Travis Books

Squawk! does an incredible job of putting the heart and soul of good management into a fun and entertaining story. In an hour or two of reading it drives home lessons you can spent days trying to cut through the chaff to get through in other books and training programs. Suffice to say, it's mandatory for anyone in a management position in my company, and many choose to have their teams read it too, since they benefit from knowing how their relationship with their manager changes as a result of this remarkable book.

I came across Squawk! in a newspaper article that mentioned it was chosen as the best business book of 2008 by USA Book News. So, I decided to give it a read. The story itself is deeply entertaining. It sucks you in such that you don't realizing you are learning. But by the end of the story, Charlie's transformation transforms you. The lessons are very, very sticky. They are easy to recall and easy to apply. They've helped me to get more from my team, work better with them, and my performance is on the up. Also, I feel better about my work because I'm getting more done.

I can't recommend Squawk! enough. Get yourself a copy and start reaping the benefits.

Three very simple yet important steps to effective supervision.A bit silly, but a quick read, and useful revision.

Squawk!, a fable that introduces us to `Charlie' the Seagull and how he learned the Three Virtues of Great Leadership. Readers who enjoyed the parable; "Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results," by Stephen C. Lundin will also enjoy Squawk!. Readers seem to enjoy fables and parables because they are able to read their story as its related to someone else.

Squawk! is about Charlie the seagull, who's the manager of his flock. Charlie is disorganized, lacks experience and `seagull skills.' He likes to manage by swooping in make a quick uninformed decision then exits as fast as he came leaving behind carnage and a situation worst than it was before he arrived. You probably know a manager just like Charlie don't you?!

Squawk! gives three simple but effective techniques that a manager or anyone seeking the cooperation of others can learn.

Set full-fledged expectations - "Ensure that employees' efforts are spent doing the right things the right way. This means thoroughly exploring what will be required of the employees, how their performance will be evaluated in the future, and getting agreement and commitment to work toward established goals. There is a big difference between telling people what is expected of them and making sure that they what they'll be doing is completely understood." (Page 55)

Communication that clicks - "Observe what employees say and do, and speak openly with them about their work. A manager's interaction with his or her employees delivers the resources, guidance and recognition they need to succeed. Communication clicks when it is frequent and in a language that everyone understands." (Page 79)

Paws on Performance - "Pay attention to each employee's performance, and offer praise as frequently and emphatically as you do constructive feedback. Keep your paws on performance pushes your team to new heights by positively reinforcing successful endeavors and realigning efforts that become misdirected." (Page 97)

Squawk! is a fast and enjoyable read. You'll relate to this fable and it's that relationship that will make you want to read more. You'll recognize `Charlie.' He might be you, your co-worker or a direct report. The lessons learned are simple and have been taught before. What this fable did was present them in memorable way. Squawk! is a worthwhile read for all ages including students and parents as well as managers.

It is unfortunate that some manager swoop in on a project or your project and squak like a seagull and leave you to clean up the mess. Fortunately this book deals with that very subject. It teaches you how to be an effective and how to manage the correct way. Dr. Bradberry teaches three virtues that help you to deal with these seagull managers. It also gives you tips to keep from becoming a seagull manager yourself.

A strange and ultimately haunting story that kept me turning pages into the night. The eeriness of it is striking. Hoffman did a fine job in all aspects of this work.

This book grabbed me from page one.
It starts off with an 8 year old girl who lives with her mother and older brother, it is January and thier house is cold, the heat is off, they are poor. The mom is going out with her two friends to celebrate her 30th birthday and the daughter begs her not to go. The mom goes anyway, and the little girl makes a wish to 'never see her mother again'. The mom dies that night in a car accident. The girl always blames herself for the accident. She and her brother go to live with their grandmother in New Jersey.

As an adult, the brother, Ned, eventually moves out and ends up becoming a teacher and marrying one as well. The girl winds up becoming a librarian and lives with her grandmother until her grandma's death. Being left alone now, the girl moves to Florida, where Ned lives. She is a loner, works at the library and has no outside life other than that. One day while talking to Ned, she wishes out lout to be struck my lightning....soon after, she is.

I found this aspect of the story to be odd and fascinating. She is struck by lightning while at home. It almost kills her, but she survives, and is really sick, the equivalent of having radiation poisoning. She loses her hair, cannot eat, hears a 'clicking' sound in her head and becomes color blind to the color red.

The woman in this story always believes that if she makes a wish, it will come true. So much tragedy has happened in her life this way, by making wishes. She considers herself an 'ice queen', so no one can touch her, she has a heart made of ice.
I won't give anymore details on the story, exept that it is fascinating.
I liked the main character, whose name is never given.
I liked her brother Ned alot, and her relationship with him, especially in the end of the story. Her close friend Renny is another character that is well written and likeable.

Honestly at first the tone of the book is so dark I wasn't sure I was going to keep reading. Next thing I knew, while there is not even a hint of a "Disney ending" - I could not put it down.

Seeing life through the eyes of the main character was illuminating and will stay with me for quite some time!

Excellent reading!

The protagonist of this chilly and unsatisfying novel blames herself for her mother's death. When she was eight, her mother said she was going out to celebrate her 30th birthday with friends. The little girl gets angry and says she wishes she will never see her again -- and of course the mother dies.
From this day on, the "heroine" is like an ice maiden, emotionally frozen. She makes a second wish -- that she should be struck by lightning -- and that also comes true. She joins a support group for other damaged victims of lightning strikes and hears of one survivor who died for 45 minutes and came back to life. So she seeks out this man whose flesh is so hot that merely touching it can cause second or third-degree burns. This man is so hot he can eat raw food and it gets cooked in his mouth. (Yes, he's a real hottie.) They make passionate love in a bath full of ice cubes. The man has a secret -- but when it's revealed it turns out to be pretty ho-hum.
I can't really go on with a description of the plot for to do so would be wasting my time, just as reading the book would be wasting yours.
This book has no characters and little plot. Various people flit in and out -- the heroine's brother, another burn victim, the librarian. None has any real character. The reader's guide at the end poses this question: "The narrator's two romantic interests, Lazarus and Jack, are different from each other. What does each of these men offer her?" In fact, they are completely alike in that neither has any character at all.
Hoffman apparently isn't interested in men. She doesn't bother describing them. She's not all that much interested in women either. She's interested in mood, in weather, in atmosphere, in words -- and she has talent. But this doesn't add up to a satisfying novel that tells us anything about her characters or the human condition in general.
I read Hoffman's "Seventh Heaven" and enjoyed it. It had a certain magical quality even though I thought it was seriously flawed. Unfortunately, I can't recommend this book at all. It started out being depressing and ended up being boring.

It was difficult to find the exact descriptive word for this Alice Hoffman novel. "Spectacular" "Imaginative", "Dream-Like"...I couldn't choose. I found "The Ice Queen" absolutely breathtaking. The tale's core centers around fairytails and the realization that life is more than what you wish for. The main character sees her life in "before and after" terms. A quiet librarian, she's forced into living in an uncomfortable environment and then struck by lightning. Much like being reborn, we see her evolve through relationships with a lover, her brother and her sister-in-law. I really enjoy Hoffman's books and this is one of my fave. You many never look at the color red the same way again!

What a yawner. The military personnel was stereotypic. The government agents were stereotypic. All the various and sundry players were out a bad scifi channel made for TV movie; all one dimensional and predictable. There was no one I really cared about. I can't believe that people thought this was a good zombie book. The writing was juvenile at best. I've read better plots in comic books. I should have paid more attention to the bad reviews they were much more accurate. And the bad thing is I bought the second book too.

I was really looking forward to reading this, since I am a fan of zombie literature (I'm not proud to say this, but it's true!). Anyway, within a few pages I found that both the dialog and depiction of the novel's characters and their actions were so unrealistic that I just didn't care to continue the book.

I really thought that this book was not worth my effort. I checked the local book stores for a few weeks trying to find it before purchasing on amazon. The book was very generic, and read just like a made for cable action movie. The only redeeming quality was that it was actually about zombies, and I am a freak about zombies.

It was okay at best. A bore mostly. I'd read it if someone loaned it to me.

Sorry,

joe

This is a great story and a fun book to read. The sequal is even better!!!

I always get excited when I find that a new Alice Hoffman novel is out and this one is as good or better than her very best books. The day I discovered her writing was like Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one. I love her mix of nature/fantasy/myth/magic. When people ask me my favorite authors, she's always on top of the list and I say rather wistfully, "I honestly wish I'd never read even one of her books yet so I could discover her all over again!"

I like the way she told this beautiful bittersweet story in three different time periods through the eyes of the three main characters in the story. The story of the heron made me cry more than once, as did the story of the third angel. Her magnificent, magical stories just get better and better and always take me outside myself --- the way a great book should.

I highly recommend this book to all Alice Hoffman fans. She doesn't disappoint!!!

I read this book in one sitting. Sweet story that interweaves the lives of four women. It's about losing and finding hope, losing and finding love, and of course, death. I love the way Ms Hoffman writes so simply, but it's NEVER simple things she writes about.

I was not aware the book was going to have three separate stories. It was difficult for me to transition as I wanted more development in the first one. I enjoyed the second story the most. But I did not finish the last novella. I just lost interest. It is quite disappointing as Alice Hoffman had been one of my favorite writers. I think it was just on too many unsavory characters. By the time I got to the last book, I felt as if they all got what they deserved...heartbreak. I really did not see anyone as the
"third angel". It was a shame, as the book seemed to hold so much promise.

This is the first book I have ever read by Alice Hoffman and it will not be the last. I am on my way to my local library today. I LOVED this book.
I actually cried while reading through parts of the stories. She has so
much emotion in her writing.This book is a MUST read.

I've given this book 4 stars for the beauty of the prose but must confess that I prefer, these days, to read books which uplift me and make me feel happy, rather than near perfect works which leave me feeling sad and hollow inside. There are three stories which interconnect through their characters and run backwards from 1999 to the 50's. The main theme is unrequited love and it all left me feeling miserable and empty. As good as this book undoubtedly is, I felt like reaching for the anti depressants after it ended.

I read the first book and found it juvenile; the second was slightly better. It would pass as a fair graphic arts book. By the way, vehicles would be ruined running on plane fuel. If you want a real good zombie story, minus the hooha and mega testosterone flush, check out Brian Keene , now thats good zombie reading.

This book was every bit as good as the first. The author is a great guy too. He let me mail him a copy to personally autograph for my mom's birthday. My mom read it then my two brothers. We are all waiting for the third in the trilogy.

A very good sequel to a very good book
i must say i did not put it down from sundown to sun up
i didnt even realize that i had read the book all night till my alarm went off
full of great adventures and action sequences that will just grab and force you to find out what happens next
im looking forward to the next on

I've had some free time on my hands so I've been catching up on leaving some reviews. I read this book a little after it came out.
It was good. I wished there were more zombies in it but as a character driven story it was great. Anytime you can be with decent characters for more than one book its always fun.
And I have to comment on the African, Suez thing, something about East and West.
Who Cares?
Its a book about the walking dead, the entire book is make believe. the key to enjoying a good book is to not take the work too seriously.
When you look for fault, you will inevitably find it, so knock it off you guys out there and relax and read the book, and if you don't like what your reading, then write your own book and put exactly what you want in it and then come back and wait for all the small-minded people to start picking your passion apart like a weeping sore on a leper.
And if anyone ever reads my reviews, there will never be a bad one because If I didn't like it I will keep my opinion to myself.
Positive is good, people, negative is bad. One person's trash is another one's treasure and books fall into that category.
I'm not talking about the truly horendous books either, I mean the ones that are basically literature.
In conclusion, this was a good book and I am looking forward to part 3. J.H.

I read the first zombie book by Recht, The Morningstar Strain, and thought it was OK by the standards of the genre. I ordered this sequel when it came out and tried to read it a few weeks ago. I know I'll probably get slammed for writing a negative review, but I the story-telling tension in the first book just isn't here. I actually enjoyed the first book: it dealt with the first outbreaks of the disease in Africa, how it swept the continent and spread throughout the world, and told an engaging story of a group that battled the outbreak as they tried to contain it Africa at the Suez Canal, lost, and then had to flee by ship across the Indian Ocean, then the Pacific to get back to the West Coast of the US. The panic, confusion, combat, the losses, the outbreaks on their ship, their interesting stops in the Phillipines, and then what they find when they get to Oregon was all a pretty decent story.

In this sequel though the magic is gone. The few survivors are trucking across the country but the author depicts an empty country....where are all the corpses, the highways choked with vehicles and zombies? The survivors are also pretty stupid and careless. In one early scene a guy walks into the men's room without clearing the room first and gets bitten. After all these people went through from Africa to Colorado I just don't think they would be making such stupid mistakes.

Anyway, much as I wanted to like this book as much as the first one I simply didn't. The storyline was less interesting, the characters were not as intelligent, and I couldn't buy into the depiction of the US. If you like zombie fiction I'd recommend World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, Day by Day Armageddon (A Zombie Novel), or Dead City. I liked those books a lot better. Or, even better, pick up Infected: A Novel by Scott Sigler. That one will blow your boots off even if it isn't technically a zombie book.

I enjoyed this book, but then if I didn't I wouldn't be reviewing it as I only review books I like.
This was a fun read with zombies and decent believable characters.
I have read the original Day of the Dead script and I couldn't help but wonder if the zombies with head gear was inspired by that?
I say inspired not ripped off. This writer took a general idea and ran with it. Well done. I wonder if Romero would like it seems he wasnt able to do it himself.
If you are a fan of zombie books, this book will feed that need. J.H.

Okay, here are your survivors, locked up in a gated resort community. Okay, its a Z-book, I'll go with that, they've all got to start somewhere.

Wetsuit-clad, Wakazashi wielding, .22 sniper Zombie SpecOps teens/post teens? Okay, that's different, but I'll be honest, it was fun to read where the author was going with it.

Nifty little drawings and diagrams about how to fight a Z hand-to-hand. You have to love that part.

I was not expecting much from this, but picked it up anyway from the Amazon 'others who have purchased' list. At the end of the read, I was pleased to have purchased this book. The author took a stock 'end of the world' Z-book and added some twists (see wetsuits, supra) to the story, and throws in a mad scientist for fun. The main character actually has enough depth that you can't see light through her, and the story was interesting if very, very short. I'd certainly pick up another if the author decided on a sequel.

As with my reviews of the other Z-books, the 4 stars is in relation to the genre, not literature as a whole. Its a zombie thing. ;)

When reviewing zombie novels of course I am going to compare them to each other, and so after I read this I stacked it up against the David Wellington "Monster" trilogy, and Brian Keene's two part "The Rising" and "City of the Dead". I do not believe that "Twilight of the Dead" is on this level, but is certainly not a bad book. The pros of this story are the main character, the semi-fresh perspective on how humanity deals with the post-zombie apocalypse. Of course the military are a bunch of jerks, of course no one believes in the severity. However, the black beret concept was intriguing as well as the twist on the antagonist. Overall the major issue was Adkins description of the events that unfold. It doesn't hold a candle to Wellington or Keene and that is what makes their books highly readable and keep me coming back for more. I see great potential in Travis Adkins, and I hope for a sequel b/c in my mind it has the potential.

In a nutshell my review of Twilight of the Dead by Travis Adkins goes like this: Twilight of the Dead by Travis Adkins is yet another book in the Permuted Press family that adheres faithfully to what has to be the company's mandate: good ideas told badly.

Because that is what Mr. Adkins does. And he does it very, very well.

The basic premise of this book is not all that unique. The Dead rise and Society crumbles before their relentless onslaught. The main character must somehow survive the horrifying horror of the End of the World and then, along with a disparate group of survivors, learn to their even greater horror that the true monster isn't just the rotting ghouls scratching away outside their walls, but the living, breathing people they're trapped inside with.

See? Nothing unusual or groundbreaking there, but then, it doesn't have to be, right? That description is exactly what gets us all excited, it's the story we want, the one we've been looking for and the reason we are all willing to slog through all of the sub-par "literature" found within this genre. And that nugget is what Mr. Adkins starts out with. Then he takes it up a notch and throws in one of the most loved protagonists in the sci-fi/comic-book/horror set: The snarky rocker chick. After that he adds in some ruin looting, a walled haven and a team of specially trained zombie fighters and what does that mean to you and me?

It means we got ourselves a possible slice of fried awesome, that's what.

But then Mr. Adkins fumbles, he stumbles, he trips and then he falls. In a word: he fails. In two words: He fails miserably.

To begin with, the time line makes no sense. 5 years ago the town filled up with all the supplies they were ever going to need so they just stopped going out? 5 years ago? So... they've just been hanging out then? Doing what? Partying? The noise from their many BBQs and Badminton matches didn't ever bring an army of the Dead down upon their heads? 5 years now, this magical cornucopia mall they have within this gated community has just been pumping out a never ending cascade of food and supplies while the people dance and sing and laugh, tra-la-la-la and go back to normal lives? 6 months, okay, maybe they might hunker down for six months, but 5 years? The World ends, Society is destroyed and then a bunch of spoiled First-World-living-the-leisurely-high-tech-lifestyle Americans build and are able to reasonably maintain the first ever completely contained and self-sustaining community WITH a coin based economy? Based on what? Gold? Air? What about medicine or chemicals for mixing gunpowder or more planting seeds or a million and a half other things? Five years? ugh... forget it... moving on...

Secondly, Courtney, the intended snarky, independently awesome and capable rocker chick, is instead consistently portrayed as naïve, stupid and ridiculously stubborn. She's a complete cartoon, so much so, you wonder if Mr. Adkins has ever actually MET a girl like this before. Once again... for 5 years she's lived here, not having to work due to her service as a scavenger, 5 years she's been in this town and all she's done is watch movies and read books and sneer at anyone who tries to talk to her? For five years? Once again... maybe for a month or two, but after five years wouldn't she be forced to grow up or maybe mature a little bit, if not from simple aging then from the nature of the world itself? And if you're willing to buy that, the fact that she hasn't just makes her all the more unlikeable. Also, wouldn't the townspeople grow concerned over this highly trained killer hermit with a bad attitude holed up all by herself at the far end of their town?

And the Gossip Girl/One Tree Hill type high school drama is so pervasive, so false and so completely without any emotional motivation to back it up, that it just becomes tedious and way, way too quickly at that, especially when you consider just how short a novel this is. None of the human interaction rings true, with the possible exception of Courtney leaving her Father in the very beginning, but other than that...

I mean, I understand what he's trying to do, because, as we all know, the real meat of a zombie story is the survivors and the emotional yoke they toil under, but you have to be able to make your characters and their inner turmoils real or the story just sinks hard and fast and unfortunately, Mr. Adkins can not make them real.

And then there's the oh-so-transparent Jock hate, (nerd...) but wait... apparently the Jock is actually one of the rare, kind of alright rich kid jocks (Just like She's All That... but reversed! With zombies!) And the Black Berets themselves? Their outfits are ludicrous. They're laughable. Coupled with the ninja swords, they just reminded me of my friend's home made "Surf Ninja" Halloween costume. It was silly, people, silly. Lets not even get into the uncomfortable, overt naïveté that rides shotgun with the mishandled and uneven sex scenes that go on between Courtney and her mentor, Sgt. Soontobedead.

Oh yeah, the zombies... forgot about those... How is that possible you ask? Oh, well, that's because they're kind of not really ever mentioned or that much of a threat to begin with, except of course when clichéd Mad-scientist-killer-type-guy inexplicably sends an army of them to attack the town. That's no big deal right? Eastpointe has high walls, right? Oh yeah? Well these zombies have on metal helmets (they're indestructible!) and knives tied to their hands (they're Wolverine!). Will Courtney and Leon (the Jock) stop the evil Lex Luthor's army of radio controlled zombies in time? Will the cure (cure for what? Being eaten?) miraculously save one of the main characters if they get bitten during the story's climax or is that too telegraphed and clichéd? And if so, why not just go all out and embrace the clichés and stage an end fight scene at that infamous Hollywood-action-movie-staple: the fire and steam factory?

I apologize, at this point I'm being too rough on Mr. Adkins, he does deserve kudos for even finishing a novel in the first place and then putting it out there to be snarked at by jerks like me. To be fair, I actually enjoyed the beginning of the story, especially the attack on the convoy and many other sporadic moments through out, which really only highlights the true problem with this book for me. Mr. Adkins has ability within him, he has ideas. He's not awful, he's not without hope. And while they may not be well executed, his stories are well grounded, thought out and, in the end, fun. He's got potential. Honestly, its not his story that fails here, its his details. So, yet again, the Permuted Press editorial staff, such as it is, has completely failed their authors and done them a huge disservice with their ridiculously poorly performed job. Right now Mr. Adkins is just another example of the only thing small internet presses have proven to me so far: Sometimes people don't get published for a reason.

Mr. Adkins' reason is because he is not yet ready. This story needs a lot of work, attention, critique and second and third drafts, TRUE second and third drafts.

My recommendation: Not yet. Almost, but not yet. Our quest for a great zombie book continues, dear readers, so slog on, because there's nothing to see here.

This book was brought to my attention on a website that I help manage and being a huge zombie fan I decided to check it out. Man was I disappointed. I was hoping for some action right off the bat but instead I felt like I was reading a crappy teen magazine. I read the first few chapters and decided to put the book down and go read I Am Legend again. Some people told me that it will get better but I have yet to see where it gets better. I love it when an author gets into a character development but sometimes they can go overboard with it. I can care less about her sexual issues and teen angst. I want battles between hordes of flesh eating ghouls and close battles, NOT "Oh I screwed you once and blah blah blah." Needless to say, if you into the zombie genre then read Down the Road or Day by Day. Those are classics in the making.

This now becomes the third series of books by Ringo that I won't be following. I gave this the benefit of the doubt after the chaotic, pointless story line in "Looking Glass", but this is much worse.

The tale follows the first extra-solar flight of Earth's one, irreplaceable starship. The ship's crew puts it continually at risk, and makes a series of incredibly stupid tactical and strategic choices. The ship stooges from one disaster to the next, with no real plot or story line until the end.

While all this is going on, we have 30+ marines, and a couple of dozen army troops, all but two which seem to be sergeants of all different flavors, and we are expected to keep track of them when the authors mix first names, ranks, last names, "team names", nicknames, and abbreviations.

Ringo must have gotten flack for the use of obscenities in other stories, because the troops use replacement words for the common terms, but it they are used so pervasively that it is a pointless substitution.

All this against a backdrop of Taylor's lecturing on his (very detailed) view of quantum physics. Since you can't get three quantum physicists to agree on what to have for lunch, any theory he proffers is likely to prove to be wrong anyway. I learned a lot of science from "science" fiction over the years, but I expect the science to have some hope of being accurate. Or at least generally accepted.

When the plot finally congeals, we have intelligent chinchillas with medieval level technology who use flying surfboards that are mysteriously provided, and a Ringo style (albeit slightly muted) carnographic assault by endless hordes of almost unstoppable warrior monsters. The attackers come within inches of killing off all the humans and destroying the ship, when the milquetoast scientist, who somehow instantly speaks their language, saves the day through her equally inexplicable understanding just where to go, and how to take control of the warrior beasts.

Oh, I left out the never explained mystery entity who keeps tossing in thoughts and complaining about the heat.

In the appendix to the book, Ringo says he doesn't read Amazon reviews. Probably a wise move on his part.

This seller responds quickly and ships fast. The books arrive as stated and even sometimes better than expected.

This book is one that I can honestly say that the story grabbed my attention and held it right to the end of the book. The story line was exciting, the science used was great with explanations for those of with too simple of a mind to fully grasp the physics of matter prior to formation of the helium atom. The idea of using a boomer (missile submarine) as a space craft has crossed my mind in the past but given the weight of the material used in construction of the pressure hull (HY-100) I felt that to power such a vessel would require too great of a power source. Of course the method used here fills that requirement extremely well. I have not always appreciated the writings of Mr. Ringo but feel that with this series he has found the ground to hold my interest and keep my going through the entire book. I am waiting impatiently for the next couple of books in the series to arrive in my mail box! Thank you Mr. Ringo!

Where the blood and guts go flying, and the Men goes trying. Aliens truly meeting their gods in all so many colorful messy ways! Ringo nails it every time.

As good as it gets? Not quite, but this second volume in John Ringo's "Looking Glass" series is awfully close.

First, the science is actually present in a (gasp!) science fiction novel! Get ready for an awesome dose of particle physics in this book. The quantum universe is also present in large doses, too.

Second, be prepared to laugh and giggle your way through the military forms of humor, and figure out what some of the alien words mean. This book, I'm sure, is meant to a spoof of some of the hard(er)-core military SF.

Finally, there is certainly an adequate plot to follow, along with a sufficient amount of bloody mayhem, to satisfy almost any John Ringo Military SF fan.

I stayed up 'till 2:30 in the morning finishing this book. That's my sure stamp of approval. I give it 5 stars. Read. Enjoy. Laugh. Fun!

OK to be fair this book teaches different painting techniques successfully. But throughout the examples it seems like they HAVE to paint everything possible. Rather than put a real plant in a room, they paint one onto a wall. Rather than install a tile floor or brick wall, they paint fake ones in. It all just has sort of a comical feel when finished. If you flip through a Pottery Barn catalog and consider that tasteful, then these designs leave alot to be desired. Buy this book for technique, but consider others for inspiration.

This book wasn't intended to make everyone happy with Debbie's color choices or furniture selections, it's intended to teach you painting techniques and preparation, which it does, beautifully. Debbie is fearless and very adventurous when it comes to painting and re-decorating, her colors don't have to suit you, but all of us decorating fanatics can definitely glean some helpful hints from her trial and error in technique.

That book was expected AUG 25 tHIS IS Oct.14 I still can not get satisfaction I can not find e-mail addreaa for bestbookdealers I do NOT hve the book And Someone has my Money Terrible! Merry Margaret merry2b1@vom.com

I was looking for a design idea for my house and I got a quick overview of detailed techniques. I didn't get a good idea of all of the techniques to use on a floor, what I'd need for vinyl..It is alright to look through.

You don't need to know anything about decoration to enjoy this book. I bought it as a gift for my wife and I ended up enjoying it as much as she did.

Most of the techniques used by Debbie on her show are illustrated here in full color. There is an interesting section about the materials used also, with lots of information I didn't know.

Nightmare in Pink by John D. Macdonald is one of the earlier entries in the Travis McGee series.
What is this book about? That question can be answered in one word. Women. More specifically, the women of New York. MacDonald is not shy when it comes to offering up opinions. And in Nightmare in Pink, a number of detailed and often whithering descriptions of various types of females who inhabit The Big Apple are given. These characterizations are accomplished through both the shockingly blunt introspection of Travis McGee and the self-revealing lines of dialogue MacDonald has provided the women in question. From the young career woman to the society matron to the man-eating baracuda to the high priced call girl, the author takes no prisoners when it comes to describing the mostly, though not entirely, unflattering mindsets that make each one who they are.
Whether these sterotypic characterizations are accurate or not is almost irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that this is what McGee and MacDonald seem to believe and the novel is highly effective in presenting these beliefs to the reader.
Oh yes, there's also a crime to be solved, the details of which are rather sketchy. Something about a conspiracy to embezzle millions from a moneyed family's Manhattan based foundation. And two thirds of the way through the narrative, Nightmare in Pink turns into a work of science fiction with McGee being kidnapped and force fed mind altering drugs in a hellish mental ward.
This novel is far from perfect but one has to admire the audaciousness with which it was written. In creating Nightmare in Pink, Macdonald unapologetically pulled no punches in describing the female characters and fearlessly defied convention by combining genres. Highly recommended.

I plan on reading every book in this series (already finiished five). It's that good.

Four decades ago, Travis McGee disdains the modern world, yet builds an honorable life for himself in the midst of it. How? By becoming a beach bum in Florida! Not truly a bum, more an independent contractor who takes a job when money from the previous job starts waning. His deal is ever the same: "I recover what was taken from you--conveniently, the yous are mostly damsels in distress--and I keep half."

In Nightmare, "Trav" is paying a debt to an old war buddy who lies paralyzed and suspects his sister's fiancé died under circumstances that suggest foul play. He wants Travis to travel to New York and get to know his sister, provide some comfort and assistance, then "poke around" and see what he can find out.

...

For my complete review of this book and for other book and movie
reviews, please visit my site [...]

Brian Wright
Copyright 2007

Aw come on, Travis, you can do it! Poor fellow has to pull out all the stops in order to salvage the poor young thing.

I recently started reading the Travis McGee books for the first time (and in order.) DEEP BLUE GOOD-BY was a good, taught, lean -- if imperfect -- thriller. It was intruing enough, and McGee & his setting seemed to hold enough potential, that I was fired up to read NIGHTMARE IN PINK, thinking that the series, like many another recurring-hero series, would actually improve in sequence due to the author getting more and more comfortable with the character, setting, & style. Unfortunately, this book let me down.

First, it was set in New York City, which, while not neccessarily a bad thing in and of itself, does detract from a lot of the attractiveness of the McGee series -- to me, a big part of the selling point is that in other McGee books, the setting is South Florida (where I was born & raised) in the mid-1960s (over a decade before I was born.) New York seemed a much more generic setting -- I mean, how many books (and movies!) are set there? It's been covered already!

Also, the dialogue -- something I had a problem with in DEEP BLUE was that the dialogue seemed to be dated, even by the standards of four decades ago (I'm basing this on having read a lot of books & seen a lot of movies from back then.) The dialogue reads like 1930s and '40s movies, when the actors still hadn't yet realized that they were no longer on stage and so could talk more like normal people. Some of the dialogue is outright caricature. (How many times in one conversation can a character start and/or end a sentence with the word "Darling" before it starts to get annoying?) It's like MacDonald was trying to write hip dialogue and ended up with dialogue that WAS hip -- when he was a young man, ie before World War II.

The McGee series does, however, have enough of a good reputation that I'll assume this one is just a lemon that MacDonald, like all good writers, produce from time to time, and I'll at least give book #3 a chance to redeem the series for me.

This is truly a gag book. From the font and the spacing to the intro to the plot, it is a 'first book' from an author who, unfortunately, does not have a future in writing. Please do not impulsively purchase this because it's cheap, like I did...unless you want a good laugh.

This book is an apparent attempt to provide comfort and meaning for those bereft in the 9/11 disaster, culminating in a long address by God to those who died in the airplanes and their attendant destruction. It's not great writing, and the dialog is predictable. Nor is it theologically satisfying--the only criterion addressed at the "judgment" scene is whether those who had died were among the 19 hijackers.
Some will find this a reassuring effort. However, it is limited in scope and flawed in delivery.

THE CONVENTION is a wonderful book about the power of advanced consciousness and compassionate living...inspiring, as is NEXUS a soulful novel about heart-centerred living...great when read together!

More amazing books:

Nexus: A Neo Novel

Think on These Things

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

THE CONVENTION highlights the powerful effects and significance of your 'actions' in life. The central message is one of hope even in the 'midst of trials and tribulations. Also that there is more to 'coincidence' than meets the eye. This book is heart warming and focused on compassion as is NEXUS by Deborah Morrison and Arvind Singh, so I highly recommend THE CONVENTION and that you best read it along with:

Nexus: A Neo Novel
The Secret
Law of Attraction: The Science of Attracting More of What You Want and Less of What You Don't

What I liked most about the "Convention" was the insightful statement of the overall importance of balance in life...that is balancing the creation of prosperity and good in our own lives with attempting to be compassionate and helpful toward others in order that all may share in the goodness of life, and so that we can help create a world that works for everyone. Very good book.

Also recommended are:

Think on These Things

Law of Attraction: The Science of Attracting More of What You Want and Less of What You Don't

Nexus: A Neo Novel