rate this book, so that the rating could be used in making future recommendatipons for me.

I found "Cry of the Kalahari" purely by change at the San Diego Zoo and bought a copy after reading the glowing reviews that were on the back of the book. I enthusiastically agree with the praise and plan to read their other books. In fact, I dropped the book I was currently reading in order to finish this one. I was immediately attracted to the story of two young Americans arriving in Africa with modest funds but determined to do research not previously attempted. The story is all-the-more compelling given the fact that they were going into an area that people tended to shun as too remove and not even slightly hospitable.

Mark and Delia Owens write incredibly well and do not waste words. They describe the animals, people and places with phrases that bring them to life.

A sample picked a random:

"A near total silence crept in on me when I opened my eyes and gazed at the Land Rover ceiling. A moment's confusion; where was I? I turned to the window. A gnarled acacia tree loomed outside, its limbs held up in silhouette against the grey sky. Beyond the tree, in soft easy lines, the wooded sand dunes descended to the riverbed. Morning, our first in Deception Valley, grew in the sky far beyond the dunes."

One could cite many examples that stimulate interest and draw the reader into the experience of Mark and Delia as the alternate the telling of the work. Also the values held by the authors that they will leave as little a footprint as possible is one shared by those serious about conservation, so we share in their decision and agonize with them when they have to make a tough decision. When the lioness called Bones shows so badly wounded with porcupine quills I found myself cheering the Owens' on as they made the decision to lend some needed medical help rather than let her die. Perhaps interfering with nature but the authors are careful not to impose their presence when animals were hunting unless they were protecting an animal they had darted.

Some readers may disagree with the close proximity Mark and Delia Owens have with some of the animals, and the "cute" names they give to some of the animals, but unlike some wildlife proponents the Owens' are allowing the animals to be curious about them and do not seek to befriend wild animals. They are not trying to prove that wild animals are safe and (although there are some tense moments when Mark seems to be getting too close for safety) the authors often retreat to their Land Rover.

Beautifully written and illustrated with many black and white photographs, "Cry of the Kalahari" is a remarkable book

Two grad students, having married shortly after their University of Georgia college education began their graduate studies in zoology in the Kalahari desert in Botswana. I've heard grad students' lives are poor and hard, but this couples' 7 year field study takes the mealie-meal. They carefully rationed water and gasoline and lived on mealie-meal (cornmeal), ostrich eggs, and antelope meat; they'd nearly run out of money and write grants to pay for their supplies only and with no money left to fly home. They survived on these paltry sums and did their research in temperatures that sometimes got as high as 120 degrees Fahrenheit surrounded by lions, leopards, and cheetahs in the midst of one of Africa's most inhospitable areas.

This true story is truly amazing and I can't wait to read their other books about Africa. The book was published in 1984 and I wonder if their research had any influence in the IMAX film The Serengeti which is about the greatest wildebeest migration that happens in the Serengeti area in Tanzania and Kenya. In the back of the book is a brief recommendation for wildlife management in the Kalahari desert. In reading this, one can't but be reminded of Jane Gooddall's and the Adamson's work with wildlife in East Africa. It's also a survivors' tale, adventuresome and exciting, but most of all great research. Excellent all around!

Anyone planing on or currently trading using technical analysis should read this book. The lessens inside can help prevent loss of savings.

This book takes a careful look at various types of technical indicators and trading strategies that use technical analysis, the types of methods commonly found in charting software and technical analysis books. For me the bottom line is that making a consistent income from trading, using technical analysis, is difficult. (Losing money is not so difficult).

The software referenced in the book and available for a relatively small price, is in my opinion very powerful, but difficult to master (C++ source code that must be compiled, debugged for your compiler, and modified to create useful systems).

This book provides an overview on the type of strategies available and shows the results done on the different strategies. For system developers it is useful to know that most strategies - pure trending, oscillators etc do not perform well at all!
What is lacking is a more thorough analysis of the different methods. Overall a useful book which highlight the pitfalls which system developers will fall into.

The book should be compulsory reading for any aspiring systems trader.
The testing methodology is thorough, and they cover many of the more common approaches to systems trading as well as a few that many will find a tad too esoteric. My only complaint is that the book could present us with more detailed stats on the tested systems. In e.g Way of the turtle (a much less comprehensive text) the author does an excellent job of presenting stats on any tested system, including a number of important measures you will not find in the Encyclopedia. Overall, I still believe it is a must read. For beginners I also recommend the following books (for starters):

Way of the Turtle (Faith)
Evidence Based Technical Analysis
Design, testing and optimization of trading systems (Pardo)

Also, check out the Trading Blox forum at tradingblox.com for
tons of useful info on systems trading.

* s p e c t r e *

I liked this book.
it presented many ideas and a right pragmatic approach to test a trading system.
I found tough the statistics part, but it's not an author's fault: it's statistics.
in the final part I found many repetition (many pages might be saved just writing: " hey, for this system we apply the same said at pag. xyz..").

Only two things remained a mistery to me (but I'm not much intellingent..): why didn't the author make any test for longer horizons? in the end, the strategies never approached a longer term trading strategy: usually the trades last few days.
maybe it's not worth? the author doesn't tell us

ah, and it's not an encyclopedia: why did he choose this name?
this is the second mistery...

The Encyclopedia of Trading Strategies is well written and is a good book if you are looking for something very technical and mechanical. I was disappointed with the book. I thought it would offer chart set ups or set ups per technical indicators. Instead, it offered codes, etc for setting up mechanical systems.

The years of terror and anguish under Josef Stalin's rule have been described in increasingly vivid detail since the fall of the USSR, and seemingly covered from every angle by now. But Owen Matthews' book "Stalin's Children" finds just one more angle, a new one, and makes the years of the purges come alive on a personal level.

"Stalin's Children" chronicles Matthews' mother's family saga and the Matthews family's relationship with Russia. From a Bolshevik grandfather purged in the 1930s to an orphaned mother who suffered greatly during the Great Patriotic War and to an impossible love story in the 1960s, Matthews demonstrates how the past does determine the future sometimes and how an event in the history books played out and affected one family in the Soviet Union. The details are sometimes heartbreaking.

The book meanders some towards the end with the recounting of the post-Soviet thief's bacchanalia in Russia, but overall Owen Matthews' work is commendable for illuminating the dark past from a most personal viewpoint. Very much worth the reader's time.

The shared story of "love, war, and survival" told in Stalin's Children is not unique. It, however, hasn't been told often enough.

Three-year old Lyudmila and her sister Lenina (named for Lenin) saw their father for the last time after he kissed them and their mother good-bye on a summer day. Soon after, their mother was arrested. This was Russia, 1937. The beginning of WWII. The girls were sent to orphanages.

Meanwhile, Mervyn Matthews grew up in Swansea (UK).

With his love of Russia, Mervyn got a job with the British Embassy in Moscow. A friend set him up with Lyudmila.

Their romance began with long chats and walks in the parks. They had created a family even before their son was conceived.

Even today, the Russian government maintains a restrictive and complicated visa regime. Mervyn, forced from Russia, fought for six years to gain a visa for Lyudmila, from Russia to London.

Journalist Owen Matthews, child of Lyudmila and Mervyn, traced his grandfather's Russian file, the childhoods of his Russian-born mother and British-born father, and the difficulties of his parents' love affair. Mervyn was banished from Russia, while Lyudmila was forbidden to leave.

The bittersweet romance, carried out for six years in letters, creates a light but strong skeleton for Stalin's Children. The book jumps around a bit uncomfortably (surprising, coming from a journalist) but the story never falls. Genealogists, historians, and any reader who'd like to let a little real romance into his or her life, will find much in the pages of this book.

"Stalin's Children" is like one of those massive, three-generation novels full of endless crises, except that it isn't a novel. Had the events, particularly in the generation of author Owen Matthews' mother, occurred anywhere but Russia, they would hardly be believable.
Since these were real people, their lives did not fit exactly the images that Americans have of Russians.
The patriarch, Boris Bibikov, starts the tale by getting himself shot, with the execution warrant signed by Andrei Vyshinsky himself. But Bibikov was not some hapless innocent swept up in the Purges. He was a Kirovite, and a real, if minor, enemy of Stalin. Even paranoids can have real enemies.
Matthews, as a reporter based in Moscow, was able to look at his grandfather's police file. Although Boris Bibikov himself perished, the Bibikovs were net winners under communism, which explains how this book -- and Owen Matthews himself -- came to be.
Like all memoirs and histories of the Purges, "Stalin's Children" is skewed by survivor bias. Most of the millions who were shot or frozen left no progeny, and if their police files still exist, no one cares to dig them out.
Bibikov's daughters, Lenina and Lyudmila, 12 and 4 when he died, probably would not have survived if not for their uncle Bibikov, a general in the Red Air Force. Lyudmila certainly would not have obtained the advanced literary education that entangled her life with Matthews' father`s.
Matthews has a good sense of the situation: the Stalin era could not possibly have been as grim for everyone as it was for Boris Bibikov, and many people -- including, originally, Boris Bibikov -- were pleased with the Revolution. People like the Bibikovs, recruited into the intelligenstia by the Revolution, which would not have happened under the tsars, were both victims and architects. "It is hard to believe these prodigies of industrialization were created by fear alone," Matthews comments.
Just so. Despite their incredible suffering, the Bibikovs (and millions more) lived in hope for the future under Communism. For very few was the hope that tsarism would be restored.
The little girls survived the war, "Stalin's children," and there remains a picture of them, taken at an orphanage, thanking Stalin for a "happy childhood." It was not happy, and the coincidences that separated, then reunited the sisters would be past accepting in a novel.
The second act is less terrible but as bizarre as the first. A poor Welsh boy, recruited into the English intelligentsia, Mervyn Matthews, becomes a Sovietologist, moves to Russia as an early exchange student, meets the charming Lyudmila and the middle portion of this adventure becomes a love story.
The tragedy -- much less tragic than the 20 million deaths of the Great Patriotic War but a whacking good yarn nevertheless -- is that the lovers are separated for six years by KGB interference. Neither is willing to give up. "Mila," in particular, had "the idea that the individual could overcome seemingly impossible obstacles."
There is an irony in the success of Mervyn and Mila, which I won't disclose; and the third act, the attraction of Owen Matthews to Russia, brings the story to a satisfying conclusion.
Owen Matthews' personal story is not as dramatic as his mother's or his grandfather's -- although he did manage to get himself blown up while reporting the Chechen War -- and hardly interesting in itself. It does, however, allow him to present some intimate details of life after communism. It is not a pretty picture: "absolute, bottomless nihilism."
"Stalin's Children" is a book for ironists to savor. The biggest, strangest irony of all is that the Stalin era turns out to be the time in Russia's history when people had the most hope.

As memoirs go, this chronicle of 3 generations of a Russian family allmost destroyed by Stalin's purges is a good one. Unfortunately, the most riveting parts of the tale occur in the first part of the book where the family patriarch is destroyed and the rest of the family is scattered and emotionally damaged, left to try to survive the German invasion. Once the author starts to talk about his English father and his own life in the USSR, the book hits a dry patch. The thwarted romance between his father and his Russian mother who battle long odds to be together is moving, but could've been better edited. Worth reading for Russianophiles and history buffs. Since this is the author's own family, it gives the story an extra dose of emotion for the reader...

This story is not really about Stalin. Rather it is about what Stalin's ruinous policies and legacy did to three generations of a family in Russia.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. The most gripping story is the author's mother as a child in the whirlwind of the early USSR and World War 2 and how she managed to survive at all. Her parents' story is interesting, but is not in too much detail. His father's story is not quite as exciting, but still interesting. The romance and separation of his parents gets a little too drawn out, but some readers may appreciate it. The author's personal story, which is woven in among the telling of the other three stories, is a good contrast to the privations and hardships faced by his parents and grandparents.

I enjoyed the book, though at times it was not very swift moving and I had to convince myself to finish it. My children actually really enjoyed hearing about the story. Definitely recommended for students of history who will enjoy the historical knowledge and application to actual people.

It's hard to read a book written by the son of Stephen King and not compare him to his famous dad. So don't even try. Owen has a writing style and genre all his own and you will be pleasantly surprised. Clear your mind and settle down for some good reading. Can't wait for the next one!

Overall, enjoyed the read. Some of the stories seemed to drag a bit with too much description or supporting ideas, but still kept you reading. You laugh out loud at some things, especially in 'We're All In This Together'. The collection made you ponder and wonder. Interesting book.

The absolute trouble with having an incredibly talented/famous parent is you might never match or supercede their work. It's certainly the case with Owen King's first novella/story collection.

I've just finished the novella section and thought it was both hysterical and terribly sad. Papa is a believable widower, mourning the death of his wife (to cancer) by taking out his repressed rage and sadness by waging a campaign of retribution upon Steven Sugar (neighborhood high school punk/paperboy). Papa sets up shop with a paint gun, enlisting his grandson and a neighbor friend to stand guard. Meanwhile, the grandson struggles to make sense of his own teenaged animosity towards his single-parent mother and her boyfriend, his grandmother's former oncologist.

Got all that? Yeah, well, it gets stranger in a hysterical, slightly demented way. The ending came as a complete surprise, proving once again that no matter how well you believe you know a person, their capacity to surprise, delight and disappoint you knows no bounds.

Unfortunately, the short stories petered out in contrast to the longer work. I don't know if I'd read more from this author.

I had a really hard time getting into this book. It was well written, just not very captivating. If you are interested in reading this book, purchase it used and save yourself some money.

The novella is a compelling family story of a modern American teenager sandwiched between his aging, nostalgiac, Al Gore loving grandfather and his young, activist single mother. The novella left me sad at its conclusion only because it had ended. Satisfying ending? It depends upon the reader. Mr. King has a gift for sense of place. His prose is incredibly readable and very often witty, particularly the unique way he has the mother and son communicate with each other. (You have to find that out yourself.) I sometimes wanted to argue with the characters, who all possessed a bit of the curmudgeon - even the fifteen year-old central character George. I could see the novella as a film in the vein of Simon Burch.

Deep River revolves around a # of Japanese tourists in a group who visit the sacred Ganges River in India. The fact that so little of the book has to do with the West, in any way, is at 1st a bit unsettling, then quite a relief. In the best passages of the book a Western reader will see parallel human traits & those peregrine side-by-side. This forces the reader to think how different our customs might seem with a little distance. The story is set during the time Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by militant Sikhs, yet wends back & forth through time to give us background on several of the tourists. There is Isobe, the widower- trying to deal with his wife's death, as well as his terminal infidelity to her. His grief & guilt manifests itself in his quest to find her reincarnated in India. Kiguchi is haunted by the wartime horrors he saw during the Japanese invasion of Burma, as well as his own near-death experience, & the subsequent mooching from him by the man who saved his life. He seeks to deal with the war in his pilgrimage. Otsu is a failed seminarian dealing with his own beliefs, reviled by Mitsuko- a sexually wanton woman with her own issues, who cruelly seduced Otsu, years earlier, as a challenge to see whether she could break his faith. Years later, after ending a loveless marriage, she seeks redemption & forgiveness from Otsu, who is rumored to live in India. Most moving of all is Numada, recovering from tuberculosis. He is a short story writer who believes he can talk to animals- who act as his Muse. He believes a pet bird his wife bought died in his place when he recovered from his illness. The most poetic & evocative moments come when we see Numada's interactions when, as a boy, his wealthy family owned land in occupied Manchuria, & he shared a friendship with a Chinese houseboy, & a puppy the houseboy trained for him so his parents would not kill it. This was when his connection to animals began, & he longs to see India's fabulous bird sanctuaries before he dies.... Overall I'd marginally recommend the book, but do not expect a classic, more a book that you'll be left wishing was fleshed out more. I don't know how long it took Endo to write this book, but I get the sense that he may have rushed it, as he died soon after it was released in the mid-1990s. Had he focused more on just 1 or 2 of the tales, the whole novel may have found more focus. As it is, it's sort of a philosophical hail of bullets. Unfortunately, in the non-material world, this does more damage to the gun than the target.

Deep River by Shusaku Endo is of centered on a few individual that are part of a group Japanese tourists who had journeyed to the Ganges River in the middle of India. Throughout the story, he unveils their individual spiritual and emotional pasts, together, they had ventured there in silent separation in search for inner restoration. Whether in a spiritual or literal sense, every character has faced some sort of death, and was or waiting for a rebirth; the theme of death and rebirth could be found throughout the story.

Endo surrounds the story on five main characters. Might they lead their own separate paths, they have found themselves ventured in a land so foreign to their mind-frame for a purpose they might not be able to justify logically. There is Isobe, who was seeking for his dead wife reincarnated. Numada, who had went all the way to India to pay homage to a bird he believed has died in place of him. Mitsuko is a woman who never felt loved or alive and wanted to reconcile her past to Otsu, a former college "loser"--who desired to become a priest, but was rejected by the Catholic Church--whom she never was able to escape the wrong she has done him, but was drawn to him for reasons she never could understand. And Kiguchi, a former World War II veteran who was seeking for inner peace from the former horrors of deaths he had experienced.

This story can be view as a challenge taken by the author over the Western theological and cultural ideals, particular the Catholic Christian. I believe he has deliberately posed the question of just what might salvation look in light of his characters' long-sufferings. Death is an inevitable and inescapable part of life, and in order to attain wholeness, one needs face of his/her pain. As Otsu--whom I could rightly call Mitsuko's "object of rejection" than of affection--responds to Mitsuko's indignation over his choice in life, he speaks of his savior's death and rejection as the key to humanity's transgression. It was the betrayal by mankind that made Christ's message so powerful, for "as a result, he was etched into each of their guilty hearts, and they were never able to forget him...He died, but he was restored to life in their hearts"(Deep River 185). Endo reinforced his point by noting Otsu has not the "fluid flavored rhetoric," whose convictions can go no further than his lips, rather "Otsu's words were substantiated by the life of misfortune he had led" (Deep River 185). While the story ended in an unresolved peak, I wonder what he seeking to communicate, and just what might he want for those to take from the thresholds of life to his readers? Regardless, whether it is pain or healing, rejection or forgiveness, Endo has successfully woven a story that connects life to death and rebirth.

"... in every companionship there remains a mutually insoluble loneliness." This quote from 'Deep River' decribes the void within all 5 of Endo's protagonists. All 5 Japanese end up in India after a life of loss and suffering has led them there, 4 of them on a tour (each seeking their own form of closure) and the fifth, Otsu, a failed seminarian, is there, for it was the endpoint of his own spiritual struggle and reconciliation with modernity. Endo's writing is crisp and effortless and defies you to put it down. Endo is known as a 'Catholic' writer, but in the end I think it's fair to say that he takes all (organized) religions to task in this novel - and rightly so. Everyone's struggle is personal, w/ life and death, and it's our aggregate struggle with our 'insoluble loneliness' that leads to the strife and suffering in this world. This is a powerful novel, a masterpiece.

During a tour in India, five very different Japanese characters meet near the holy Ganges river: a man who grieves the death of a wife he had neglected; a woman bitten by her own cynicism and growing sense of inner void; a Japanese man who disaffection for the Christian life he adopted leads him to seek spiritual renewal elsewhere; and a former Japanese solider still haunted by the memories of atrocities in war-time Japanese-occupied Burma. Shusaku Endo masterfully builds up these full bodied characters through deft brushstrokes of key passages in their lives. Individual chapters show the inner turmoil and personal changes which lead these characters to their encounter (or re-encounter) in India, including a young Japanese who becomes disatisfied with the Christian life to which he had converted in his early youth and later followed in France; a widower in quest of the soul of her husband; and others.

Looking at a few quotes extracted from a dialogue between two Japanese characters in the novel will give you a sense of the encounters and re-encounters between individuals and the cross-cultural encounters, all of which are a strong feature of the play. In this dialogue which takes place in Paris, a Japanese woman talks to Otsu, one of the main characters who became a Christian early in his life in Japan.

The woman declares: "...It makes my teeth stand on edge just to think of you as a Japanese believing in this European Christianity nonsense." Otsu replies: "I've been here three years. For three years I have lived here and I have tired of the way people think. The ways of thinking that they've kneaded with their own hands and fashioend to meet the workings of their hearts..they're ponderous to an Asian like me. I can't blend in with them. And so everyday is hell for me..."

The reader of this novel who is not Japanese will gain some interesting insights into how Japanese might react to these different cultural settings, as characters move from Japan to France to the United States, and finally meet in India. Endo delivers a very personal sense of cross-cultural encounters, recognizable to those of us who have gone through similar journeys in different parts of the world.

Since I have only read Japanese novels in translation into either English or French, I cannot fairly judge Endo's style against other Japanese writers who are also well known to foreign readers, like Mishima and Kawabata. But while Endo may not share the grace and delicacy of these writers, his novels, including this one, are very human, and bring us very close to the inner lives of his characters.

If you want to better understand how Japanese come to view the rest of the world, or more generally how different cultures can collide, Endo's novels and his characters are a good place to start, or to continue, your journey.

This is a beautiful story of 5 people searching for the inner peace that has eluded them throughout much, if not all, of their lives. The cause of their inner turmoil comes from a variety of sources but their emptiness and incompleteness is very real. Shusaku Endo introduces us to each of them seperately and then has them all, for seperate reasons, journey to India. They are in a guided tour that will supposedly show them a number of Buddhist shrines and historical sites. Their trip leads them to the Ganges River where they initially off at and then are all drawn to its' sacredness. The author gives us a serene glimpse of a sort of peace descending upon the 5 pilgrims. It may not be the peace they sought or would recognize, but it seems to be the peace they needed.

Shusaku Endo is a Japanese Christian who writes challengely about his own faith. To me, the core of his message in "Deep River" is the universal nature of faith and the universal nature of God. He exists for all of us but we come to know Him through the religion of our culture. Thus the Hindus, Christians, Moslems, Buddhists, etc are all seeking the same ultimate oneness with God (i.e.; peace) but they are each traveling different paths outlined through them in a theology passed along through the millennia. To illustrate his point, Endu shows us the five seperate tales of redemption and has them all come to salvation at a Hindu holy site. God DOES work in mysterious ways.

Book 2 of the Series, this is a better story than the first one, the characters are more flashed out and are given histories. Our hero Ruis, appeared briefly in book one and this is his story. HE is a wonderfully rich character and his lady is too. We get involved in their lives as Ruis fights to survive in a world that treats him less than human. I look forwards to book 3 when I have time to fit it in. THe book can be stand alone, but it features characters from previous books and uses some assumed knowledge of the planet and its people

The story wasn't as good as the first. The characters were flat. The uncle is just pure evil. You aren't given any background on him-just statements about the evil things he does. Also the relationship between the two main characters isn't well developed. The two seem to just fall in love at first sight. I wish Owens would have developed the characters and their relationships more. I thought the heroine took a lot of chances for a man she just meet.

I adore this novel not just because of Ruis Elder and Ailim D'Silverfir, but mainly because of that adorable Famcat, SAMBA. SAMBA is fat and sassy, the daughter of ZANTH, and she zips around in her own flying saucer. How can you not just adore that.
The story is about the redemption of Ruis, who is shunned for being a Null and the gracious and intelligent woman that compliments him, Ailim.
I love how Robin developed the relationship between Ruis and Ailim. He needs her because she accepts and values him, she values him because he helps her control her powerful, sometimes overwhelming ability to empathize with the people around her. Ailim is also a judge so she gets to sense the feelings and perception of sometimes the gruesome elements of their society.
The balance Ruis and Ailim achieve from their love is the very heart of this tale, which is why I really loved reading this book. Add to that a sassy, fun Famcat and you have a definite winner.

I purchased this book after reading Ms. Owens first book "Heart Mate". This book mixes sci-fi/fantasy and romance together, which makes it a great combo for me, as I enjoy reading both genres. I think this is a beautifully written story rich in detail of the world Ms. Owens has created. I enjoyed reading the first book and I enjoyed this one even more.

Absolutely could not put Heart Thief down. Read it in less than 24 hours. This is a book that sparked my interest on page 1, and continued to build throughout the book. Thanks Robin D. Owens. Heart Duel (book #3)is on the table calling to me

A bit cozier than the two previous books in the series but no less enjoyable. Definitely more character driven, the story delves deeply into the thoughts and emotions of the two main characters - Calli and Merrec. Everything from past horrors, childhood trauma, and the strain of marrying a stranger is explored. One can't help but feel Calli's anguish as she struggles to be her own person while also learning to adjust to Lladrana society and her new husband plus deal with her new role as protector of the flying horses. Really loved the growing camaraderie of the three Earthwomen. Owens has done a masterful job of creating three distinct personalities who don't always get along yet will risk their lives to keep each other safe. Fans of the series will appreciate how more of Lladrana culture and society is revealed, particularly the realism of war profiteering, traitors, cowards, and the apathy of some of the populace who are content to let the Marshalls and Chevaliers fight and die to protect them from the invading monsters. Throw in the delicious twist that has the reader wondering if the all-good Singer is actually a creepy, manipulating autocrat, and you have a good solid read. Can't wait to read the next book in the series.

I love how this book is longer then the other books. And yet I wish it kept going! Sooo Good!

This continues the series with interesting twists to the magic and the characters continue to be strong. I like the concept.

No spoilers.

I enjoyed the first two in this series, light, non-thought provoking reading for lazy summer days. For this third installment though, I only managed to really read the first 175 pages before I said screw it and skimmed most of the rest. Calli was such a weak, whiny, needy little girl, and even the parts I skimmed were filled with her incessant crying about NEEDING someone to love her. Calli and Marrec were both very one-dimensional, unlike the main characters of the other two books. There wasn't much world-building going on in this book; I felt like a lot of things could have been much better explained than the cursory "this is what happened, and it just works" deal we get. Unless you're the type of person who has to collect all the books in a series, Protector of the Flight really is the type of book you'd rather borrow than buy.

I enjoyed reading the first two books in this series, but I found this one to be lacking. The characters just didn't have the depth the characters in the previous books had. Owens didn't even bother to dig deeper in the relationship between Merric and Calli. Merric was so stand-offish and Calli was so needy. There was nothing to show why they even loved each other. Not to mention, they didn't even bother to tell each other. Things kept coming up, problems were solved with little to no resistance, and the characters didn't seem to even bat an eyelash. It was almost too much all bunched together and condensed to fit. I still gave it three stars, because I like the world Owens created, but I sure hope the plot line flows better and the characters are more rounded in the next one.

The book is one wonderful western example of an ancient wisdom, which was known to mezzo-american cultures, especially to the Mayan society. It explains how more and more people follow their heart (inner joy, intuition). This way they achieve tranquility of mind and influence those, who want to have deeper, more meaningful quality to life. The author creatively weaves theoretical studies and his own discoveries about the human energy system in order to present the evolution of human consciousness, which brings our society into another dimension of mind and to a beautiful future.

This book has really opened my eyes to things I'd never thought about before. The book is "deep" and I had to re-read some chapters several times before it sunk in. BUT, when it sunk in, I "got" it. It's a true enlightening experience which I've searched for all of my life. My life has changed and I'm so thankful for Mr. Waters' insight and willingness to share it with others.

Owen Waters has written a lucid and clear guide to a new shift in awareness which many people today are re-discovering. This book is an excellent wake up call for humanity because it explains where we are headed and why . Highly recommended!

Lawrence Ellyard, Author of The Spirit of Water

I was attracted to this book purely because of the butterfly on the cover. You see, butterfly, to me, represents transformation or change and I'm well aware there's a change coming for this planet. Reading this book put many pieces of the puzzle together for me and clarified so many things in my mind.
This is an excellent book and should be read by everyone, but especially by those who have already been reading about such topics as 2012, the coming shift in consciousness, etc. Highly recommended!

Loved the book. The concept and information was great and very helpful. The ease of Owen Waters writing is enjoyable and the context of the book was very easy to follow. Lots of information in just 160 pages. I read it in one sitting.

This famous astronomer opines in this compact work what reconciliation he finds between his science and his theology. He concludes that God is behind the universe in some capacity, likely in beginning the Big Bang and keeping its sensitive balance of explosion/implosion in harmony.

He also concludes however that evolution has something to do with this created universe, and he does not clearly delineate between micro and macro evolution enough for this reviewer. Certainly most of us theists will concur on microevolution, but we find no evidence of macroevolution. He sees science as primarily being one of finding efficient causes, not final causes. This would severely separate him from the likes of Dawkins et al on that side of the discussion. Especially liked the analogy to useful mutation as tuning an MG sportscar with a rifle as fifty paces. Suggest it would be more like "out of rifle range."

His theology which he admits is amateurish, is shaky. Alluding to Genesis' statement about humans being created in God's image, he wants to describe this as "creativity, conscience, consciousness." This makes no sense in the fall, since after that point God describes His work as "recreation," or spiritual birth. Thus, this points rather decisively in direction of original image as right relationship with God spiritually, which of course is the very attribute which God distinguishes Himself as.

Further, certainty with which he speaks at points of absolute knowledge of half-life of elements strikes most of us as a circular reasoning trail, since how can one be sure of billion year life, given our rather recent historical trail deposit?

He does conclude with limitations set on science to probe ultimately and decisively upon origin questions.

Interesting read, but rather unconvincing. Also suggested you check out Angus Menuge, "Reading God's World: Scientific Vocation."

presents a deeply considered theistic understanding of physical reality which effectively challenges materialistic assumptions. Lends perspective to anyone who is searching for a philosophically rational understanding of existence.

Owen Gingerich's brief but provoking book provides a perspective of cosmology from an astronomer, science historian and amateur theologian. The fact that Gingerich draws from his Mennonite heritage should come as no surprise, as Mennonites have a tradition of careful thought about the revealed Word, and the relationship of science and theology. What may be surprising to some is that Gingerich does not conform to the expectation that he would adopt a more literalist approach in his theology. In his view, God operates more by intention than by intervention. In Gingerich's view, the Genesis account of the earth bringing forth every living creature after his kind does not preclude common descent with modification or the possibility of macroevolution. Gingerich finds support for his view from the fact that a single mutational aberration in his Amish ancestry is the cause of occasional six-fingered dwarfism. He wonders whether beneficial mutations can be inspired, prodded on by contingent causes at the physical level, although he acknowledges that science can never confirm or deny that question.

Gingerich argues that our epistemology is not always based on proof, but more often on persuasion, both in science and in theology. And that persuasion results from the coherence and consistency of the evidence, `a comprehensive pattern of interconnected answers to questions posed to nature'. Historically, Copernicus found that more phenomena could be more easily explained by postulating a heliocentric solar system. For example, assuming the visible planets are spaced at increasing distances from the sun explains their periodicity much better than the epicycles within epicycles of the Ptolemic system. In theology, Gingerich sees a consistency and coherence that leads one to explain more things more easily through belief than through non-belief, such as the apparent purpose and design in nature.

The place of science as a tool for explanation is a recurring theme. Gingerich refers to Polkinghorne's question of "Why is the water in the teakettle boiling?" to point out that answers can be given at different levels, the level of the efficient cause (heat raises the temperature to accelerate the motion of molecules - the `how'), and the level of the final, purposive cause (because we want some tea - the `why'). Science is restricted to the explaining the efficient cause.

Interestingly, as one of the world's foremost authorities on Copernicus, Gingerich looks at both sides of what has been called the `principle of mediocrity'; that man, in the cosmological viewpoint, has been relegated from the center of the universe to a fringe outpost of a backwater galaxy. Certainly from a physical perspective this is true, even to the point of accepting the distinct possibility of sentient, self-reflective life on other planets. But the many conditions that defy the luck of the draw for our existence, such as the `missing mass five element', suggest that humans have a central place in God's plan.

Instances of the extraordinary physical and chemical conditions that combine to create an environment where life can adapt and thrive are described as being comparable to a giant and very complex Lego set supplied without a blueprint. The set of little interlocking parts express themselves according to what Gingerich refers to as `preferred pathways' that lead inevitably to self-reflective human beings. This is an explanation at the level of efficient cause. At the final cause level lays the explanation that God created the conditions that inevitably create man in God's image.

Gingerich takes Intelligent Design enthusiasts to task for forwarding their position as an alternative to evolution instead of offering answers at the level of final cause. ID enthusiasts live in an intellectual straitjacket that limits the alternative mechanisms they can supply to help us understand in a coherent way why, for example, the DNA in yeast is so closely related to the DNA in human chromosomes. Gingerich underscores that he believes strongly in `lower-case' intelligent design, but distances himself from a movement that he sees as purely political and emotional.

The universe, he points out, is God's project, `perhaps created with just enough freedom that conscience and responsibility are part of the mix'. Although he does not unpack this thought to the extent one would wish, the book reflects the setting of a series of sequential lectures. He frequently returns to the theme of the purpose and meaning of reality, and in the final chapter humbly acknowledges that due to the limitations of science and our own human constraints, there are many questions that have no answers and require a step of reasoned faith. With this approach, a theistic scientist takes the same approach to doing science as the atheistic scientist. For both, they may react to their discoveries with awe and wonder, but for the theistic scientist, the truth arises from an unimaginably powerful creative act. `God's universe is a universe where God can play an interactive role unnoticed by science, but not excluded by science.'

Unquestionably this is one of the more thoughtful and thought-provoking books of this genre.

Owen Gingerich is a Harvard Professor of Astronomy and the History of Science, Emeritus, and a life-long Mennonite, a combination I found interesting. As a Bible-believing Christian, his books often deal with the interface of faith and science. God's Universe (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2006), is his most recent offering.

The first chapter is a response to the prevalent scientific understanding known as the Copernican Principle, and its corollary, Mediocrity Principle. Gingerich takes exception to "Mediocrity", arguing for the unique place humankind may occupy in the Universe, and citing evidence of purposeful design, though the design for which Gingerich advocates is not the same as Intelligent Design. This becomes more clear in the second chapter, entitled "Dare a Scientist Believe in Design?" He is careful to distinguish his view of design from that being asserted by the Intelligent Design movement. On pages 68 - 69, we writes, "Whether we look at the nature and abundance of the atoms themselves or the remarkable ratio of electrostatic to gravitational attraction or the many other details of our physical universe, we know that without these design features we would not be here. In a word, I believe in intelligent design, lower case i and lower case d. But I have a problem with Intelligent Design, capital I and capital D. It is being sold increasingly as a political movement, as if somehow it is an alternative to Darwinian evolution. Evolution today is an unfinished theory. There are many question about details it does not answer, but these are not grounds for dismissing it."

Indeed, in the ensuing pages, Gingerich expresses substantial agreement with Steven Jay Gould's assessment of evolution as being fact. So, how might design express itself in the seemingly random processes of Darwinian evolution? Gingerich answers with his own questions on page 70: "Are mutations blind chance, or is God's miraculous hand continually at work, disguised in the ambiguity of the uncertainty principle? Or we could be more subtle, and ask whether God designed the universe in the first place to make possible the catalysts and unknown pathways that enable the formation of life."

As for design in cosmology, Gingerich devotes several pages to the fascinating studies of Fred Holye, the late British astronomer who, despite his own development of the overwhelming likelihood of design in the cosmos, remained a practical atheist his entire life. For me, these pages were worth the price of the book.

In the third chapter, "Questions without Answers", Gingerich suggests that when it comes to the "why" questions, religious belief offers up better answers than unbelief. While Gingerich presents a strong case that contemplation of the universe can be more meaningful and coherent if it is viewed as the work of a transcendent designer, he readily admits that metaphysical assumptions may lead one to such a conclusion. In the end, these assumptions are more matters of the heart than the reason, as the closing Pascal quote suggests: "The heart has its reasons that reason does not know."

This little book (just over 100 pages) is easy to read, and it is a wonderful primer to science and faith, randomness and reason, design and purpose. I recommend this book.

Christian conversations regarding the compatibility of science and religion must address two questions: What Biblical hermeneutic should be used for Genesis 1 and does current scientific theory preclude theistic belief? In "God's Universe," Gingerich addresses the only latter, and his answer is a resounding "no." This singularity of focus is not a weakness, but potential readers might like to know up front.

Gingerich relays the excitement that he has for the mysteries of the universe and how they feed his faith, giving the sense that his faith is not contigent on scientific understanding in any age. He also acknowledges that science does not and cannot offer any formal proof for the existence of God. As a scientist and believer myself, I resonate with his views--as do many of the believing scientists with whom I'm acquainted. This does not necessarily mean that he is correct. Nevertheless, the book is fun and refreshing--read it with the understanding that he will not answer anyone's every question, but his perspectives are thought provoking and might just increase our appreciation of God's universe.

The Ultimate Pool Maintenance Manual: Spas, Pools, Hot Tubs, Rockscapes and Other Water Features, 2nd Edition is an in depth, easy to read guide for maintaining your pool. I have purchased a few different books on the subject and this is by far the best.

This book was a wasste of time and money. The book focuses more on being a pool professional then the actual "how-to" a pool owner needs to work on their pool. It has more information on changing a light fixtures and on bilking wealthy Malibu folks out of cash then actual useful information.

After reading this (useless!) book I went to my local library and reearched several books on the subject, there is a title called "What color is your pool?" That has lots of information for the first time pool owner. There may be other more technical guides our there, but this book has few drawings and illustrations, poor writing, and ultimately is lacking in adequate information.

Trust me...SAVE YOUR MONEY!

We bought a house with an inground pool 5 years ago. A bit of a surprise really. We had ZERO experience with pools, and knew only by rumor that we were buying something that required a LOT of care and maintenance. I hunted through bookstores for a guide I could learn from. I am a technical writer by profession, so I know a thing or two about how to present complex ideas to the innocent. Browsing through this volume I was impressed with the author's skill at getting ideas across (well structure informattion - here's the idea, heres' the basics, here's the gory details). I bought it on the strength of his organization and writing, not on the content (about which I knew zilch).

It is still in regular use 5 years later. YES, it is technical. YES, it sometimes provides way too much information for the novice. But if you have a brain and you can handle some complexity, this book is BRILLIANT. I knew nothing, and in very short order I learned what I needed for basic care. This book is a bible for pool maintenance. Over the years I've learned (from experience guided by this book) how to strip a DE filter, how to repair my Polaris pool robot, and more about water chemistry than I ever thought possible. This past summer ('07) it guided us through a plaster refinishing (pool is ~30 years old) and taught me how to restart the pool.

It IS written by a pool professional, FOR pool professionals, and even has advice on how to run a pool maintenance business (which is of zero interest to me). But if you can learn from a pro talking to other pros, this book is it.

This book is a helpful tool for any pool owner or someone interested in having a pool.

This book is to swimming pools what the "Haynes" car maintenance manuals are to your car. It contains all the information required to maintain your pool, even though probably someone else is going to do it for you. If you own a pool, it is worth reading the book to understand what the service technician should and shouldn't be doing, and when the pool is in need of help. It can also help you save some money by doing the work yourself. The book is entirely about maintaining a pool, not owning one. It is written in a friendly, readable style, and you can simply keep it as a reference manual to know what to do when things go wrong. If you are considering installing a pool or spa, this book will show you what you are letting yourself in for. If there is one omission in the text it is that the author ignores electric pool cleaning robots, though they are probably the most effective way of keeping the pool clean.