T Books

I first read this book back in 1975. I read the entire series (in order), and couldn't wait to get my hands on the next one. It took tremendous fortitude not to read one in hand while searching for the next in line. C. S. Forrester also wrote a book named "The Captan from Conneticutt" which is equally good reading fun. Five stars??? I think not!!! I rate the entire series of Hornblower books seven stars!!!

This is a great book and definately one of the best Hornblower books ever. All the ingredients for a great adventure story. Exotic locations, a mad dictator, romance, hardship, friendhsip and the big ship to ship dual with the Natividad is one of the best action scenes I've ever read (and I read a lot of Action/Adventure).

The whole Hornblower series is brilliant and I would recommend them to anyone who enjoys good rattling yarns.

I can't believe that there are not more reviews here for these books, since they are among the best popular novels ever written. I first read them in my dim and far away past, lead to them by my love of historical novels. I believe these three were written in the late 1930s while England was under the shadow of the Nazi march to dominance. Naturally tales of the war against Napoleon would resonate, but the books have lasted because of the quality of the plotting and the characters. Forester excelled at setting up unsolvable problems for Hornblower with clever solutions that keep suspense high and satisfy the intellectual needs of the reader. The interplay of the characters is excellent. When I was reading these books, my father told me that some of the stories appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, and that he remembered people talking about them all over town. These are great books if you like history and a good plot. I doubt they will ever go completely out of fashion. (Note: These books are much better than the video series about Hornblower. While interesting, that series has some laughable period details and has elevated Hornblower to almost superhuman status. It's the Hollywood version. Compare that to the production value and details in the movie Master and Commander and you will see what I mean.)

Captain Horatio Hornblower is a collection of three short novels originally published in 1937 and 1938 as "Beat To Quarters", "Ship of the Line" and "Flying Colours". All are set during the Napoleonic wars roughly between 1807 and 1811. The great success of these stories led Forester to write a number of Hornblower prequels and sequels, all of which are still read widely. It also spawned a long list of successors, some of which are excellent although none fully measure up to Forester in my opinion.

Beat To Quarters introduces Hornblower taking HMS Lydia into the Pacific Ocean to insight a rebellion against the Spanish. The story takes a number of twists including Hornblower finding his ally is a madman, a change in the political situation and the introduction of Lady Barbara Wellesley, the fictional sister of the Duke of Wellington.

Ship of the Line finds Hornblower commanding HMS Sutherland for a cruise in the Mediterranean. Hornblower not only must face the French but he must deal with a superior officer who would like to see him fail.

Flying Colours begins where Ship of the Line ends. Hornblower is a prisoner in France and must find a way to escape.

I thought that I knew these stories fairly well having seen the 1951 film Captain Horatio Hornblower staring Gregory Peck. However the novel is quite different in several areas. Perhaps what surprised me the most was the level of violence, sex and swearing that was included in the novel. I hadn't expected the violence to be as graphic, the sex to be as obvious or the swearing to be present at all. The novel has a gritty realism that was not matched in the genre until the 70s.

Captain Horatio Hornblower was written when Forester was in his thirties and before he had thoroughly polished his craft. While it might have a few rough edges it is a tremendously powerful, action-filled novel. The shy, self-doubting, self-deprecating but outwardly implacable Hornblower is one of the great characters of adventure stories. If one were restricted to reading only one novel of "wooden ships and iron men" then that novel should be Captain Horatio Hornblower.

"Captain Horatio Hormblower" was first published as "The Happy Return" in 1937. It was then renamed "Beat to Quarters." These books, unfortunately, stop on the return to England. But "Beat to Quarters" is available on Amazon.com. There are more reviews there.

This classic is a wonderful exposition of the Buddhist Madhyamika philosophy. Of course, this is not an easy read. Before you start, you probably should have some idea what Madhyamika is about. Some knowledge of European philosophy is also helpful. But you can understand it, e.g., without the knowledge of Sanskrit. (I never studied Sanskrit.)

The author starts with how Madhyamika fits into the history of philosophy in India and how it builds on them. He then explains and elaborates on the core technique of Madhyamika, namely the Dialectic. Then he shows how the Dialectic is used to arrive at the concept of emptiness (sunyata). In the last part of the book, the author compares Madhyamika with other philosophical systems.

I am reading this book after I have heard many talks and read quite a lot of literature of Buddhist teachers about sunyata. It is fantastic how Murti pulls all the things together that I half know and that I have half forgotten so that they actually make sense to me. It is certainly helpful that Murti has a knowledge of European philosophy so that he can compare Madhyamika's concepts to ideas of Western philosophy.

I am very grateful to Murti for this book!

Murti's study of the Madhyamika should be required reading for anyone interested in Buddhism. With questionable relevance, a number of people now seem to assume that 'post-modern' Western philosophy is moving in the same direction as Nagarjuna- and, mutatis mutandis, more than a few Western Buddhists seem happy to confirm this illusion, coining the idioms of post-modern Western philosophy to confirm 'Buddhist' truths.

Presumably, then, Nagarjuna and the 'post-modernists' are doing the same thing - viz. the recognition that all truth statements are infected with relativity and its corollary - the denial of any place for 'absolutes' in philosophy. In truth, however, as Murti makes clear, Nagarjuna's arguments (the prasanga) were put forth to make way for direct perception of the 'absolute' via prajna-intuition/Buddhi, a faculty entirely unknown to 'post-modernist' Western philosophy. Lacking this faculty, or any awareness of a higher truth (paramartha-satya), the 'post-modernists' are simply stranded in samvrti/samsara. Nagarjuna speaks as a Buddhist - someone advocating a path (marga), with a faculty of insight (bodhi) and a transcendental goal - nirvana. Nagarjuna's declared identity between 'samarara' and 'nirvana' is not therefore, a logical inference, but a potential dis-covery, awaiting those who awaken 'bodhi.' We can go in for as much 'deconstruction' as we like - disowning or abandoning concepts etc., but without prajna-intuition or a spiritual path, it boils down to mere scepticism. Many centuries ago, Sextus Empiricus advanced similar arguments, but that didn't make him a follower of the Madhyamika. On the contrary, it merely left him feeling confirmed in his ignorance.

It is of some note that Murti's account of the Madhyamika has not been framed in terms of a critique of the Theravada - or Southern Buddhism. Murti makes it expressly clear that - going by the classical sources, the Madhyamika (i.e. Mahayana)seems to have arisen as a criticism of proto-typical schools, quite other than those in the Pali-based Theravada tradition. In short, contrary to what is often assumed, the Madhyamika was not a critique of 'Southern' Buddhism - by 'Northern' Buddhists - but a critique which emerged within a corpus of related teachings, arising from internal contradictions. Northern Buddhists have been accused of holding prejudicial views, by coining the terms 'Hinayana' and 'Mahayana.' In the not too distant past, The World Fellowship of Buddhists decided to place a moratorium on the use of the term 'Hinayana' - even though all the textual evidence shows that it acquired meaning in the context of Northern Budhist sources.

Murti's careful account shows the way that the Madhyamika came into being, relating it to primitive Buddhism and the various schools or systems that emerged from it. He also explores the relationship between the Madhyamika and non-Buddhist schools, such as the Upanishadic tradition, the Vedanta etc. Murti's work is accompanied by helpful footnotes, pin-pointing key terms and phrases. This study of the Madhyamika will not make popular reading - but, it will prove satisfying to those who wish to make sense of the rather complex web of notions and matrix of ideas which helped to shape Buddhist schools as we know of them today.

If this profoundly insightful exposition and explication of Madhyamika (the central philosophy of Buddhism) was read by every Zen/Buddhist practitioner, scholar, and teacher in the West, a number of distortions would immediately be eradicated.

Debunking the persistent misunderstandings and misrepresentations concerning the teachings of emptiness (sunyata) expounded by Mahayana Buddhism (including Zen), and especially focusing their highest expression by the Indian philosopher (and Zen "ancestor") Nagarjuna, Mr. Murti invites us to explore the true wonder of this unparalleled doctrine.

If you have ever struggled with Buddhist teachings regarding the ideas of emptiness and form, cause and effect, the relative and the absolute, enlightenment and delusion, Buddhas and ordinary beings, etc. Professor Murti's book will quickly set you on the path to Right Understanding.

Form is indeed emptiness, but have you realized that emptiness is form?

Read this book, you will never see things the same again!

I found this a rather difficult read. There are a ton of Sanskrit terms mixed into the text and although there are often some explanations to their meaning that is not always the case. There are also a ton of foot notes, some of which are entirely in Sanskrit with no attempt at an english explanation or translation. But that aside I also found the explanation of the Madhyamika dialectic itself somewhat inaccessible. It seems as though the mindset of the logic is different than Western logic as I understand it. When it comes down to the details of the actual refutations there are assumptions that I don't think are valid. Assumptions about the nature of things that are the "same" or "different" or "changing" or "unchanging" with particular reference to intrinsic characteristics. For instance the idea that something that changes cannot be permanent. The assumption of the dialectic seems to be that if it changes it is not what it was and therefore it has become something different and therefore whatever it was to start with was impermanent. Although this makes a sort of sense, to my Western way of thinking this is not a valid argument. Water can exist as ice or liquid, does that mean that if it is converted from one to the other and then back again that it was not the same thing all along? The dialectic is however filled with these types of assumptions and ways of thinking so that some ideas are presented as given, or logically folowing others, when in fact they seem to be based on assumptions about reality that differ from Western thought. The author makes reference to Kant's Critic on Reason quite often as a comparison and I plan to check that out and see if it holds up any better under critical analysis. Having said all of that though, I appreciate the underlying idea that the essential philosphy of Buddhism is that no statements regarding anything, either positive or negative, can be accurately made. There is no place whatsoever in which to stand which includes the place of standing for this idea.

The Central Philosophy of Buddhism--A Study of Madhyamika System (T.R.V. Murti) is rare jewel; a true masterpiece for any serious minded student interested in a bed-rock spiritual journey. If you think your faith is secure and the only way to God, be prepared to be stripped naked. But by the time you've reached the end of Murti's exposition you'll realize that naked is the needed condition for genuine spiritual release and communion. Don't hesitate--rush to this book. Never mind that you think of yourself as non-Buddhist. Whatever your brand of religious persuasion Murti will fill the void you don't even know that you have.

This book came highly recommended by a friend! Boy was he right! Absolutely riveting. This is one that, once you pick it up, is hard to put down. This tale is well written and flows. The circumstances seem so realistic that it disturbs one to think that there is no reason our own government couldn't be vulnerable to this situation. The ending tops off the story and leaves you wanting for more.

The fate of President Gelhorn and Fat Tony kept me riveted from the beginning through the final pages...the characters were so very real and the storyline was enthralling.

The only disappointment was reaching the last page...and realizing I'd finished this exciting adventure!!!

WHERE and WHEN can we expect a sequel???

(Praise to new authors with great creativity)

I loved everything about this book. It had great characters with in-depth descriptions. I really felt I knew these people. The story was intriguing and brought together many different walks of life and current topics. The history, culture, and traditions of Italians and Italian Americans was extremely interesting. As someone with Irish heritage, I likened that aspect of the book to Angela's Ashes which had so many references to Irish traditions and cultures. I really felt a better understanding of one of the many great groups of people that helped shape this country. Just as in Angela's Ashes, the references and information was integrated into the story line so it made for a great read.

I can't wait for Mr. Spada's next offering.

I became so absorbed in the book that I couldn't put it down, the suspense of how it all would end kept me reading, it would make a GREAT movie, would love to see the characters like Fat Tony and the Greek in some form except my mind.

I purchased the book (along with a couple other amazon unknowns) and brought them on vacation. Out of the four, I enjoyed this the most and would recommend it for someone looking for a fast paced book that you do not want to put down. Also, if you like the Sopranos, that might help.

This is a wonderful book to read with children, particularly any child experiencing speech difficulties. The illustrations are lovely and it has a simple story that will resonate for all children. I would recommend this book to both parents and professionals.

Charlie cuts across all lines - socioeconomic, ethnic, whatever - because any kid can have a speech problem and many kids encounter the pain of being made fun of by their peers. This book reassures kids that they can overcome their problems and survive the jeers and taunts and along the way, provides an object lesson for children who might do the taunting. The beautifully illustrated book keeps it all simple in the process and provides parents, teachers and other adults who read to children with a book that will engage kids and provide an important lesson, but not in a heavy-handed way. Charlie is a must for young children.

In this uplifting tale, Charlie is a boy with a speech problem who gets taunted on the playground. He is devastated when schoolyard bullies make fun of the way he says his name. But with the help of his Speech Therapist, he becomes a winner in the end.- Lynn Ascrizzi- Kennebec Journal

"This gentle book about a 5 -year old with speech problems will speak to all kids and also to teachers, parents and speech therapists." Stevie Kumble, Camden Herald

Charlie Who Couldn't Say His Name by ASHA certified speech therapist Davene Fahy is the story of a little five year old boy whose inability to pronounce his name is a source of constant frustration. When playground bullies tease Charlie, he bursts into tears. But then, with help from a speech therapy program at school, Charlie learns to speak clearly. A "must" addition for school and community library collections, and quite appropriately illustrated by Carol Inouye, Charlie Who Couldn't Say His Name is the perfect picture book choice for children ages 4 to 8, especially those who, like Charlie, are involved in speech therapy too.

In The Death and Life of American Cities, Jane Jacobs demonstrated with clarity, intelligence and righteous indignation that city planners had for decades -- going on a century, in fact -- misunderstood the virtues that cities possessed, and hadn't understood why people wanted to live in them. According to Jacobs, all of orthodox city planning was built around the belief that what city dwellers most wanted was to leave the city and live in a suburb or on a farm. So they bulldozed blighted neighborhood after blighted neighborhood and replaced them with parks. When many of those parks themselves became blighted, filled with the familiar sight of the homeless and drug users, orthodox city planners could only scratch their heads; that simply wasn't supposed to happen. If anything, this only confirmed cities' incorrigibility. So they wiped out sizable sections of major American cities and built freeways out; clearly people would prefer to be elsewhere. The millions who continued to live in American cities were an inconvenient datum.

In Cities and the Wealth of Nations, Jacobs claims that national governments repeat the same misunderstandings of their cities on a larger -- and possibly more tragic -- scale. At this larger level, they believe that they can produce economic activity just anywhere. Struggling farmland? Dam up their rivers, build schools, give them tax breaks, and invite foreign companies to build factories there. Wait a few years and watch a million economic flowers bloom.

City planners believed -- and maybe still do believe -- that a city was just a defective pasture. According to Jacobs, national planners likewise believe that a city could thrive anywhere. So they build cargo-cult cities and pray that the same thing which animates their real cities will turn their farmland into the next New York. But of course that normally fails. A real city has a good reason for being there; a cargo-cult city does not. People aren't fooled. They want real cities.

Jacobs wants to recast all of macroeconomics using these insights and others, and has the rhetorical skills to convince at least one non-economist that she's on to something. All the dynamism in a national economy, says Jacobs, comes from its cities. Even the vaunted "heartland" of the United States only survives because cities have brought industrial technologies to their farms. If you want to understand why a nation succeeds or fails, says Jacobs, look to its cities. The title of her book is no accident: she wants to yank economics off the track that it's been on ever since Adam Smith.

Wow. Jacobs is so adept at explaining the complex currents of global, national and local economies that even the casual reader will be spellbound. The book is simultaneously radical (she essentially repudiates all modern macro-economic theory) and reasonable. This book is a great asset to anyone who wishes to comprehend the world around them.

"Any settlement that becomes import-replacing becomes a city." Cities and the Wealth of Nations, Jane Jacobs

Written by an economist, this is a very unusual book. Ms. Jacobs is not hampered by orthodox preconceived notions, misleading postulated theoretical myths like utility optimization, rationality, or efficient markets. These standard phrases of neo-classical economic theory cannot be found in her book. Instead, and although her discussion is entirely nonmathematical, she uses a crude qualtitative idea of excess demand dynamics, of growth vs. decline. Her expectation is never of equilibrium. The notion of equilibrium never appears in this book. Jacobs instead describes qualitatively the reality of nonequilibrium in the economic life of cities, regions, and nations. She concentrates on the surprises of economic reality.

Jacobs argues fairly convincingly that significant, distributed wealth is created by cities that are inventive enough to replace imports by their own local production, that this is the only reliable source of wealth for cities in the long run, and that these cities need other like-minded cities to trade with in order to survive and prosper. Her expectation is of growth or decline, not of equilibrium. If she is right then the Euro and the European Union are a bad mistake, going entirely in the wrong direction. As examples in support of her argument she points to independent cites like Singapore and Hong Kong with their own local currencies. Other interesting case histories are TVA, small villages in France and Japan, other cases in Italy, Columbia, Ethiopia, US, Iran, ... .

The book begins in the chapter "Fool's Paradise' with discussions of Keynsian economics and Phillips curves (the Philips curve idea is demolished convincingly by Ormerod in "The Death of Economics"), I. Fisher and monetarism, and Marxism. These were all ideas requiring equilibria of one sort or another. Also interesting: her description why, in the long run, imperialism is bound to fail, written in 1984, well before the fall of the USSR. Her prediction for the fate of the West is not better. Jacobs is aware of the idea of feedback and relies on it well and heavily. She is a sharp observor of economic behavior and is well versed in economic history. This book will likely be found interesting by a scientifically-minded reader who is curious about how economies work, and why all older theoretical ideas (Keynes, monetarism, ... ) have failed to describe economies as they evolve.

I'm grateful to Yi-Ching Zhang of the Econophysics Forum for recommending this book.

Some of your other reviewers have said that they believe this book is outdated.

That is, I can't help but think, the reaction of internet babies, who are spoiled by the 24 hour round-the-clock updating of bloggers.

This is a printed book that gives evidence of having been written at a certain moment in history, and in a certain portion of the planet. So what? That is true of all great books, and the question for us is whether we can (a) appreciate that context while (b) taking from them something lasting.

The answer, for this book, is decidedly afirmative.

It is true that the opening chapter of this book sounds dated, but the book as a whole still stands up well.

The first chapter provides the motivational background for the rest of the book by discussing the problem of stagflation, and how existing schools of economic thought failed to account for it (prices should not go up when the economy is in a slump). This does have a dated ring to it; who has been worried about stagflation in the past 20+ years? But the discussion of stagflation merely serves as motivation for what follows, and contemporary readers will be able to think up similar economic mysteries that we live with today, e.g. why did years of near-zero interest rates fail to stimulates Japan's economy as theory said they should, and similarly why is the US still struggling to recover from a recession when it interest rates have been at historic lows for several years?

The rest of the book is devoted Jacobs's thesis that the economic unit that matters is not the nation, nor the individual nor the corporation, but the city (or "city regions" as she calls them). She describes (using examples which still hold up today) the economic effects that cities have on each other and on less developed areas.

As in Jacobs's other books, the writing style is clear, direct and easy to understand.

I would like to hear Jacobs's perspective on European currency union: if she holds to the analysis of the effect of national currencies on cities given in this book then she should be predicting (in the long term) serious economic malaise in Europe, especially in those parts of the union which are currently less developed.

K-Berger and Jake in AA. Christopher gone to the Army. Aaron and Claire hook-up. It just keeps going and going. I really enjoy these characters; because they are easy to relate to. I really had hoped Benjamins vision would be restored, that would really raise the stakes of this storyline.

This book is one of Applegates best. The character truly develop into the people we can only hope really exist. It was smashing!

These books are really great. My friends use to make fun of me for reading them but once I got them to read one they have read the whole series so far. The books are so great that sometimes I think I live on the island too! I got hooked. I recommend these books to any teenagers.

I loved this book! I couldn't put it down once I picked it up-which has been the case with all of the Making Out series...I just wish there was a TV show based on it!In the book though,there were a lot of disappointments because I was hoping of a different outcome,but nonetheless it has me wishing for the next one to come out! By the end of the book,things have changed more than I suspected and I'm sure any of you will feel the same way! Anyway-one quick question:is there or will there be a website based on just the making out series?If there is someone email me and let me know!!

CLAIRE CAN'T LOSE was a great book. It had an amazing plot and I have grown to love a few of the characters.

The book came in a timely manner and arrived in new condition exactly as I ordered it. Very pleased.

This is a great book. For example, the chapters on obsessive compulsive and passive agressive personality give some great direction for therapy. Knowing that an obsessive person fears making mistakes, that narcissism is part of obsessionality and that a passive agressive person fears loss of autonomy can really guide treatment well.

On the other hand, the treatment of narcissistic personality disorder is weak. It just concentrates on how the patient should learn that the world does not revolve around them. It ignores the shame, need for validation and driven quality that narcissistic patients have and is reflected in their cognitions. In other words, the case used to treat NPD is of the oblivious type and in practice it is more common to see the hypervigilant type of narcisit. As CBT becomes more psychodynamic, this issue will be better addressed, I anticipate. (The oblivious narcisists are more antisocial and the vigilant ones are more on the anxiou/dependant end of the spectrum - I forget who's classification this is).

As someone who is avoidant co morbid with OCPD spent perhaps 40 years depressed more than not before reaching out for any professional help I would like to say especially in the chapter on avoidants the book is pretty much dead on. The chapter on avoidants is the one I can most closely relate to but I see myself in others as well my OCDP us most apparent in hoarding issues a spot my therapist and I are having a hard time pushing me through I've been working with a therapist for about a year and half now making progress even if it's slow. My therapist knows I am a person who likes to try and understand my disorders and reads as much material as I can. We have both learned a lot together she being my motivator and supporter. She has been outstanding doing her research to help develop plans of actions that have helped knock down some long standing self built walls. She likes to kid me that I could teach a graduate class in personality disorders with all the reading I have done.

To sum this up as a someone who has to deal with these issues as part of my daily life the book is right on with much of the way my thoughts/reactions are if I don't work actively to keep ahead of them to continue on my road to a happier life. And yes even as someone who came to therapy at a high functioning level in many aspects of my life I know at times I can be a frustrating client. But for me the knowledge that both my therapist and I are feeing increasing levels of frustration has been something I have been able to use to finally find the courage to knock down some long standing walls. So a special than you to those of you who choose to try and help those of us who present some special difficulties.

I love Aaron Beck, the founder of cognitive therapy. I think he has great insight into the various personality disorders. This book is incredibly helpful. It includes all of the disorders, their way of thinking, they co-morbidity, their treatment, case studies, and more. If you want one book on the treatment of personality disorders, this is the one to get.

Beck has done a great job describing a very pragmatic, common sense cognitive-behavioral methodology for the treatment of challenging personalities. The research he has done builds confidence in practitioners interested in and using these methods. Each personality style is well-described, and several strategies are provided for addressing these problematic dispositions. The book is very well-organized and easy to read. Assignments and case examples further add to the utility of this text.

Cold Slice was an enjoyable little book. The whodunit aspect was a little too easy to figure out; hence only 4 stars instead of 5. But what I enjoyed most about this book was the idea of an average Joe starting from scratch and getting his life back together, making new friends and the cameraderie between them.

I'll definitely give L.T. Fawkes next book, Lights Out, a read. I understand there is a third book coming soon as well.

Right from the beginning you can picture tough guy ex-con Terry Saltz. His colorful narration at the beginning of the story grabs your attention--you just can't put it down. Then, somewhere around chapter 15 you get the idea that Saltz stepped out for a smoke and someone else picked up the story. No more tough guy talk--instead the supposedly blue-collar trailer park guys begin to plot like a bunch of women (James Patterson, anyone?) By the time you realize who the badguy is, you just keep reading to find out how they get him. No surprises, but a satisfying ending. Will I read the next L.T. Fawkes? Probably.
If he can keep the characteriztion going throughout the story I'll forgive him for this one.

Terry Saltz has just gotten out of jail. He'd gotten wasted and trashed a bar. While in jail, his wife divorced him and took his truck and mobile home. Losing his truck hurt the most!

So he's having to start over. His friend Danny lets him come live with him in an attic apartment. He gets a job as a pizza night delivery driver at Carlo's pizza place. He hooks up with Gruf, Bump and others there.

Terry also starts building a deck for Bump. He was a carpenter before jail. His new carpentry side business really takes off and soon Gruf is helping him.

When The Witness (Ed Hanus), another driver, gets killed out back, Terry and the guys decide they'd better help the police look into it. Especially when Seargant Alan Bushnell brings Terry in for questioning.

The guys decide they need to get to know The Witness' background, friends and family better. No one at Carlo's really hung out with him. And they need to do all this without Alan finding out and without putting themselves in danger - there is a killer out there!

When I first started reading this, I wasn't sure if I'd like it. By the end, I loved it! Terry is such a great character and so different than any other protagonist. I think the author has done a great job of interspersing enough cuss words, etc., to make these guys believable, but yet not so many it can't be classified a cozy.

Carlo's is the kind of place everyone would like to work. They have a lot of fun, but they get their work done. The camaraderie these guys develop is terrific. Breakfast at Brewster's is another great touch! Their curiosity to help solve the crime is natural.

I highly recommend this book (the first in the series) be read before the others. It's terrific, you won't be able to put it down!

I don't even know if "medium boiled" is a genre, but I don't know how else to describe a book which is not too dark, and not too light. You can read this book after something heavy, as a way to lighten up without shocking your system.... or you can read it after something light, so you don't get whiplash before that noir novel. Terry and friends are fabulous characters who evolve throughout the book. The plot is fast-paced -- but not at thriller speed -- and not at the expense of character development. A very satisfying read!!

Terry Saltz took a drunken rampage through a local bar, cooled off in the county jail, and has now decided to get a life. He moves to a small town at the other end of the county with an old friend, and starts his life over again.

On the main street of town, across from the cafe, Terry notices a pizza place. Nothing all that special about the place, but he knows he's got to get a job to generate some income, so strolls across the street. Inside, he meets a down to earth manager who hires him to fill a recently vacated job as a pizza delivery guy. His job training is hilarious as is the entire comedy-mystery.

Saltz know he has to remain sober and clean and employed, and that he has to meet with his probation officer once each week. He gets to know his co-workers at the pizza place and he is introduced to a wide veriety of people he might not have looked at twice in his former life. He's amazed to learn that one of his new friends is an attorney. Another new friend, a seemingly wasted Hell's Angle type, is also a very successful and well-known local small business entrepreneur. Slowly but surely, these and others begin to draw him into their circle and Terry finds himself surrounded by a very cool and incredibly funny group of friends. They like him. They respect him. He thinks they're awesome. His life is becoming richer and he feels great about it.

Saltz realizes he's got more time and talent than money, and stumbles into a carpentry job. This had been his profession. He had the time, tools and know-how, so he began working at building a deck at the lawyers house in the mornings and early afternoons. Late afternoons and nights, he delivered pizzas. He's aware that he needs the structure of a steady pace. He's also delighted that the deck building job generates some serious money. One of his friends wants to learn the carpertry trade and is will to work as his helper if Terry teaches him the job skills. The seemingly seperate parts of his life (breakfasts at the cafe, building the deck, meeting with the probation officer, moving into the trailer court and getting furniture) all begin to over lap. The more comfortable he becomes with himself, the more he appreciates what's growing into a busy and very interesting life. Right up till that night in the parking lot behind the pizza place....

"Cold Slice" is advertized as a "working man's mystery," and it is. But the great thing about it is that we all know Terry Saltz. He's the kid who sat in front of us in high school Spanish class. We've looked around the local hang-out, and wondered why we haven't seen him lately. Working man? Yeah. But you'll see in him a little bit of someone you've known and loved. This guy is everybody's hero.

On one level, this is the story of a soon-to-be-divorced man getting his act together. Much to his surprise, in the process he finds himself involved in murder. But on another level, L. T. Fawkes gives us an oppertunity to crawl under the skin of a young man who realizes that he has settled for too little in life; and, that if he doesn't learn how to get to know himself and live with himself, he'll drown.

Terry Saltz learns not to take himself or anyone else too seriously. He realizes that some people are complete jerks and others are totally cool and that you just can't tell who is which by looking. He realizes that what matters is what a person is inside, not what he says or how she looks.

When his process of starting over is invaded by murder, Terry Saltz and his buddies do what they think anyone in their position would do--they race to find a killer.

The plot of "Cold Slice" is strong and clever, just like the characters. The story is hilarious and fast. In the end, you'll want more. If you can figure out a way to pry a page open and crawl inside, do it. You'll love hanging out with Terry Saltz!

This was purchased as a birthday gift, and it was a big hit! My daughter liked it very much. She has done a lot of work looking into our family's history, and so this was very helpful to her.

A great resource to not only learn about the history and mechanics of heraldry, but also for inspiration for creating one's own coats of arms. I mainly picked this up to create heraldry for my strategy table top war game, but the historian in me enjoys it as well for scholarly purposes.

Good book - just wish it explained more simply and clearly - in a concise way - the symbols.

A.C.Fox-Davies:HERALDRY
I already had a great respect for Mr.Fox-Davies, having two of his great books:THE ART of HERALDRY and HERALDRY-the magnificent pictorial archive for artists and designers. And I expected to learn quite a lot from the HERALDRY book.Guess,I was right.
.The texts are very,very good,BUT,there are just too many unnecessary and detailed descriptions of British and Scotch Armory.Was it because Mr.Fox-Davies wanted to show off( with his long description of many personal Arms,which I doubt had any great interest for the general reader-mentioning only a few Im sure he could have got his point) or maybe,he was just carried away by his wish too make a good(fat)book?Nevertheless,Mr.Fox-Davies is among the VERY FEW experts who dared mention the painstakingly long and slow development of Armory,from Moses and the Scriptures onwards,explaining that it were first the personal signs and symbols which existed long before the Heraldry proper.And are still going strong,not as Arms,but LOGOTYPES of more or less famous brands.
There is no" Deus-ex-Machina "Heraldry for Mr.Fox-Davies .It was a slow and painful process influenced by both the traditions and technology,development of society , classes and unfortunately.warfare..And I guess,Mr.Fox-Davies leans too much on the Crusades Myth,closed HELMETS etc..
By the way,closed helmets existed long,long before the iron clad warriors ! Many of the drawings and other examples are very good,so that the small percentage of superfluous ones,do not play a significant role.All in all,for anyone willing to learn more,and think while reading the book,the number of lines and pages should not be tiring.It is satisfying to know that even in the days when the book first appeared,there was somebody who was NOT a stereotype,somebody who really loved the job and loved the knowledge he so willingly transferred to his readers.

I can not possibly imagine a more complete guide to Heraldry. This engaging book really brings you into the world of crests, family honor, and ancestry. It gives a comprehensive guide to all the symbols used, and their various meanings. If you are even remotely interested in Heraldry, pick this up today.

There is no better study guide for passing the postal exam than Mr. Parnell's. All info is up to date right with postal guidelines. No other study guide is as easy to understand and follow. As we all know it is practice that makes perfect.I had searched for a study guide like this and purchased three others before this from the list here.
I had a hard time understanding and putting the formulas together from other manuals.That was all cleared up after the first listen to the first cd. There are lots of secrets that no one else has.If you need any proof, I got a 100% on my exam.So do yourself a favor and purchase this guide.you need no others.

Using this book as a study guide to prepare I recently took the exam for the Raleigh area. Test results = 100% carrier, 96.8% mark-up clerk. Without a doubt, this book was the reason for my success---it prepares you for the exam in every possible facet, right down to the completely realistic answer sheets (they are set up the same on the actual exam). Don't take this test without preparing for it (as many people unfortunately do). This book will get you prepped.

I scored a 99.3 on the exam after preparing with this guide. I did this on my own with NO veteren or disabled extra points. It can be done and you can get to the top of the list. Very easy!!!!

this prep book WILL get your scores to the top 95% exam mark. the higher the score the sooner you get called in by the post office. simple as that. took the test and within 6 months, i am with the post office (long island, NY). scored a 97.84%. my friend went from a 95% to a 100% and was called in as soon as the list was available (3-4 weeks). a simple 2.16% made the difference of 5-6 months wait before getting called.

I am retired USAF, and purchased this book and CD set to prepare for the postal exam. I was one of the 5 hired out of hundreds who tested in Oct 2003. I now have 11 months as a Mail Carrier.