S Books

As has been said, the introduction by Lewis is worth the cost of the book. Of course, Athanasius' masterpiece is in public domain and free versions abound, but this is a much better translation than you are likely to get for free, and the introduction is C.S. Lewis at his absolute best. A must-have for both Lewis fans and for those who love theology.

As an early Christian who really understood the faith Athansus shines here with the story of the Incarnation and the disagreements and heresies that arose surrounding it in clear, undiluted terms. It's a concise, clear capturing of the core of the faith (of the early Church and Christianity at large). Should be a must-read for anyone who thinks they know their Christian faith.

Very pleased with the condition and the Book. If you are a Believer in Jesus Christ and you want to study the "Incarnation" this is the book.

First, the introduction by C. S. Lewis is alone worth the price of this short work. Lewis argues that these works by the early church fathers are far easier to read than the commentaries of the works of the fathers. He also argues that we need to read at least one out of three books out of our century. He doesn't use the phrase "chronological snobbery," but the argument is the same. We need to read perspectives of other cultures and ages to help keep ourselves from falling into the errors of the present age.

Second, the book is not terribly difficult to read. The book is short and well organized. Some of the passages take rereadings, but the arguments for the most part are fairly straight forward and accessible. Meditating on what God did through the incarnation, the reasons for the incarnation, and its impact on our lives and history as a whole can not be a bad thing.

As has been said, this book is fantastic. Everything good that you learn about God's becoming a man originates in this book. Would be nice if the translation was a little more fluid. Unfortunately, this is probably the best translation you'll find, for now.

Like some of the others here I read this book in my late teens thirty odd years ago and and it is a remarkable insite into the daily battle of a schizophrenic. Now working as a psychotherapist I appreciate the battle more but will never forget the inspiration this book gave me.

I read this book at least 30 years ago, when I was a teenager. I got it from the scholastic book club. It left a deep impression in my mind, not only from the entertaining story of her madness and the experiences she had during this adventure, but why she became mad and the lesson she learned about keeping sane. She attributed her madness to the stressful work atmosphere she was experiencing, and how she was hijacked by her mad self into leaving this oppressive atmosphere, which eventually led to her healing. I would recommend that anyone reading this book pay attention to that part of it. I think her message is very, very sane.

I read this book Operators and Things perhaps 10 years or more ago, so my memory is not so fresh. What impressed me was the author's claims that people in her office could be divided up into two types: those who manipulate others,and those manipulated. Certainly the ambitious types do tend to behave as if other people merely serve their ambitions. This is where the book can provide insight into human behavior.
Toward the end, the author in need of money finds that she is given aid by some unseen power, that enables her to win at gambling, just enough to help her financially and no more. That amazed me.
Facinating book.

I can't say enough good things about this book. Its one of the best most entertaining and thought provoking books I've ever read. It's simply amazing reading on how the shadowy figures in her head took the helm of her life, while she does little more than go along for the ride, and not only do they manage to keep her from harm but the experience leaves her clearly in a better place than where she was, and as a stronger person, albeit down some amount of thousands of dollars.

Just to read it as a pure novel it would be brilliant, perhaps even more brilliant if it were just a novel, but to imagine that this really happened to someone, it's really fascinating.

I know a lot of people would balk at paying 20+ dollars for a thin paperback, but do yourself a favor, and pick this one up. I can almost guarantee you will not regret it.

Its a book begging to be made into a film if I ever read one.

I found this book to be incredible. To see what a schizophrenic sees is very astounding. And to follow this woman on her long journey, being led around by these beings that only she could see, was a ride in itself. That she came out of it safe, and sound, is amazing.

The thing is that those that she saw, the operators and hook operators described people that we see every day. And the descriptions of them and what they do were also relevant to how the predatory types in our world operate. It's almost as if she could see 'behind the scenes' at what is really going on in our world.

This is a great book and the fact that it is true makes it even more spectacular.

Thsi is book a wonderful discovery I made. I love L'Engle, she is a phenomenal author with quick wit, and a mixture of science, faith: always a great story. This novel is no different. I loved the imagery and the setting: a beach in turn of the century South Carolina. The story centers around Stella, the young British bride of Terry, her American husband. She is sent to live with his family in South Carolina, as Terry goes off on a secret mission for the US State Department. Since it is the south and it is the turn of the century, the civil war and it's aftermath is as much of character as the people themselves.
Stella soon discovers that Terry's family is not all it seems and as she gets to know them and they her, she discovers some horrible past experiances and secrets that arre still effecting the family today. The novel is full of wit, literary refernces: Her Great Aunts play a wonderful guess the quote game. However, it has a very dark side and only after she has gone through love's terrible side can she and the famlliy come out on the other side of the sun. I can not reccomend this book enough!

Like many other reviewers, I was exposed to Madeleine L'Engle's work through "A Wrinkle in Time." I have reread most of her Children's work and then started through her Adult work. While "The Small Rain" (her first novel) and "A Severed Wasp" (one of her last novels) were excellent and well-written, nothing prepared me for the brilliance and imagination of "The Other Side of the Sun." Right from the first chapter I was drawn into the fascinating story of the post-civil war south and all its lingering conflicts. I found all the characters completely believeable and compelling, especially Honoria and the Aunties. Even minor characters were completely fleshed out and interesting.

I found myself newly fascinated with the Author. What kind of a person can dream up such a complex and beautiful storyline and fill it with such amazing characters? The complex story never became predictable or trite. What a refreshing and thoroughly entertaining piece of work. In my mind, it is L'Engle's best.

An elderly widow, Stella Renier, returns from her husband's funeral to her family in the American South. Before facing the rest of the family she and her grandson spend some time together at the family's coastal estate, Illyria, where she relates to him the story of her arrival there as a young bride many years before. Stella had traveled to Illyria to await her husband's return from a mysterious and dangerous mission. She found herself struggling to understand both the alien cultures of the antebellum South with it's strict and confusing rules and the family with it's long history and many secrets. She finds help in the most surprising places including her husband's long dead grandmother.

For those familiar with L'Engle's other works this one does not feature either the Murray/O'Keefe or the Austin families of her more well known works. The Renier family is alluded to, though, in some of these works. As always with L'Engle's works the characters are compeling, drawing the reader into the complexities of their lives, eliciting first a smile at their eccentricities and then a tear at their sorrows.

This lesser known work is a treat for a L'Engle fan or a wonderful introduction to this marvelous author, in either case it is a story that will stay with the reader long after the last page.

I think L'Engle touches...even caresses...a special nerve in those of us who become her lifelong fans. She touched my imagination when I was just 10 years old as I read "A Wrinkle in Time." Her image of Camazotz has stayed solidly at the front of my mind ever since, and I have enjoyed dipping into her well throughout the years to meet more characters, to travel to new cultures, to have new adventures, and to silently cheer on many as they come of age.

That all said, and as many other reviewers have said, this book IS DIFFERENT!!! In this story, L'Engle makes some very heavy points through very beautiful but sometimes dark mediums. At first, the story seems ordinary enough as an English bride, Stella, moves in with her husband's family down in the south at the turn of the century. But even as you meet the cast, you have premonitions that this tale might not flow as nicely as some of her other works. There is a darkness to the people that takes away even from the amusing eccentricities of the family.

As the story builds - bringing in the frightening power of the KKK and of the African-American demon worshippers - you continually fear for this incredibly vulnerable English girl. While Stella is able to find some comfort in the journals of a long-deceased relative named Mado, you wonder where she can turn for help as she unintentionally stirs up a very dark hornet's nest. You know Honoria, the "maid", is a spiritual powerhouse, but is she strong enough? Will Stella's husband come back in time? Will anyone else intervene for her?

Via this very difficult set of circumstances, L'Engle is attempting to prove out Mado's point that only when love has had to go through the burning of the sun is it pure. Before it goes through such fire, it is filled with impurities and deception. But who has the courage to undergo such trials? L'Engle's characters - especially Honoria and Mado - give one courage. And, throughout this book, L'Engle brings in small poems that pierce the heart. I'm not usually much of one for poetry, but I copied these into my journals as keep-sakes.

A must-read for every L'Engle fan and for anyone who is looking for a book to take you a bit out of your comfort zone.

Innocence can be a deadly thing. So Stella Renier, nineteen-year-old bride from England, learns when she reaches her new husband's home in South Carolina. It's 1910, and the veterans of the War Between the States are growing old. Yet the conflicts that war failed to resolve - along with some new ones created by its aftermath - simmer just below the surface of the coastal community surrounding the house called Illyria. That house will become the one place Stella regards as home throughout her married life, which is destined to be long. We know this because elderly and recently widowed Stella narrates the story for her adult grandson, during another era of turmoil in the American South. But in 1910, as she comes to Illyria without the husband she's barely had time to wed - sent to his family while Terry Renier sets off on a secret assignment for his employer, the U.S. State Department - it's a fantastic house in an alien country. And her husband's family are, of course, strangers.

How can Stella, who grew up at Oxford, understand the basics of keeping herself safe in a place where she's expected to treat the first Negroes she has ever met as if they were members of a different species? How can the girl reared by an agnostic father grasp the conflict between the powerful Christian faith of Honoria, a one-time African princess who takes care of everyone at Illyria, and the dark spirits invoked by the "Granddam" in the desperately impoverished black hamlets just inland from the beachfront homes of the Reniers? Stella doesn't even know the significance of robed horsemen who ride by night. But her husband's people all know it. And so does the English-educated black physician whose danger she increases with every innocent gesture of friendship.

"The Other Side of the Sun" is a book to read through to the end, and then read again. It has much to say about the nature of faith, of fate, of aging, and of human love. But most of all, it's a well-told and compelling story about characters as real as any I've ever met on the printed page.

--Reviewed by Nina M. Osier, author of "Love, Jimmy: A Maine Veteran's Longest Battle"

I bought this as a reference work, but I have found that it is a good read, also. Discussions of cases go into the details of what the issues of each case were, what the decision of the majority and minority of the court was, and the reasoning behind the decision. It also gives a clear understanding of the place of the Supreme Court in American government and life. This is a must for those who wish to understand the Supreme Court and how it came to be what it is now.

Oxford Companions are some of the most indispensable reference books on the market, and this particular Oxford Companion is one of the strongest within the Oxford Series. This particular volume leaves no stone unturned with 1272 pages of cross-referenced material on the Court, and has approximately 300 pages more than the 1992 version.

From biographies of all justices who have ever served on the Court, to case summaries, both the famous ones to the not-so-famous ones, to legal terminology, this book has virtually anything you ever wanted to know about the United States Supreme Court. And more. Like the best of the Oxford Companion series, the entries contained within are accessible to virtually anyone who picks up the tome.

As a reference guide to the Supreme Court, I doubt there is another book which can meet the needs of both the lay person and the professional, in one single volume such as this. A must have for any reference library.

Possibly the best reference book in the entire Oxford Companion series, and that is saying quite alot.

It is difficult to say whether the contentious atmosphere that currently exists regarding the legal opinions of the Supreme Court is greater than any other time in the history of the United States. There have been times, especially during the Civil War and World War I when the Supreme Court raised the ire of many a citizen. Some of the "activist" justices, as some of them are now called, could perhaps be designated as "activist light" if compared with some of the justices of the past. This book gives ample evidence for this comparison, but also gives information on a wide variety of legal issues that the Supreme Court has had to deal with throughout its history. It would probably not be read from cover to cover, but instead serves as a general reference for those readers who are not and do not intend to become legal scholars, but are curious as to the reasoning patterns deployed by the justices who sat on the Court. Readers who are approaching this subject for the first time will find many surprises about the Court, both in the opinions expressed by the judges and in their personal histories and backgrounds. It is fair to say that legal opinions are guided predominantly by the historical context in which they are put forth, and this claim seems to gain more substantiation as more articles in this book are read and studied.

One of the more surprising things to learn from this book is that the Supreme Court never really considered free speech issues with the First Amendment until as late as 1919, in Schenck v. United States. This case is also discussed in this book, and revolves around Charles Schenck, who was general secretary of the Socialist party of the time. Schenck and a few other defendants were convicted with a violation of the 1917 Espionage Act by conspiring to obstruct military recruiting and enlistment via the circulation of pamphlet. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote the unanimous opinion for the court ruling against Schenck and defendants and thus upholding their conviction. This case was the first time the famous statement of "crying fire in a public theatre" was used to restrict an "absolutist" interpretation of the First Amendment. It could also be viewed as an example of how even legal authorities, who are supposed to be calm and rational during emergencies or times of war, can succumb to the pressures of the times (in this case the pre- and post-war hysteria of World War I) and not be able to divorce themselves from their past personal histories (Holmes himself was wounded three times while serving in the Union Army during the Civil War). The Holmes Court effectively said that the First Amendment is not to be taken literally, and if speech presents a "clear and present danger" then governmental agencies have the right to punish the purveyors of this speech. Free speech issues dominant legal discussions at the present time, and the legal standing of "hate speech" is discussed in an article in this book. One can find solace in knowing that the Supreme Court has not found "hate speech" to be prohibited by the Constitution, despite attempts of many groups to justify its prohibition by appeals to constitutional law. The article on "hate speech" discusses some of these cases and gives a few references.

Without doubt the most despicable legal decision ever put forth by the Supreme Court was the case Scott v. Sandford in 1857. Known famously as the `Dred Scott Case', it is characterized in this book as one of the most important cases in American constitutional law. The decision essentially said that blacks are not citizens of the United States and therefore could not sue in federal courts. In addition, slaves were "property" that was "protected" by the Constitution. Naturally, and justifiably from a moral standpoint, the decision provoked hostile reaction against the Court, and the justices who ruled against Scott clearly were "activist heavy". In reference to the Dred Scott decision, the abolitionist William Garrison was justified in his statement that the Constitution was a "a covenant with death, and an agreement with hell."

The case Roe v. Wade is also discussed at length in this book, as expected. It will be interesting to see whether this case is overturned in the near future. If it is it might be because of a kind of `legal fatigue' that seems to be setting in dialog about the case. The arguments both for and against Roe v. Wade are repeated over and over again and have become almost platitudes. Rather than being a complicated Constitutional issue, is seems that the legal reasoning surrounding Roe v. Wade has become desiccated and has exhausted itself, offering no further insights or justifications for privacy.

_The Oxford Companion to the United States Supreme Court of the United States_ (Kermit Hall, ed.) is a massive tome containing a vast swath of information: cases, traditions, theories of constitutional interpretations, historical events, and biographies of all of the Supreme Court Justices. It has the same material (word for word) as Kermit Hall's _The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions_ but this is much more worthwhile reference work because it contains more contextual material than the cases themselves. This book is by no means exhaustive, but it provides a very informative overview of what the Supreme Court has been up to for the past two hundred years and the very different personalities serving on the body.

As the nation prepares to welcome the seventeenth Chief Justice, this book is a wonderful guide to the processes of the least 'media-exposed' branch of the federal government and its highest institution, the Supreme Court.

This book has many handy features for researchers and general enthusiasts. There are brief biographies - personal, professional and judicial - of each of the Chief Justices and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court (there have been 108 in all, with 113 appointments, as 5 Associate Justices have later been appointed as Chief Justice) together with pictures of each. There are synopses of over 400 of the most pivotal cases in the history of the Supreme Court (Marbury v. Madison, Brown v. Board of Education, Roe v. Wade, even Bush v. Gore from the year 2000) - each of these cases is presented with voting record (who wrote the opinion, who concurred, who dissented, and who wrote additional opinions) as well as the pertinent issues in the cases and the implications of the decisions.

This is a very comprehensive guide. There are essays on key issues that are very thorough - for example, the essay on 'Federalism' is an eleven page entry that includes general political principles as well as court work. There are essays on each Article of the Constitution as well as each of the Amendments. One of the longest entries is the essay on 'History of the Court', subdivided into major chronological sections - this is one of the best, brief encapsulations of the history of the high court and how it is has made an impacted (and in turn been influenced by) society that I have read. There are also entries on the physical structures of the court - the essay on the building gives an historical overview of where and in what setting the court has met, and minor entries include features of the current building (for example, there is a short entry entitled 'Barber Shop', which talks about the facility for Justices and male employees of the court to get a haircut - it mentions nothing of where O'Connor, Ginsburg or the female court employees might get their hair done). One also learns that there is a basketball court in the gymnasium of the Supreme Court, but that basketball is prohibited while the court is in session, as the dribbling balls can be heard in the court chamber.

There are also entries on key judicial concepts. The concept of Constitutional Interpretation is something that many people take for granted, but is in fact an continually changing methodology. There are Common Law concepts such as the Writ of Mandamus and Writ of Certiorari (each have an entry) as well as the more structured Writ of Habeas Corpus. One also discovers here that 'Mootness' is a word.

There are several appendices that are also handy features. The first appendix, appropriately, is the full text of the Constitution. The second appendix lays out the nominations, terms and succession of the Justices in several ways, including an interesting graphical representation organised alongside presidential terms, as well another chronology that shows number of days without a full court appointed (when we imagine that a few months is a long time to go in the nomination and approval process, we can see that from 1843 to 1846, there were 965 days without a full court).

For trivia buffs, appendix three is a fun piece - there is a listing of the trivia and traditions of the court, divided into 'Firsts' and more general 'Trivia'. Too bad it doesn't list why Chief Justice Rehnquist wore stripes on his sleeves as Chief Justice! Perhaps that is an update for the third edition.

This is a book with great information, as well as a good deal of spirit and wit. It is a valuable addition to any library.

A romantic series of short stores of love affairs between gay men and their dogs. Some are real tear jerkers, others quite funny, but all are endearing and a joy to read.

You don't need to be anything more than a dog lover to love this book. Its not about gender its about the dogs and the people they let love them.

I was worried that this would be someone's doctoral dissertation, but it's not. It is immensely readable--I have trouble putting it down. I was reading it in a casual restaurant when I read a passage about a terrier attacking a St. Bernard that made me laugh out loud. When I was a teen, we had a chihuahua who would bark and growl menacingly at the St. Bernard from across the street. When the St. Bernard had had enough of this, she'd just bend down and give our Rusty a big wet sloppy kiss that would drench tiny Rusty which would very effectively shut him up.

Beneath the main concept of gay men and their relationships with their dogs, there's also a subtle secondary story of gay men living happy, successful--and totally normal--lives. I'm recommending this book to all my friends.

I love the stories in this book. Funny, sad, and touching...all these stories show us why dogs are a gay man's best friend.

I bought Paws and Reflect for my partner for Valentine's Day. He loved it and put it on my reading stack. And I'm so glad that he did. As the proud owner of a sweet one year old dachshund, we just recently decided to get his new baby half-sister, who is now five weeks old. We were a bit skittish about introducing a new dog into our household. Through stories both humorous and touching, Paws and Reflect has made me more aware of our bond with our current boy and made me excited about welcoming a new little girl into our family.

The writing in this anthology is superb. The short vignettes by both well-known and (to me) unknown gay men touched on so many points of dog ownership. Both the positive and the negative bonds were addressed, without a sense of respect and veracity

If you like Sci Fi and have read any other Alistair Reynolds (or not) you will love this one.

The Prefect is set in the "Revelation Space" universe of some of Reynold's earlier novels. While some understanding of this might be beneficial, it's definitely not essential and first time Reynolds readers will still have a great time with this book.

The two main characters are prefect Tom Dreyfus and his assistant Thalia Ng. The prefects are basically police officers that operate out of Panoply, one of the 10,000 space habitats in the "Glitter Band" orbiting Yellowstone, a planet in the Epsilon Eridani system. The prefects don't have much real power though and are mainly responsible for administering the complex vote recording apparatus that provides democracy throughout the Glitter Band.

While investigating the mysterious destruction of a habitat, Dreyfus becomes aware of a plot to take over the whole Glitter Band by a shadowy figure called Aurora. Aurora seems to believe that only she can protect the inhabitants of the Glitter Band from future catastrophe. Aurora's agenda is not so benign, however. Thalia unwittingly becomes involved when she unwittingly loads corrupted software into the vote recording machines in several habitats. The plot proceeds at breakneck speed as it becomes a race to locate the mysterious entity known as the Clockmaker who seems to hold the key to defeating Aurora. The end of the story, while relatively satisfying, is left fairly open so I expect that the Prefects and Panoply will feature again in future Reynolds novels.

As well as being a very good detective story, the book is just a great hard science fiction novel too. The technology is quite believable for the far future with some of the concepts being quite ingenious but the technology never takes over the story. Characterization is another outstanding feature too. Even the traitor on Panoply is a credible figure, unlike the mustache twirling villains in some current science fiction novels.

This is one of the best books that Alastair Reynolds has written and I have no hesitation in giving it five stars.

Alastair Reynolds has been producing great space opera for several years now. This time he takes a somewhat different path. It's still great space opera, but he's added touches of Ian Rankin (the best current British mystery writer). Reynolds's main character -- Tom Drefyus, the Prefect of the title -- is very reminiscent of Rankin's John Rebus. He's a driven, cranky policeman, somewhat of an outcast despite his many years in the service. H is loyal to those who work for him, is sometimes at odds with his peers, and unwilling to give up when he gets his teeth into something. And of course he is brilliant at pulling together disparate elements.

I won't try to summarize the novel here. Several other reviews do a fine job with that. I'll just say that this is yet another very good novel from Reynolds. It may be his best, and is probably the one that I'd hand to anyone who hasn't read much SF but wants to find out what this "new space opera" stuff is all about. This will definitely be on my Hugo ballot next year.

I have never read any of Alastair Reynolds previous novels. Even so, the novel stood very well on its own and was easy to follow. The charecters were well developed and the plot engaging.

The Prefect (2007) is the fifth SF novel in the Revelation Space series, following Absolution Gap. From the internal chronology, this novel is actually a prequel to Chasm City and the rest of the series. It is set within the Glitter Band of Yellowstone in 2427, about a century before the Melding Plague.

The Glitter Band is thousands of habitats of all descriptions orbiting Yellowstone. It is governed by Demarchist principles, which are based on polling the populace on all political issues through the Abstraction network. These principles are enforced by Prefect headquarters on the Panoply habitat.

In this novel, Tom Dreyfus is a Field Prefect conducting an official visit to the House Perigal habitat. He arrives at the habitat in a Prefect cutter and asks to be taken to the Matriarch. Once in her presence, he announces a lockdown for a category-five infringement of the democratic process.

Thalia Ng is a Deputy Field Prefect specializing in data systems and the network. She is assigned to the team conducting the lockdown of House Perigal. Thalia retrieves three data packages from the polling core as evidence of the infringements and institutes the lockdown.

Sparver Bancal is a hyperpig and the senior DFP in Dreyfus's team. He accompanies Thalia to the polling core while she retrieves the evidence. Sparver is about due for promotions to Field Perfect.

The Clockmaker was an alpha-level artificial intelligence. Apparently it was designed and built by the Sylveste Institute for Artificial Mentation. Eleven year previously, it started killing people on the SIAM habitat. The Prefects boarded the habitat, rescued some hostages, and then nuked the facility.

Jane Aumonier is the Supreme Prefect, commanding all Prefect resources. She is also a victim of the Clockmaker. She has a machine attached to the back of her neck and connected to her spine. She is capable of functioning as the head of the organization, but her thoughts are monitored by the scarab and her activities are curtailed.

Doctor Demikhov is head of the medical team supporting Jane. Since the scarab will kill her if she sleeps, they have been keeping her awake for the entire eleven years. They are also working on ways to remove the deadly machine. Their task is further complicated by the threat of death to their patient if anyone approaches too closely.

Aurora Nerval-Lermontov was a young woman fifty-five years ago. She was one the Eighty who underwent destructive scanning and upload of her memory patterns into a computer by Calvin Sylveste. At first this process was considered a means of achieving eternal life, but things soon started to go wrong with the Eighty and now Aurora is thought to be dead. But she had fled her computer environment and hid within the Abstraction network.

Sheridan Gaffney is Senior Field Prefect in charge of internal security within Panoply. He is also part of the council managing the Prefect organization. However, Gaffney is a traitor working with Aurora to undermine and sabotage the Perfect organization.

In this story, Dreyfus is summoned to the Supreme's office as soon as he returns to Panoply. Jane has another problem for him. The Ruskin-Sartorious habitat has been hulled and depressurized. Later information indicates that the engines of the Ultra vessel Accompaniment of Shadows had burned through the hull of the habitat.

Dreyfus first checks out the damaged habitat. Everybody onboard is dead either from the heat of the engine exhaust or the loss of pressure. The Prefects do find a dozen beta-level simulations of the residents and return them to Panoply for reconstruction.

Dreyfus then heads toward the Parking Swarm of Ultra ships. Harbormaster Seraphim meets him outside the Swarm and Dreyfus tells him about the loss of Ruskin-Sartorious. The harbormaster states that something will be done about the matter.

Returning to Panoply, Dreyfus learns that only three beta-levels are capable of running their simulated personalities. He talks to the simulations of Anthony Theobald, Vernon Tregent and Delphine Ruskin-Sartorious. Naturally the beta-levels were not continuously downloaded with the latest information. Nonetheless, he learns a few things about the negotiations as well as more about the artistic talents and activities of Delphine.

Captain Dravidian of the Accompaniment of Shadows had just about completed negotiations with the habitat. Then a caller tells the Ruskin-Sartorious residents that the Ultras are offering much less than the value of the merchandise. So Ruskin-Sartorious breaks off the negotiations and the Ultra ship leaves the habitat.

Delphine had been working on a series of retrospectives about Philip Lascaille. Dreyfus remembers that Lascaille had been an unsuccessful explorer of the Shroud. Previous explorers had never returned from the Shroud, but Lascaille had come back to the Glitter Band with a damaged mind. Apparently he had drowned himself in an ornamental fish pond twenty-odd years ago.

This tale presents Dreyfus with a mystery. His initial investigations only deepen the mystery. After talking to Captain Dravidian, he is convinced that the Ultra ship was set up to take the blame. Things are not as they seem.

The novel presents more of the backstory of the milieu than previously available. Naturally, much of the background is familiar to anyone who has read the rest of the series and the collected tales. Yet some elements are clarified in this novel.

The tale is an intriguing mystery within a strange future. The twists and turns keep the reader interested and reluctant to set aside the book. It is also a good introduction to the series. Enjoy!

Highly recommended for Reynolds fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of murder mysteries, space adventures, and network intelligences.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Excellent guide on connecting with the audience. My presentations are generally information driven (Medical field) and there is very little room to change and create a connection with the audience, or so I thought. After reading this book (a very quick, entertaining and easy read) I presented a topic that was rather dry; I had more peoplle come up to me with positive remarks and feedback then I ever had. I highly recommend this book.

This book was a great help - read most of it one day, and used the techniques the very next weekend. A great book!

An excellent introduction to public presentation. Clear, pithy, few wasted words -- it models what it preaches. Unlike many of its competitors on the presentation shelf, S.O.S. doesn't ramble on and on, like a speaker who just can't shut up. Instead, it gets in, gets out, and leaves the reader a better presenter.

The downside of this book is that it has no visuals, no pictures, no fancy color printing inside, and it is printed in expensively; no bells & whistles - just meat & potatos.

Recently, wanting to move my presentation skills to the next level, I spent $1,500 on books & audio. Without a doubt THIS BOOK IS THE BEST resource for advanced presenters. Of all the trainings in my career I've had in presentaiton, negotiation, media & crisis communication, I recommend this as 'the golden little book' to connect with an audience.

I applied the ideas now 3 times to big presentations and each time with "knock-out" success & unsolicited feedback from the audience afterwards. Practice makes perfect !

In addition to the positives mentioned in the other reviews, I have to highlight a great chapter on the often misused PowerPoint ("PowerPoint Doesn't Bore Audiences, Lousy Speakers Do") By emphasizing the importance of a good presentation and clear, simple and direct PowerPoint slides, Wiskup shows how to get the most from this tool without getting bogged down by the its technicalities. As a former training director I've seen lots of bad PowerPoint and this book provides a simple antidote.

Ralph Carr has so far been an unsung hero of the 20th century. His courage during a time of great tragedy in American history is nothing less than inspiring. Still, his story has gone mostly unheard as we have reached a time of similar uncertainty in the 21st century. Thanks to Adam Schrager, Carr's story can be more widely seen, heard, and understood.

Carr's story is enriching and Schrager's style fits the bill. The author does not just recount the life and most important moments in Carr's contribution to history, he tells Carr's story. Schrager puts us in the Colorado State Capitol where Carr made important decisions about the state, the country, and the American people; the author also brings us to the Governor's mansion and his piles of mail, as well as the Brown Palace during meetings that decided Carr's political life. Schrager does well to paint a descriptive picture of who Carr was and what he was like during his time as a leader, both physically and emotionally.

What's more is that Schrager impacts why the former Colorado governor's story is so important and what it means to so many Coloradans and Americans still today. It's made clear that Carr is a political leader and human being that shouldn't have been forgotten to begin with. Governor Carr is somebody everybody should know with steadfast principles, strong patriotism, and a sense of compassion everybody should live by. At least, that's what I walked away from the book feeling; and it's a feeling I won't soon forget. Hopefully more of our leaders gain the same guidance from this book and its hero, Ralph Carr.

Adam Schrager has brought a piece of history to life that everyone needs to read. Ralph Carr was an amazing man who stood tall on his principles. The book is a very nice read and you don't won't to put it down. There is a lesson in this book for everyone.

Colorado's governors beyond the past quarter-century occupy a nearly anonymous place in the state's history. Most served for short times, leading the 21st-Century resident to wonder if any truly made a mark. Even Ralph Carr is honored in the Capitol by just a small plaque outside the governor's office, and few state officials know much about him. Until now.

What Adam Schrager has done is crack open a previously sealed historical vault and reanimate a man whose principled stand brings to mind the fate of Christian martyrs, American revolutionaries and anyone who has lost their lives for a cause. What Carr lost by standing up for American citizens of Japanese ancestry during World War II was his political life, and Schrager is able to point out just how shocking that was by taking the reader on a concise but detailed look at the rise of someone who may have been the most popular governor in state history at the time.

The book shines in bringing forth Carr's character through well-placed anecdotes - including the story of him shouting down a fellow motorist while leaving a football game - and thoroughly researched details of his life. It also paints for the reader a picture of the age, when hatred toward one nationality of people is far more savage than anything we witness from Americans today. Its only slight downfall is that it goes into such enormous detail to describe the hostile racism in the letters that Carr received on his stand that it sometimes veers too far from the character himself who makes you care about this episode. But Schrager always brings you back in ways that are neither sentimental nor slanted but a lively historical retelling of Carr's career as governor.

The Principled Politician is a fairly quick and enveloping read.

I found this book to be an inspriring story of a man standing by his principles despite great opposition. After the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II, while many were calling for Japanese-Americans to be moved from the west coast and put into camps, Colorado Governor Ralph Carr said often, and with conviction, that no American-born citizen should lose their constitutional rights. In this time of fear and outrage, many citizens from Colorado and across the country strongly disagreed with the Governor and frequently told him so.

Weaving together such letters to the Governor, along with newspaper clippings, and Governor Carr's own writing, Adam Schrager brings us a detailed account of one man who stuck to his convictions despite the personal and political costs. Some of the letters and articles were difficult to read. I often said to myself, "How could people think that way?" But at other times, after reading Schrager's account of media reports of the time, I had to also ask myself, "In that environment, in that time, what would I have thought?"

Governor Carr knew what he felt and what he believed in. I only wish more of today's politicians put the welfare of citizens over their own political aspirations.

I recommend this book to anyone who would enjoy reading about a unique aspect of World War II. More broadly, I recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading about people of conviction and principle.

In June/08, I was privileged to hear a speech presented to our family by Adam Schrager. The topic was his book: The Principled Politician - The Ralph Carr Story. Mr. Schrager's resonant voice would hold one's interest on any topic, but his presentation and his words were most important and captivating. He began his speech by quoting Gov. Carr:
"Never speak beyond the bladder capacity of your audience." The hour long talk extended to a question and answer period. None would admit that bladders were about to burst, but none would leave before the presentation was ended.

We bought all the books available to us that day.

The Principled Politician is a thoroughly researched, objectively written, long overdue book. Often, insincere plaudits are heaped upon deceased persons, most especially on noted politicians, but Schrager tells a different story. "Principled" is an accurate description of Ralph Carr, Governor of CO from 1939 to 1943. His entire life and political career were guided by sound moral principles from which he never backed down. Mr. Schrager convinces the reader of the truth behind the character label by revealing hundreds of facts, incidents, and quotations seldom or never before stated in complete form.

We learn about Mr. Carr's early life in the mining villages of CO and his days studying law at the Univ of CO, but the emphasis of the book is on the years he served as CO's Gov - the WW2 years when most all politicians and most of the country denounced "yellow bellied Japs" in the US. Carr stood virtually alone in voicing the rights and the honor of the Japanese in America. When evacuation and incarceration of all Japanese - non-citizens and native born US citizens alike - living on the west coast, were ordered, Carr did not "invite" the Japanese to CO, but he "welcomed" them, unlike any other politician in all the states. Concentration camps were not welcomed in any state or neighborhood even though decreed by the US gov't and guarded behind barbed wire. Carr listened to his inner voice, heeded his principles and followed gov't rules and demands with a sincere welcome to the "dirty Japs."

Carr's vociferous opponents and the anti-Carr press were overwhelmingly in the majority. His civil rights stance and friendliness to the Japanese in America assured his defeat for a run in the US senate. Nevertheless, he never caved in.

Japanese Americans owe much to this incredible man. In reality, all Americans benefited by his courage and stubborn defiance of what he knew was wrong. Some say we need politicians like him today. The truth is, we ALWAYS need politicians like Ralph Carr.

Thanks to Mr. Adam Schrager to whom we also owe much. I believe, he, like Mr. Carr, is a principled man. Six years of his life were devoted to the research and writing of this book.

Kishor's book is one of the few highly readable books on queueing
and stochastic processes. The abundant examples and discussions
of reliability also aid in understanding the material.
I would recommend this book to undergraduates and beginning
graduate students.

Second edition of "Probability and Statistics with Reliability, Queuing and Computer Science Applications" by Kishor S. Trivedi is a highly recommendable book. The concepts provided for probability theory and stochastic processes are excellent for students of communication, networking and computer science. It provides a good understanding of stochastic processes and Markov chains which are very relevant for students and teachers especially working in the speech processing area. I found the book and its contents very relevant and the examples provided could be very well related to networking and computer science, a unique aspect of this book. The students grasped the concepts well and found the problems very challenging and helpful in building up their concepts and knowledge. I had previously taught a number of other books and introduced this book last year at my University, I feel very satisfied and content with the decision of choosing this book for my students. All eleven chapters are equipped with excellent examples, problems and exercises broadening the reader's mind. The first 5 chapters constitute the probability theory while the rest of the chapters emphasize on stochastic processes very relevant to students of advanced networking and speech processing. Other books on probability and statistics usually lack an important aspect specially when used for computer science and telecommunication students. The examples and exercises not only make students learn and understand and probability and statistics concepts but also create its relevance to their very fields, therefore the book is an extremely precious gift from Prof. Trivedi specially for the students of computer science and telecommunication. An inexpensive Asian edition (paperback), a solution manual and powerpoint slides of each chapter are now available.

Prof. Trivedi has done a tremendous job in introducing topics of advanced research not found before; the students gained knowledge about the modern research environment and felt confident too. This book is not only recommended for beginners but also for professionals and engineers.

This book from Prof. K. Trivedi is another great guide for the novice student and the expert researcher for modeling tools and techniques. It builds upon neatly explained concepts of probability, queuing and stochastic processes to provide a variety of examples of applications. It is definitely a book that one has to keep at hand, as it contains recipes for a huge number of performance and dependability evaluation needs. Besides the rich content, the structure and the presentation are great: a bit of theory and soon one example from practical life, the reader never gets lost but he is rather brought step by step to a comprehensive understanding of the topics.

The "Probability and Statistics with Reliability, Queuing and Computer Science Applications - 2nd edition " by Kishor S. Trivedi is a valuable reference for students and professionals. Didactically organized the eleven chapters presents the core concepts of probability theory and stochastic processes in an accessible easy-to-understand approach. The rich set of examples and exercises, based on numerous computer science and engineering real world applications, allow the readers to build their knowledge gradually.
I would like to highlight the system reliability fundamentals covered and articulate with the remains topics.

A very useful book. A good choice for somebody who is just starting to get a feel of the subject, or someone who is looking to build a strong foundation in the area. The best feature of this book is its lucid language. There are many books in the market, which cover a lot of material but, for the average reader, are very difficult to understand. The example-based approach coupled with a comprehensive material coverage are additional selling points. I would highly recommend this book

My 11-yo daughter and I are doing a study on the Westward Expansion and Pioneers. We read this aloud to each other yesterday afternoon within a period of a couple of hours and both thoroughly enjoyed it. It is written in journal format by a 10-yo making the journey from Illinois to California with her family. Wonderful read!

A student asked me to buy this particular book and she has been pouring over it since it arrived.

I like the book because ,it is writer in letters. Rachels likes to writter in like 12 day. I will read more of other book like it .

Though this book is meant to be an aid in the classroom, I found it highly enjoyable even for the casual reader. It informs while entertaining. By using the medium of a girl's diary, the author is able to show facets of pioneer life not often brought out. This book is well worth the price, both as a fun read and as a useful reference.

Just like Marissa Moss' "Amelia" books, this was a hand-written, journal-style book, with lots of pictures. It is the journal of ten-year-old Rachel, who travels with her family of pioneers from Illinois to California in search of a better place to live. In her journal, she records the trip and there are many details! It has humor thrown in, great pictures, and a nice journal format. I've enjoyed reading this book, and I can't wait to read all of Marissa Moss' other historical journals.