Spencer Books

This was a thoroughly enjoyable book. I found the character of Margaret to be very real with a great sense of humor that I could really relate to. The action was well-paced. All in all - a real page turner!

The first in a Margaret Spenser series. A witty novel about a woman in mid-life who leaves home to take a job in a detective agency. She becomes embroiled in murder, mystery and mahem. She's a believeable character who could be any one of us. Ms. Southin has given us a charming new heroine.

Spencer Duckworth's new book, Destroyers on the Rocks: Seven Ships Lost, illuminates a relatively unknown blunder in naval history. While the celebrated attack on Pearl Harbor revealed errors of a strategic nature, the 1923 grounding of seven U.S. Navy destroyers off the South Central California coast resulted from errors of a tactical nature. To the typical landsman, this embarrassing and costly tragedy, which resulted in the loss of twenty-three men and seven warships, would appear to be an example of follow-the-leader that caused cascading problems. Actually destroyermen train extensively in tactical maneuvering as a means of employing their various weapon systems (guns and torpedoes in 1923) in wartime in an optimum way. Destroyers on the Rocks rather exposes the more serious flaw of the blind leading the blind.

If the lack of navigational professionalism and judgment of the squadron commander, Captain Edward H. Watson, and the flagship commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Donald Hunter, were the principal sources of this naval disaster, the heroism of scores of other officers and men after the grounding were fully in keeping with the finest traditions of the U.S. Navy. Given the hazardous sea conditions, the wind, the cold, the rocks, and the darkness, it is amazing that more men were not lost. This testifies to the importance of discipline, training, and leadership. Equally amazing was the large number of officers in those seven destroyers who later achieved flag rank (1 admiral, 4 vice admirals, and 9 rear admirals).

Spencer Duckworth was meticulous in his chronicling of this sad event. His own experience as a serious small-boat sailor gave him a credible perspective to retell this tale. Destroyers on the Rocks is replete with diagrams, photos, maps, and details involving the events leading up to the grounding, the fast-paced events as the destroyers crashed upon the rocks, the human struggles for survival, the heroic rescues, the Court of Inquiry, and the subsequent Court Martial. This insightful work should be required reading for all navigators, commanding officers, and squadron commanders in the U.S. Navy as well as for captains of business and those who aspire to positions of responsibility--all of whom need to possess judgment, professionalism, and leadership.

In 1923 the U.S. navy's Destroyer Squadron 11 headed off to its home port of San Diego from San Francisco. Clear blue skies, mid-summer, and accompanied by a fleet of some thirteen destroyers packed with experienced officers and commanders. By day's end all seven would be stranded on the coast and lives and millions of dollars lost. DESTROYERS ON THE ROCKS: SEVEN SHIPS LOST is the vivid re-enactment of the disaster which holds mystery to this day: events, politics, and long-term effects are all surveyed in a lively true-life adventure/disaster story which proves hard to put down - even by those who aren't usually readers of military history. Very highly recommended!

Diane C. Donovan, Editor
California Bookwatch

The ongoing detection of the mysterious author of the huge erotic classic _My Secret Life_ has advanced a step further (although the sources of information are only slightly better) by Ian Gibson, in _The Erotomaniac: The Secret Life of Henry Spencer Ashbee_ (Da Capo Press). Ashbee had a Jekyll-and-Hyde existence as a successful London businessman, travel writer, and paterfamilias. He also tended his huge collection of pornography. It was so large a collection that he rented rooms in Gray's Inn especially to contain it (and perhaps to keep it from being a family concern). Ashbee was no supporter of the suffragettes, but he liked the idea that women took pleasure in sex and could actively participate in it, ideas that were unfashionable or obscene at the time. In his own writing, Ashbee railed that "the English nation possesses an ultra-squeamishness and hyper-prudery peculiar to itself." He was furious that missionaries were trying to intrude this morality into societies where sexuality was more open.

It is clear that Ashbee's books ridicule these notions, even when Ashbee made it seem that he was supporting them. He is the author of three books, magnificently produced private editions cataloging his own books and those he was interested in. The titles give away his game: _Index Librorum Prohibitorum_ ("Index of Books Worthy of Being Prohibited," mocking the Vatican's own catalogue, 1877), _Centuria Librorum Absconditorum_ ("A Hundred Books Worthy of Being Hidden Away," 1879) and _Catena Librorum Tacendorum_ ("String of Books Worthy of Being Silenced," 1885). Ashbee produced his volumes under his scatological penname Pisanus Fraxi; he seems to have enjoyed rebuses of his name, and Pisanus Fraxi is an anagram of the Latin words for "ash" and "bee."

When it is known that Gibson has produced this biography after being allowed the first glance at Ashbee's diary, one might expect that there would be many personal revelations. Sadly, with some exceptions which Gibson quotes, the diary is discontinuous, and mostly dull. Ashbee was too busy reading and buying books to spend much time on a diary. If Gibson is to be believed, he spent a good deal of time writing _My Secret Life_, too. The final third of _The Erotomaniac_ is an amusing list of correspondences of style, phraseology, and philosophy between the writings of Pisanus Fraxi and those of the "Walter" who wrote _My Secret Life_. Gibson allows that someday electronic scansion of the texts may make the identification more positive (and perhaps someone will pay literary sleuth Don Foster, of _Author Unknown_, to take the case). To me, the most compelling evidence is that Ashbee's volumes all have an obsessively inclusive index, just as "Walter's" book hilariously does. Under the gerund form of the most shocking verb in English, Walter has seven columns of entries, including: in masks / wheelbarrow fashion / modesty hinders complete pleasure / is the great humanizer / in a grotto / in cabs / in a church / in a calf shed / in a cow shed / against trees. On and on the list goes, a tribute to someone obsessed with sex, with lists, and with compilations. As Gibson says, if Ashbee didn't write it, who on Earth did? Gibson's own book, meticulously researched and genially entertaining, has just about as much of Ashbee as we will ever know, as well as genuine insights into Victorian times and morals.

Face it-- if you're reading a review of this book, you're knowledgable and interested enough to enjoy it. I'd guess that 1 out of 1000 readers might get a kick out of "The Erotomaniac," but if you read "My Secret Life" and wondered about who "Walter" was, or know who Gershon Legman is, or have a bibliographic bent, then this book is for you. Ashbee wasn't the most likable of men, but his utter obsession to collect and classify his erotica ruled his life, and the people he met (including Richard Francis Burton, who comes off even more perverse than I'd imagined) make for a compelling narrative. I developed a great sympathy for him-- he was ruled by sex, but enslaved by his books. He could only share his fetish with a few other devotees, and had to hide his love for smut from his own family. If only he could have lived to see our century!

Despite the repitition, this is an excellent book. It gets "under the skin" of the subject and provides a broad context. Unfortunately at times this context is nebulous and one can never quite pin it down - but one does get a good feel for this nebulosity in this book. The last few sections deal with legal issues and are fascinating. With multiple contributors some repitition is inevitable and perhaps could have been editied out, but so what? There's a lot of meat nicely cooked and presented.

The purpose of this book is not to entertain the general public; it is shop-talk for a certain portion of the art world--the art trade and museums. The essays are uniformly competent and written in a lively, digestible fashion. Some essays are digressive, others terse, all are useful if you're trying to think through an authentication.

FLYING HOME by Spencer L. Duffy is a short and concise book of poetry written over a 10-year period of time. The poems cover family, life, politics, nature and religion. The author is inspired by the things around him and it is reflected in his poetry. He expounds poetically about the love of his life and graces us with a poem about a burglar who robbed his home. This demonstrates his ability to write prose about things going on in and around his life. One of my favorite selections is "Messed Up In America" which chronicles how although America is the land of the free, in retrospect this is far from the truth.

Although the poems are simple in style, they do allow readers to reflect on the truth of what is being said. Included in this collection are poems from the author's siblings, which incorporated several well-written inspirational poems. For the most part, the poems are easily understood with several that were inspirational, but the collection is not as powerful as I would have liked. If the structure and style were more complexed, I would have been able to absorb a more lasting impression of each piece. However, it is a compilation that would be enjoyable for those who like nice, sweet and inspiring poetry.

Reviewed by Cashana Seals
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Flying Home is an interesting and vivid collection of lyrical and active poetry from the stimulating collective works of Spencer L. Duffy. Unique and comforting, Flying Home is filled from first page to last with a timeless verse that will be appreciated by poetry enthusiasts both young and old. I Believe: I believe in the power,/I believe in the force/I believe there's a heaven above/I believe in the mystery of a baby's smile/I believe in the power of love//I believe in the triumph of right over wrong/I believe there is strength for today/I believe in the dawn that follows the dark/I believe love will find a way//I believe father time is an endless past/Who tells all we need to know/I believe all our striving will finally cease/And we'll rest just beyond the shore

I purchased a book with two stories in one. It was slow in the beginning, but as I read through pages, it became a very moving story to remember in your life time. If you have experienced ever being hurt by men with whom you trusted deeply, you will identify with yourself in this book. I really recommend this book for a change,because you will discover a hidden message of life lesson in Spencer's novel each time when you read her books. Good reading with good tears at the end.

Another heart filled love story that opens the closed doors of the heart and fills it with true warmth and compatation.

REPEATS SAME DESCRIPTION UNDER EACH PICTUE! THEN TO LITTLE
ABOUT HISTORY OF EACH PICTURE.

The value of this book lies in the abundance of photographs of German vehicles and heavy weapons that are presented in a variety of different combat settings. As an added bonus, the latter 50 pages or so contains a series of wonderful high quality color images of German uniforms, insignia, and personal equipment. The photographs come from private photo collections, and therefore offer a perspective that would not otherwise be available with photographs taken from "official sources". Most (if not all) the photos in this book have never been published before, and the book is well worth it's cost for this reason alone in my opinion. I highly recommend this book as a photographic resource of the German army in WWII that should be a valuable addition to the library of the historian and scale modeler alike.

Good information but you have to be careful becasue it bounces between kilometers and miles, from chapter to chapter. However overall it is a good source of information but I also noticed it missed a few dates: for example when the Crime Buffer was first theorized, it tells you who theorized it but not an approximate date of whe.

Crime definitely has a geographic component. The crime happens at a place with a geographical location, and the criminal must have come from some place (home, school, work) to get to the crime site, and he must have gone somewhere afterward. As early as the 1930, the 'Chicago School' began analyzing crime by sticking pins into maps on walls. By the 1970's sociologists began researching more deeply into 'mapping crime.'

Beginning in the 1960's Graphical Information Systems began to be developed for various applications, and was given a big boost by space based imagery systems.

In recent years the dramatic reduction in the price of computer processing power and the understanding of how crime mapping can be used to predict/prevent/solve crimes.

In the last very few years many of the major technical/social problems in crime mapping have been either solved or great strides have been made in finding a solution.

This book presents the state of the art in using GIS for Crime Mapping. It starts most chapters with tutorials devoted to some particular aspect, and concludes most chapters with a case study illustrating where these techniques are actually in use.

This book is a general, overall introduction to GIS and Crime Mapping. It will be of use to departmental officials and to academics beginning to work in this area. It is well written, well researched and up to date (Published: July 22, 2005).

I found this book about 12 years ago when I was at the library looking for eye-witness accounts of Europe during World War II in preparation for a trip we were taking of World War II sites in Europe. This book is about a Canadian woman's experience living in the Phillippines before and after the Japanese invasion during World War II. Her story was one that impressed me so much I determined to read it again.

After we returned from Europe, I tried to find Mrs. Spencer's book again but the library had moved to a new building and for years I was unsuccessful in my search because I couldn't remember the title. Finding the book became an obsession for me and I spent countless hours searching online, by various topics, until I once again found this priceless treasure. It's a crime that it is out of print. It tells an amazing story of civilians of different nationalities and occupations who were suddenly and unexpectedly trapped far from home and who spent the War trying to evade the Japanese. In order to survive, they were constantly on the move throughout the jungle. I had no idea that the Fillipino people, in general, loved America with such passion that they were willing to sacrifice everything in order to protect Americans from their mutual enemy. Well written, easy to read, and a fascinating real-life history.

During my search for "Guerrilla Wife," I discovered several other excellent books about people evading the Japanese in the Phillippines during World War II. One of our favorites is "The Rescue" by Steven Trent Smith.

I found this book a few years ago in a Salvation Army bookstore and paid a dollar or less. It's a page-turner which provides a riveting account of survival in the Philippines after the Japanese invasion. It's a testimony of the will to survive. Well written. I've tried without success to find out what happened to the author after the War.

This was not one of your run of the mill medeival stories. Yes, the Lady Amica of Lancaster was divinely beautiful. She had escaped a cruel and evil baron and the King, her cousin had ordered Thomas of Reed to find and rescue her - to guard her and bring her back to Thomas' Lord Eric of Reed as swiftly as possible guarding her with his life.

Thomas of Reed, however, was not your typical male hero. He had the finesse of a bull in a china shop when he finally got around to courting Lady Amica. He was a real 'in your face' kind of guy who was absolutely precious! The part where his liege Lord Eric was trying to instruct him in how to court a Lady was so funny. Here was a grown man, a Knight feared by most all of the army of Reed, having to be instructed in how to speak and court this lady. Priceless, absolutely priceless!

The tenderness, the awakening of love - what a story! This was a fabulous book. It will hold your attention and you will not want to put it down! Hard to find but well worth the search. Terrific - a medieval Beauty and the Beast!

Spencer writes a touching story dealing with two semi-tortured characters but is still able to have some lighthearted moments. This story is one of her most distinctive medievals and a sequel of sorts to her earlier book "The Vow". The reader now sees Thomas grown up but with some faults, as being too gruff and insecure around women. He is not even sure how to kiss the right way let alone make love to a woman. Amica has much more pressing problems by dealing with an obsessed madman who wants her for his own pleasure and tyrany.
Amica is rescued by Thomas, who is the adopted son of Eric, the former hero from "The Vow". Amica at first comes across as a timid and scared soul, but underneath she is strong willed as she tries to deal with the pain and death that has followed her throughout her life.
When Thomas and Amica meet, sparks and some laughs fly as Thomas has no clue on how to deal with this woman. He can hardly think when he is around her, but still wants to be with her. He constantly blames her for his "sickness" as he calls it. But Amica, gives it back to him. Through Thomas, she grows her courage and willingness to speak her mind without any reprecussion.
The love between these two grows slowly and will make the reader smile at both their antics.
The villian, Duncan is truly horrible and sadastic. There are also many secondary characters that round out the story including Eric, Margot and their children.
Start with The Vow and then with Honor. Both are very nice romances with a touch of intrigue and the basic knowledge that good will win over evil.

Katiebabs

The Vow (Harper Monogram)