Richards Books

I just finished David McCullough's "1776," having read Wheeler's "Voices of 1776" immediately prior.

While not as well known as David McCullough's book, "1776," "Voices of 1776" brings to life those in the thick of the Revolution, whether by choice or chance.

McCullough's does an excellent job of conveying the endless trials that Washington faced and his unflagging devotion to the cause.

Wheeler's book, however, was the more satisfying of the two.

Made up of excerpts from letters, diaries, and newspaper accounts of the day, woven together with historical context from the editor, the longer and frequently more detailed first person accounts in "Voices" give one a much better sense of the times.

And of course by letting the participants speak at length in their own voices, the accounts were more gripping.

Two other differences of note:

- "Voices" covers the entire conflict (in time and geography); McCullough's focuses on Washington and his leadership during a single year.

- McCullough's includes a some photographs and a few maps; the several detailed maps in "Voices" helped one understand the specific battles.

Those wanting to really understand life during the revolution will enjoy reading the accounts in "Voices of 1776."

"Voices of 1776" is a tale of the Revolutionary War from its' beginnings at Lexington, Concord and Breed's Hill (not Bunker Hill!) to the British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia. Mr. Wheeler tells his story in the actual words of the participants (on both sides)-hence the "voices" in the title. These are in the more formal, flowery method of speaking from that time and appear in regular typeface. Since this language can be hard to understand, the author includes his explanatory notes in "today's" style- but in italics!!It was very interesting -if challenging- to jump back and forth between the two. "1776" is written quite chronologically, so the reader should not become confused. If one is interested in the latter period of the War, it's easy to skip to that section of the narrative. The stories of the high points-the Battles of Breed's Hill,Saratoga,Trenton and John Paul Jones" naval exploits are all here with just the right amount of detail. Lesser known sides of the War such as the American invasion of Quebec and the troubles we had with Indians (even then!) are also included. Mr. Wheeler does a particularly fine job presenting the events of Benedict Arnold's treason and the dramatic execution of his contact, Major Andre. I'm always fascinated to relearn that so many bloody and decisive battles were fought in South Carolina! And anyone who doubts that France is not our friend will be set straight (no French=no surrender at Yorktown). This will make a fine read for a history buff, for those who wish to "review" for themselves their nation's history or perhaps for parents who want to "encourage" the same with the kids. Casual readers may be disappointed as may Vermont natives-The Battle of Bennington isn't covered!! A final helpful hint-the reader may wish to have a Rand McNally Atlas handy since geography is crucial to understanding the battles; the book's many maps are in the formal "style of the times".

This book is captivating even for non-"history buffs". I was so impressed by it that I ordered copies for several family members and friends and they rave about it. If the history books used in schools were even half this interesting we'd be a nation of history scholars. Having those who lived through it "tell" you what happened and how in such detail makes it a hard book to put down. It's the best 12 bucks you'll ever spend.

The Voices of 1776 by Richard Wheeler is a
great reference book. The book begins with the out
brake of the Revolutionary War on April 19th
seventeen-seventy-five. The book has a collection
of different accounts of the major battles and campaigns of the war. It is an easy book to read and
entertains the reader. The book also has maps that are useful in seeing the layout of the battles. This
book is recommended to any American history
buff, or some one who just loves good reading.

This excellent volume is yet another compendium of primary source material coupled with the excellent commentary and summaries by the author. It is enlightening, accurate, lively, and just a plain good read. It is also an excellent research resource for further study of the period.

The war is covered through a continuous drum roll of accounts of the participants, ranging from a lively description of a hanging, which, failing the first time because of a faulty rope, the unfortunate party was 'launched into eternity' on the second go round, through the accurate description of the worthless militia that 'ran like a torrent' at the first clash at Camden in 1780, leaving the stalward Maryland and Delaware Continentals to slug it out alone and outnumbered under their respected commander, Baron de Kalb, who, after finally falling with his eleventh wound of the action, saw his faithful Continentals ground to destruction by overwhelming numbers of enemy infantry and cavalry. Finally, in one of the best quotes in the book, a Virginia officer saw and heard Washington relieve Lee at Monmouth, in the midst of the retreat, and that the Commander-in-Chief 'swore till the leaves shook on the trees' and that the language used on Lee was both 'charming' and 'delightful.' It is also noted that the Virginia officer himself was a master of the profane.

What this volume does provide is an authentic record of the men who fought and won the Revolution, through incredible hardship and long odds. What they won can be captioned simply by what a British officer told a Quaker in Philadelphia, 'You have got a hell of a fine country here.'

We should all take that comment to heart. Reading this book will give the reader a renewed aprreciation both for what we have and what these soldiers and statesmen wrougt by their dedication and sacrifice. This book is highly recommended.

My first English Ring was Andrew Porter's "singable" translation. It was my introduction to a world of sound-rhymes that is difficult to render even in German (a running joke in Bayreuth was that singers were asked to first translate the text to German, before starting work!!!). When my focus turned to meaning of words and sentences, I've discovered the Spencer translation, the most up-to-date version available in English. Besides an annotated text (with alternate endings included - previous versions of course...), comparing word roots with Wagner's own sources, we are also presented with introductory essays by Wagner scholars, filled with insight and devoid of one-sidedness so common in music scholarship. For everyone looking for THE version of Der Ring in English.

This is a very useful set of libretti and translations. The introductory material and the synopses are also of great use.

Thank you, Mr. Spencer. You have given us something very special. You have given us a complete English translation of Der Ring Des Nibelungen, and it's possibly the most Wagnerian translation ever put on paper. You have given us more knowledge about the Ring Cycle by giving us commentaries about Wagner and his mission to change the way we look at operas. You have also given us B & W pictures of recent renderings of the Ring Cycle, from the Bayreuth Festival to the New York Metropolitan Opera. And for that, we are very grateful. A+

I studied "The Nibelungenlied" in college and was so mesmerized by the story that I had a linden leaf tattooed on my back. Since then, I have read Nordic sagas of the Siegfried legend. This was my first read of Wagner's comprehensive version. It was breathtaking.

Wagner draws from all versions of the legend. In addition to "The Nibelungenlied," he uses "The Saga of the Volsungs" and other Nordic versions such as the prose and poetic "Edda."

Wagner's ambitious work was composed under the nationalistic fervour of 19th Century Germany. He believed "The Nibelungenlied" to be for Germany what "The Iliad" was for Greece or "The Aeneid" was for Rome. Thus he populates his German forests and rivers with mythological gods and faeries, and his human heroes are imbued with heroic courage and strength reminiscent of Achilles and Aeneas.

In his poetry, Wagner proves himself a genius. Like other masters of language, he deftly balances storytelling, emotion, and philosophy. Stewart Spencer's translation is excellent, especially in capturing Wagner's emphasis on alliteration.

See also Wagner's libretto for "Tristan and Isolde," another brilliantly written opera based on a medieval german text (by Gottfried von Straussberg).

I highly recommend this book. There are seldom times a book will give me chills, and it happened several times when reading this book. And if you are interested in the Siegfried saga, check out The Nibelungenlied.

This book would be an excellent addition to anyone interesting in Wagner's Ring cycle for a number of reasons.

First, the translation, which takes up three quarters of the book, is well done, with German and English directly compared on a line by line basis, complete with alternate or discarded or rejected versions of the libretto included in an appendix. The translation itself seems outstanding; some of Wagner's phrasing is difficult or impossible to directly translate into English, but even in the most convoluted or confusing cases the result is clear and compelling.

Second, there is a thematic guide to many of the most important leitmotifs Wagner developed (67 in this case), and in the translation of the libretto the authors have noted where these occur on a line by line, or sequential basis. This is of tremendous help as a reference for further study when listening and relistening to the music.

Third, while there is only little commentary on the operas and on Wagner's compositional journey through the Ring, there are a few photos from past performances, comparing vastly different sets for the same scenes, which are interesting. There could have been quite a bit more of this.

Finally, the glossary of character names could be useful to the student.

Overall, this is an excellent resource and reference to use while listening to the Ring, and for analyzing Wagner's libretto itself.

Reading this book, comprised of info from many sources, I got frankly angered by the way this administration, as well as others in the past, used tragedies and wars to take our freedoms from us and invade our privacy on a whim. I understand some liberties must be sacrificed in times of conflict. The government just after 9-11 was running straight from the executive branch without any checks and balances. Of course who would dispute or bring up civil liberties in times of crisis, obviously not anyone in the courts. People were labeled enemy combatants and contained without right to trial, any proof of guilt, and held months without anyone even knowing their whereabouts. Many were probably guilty, but some were innocent and in the wrong place at the wrong time. Our government wanted to get people to act as spies, surveying their neighborhoods, spying on neighbors, getting your library to turn you in as a terrorist for reading muslim literature or something containing dissent to the govt. Luckily that brilliant plan of ashcrofts has not gone over to will not be tolerated, and should not be tolerated by the citizens that are supposed to be the backbone of our democracy. Very informative book. AMerica must fight to revise this orwellian act that is the patriot act.

I read this book cover-to-cover on a flight from L.A. to New York, and found it both well-written and informative. Indeed, I thought it was such a good survey of the major legal issues in America's war on terrorism that I assigned it as required reading for my American Law & Terrorism seminar at UCLA.

This book provides the "backstory" for many of the key issues I plan to cover, such as prohibition of material support to foreign terrorist organizations and how that law squares with America's First Amendment jurisprudence. For the most part, this book takes a critical position against most of the current legal arguments advanced by the Bush Administration, e.g. that the President should be allowed to designate enemy combatants. But each article presents its argument in a fairly balanced way.

Also, the articles do a great job of explaining the law at a college-graduate level, as opposed to a lawyer's level. That's unusual for most books on the subject, and I think it makes this a must-buy for anyone interested in the subject.

Well being young and unexperienced I found this book very helpful, it really opened my eyes to a new way of looking at things. I liked the way most of the information seemed to be first hand, rather than just many assumptions.

In every era of this nation's history, there has been a small minority of wise and prescient thinkers who, unwilling to drift with the popular current, warn us of the forces threatening our basic freedoms. Labeled as agitators, often despised and feared in their own times, these are the people who take seriously the enlightened principles of the American Revolution. They said no to slavery when the rest of the nation was indifferent to it or saying yes; they protested child labor; they demanded the 8-hour day and the minimum wage; they said we must protect our air and water. Their passionate devotion to the ideals of democracy has chopped away at the greed and denial that grows in America like weeds if no one is watching. But whatever the issue, our nasty habit in this country is to ignore the voices of protest. Then we struggle and suffer and people get hurt, very hurt. Eventually the agitators of yesterday become the heroes of the new day. Why can't we learn to listen before the damage is done? This book is a compilation of essays that MUST be listened to. These people are telling us -- with passion, intelligence and good sense, and without greed or agendas and certainly without denial -- about the delicate balance between national security and civil liberties, about the crucial importance of the free trade of ideas, and the danger of popular intolerance of dissent. If we listen now we can prevent that moment for the historians of the future when they say, "How could they not have seen what was about to happen?" As Anthony Lewis says in his essay "Security and Liberty," "If we are to preserve constitutional values - the values of freedom -- understanding and resistance must come now." This book is a MUST READ for everyone who cares deeply about the direction of this nation.

Comprised of a series of scholarly essays on the gradual of secretive reneging of US civil liberties post-9/11, "War on Our Freedoms" is an important book for anyone living in the United States to read. Though some government opacity and reining in of rights is always needed in the wake of an event such as 9/11 or the war in Iraq, this book is a chilling reminder that there is a thin line that we seem to be crossing, unbeknownst to most Americans.

With vivid characters and outstanding technical support to throw the reader into the action it is a treat. You get to watch the inner workings of Generals and politicians dancing around each in a sabre dance. As you ride with the young hotshot Lt. Locke, you will feel every G as he throws you for a loop. Richard Herman Jr. is a worthy techno-fiction writer for someone first starting out in the gerne.

Read this fisrt in 1980's and now for third [at last] time. Locke, Thunder, Waters and Cunningham are outstanding

This has to be one of the best books ever. From the moment I started reading it, I could not put it down. I have read it atleast 3 times over the past 15 years. Loaned it to a friend and he got mad at me because he lost a lot of sleep. He finished it the first night. The second book Force of Eagles is just about as good as this one.

The Warbirds, which I recently revisited, holds up pretty well over time. Parts of it are obviously dated - the use of F-4s in a frontline combat role, and of course the Soviet Union and the proximity of the events in the book to the Iran-Iraq war. But, if you're reading this review, these probably aren't things to worry about.

The Warbirds is at its best as the story of a combat unit in the post-Vietnam military struggling to prepare for war, as a portrait of a unit under wartime conditions, and as a study of leadership. As a whole, it remains an excellent novel.

The novel begins with the 45th Air Wing posted to Egypt, where the first segment of the book begins. As storm clouds gather in the Persian Gulf, and following a clash with Libyan plans, the unit is reposted to RAF Stonewood for training purposes, under its talented new leader "Muddy" Waters. The last third of the book covers its posting to the Persian Gulf to oppose an Iranian campaign to overrun the oilfields.

Richard Herman has a real talent in populating his novels with distinctive and memorable characters. The Warbirds establishes the core group of the early Herman novels, in particular: Anthony "Muddy" Waters, Jack Locke, James "Thunder" Bryant, Doc Landis, Rupert Stansell and Ambler Furry. Herman defines his characters by their actions. The resulting is a set of interesting and likable individuals.

Perhaps by virtue of his own Air Force experience, Herman's depiction of the service is frank. Particular emphasis is paid to the necessity of adaptation under training and combat conditions. Bureaucracy takes its toll on the characters, and the hero, Muddy Waters, is forced to repeatedly defend both his men and his command from rivals in the Air Force.

The last third of the book contains some very well rendered depictions of combat. The 45th is steadily attritted by combat against an Iranian army, and, in the final section of the book, forced to fight for its life against an amphibious attack. The losses it suffers are made vivid by the author's willingness to sacrifice likable characters (something lacking in other genre authors).

Good characterization, tense action and (amateur editorial review above to the contrary) solid plotting make The Warbirds an early classic of the military genre and a great first novel for Richard Herman. By all means read this and then Force of Eagles, which is its immediate sequel.

Definetly one of the best thrillers I've come across in a long time. "The Warbirds" doesn't neccessarily have all kinds of high-tech weapons and aircraft you see in other fine thrillers, but instead Herman focuses on the development of the characters themselves, and includes one action-filled scene after another, with vivid flying sequences involving everything from tense training emergencies to all-out war. The fact that Herman flew F-4s in combat lends a large degree of credibility to his descriptions of aircraft, weapons, and the people who fly them. A top-notch thriller from start to finish!

Here's an up-to-date guide to married sexuality, written with rare candor and remarkable clarity. Be aware: this book goes places that previous books about sexuality within (Christian) marriage have not gone before.

A great gift for pre-married couples; a helpful guide for married couples who want to improve their communication about sexual issues or develop a closer and more unified sex life. This book is both prescriptive and descriptive; be aware of that also.

The authors remind us that great relationships are about many factors beyond the physical; there are tips and hints here that will help husbands and wives bond and connect outside the bedroom and away from sexual experiences. Even so, this is primarily a 'bedroom book' and is best understood from that perspective.

Given the explicit nature of these discussions, this is adult reading.

Dr. David & Lisa Frisbie
The Center for Marriage & Family Studies
Authors of: The Soul-Mate Marriage: The Spiritual Journey of Becoming One

An informed, witty and vigorous discussion of marriage. The authors catch our eye with the title's focus on sex and then set out to lead us into the realization that sex involves much more than functioning in the bedroom. The book is a call to Christian men to move beyond whatever limitations they may have regarding their sexual role, and explore their God-given capacity as sexual men. The discussion is never timid but rather boldly addresses what men often contemplate but seldom verbalize. A chapter at the end is written to wives, but the book's title and the fact that it was written by men intrigued my wife. She read the entire book and has recomended it to friends. If any Christian man reading the book incorporates even one or two helpful concepts, both he and his wife will happy benificiaries. I highly recomend this book to all married or soon to be married Christian men.

This book provides some very helpful, practical insights to the world of sex and marriage. On top of that, I laughed out loud several times and I appreciate their "get right to the point" writing style. I HIGHLY recommend this book to any married couple no matter how long you've been together.

It would be a shame if non-Christian readers did not avail themselves of the wisdoms of this little gem. It is psychologically sound and fun to read, enhancing the pursuit of the joys of intimacy that nature has made available to us all.

I've been part of the male Christian culture all my life. When it comes to the subject of sex, I well understand the dark silence that often accompanies that culture. The authors of this book strike back by not just breaking the silence, but by diving right in as though sex is the most natural thing in the world for us to have an open and frank discussion about.

The book gives us everything from an anatomy lesson, to a discussion of techniques, to a look at our own connection with God as it relates to our sexuality. I highly recommend this fresh and fun book that puts sex back out in the open where it belongs. Sex is a gift from God that Christians have often refused to open because of fear, shame or whatever. This book encourages us to tear open the gift and celebrate what's inside.

We love this book. The Artwork is Amazing, and the story is captivating. There are so many interesting characters in this book- so it's a great joy to read and act out.

A fun book that highlights the imagination of a child. The story is wonderfully funny and the illustrations are grand! An adventure to read and sure to become a bedtime classic - it is in our home.

My daughter loves me to read this book before she goes to bed. We got it out of the library and now I'm adding it to her birthday and holiday wishlist. It's definitely a "keeping" book as my son and daughter like to say. The illustrations are expertly done, capturing the story so well. Highly recommend this book!

My 3 kids laughed through this whole book! They say it is just like me when I talk to my sister.

A grand tale for so many of us who, as children, are often frustrated in our efforts to get our mothers off the phone and who, as adults, are often frustrated by our children's efforts to get us off the phone....a frolicking fantasy with words that roll off the tongue and illustrations that amuse and delight! Wonderful! Can't wait for my children to get off the phone so that I can call my friends to recommend this lively, lovely book!

As a retired HR exec I frequently assist friends and relatives with their resumes and the job hunting process. This book has been a staple for me and those I help for many years. I first found it when my own company was bought out and I was laid off. It helped me and is full of wonderful advice that is useful for any job hunter. Absolutely the first book I recommend to people who are looking for job hunting help. I bought this copy because I wanted to make sure I had a spare copy in case the one that I lend out all the time fails to come home someday!

This is an excellent book. Together with other books, this is what is needed in a job search. The author has done a great job in pulling together the elements which spell success in the quest for employment. I recommend it.

Wayne D. Ford, Ph.D., author of "The Accelerated Job Search" docwifford@msn.com

When I was out of work, and wanting to make a career change, I went to the library and, literally, checked out a three foot stack of resume and cover letter books.

I sat them next to my couch, got a glass of iced tea and went to work perusing the pages. Right away it was evident that, for the most part, the only thing different about these how to tomes was their cover. Inside was the same tired advice and the same over used examples of resumes and cover letters.

Guess what? As an employee candidate your job is to stand out from the crowd, not blend in with it.

I had just about given up on my reading (and was getting more depressed by the minute) when I came across "Who's Hiring Who?" I could tell right away that it was different, the question was, would I have the guts to run free, as the book encouraged, or would I continue to run with the herd?

When I read "Who's Hiring Who" I was three months into a job search. After this much time spent looking for work (and I was at it 12 hours a day!) I told myself that my resume, which took form based upon a lot of the ancient advice in the mainstream resume books, wasn't working and I wasn't going to lose anything by trying the advice in "Who's Hiring Who?"

It took me a week to read the book, really think about the suggestions it made, and then distill it's principles into my new QUALIFICAITONS BRIEF. No more resumes! Other no mores? No more worrying about a spotty work history. No more worrying about an incomplete (that means little or no college) education. The book tells you the best ways to accentuate the positive and marginalize the negative.

Within two weeks I had several job offers on the table. Within a month I had done more than get a job, I had successfully changed careers and was working for a hot software company with benefits out the wazoo and a pay rate higher than I'd hoped for!

(Since then I've read Tom Peter's book, "Circle of Innovation" (I think that was the book), which, when talking about resumes says who cares about education, companies want to know what you've done. What have your successes been? This is one thing "Who's Hiring Who?" focuses on.)

My advice to you? Buy the book, follow its advice and have the guts to change!

I bought this book a few years ago, right before I moved to a new city. I have to say it is one of the BEST books, if not THE best book available for writing that all-important resume. Contrary to the individual who said it needed updated due to resumes being entered and searched via a database, I think the book is just fine as it is. This book does NOT tell you how to write a traditional resume, which is probably why the reviewer didn't think it worked and needed updated for database search...it isn't formatted like the online resume searches. However, it does instruct the reader on how to write something even better: a Qualifications Brief. A resume and a qualifications brief are similar and are meant to do the same things, but whereas a resume describes a persons past positions and his or her responsibilities, a QB describes the actual QUALIFICATIONS the person has that makes him or her the right candidate for the specific job for which he or she is applying. That makes all the difference to the employer, who gathers his or her important first impression of the applicant from the submitted dull resume or uniquely different QB. I know from personal experience: I sent out two QBs after I moved and I got call-backs for BOTH submissions. I'm currently in my 5th year of employment for one of them. I also wrote a QB up for a friend of mine and she too got hired within days of sending it out. Neither of us have ever had such prompt responses when sending out a normal, traditional resume. My advice: buy this book; it's definitely worth every penny!

I used to think that this was the best resume book on the market. It helps you to understand that a resume should be something carefully crafted and designed with a goal in mind. I'm just not sure how useful it is in 2000. Today your resume is entered into a database and a search is done on key words to find you. This book needs to be updated. The last update was in 1989. A lot has changed in the hiring industry since then. Why has this book not been updated?

Sixteen-year-old Anna was driving her (drunk) best friend home from a party when she collided head-on with her brother's girlfriend's car. Now a beautiful high school senior is dead, Anna nearly lost an eye and suffers from PTSD with crippling nightmares, her best friend Ellen is in a wheelchair, and the family is at odds with one another. Wrecked opens with the car accident and its aftermath, but, as a whole, the book is an exploration of the fabric of an entire family.

Anna's friends and family have widely disparate reactions to the wreck. What is the right way to respond, anyway? Anna can find websites about how to deal with a dying family member, how to be a friend to someone who is grieving, and how to cope if you have suicidal thoughts, but there is no website to address the peculiar situation of how to cope with unintentionally killing one of your peers.

The narration of Wrecked is told in a genuine teenaged voice, full of questions, full of frustration with parents, and desperately seeking direction. In a strange way, the entire crisis brings Anna's family closer, to a more complete understanding of one another.

This book is highly recommended for teens and family members of all ages. It is especially important for anyone dealing with a family crisis or the accidental death of a family friend. Fans of this book should seek out Mary Beth Miller's Aimee and John Green's Looking for Alaska.

Speaking of tension, E.R. Frank's Wrecked is one of the most moving stories you could find on the aftermath of an auto accident. An auto crash involving three teens kills one, leaves a passenger disabled, and is viewed from the driver's perspective in Wrecked. For Anna has killed her brother's girlfriend in the accident and has to handle not only the death but the rift with her brother and her passenger friend, who was drunk at the time. An emotionally charged story of responsibility.

This book cannot be put down. I read this book in 5 hours, I am in [...]honors so this book was easy for me, I absolutely adored this book. I love how it went into flashbacks of times with her and Jack. Excellent book, purchase!

The Book Wrecked by E.R. Frank, and published by Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books September 27, 2005. There are 256 pages in this book. This book is fiction. This book is about a young girl who accidentally kills her brother's girlfriend in a car accident. She deals with the ups and downs of having the girl's death on her shoulders, which is very hard for her to cope with.
This book is mainly about dealing with life and death. I think that the author is trying to allow young adults to take a look through a teens eyes and let them see how it would be if they drink and drive. The young girl's name is Anna she goes to a party with her best friend Ellen. When they arrive at the party peer pressure pushes Anna do what she normally does not do, that is drink. She stops after a while and sobers up a little bit but Ellen is definitely wasted. On the way home is what changed Anna's life forever. All she can remember is the accident, and waking up in the hospital. She keeps repeating things she heard like screaming, and Ellen's voice. Now Cameron her brother's girlfriend is dead and no one is blaming her but she feels that it is all her fault. From what I have read so far in the book I believe that it is a very good book. It makes me feel kind of like I am in the story. It is so descriptive that I feel like if I close my eyes I can see what is going on.
After reading the part of the book I have completed the book has really left a lasting impression it has made me think about what I would do if I were put in that situation. It kind of makes me sad, I want everyone that is interested in reading this book to know that it is the type of story that once you have picked it up to start to read it you can not put it down.

I loved this book. The voice of the narrator Anna, is sincere, and although she has endured living with a troubled father and survived a terrible car crash, her voice is never whiny or filled with self-pity.
Even though everyone tells Anna that the crash was not her fault, years of emotional abuse from her father and guilt over her brother's grief over the loss of his girlfriend in the crash takes its toll on her and she begins to have severe panic attacks and is unable to face driving a car. The author of Wrecked is a psychotherapist and the sessions between Anna and her shrink are realistically portrayed.
I also enjoyed the scenes between Anna and her friends at school and away in Florida. Anna's friendship with her friend Ellen is put to the test when Ellen continues to abuse alcohol. There are no easy answers which is what makes this such an excellent read for young adults and adults alike. It shows that there are no bad guys, just people like us who have a hard time navigating through life. A satisfying ending brought the book full circle. I'd read other books by this author.

This book makes a great gift for your writer friends. After all, you can't just keep buying them nice pens for Christmas.... I found this while looking for a gift--and ended up reading it before I gave it away, though I wanted to keep it and tear out the pages to post 'round my desk. Really funny, really true (the best kind of humor).

'Writer at Work' is a high quality, thoroughly wonderful collection of Richard Krzemien's unique cartoons about the writing life. From the superb renderings to the pithy punchlines, each cartoon is a work of art in its own right. The keen eye will note the bookshelf in each drawing with a message specific to the cartoon written on the book bindings - a bonus addition to the cartoons. Funny and poignant - these cartoons can be enjoyed by writers and non-writers alike.

Krzemien finds his own unique truth about the writing process, then passes it on to readers with great humorous insight. This is a "must read" for anyone who claims to make a living with the written word. Feel the pain - and live to laugh about it.

I know lots of writers, and they're all depressed. They're constantly getting rejected, having their work chopped to pieces, and generally suffering from a lack of self esteem. This book makes them laugh out loud; the relief is palpable...someone who feels their pain and makes it funny. And you can look at it more than once, because of the detail in the pictures; you see things in the background that you miss the first time.

I laughed, I cried, [...], and that was for my own work. Finally, someone who understands the pain, yes the joy of putting words to paper. Helpful to any professional or student and, amazingly, the insights come at a price your therapist can't match.

I saw this book on Amazon and purchased this book as a gift for a friend who is a fire fighter. He couldn't put it down. He said it is an excellent, well-written book and a must read for every fire fighter out there! While the average person, who is not a fire fighter, would not probably identify with the characters and stories in this book, the person who is a fire fighter will identify with them, because of their experiences on the job. This book is out of print and hard to find, but highly recommended

I too read this book some 25 years ago while in high school. My dad was in the fire department, read it and passed it along to me, saying if I wanted to read what his work was really like, this book said it all perfectly.

If you can find this book, buy it and pass along to anyone who wants to know what being a firefighter is really all about. Descriptive, accurate and pulls no punches in the job-warts and all.

Highly recommend it, even if only to read true adventure which novelists can't match.

This is the book to find. Like one of the other reviewers, I had this book many years ago, and read it until it literally fell apart. I found it again at a public library about two years ago, and I long to once again have it in my collection.

I read this book, when I was in college. This is a very well written testament about the careers and experiences on New York City Fire Fighters. Ten years later, I am still trying to locate copies of this book, to give to my friends, who now work for the FDNY.

Many years ago, I lost my copy of 20,000 ALARMS, and now find it is out of print! This makes finding a copy tricky. What a blow! Fortunately I've read it so many times that most of has stayed with me over the years. I recently found a copy in another cities public libary and read it overnight. I think that this should sum up my review. If YOU have a spare copy, I'd love to hear from you! E-mail: p.jay@pei.sympatico.ca