Reed Books

The characters here, major and minor, are a treat. It's clear that the author, an archaelogist with long experience in Central America, knows his cast inside and out: Gringoland academia, the illegal artifact trade, Mayan culture -- ancient and modern, Mexican bureaucracy, Yucatecan law enforcement. In a few sentences he manages to nail down who these people are, how they think, and why they are willing to risk all to get their hands on the precious, ancient Mayan book -- the Cocom Codex. Even more of an accomplishment, in that brief span he makes them fascinating and memorable. The settings in and around the beautiful city of Merida are handled with the same precise hand. That kind of compression (almost telegraphic, like poetry) is the benchmark of a truly gifted writer.

Against a backdrop of a 400-year-long, multicultural conflict (Mayan, Spanish, Mexican, Gringo), Mr. Reed reveals an otherwise hidden world brimming over with ancient hates and contemporary resentments and strivings. There are no glitches in this story. Each of the seekers has his or her own reason for the chase, founded in personal, family, and cultural history. The dialogue, in three languages (English, Spanish, Mayathan), is flawless. Absolutely authentic. Revealing of character. Funny. Sad. Surprising. Everything it should be.

Great and memorable original characters, exotic settings, an engrossing, superbly crafted plot, culture conflict (historical and contemporary) galore. By any standard, this is an exceptional first novel.

This book is full of incredibly funny coffee humor. If you like coffee you'll love this book. The content however may be easier for adults to understand than children. but all around I have to say the authors are two incredibally talented people because this is one fuuny book!

Excellent Map. Everything you need is on one side. Color coded attractions and Metro are well marked.

Inventors are individuals who have an intuitive ability to recognize inherent flaws in the way things are done, or the tools used to do them. They are able to apply their creative skills to visuallising, describing and sometimes, fabricating a working model incorporating their improvements. While often the drawings or models are adequate for evaluation, they require the skills of a trained technician, an Engineer, to bring them to production standard. Then, to convince the public that they must have this newer, better mousetrap, requires the altogether different skills of a promotor/marketer. Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman, the founder of Lotus Engineering, possessed all these attributes. Indeed, his innovative application of these diverse (in ordinary mortals) skills is undoubtedly the key to his recognition as the most influential figure in the development of the modern motorcar. Colin Chapman was undeniably, a genius. To reveal this fact without recourse to cliche requires someone with knowledge of the capabilities and limitations of "ordinary" Engineers, and an understanding that extremes of temperament, or eccentricity are often tools of a superior intellect, used to motivate, to inspire enthusiasm for advanced concepts. Chapman protege and fellow engineer, Hugh Haskell has performed this task admirably. A perceptive writer, and associate and friend to many of the central figures in the phenomenon that was Colin Chapmans' Lotus, he was able to convey the facts behind the myths in engaging, yet authoritative, discourse. He fondly recalls the Chapman-inspired enthusiasm that was part of being a member of the Lotus team. His insightful narrative conveys, in terms familiar to the layman, the brilliant originality of Chapmans' engineering achievements. He takes us from Chapmans' childhood, through the formative years, and the times when "Lotus" was synonymous with leadership in innovation. He also tells how, when forced by circumstance, Chapman was able to find loopholes to achieve an outcome against the efforts of short-sighted officialdom. Almost unbelievablely, there were occasions when the Chapman innovations were so far ahead of the pack that the rule-makers legislated against him to "level the playing field". Haskell hasn't avoided the issues that Chapmans' unconventional approach to matters financial aroused in the minds of many. Indeed, he includes anecdotes that confirm the young Chapmans' admirable negotiating skills. The book also describes Chapmans ventures into other fields,...from bathroom furniture, through luxury cruising yachts to micro-light aircraft, the fertile mind of Colin Chapman left his mark of originality, and his minimalist design philosophy is apparent in many of his creations, light on material substance they may be, but they're full measure for clever engineering. A winning combination. This is a damned good book, a tribute by one engineer to a colleague who happened to be one of the Twentieth Centurys' greatest automotive engineers. Read it,...be inspired.

This book is almost as Wonderful as the Beautiful Pickard China! If you've never touched a piece of Pickard China or read this wonderful book, then you're missing so much! It's a Must Have Book that's packed full of Lovely Photos, as well as some of the history behind this Beautiful China! Go get yourself this book, Ya Hear!

This book was written at a time when Passenger Pigeons and Carolina Paroquets could be enjoyed and seen and when the Starling only ranged in NY, CT & NJ. Interesting tidbits like, the English Sparrow was introduced to the US in 1851 and the Starling was introduced into New York City in 1890. If you love birds than you'll love this book!

Excellent; The Color of Hate captured our attention from page one to the very last page. A comtemporary story that is American History at the same time; this family's fictional story is very real and continues in households across America even today. Well written, enjoyable and comical: great story!

If a book about commemorative coins had to be likened to the Bible, this would be it. It is excellently researched and has a great wealth of information about the various varieties of the coins. It also contains more information about original holders than I have ever seen. Of special interest to investors is the section on projected increases in value. This book is also packed full of top-notch illustrations. If anyone is interested in commemorative coins, or coins in general, this book is a must for any numismatist.

Every American lawyer ought to read Blackstone.

Not that the law he contains is still reliable, although much of it is. But for the big picture, the history of the development of the English common law, he remains an indispensible source.

The American founding fathers grew up with this stuff, and these four volumes were indispensible for a Colonial gentleman's education. In viewing them, you will gain a new understanding of the meaning of the Constitution of the United States. As Blackstone develops the law, he sets it against the backdrop of the British struggle against arbitrary rule by the King, the seventeenth century wars of religious fanaticism, and England's long battle to win free from the power of the papacy. To read Blackstone is to learn what the founding fathers thought and feared, and what they wrote the Constitution to guard against.

West is at her most impressive in this little-known but gorgeous novel. Described as one of the first and few genuine "novel of ideas" written by a woman, this is a profound exploration of human emotions, choices and the interplay of fate and free will. It is also a delightful, quirky love story, with an accessible and funny plot and two endearing main characters.

Isabel is a bored, rich, beautiful American woman living a life of luxury in Paris, where excitement comes in the form of a hot-tempered French lover. Vain, snobbish, yet highly sympathetic, Isabel is also fiercely intelligent and in desperate quest of something more from life than pretty clothes and feckless men -- enjoyable as they have been.

Deciding to settle down and pursue a solid life plan, she ends up getting married -- by accident. How this "accident" happens, you'll have to read the book, it's marvelously done and provides the book's key plot point. Suffice it to say, neither the marriage nor its outcome are predictable in the least. Nothing is "traditionally" romantic in any sense. Yet the novel is deeply satisfying, both emotionally and intellectually. the alughter that it evokes is of a particularly rich and knowing quality; it will linger long in your memory after reading it.