Sherman Books

This is the autobiography of Glenn Burke, a black, openly gay major league baseball player in the 1970's. It was written while he was living with his sister and dying from AIDS. It is a short book but very interesting. He certainly loved the game of baseball and it was a trajedy that he didn't have a better career. His describes being gay in the major league and how his friendship with Tommy Lasorda's gay son helped to shorten his time with the Dodgers. He also discusses his descent into drug addiction. His name should be more well known than it is, and I hope someday a good movie is made about him to help him get the recognition he deserves.

This book is out of print and very dated, but it still is chock full of useful information on where the Untied States and Canada produce their regional economies. I've had this book since I took a geography course at the University of Minnesota twenty years ago. Nearly every map is in serious need of revision and updating, but the concept of the atlas is sound and valid.

The maps range from physical to dot maps indicating tomato and cotton production, non-ferrous metal mining, transportation, and climate. No geographer should be without something that supplies this essential information.

Again, the information presented here has its limitations, but if this is available at a garage sale or used bookstore, its worth the dollar or so charged.

Learn about love and life.

This book starts by introducing characters and offering the reader insight to their character. Set in New Hampshire at Unity Farm, and India. There are colorful interchanges between the friends that give glimpses into the many types of love that life offers. Farley, a competitive golfer who has lost his game is learning to find his life, and unity farm is a portal to the universe of learning.

This is a book with a message and with a twist. The characters are well developed and inspirational messages on how to live are set in the pursuit of golf. The drama is not man against man, nature or time but rather man against himself and the unfolding mind. Each character helps to coax the best out of each other. They are spiritual friends and each time there is a lesson there are conditions set. For example Ted wants to learn golf and before Merce will help him, he has to dance in a tutu and learn ballet. Ted is a cowboy guru, student of life, parent, and lover. He teaches all who he meets the art of giving and receiving.

There are great quotes from inspirational holy men poets and philosophers to start each chapter and there are great quotes throughout the dialog
"Face life straight up because you can never run away from what is"
and "I say you are trapped by a worldly delusion into thinking your job is who you are"
The message that "self awareness takes effort" is clear and it is how you focus on life and observe the obstacles, that will inspire of dishearten.
I loved the ending and enjoyed the offerings.

You might be depressed after reading this book. It suggests how wars, though mostly civil wars, can take on a certain inevitable dynamic. After which, the wars can drag on for years. And drag down the countries. An especially grim fate for a developing country that might have already have huge needs before the conflict began.

This is a very good book for young people. It emphasizes family and christian values while allowing the young mind to explore the possibility of great adventures. Young people can dream of having Polly's kind of rapport with animals and being close to heavenly beings.

Popgun Vol. 1 by Image Comics literally contains something for everyone. Whether you're a sci-fi nut, fantasy fan, horror addict, noir junkie, superhero fanboy or a cheesy romantic, this comic anthology will almost certainly have a story tailored specifically for you. It's 450 pages of innovative, colorful, well-written and well-drawn comics that kept me reading consistently for a week or so. Many of the stories I read twice, and there weren't any particular ones that I disliked. Most of them are printed in gorgeous color and range from anything between 2 pages to 8 pages in length. The following four comics were the ones I enjoyed most:

1) First among these were "Mexican Wrestler Funnies," written and drawn by Andy Kuhn, where El Tigre and Hombre Supremo face off against each other without actually wrestling. Their ridiculous insults are what makes this story hilarious. ("The time for insults is over! But if it were not, I would call your mother a Gravy Boat full of Kaka!")

2) My second favorite is "Sanz Panz: Ninja Platypus," where an ultra-cool duck-billed martial artist goes up against The Cheesy T-Shirt Gang. Awesome.

3) Next I would have to pick "The Amazing Joy Buzzards in The Fearless Vampire Hunters" by Mark Andrew Smith and Dan Hipp. Ridiculous, but funny as hell.

4) Finally, "Tag" by David Crosland - An artistic repesentation of a game played throughout the eons by evolution, which gives a whole new meaning to the term "survival of the fittest."

Other great stories also appear, and some by renowned comic creators such as Fear Agent Rick Remender ("The Death of the Midnight Sky"), Savage Dragon Erik Larsen ("Cheeseburgerhead") and Madman Mike Allred ("For the Record"). Numerous fictitious adds also appear between stories, most of which are quite good. Some stories are very experimental though, and may put off readers who are looking for a particular fix. I loaned Popgun to a friend and he only enjoyed about 10 out of the 50 or so stories, so it might not be as enjoyable if you are merely a casual reader of graphic storytelling. Having said that, Popgun Vol.1 is one of the best comic anthologies I have ever read, and that's saying a lot. Pick it up if you like short comics or don't have time to read longer story arcs.

I found this workbook an excellent starting point to begin sorting out the emotionally confusion aspects of my divorce. The legal tips and reminders are also helpful.

These diplomatic and political memoirs will be fascinating reading for anyone with an interest in European history between the World Wars and, especially, in the point of view of a small, vulnerable country that watched as all hopes for protection from Germany gradually faded away. The post-World War I isolationism of the United States is depicted as the tragedy from which all else follows, and this, combined with the US abandonment of Romania at Yalta, seems ample justification for the resentment that colors the admiration with which Romanians look to the US. Britain and France are similarly unreliable sources of protection as the crisis deepens. Finally, Romania's longstanding vulnerability to Russia -- so well depicted in Florescu's "Struggle Against Russia in the Romanian Principalities, 1821-1854" and Michelson's "Romanian Politics 1859-71", from the same publisher -- comes to the fore as the country finds itself with only Russia and Germany to protect her each from the other. Written in the late 1940s, these memoirs close on a suitably bleak note: "Time does not play in behalf of the Democracies. Unless they act while there is time, another kind of peace will be the one that will prevail: the Pax Sovietica -- the peace of the concentration camp and of the unmarked mass grave."

Sherman is a green frog who is at once endearing, intrepid, and eager. Imagine a frog that would rather see snow than to hibernate all winter! Sherman's wish is heard by the Snow Princess. Will he get his wish? You guessed it. And, that's when his adventures really begin.
This charming book, written by Louise Flodin and delightfully illustrated, in watercolors, by her daughter-in-law Elayna Flodin, is writing in the manner of fairy tales. That gives children an opportunity to engage in imagination and to learn through an imaginary character that it is all right to have one's dreams come true, no matter how illogical they may be. Elayna's paintings are lively adding even more to the story, and that is an example of great harmony between text and illustration in a picture book. Kudos to Louise and Elayna on their first venture into the world of picture books. The book ends way too soon. The young reader will want to read more about Sherman and the Snow Princess. We will wish for a sequel soon! This book is recommended for children 3 - 8 years old!

Since few books have been written about Henry Warner Slocum this edition is a good start. It is evident there are not many primary sources or extant information to draw on when writing about this general because the book glosses over details of his life, I assume because there was no information available. Because of this the book does not provide as detailed a glimps of the generals life and personality as one would wish for. I found the book interesting but was constantly hoping for more detail.