Warren Books

I have read a number of books on the Civil War and its tragic battles with their loss of unbelievable numbers of men, some as young as 9, but probably no other book has captured the true hopelessness of war for the individual as this one does.

Life and Death in Civil War Prisons by J. Michael Martinez describes in detail the terrible conditions of Civil War soldiers on both sides of the conflict who were captured and confined. Aside from the disease, starvation, filth and dehumanization which were common, the point that the author makes most clearly is that neither side was at all prepared for the confinement of prisoners of war.

Both sides believed that the war would be over in a matter of weeks and both drew upon extant structures for their needs. Unfortunately everything that was done later to expand facilities was done on a similar ad hoc basis. Whereas every effort was made to fight the war as efficiently and as effectively as possible, the attention to the needs and well being of POWs were left almost to chance, with each attempt to rectify the situation as clumsy as a person stumbling over their own feet.

It doesn't appear from the author's statements that there was any actual intention to subject the opposition's soldiers to unbelievable depravation. It was simply that, as the war progressed, the situation got out of hand for both sides, and they were never able to catch up with the need. That so many people died by virtue of this unpreparedness and clumsyness makes it almost worse.

The book is written through the lives of two individual soldiers, one from each side, who left diaries and autobiographical accounts of their experiences in the hands of the enemy. Other soldiers accounts are used to illuminate the situation still further. The similarities between stories on both sides suggests that neither party was guiltless, though the North, with more resources and ways of mobilizing them, was certainly more culpable. It could have done more than the South but didn't.

What is surprising is the fact that one of the soldiers, the Union soldier, having gone through the terrible conditions of imprisonment, actually reenlisted for another term in field after his discharge. Just as with his first term, he was captured and imprisoned. That takes guts. Or a very strong conviction.

Interesting too was the character of survivors. Honesty and trustworthiness actually became salable commodities that permitted the possessor to survive. The simple capacity to write and record events also lead to survival. Just being aware of opportunities allowed the individual to live. In a dreadful world, some people make it and some people don't, and it isn't necessarily the person one might expect. I read a book some time ago on battle fatigue among Civil War soldiers Shook over Hell: Post-Traumatic Stress, Vietnam, and the Civil War and one can see why some didn't live long post war.

Fascinating book.

It is difficult to find a book on the War Between the States which is objective and not Yankee propaganda. It is even more rare to find one which is objective to both sides of the conflict.
"Life and Death" is one of those rare works where the author sifts through material, discards the chaff, and bakes a fine loaf from the wheat. This is one of the finest books on the predicament of prisoners of war during the War Between the States.
Neither side was prepared for a protracted conflict, and initially exchanged prisoners based on a protocol established during the War of 1812. The Dix-Hill Cartel for exchange worked well enough until the North effectively stopped it, ensuring Southern soldiers would not be exchanged to fight again.
The resulting burden upon the Confederacy, which could not feed its own army sufficiently, resulted in privations of necessity in their prison camps. The Union, with ample foodstuffs, made an administrative decision not to care for their prisoners properly.
No one remembers that part of the story, for, as Napoleon said, "The victors write the history". Instead, we are told only of the trial of Wirtz, commandant of Andersonville, who was the sole Confederate hung after the war.
This is an excellent book, fair and balanced, based on the experiences of both a northern and southern soldier captured and imprisoned. The history of the period is very well researched and the over 34 pages of footnotes and citations underline it.
Martinez is an top notch historian and a very good writer. This is one of the best books ever writ on the War Between the States.

Got the book sooner than expected. It was in excellent condition. Sent it to the author for an autograph! It was a gift for someone who is a Civil War buff and he thought the book was awesome! Unlike any he's ever read before.

This was a requested read for my US History 1 class. It had all of the information that I needed along with a few internet sources. The only thing that I didn't particularly like was that the book skips back-and-forth between the Northern soldier and the Southern soldier, and it was pretty hard to keep track of which side you were reading about.

Books on the American Civil War appear in a seemingly never-ending stream, and so it's inevitable that many good ones get lost in the cascade and never receive the attention they deserve. J. Michael Martinez's Life and Death in Civil War Prisons is one of these. It's really an excellent study, well written, nicely illustrated, and painstakingly researched (as its 40-odd pages of closely-printed endnotes and bibliography attest).

Much has been written about the "black and reeking pits" that Civil War prisons generally were. Neither side was prepared for prisoners of war when the conflict began. After the parole system broke down, already bad prison conditions got significantly worse as prisoners on both sides began to pile up. Horrible privations were experienced by Federal prisoners in southern camps, largely because the south simply didn't have the wherewithal to take better care of them. In the north, Secretary of War Stanton bulldoggishly made the decision to retaliate against southern prisoners, ordering that their food allowances be decreased. Things went from bad to worse.

The merits of Martinez's approach to telling the story is that he uses the experiences of two prisoners, Cpl. John Wesley Minnich from the south (a displaced Pennsylvanian who relocated to Louisiana) and Sgt. Warren Lee Goss from the north (a Bostonian). Minnich was sent to Rock Island Prison, a piece of rock in the Mississippi River on the Iowa border. Goss, captured more than once, became something of a reluctant expert on southern prisons, being held at different times in Libby, Belle Isle, and the notorious Andersonville and Florence stockades. In recounting the prison experiences of Minnich and Goss, Martinez not only provides an excellent account of Civil War prisons in general. He also tells a fascinating story of two men who lived through horrible conditions.

But Martinez does something else as well. In his careful and persuasive account of Civil War prisons (one of his merits is that he never exaggerates; for example, he shows that although Rock Island was bad, its mortality rate was about half that of Andersonville), he reminds us that the American Civil War was a most uncivil war in many respects. This is an ugly fact which needs to be remembered, but which is too often forgotten in our romanticization of the conflict.

This poetic tale with simply gorgeous illustrations was one of my absolute favorite childhood stories. I have been looking for this gem for years hoping to find another copy. This story has a wonderful moral along with a beautiful sound when read. It will be a winner with any child and parent! A true delight!

This poetic story has charming and unusual illustrations to make a children's dream book. Told in rhyme this story tells of the adventures of a mouse who finds himself in a very large but very believable tale. The end is both sweet and powerful and has a moral tale that is certain to be a winner with any parent. This was a favorite book of mine as a child and I am delighted to make it once again a part of my library!

My son loved this book so much, it was always his first choice of bedtime books. I read it to him over and over everynight, until he could read it himself! Then we'd have fun reading it together. This is truely a great story, well written and captured the attention of my son for years. Too bad its out of print.

When I was a little girl, this was the book to end all tantrums and calm all tears. Smiles were born and laughter prevailed, when my mother would produce the well worn cover of this magical book. It will always be a special story to me.

This was one of my favorite books as a child and I read it often now to my own children. Back then I didn't know exactly what it was that I loved about the book. It was kind of sad but happy at the same time. It had cute pictures and was fun to listen to because it all rhymes. That's probably why my kids like it now. I like it now for all of those reasons but also because of the idea behind the story. The idea that freedom is a right and a privilege for all creatures big and small.

This is easily the funniest Marvel book you will read this year!! Or any other year! Unless you count midevil times, that whole black plague thing really sucked the humor out of stuff.

This book is great and lives up to its promise of explosions and kicking people in the face.

This book is hilarious. Over the top action. Lots of explosions. Ridiculous fight scenes. Lampooning of classic Marvel characters. I haven't laughed so hard in years.

Warren Ellis's work on Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. is, by far, the best work I've read in comics in years. Why people didn't buy the comic is beyond me. The comedy was genius. Marvel's management is a bunch of boneheads for canning Nextwave. If you have read the other reviews, you know what it's about, so I won't bore your with another recap. If you like comedy, explosions, parody, slapstick, explosions, random acts of violence, heartfelt origin stories, and explosions, then you'll love Nextwave. If you like anything, you'll love Nextwave.

With NEXTWAVE: AGENTS OF H.A.T.E. VOL. 2 (I Kick Your Face), Warren Ellis persists in dispensing with multi-layered plotlines and the fleshing out of characters. This one, collecting the final issues #7-12 and much like in Volume 1, reads like an extended fight scene sound effect. If you like action that's often in your face and without the constant impediment of dreary word captions, then this'll float your boat. Stuart Immonen's artwork is remarkable, even if I had to turn the page upside down a bunch of times.

The premise: Monica Rambeau (fomerly Captain Marvel), Brit hottie Elsa Bloodstone (monster hunter), the mutant Tabitha Smith (formerly Boom Boom), Aaron Stack (the slightly insane Machine Man), and the Captain make up the Nextwave Squad, originally hired by H.A.T.E. (the Highest Anti-Terrorism Effort) as its primary anti-terrorist response team. Nextwave turns on its employer when evidence surfaces implicating H.A.T.E. and its parent company, the Beyond Corporation, of terrorist activities.

SPOILERS are here:

As per this series, we get the usual pattern of two-issue story arcs. The Nextwave Squad faces off against the Mindless Ones, magical creatures rented by the evil Beyond Corporation from interdimensional demon lord, the Dread Rorkannu, in exchange for girls and cash ("Yes! I have a hundred of the Earth dollars!"). With this series's bent sensibilities, it shouldn't be a surprise that this sorcery-laden storyline indulges in the Mindless Ones engaging in a West Side Story homage and that the climax is a bathroom fistfight.

Then, Nextwave is lured into an abandoned and fake city and ends up going toe to toe with a ridiculous batch of super nasties, as created by the Beyond Corporation, with the most formidable villain being Forbush Man. Forbush Man uses his power to trap each hero into his or her own existential misery, giving us a chance to savor Immonen's Mike Mignola salute in the Bloodstone sequence. Also, Captain America goes to the john.

The series culminates with Nextwave tracking down the giant aerial homebase of their arch nemesis, happily romping and stomping on yet more beasties and uglies (including my favorite, Wolverine chimps!), and at last coming face to face with the true power behind the Beyond Corporation. By the way, General Dirk Anger gets even more loony bins and even dies for a while (I did warn about Spoilers, right?).

Okay. End SPOILERS.

"Nextwave is a pirate superhero fight comic." Must be nice to have Warren Ellis's clout. Marvel Comics gives him full license to weave tales that are proudly short on subtlety and depth but long on nuttiness and scurrilous humor. He does indulge in one Character Moment (presenting some disquieting background on Elsa Bloodstone as a baby). But Ellis promises to not let it happen again. One thing he also does is rummage thru Marvel's dusty back shelves and bins, managing to drag near-forgot entities such as the Not Brand Echh title and its mascot Forbush Man, MODOK, and Moon Boy and Kid Dinosaur kicking and screaming onto these pages. So, no, this isn't your typical comic book. Readers will either find this title too cardboard cutout, overplayful, and unseemly - or an uproarious belch of fresh air. I'm of the latter breed.

Artist Stuart Immonen should be equally lauded (or blamed) for his light and exquisite touch. He dependably comes thru with a visual feast of nonstop mayhem and gleeful violence. In issue 11, Immonen rampages thru 6 double-paged spreads which simply reek of all-out, no apologies ACTION. This is very nifty. Perfectly complementing Immonen's style are the inker Wade von Grawbadger and colorists Dave McCaig and Paul Mounts. So they too should be applauded (or blamed).

Meanwhile, there's some debate about Nextwave's place in Marvel's mainstream continuity. But, having been infected with this comic's jaunty subversiveness, I choose to not delve into it too much. Besides, I'm sure Forbush Man's existential powers can fix it.

My favorite one-liner: "X-Men come back more than Jesus."

My favorite recurring rejoinder: "My robot brain needs beer!"

Lastly: the Captain rocks. Elsa Bloodstone is bloody fine. Machine Man is mental. Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. will return...someday. Just keep paying Ellis. And Immonen.

Nine Keys is a very practical step-by-step process in how to implement successful, healthy small groups into the local church.

I am a small-groups person. I have been in one small group or another, often as a leader, almost continually, for the past 30 years. I believe small groups are just about the most important aspect of a church's life.

I have read many books on this, gone to many seminars. There is a lot of good material on this topic.

But in my present role as a church consultant, this is the book on small groups that I hand to pastors who are wanting to know how to grow a small group ministry or how to better equip their small group leaders.

Why? As George explains in this book, most church small groups do a good job of promoting nurture and fellowship, but most stop there. George believes an effective small group should perform three basic functions, not just nurture. In addition to nurture, he believes small groups should be effectively engaged in small-group-based evangelism (George says that in any given year, only one small group in four does any evangelism), and he thinks that small groups should constantly be training small group leaders through apprenticeship. I agree that a small group needs all three functions. And so I use this book as the entry point for someone who is new to these ideas about small group life.

After this introduction, I point churches to further training or more in-depth printed materials about various aspects of this approach to small groups, but in my opinion, there's not a better starting point than this one.

We have used this tool since it came out. I've found that this tool is best for easily organizing the 'how to' stuff of small group leadership. It does not cover the ministerial philosophy issues. A good book for that is 'Master Plan of Evangelism' by Robert Coleman.

As the title for this book says, it covers nine keys for effective small group leadership. Each key really has four or five sub points...so in reality it is nine times about five...or forty five keys if you will. But George has organized them into nine groups...or keys.

We've found that leaders who study this material are easier to work with and easier to build a vision with for a local church ministry. There are a lot of books on Small Group Leadership that will help you. This one is very practical. It's so well written you can use it even if all you do is read the paragraph headers. Everything is well explained and easy to find or follow.

So even for leaders who don't like to read or who you suspect will not read everything you ask them to read, this book still might get through to them. I recommend it as a curriculum text for a course in a local church/ministry for leading small groups.

Enjoy it!

The best two things about this book are: 1) it helps the small group leader coordinate with the pastor, and 2) it includes shepherding, building community, discipleship and evangelism as part of the small group experience. It is the best balanced book available today!

Carl George effectively communicates the essential basics. This book does a good job of highlighting the difference between being a facilitator of small group time and being a leader (someone who is a disciple-maker). I have used this book as the main text for training small group leaders. It provides great material for interactive discussion and presenting a wholistic picture of all that small groups can be.

I've never been a fan of diet plans. Honestly, when it comes to losing weight I think that proper eating and exercise are highly underrated. But The Park Avenue Diet actually approaches your life in a holistic and practical way that even I could relate to.
No glamorous promises, no impossible goals. Park Avenue delivers a diet plan that is truly original in a way that sets it aside from every other "diet". You just won't find the same approach elsewhere.
Get a full life makeover!

PARK AVENUE DIET is much more than a diet. It's a way of life, complete with advice on eating, fitness, personal growth, how you look, how you relate to others, and more. I bought this book and went out and got my hair cut! Just the right thing. Sensible advice,from a panel of experts it would be hard to assemble, never mind hear all at once, offering this valuable plan. Here is a CREATIVE as well a holistic, approach to self-improvement. I say this as editor of EVERYDAY CREATIVITY AND NEW VIEWS OF HUMAN NATURE (2007), to which one of this book's illustrious authors contributed! That's what sent me this way. And how glad I am.
Ruth Richards, M.D., Ph.D.

Wouldn't you love to be rich enough to be able to consult not just one specialist to help you with health/weight/image/confidence issues, but a whole team? This is the idea underlying this book. Fischer brought together a handful of specialists few of us could afford to hire ourselves to give their insights on the multi-faceted reality of bringing discipline to our mind/body relationship. As a psychologist, I'm most familiar with Stanley Krippner's stellar reputation, but each member of the team Fischer assembled is a luminary in his/her field. If you're looking for something beyond just another diet book, this comprehensive approach could be what you have in mind.

I enjoyed reading this book. Got some excellent recipes and good self confidence advice. Regarding the fitness/exercise tips, it is best suited for someone just starting to exercise (still helpful though). Wardrobe advice was basic but also helpful. Overall I would recommend this book to a family member or friend.

Dr. Fischer's approach to weight loss is replete with common sense, practical advice, humor, and tantalizing recipes. I especially liked the psychological contributions of Dr. Stanley Krippner on how to develop self-confidence and replace negative beliefs about one's eating habits with positive, constructive beliefs. Additional contributions by specialist in exercise, interpersonal relationships, and personal appearance bring a holistic approach to dieting that I have never seen in similar books.

This book is an outstanding review of the health, ecological, and moral reasons for refraining from eating animal products. Having said that, it is neither "preachy" nor sanctimonious but rather downright entertaining. I loved it. It made a vegetarian out ofme.

I bought this book for my boyfriend right after we discussed going vegetarian. I thought it was a cookbook to help ease us into a meatless diet, which we were considering primarily because he wanted to lose weight. Instead, it changed my boyfriend's life -- addicted, he kept coming into the room to read me sections. It gave us permission to be vegetarians (year and a half now) for ALL the right reasons -- love of animals, the environmental and hunger problems perpetrated by the meat industry, all-around health, etc. -- although he did lose 30 pounds without getting hungry! This is a perfect antidote for all the stupid Adkins/Zone/high-protein diets that are so unhealthy -- and are only excuses for people to keep eating too much meat (which is *any*, now that we've read this book). And it's so funny and light-hearted that you'll be an avowed vegetarian before you know what hit you. Give a copy to everyone you know! We're sold.

I found this book to be very helpful and fun to read but,I haven't picked it up again since my first read through. I think this would be a great gift to a new vegatarian or a lender to a person interested in learning more about the specifics. Informative and fun....just not a whole lot of new info for this long-time reader and veggie eater!

As an avid reader of "scads" of books related to vegetarianism/veganism - and as a vegetarian of nine years, vegan of one - I've got to say this is by far THE MOST ENTERTAINING BOOK I've read on this topic! I've gasped, winced and even cried reading non-fiction portraying the ghasly side of human behavior and how we treat animals, but I've never laughed out loud - until now! (My cats think these seemingly unprovoked outbursts indicate that I've finally gone insane.) Definitely not just for the flesh-eater, as the title may lead one to conclude, this book is jam-packed with facts and the author's insightful observations. Reinhardt, perhaps the only ethical attorney in existence, asks you to question your behaviors, consider the alternatives and make the kindest, most logical alterations in your lifestyle for your physical health, your conscience, the planet and of course, the animals. Don't pass this one up - buy it used, contact the author, track down an unsuspecting vegan in the tofu department and beg to borrow it! I love this book and am buying copies for all of my redneck, backwoods relatives who still can't pronounce "what it is exactly that I am." (Veee-gun, Aunt Edna.) This one is fun and informative - get a copy and enjoy!

This is a fantastic book. After a difficult holiday with relatives I picked up this book and wished I had had it with me before the holiday had started. Since then I bought 8 more copies and have given them to friends and relatives alike. Information on the benefits of being vegetarian is presented in a non-emotional way with excellent facts to support the information. It covers issues ranging from nutrition to environment to factory farms. There are scenarios for dating, a whole chapter on dealing with relatives, and tips on how to be vegetarian during the holidays without going hungry. There's no meat-eater bashing in here. In fact, a lot of the writing is pretty funny. Its just a very straightforward presentation of information and armed with non-emotional information makes it so much easier to have a conversation with people who try to challenge your choices. I highly recommend this for anyone who is vegetarian/vegan as well as for anyone who loves/knows someone who has made such a choice and you want to understand why. Its absolutely one of the best books I've read and has helped me immensely. Plus there are some really funny parts. Enjoyable and quick to read

Bought this because I've been off the market for a while and knew I could upgrade my resume with the right tools. The suggestions improved my resume quite a bit. It's easy to read straight through or pick and choose what you need. Several sample resumes were helpful, but I was surprised there were no healthcare examples.

I have applied to dozens of jobs in the past few months using a resume I though was great. I am very well qualified but did not recieve ANY calls.

I bought this book on Monday, today is Thursday, followed it step-by-step and sent out 6 resumes. Now I have 4 interviews next week.

I have read several books and spent countless hours on all the career advice sites and this book beats them all.

If you are looking for a new career, BUY THIS BOOK, you will not be sorry.

This book is fabulous! Over the course of one day, I've taken my resume from super dull and boring to incredible! I had no idea how bad my resume was until I read this book. The book gives tons of advice on how to format your resume and up-to-date information on what to add to your resume, like 'keywords.' If you think your resume needs a facelift, get this book! I looked through many books at the bookstore before I selected this one and I'm confident I made the right choice!

The title seems a little cheesy but this really is a great book to help write a resume...

It tells you how to effectively use keywords in your resume for the age of Internet and electronic scanners that we live in today. Plus, it gives a huge list of "action verbs" to use, teaches you how to write a "resume headliner" to grab readers' attention and how to use numbers and statistics effectively (even if you're not in sales, business or accounting fields).

I could go on and on, this book is packed with tons of GOOD examples (broken down by job type and levels of experience) and other useful inforamtion that most other resume books don't cover.

I had received this book thinking that it would be "just" another new book on writing a resume. I found it to be very helpful and it provided me with detailed instructions on how to construct and create a resume that is much better than I would have been able to create on my own. Thank you.

Many people start to run because they want to get in a better shape. This book teaches your mind to get in a better shape too. You learn to focus in a new way and you are able to concentrate much better. Your mind learns not to wander so much and stay within the race. I have used the exercises in the book for my preparation of the Boston Marathon which I finished, despite running with an injury, with a new personal best by more than two minutes. I recalled the learned exercises during my preparation in the race and was even able to float up heartbreak hill without considerably more effort. I wonder how I would have raced hadn't I been hindered by a nagging hamstring injury.

New to running, and inspired by a commitment to my first triathlon (Danskin), I borrowed this book from the library. Needless to say, I quickly had to own my own copy. The inspiring words danced in my head and filled my soul with belief of dreams not yet realized. A recommendation to anyone who so much as "cares" about their health and the quality of their life. A part-time instructor of "spinning" classes I found these words of wisdom crossing over into my classes, filling me wtih motivation, which in turn motivates my students. This book raises the ceiling on your limits and reconfirms your potential is ...endless.

I started reading this book 2wks before the Chicago Marathon. The relaxation techniques and the different exercises for distraction during the race really worked. I have read dozens of books on training the body. This was the first I have read on training the mind. I plan to use these techniques with the children I coach. It really explains in basic and interesting format how important mental preparation is for competition. I highly recomend this book for anyone competing on any level.

I just completed my first marathon and don't think I would have finished had I not purchased and read this book. During training, we had "long runs". The night before each long run (in excess of 17 miles) I would read the sections of this book that addressed issues I was likely to face during the following days long run. That helped me tremendously. The book gave me a sense of calm.

There are virtually thousands of books on the market concerning running. Most of those books however don't spend nearly enough time on the most critical aspect which is mental preparedness and toughness. However, this book gives what most trainig books and groups do not..a way to deal with the mental aspects of running.

This book is wonderful because it gives the reader techniques on how to deal with stress, anxiety, pain, disappointments, setbacks injuries, fatigue etc., all from the MENTAL side. I like how the authors make the connection between mind and body. They focus on the mind first and how the mind can often control the body.

I found MANY useful mental exercises from "breathwatching", visualization, dealing with fatigue and disappointments, learning from mistakes etc., Most importantly, the book focuses on the process of running and self discovery and NOT the result. This book helps novice runners like myself enjoy the process, find our own tools that work for us and realize that it is often mind over matter. This book is a must have for those just starting out "marathoning" or for anyone who just wants to enjoy the mental benefits of running and the pleaseure it gives.

There are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of books on the market about how to train smarter, better, harder, or what have you. Some of them are quite good, and some of them quite bad. However, these books often neglect one of the key aspects of running and that is its mental component. And that's where Running Within: A Guide to Mastering the Body-Mind-Spirit Connection to the Ultimate Training and Racing comes in.

This book is designed for all runners from the novice runner to the elite athlete, and I think everyone who reads it will benefit tremendously. The book is designed to enable the reader to take his or her running to the next level, not only by giving concrete tips to mentally help one race faster, but also by helping one enjoy his or her running more, by exploring running's spiritual side and understanding the reasons we do run. As the authors state in the introduction, "Running Within uniquely presents the reciprocal relationship among the physiological, mental, and spiritual aspects of running performance, and how you can use specific mental exercises and attitudinal shifts in your daily training and racing to great advantage".

Spiritual Running Although many of us run for physical reasons (i.e. to say fit, to lose wait, to get faster, to win races), those of us who truly enjoy running recognize what it does for us mentally. Not only the ability to clear our minds at the end of a tough day, but the ability to explore and learn about ourselves, as we transform preconceived notions about ourselves.

One intent of the book is to connect runners with the spiritual side of running. It wants to help them explore fully the reasons they run. The book explains that often the concrete goals we have in running (i.e. I want to run a certain time in a certain race, be All-State, finish a marathon) are not what give us joy from running. Rather, it's the steps we take along the way to reach these goals that make running so enjoyable. By better understanding our motivations for running, we can not only get more enjoyment out of running, but can learn how to run faster.

Running faster. And the book definitely can helps us run faster. Those who like to say that running is 99% physical are missing the point. Sure we can not run beyond our bodies' limits, or use mental tricks to make up for not training. But often the limits we set upon ourselves are self-imposed limits. One of the greatest things about running is the self discovery and self-confidence that comes from getting our body to do what once seemed impossible.

Running Within has excellent advice on goal setting and the type of goals we should set. It helps us set goals that push beyond our self-imposed barriers, but at the same time makes sure these goals do not end up discouraging us because they are too unreasonable.

But as all runners know, goal setting is not enough because the toughest part of running is the battle of mind versus body during a race or tough workout. No matter what kind of shape we are in physically, there comes a point in a race when our bodies start to feel that they've had enough. As the race or workout progresses, the urges to back off a bit, slow down, or quit altogether grow. If one is able to recognize these urges and overcome them one can come closer to reaching his or her physical potential.

To overcome these urges to quit, Running Within helps its readers come up with the self-confidence necessary to achieve their goals and not give in to the urges to quit. It provides a mental framework on how to approach races and workouts and has many practical strategies for dealing with fatigue, racing, race strategies, and the like.

But all of these things combined would still leave a lot of our potential untapped. For one of the keys to racing fast is a bit paradoxical, and that is to learn to relax. It seems impossible to do, to relax while the body is using all of its resources to struggle. But Running Within teaches us ways to relax while straining, and shows us the tremendous physiological benefits that come from relaxing.

Summary I recommend this book whole heartedly. Most sports psychology books are full of many tips and tricks to help us perform better, but there is often little foundation to tie the things together. Ultimately, these books fail because they are not much more than a list of things to try. This book is different for while it does list many tips that are useful, it only does so after providing a larger framework to tie them together. The overall theme is the "body-mind-spirit" connection of running. With this framework, the book helps us explore the reasons why we run and what we get from our running. Once we have a better understanding of these things or are at least are aware of them, the books builds upon them and very effectively makes us get more from our running (and become better racers if that's our goal).

On a personal note, I credit this book with as being instrumental to my improvement as a runner (my 10k time went from 29:49 to 28:27 in one year). I am intrigued by the mental side of running and knew there was a lot more I could learn. However, at the same time, I've always been very skeptical of a lot of the "pop-psychology" and sports psychology books on the market. This book pleasantly surprised me and should be on the book shelves of all runners.

I am a lover of fantasy and historical fiction. This has been my favorite book this year. It even prompted purchase of the second book in the series.

This trilogy examines the duality of good and evil in the context of the spread of Christianity. Historically accurate and very engaging, you will learn much and have cherished beliefs challenged in an intellectually refreshing story. Good stuff.

This book is brilliant. Although the concepts of magic and myth are fictional, they make complete sense. I came away from this feeling as though I had learned a great deal about the world. The ending dissapointed me though. I want to know about the rest of Pierette's life. This book obviously took a lot of time and patience, and I think that it is definitely worth reading. It is also worth re reading because there are a lot of details that the reader may not pick up the first time.

The nature of magic changes, this novel theorizes, as human beliefs change. First there was matriarchal paganism, then patriarchal paganism, then the coming of Christianity, then reason and science, and each of them affected people's assumptions about how the world works. In medieval Provence, where all of these belief systems co-exist, a worker of magic never knows for sure who or what she will call up when she casts a spell. For some spells don't work anymore, and others work in frightening new ways. And with the rise of Christianity, and the idea that everything is either absolutely good or absolutely evil, the old gods and spirits are in trouble. They meet one of two fates: They either become prim Christian saints, or are subsumed into the figure of Satan. Needless to say, the practice of magic is perilous these days, and a sorceress must always be on her toes.

Enter Pierrette, an intelligent young girl who sees an apocalyptic vision of the future. She can only save the world by training to become a sorceress, and _The Sacred Pool_ is the story of her education. Pierrette must experiment with long-forgotten spells and newfangled science in order to defeat a demon that plagues her sister, and in the long run, to save magic itself from being destroyed.

This book starts out slow, but gets interesting once Pierrette begins her studies. It is thought-provoking and intelligent, and one of the few novels dealing with paganism and Christianity that says anything more profound than that one is "good" and one is "bad" (take your pick which is which; there are plenty of books taking each side). If you like fantasy that makes you think, check out this tale of magic, belief, science, and philosophy.

As a Christian, I was offended by some parts of this book, but that in no way detracts from Douglas' amazing ability both to tell a story and to recreate the past.

I enjoyed accompanying Pierette on her journey through life and regretted parting company when I reached the last page. Sacred Pool is the first book by L. Warren Douglas and I am eager to read others. The author has a rare genius for storytelling, innovative ideas, and obviously knows his history. While the idea that gods and magic depend on humanity's collective belief in them is not a new one, Douglas takes this paradigm to amazing extremes, reality and time itself is mutable and dependent on human perception.

Sacred Pool cannot be categorized as a single genre: it's either a fantasy with elements of science fiction or a sci-fi book that reads like fantasy, its the story of a young woman trying to discover herself and the world, and its a recreation of midevial France so realistic you can almost hear the crashing waves and see the Eagle's Beak in the distance as you read. The book is also filled with the historical origins behind many of the truthes and traditions embraced by today's religions, and though I remain a Christian, Douglas has openned my eyes to many things I had taken for granted.

I recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

Really a very interesting read. Picked this up shortly after Ford died and it was really interesting to see his final thoughts on this most controversial period in American history. The ultimate truth may never be known, but with Ford being the last member of the Warren Commission, this beautiful volume will stand as the last comment on the subject from that committee. Proud to have it in my collection.

This book features many never-before-seen photos from the Kennedy Presidential Library as well as a new introduction from President Gerald Ford. I found this new foreword very fascinating. He went into great detail about many of the misconceptions abou the Warren Commission and was quite candid. He mentioned many names of people who are currently in high offices in the U.S. Government.
The quality of this book is amazing and it tops anything the Easton Press has ever done!

I have this book on my coffee table--it is one of my proudest possessions. Having lived through Watergate's dreadful aftermath, I am glad to see this great President's life-contributions documented in such a beautiful manner. When history handed off to him, Jerry did not drop the ball.

I straddle the fence on whether I believe the lone gunman theory that was the conclusion of the Warren Commission, but there's no equivocation about my admiration for this beautiful leatherbound, gilt-edged edition which includes a new Foreword by President Gerald Ford. Also, while I disagree with Ford's pardoning of Nixon, there's no denying the historical importance of the work he did on the Warren Commission, and it's safe to assume that his new material in this edition will represent his final public thoughts on the JFK assassination.

In September 1964, Chief Justice Earl Warren handed a thick book to President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House. That heavy tome was the final "Warren Commission Report" regarding the investigation into the November 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

The seven-member Warren Commission panel (plus its staff of counsel members and legal staff), in a nearly ten-month probe into the circumstances surrounding the murder of JFK, arrived at a conclusion which has divided America ever since -- they concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald, by himself, had fired all of the bullets that struck down and killed President Kennedy in Dallas, Texas.

A vast majority of people vehemently disagree with these WC findings. I, however, am not a member of that majority. Lee Harvey Oswald was indeed, in my opinion, the sole gunman that day in Dallas. The physical evidence (as well as the circumstantial evidence) that is currently in the official record tells me that Oswald was most certainly the murderer of America's 35th President.

And when virtually ALL of the hard, PHYSICAL evidence in a criminal case leans one way and supports one single conclusion, reaching an opposite conclusion (as most conspiracy theorists have done with respect to the evidence in the JFK case) -- i.e., that Oswald is totally INNOCENT of the two murders he was charged with on 11/22/63 (both JFK's and police officer J.D. Tippit's as well) -- defies all logic and reasoned thinking.

Like most things in life, the John Kennedy murder case can be reduced (in most areas within it) to common sense and the hard, documented physical evidence, and we all know where the latter leads -- right straight into the two guns of one Lee Harvey Oswald (his Mannlicher-Carcano rifle plus his revolver, the latter which was used to kill Officer Tippit). Plus, the "common sense" part of that equation leads directly to Lee Oswald and his weaponry as well. And "common sense" would tell anybody that Oswald is guilty.

I was thinking recently about the following quote by author-attorney-LNer Vincent Bugliosi (I think a lot about his comments, because they make so much "sense" of the "common" variety).....

"Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the assassination of President Kennedy. The evidence is absolutely overwhelming that he carried out the tragic shooting all by himself. In fact, you could throw 80 percent of the evidence against him out the window and there would still be more than enough left to convince any reasonable person of his sole role in the crime." -- Vince Bugliosi

.....And then, just for the sake of illustrating the validity of the above-mentioned statement made by Mr. Bugliosi, I went about the task of tossing out certain pieces of evidence that lead toward Oswald's guilt in both the JFK and Tippit murders.....and I came to the conclusion, after stripping away several "LHO Is Guilty" items, that the following two things prove Lee Harvey Oswald guilty beyond a reasonable doubt (or at least they prove his guilt beyond all of my personal "reasonable doubt")......

1.) Lee Harvey Oswald's rifle was positively the weapon that was used to assassinate President Kennedy and wound Texas Governor John Connally. (With said weapon being found inside the building where Oswald was definitely located at 12:30 PM on November 22, 1963, when both of these men were wounded by rifle fire.)

2.) Oswald was seen carrying a bulky paper package into his place of employment at the Texas School Book Depository Building on the morning of 11/22/63, and Oswald (beyond a reasonable doubt) lied about the contents of this package to a co-worker.*

* = As an extension to #2 above --- We KNOW Oswald lied about the "curtain rods" based on the following:

A.) No "curtain rods" were found anywhere within the Book Depository after the assassination.

B.) Oswald definitely did not carry any package inside his roominghouse at 1026 N. Beckley Avenue when he arrived back home just prior to 1:00 PM on the afternoon of the assassination.

A and B above add up to the inescapable fact that: No "curtain rods" were in that paper package on 11/22/63.

Adding #1 to #2 above, all by themselves, with nothing else in evidence but those items, makes Oswald a guilty assassin.

Now, when you start adding in the wealth of ADDITIONAL physical and circumstantial evidence against Oswald -- his guilt is then proven not beyond just a "reasonable" doubt...but it's proven beyond any SPECK of a doubt.**

** = Things like: Oswald's prints on a paper bag IN THE SNIPER'S NEST; which was a paper bag that perfectly matches the type of bag that co-worker Wesley Frazier said Oswald carried into the Depository building at 8:00 AM on November 22nd. (With a nicely-incriminating "right palmprint" of Oswald's later discovered by the police in the VERY SPOT on that bag which equates PERFECTLY with the precise way Frazier said Oswald carried the bag in his right hand! That's a very important point, IMO, and is undeniably-strong physical evidence of Oswald's guilt.)

Plus there are these additional items: Eyewitness Howard Brennan's positive IDing of Oswald as a gunman in the Sniper's Nest window. .... The Tippit murder that was unquestionably committed by Oswald. .... The fingerprints of Oswald located on the rifle, plus his prints located on multiple boxes DEEP WITHIN THE SNIPER'S NEST. .... Oswald having no verifiable alibi for the precise time when President Kennedy was being gunned down on Elm Street at 12:30 PM on 11/22/63. .... Oswald dashing out of the TSBD at approximately 12:33 PM, just minutes after a U.S. President had been shot within yards of Oswald's workplace. .... And Oswald's other lies he told to the police after his arrest (apart from the obvious large lie re. the curtain rods).

But it all starts with the basic points brought out by #1 and #2 above. The evidence (and Oswald's OWN words and actions) tell a reasonable person that Lee H. Oswald was guilty as ever-lovin' sin of two murders in 1963, and there's nothing any CTer (or anybody else on the planet) can do or say to change that basic of all facts.

The conspiracists will continue to try to set Oswald free, of course, like always. But the more a reasonable person examines the evidence (and applies just a small dose of ordinary common sense to these facts in evidence), the more hollow, shallow, and inept all those pro-conspiracy arguments become.