Smith Books

a little bit outdated in hardware terms. That is okay the ideals are still there, ideals that libtards try to crush every day. Amazes me how people forget their own history or what it takes to preserve what they have. Let the libtards in to stary spouting the myths they claim are fact, it is fun.

L. Neil Smith has gathered a no-holds-barred collection of his finest political essays in this book. I first found "el Neil" in "The Libertarian Enterprise" online. I have since read much of his fiction, and found it to be excellent. Please buy lots and lots of his books--give them as gifts, read them and stock them in every room in your house and in every vehicle. I want him to write more, and the sure way to convince him to do so is to pay him.

I've read and enjoyed most of L. Neil Smith's science fiction novels. I checked out his essays and other non-fiction works almost as an afterthought. I liked them. So when I saw LEVER ACTION, I jumped on it.

Guess what? I liked it too. Of course, the issues that are addressed in Smith's science fiction by allegory, implication and exposition-an optimistic, freedom-seeking, pro-gun, science fiction worldview-are addressed directly in this collection of essays and speeches.

I especially enjoyed reading the Introduction in which Smith tells us how he came by the principles in which he believes. My favorite essay is a very short one. On page 226, Smith asks the rhetorical question, "How Much Do You Want to Keep Your Guns?" He then answers his own question in an economical yet impassioned couple of hundred words. It is as beautiful a plea for mutual tolerance and personal freedom as you will ever read anywhere. Read it aloud to get the full effect. Read it aloud to your family and friends. Heck, read it aloud to someone you don't like. It might make a difference.

I have only one minor nit to pick. Because LEVER ACTION is a compilation of previous independently published writings and delivered speeches, there is some repetition. Of course, some things bear repeating.

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For the sake of providing needed information on this collection of L. Neil Smith's essays, the following table of contents is drawn from his Web site (specifically from page http://www.lneilsmith.com/leveractionmore.html):

AUTHOR'S NOTE: My Purloined Letters

INTRODUCTION: My Willingness to be Drafted to Run for President

Section I: LIBERTARIAN PHILOSOPHY

1. The LP's First Priority
2. The Atlanta Declaration
3. Bill of Wrongs
4. A New Approach to Social Darwinism
5. The Tyranny of Democracy (Majoritarianism Versus Unanimous Consent)
6. Shop Now and Avoid the Rush

Section II: LIBERTARIAN POLITICS

7. Lever Action -- Accept No Substitutes
8. Hillary Behind Bars
9. Libertarian Second Amendment Caucus Statement of Principles
10. Libertarian Second Amendment Caucus General Resolution
11. The Twenty-Ninth Amendment
12. Tea in a Whole New Bag
13. My Three Tax Programs
14. My China Policy
15. Operation Safe Streets
16. A Desperate Suspension of Disbelief
17. A Lesson in Practical Politics
18. The Return of the Creature
19. Rally Me Not on the Lone Prairie
20. Tactical Reflections

Section III: THE SECOND AMENDMENT

21. Suppose You Were Fond of Books ...
22. Ban a Gun -- Go to Jail
23. The Atrocity Engineers
24. What About England?
25. Nipponese, Ted!
26. Twelve Tips for Safer Schools
27. Kids and Guns at School
28. Murder by Gun Control
29. Armies of Chaos
30. On Concealed Carry and the NRA
31. Screen, Scran, Screwn
32. We Don't Need No Stinkin' Bodges
33. Am I the NRA?
34. How Much Do You Want to Keep Your Guns?
35. Clinton's Crimes Are Hitler's Crimes
36. Diana DeGette Wants You Dead
37. Whodunit? Wellington Webb!
38. Listen to the Women
39. Taking the Mag Pledge
40. Smith & Wesson Must Die
41. Right-Wing Socialism
42. Why Did It Have to Be Guns?
43. A Conspiracy Theory -- Sort Of

Section IV: REPUBLICRAT POLITICS

44. Prometheus Bound -- and Gagged
45. "Do It to Julia"
46. Feeding the Ducks
47. A Revolutionary Proposal
48. Advice to Flat Taxers: Go Jump Off the Edge
49. Bill Clinton's Reichstag Fire
50. Rumplestiltsclinton
51. No, No, Kosovo! No, No, Kosovo!
52. A Note to My Political Allies
53. Security
54. Stars and Bars
55. It's the Stupidity, Stupid!
56. A Tale of Two Hoovers

Section V: A RANT FOR ALL SEASONS

57. An Ant for All Seasons (formerly "Of Ants and Men")
58. The American Lenin
59. When They Came for the Smokers ...
60. Antismokers: Get a Life!
61. The Smoking Goons
62. The Lies of Texas
63. Weird Science
64. When You Wish Upon a Star ...
65. Big Brother is Watching You -- Again
66. I Hate Breakfast
67. Some Not-Quite-Random Thoughts on Americans and Their Cars
68. Sex, Drugs, and Voter Registration
69. The Most Thoroughly "Sanitized" City in America
70. Patching the Patches
71. Scalping Elmo
72. A Culture of Harmlessness
73. The Spider at the Center of the Web

Section VI: SCIENCE FICTION AND LESSER MEDIA

74. On a Clear Day You Can See Bulgaria -- But Who Wants to Look?
75. Merchants of Fear
76. The Manchurian Lobbyist
77. Getting Back at TV Propagandists
78. The Medium is a Massage
79. Parallax
80. I'll Show You Mine If You'll Show Me Yours -- A Challenge to the Canadian Mass Media
81. Robert Heinlein Remembered
82. Don Henley's Revenge (An Open Letter to America's Old Media)
83. Who's the Wacko?
84. A Maple-Leaf Rag
85. Stop the Nagging
86. Unanimous Consent and the Utopian Vision

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"Why Did It Have to Be Guns" is one of the best brief arguments for why the advocates of any sort of "gun control" are not only intellectually bankrupt but also morally corrupt beyond redemption, and how each "gun control" politician must be immediately and unequivocally identified as your own personal mortal enemy, no matter what your political, ethnic, religious, or other demographic characteristics might be. As a whole, this collection is well worth its price, and should be in the hands of any honest, decent, humane person who can read the English language.

L. Neil Smith is one of the most prolific libertarian writer of the last few decades. With more than 20 sci-fi books under his belt this is his first non fiction book. Full of essays on libertarian philosophy, libertarian politics, the Second Amendment, the media, science fiction, sex, drugs, Ayn Rand, freedom and Robert A. Heinlein.
The only problem is that if you are not a libertarian it will piss you off and if you are, well, then why do you need to read it?

Tom Smith has written a story that will have you laughing, crying and waiting or rather reading with anticipation of what is going to happen next.

This book was written by someone who was there! Very clever and kept my attention throughout. Was sorry when I got to the end as I was enjoying it so much. It didn't happen (?) but it sure could have. I believed it all...... Great book worth 5 stars.

Some books make you laugh, some make you cry, others we can relate to in other ways,.... well this book takes you through the entire spectrum of emotions and makes you sorry the book is over when you are finished. This book should be made into a movie, it would be an academy award winner. This book is one of the few that would appeal to men and women alike and have the same impact on both sexes. Please, Tom, write more like this....I will be waiting with much anticipation!

As a retired Naval Aviator, I thoroughly enjoyed re-living some of my own experiences as I watched this young man progress through learning to fly and into an active squadron. The author has injected a spirit of realism into this story that only a military pilot, especially a Naval Aviator, can appreciate. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Ted Mason's dream is to be a naval officer and a pilot, a dream that goes sour when his mother dies and he's virtually kidnapped by an alcoholic, half lunatic, stunt-pilot father. Several years pass before Ted has his chance to get into the navy, not the academy, but as a recruit using an assumed name. The enlistment begins his long struggle to maintain an identity not his own, and to reach his goal of becoming a naval pilot.

The author, Tom Smith, takes his protagonist through a series of escapades and identity changes as he pursues his goal, combining adventure, humor and romance with an element of suspense. Readers will find themselves trying to challenge the plausibility of the identity changes, and they'll ultimately say: "It could have happened."

The Lieutenant Who Never Was is a great book, not only for one who identifies with the military and with flying, but also for anyone with a penchant for a unique and unusual turn of events.

I never tire of Malcolm Smith. His message is pure, simple, loving, gentle, and yet firmly planted in God's Word. This book touched me deeply and is one that I will return to again and again for fresh inspiration. A great investment!

I read lots of books on the Christian faith, but never before have I encountered one that pulls the faith's themes together into one powerful summation quite like this book does. The new covenant truly is the heart of our faith and this book uses simple, sometimes passionate language to bring the new covenant into focus. In particular, I was very impressed with the book's extensive and persuasive use of Scripture as the foundation for its message. If you want to gain a better and deeper understanding of your faith and make Christ truly alive in your life, then read this book! I am very glad that I did.

This is without a doubt one of the best books that I have read on the covenant. Malcolm Smith has a clear understanding of the gospel. That is why he can discuss the covenant without communicating confusion. This book will bless your spiritual life.

This book should be read by all Christians! I know most believers are going thru doubts, frustrations, confusion and misunderstanding about their faith. Have you ever felt like you're living a lie? Have you ever felt like the Christian life would never be real to you?? Have you failed time and time again, only to wonder if that's as good as it will get??? Do you see a vast difference between what the Bible describes and what is true to you in your personal relationship with the Lord? "You shall know the Truth and the Truth will make you free!". Read this book and you will come to know the lost secret of God's New Covenant for you. The truth will cause you to walk in the abundant life found in God's friendship for you!

This is perhaps the most important book I have ever read as a Christian of 25 years. Lost Secrets effectively pulls together all aspects of Christianity and places them under the umbrella they should have been under all along - the New Covenant. A perfect blend of historical background and scripture, this book will revolutionize your understanding of God and His integration into your daily life. I will be giving this book away to Christians as well as "the curious" from now on. It's that good!

I had read his earlier book, Lowcountry Boil, and enjoyed it. This one, in my opinion, is even better. It is the sort of book that it is hard to put down; you end up staying up late to read more. I thoroughly enjoyed it - fast moving action, with great character development and story-telling abilities.

A page turner as was his earlier work; Lowcountry Boil. Best get you a copy.

I just finished this book, the second one that features Sam Larkin, the hottest hero of 2006. It is fast paced, full of the flavor and characters of New Orleans and has you wishing it would go on and on. Hey, Carl T. Smith, How about more adventures of Sam Larkin?

Award-finalist writer Carl T. Smith presents Louisiana Burn, a dark novel following the continued adventures of Sam Larken, former environmental law enforcement officer and ex-con. Though Larken is highly familiar with violence, he is content to remain amid the relative quietude of his South Carolina home - until his erstwhile lover and federal officer Karen Chaney cajoles him away. Manipulated into an investigation concerning Thornton Hunnycut, the man who unjustly sent Sam to prison twelve years ago and who has become a potential candidate for the vice presidency, Sam must delve into Louisiana's seamy underbelly, even though he is forbidden by his release agreement to return to the state. A suspenseful novel of lies, deception, and revenge, Louisiana Burn irresistibly draws the reader in and does not let go until the end. Also highly recommended is the first Sam Larken novel, "Lowcountry Boil".

LOUISIANA BURN is a mystery but not in the "who-done-it," detective, private investigator or police procedural sub-genres. The protagonist, Sam Larkin, is an ex-con who was ensnared in a sham trial in Louisiana. The mystery is why he was framed and then released after serving only a few years of his sentence, given a large sum of money and all records of his trial and conviction expunged. One condition for his unexplained release is that he never returns to Louisiana. So Sam, having divorced his wife while in prison, buys a home on Mathews Island in the South Carolina lowcountry. All that is back story derived from the prequel novel, LOWCOUNTRY BOIL, which I did not read.

LOUISIANA BURN begins when Karen Chancy, a DEA agent and Sam's lover in LOWCOUNTRY BOIL, seduces him to return to the Gulf Coast to help her investigate Thornton Hunnycut, the judge at Sam's trial. Hunnycut, now a United States senator, is on the short list for vice presidential candidate.

Although there are a few puzzles and twists, the struggle in this story is how to get the villains, not to figure out who they are. The characters are well developed, three-dimensional folk, the writing clear and good, and the sensuous details on food and scenery are sufficient without being tedious.

Yet, I had some problems. Why would the FBI turn over the investigation of a senator to the DEA? The reunion between Sam and his former wife seemed unrealistic. And in the end, when you add up net gain to the villains, the reason for framing Sam in the first place is not convincingly explained.

Overall, a good read with plausibility problems.

A great book that gives a quick overview from contact printing and projection aligners (1970's and early 1980's technology), but it spends most of its time and effort on the more recent (2000's) technology and processes. There was information packed into each page, providing both an overview and detail into the more recent development of lithography. It helps to have some previous exposure to lithography as well as the topics of physics, optics, and chemistry since the book will build on all of these subjects to provide the basis of the newer technology.

this book consists almost everything u need to be a lithographer and is also concise and up-to-date!

also the price is not too high.

good book!

The book provides a great overview of the Electron Beam Lithography, which was the material of interest for me. Material is conveyed in great detail while the meaning of the material is not necessarily constricted to the experts. As an undergraduate student, I found the material readable. I was also able to understand most of the information well and as a result I believe I have a good base of knowledge about lithography. I would definitely recommend this book to other students.

The book give a very good overview of what microlithography is and it gives the recent advances in the field. I highly recommend it as something very good to have if your into the field of lithography and especially if you are a non engineer.

I teach a graduate class in Microlithography and this is the best text I have seen to date. It contains all the modern techniques presented in an easy to read format. I highly recommend this text for all process engineers in the field or engineers wishing to learn more about this integrated circuit processing technique.

This book was everything you want in a good read, funny, exciting, sad, inspiring. I also found a new book to read from one of the last diary entries in the book!!!! i have 3 kids and life is insane most of the time so to sit down and laugh that other people are certainly going through the same things i do on a daily basis makes me feel better.

Mommyhood Diaries: Living the Chaos One Day at a Time by Julie Watson Smith is a wonderful and insightful book. Fanatic and honest stories, connecting each one with the bond of motherhood. I loved it!

Julie Watson Smith has captured something very real in this book: the need for mothers - from all walks of life - to find something that unites us all. We're not alone on this journey, and we ought to delight in the chaos. Even on our worst days, (this book addresses those bad days, too) motherhood is a gift, and this is celebrated on every page. A wonderful book, like a warm cup of tea for the mommies collective soul.

What a wonderful collection of diaries/stories in this Mommyhood Diaries anthology! It is filled with thoughts and stories that will make you laugh and cry and I am honored to be a part of this inspiring and captivating book!

Paula Schmitt
Award-winning author of Living in a Locker Room: A Mom's Tale of Survival in a Houseful of Boys (Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing, Inc 2005) www.paulaschmitt.com

This is a great collection of stories from around the world! There are some that will make you think, cry, laugh and above all open your mind to Knowing that no Mother is alone in this world.

If you are a Mom, know a Mom or even want to impress a Mom, try reading or giving this book as a gift. I am also very proud to have been a part of this and think that there is something in this collection for everyone.

For this U.S. trained forensic pathologist, anyway, Sir Sydney Smith was until recently not a familiar name. He and his perhaps more famous contemporary Spilsbury were the generation ahead of the "grand old men" with whom we are more familiar - Knight, for example. Smith's career was fascinating, though, coming as it did right on the edge of scientific death investigation. From the perspective of 2008, he made deductions and judgments that would simply never fly either scientifically or under contemporary cross examination. However, at his time he was truly at the top of his profession, and a terrific author to boot. This book should be part of any forensic pathology fellow's reading list, and for those outside the profession, offers unique insights into the pitfalls and pressures of this most fascinating craft.

In this book, the famous British Forensic Pathologist Dr. Sydney Smith narrates with a distinct Scottish charm and in factual manner the way he solved several noteworthy crimes committed in England and in some of its Colonies using his knowledge of Forensic Pathology during the mid 20th Century. Often, he would identify a murderer from a few bones as was once found in a dry well in Egypt where he established in Cairo, its first Forensic Pathology Laboratory. He gives the reader a glimpse of the court-room drama that attorney, Sir Bernard Spilsbury, for the Prosecution and Defence alternatively and Sydney Smith himself opposing Spilsbury produced in the courts of law in Britain. Several B&W photographs add greatly to the narrative of each solved case.

"Mostly Murder" by Sir Sydney Smith, late Professor of Forensic Medicine at the University of Edinburgh is another great true-crime autobiography from the first half of the twentieth century, very similar in its witty, epigrammatic style to British Home Office Pathologist, Professor Keith Simpson's "Forty Years of Murder." Both books are fascinating memoirs of 'mostly murders,' famous and obscure, although not always committed in Great Britain--Sir Sidney went to Egypt during the First World War and stayed on as the Principal Medico-Legal Expert to the Ministry of Justice until he returned to Edinburgh in 1928. He also relates cases from Ceylon, Australia (the Sydney Shark affair), and other far-flung ports of the British Empire.

The author most especially seemed to relish his medico-legal battles with the famous Home Office Pathologist, Sir Bernard Spilsbury. In one of his most interesting trials, Sir Sydney testified on behalf of Sidney Fox, a convicted forger, blackmailer, swindler, and thief who was also accused of murdering his own mother for the insurance money--she died less than an hour before her accidental death policy was due to expire.

Dear old mom was a confederate in most of her son's crimes, but Fox emphatically denied strangling her and setting her hotel room on fire, and Sir Sydney believed him. At least he believed that the con man's mother showed no physical evidence of strangulation. He and the great Spilsbury locked horns over the forensic evidence in court and Sir Sidney's client was condemned to the gallows, but was it for the wrong reason?

The fact that Fox renewed his mother's accidental death policy the day before she died was the evidence that hung him, but was he really guilty of murdering her? Sir Sidney thinks not.

Mordant wit abounds in this book, most especially in the chapter, "Accident, Suicide, or Murder?" Sir Sidney relates the suicide by coal-gas of a plumber from Aberdeen who "connected a tube to the gas-pipe before it entered the meter, and so all the way to the room where his body was found."

We've all heard stories about thrifty Scots, but Aberdonians seem to be a legend even amongst their own countrymen.

"Mostly Murder" contains several gruesome photographs from the author's forensic files, but nothing we haven't already seen on television.

Murder is not funny. Yet this obviously major first book on early forensic science turned out to be a 'snort of laughter' funny book. It's a very wryly written and very wise autobiography, with no backstabbing or self-congratulatory remarks. If anything, Smith was way too modest, in dealing with the many parts of forensic science (which are now dealt with by different departments in police, FBI, etc). He managed to deal with ballistic forensics, stringing a couple of microscopes together while in Eqypt in order to compare bullets and casings. This was way prior to the invention of comparison microscopes that are regularly used even in med school.

The stories he tells are usually not well-known, but he had a good reason for sharing the story because it showed a particular means of solving a crime (or not solving it) using what they had available in forensics during the early 1900's. Smith imagination and ability to 'make do' are something that is badly missed in most sciences today. He certainly lived a very productive and valuable life, and obviously his inventions and unique ideas have been built upon in forensic science. I think he would not be surprised, but would have enjoyed the other newer fields in forensics such as entymology.

This is an older book, found at my university library. Quite frankly, it would be worthwhile to publish again and recommend to the many people who are showing such an interest in forensics due to shows such as CSI. Many of the concepts Smith teaches are still valuable today. If readers cannot buy this book, try to find it at a university libary. It is extremely well-written and enjoyable.

Karen Sadler,
Science Education,
University of Pittsburgh

This book tells of the many interesting cases in his career. If you liked "Quincy ME" or "CSI" you'll love reading true stories about his pioneering work in the first half of the 20th century. He is an outstanding writer as well. This book shows how legal medicine can convict the guilty and exonerate the innocent. Most of these cases deal with murder, and tell how the doctor let the dead bones speak to the living.

Erle Stanley Gardner says a successful practitioner of forensic medicine must not only be outstanding in his field, but most be quick-thinking and keen of mind: a real version of Sherlock Holmes. A good medical expert should search for the truth, not the facts to support a pre-conceived theory; this usually results in a miscarriage of justice; chapter 20 illustrates this.

Page 90 tells of his analysis of the British .303 cartridge. The bullet had an "aluminium tip enclosed in a strong cupro-nickel jacket". This tip often broke off when the bullet entered a body. This could result in a blunt-edged bullet that could tumble in a body and create more damage; in effect, a dum-dum bullet.

On page 152 he says that in the British legal system, expert witnesses are made available to the defendants, and paid when the defendant is without means. This is an improvement over just providing a public defender. "While the life of a scoundrel may not be worth saving, the principles of justice always are."

Sir Sydney Smith writes with a dry, subtle sense of humor, and with understatements. This book cannot be easily summarized, except to say: get it and read it!

After reading this to my 6 and 3 year old grandsons, they wanted me to read it again. The story of a woman who has every excuse not to keep a stray cat after it arrives on her doorstep; but day after day she keeps doing loving acts for the cat. My grandsons had fun saying the cat had to go at the end of a page, knowing that at the end, she would keep it. This story teaches unconditional love and compassion for a stray, and how a animal brings joy to a person's life.

(as dictated by my 7 year old son (and as agreed by his mother)!)

This is a great book. If you find this, you should buy it. It is a very strong buy. There were a lot of great adjectives in this story and it sounded like she was going to give the cat away at first. But she never did. She loved it way too much. There was a funny part in the story where she said it was a clear night starrry sky, and then she said that I smell rain and she slammed the door shut and kept the cat. The last part of the story Mr. Henry actually said "How did you get along without it?" and she kept it. This cat looks like one of our kittens.

(from Mom) I agree with the above and want to add that the illustrations are hilarious and the cat, although cartoonish, somehow looks real!

This warm, unsentimental, understated humorous book is about a stray cat who get's under his reluctant new owner's skin thereby improving both of their lives. It is a wonderful description of how the feline species manages to ingratiate itself and find its niche. This book wonderfully describes the way a cat bonds with and transforms the life of a loner or person living alone. The illustrations perfectly match the tone and subtle humor of the text, the story and its characters. The bright colors used in connection with the cat contrast with the mostly subdued earth tones depicting Mrs. Crump's everyday life.

This is an intelligently written book on the subject of cats and their owners and will demonstrate to children not just the magic of having a pet, but also the love and responsibility having one requires.

By the way, the Merlin in my pen name refers to the king of all the cats who are and have been in my life (and they are many).

Mrs. Crump is minding her own business when a dirty cat shows up on her doorstep. She doesn't want a cat. She doesn't need a cat.

But the cat is hungry so Mrs. Crump takes pity and sets out in the rain to get the cat some food. After a meal, she'll be sending the cat back out into the world.

Mrs. Crump isn't convinced that night that the cat should go, though. She thinks it might just rain so the cat gets a night in front of Mrs. Crump's cozy fire.

She spends so much time telling herself she doesn't need a pet but in the back of her mind she becomes quite fond of the yellow cat. Mrs. Crump even tries to find the owner but secretly hopes he or she won't come forward.

In the end, Mrs. Crump finds all that trouble of putting up with the cat isn't so bad after all. The "sneaky, finicky, troublesome, wet, yellow cat with fleas" becomes a new friend for life.

Mrs. Crump's Cat is a fun, challenging read for ages 4-8. The story itself shows children how you can always change your mind and open up your heart. The illustrations help tell the story for younger readers wanting to follow along as parents read to them.

A reputable source brought this book to my attention by declaring it a cat book for those people who don't like cats. Don't get me wrong, I like cats. I think that they are fine frolicsome creatures and I wouldn't mind owning one of my own someday, weather permitting. That does not, however, mean that I always like cat picture books. Books that attempt to show cats as they are, too often have the kitties come off as stand-offish or difficult to endure. What "Mrs. Crump's Cat" does so well as show the good of cats, the bad of cats, and present both in a uniquely endearing way. Add in an illustrator of hitherto unsung talents and you've got yourself what I consider to be one of the loveliest little cat-minded picture books of this or any other year.

On a wet, rainy, relatively miserable day Mrs. Crump found, "an exquisite golden cat", ah-sitting on her porch. Mrs. Crump is a logical woman. As she tells the unwanted visitor right off the bat, "I have no use for a cat". Be that as it may, it seems cruel to send it out before it's dry. And then once it's dry it seems cruel not to give it something to eat. With each moment with the cat Mrs. Crump pushes back the time when she'll let the cat go. Maybe when it's dry. Or fed. Or when it's a sunny day. Or when the rest of the cream she bought for it is gone. By and by Mrs. Crump advertises the cat at the local shop with the note, "Found: One Sneaky Finicky Troublesome Wet Yellow Cat With Fleas". And by the end no one has claimed the animal and, as the local shop owner says, "Before you know it, you'll be sitting by the fire with the cat on your lap, wondering how you ever got along without it". Which is precisely what occurs.

Author Linda Smith was especially clever in this story distinguishing the difference between what a person says and what a person does. Some kids reading this book will pick up on the fact that the woman actually likes the cat right from the start (it would be hard not to). I, myself, enjoyed how Mrs. Crump would reinforce her own stereotypes of what a cat is like by almost making the cat fall into them. When she leaves the door open and the cat walks in out of the rain she says, "Cats are sneaky by nature". And when it refuses to eat the slice of bread she gives it she adds, "Cats are finicky as well". And should you ever need a title to illustrate the phrase, "One thing leads to another", you couldn't do better than this.

Credit illustrator David Roberts as the real force behind this book's inescapable charm, though. Ms. Smith's writing has its beauty, but Roberts is why you'll have just as hard a time letting the book go as Mrs. Crump had letting the cat go. Here we see an animal of a uniquely amiable nature. Adorable to several decimal points, the cat (never named) comes across as a perfect companion. Then there's the layout of the book. Roberts isn't afraid of switching the perspective of the images or even doing a several panel layout for kicks. There's also a wonderful sequence involving washing the cat that goes unmentioned in the text, but would have been sorely lacking had Roberts not seen fit to add it in on his own. In this way any missteps by the author or overlooked details are picked up immediately and beautifully by its wonderful illustrator. Other writers should be so lucky.

If a collection of cat picture books featuring veeery catlike felines is what you desire, add "Mrs. Crump's Cat" to your already purchased copies of "Mrs. Lovewright and Purrless Her Cat", by Lore Segal or "The Cat Who Loved Potato Soup", by Terry Farish. If you hate cats in general and would rather eat a cold bowl of leeks rather than read a book starring one, buy this book. And if you need a picture book for a boy, girl, baby, grandparent, teacher, tinker, tailor, etc. buy this book. One of the loveliest little creations I've ever had the pleasure to read, and a pure and simple joy.

Another fabulous cookbook by my favorite southern cooking author. I've already tried a recipe and it was a huge hit with my family. PS -- They don't particulary like grits.

This is a terrific guide to real southern good food, centering around grits and, of course, shrimp. The truth is that grits are very closely related to polenta, and they can be great. This book is a terrific guide to good grits & good shrimp as they are eaten in the South. I am a California inhabitent myself, but this food is good. The receipes also are not too complicated and good for family or guests.

There seem to be three basic reactions to grits; in the Southern U.S. it's "Yum, grits!" In the rest of the U.S., "Yuk, grits!" From outside the U.S. ask, "What the heck are grits?"

As a Yankee, I had to read up to learn that grits are white corn kernels with the hull and germ removed by treatment with lye, cooked into a thick porridge. Polenta is similar and may be substituted, but you'll lose the characteristic hominy flavor.

Grits date to the earliest days. In 1607, settlers at Jamestown were met by the local Indians with a slumgullion of boiled ground white corn that they called "rockahomine." The first English appearance of the word (always in the plural) appeared in 1725 according to the OED: "The bigger kind of Oat-Meal, which is call'd Greets, or Corn Oat-Meal."

Dupree has done a brilliant job of celebrating and describing one of the best variations of grits which evolved in South Carolina's Low Country - the coastal strip around Charleston. Shrimp abounded in the region's coastal waters and enhanced the nutritious but bland grits. Shrimp and grits became wakeup grub, or "breakfast shrimp."

Dupree's history of the dish, and her recipes are excellent, the photographs and printing are clear, and the binding is excellent. A perfect introduction to grits and shrimp, and if you want to skip the grits, the book has great value for shrimp lovers.

I've included a recipe for shrimp and grits by my friend Robin Garr, the editor of the Wine Lovers Page and author of The 30 Second Wine Advisor: Learn about wine in 30-second tastes -- quick, easy & fun. The dish has migrated to Louisville Kentucky, 700 miles from the nearest salt water, where a number of restaurants offer excellent variations. Robin's recipe matches the best recipes that Dupree has to offer.

Robert C. Ross 2008

I had checked this book out sooo many times from our Public Library I was finally compelled to get online and find a copy for keeps!!! I absolutely love this book... I guess you can tell I love Shrimp and Grits too!
This book is a jewel from cover to cover. There's some history that was great to learn but the recipes are awesome. If you're like me, this is one for your culinary library. Read, Eat, and Enjoy!

You don't have to be from the South to LOVE Nathalie Dupree's Shrimp and Grits.
And who would have thought that an entire cook book on these lowly, but Heavenly ingredients could be so varied, so intriguing and so straight forward.
Every kitchen should have this cook book on the shelf.
Tomie dePaola (from New Hampshire)

Parts of this review were used in a review of Algren's classic Man With The Golden Arm. These short stories reflect the same milieu that Algren worked in that novel. Algren throughout his literary career was working that same small vein- but what a mother lode he produced.

Growing up in a post World War II built housing project this reviewer knew first hand the so-called `romance' of drugs, the gun and the ne'er do well hustler. And also the mechanisms one needed to develop to survive at that place where the urban working poor meet and mix with the lumpen proletariat- the con men, dopesters, grifters drifters and gamblers who feed on the downtrodden. This is definitely not the mix that Damon Runyon celebrated in his Guys and Dolls-type stories. Far from it. Just read "A Bottle of Milk For Mother".

Nelson Algren has gotten, through hanging around Chicago police stations and the sheer ability to observe, that sense of foreboding, despair and of the abyss of America's mean streets down pat in a number of works, including this collection of his better stories. Along the way we meet an array of stoolies, cranks, crackpots and nasty brutish people who are more than willing to put obstacles in the way of anyone who gets in their way. Read "A Face On The Barroom Floor"- that will put you straight. But to what end. They lose in the end, and drag others down with them.

We, of late, have become rather inured to lumpen stories either of the death and destruction type or of the rehabilitative kind but at the time that these stories were put together in the late 1940's and early 1950's this was something of an eye-opener for those who were not familiar with the seamy side of urban life. The dead end jobs, the constant run-ins with the `authorities' in the person of the police, many times corrupt as well. The dread of going to work, the dread of not going to work, the fear of being victimized and the glee of victimizing. The whole jumbled mix of people with few prospects and fewer dreams.

Algren has put it down in writing for all that care to read. These are not pretty stories. And he has centered his stories on the trials and tribulations of gimps, prostitutes and other hustlers. Damn, as much as I knew about the kind of things that Algren was describing these are still gripping stories. And, if the truth were told, you know as well as I do that unfortunately these stories could still be written today. Read Algren if you want to walk on the wild side.

I haven't read any Algren before The Neon Wilderness & was moved to do so by my recent visit to Chicago. I've been told that his stories are the place to begin. I have to confess that before this I mostly knew Algren as de Beauvoir's Lewis Brogan in The Mandarins.

It took me a little while to warm up to the stories. That's at least a little bit because he led with the story which, in my opinion, is the weakest in the book: "the captain has bad dreams". The stories do get better from there, so persevere.

All of the stories are gritty. There is not a lot of hope in his world. Life is mean, and times are hard. It sounds like a cliche, but not the way Algren writes it. He is deservedly considered a master of the short story form. I particularly liked "poor man's pennies" and "the brothers' house". I was less enchanted with the boxing stories. But, honestly, that's probably me and not Algren-- still too much of a girl to be fascinated with fighting.

Recommended, particularly if you are interested in the short story.

If you only have time to read one Algren book and want to know what he is all about, then 'Neon Wilderness' is the tome to get.
It acts as a template for all Algrens repartee; life on Division street, the pimps, the hustlers, the corruption, the prostitutes. Life for the people whom the American dream is pure illusion. They survive in a world of crime by crime, yet they're always the ones who get punished;always the games biggest losers.
Many of the stories in 'Neon Wilderness' have appeared either slightly altered or in elongated form in Algrens other works. The line ups in the jail feature everywhere in Algrens novels.'Face on the Barroom Floor' 'Bottle of milk for Mother' in 'Walk on the Wild Side' and 'Never come Morning'
Algren just basically wrote the same novels over and over with slightly different takes;sometimes humouress, sometimes bleak. He wrote about the people and life he knew in his Chicago.
Read this and you will have Algren in a nutshell. BUt its well worth catching his other works-despite the feeling of deja-vu they give you!

Algren's writing in this collection of short stories has very lyrical and often nightmarish quality. It is both beautiful and brutally frank. Algren paints a unapologetic picture of Chicago and it's people with his wonderful sense of humor and irony. Read this book if you want an unblinking look at people at their best and worst.

A true marvel. Not many writers come close. Nelson Algren is at the very top of the heap: original, compassionate, funny, insightful. You know, we read many books, and once we have finished with the book we toss it aside and forget about it. With Algren it's different. You read his stuff and can't help feeling cheated at not having known the man, not having ever had a chance to meet the guy. Wish there was a way to sit down and have a beer with the man, light up a stogie and have a good chat with the genius who created this masterful story collection. The writing is gritty and true, heartfelt. Brings to mind several other writers who had this knack of writing in this kind of honest, unflinching style: John O'Brien (Leaving Las Vegas), B. Traven (take your pick: Treasure of Sierra Madre, Cottonpickers, etc.) Knut Hamsun (Hunger), Eugene O'Neill (Long Day's Journey Into Night), Celine (Journey to the End of the Night), Kirk Alex (Working the Hard Side of the Street), Chester Himes (If He Hollers Let Him Go).
All of the above had their own style, of course, but the thing they had in common was in the balls they showed by not flinching away from the gritty, life lived by so many who weren't born with deep pockets, who didn't have it easy.

Writing from the gut. Algren lives. Read THE NEON WILDERNESS, and give some of the others a try as well.
This is writing for people who love books and love to read. Shut your TV sets off and pick up a good book--and you can start right here, with Algren's story collectiion.