Western Books

I have really enjoyed this book. One thing I like about it is a daily study with scriptures to back it up. I like to sit and read each morning with a cup of coffee and my bible. I really recommend it as a daily devotional.

This book covers a lot of thoughts and feelings that can be shared with your family, or used as an interactive group study guide.

I would like to give some compliments to this book, I once had a copy, but am now trying to reaquire another. Charles Swindoll has devided his book up into 144 essays so a person can read 3 a week. Some of my favorite essays is called the electronic drug (reference to television) taliking about how TV can be so mind numbing almost like some of the illegal drugs. And the other essay refers to consistency. Charles Swindoll talks about being consistent in daily habits toward toward virtues like kindness, generosity etc. Also choosing to be diligent in working your way to a goal. This book may not be a quick road to wealth, but it can lay the foundation for the use of other wealth building books. I highly recommend it.

Charles Swindoll talks about life and spirituality in a down-to-earth, easy-to-grasp fashion. He shows a keen understanding of the human condition...it's strengths as well as weaknesses. He suggests practical, sometimes fun actiivities after every chapter to start the readers on their way to true, meaningful change. A very helpful guide to daily living....

This book has been a source of both comfort and inspiration to me in my times of need. Feeling depressed? Lonely? He has the answers for you. He talks about things that we experience every day - Expectations, Love, Doubt, Forgiveness, Friendship. A timeless companion...

Once again, hats off to the author for a nice well written and well-translated edition. This book has a lot to offer if you open your mind. You can learn many wonderful things from reading this work, and it's a book that you can refer to everyday of your life. The Hagakure is broken down into many small sections, and passages with a lesson in each of them.

This book covers a wide range of topics such as: how to conduct yourself on a daily basis, to the way you should think, and the way you should view other people. Many examples I learned in my own life are found in this book, and it's nice to see that even though certain things are common sense - you can still read a book like this and receive gratification. Tsunetomo is 100% accurate throughout this book, and you get the feeling like you're receiving words of wisdom through a father figure.

This account shows you how to be a human being full of virtue and magnificent attributes. It conveys many qualities such as: listening to others and not relying solely on your own opinion, when to keep quiet and mind your own business, how to handle power, and knowledge, etc. This book discusses self mastery, loyalty, wisdom, respect, dedication, cowards, men of honor, and much more... Everyone can learn something from these short stories. This paperback is a little treasure, and should be treated as such. I would recommend this as required reading to a younger generation that seems lost in this modern world we live in today...Five Stars across the board...

One of the better translations of a seminal work in bushido.

If you ever feel that you need to second guess and think about what exactly the authors intended to say in the first place when reading translations of a foreign language texts, I can identify with you. I have bought other translations of Hagakure, such as Wilson's translation. I like Wilson's translations because he usually proivdes good introduction and for a while I thought his translations are the standard text, but then I came upon D. E. Tarver's transaltions largely through the positive comments made by other reviewers, especially the one who pointed out that Tarver transalted a section in the Hagakure as "...the way of the warrior is fufilled in death," instead of Wilson's transaltion which reads "...is found in death." I had puzzled what Wilson or Yamamoto Tsunetomo meant when he said that...hmmmmm....a case of inaccurate translation or there is a deeper meaning....hmmmmm

I have to admit when I saw Tarver's picture (a bearded smiling caucasion man in a jacket and white T-shirt) and his background (which is amazing but familiar like other martial artists in the US, like holding many belts ranging in diff style of martial arts) on the back of his book I thought he must be one of those New Age seeking/60s hippie/money lover/Bruce Lee fan again. But to my surprirse his transaltions are really clear and insightful.

I think he is for real. And I am glad I came upon his translation and thanks to that reviewer from Japan who pointed out the differece. The rest of his book is really well translated and for the first time I feel like Yamaoto Tsunetomo began to make more sense, so I think the problems I faced with other translations were indeed a problem of the transaltions not Yamaoto Tsunetomo.

This is just my opinion and I have read many translations of the Asian texts with transaltions or not, so hope this is helpful to you just as I was helped by that japanese REVIEWER...and sorry if I offend anyone with my stereotype of "bearded smiling caucasion man in a jacket and white T-shirt".....you know.....anyway

This translation of the book is the only one I will ever need. Sensai Tarver is a man of skill and kindness. He and I have shared correspondance and he has pointed me in the direction of finding a Ken Jitsu teacher. If you stumble apon his website MAKE SURE to take a moment and leave him a kind comment it will make him very pleased to see is work is appreciated!

Critical reading for anyone passionate about the martial arts. This book focuses on the ethical: compassion, honor, class, style, loyalty, grace and self sacrafice of the Samurai. At the same time "empty mind", controling a situation without thought, but with quick and deadly action. No tought of self. Budo. Filled with the ideology of lives lived in historic times, with drastic measures, suicidal to homicidal, that could never be accepted in MOST these 21st century cultures despite the justifications fo those acient WAYS. This awesome book is not only a non-stop read through, it's a glimpse into the past of a lifestyle that could offer remedies to many modern day issues.

Semper Fi and see U on da Mat uke...

Although a philosophical work, I found this book immensely stimulating and made me want to read more and more. Its gradual development of the concepts, its clear and essential interpretation of the Greek philosophers' sayings, along with its references to their works helps the reader to achieve a great deal of understanding. To sum up, the references to the Greek philosophical terms, which are very well interpreted, make the book an illuminating and useful guide for any student of philosophy.

This little 'Handbook of Greek Philosophy' introduces the reader to all those authors who have become a staple of any history of European philosophy: Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Democritus, the Sophists, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, and the Stoics.

The author had the good idea to devote nearly half of the pages to the Pre-Socratics from Thales to Democritus. As a result of this, much of what we know from Plato becomes better understandable, and besides this reader's awareness of the wealth of thoughts debated before the rise of Socrates is much heightened.

The term 'handbook' is a bit misleading, since this is not a magisterial work bringing several pounds of heavy scholarship onto your desk. It is more aptly called 'a first guide to the origins of European philosophy for the uninitiated.' However, this should not devalue the book. The book radiates the charm of old diaries and notebooks. There are many valuable nuggets strewn throughout the text, so one gets hooked and reads on.

There are some minor technical weaknesses. Readers looking for a synoptic vision which puts all things in their proper context and builds a grandiose web of cross references will be disappointed. But the bottom-line is: Read this book and you will have not wasted your time but on the contrary gained a strong feeling of what philosophy is all about and how the Greeks did it.

From the countless citations an intense feeling of immediacy develops, of being near to the sources from where philosophy once sprang like from a well of fresh water. What looks like a weakness turns out to be a strength: The author is not standing in the way of getting at the sources of original insight but makes you go there yourself.

I have to admit that I am no specialist on Greek philosophy, while the author seems to be. Thus I cannot evaluate the quality of the selections. But this does not change my evaluation as a reader that the book deserves close reading and will repay study.

Because there remains much to be improved in technicalities as is cross-referencing and index etc. I gave only 4 stars this time.

Finally I found the right book, which helped me to understand the main concepts of ancient Greek philosophy.

I am a student of philosophy and I have had many difficulties in understanding the Greek philosophical terms and concepts. This book with its countless citations enabled me to understand all these terms like logos, phronesis, doxa, episteme, nous, eudaimonia etc. Due to its essential reference to the most of the Presocratics I could finally grasp the metaphysical and epistemological concepts of Plato and Aristotle. The author does not only show the way to discover the Greek wisdom through the innumerable fragments, but he also helps the student to do a further research into the enormous work of Plato and Aristotle, since he quotes the references of their work related to certain topics.
Really amazing and helpful work!!

I find most of the reviews really enlightening on the qualities of the book; so to say ` an excellent guide and interpretation of Greek philosophy and not a mere collection of translated texts of the Greek thinkers'. However, I would not agree with such a discriminating proposal as `to rewrite the book in native speaking English', unless we mean to suggest that Leibniz and Beckett's excellent writings in French and Wittgenstein's works in English should be rewritten by a native language speaking person.

The author, by developing progressively the concepts and due to his brilliant interpretation of the different philosophical schools of thought, leads the reader to gradual comprehension of the Greek philosophical conceptions. The `Doric' style of the language (poor), following the Greek philosophical tradition, does not interfere with the reader's understanding, but on the contrary develops a feeling of immediacy and prompts the student to go on and to search through the original writings of the philosophers by himself. All that makes the book valuable as a guide and introduction to Greek philosophy, because it increases the reader's awareness of philosophical questions and consequently it is getting more people interested in philosophy.

A very good read!

The storyline was great and the characters are believeable. None of the John Wayne stuff, just real characters who get hurt, tired and hungry.

Quick Charlie Sims, while a con man, is a likeable fellow and I hope he shows up in future books.

Ralph Cotton has proven that, once again, he's the best!

This is not a typical western novel full of typical western characters. It is an original and well thought out piece of work, written by a gifted story teller. The excitement is electric and humoruos. If this is the first in a series, I can't wait for the next one.

I have read six books by Ralph Cotton. All have been good. I think I like the series that starts with Montana Red better. This one gets a little out of the west with the trip to Chicago and a regular police force. Sullivan Hart and Twojack Roth are federal deputies hunting JT Priest and his coharts. They have killed Hart's father, who was also a deputy. They track him across the country to Chicago. They are helped by Quick Charlie Sims who is accused of robbing a bank, but it was robbed by Priest. Quick Charlie is a good character I hope he is used again. The last few pages are very good as Mabrey, another outlaw, in with Priest, is taken care of by Quick Charlie. Really like the westerns I read to be more set in the west. However, Cotton is very good and it makes for an interesting read.

Author Ralph Cotton puts America's Western Heritage in prospective with another new series. He has again developed believable characters. Charlie Sims rates high among my favorite Cotton's characters... Don't want to spoil a great story. It's worth a read... Bought and had it finished in two days... Simply couldn't put it down... A great tale filled with action and adventure...

I brought this book home and read it straight through. This is the kind of story you can get carried away by. There is not a wasted minute without action. The writer knows how to make things funny and serious at the same time. Judge Parker and his two marshals are more real and tough then any I've seen in a long time. Charlie Sims and his girlfriend would make a big hit tv series. I also brought home three other books by this writer and read all of one before my wife took it and started it herself. I now am reading another one. So far they are all this good! We are both fans now.

I found this book to be a tremendously informative "quick look" guide that cross references natural and artificial flies on western streams. Its text and color photos are excellent guides to both stream and stillwater entomology.

I've found this book to be quite useful when on the river. It displays the different stages of an insects life with images, details including behavior, habitat and seasons, and recommended fly alternatives. I've been able to locate insects that I've seen buzzing around my head, select the correct fly according to the book, and have the fish start hitting. The size is quite comfortable to tuck away in a spare vest pocket and thumb through while standing in a stream. This is a definite must for the western fly fisherman who is still learning to identify insects.

I have had this little book for a few years, in addition to my collection of other fly pattern and aquatic insect books -- if you only need one book this it. I keep going back to the Hatch Guide for Western Streams since it is clear, concise, yet has plenty of useful information. Not only on which bugs to look for, and how to tie them, but also on where in the water to find them and the types of water they like. Reading, or comfortably skimming through this book will definetly help your trout fishing. I like it so much I am looking to buy a second copy, hopefully a waterproof paper version that I believe is still in print? This is a GREAT little book with accurate information and good tips. Think of it as a fly pattern book, an insect book, and a fly-fishing methodology/presentation book -- all topics covered perfectly and in a nice little package. The spiral bound version is nice when tying with the book open.

It's size and full color pictures for the most popular hatches in the west are perfect.Without a doubt this book is something to be treasured. Jim has packed so much experience and knowledge into it, it's really a bargain. A simply approach to the sport and a pleasure to read on the stream. What a great book!!

I carry this little jewel with me everytime I fish. The color photos are a real boon when trying to match the indigenous insect to its name. I would recommend this book to any flyfisherman/woman, and anyone interested in entomology. Jim Scholmeyer is unsurpassed in his skill as a photographer. Tight Lines!

Another wonderful story by Debbie Macomber. She is such a talented author and always has a great story to tell. I thought the first two volumes were just a little better than this one.

I really enjoy the Heart of Texas books. Finally in Vol. 3, the mystery of the ghost town, Bitter End, is solved. All through Vol. 1 and 2 the mystery of Bitter End continued so it was great to find out what the problem was.

I could not wait for this book to be delivered after reading the first two in the series and I was not disappointed. Debbie Macomber books are easy reading and the characters are so real that you do not want to put it down. The twists she puts in are good but not too "out there". If you have read the first two Hearts of Texas books you should definitely read this one. But if you have not read the other two and just "pick" this one up she will fill in the blanks during the story so you will not be lost as to how these events came to pass. If easy reading is what you are after, this is the book for you and the author as well.

This series is wonderful. I can't wait until her next one comes out in September. NICE CLEAN READING!!!!

I love Macomber's stories about real people with individual attitudes and personalities--people we would like as friends. She never disappoints with her themes of friendship, hope, personal growth, and always happy endings. Thankfully, her stories and characters are so engrossing she has no need to "spice up" her books with unwelcome intimate details. I recommend this book along with a non-fiction one -- THE 3:00 PM SECRET: Live Slim and Strong, Live Your Dreams, which has motivated me to get in shape and reclaim my life so I can be like one of Debbie's heroines.

This book is awesome! I beleive that Texas Angel is better but
This book is to great to put down.I love the fact that Judith Pella didn't end the Fued between Micha and his father.Even though we feel sorry for Micha.We also hate his stubborness at times.Especially when almost throws away the best thing in his life because she's mexican but we still love the story. I personally believe that Texas Angel+ Heavens road should be made into a movie. But no adding or removing from the book.And no Unnessary scenes about Elise being a slave Prostuite.
Thanks for a great books Judith Pella!

There were several places in the book where I would have liked to knock some sense into Micah Sinclair for his stubbornness. His father and stepmother, Benjamin and Elise, are minor characters in the story, whereas a trail guide in "Texas Angel," a minor character in that book, is now a Texas Ranger and saves Micah's neck more than once, especially when he is sentenced to be executed as a horse thief.

Micah takes several years to finally forgive his father for the past, and to overlook the fact that the lady who loves him (despite her father's misgivings) is half-Mexican. The ending seems rather hurried to me, as though a whole year is suddenly thrown into the last 2 chapters and leaves you wondering, "what were these people doing since the the previous chapter?"

This was A wonderful sequel to Texas Road.Micha Sinclair played a man still furious at his father for Killing his mother.But he found a way to love again.There were many times I grew so angry at him.I mean he almost through the best thing in his life away because she was mexican. Silly boy. But all in all it was a great book.I think I liked Texas Angel better. I also beleive that Texas angel and Heavens Road should be made into a movie.But no adding or removing from the book. And no specifics on Elise Job in Texas Angel. Thanks!

Again and again, Pella shows her talent for creating flawed characters that have to learn the hard way. Micah is a perfect example of this, as he struggles with hate and anger and must learn both how to accept love and how to return it. Though I was expecting Book Two to be a continuation of Elise's story, I'm now glad that this one focuses instead on Micah, who has matured from a bitter and confused fourteen-year-old (see "Texas Angel") to an angry twenty-two-year-old with an agenda for revenge. Though this novel can be read alone, the depth of Micah's feelings cannot fully be appreciated unless one has read the prequel. I must again salute Ms. Pella's skill as she creates people that "just happen" to meet and are changed forever in 300 pages. As always, secondary characters do not disappoint, and the main plot sweeps us off our feet and carries us to 1830's Texas for an unforgettable tale of hate and love, sorrow and joy, tragic darkness and sweet light.

Taking up a few years after "Texas Angel" ended, "Heaven's Road" features preacher Benjamin Sinclair's oldest son Micah, who is still a teenager and estranged from the father he hates. Micah has fought a war and desperados and has seen death too many times. He now finds himself in less than desirable company.

Alone except for his outlaw friends, he is sentenced to be executed, but his life takes a surprising direction, due to the fact he is so young and the intervention of a dear, old friend. Micah is forced to choose between hanging and serving as a Texas ranger, on the other side of the law.

There are several things which Micah hates violently, most notably his father, religion, and Mexicans for their part in the slaughter of his beloved Uncle Haden.

It is his hate which seems to drive him and keep him alive. All that changes when he meets young, beautiful Lucie Maccullum, whom he is determined he will NOT love, will never be beholden to, and will never, never allow to change him or tame him.

Micah's loyalties are torn forever at the discovery of who Lucie really is, who it is that leads the notorious, dangerous Mexican fighting men, and who and what his father has become in his absence.

Truly a cliff hanger, as well as a tender, religious fiction love story, and one which covers politics, history, and family relationships.

I sincerely hope and trust that Judith Pella is planning book #3 and soon! This book really deserves more stars than the 5 allowed on this site!

Enjoyable to read and to listen to, with the added bonus of learning about body parts.

We started reading to my daughter when she was 2 months old. By three months she'd sorta figured out to actually look at the books while we were reading and was showing preferences (some got her wiggly and excited, some did not). She's 4 months now and this is probably her very favorite book. The two-page pictures are adorable, the rhyme is catchy, and body parts are one of the very few things in life she can relate to. I touch the matching body part (hands, feet, head, neck, and so on) as I read and she stares at the book as if greatly interested and wiggles and babbles when I touch the body part in question. There aren't many books for really little babies but this one does just fine. (I also highly recommend "Snail" by Fiona Watt and "Everyone's Sleepy" by Ed Vere.)

Somehow, my 14-month-old started identifying several of her own physical features (including "neck"!) by close approximations of their names after only 3 or 4 nights of reading this book before bed. Very shortly after, she started pointing out the same features in pictures of animals and people around the house. The illustrations are crystal clear in their intent, with only the last two pages presenting any difficulty (one covers elbow, arm and chin in one breath, and the other is for skin, which I imagine is tough to illustrate). I would recommend this book to anyone teaching the easy body parts to her/his child.

This book was a gift and will be a gift for others from us. It taught my 1 year old through it's wonderful sing song rhyme to it's beautifully colorful illustrations, her body parts in two days. She brings it to me and can't read it enough. We highly recommend this for any age.

I'm buying a copy of this book for my new nephew. My son has loved this book since he was 6 or 7 months old and now, at 14 months, he still smiles when he sees us pick it up. The illustrations are realistic enough to keep his attention and the rhyming text is short and sweet. I'd also recommend another Bill Martin Jr book for older kids, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. It's an alphabet book that my 4 1/2 year old loves. Weeks after her teacher read it at school, my daughter is still talking about it. We're buying a copy of that too.

I've been down part of the Colorado from Diamond Creek to Lake Mead but have never had the means or opportunity to see the rest at water's edge. Ed Abbey's text and John Blaustein's photos take me on a vicarious trip that brings back all the excitement of white water and the awsome experience of gazing up and up at the canyon's walls that many only view from the rim. It's a different canyon down there and a river journey allows me to see it all and remember the feel of ancient schist and the plaintive song of the canyon wren. It's a book to read and look at again and again even if you can never visit or revisit the river itself.

As a person how recently did a two week raft trip down the Grand Canyon, I can say that this book visually caputures the essence of the experience! The pictures are wonderful. I have recommended it to my rafting friends as well as some Grand Canyon river guides.

Having done the Colorado in a private raft, The Hidden Canyon absolutely thrilled me - again - as much with its elegant pictures as with Edward Abbey's flat-out-fun narration.

Having rafted the Colorado myself 2 years ago, this was a perfect souvenir-reminder of my trip. The photos in particular are exquisite - some I have no idea how he managed to capture without ending up in the river himself. I lost my Pentax to the very first rapid! This book definitely gives a sense of what the Canyon, the river, and the rapids are like. Makes me want to go back!

I have traveled through the Grand Canyon many times, both on the river and on the trails. John Blaustein has not only been able to capture the beauty of the canyon but also the soul of the river it contains. Abbey's journal is a fine compliment to the pulchritude of the pictures.

Every once and awhile a reader is forturnate to come by a book that might seem uninteresting but upon reading it finds it to be one of the best books ever. Such is HOLDING STONE HANDS which I bought several years back from University of Nebraska as one of their sale books. Turned out to have been one of the wiser buys of my time.

One of the very first things that struck me as I began this book was the flat out courage it would take to do what the author has done. Leave home, leave safety, walk upwards of 1500 miles, live, eat, and sleep out of doors much of the time. Another thing that quickly came to me was the interest people, mostly Cheyenne, still held for this historical happening. And they wanted to aid the author in his quest.

I have read some on this subject but things such as the Northern Cheyenne life coming to an abrupt end in December, 1876, was a surprise. Also that Lone Wolf's name was not that but 'Lone Coyote', or that Dull Knife's name was not that but 'Morning Star'. Also that both of these heroic and historic personages of the Northern Cheyenne, each in his own way, ended life mostly an outcast. Remembered today, yes, but only in a tempered way. Many still find fault with some decisions Dull Knife made. And with Lone Wolf murdering a fellow tribesman, his later life of blindness and isolation had to be very unrewarding.

No matter the reason for reading this wonderful book, a reader has struck a true classic of western history. And the main thrust of the book goes beyond history to be one of mission and people. Great reading as usual from University of Nebraska Press.

Semper Fi.

As my title states, this is a very powerful book. Mr. Boye walked the trail that the Cheyennes travelled in their tragic journey to get back home (from Oklahoma to Montana). Along the way the author meets up with two Cheyenne men who travel with him for the better part of the journey. When they leave he meets a mid-20s Japanese man who travels with him for a while. Why is this Japanese man touring the American West? Read the book to find out. Despite my praise for this book, my rating is a 4.5 out of 5. Why? I will give two examples (not that there are many more):
1 - On p. 225 he states that hundreds of Indians were killed at the Battle of the Blue Water (the number was about 86 and his own source--Utley, Frontiersmen in Blue--states 85).
2 - Following Little Wolf's capture his followers shortly after became scouts for General Miles to fight the Sioux. Boye only mentions his surrender. He should have gone on to include this important detail.

Having said that, the book is still a very good read and I really enjoyed his journey and his dramatic retelling of the Cheyennes' escape from Fort Robinson. I would like to know more about the film made by some Cheyenne's as mentioned in the book. Final verdict: Recommended.

I'm not much for history as it is taught in our schools, but this book is great. It is a perfect blend of history, present day (in the form of the author's trip), and thoughts and stories from the author's personal life.

I recommend this tome to anyone that likes travel stories. Especially if you dont know, or want to know more about, the Cheyenne Exodus. Expensive, but worth the money.

This is a story of heartache and strength, of hope and struggle...it is the story of a man's love of the land and a people's fight to keep their homeland. Boye is a gifted and talented writer whose words flow as he leads us from page to page, back into the past and then gently into the present. He is a writer that truly cares about his story and the people that inhabit it. He opens his heart and the words come tumbling out. A wonderful MUST READ for all nature lovers and history buffs.

This is a magical walk through a dark time in American History...Alan's own experiences are so materfully intertwined with history on this voyage, the past truly comes alive as you feel every step and face every fear. With each step, with every encounter along the way, you can feel the ghosts of the Cheyenne people walking in your own shadow. Make no mistake, HOLDING STONE HANDS is a Masterpiece...you'll feel the pain of endless walking, the anger for what the Cheyenne people were forced to endure, and the sorrow for the pointless death as they tried to make their way to the only land they would ever call home.