Phillips Books

The Certified Hood & Duct Cleaners Association (CHDCA) is proud to use Phil Ackland's The Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning and Certification Manual 2003 ed. We have used Phil's manuals for many years and they are very thorough and complete. I highly recommend this manual to anyone interested in learning more about kitchen exhaust cleaning. See our main website www.chdca.com for more information about our training and certification programs for kitchen exhaust cleaners.

This book is an absolute for any person or business looking to get into the exhaust cleaning industry. The book is filled with all of the information you can think of and so much more that you never would. Our company has gained trememdous knowledge from this tool and we recomend it as a must read, something you will need to know, make sure to order the marketing manual as well and alocate 4-5 wks. for review of all of the material.

"Now that you are starting a new life, I am going to give you a new name. How does Lass sound to you?" asked Phillip Keller, the new owner that Lass was introduced to through a personal ad. Although there was a need on both the sheepdog and new owners behalf, Lass escaped from Phillip as soon as the leash was removed. The pages of this book are enhanced by eloquent illustrations. The adventures and mishaps that Lass and Phillip have with one another and other animals are entertaining and suspensful. This is a book for every dog lover.

This is an outstanding book not only for children but for adults also. I have 4 children from ages 9-15 and they all greatly enjoyed and loved this book! Highly recommended!

Awesome book, beautifully written. Captiviating, a good book to read in a peaceful place when you want to relax. The author if very talented and really makes you feel like you are a part of his poems. I can relate to them all. I am looking forward to his next book!!

tHE POEMS IN PHILLIP RAMOS'BOOK IS WONDERFUL--HE IS SUCH A ROMANTIC AND I RECOMMEND IT TO ANYONE.

AUTHOR KEN ROY
""LOOKING FOR MOZART""

Law for the Elephant is an incredibly well researched work that deserves much attention. If the myth of the lawless trail riders perpetuated by pulp fiction scribes yet infiltrated the ranks of professional historians up until the publication of this work, this book was their death knell.
Reid methodically debunks one of the most commonly misunderstood aspects of mid nineteenth century life on the Overland trail. His exhaustive use of primary sources and his meticulous notes must brand this book as the definitive work on the subject of property and social behavior on the overland trail from a legal perspective. The weight of evidence regarding the relative lawfulness of the travelers is such that, as presented, nearly half way through the reader is inexorably swayed to its veracity. Reid presents not a modicum or even generous amount of proof, but a crush of evidence. The fact that he was only able to locate three specific journal entries of lawlessness regarding property, while it does not suggest there was not more, is significantly persuasive. The fact that he is able to logically illustrate that these cases of lawlessness may be shown as examples of how legal theory and values were imbued within the lawbreakers, is doubly clever.
Although not a scintillating read, Reid displays a certain deftness for keeping the readers attention through what could have been far drier material in the hands of one not so gifted with the pen. His assemblage of innumerable primary sources is a praiseworthy accomplishment. Quotes from primary sources are woven consistently and seemingly effortlessly throughout the text, creating a patchwork of storytelling by case study.
This is not to say, however, that this is an entertaining read for laity or even the armchair historian. Reid occasionally slips into legalese that may momentarily obfuscate the read for even the professional historian, but a standard or legal dictionary remedies this. Also, Reid believes the average American on the trail possessed a greater knowledge of the law then than previously thought. Although this may be the case, some of what Reid chalks up to proof of extensive legal knowledge seems no more than ordinary common sense on behalf of the traveler. In a broader sense, to be fair, Reid does not delve deeply into criminality other than in regard to property. But, conventional wisdom suggests that the two are closely linked and thus, Reid obliquely strengthens his argument by this subtle correlation. These few minor criticisms notwithstanding, as a work of legal historical scholarship, Law for the Elephant is nearly flawless and is a significant contribution to the historiography of the overland trail.

The Overland Trail that spread to the gold fields of California and Oregon was a trying ordeal; it tested the will and endurance of the American character. The experience of the trail not only shaped America geographically, but socially, politically, and economically as well. The trail also shaped another American institution: law. Law and the Overland Trail is a topic that deserves greater study to determine charaterisitcs of the overland trail and the development of law in America. Law during antebellum America focused on capital speculation and corporate structure, and a bed of safe property law allowed corporate proliferation to occur. Reid examines inherent social and legal developments of the Overland Trail with great detail by examining a plethora of sources. He examines diaries, papers and other records for inferences to legal conduct. Reid explores the use of property law on the Overland Trail. He concludes that property law was something that was inherent to Americans in general, and not something forced upon them by corporate America (p. 335). The trail is unique in American legal history, because it shows how Americans administered law in a lawless land. Reid starts the book with general assumptions about the trail, emigrants and jurisprudence. He notes that the emigrant is a typical American: man women, child, old Young, ethnic, educated and uneducated. This mass of humanity seeking a new existence, in a place presented as a paradise, was not a lawless immoral group as legend, and some scholarship dictates. In assuming so, Reid states that, "Easily overlooked is the possibility that law could be the common denominator, explaining both the definitions people shared and the conduct they followed" (p. 10). Reid examines a common thread: property rights. The remainder of the book examines the interrelationships, uses, and behaviors associated with property and property rights. He notes that the creation, operation, and dissolution of joint stock ventures operated with a high degree of jurisprudence. An interesting aspect explored is the concept of ownership. Except for natural resources such as water, property was an abstract concept. Emigrants abandoned property as the hardships of the trial demanded, to avoid liabilities associated with traveling weight. Emigrants obtained supplies by barter, or by acquiring discarded property (p. 293). Reid notes that the transfer and handling of property, whether by and individual, or partnership was peaceful, and rarely was violence employed as a means of resolution (p. 341-54). Reid concludes by stating, "Instead, they respected the rights of property owners much as if still back east in the midst of plenty. By respect for their neighbor, and their neighbors property, they were, more than not, adhering to a morality of law" (p. 364). Law for the Elephant is an excellent macro interpretation of property, legal, and social relations of California gold rush emigrants. Another advantage the work provides us is an understanding of why current views of property came to be. The research is well covered, and the readability of the book is excellent. The book not only provides generalizations about law and the Overland Trail, but gives insight into how emigrants acted at the micro level as well.

Phillip Keller has taken a very familiar passage of Scripture and helped me to REALLY understand it. His style of writing makes you feel that he is sitting right next to you and discussing the book WITH you. I highly recommend this book because it has helped me to get into a more intimate relationship with God, my Father. This book takes a very well known piece of Scripture and brings it truths home to you so that the Scripture moves into your heart and takes up residence there. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to know our Father more intimately.

This book is a marvel. Mr. Keller takes a very familiar part of Christianity and makes it live in your heart. He goes through the LORD's Prayer verse by verse. As he does this, he makes it part of your life by helping you see not only what it means but how it can be applied to your life. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone that wants to come to know our LORD but, also, to any Christian that would like to be in a more intimate relationship with his Father in Heaven and our LORD, Jesus Christ.

"Let him who is without guilt cast the first stone". These were Jesus's words to the crowd that gathered to stone the woman caught committing adultery.

It is easy to condemn others and throw away the key. If you tell a good person that he is evil and remind him about it every day (by locking him up like a wild beast) he or she will become evil.

Mindfulness meditation provides every human the opportunity to still the mental noise and get in touch with the deepest state of pure inner bliss.

All of us have sinned to greater or lesser degree. Crime (like wars) begins in the heart of man and it is only in the heart of man that the path to peace can be found.

The experience of Donaldson's prisoners demonstrates that Mindfulenss meditation is the ultimate secular path to peace at the personal level; the 'sine qua non' to peace in society and the world at large.

Congressman John Lewis: "This book makes it plain that no human being should be considered beyond the reach of redemption." That quote is from the cover of the book.

It seems we don't know how to rehabilitate offenders other than try stiffer punishment. About 1 in 100 adults in the US is in jail or prison. New approaches are needed. Intense (Vipassana) meditation retreats may be one possibility. This book reflects that potential.

The book records the dramatic changes that prisoners experience as they attempt to purify their minds of such impurities as hatred, fear, greed, anger, etc., that have landed them in prison. This book makes it clear that the impurities they carry deep within cause suffering both to themselves and to those around them; and whatever relief they get using the meditation helps both them and others.

Recently, a documentary film of the meditation courses examined in this book, The Dhamma Brothers, has been released in select theaters across the US. The film captures in action what this book reflects on paper.

The question remains: How effective is this program for the convicts over time? That's difficult to say since each individual must try to integrate his/her insights into an environment that may be dysfunctional. But there are indications of overall success.

Vipassana courses have been held in prisons outside the US since 1975, starting in India. The Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, has recognized Vipassana meditation as a technique to reform criminals and has introduced it in all Central Jails, particularly Tihar Prison, New Delhi. A documentary film of a course for 1,000 inmates at Tihar Prison, "Doing Time, Doing Vipassana," won a top award at the 1998 San Francisco International Film Festival.

The time has come to consider that meditation has promise for rehabilitation of prisoners, and this book reflects that potential.

This book is one of the best books I have ever read, because it gave me a lot of wisdom, in the way of marrige. Even though I am not married yet I learned a lot from this series of letters in the novel. It taught me that I should relax more and not be so uptight. This novel also taught me that when I do get married I will follow some of the guidelines of his letters and use them in my everyday married life. The author showed me the importance of marrige, and how highly I should respect it.I recommend this book to anyone who is planing or think about taking the step into marrige. This book devoloped my relationship with my campanion, to an extent were we can talk about or problems. I reliezed through this book marriage is not all fun and games, it is a serious desicion. After reading this book my knowledge about marriage is greater then it ever was. I thought that even though I am not married, I can be a better person if I read this again when I get married, because there was so much wisdom within those letters. This book was so outstanding to read about his girlfriend because I could tell that they are thinking about taking that special step.I hope he learns as much as i did, becauses he will use it a lot sooner than I will.

Thank you God Bless

Joshua Thompson

This book is one of the best books I have ever read, because it gave me a lot of wisdom, in the way of marrige. Even though I am not married yet I learned a lot from this series of letters in the novel. It taught me that I should relax more and not be so uptight. This novel also taught me that when I do get married I will follow some of the guidelines of his letters and use them in my everyday married life. The author showed me the importance of marrige, and how highly I should respect it.I recommend this book to anyone who is planing or think about taking the step into marrige. This book devoloped my relationship with my campanion, to an extent were we can talk about or problems. I reliezed through this book marriage is not all fun and games, it is a serious desicion. After reading this book my knowledge about marriage is greater then it ever was. I thought that even though I am not married, I can be a better person if I read this again when I get married, because there was so much wisdom within those letters. This book was so outstanding to read about his girlfriend because I could tell that they are thinking about taking that special step.I hope he learns as much as i did, becauses he will use it a lot sooner than I will. Thank you God Bless

Joshua Thompson

This book, 'The Life and Times of Sherlock Holmes', is a glossy, colourful rendering of the great detective's life by Philip Weller and Christopher Roden. Weller, a retiree of the Royal Air Force, is a well-known Sherlockian, founder of S.H.E.R.L.O.C.K. (Sherlock Holmes Enthusiasts Regionally Located Outside the Capital of the Kingdom), is author of many Holmes-related studies. Roden recently provided the introductions to a new edition of the complete canon of the Holmes stories published by Oxford University Press; he has also written several articles for journals related to Holmes, and has served as editor of A.C.D., the journal of the Arthur Conan Doyle Society. With credentials such as this, the reader can be sure of two things - the detail and information is going to be worthwhile, and the love of the subject going into the study is tremendous.

This is a not just a biographical sketch of Sherlock Holmes, but also a visual treat for the reader. There over 200 illustrations in the book, many in full colour. These come from the original sketches that accompanied the stories in the Strand magazine, from photographs and movie stills during the film/television series years, pictures of Sherlock Holmes memorabilia, souvenirs, places mentioned in the stories, and various images of Conan Doyle.

The authors look at several topics in turn - the world context of Sherlock Holmes (both London and other places), the actual stories of the canon, the life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and various lists including groups and a brief (and necessarily incomplete) bibliography. The format, particularly for the discussion of the stories, is very good both for reading and for reference - this provides a short synopsis of each story, including major events, places and characters, as well as original publication information.

This is a worthy addition to any Sherlockian or Holmesian library.

To truly appreciate any of Doyle's writing you have to understand the time and place it occured.

A must have for an avid fan

While the current review is lovely, it's quite wordy for my attention span--I am sure some share my sentiments. Simply put: buy this publication if you like Anton Chekhov. The editor's autobiography and narrative is comprehensive, readable and not at all boring--the included maps are a nice touch and the composition as a whole is a stunning one. You will likely find it easy to relate to his writings or at least enjoy his prose, candor and humor. You will find many moments or evenings of enjoyment from taking a trip down Chekhov lane.

Janet Malcolm's "Reading Chekhov: A Critical Journey" (2001) - a brilliant little book undeservedly maligned by some reviewers - sent me straight back to the book store for a biography of Anton Chekhov. I can report from this trip that the largest bookstore in South East Asia does not carry one single biography of Chekhov!

Instead, I found "Anton Chekhov: A Life in Letters" (2004). And I did not regret it one bit. The book is the fullest collection of Chekhov's letters in English translation to date and contains 370 selected letters reproduced in full. It comes with a chronology of Chekhov's life, a very readable, splendid short introduction, suggestions for further reading, a helpful list of correspondents and four very useful maps. An index at the end of the volume assists in, among other things, finding references to stories and plays in Chekhov's letters.

According to the editors, this book is also the first uncensored edition of Chekhov's correspondence in any language. Chekhov, a physician by training, called the facts of life by their name and took life's mishaps with a sense of humor. Later editors, more prudish and therefore considerably more boring, simply cut out what they called "rude language." Only after Glasnost, in the 1990s, the official portrait of Chekhov as a "decorous and refined gentleman with a stick, who never permitted himself to use racy language and who was rather pious and sickly, with little interest in women" (xv) was beginning to be revised.

The editors point out that Chekhov "may have hidden himself in his literary works, leaving it up to his readers to puzzle out his point of view, and he may have had an aversion to talking about himself in public, but in his letters he could be surprisingly outspoken at times," (xxxv) and so it happens that his correspondence reads almost like the autobiography he always declined to write.

Chekhov's letters illustrate why he is perhaps Russia's best-loved writer: "The qualities which first endeared him to Russian readers back in the 1880s are the same ones which explain his appeal today. He wrote no vast novels in which he attempted to solve the problems of existence [that would be Dostoevsky] or fathom the forces of world history [Tolstoy in "War and Peace"]. He had no particular axe to grind about how people should live their lives, but, like the good doctor that he was, he had a superb ability to diagnose what it was that prevented people from finding happiness and fulfillment and a unique talent for pinpointing it in a clear-sighted way that was a the same time immensely gentle and compassionate. He also had an infectious sense of humour and an unerring sense of life's ironies, which prevented his writing from ever becoming too portentous or sentimental." (xxxvii)

The photo used for the cover shows a pensive Chekhov with a slightly mischievous smile playing around the corner of his mouth. Almost as if just then one of his famous quips had crossed his mind: "Medicine is my lawful wedded wife, and literature is my mistress. When I've had enough of the one, I can go and spend the night with the other."

I used this book for a few days in Lille, and it proved invaluable. Just like any other travel guide, there are loads of listings of where to go, eat, stay and shop. These listings are for the most part up-to-date and accurate. We discovered that there are also loads of good places which didn't make the listings, but that's hardly suprising given the size of the city. The small format of the book is also good, as the book comfortably fits into your pocket.

But what sets this book apart from other guides is the author's own sense of humour and love of the city. Reading the guide, you feel like you are being guided by an knowledgable and enthusiastic local, rather than just reading a dry listing of what to do.

I have used this guidebook three times now when visiting Lille, Europe's new capital of culture. As well as the brilliant reviews of the principal sites, the book features a surprisingly current guide to the special events and themed weekends of the Lille 2004 season. The hotel reviews are well-written and insightful. On my last trip, I stayed at a delightful little place I would ordinarilly have overlooked, and managed to save over 50 euros thanks to the author's tips. There seem to be dozens of restaurant reviews in the book and we have eaten our way through at least five or six of the author's favourites so far. The reviews and local information are written in a witty and entertaining style that makes it excellent dipping material for the hotel room each night.