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Used price: $27.95
Toolkit in Paradise: The Self-Helpless Guide to a Decade of American Wit & WisdomReview Date: 2007-07-16
Bob Medak, Allbooks ReviewsReview Date: 2006-04-25
The book is a series of short chapters with unusual titles and play on words.
I found Mr. Sherman's writing to be well laid out and interesting in his choice of words, and his play on them. He is a gifted writer and creates something different in this book. It borders on satire with a cynical look and might be considered humorous.
Mr. Sherman calls himself a seriocomic or Humorous? Satirist? Punster? Comedian? Lampooner? But, wishes us to look at the tapestry of wit and wisdom instead. He is from the North Country (But it is not really delineated). He does mention the state of Vermont in his book, perhaps this is what's meant by North Country.
Although this book is well written, I had to keep a word list and visit some online dictionaries for meanings. It is not a book I enjoyed reading. Perhaps other readers will find more humor and even enjoyment in reading this book. If you are a reader that enjoys the unusual, this book might just be the book for you. I found it, a difficult book to read. I can only give this book a qualified recommendation, and an average rating.
This book is HilariousReview Date: 2005-12-05
Allbooks Reviews says 'Will have you laughing out loud', highly recommendedReview Date: 2005-12-03
Title: Toolkit in Paradise
AUTHOR: B. Elwin Sherman
Toolkit in Paradise is a collection of the works of B. Elwin Sherman, humorist, satirist and all around American boy. Subtitled "The Self-helpless guide to a decade of American Wit and Wisdom" the collection encompasses some of the best works of the author from 1996 to present day. Sherman is quoted as saying: "I might call myself a printable seriocomic; it's a given that nothing is funny without springing first from a grave consideration."
This collection reads like an episode of "Saturday Night Live" or a cherished collection of "National Lampoon," filled with wit and humor that will amuse even the most serious of readers. The author has an anodyne approach to any subject injecting humor and without insult or condescension. It is a coffee table book for the humor starved that will entertain time and time again.
The collection encompasses several formats including:
-Short stories of "Americana" like 30,000 Leaguers under the Sea where baseball enlightens the spirit of a cynical fan and takes him back to the innocents of youth.
-Card Tricks, a one act play of seduction and one- liners in a "pick-up" bar.
-Metaphoric Poetry in the The Galloping Ghost of Christmas Past or Driving on the Dotted Line and even includes some three line Haiku.
-A list of actual rock bands that includes: Chicken Charmers and Drunks with Guns or E Coli and Lost Underpants of Doom.
-much, much more.
All will amuse and entertain. Guaranteed to have you laughing out loud. Give the gift of laughter to your friends, family and yourself-pick up a copy today. Highly recommended.
Reviewer: Shirley Roe, Allbooks Reviews.
EVERYONE Needs a Toolkit in ParadiseReview Date: 2005-12-03
Used price: $4.00
Will change your boulderingReview Date: 2008-11-12
Whether you're a new or experienced climber, get this book.
The ONLY Bouldering Book That You NeedReview Date: 2008-03-24
A "painfully" objective guide to the bouldering tradeReview Date: 1999-01-19
basics, just stuff you knowReview Date: 2004-07-06
As Great as a Book Can BeReview Date: 2004-09-15
That being said, trying to teach someone how to become a better rock climber (or boulderer) is like trying to teach somebody to drive a manual transmission car from a book. It's no substitute for actually being out there, trying what works and what doesn't, and learning from your own mistakes.
That being said, this book gets the job done as best it can, and it even acknowledges the fact that the best skill honing and development will come not from reading, but from hands-on practicing. Author John Sherman definitely knows his stuff, and this book gives a good overview of virtually the entire bouldering world. It would have been nice to have more pictures and diagrams, just because there's so much to benefit from visual aids in this sport.
Unfortunately for anyone who is already a skilled boulderer, this book will be of little help in furthering one's craft. It primarily targets individuals who are new to the sport and rather unfamiliar or of a novice-level with the concept. But then again, anyone who is already a well-skilled boulderer should know that "How to" books are probably not the answer to fine-tuning his or her skills.
If you're someone looking to get a little more into bouldering, this book will help you take the plunge. Be sure to read the section on safety and caution first, as it can be a dangerous sport to those who are careless or reckless.
Used price: $1.21
Decent readReview Date: 2008-10-28
A "tanks-eye" viewReview Date: 2008-10-09
He Lived To Tell About ItReview Date: 2008-10-04
cutthroatsReview Date: 2007-08-23
Verry InterrestingReview Date: 2007-03-23
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A Devil of a Good ReadReview Date: 2004-05-18
Meanwhile, Anne's latest ghostwriting project has turned into a nightmare as child raising authority Dr. Arlene Handelman has moved into her house so they can work on the book uninterrupted. However, with the deadline looming, all "Dr. A" seems interested in is shopping day after day.
I love this series; it always feels like taking a vacation. The characters seemed a little better developed this time around. I had worried about this book, but the author managed to portray the reaction of the community to the witchcraft without offending this Christian. The plot was a little disappointing to me, however, as it didn't seem quite as intricately plotted as normal for the series. Still, it kept me interested and confused until the end.
This is the fourth book in a great series with a fun location. This series isn't as progressive as some others I read, so pick up one today and enjoy a trip to a resort town.
life goes on . . .Review Date: 2001-09-11
Set in Oceanside Heights, just a bit north of the famous Cape May, the ocean is an ever-present backdrop to the events that happen in Anne Hardaway's life. Anne is a 30-something ghostwriter, who inherited her small ocean-front home, and resides there with an elderly, one-eyed cat, Harry.
A lot seems to have happened in Anne's life since the first book (I've yet to read books two and three, but will remedy that lack very soon.) Thank goodness, there is a new policeman in charge--the handsome, enigmatic Mark Trasker. (This is a relationship to which I look forward with great anticipation., but you'll have to read the book to find out just exactly why.)
To find a grandmother caring for a grandchild or other young relative isn't exactly news any more, in today's world. Delia Graustark, the town librarian, has her teen-age niece Tracy, living with her; a typical cynical teen-ager who thinks no one in the world can understand her problems. When one of her friends is found dead, the aura of witchcraft quickly raises it's head, linking the two young women with others in town.
Anne is still supporting herself with her ghost-writing, and the current live pretend-author, Dr. Arlene, as she's known to her supposedly adoring public, is a self-help guru, particularly in the field of parenting. For reasons mostly known only to herself, Dr. A. descends on Annie for the duration--ostensibly to help with the book, but in reality, because Dr. A. has an entirely different agenda.
The two sets of stories are beautifully interwoven throughout the book. One set is Anne and Mark and the old-timers of the town who haven't forgotten Anne's mother, and aren't going to let Anne forget it either--and the other set is the loneliness and isolation of the teen-agers, set against the frantic Dr. A.
Wonderful. On every level, this is a terrific book. Highly recommended!
Quick Summer ReadReview Date: 2001-06-28
The plot was very predictable and obvious. Though I didn't know exactly who the murderer was until the end, I felt that was more because I didn't try too hard to figure it out. Other aspects of the story were blatantly being set up for other purposes and I found myself trying to figure out what those were instead...and on those items, I was never wrong.
Still a very nice, easy summer read that only took me a few hours.
The Witches of Oceanside HeightsReview Date: 2001-06-15
This time the small town is rocked by the infestation of witches in the form of several of the local youths. Anne finds the body of a young girl lying on the beach. Nearby she also finds a piece of paper containing strange symbols and thus, she is unwillingly dragged into the world of witches and so-called black magic.
This is an enjoyable mystery that is set in what sounds like a beautiful location, with just a hint of danger sparked by the fear of the unknown.
The Devil has come to town or has he?Review Date: 2001-11-04
I have only read one of the books in this series. I really enjoyed it and always meant to read another. I am glad that I did. There is alot going on in this mystery. Dr. Arlene has other issues than the book and there is more to the coven than meets the eye. I didn't guess the murderer until the author wanted me to, and that's getting harder to do, the more mysteries that I read. I am definitely going to read more of this series.
Used price: $1.82
resonatingReview Date: 2006-11-02
Unique New VoiceReview Date: 2006-07-12
Ms Sherman captures young emotion as raw and real. This is a new voice , unique and captivating. I look forward to more.
Unfinished Review Date: 2007-02-15
A Good Kind Of HurtReview Date: 2006-07-11
great collectionReview Date: 2008-02-10
And to touch herself in these places, to pick at herself and bring on the hurt is to show herself love. She says: "It's like magic: you touch your skin with the things you were given--hands and oil and pores. All you are doing is wiping yourself with love."
Shame and pain are equal to love--this is terrain I am quite familiar with, as, I would guess, are many of us.
All in all, it's a great collection and I recommend it wholeheartedly.
Used price: $13.15
Disappointing in the ExtremeReview Date: 2001-07-05
I have long been fascinated with George B. McClellan as not only a Civil War general, but as a Civil War personality as well. Here we have a man who should have been the one, single, Union military success - a man who had it all: brains, looks, youth, education, and family. And yet, there is no single Union general who managed to accomplish so little in over a year's time, with so much.
I hoped that Thomas J. Rowland's "George B. McClellan & Civil War History: In the Shadow of Grant and Sherman" would provide some insight into McClellan's flawed character that did not come forth from modern biographers such as Stephen Sears. Yet within Rowland's work, I was sorely disappointed.
Rowland sets forth to disprove Little Mac's critics by doing the one thing in Civil War writing that I abhor - rather than building up his subject, and letting McClellan's story stand on its own - he sets out to drag everyone else down. For some strange reason, there appears to be more and more of this going on in Civil War historiography of late, much to the detriment of our understanding of history.
Rowland sets out to outline the perceived problems with McClellan's personality and generalship, and rather than refute the contentions directly, often sets out to discredit others such as Grant, Sherman, and Edwin Stanton. If Rowland's guy cannot stand tall, then no one else will, as well. For example, we have on page 67 a typical statement of Rowland's: "The notion that McClellan was the butt of more embarrassing incidents than anyone else is greatly diminished by any extended review of the war's comical and tragic mistakes." And from there, rather than review Little Mac, Rowland sets out to review other participants on history's stage.
Rowland attempts to minimize McClellan's flaws by qualifying his admittance of such flaws throughout the book. Thus, we see Rowland admit, cautiously, that McClellan could be petty, vain, and vindictive "on occasion." In other places, his review of other historian's work is tinged with statements like "Unfortunately, that is not entirely true." The reader is left to try to ponder which portions are partially true, and partially not.
This book is not a comprehensive analysis of the life and times of General George B. McClellan, but a selected bibliography of truth and half-truth that uses only what the author wants the public to see about McClellan - and more importantly, anyone else held in higher esteem than the Young Napoleon that can be drawn down to the perceived level that history holds McClellan.
All in all, this was a very disappointing work. If you want to come to grips with the enigma that was McClellan, this book will leave you very short of your expectations.
"Little Mac": a reassessmentReview Date: 2006-04-05
To do so and fly in the face of the "communis opinio" (the widely held view) of McClellan is in itself commendable.
On the other hand: I don't think that there is much purpose to this excercise. As I see it, and I'm pretty sure in that many other ACW scholars, buffs and aficionados, share this point of view, no matter how fresh or objective one tries to look at George Brinton McClellan, one reaches the same conclusions again and again: that the General was a deeply flawed man, to say the least, vain and boastful, and yet (or perhaps even because of this) also extremely cautious, highly insecure and frankly, paranoid. I've read of people, in his own time already, not just smart-mouth Amazon book-reviewers like yours truly, referring to him as a crackpot. I even think it was Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Well, we know that Secretary Stanton was no great friend of McClellan and that he was quite stern in his opinions about the Generals he had to deal with, but in this case his ususally hot-headed judgement is not necessarily a wrong one.
Is it time for some revisionist history concerning McClellan? Is this necessary? Are the commonly held views of McClellan subject to debate, are these views thought to be untrue, unjust, unfair or even unhistorical by a growing number of ACW scholars, students and buffs? No, of course they are not. Because the general view of McClellan is born out of something "Little Mac" himself so conspicuously lacked: common sense.
Major General George Brinton McClellan had it all when he was called to Washington in 1861. He had a towering reputation (which was undeserved, after his successfull but minor campaign in Western Virginia, but the Union was elated to have a military success at last), he was hailed as the savior of the Union and he was given command of the Union's most important field army. The President and the cabinet trusted him, deferred to his judgement and put themselves at his disposition in stead of the other way round. He soon succeeded in ousting Winfield Scott, the venerable US Army Chief, and became General in Chief of all Union armies. McClellan, catapulted into this position of enormous power, then started to believe the adulation and the flattery of the people, the press and the politicians himself. He seemed to need it more and more, because as his influence and power increased, so did his insecurities, his doubts, his paranoia and his unbalance.
Well, we don't need to make to much of McClellan's flaws, after all, who of is isn't flawed in some, or even many, ways. Mr. Rowland correctly makes that point. McClellan wasn't more or less flawed than Grant and or Sherman. The thing is, however, that Grant and Sherman overcame their flaws, faced their demons and learned to function adequately if not superbly in command.
McClellan did not succeed in ridding himself of his fears or in learning to control them, nor in curbing his insecurities and his paranoid tendencies, and as such he was definitely not the right man to command the Army of the Potomac in the field.
Also there is cause to question his moral and indeed even his physical courage: McClellan stayed well away from the field of fight during any action. And there are more instances of behavior which justify this question mark against "Little Mac"'s honor of than the often cited episode of McClellan sailing away on a gunboat just after the beginning of the battle of Malvern Hill. An "unforgivable act of pusillanimity", as was said by some at the time, for which McClellan never offered an adequate explanation. Well, surely he was not prepared to get down to the level of his accusers and react to such slander, mr Rowland says. Yeah, right. That is the way in which people like McClellan usually respond to such considerations. I think, as do many others, that there remains a reasonable doubt as to McClellan's courage, based on his actions.
As to his judgment, well, let's name an aspect of this that puts a different light on the General's fitness for command. I'm talking of course of McClellan's tendency to systematically overestimate the number of enemy troops opposing him. He did this from day one in command and kept it up to right after Antietam, when he was finally relieved, in october 1862.
Why oh why did he do this? How did he come by those incredibly fantastic figures of hundreds of thousands of rebels opposing him and his poor little army? Was it all Pinkerton's fault? The great detective, after all, supplied the figures to McClellan. Pinkerton later said that he and his operatives had always given McClellan true numbers to the best of their knowledge. He also stated that they had not supplied McClellan with data which would support the exaggerated numbers of troops McClellan claimed Johnston and after him Lee had arrayed against him. In other words: McClellan took what Pinkerton gave him and then did some calculating of his own. He tailored the facts to fit his opinions and impressions, a professional hazard for a General, made all the more probable by McClellan's psychological make-up.
Whatever the psychological reasons; his inability to admit mistakes is one of the least attractive traits of McClellan's character.
After the war, indeed even during it, it became clear that Johnston and Lee had never commanded anything near the numbers of men that McClellan had claimed in his frantic cries for reinforcements and on which he had based his overcautious strategies.
After doing some maths it must have dawned on the people of the North that the war, which had gone on for four bloody years, could have ended in 1862. It could have ended with McClellan taking Richmond in june 1862 or with McClellan crushing Lee's badly outnumbered army at Antietam. In those days McClellan had acted too cautiously because he had convinced himself he was outnumbered. Even McClellan must have known, pretty soon after the war, that he had been tricked, by the rebels and by his own mind. But he never made any comment on the question!
He never apologized (well, that would have been impossible for a man like him) but neither did he ever explain his behavior. He never said on what he had he had based his now manifestly wrong actions in the Peninsula and Antietam campaigns!
What I even less understand, why weren't the people of the Union states furious with him for failing to win the war in 1862? He dawdled, faltered and failed and in doing so wasted the opportunities to end the war out of weakness, lack of resolve, moral cowardice and pig-headedness! He had Lee's battleplans in his possession just prior to Antietam, for Pete's sakes!! Why wasn't there more of an outcry against him? The war lasted two more years thanks to him! Why was he not dragged before congress or before a court-martial? In my view there was every reason to do so.
Now to the plus side. McClellan made the Army of the Potomac. He built it from the masses of raw volunteers that came to Washington in 1861. He trained these men, and selected their commanders, and he made some inspired choices in this regard (men like Gibbon, Hancock, and Hunt, for instance). He drilled the army, organized it and fed, clothed and housed it. He kept the army in good health an kept it supplied.
The fine performance of the men of the Army of the Potomac, especially that of the infantry and the gunners, owed a very great deal to the rigourous training programme to which McClellan subjected them. The General turned out to possess an enormous talent for organization and training. He honed the skills of the army and prepared it to an excellent degree for it's task. The credit for this is largely due to McClellan. Maybe this was part of the problem: McClellan built the army and knew it's strengths and it's weaknesses. After having made this huge army he was reluctant to commit it to action. They were all so green! There were so few regulars! He could not do what the French had done in 1793 when they fused the professional Royal Army with the new volunteer army, made up of inexperienced national guardsmen. They amalgamated the two types of soldiers in a new army: they put one regular army batallion in a demi-brigade with two batallions of volunteers. In this way the old sweats showed the rookies the ropes of soldiering and infused old-fashioned discipline while in turn the volunteers were an example and an inspiration of revolutionary elan to the old soldiers.
McClellan could not do this: there were only some 17.000 regular soldiers in the US Army in 1861. He felt he had to use his army very very carefully and cautiously, if he lost it, he would lose the war, and the Union with it. This realization, of which he convinced himself, eventually paralyzed him.
This is book that makes you think, and think again, on McClellan. Four stars for that!!!
I do not share Mr. Rowland's conclusions, though. In 1862 McClellan was not the best man for the job to command the Army of the Potomac.
It would have been for him and for his reputation had he continued in an organizing/facilitating capacity. Lincoln should have made him Chief of Staff in Washington, in fact, should have given "Little Mac" the job Henry Halleck got in 1862, or should have made him Quartermaster-General or even Secretary of War.
It would in all probability have meant that McClellan would have become the Lazare Carnot of the Union: "The Organizer of Victory" The man who supplied the tools that won the war for the Union. He could then have supervised the productions of arms and ammunition, the supplying of the army, it's transportation, the training of it's new recruits, and he would more than probably have done a great job. He was the born military organizer. He was not, alas, a great field commander. McClellan would have lived to great respect and glory and would not have died at 58, of a heart condition which probably stemmed from the stress of supreme command, and which after the war was aggravated by the constant stress of battling to keep his reputation intact. McClellan died a controversial figure, respected and yet partly tragic, partly ridiculous. But he had only himself to blame for this.
Were character flaws "peculiar to McClellan"?Review Date: 1999-04-17
Were character flaws "peculiar to McClellan"?Review Date: 1999-04-17
George McClellan RevisitedReview Date: 2001-06-22
In the chapter discussing McClellan's lesser faults, the author notes that both Grant and Sherman had similar faults, but they weren't judged by these faults nor should McClellan's strategic abilities be evaluated by his peccadilloes. Acknowledging that McClellan played a major role in his poor working relations with Lincoln, the author notes that "....the president was not frank about how military goals were to be shaped by the political dimensions of the rebellion." In addition, Stanton's dislike of McClellan did not help in the commander's poor relationship with the president. However, the author does not imply that McClellan was faultless noting "....his failure to delegate authority and his obstinate secrecy" Another fault was his unwillingness to take risks. The greatest question is whether he made the best use of the Army of the Potomac. Rowland concludes that "In any comparison with other Civil War commanders, particularly those to whom he is unfavorably compared, McClellan's personal shortcomings were not that remarkable."
Chapter 4's discussion of the early months of war provides valuable insight into the ultimate conduct of the war. The widely held Northern belief that most Southerners were not committed secessionists initially led to a limited war strategy. After the First Manassas McClellan recommended that to restore the Union in the shortest time, the North had to "crust the rebellion at one blow...." Rowland notes "McClellan's was....a well reasoned strategic proposal. His conservative views.... reflected....widespread appeal throughout the North at that time...." In support of this strategy, he launched the Peninsula Campaign which was undermined by Washington politics and lack of support. The book states
"....the half defeat on the Peninsula.... spelled the end of the conciliatory" strategy. For this campaign to succeed, joint operations were mandatory; and the author observes that in the early stages of the war, the inability of Federal armies to cooperate in joint operations contrasted sharply with the military situation Grant inherited in 1864.
The review of civilian leaders alarm regarding Washington's safety is noteworthy. Extraordinary concerns for the capital's safety contrasted with months of endless nagging McClellan to assume the offensive. However the troops needed for an offensive had to come from those providing the capital's defense. Both McClellan and Grant faced the problem of Washington's safety with McClellan trying to comply and Grant often giving only limited support. The book concludes "McClellan's Peninsula campaign, the first major Federal offensive in East, experienced problems uniquely its own, not the least....was the administration's failure to sustain plans they had.... agreed to support." During the first two war years, many Northerners believed the Confederates would be quickly defeated perhaps in one major campaign. When McClellan assumed command in 1861, he inherited an untrained and disorganized army. The author notes that McClellan implemented schools of instruction and all volunteers were given basic training directed by an experienced officer. In addition, he recognized the deficit in trained officers (several were political hacks) and arranged effective training. The book frequently notes, that the training and organizing of the army was a major contribution. Considering, the sheer folly of his predecessor's taking an unprepared army to defeat at the First Bull Run, McClellan's unwillingness to assume the offensive in 1861 with an untrained army was prudent and not excessive caution. Unfortunately, in 1862, politics and lack of support doomed his Peninsula campaign.
Rowland writes "....little attention is paid to the context in which McClellan dealt with the difficulties that faced the Federal army in the first fifteen months of the war. ....his early tenure deprived him of the advantage of leading mature and seasoned civilian soldiers, adapted to the demands of a new age of warfare...." As one historian noted, McClellan "suffered the frictions and frustrations of being first." The text notes that Sherman observed that Napoleon took three years to build an army and "....here it is expected in ninety days..." The author notes the irony that McClellan was relieved of command when "He had effectively divided Lee's army into widely separated halves, intending to drive between them. The celerity of those moves alarmed Lee...." This could have been a critical blow.
The text continues that McClellan might have been forgiven a multiple of failures had he kept his eye on the military objective, the destruction of the Army of Northern Virginia. However, McClellan's strategy to capture Richmond was not without merit as Richmond was a critical manufacturing, transportation and financial center. The Tredegar Iron Works alone justified the capture of Richmond. Richmond's fall during the first two war years would have been devastating to the Confederacy. Regarding Antietam, Rowland correctly notes that regardless of McClellan's shortcomings, Antietam was a Union victory. McClellan had stopped Lee from delivering a demoralizing blow on northern soil.
The book concludes, "McClellan's strategy, though reflective of the unrealistic war aims of the years 1861-62,was cogent, reasoned, and consistent with conventional military wisdom.... McClellan can scarcely be elevated to the ranks of the great captains of war, but he was hardly the worst that the conflict dragged into the center stage."
The book is somewhat repetitious and devotes too much space to comparing McClellan's faults with similar faults of Grant and Sherman. However, the book is worth reading for its discussion of Union military and political strategy during the first two years of the Civil War.
Ghost Towns & Mining Camps of New MexicoReview Date: 2008-04-30
An excellent guideReview Date: 2005-10-16
Good book -- but information is out of dateReview Date: 2002-08-10
Maps very poor - almost useless - and out of dateReview Date: 2004-10-27
A bit dated, but still goodReview Date: 2004-05-26
Even so, there's not a better book anywhere about the ghost towns of New Mexico as they existed 20-30 years ago.
Used price: $10.96
Not very Scarey.Review Date: 2008-10-25
Great BookReview Date: 2008-10-13
Excellent Zombie anthologyReview Date: 2008-10-05
Many of these stories have been previously published, but almost all were new to me. One obvious component: sex angles and zombies seem to mix. Not all include that perspective, but this is certainly not PG-13.
My favorites from this LARGE collection were Ghost Dance by Sherman Alexie, The Third Dead Body by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Malthusian's Zombie by Jeffrey Ford, Home Delivery by Stephen King, Deadman's Road by Joe R. Lansdale, The Song the Zombie Sang by Harlan Ellison and Robert Silverberg.
This review originally appeared on duskbeforethedawn.net.Thoughts on each story:
* This Year's Class Picture by Dan Simmons: the author of the Hyperion series plus the Illiad/Olympus duology tells the tale of Ms. Geiss, teacher extraordinaire, continuing to teach her class and recruit new students even though they and most of the rest in the city are dead and zombies. The repetition of the lessons and Ms. Geiss persistence are well told.
* Some Zombie Contingency Plans by Kelly Link: interestingly written and well paced story of Soap the ex-con with a painting, who always has a contingency plan against zombies and several other possibilities; the ending threw me (re-read the final paragraph until my eyes hurt), but the journey to the end was enjoyable, as Soap crashes Carly's party and cons her.
* Death and Suffrage by Dale Bailey; zombies dig their way out to vote, based on a presidential campaign manager's repressed memories being brought to the fore after a little girl's accidental shooting. If only the dead would vote this November...
* Ghost Dance by Sherman Alexie; one of my favorites, though I wish it were longer. Custer's army arises from the dead, drawn by murdered Indian blood, and an FBI agent named Edgar (not Mulder) has visions of their lives and the damage/murder that they do.
* Blossom by David J. Schow; okey-dokey! A little kinky sex gone awry turns a beautiful girl into a dead girl and then into a man-eating zombie. Descriptive, to say the least!
* The Third Dead Body by Nina Kiriki Hoffman; a zombie story from the zombie's point of view; a murdered hooker, cursed by her voodoo grandma, must love the man that killed her and rises from the grave to find him. Very well written and entertaining.
* The Dead by Michael Swanwick; the third zombie + sex story in a row, interesting grouping, Mr. Adams. The business side of using cheap zombies for everything - factory workers, stunt doubles...and, yes, as call girls/guys. Good character work in this story.
* The Dead Kid by Darrell Schweitzer; school age bullies who keep `the dead kid' in their forest fort put one young man through a right of passage; should he abuse the zombie dead kid like the other gang members or save him?
* Malthusian's Zombie by Jeffrey Ford; Mr. Ford bases this on a book by Julian Jaynes (which I actually have in my possession, and have always thought it would be a great basis for a story). A well written slight of hand, featuring mind programming that turned soldiers to zombies in a secret government project, following the theories of Dr. Jaynes.
* Beautiful Stuff by Susan Palwick; a 9/11-ish story about what the dead would say to the living about revenge and death. Nicely done.
* Sex, Death and Starshine by Clive Barker; the upcoming death of a theater motivates it's dead patrons and stars to gather for one last performance and viewing, taking some of the living with them;
* Stockholm Syndrome by David Tallerman; surviving human gets sympathetic with a semi-intelligent zombie who reminds him of his dead son...even though the zombie is trying to break into other humans houses.
* Bobby Conroy Comes Back from the Dead by Joe Hill; two former lovers, one now married, on the set of Dawn of the Dead as extras. No real zombies, just remembrances of how things used to be and wishful thinking of how things could have been.
* Those Who Seek Forgiveness by Laurell K. Hamilton; I enjoyed the first few Anita Blake novels, before they became overly porno. This story hearkens back to her early work, where she deftly describes Anita the animator, the woman doing a job that she is bound to do, explaining zombies and how they work to the living and raising the dead.
* In Beauty, Like the Night by Norman Partridge; hmmm...a porn mag star on an island where he'd planned to weather any disaster with his centerfold girls turns into...you guess it...night of the living porn queen.
* Prairie by Brian Evenson; a poetically written parable of exploration in the new world, but instead of indians we find the walking dead;
* Everything Is Better with Zombies by Hannah Wolf Bowen; an enjoyable tale of high school kids, imagining zombies at every grave of their small town cemetery, to take their minds off of their other problems.
* Home Delivery by Stephen King; a excellent tale from the master, an isolated Maine (of course) island community, that bands together when a zombie plague from space attacks the rest of the world. The characterization and back story are indicative of King's other great works.
* Less Than Zombie by Douglas E. Winter; from the intro, this is a mod of another story by Bret Easton Ellis, a tale of people in LA, getting high, and believing if they kill their friends in gruesome ways, they will come back as zombies. Not one of my favs of the collection.
* Sparks Fly Upward by Lisa Morton; the politics of over population and abortion in an isolated colony after a zombie outbreak told from the diary of the mother. An unique zombie story for this and any other collection, and exceptionally well written.
* Meathouse Man by George R. R. Martin; a sad short story by one of my favorite authors, featuring a young man who can run corpses to do multiple jobs, but all he wants his to find his true love. His search takes him to many jobs, many worlds, and to the meathouse, where corpses respond to his needs. A sad tale, but as always well paced with a well brought out leading character.
* Deadman's Road by Joe R. Lansdale; a Texas western zombie tale, with the resolute Reverend Jebidiah Rains, part gunslinger, part warrior of God, always fighter of evil. He helps a deputy escort a prisoner down Deadman's Road, in search of an evil zombie who was a killer and bully when alive.
* The Skull-Faced Boy by David Barr Kirtley; superbly written from the point of view of an intelligent zombie (his brain wasn't eaten) who has to decide if he is on the side of the living (his father) or the dead (his friend). The zombies organize behind the intelligent zombies!
* The Age of Sorrow by Nancy Kilpatrick; instead of being the last man on earth, what about being the last woman on earth? well-imagined, nicely written, a sad downward spiral, as one would realistically expect.
* Bitter Grounds by Neil Gaiman; a fantasy of drifting, where the people that you meet you are supposed to meet, leading you on a path to voodoo lovers and zombie powder taking a professor's place at a conference in New Orleans.
* She's Taking Her Tits to the Grave by Catherine Cheek; a lively tale of a blonde L.A. barbie, called back from the dead but she doesn't know who did it. She stumbles from lover to husband trying to find out who, decaying all the way (except for the silicone).
* Dead Like Me by Adam by Troy Castro; if you want to live amidst a zombie plague, pretend to be dead. A somewhat lackluster self-help manual.
* Zora and the Zombie by Andy Duncan; voodoo and zombies in Haiti around Roosevelt's time. Zora seeks to solve the puzzle of Felicia, a woman found after she was thought dead 30 years, and of the voodoo gods that surround Haiti. The same coffee girls as in Gaiman's story are mentioned here as well!.
* Calcutta, Lord of Nerves by Poppy Z. Brite; "It seemed to me that the dead were among the best-fed citizens of Calcutta." A great line from a lyrically written tour through Calcutta after the zombies came. The goddess Kali worshiped by the living and the dead.
* Followed by Will McIntosh; corpses follow around the well off, or people who have used or invested in something that causes other people to suffer. One of the shortest, but sweet.
* The Song the Zombie Sang by Harlan Ellison and Robert Silverberg; one of the best of the bunch. A skilled musician kept animated after his death to perform, his music technically accurate but not passionate, encounters a live equal as a musician who sees through his charade and pain.
* Passion Play by Nancy Holder; we've been to Oberammerau and seen the Passionspielhaus. I haven't seen the play but the way Ms. Holder describes the event of having zombies in the play portraying Christ crucified on the cross is outstanding. The play has been done since the time of the plague....the plague returns when the zombies are treated inhumanely, even though given the sacrement from a sympathetic priest. Well done.
* Almost the Last Story by Almost the Last Man by Scott Edelman; stories of a writer locked in a library as the world around him deteriorates overrun by zombies.
* How the Day Runs Down by John Langan; the "Our Town" Stage Manager narrates the zombie invasion of the town, and shoots a few zombies of his own. Explanation, characters with stories, a well written parallel.
CheapReview Date: 2008-10-05
An Amazing CompendiumReview Date: 2008-10-14
Used price: $9.36
Uninspiring and UnoriginalReview Date: 2008-08-18
As if the lack of content and lack of decent writing skills weren't enough, Sherman has the most pessimistic view of any psychiatrist I've ever read. Consider, for example, her instructions in Chapter Four to take a moment and listen to your internal voices. "Chances are the thoughts are something negative about what someone did or didn't do, or about what someone said or didn't say.... Or, perhaps the thoughts are self-critical where you are making judgments about yourself." As a natural optimist, I certainly found it hard to take any of her advice to heart when she kept making false assumptions about how negative my thoughts and attitudes must be.
And one of the exercises contains what I feel to be horrible advice. "Exercise #3: Discovering Possible Alternatives" starts out like most of the exercises in the book: visualize a situation that upsets you. In this case, Sherman instructs the reader to imagine all the different choices he could make. If the choice makes his body tense up, then it's a bad one. She goes on to say that if he has thoughts that maybe he should make this choice anyway, he should dismiss them. When he thinks about a choice and his body stays relaxed, then that is likely a good choice. This is terrible advice because sometimes the right choice involves putting ourselves in uncomfortable situations, for example, making a confession to someone about a lie we told them. If I think about making a confession to someone, my body tenses up--but that doesn't mean that's not the right thing to do!
If you're looking for self-help books, there are much better than this. If you're looking for books on mindfulness in the spiritual or meditative sense, this is not one. Look elsewhere.
A useful and 'user friendly' guideReview Date: 2008-09-06
It Works to Transform Your Life!Review Date: 2008-07-11
This book is divided into two parts. Part 1 is "How the Art of Choice Works." Here Dr. Sherman describes in poignant detail how we live a life that is on autopilot. She then illustrates a simple, yet profound process to connect with the wisdom contained within the body, quiet the noisy mind, and move beyond fear. In addition, she touches our hearts as she describes her own painful childhood. Her account of suffering not only heals deep wounds within our own souls; it allows us to know that it is possible for us to create the great life we want.
Part 2 is dedicated to "The Art of Choice Exercises." Sherman states, "A self-help book is only helpful if there are suggestions in it that offer you specific ways to make changes." She follows through on her promise providing twenty-two proven, easy to implement exercises to connect with the body, quiet the mind, and feel a sense of readiness to create a life for yourself that is full and satisfying.
Dr. Sherman is a woman who knows healing inside and out. What a joy to find such an intelligent and creative approach for happiness and emotional well-being! Her exercises lead us on journey that allows us to discover new solutions to old problems. "Mindfulness And The Art of Choice" is both a powerful contribution to the field of personal transformation and a gift to those who are taking their satisfaction and joy into their own hands.
Annette Colby: Author of "Your Highest Potential"
Watch a video preview of my bookReview Date: 2008-07-01
Truly the art of choiceReview Date: 2008-06-30
This certainly describes Karen Sherman, who by her own admission, grew up in a highly dysfunctional home only to become a very discontented and restless adult. However, one day, she made the conscious choice of changing her life and became a much happier and well-rounded person and she has written this book in the hopes that she can pass along some of the experiences she has lived over the years both as a therapist, but more imporantly as a person who has 'been there'.
Sherman's basic theory is that we are all a product of our own environment and that most of who we are today was created in our childhood. In fact, she argues that this is where most of our emotions, thoughts and coping patterns are established and that we will continue to return to these sources again and again when we need to unless we can reprogram these negative patterns. As a matter of fact we will become so good at it that it will become second nature to us (she calls it auto-pilot). However, what once served us as children, may no longer be helpful to us as adults and may, in fact, be the major cause of much of our discontent.
One of the important aspects of this particular book and what sets it apart from many others is the term that Sherman uses - Art of Choice. The author believes that we all have a choice in how we live our lives and that we can choose to change something if we wish to. Of course, its not quite as simple as that and Sherman explains, in practical and helpful chapters, the step by step process that we must be willing to go through to get to a much healthier and happier place.
I liked this book. It was quite short, but extremely well written and informative. Sherman does not speak down to us and neither does she use lots of scientific and technical terms to explain the processes. At the end of each chapter, we find specific exercises that we are encouraged to complete.
This type of book needs to be read over and over again as I believe I will pick up some new information everytime I read it.
I was extremely encouraged by this book - I like the concept that we can change our patterns, that we can re-program our way of thinking, feeling and reacting in order to find a what we are looking for
Used price: $8.85
A good start to an important historyReview Date: 2006-12-13
A popular historyReview Date: 2007-01-10
US Gen.Grant is given considerable credit and deservedly so. The various Union naval commanders; Farragut, Porter etc get much attention also. Mr. Ballard does do a fair job of placing credit on both side's better commanders and lambasts CS Gen. Joe Johnston constantly. He lists the manuevering
Though this book is aimed primarily at the Baby Boomer generation, I believe that almost everyone will enjoy this book. The humor is smart often catching the reader off guard. There are so many great stories, lists, and one liners that the reader will find him or her self telling all his or her friends.
Some of my favorites include:
The ten-point checklist designed to restore order to the baby and hula boomer and hooper sides of our nature that yearns for simplicity, love and peace.
"If I am an agnostic male chin-nicker, I can live in the world with bearded female Baptists, as long as they don't hide my razors in their Bibles. Let me sing the clean-shaven body electric, and you can holy-roll your whiskers 'til the cows come home. There's room for all."
The two stages of male hormones.
The kiss.