Authors Books

This is an ageless book on what every person who wants to be successful needs to model. My wife's Uncle, who was highly successful in his time as an executive, gave this book as a graduation gift to every loved one he knew. You just can't lose with such ageless advice.

I can't believe I am 50 and never heard of this book until a co-worker loaned it to me. What a great gift! Who wants to do unimportant and uninteresting things? On a dare, anyone can practice his Four-Fold Development/Four Square Living. Make your checker, sign your name inside and draw the words around it:
Stand Tall
Think Tall
Smile Tall
Live Tall
Or: Play, work, love and worship. Body, brain, heart, soul.
I'll never walk in the shade again. He says the warmth and power of the sun enters your system. Its rays give your face a glow and you reflect sunshine to others.

This I DARE YOU (MP3 CD) version will NOT PLAY ON A CD PLAYER. IT ONLY PLAYS on a computer.
I was a little disappointed since I purchased it to play in the car and on a portable cd player. It only plays on the computer disk player. I'll have to download it myself to an audio MP3 format. It must have been recorded as a DATA file. The narrator is a little momo-toned and I was very surprised that I zoned out on a self-help type CD. There are 14 chapters that run anywhere from 2 minutes 16 seconds to 26 minutes 14 seconds. Some are short, most are average 5-10 minutes.

The "I Dare You plan," first published in 1938 for the young and young at heart, is brightly authored by William H. Danforth, founder of the Purina Company. Written in scoutmaster style, this little gem will have you saluting to adventure. It is precise, simple, and uplifting.

"That is the first principle that I want thoroughly to fix in your mind--that life is a four-sided affair--that your daring program is going to lead you into physical adventures, mental adventures, social adventures, spiritual adventures. You have not one, but four lives to live--a four-fold opportunity to grow. A body, a brain, a heart, and a soul--these are our living tools. To use them is not a task. It is a golden opportunity. To find new capacities within you is not robbing you of any pleasure. It is bringing new treasures into every waking hour. It is helping you touch life at all angles, absorb strength from all contacts, pour out power on all fronts." Danforth adds "How dare you have within yourself these four-fold capacities and not use them?"

Like to be riveted into action? This book will do it. You will also feel rather selfish after the first reading (for witholding your dynamite). Go over it again several times. Mine is highlighted at every point (and there are many). I suggest you study I Dare You! along with the vintage movie "Fighting Father Dunne" (1948).

As one of the other reviewers noted, I too read this original book from my father's library when I was [...], in the 50s. Although almost forgotten, when I was writing articles on leadership, I realized this may have been the single most important book I had read...and used throughout life, becoming a leader in every...yes every...organization I belonged to, from high school Senior class President, college fraternity President, Band president(s), VP-Pres. elect of a national association, President of a state-wide organization, to Editor of a writers Quarterly and business owner. Now at 71, and looking back, "I Dare You" is quite possibly the only book necessary for directions in life. It's not about "success" or "money," it's about being your best and being the best FOR everyone around you.

This is one of the bases for the movie "Wonderland" but reading this book will creep you out on J.M.Barrie. You might never really like Peter Pan again. Author had access to his papers, letter, diaries etc. Very weird stuff.

I read this book over 15 years ago in an attempt to find out who the author of Peter Pan really was, and what his life was like. It was not a pleasant or easy read. I wanted to forget all about it and just have the enchantment of "Peter Pan," but as with the real life of the author and photographer of "Alice in Wonderland," the truth can wound deeply. But lies and half-truths can never reveal the relationship between biography and art, so one must often face much disturbing information in order to understand the art itself. This is not to say that art is reducible to biography; it is not. There is, nevertheless, a kind of dialectic (God, I do hate to sound so gawdawful jargony, but when it so plain, other words just do not work) between the life of a genius and the art of the same individual. The truth of art can only come from the struggle between an artist's vision and the life that made such a vision a necessity. Yes, a necessity: there are those artists whose lives were so fraught with sheer catastrophe that revelation through a skewed fantasy can be so powerful as to take on a "life" of its own. And this is why it is so grievous to "paint-over" the unpleasant details of such a life. There was a recent film with an appropriately disturbing title: in the attempt to not really "find" Neverland in Barrie's life, the art itself is drained of its truly tragic roots. At the time such "nice" little fantasies are presented, they seem so harmless, but they are not. Successful attempts to eradicate truth can also eradicate the depth of the art itself. "Neverland" is a word that begs a little attention: a land where children "never grow up." This is not to say that they physically die - no - instead they live their lives, as did Barrie, in a desolate, lifeless, and desperately lonely "land" and try, from within their internal isolation, to bring others along for the rides to nowhere and "never." Where else could such a person bring another? If one lives in "Neverland" of the mind, there is nowhere else to lead another - nowhere else to go. And if we do not face unpleasant truths as they are revealed in the crucible where life and art meet, we learn nothing further from the art. It is better, actually, to know nothing of an artist's life than to be fed untruths. I would suggest the readers either read this book and/or see Peter Pan, but would urge them *not* to see Peter Pan after experiencing a false represenation - no matter how "well-performed" the falsehood is presented. The play or story would be meaningless. The truths, whatever you choose to make of them are here in this book, like it or not. And once the genie is out of the bottle (such as when you have been fed a disingenuous Hollywood film or other disingenuous account), to refrain from the truths of an artist's life is a violation of the art. No one can any longer understand or be truly moved by Peter Pan, much less try to interpret it based upon a sugar-coated Hollywood paint-job. And the effect goes on: if other artists were inspired by Barrie's work (perhaps because it touched the nerves of their own catastrophic lives), and all we have is a candy-coated film, their art and whatever in their lives might have inpired their interest in Barrie's work is also distorted. I do not know if truth sets anyone "free," but I do know that untruths distort and harm. And then the distortion goes on . . . This book cuts deep, but struggles for truths, which is what a biography of an artistic genius should try very hard to do.

Having found this little book before the advent of the film "Finding Neverland" I was able to read it originally without comparing it to the film, always a good thing. The film, of course, changed much of the true story as films usually do. This book standing alone as far better, but note, it is not a happy story with a happy ending, it is a tragedy, and no one is left unscathed.
The photographs, almost all, were taken by Barrie himself, and are absolutely wonderful. He had a natural artistic sense, and his unposed photos of the five Llewelyn Davies boys, Michael, George, Peter, Jack, and Nico at their play, stay with you. They are dressed in the Edwardian clothes of the time, or in costumes they wore in the elaborate make-believe games they played with their childlike grownup friend Mr Barrie, and those are truly memorable in themselves. Often they are playing with J.M. Barrie's large dog, and one can't help but think of the big dog, Nanna, in Peter Pan, it's acutally quite eerie, seeing that the play "Peter Pan" itself wouldn't be written yet for years.
J.M. Barrie came from a lower class Scottish family, and in childhood lost an older brother to illness. His mother took to her bed griefstricken, for a long period, and once, trying to cheer her, young Barrie put on the older brother's clothes and went to see his mother. For just a moment she thought it was the older brother, and he seemed to see happiness in her eyes; for all his life, the message stayed with him, the boy who would never grow up was the loved boy.
He was a strange, brilliant, gentle, childlike man. Highly regarded in his own time, considered a great playwright, equivilent to George Barnard Shaw in his day; and very prosperous due to his books and plays, married, but childless, and probably not very happy in his marriage which would end in divorce, one day in Kensington Park he saw one of the five young Llewelyn Davies brothers. They struck up a friendship, based on Barrie being quite willing to talk to a child on the child's level. Soon after, he met the rest of the family, who were impressed to meet the famous playwright. Their family was also upper class, well to do, but would soon lose their father to cancer, they would thenceforth be in precarious financial straits. Barrie immediately became a combination father/ big brother to the boys. He also became close friends with their mother Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, but not, I suspect, to the degree the movie implies. It was all about the boys, their innocence, and something he wished to capture and hold on to. His obsessive photography of them makes that clear.
Tragedy struck again, unbelievably, when their mother died of cancer as well, at a young age, after a relatively brief illness. By then Barrie was such a part of their lives that his continued influence, and the benefit of his money in seeing to it that all five boys finished school in the manner befitting their "class", was accepted by the boys' extended family. He stayed involved in all their lives indefinitely, though it is interesting that he had his favorites, and the two who were not favorites resented and disliked him as they grew older.
The book stops with the boys' growing up, though he did stay involved with them as a surrogate parent. Tragedy did hound the family, but unlike some reviewers I am not sure that it can be blamed on JM Barrie's role in their lives. In fact, without him, financially they would have far worse off.
It is true the boy named Peter resented that the play was named "Peter Pan", and of course he was teased at school, and Barrie probably should have thought of that. (Of course without Barrie he most likely wouldn't have been at Eton to be teased.)
Two footnotes: all the proceeds of the play went to the Children's Hospital in London for 100 years, until recently with the 100 years anniversary, the copyright ran out, and now it is in the public domain. No proceeds of his biggest success ever went to Barrie.
Also, the girl's name: "Wendy", was first used in the play. It was an unknown name before that. Barrie used it in memory of a young daughter of a friend who was named Wendy, and who died at age 5. (Not known where that family got the name from, or if it was a nickname.) It was not a name known previously and "Peter Pan" popularized it.
Its an excellent book, an opening via the photographs into another long-gone time, a sad story, but not I believe, due to Barrie. I believe he meant well, and tried his best to be a friend to that unfortunate family. He had his demons as do we all, but to "love" children, in that era, to befriend them, and even play with them when they were pre-teens, could still occur without any implication of perversity; and even to sleep with a child, the concern of one reviewer, was, at the end of the Victorian world, seen as a pure and innocent act, like a parent and child might sleep together...I think it is hard for us in our cynical age to see things as the late Victorians/Edwardians did. No whisper of scandal or of anything improper ever came from any of the five boys, their family, servants, or anyone else connected with them; and I think had there been it certainly would have come to light. I believe he truly loved the boys, and they in turn, after he knew them several years, and had observed their play and their natural talk and style, influenced him to write his masterpiece "Peter Pan".

I found this book to be a well-researched and moving account of not only Barrie's life but also the lives and deaths of the original "Lost Boys". After reading this book, I read Peter Pan again in a whole new light and enjoyed it even more. I think reading this book is essential in order to fully appreciate the entire Peter Pan experience as it truly helps to bring the characters alive.

Prompted by the movie "Finding Neverland" I wanted to learn more about the Davies family and their relationship with Barrie. My research lead me to this book. The tragic story of the boys and Barrie was an eye opening read. Birkin is an artful weaver of ancedotes, interviews and history. While I was reading the book I got lost.I started feeling like I was an intimate friend of the families, instead of curious observer. Furthermore, Birkin's website has been updated with more pictures and media files. The website coupled with the book really saturates you into the life of the 5 boys and the mindof the man who loved them very much. A beautiful account of a flawed and tragic life.

James Lee Burke is a master at descriptions be they of surroundings or feelings.

This book is a collection of short stories with a range of situations that people can be faced with and told by a master craftsman in describing how those people felt.

There are no easy answers in these stories and no fanciful scenarios, the stories have a realistic feel of hope combatting hopelessness. The strength of the human spirit is dominant in these stories and Burke is a writer who should be read.

James Lee Burke has us all under the microscope, focusing in our phobias, fears, loves, hates, joys, strengths, weaknesses, intelligence, and self inflicted stupidities- all on the slides of the human condition.
If there is a horse race for truely talented writers then this collection (like his novels)clearly demonstrates that Burke is a front runner.

It takes a slightly different set of skills to write a short story instead of a novel. The former is not just a miniature version of the latter; it has its own structure and style. James Lee Burke is a great novelist, but that does not mean necessarily that his short stories would be equally great. And the truth is, they're not, but they are still pretty good, at least based on the sampling provided in Jesus Out To Sea.

This book is a collection of eleven short stories published between 1992 and 2007. For the most part, the tales take place in the South and involve characters from the wrong side of the tracks. The major exceptions are "Winter Light" and "A Season of Regret", two similar stories about retired, middle class professors dealing with violent people. Most of the other stories are in Dave Robicheaux territory: people struggling to get by in a region filled with poverty, drugs and just plain viciousness.

These are not really crime stories, even though there is plenty of crime within. Instead, they are more slice-of-life stories that are more character than plot driven. Typically, the main characters are being crushed by the circumstances of their lives, usually only finding escape in drugs and alcohol. For example, in Mist, Lisa Guillory first suffers the death of her soldier husband in Iraq and then descends into an increasingly sordid life, one in which she will be forced into chemical addiction and crime.

Over the fifteen year span in which Burke wrote these stories, he also published over a dozen novels, so obviously short stories are not his principal form of writing. The Jesus Out To Sea stories do all have Burke's distinct voice with his powerfully descriptive imagery. What they don't have is quite the depth of his longer works. With the stories averaging just over twenty pages (and none over forty pages), this is a quick, well-written read that should satisfy Burke's fans.

very entertaining. Each story is well written, any of which could have been expanded into a full book.

Some short stories are mini-novels, expandable into something larger, like Boswell's 'portable' or (as we would say) condensed soup. Others are like poems--demarcated slices of life. The stories in Jesus Out to Sea are like the latter, though two of them have actually found their way into Burke's novels, A Stained White Radiance and Burning Angel. The title and cover art suggest that these are post-Katrina stories; several are, but others are set in Houston and Montana and several are set many decades ago. The overarching tone is somber and sad--winter stories of the spirit. One reviewer said that they are cut from Dave Robicheaux's world but without Dave there to bring justice or, at least, resolution. That is a fair description, though there are glimmers of hope. All are beautifully wrought and the collection is highly recommended.

The Goring Collection
The writer, Anna Matteo settled into her workstation, cup of coffee and her Muse Amy Tan watching over her. But Anna didn't write that day of the next.
Time passes, several days and nights and the Muse gently says, `Time to write' over and over.
Finally it begins in fits and starts. Newmanuscript.doc has grown to 41 pages.
Another morning as Anna touched the keyboard an Ouiji effect moved her fingers and suddenly her father's name, Paul Matteo materialized on the screen.
Date November 10, 1995.
Anna followed all the words until she was stopped by the phrase.
Paul Matteo murdered in 1976.
She was reading from a lawyer's brief that spelled out the fact that her father was a gangster, working at the edge of the mob.
Anna loved her, always meticulously dressed, father, her hero. The little girl was so proud when she rode inside the big shiny car and was introduced to her father's friends on her birthday.
So the grownup Anna Ouiji's her way through the brief and into stark reality. She learns all about her father while at the same time holding on to the love she knew through the eyes of a little girl.
But the grownup Anna wanted to know more and from that day forward she took brushes and pallet and began Painting the Invisible Man.
Rita Schiano leads us through a family in distress mother, brother, aunts, uncles and cousins all with some degree of guilt or shame. There was only one exception - a little girl that held onto her own truth and love for her father.
Here's fiction that feels like nonfiction.

www.tombarnes39.com

www.RocktheTower.com

I was drawn in to this story, and couldn't put it down until it came to a conclusion. The author's style is natural and flowing. I loved the insights into a writer's methods. One side of my family is Italian so I could easily relate to the family relationships portrayed in this book. I plan to read "Painting the Invisible Man" again, for the courage to research a death in my own family history, a death that still has many unanswered questions around it.

Rita Schiano's Painting The Invisible Man tells the story of growing up in a family connected to the mafia. What is different about this story is the recollection as an adult the experiences of a childhood that was anything but normal. The book brings the main character to a depth of understanding about her father, showing a range of emotions that ultimately leads to forgiveness.
This book is both entertaining and thought provoking. Recommended to all, especially those of you who like mysteries.

This is a must read! I'm normally only a "mystery / who done it" type of reader, but I found this book to have it's own intrigue of mystery. It was hard for me to put it down. I would highly recommend this book.

Painting the Invisible Man by Rita Schiano is a story about the resilience of a young girl in dealing with her Italian family that is caught up in the world of organized crime. She repeatedly demonstrates flexibility and optimism in making the changes that she feels she must make to honor her commitment and bond to her parents and family. She is a master of dealing with adversity and bouncing back. As a young woman, the main character with courage shows us that it is never too late to go back and put closure on the past. The story is well written. The characters have depth. It is suspenseful and a page turner. I would enjoy seeing it used as a tool to teach these skills and attitudes
- Ron Breazeale Ph.D.
clinical psychologist and author of Reaching Home

If there's one thing Bertie Wooster should never do, it's make elaborate plans to bring estranged lovebirds back together.

And he demonstrates just why in the second full-length Jeeves novel, a screwball disaster saga that sees Bertie confidently trying to fix people's lives. Of course, things go horribly wrong, and Wodehouse's arch, nutty look at what happens next is an absolute gem.

When Aunt Dahlia summons him to Brinkley Court for a prizegiving, Bertie sends his newt-fancying friend Gussie instead -- especially since Gussie is enamoured of a girl staying there, the soppy Madeleine Bassett. But when Bertie hears that his cousin Angela has broken off her engagement to Tuppy Glossop -- and his aunt is in need of money -- he rushes down to assist all his relatives and pals by advising them to feign such sorrow that they're unable to eat.

Unfortunately his plan falls through, and they manages to enrage the cook Anatole to the point where he storms out. Even worse, the prize-giving is a disaster and the wrong people end up engaged -- and pursued by homicidally angry exes. Only Jeeves' formidable brain can somehow save the day -- and Bertie's behind.

P.G. Wodehouse made a pretty good living off of spoofing the upper crust of England, and the subtlely intlligent servants who bail them out. "Right Ho Jeeves" is a prime example of his writing -- some small mistakes rapidly balloon out into a crazy tangled mess, which only an intelligent manservant can rescue Bertie from.

Much of the book's charm comes from its complex plot and series of disasters (such as Tuppy's homicidal rampage). And as usual, poor Bertie finds himself the object of young ladies' affections -- in this case, the appallingly goofy Madeleine thinks he's madly in love with her, when she's not rambling about fairies and bunnies. If there's a flaw, it's that Jeeves' final solution is a bit limp.

But Wodehouse's writing is what really makes the book timeless. It's arch and wry, whether he's describing basic actions ("He leaped like a lamb in springtime"), or goofy dialogue ("But if you were a male newt, Madeline Bassett wouldn't look at you. Not with the eye of love, I mean").

Jeeves and Bertie are the perfect comic team -- Bertie is proud, goofy, and not terribly bright, while the quiet Jeeves is a towering intellect with wry wit. And they're backed by a colourful, small cast of nutty aristocrats, schoolboys, sharp-tongued aunts and cousins, newt-fancying fish-faced men, and a girl who talks about how "every time a fairy sheds a tear, a wee bitty star is born." Yech.

"Right Ho Jeeves" is a hilarious, tangled farce of love, money, jealousy, dinner jackets and the mating rituals of newts. Absolutely priceless, from start to finish.

"Right Ho Jeeves" was first published in 1934 in the UK, though was first published in the US under the name "Brinkley Court". The book is set in England and features Wodehouse's best known creations : Bertie Wooster and his valet, Jeeves. Bertie is the book's wealthy, good-natured and rather dim narrator. He's a member of the "idle rich" and, rather than having to work for a living, lives off an allowance provided by his uncle. He spends much of his time in the bar-room of the Drones Club, is fond of the occasional wager and has an appalling dress sense. Luckily, Bertie has Jeeves, to look after him. Without Jeeves, Bertie's life would be a mess : he makes an excellent hangover cure, his bets usually win and is intelligent enough to rescue Bertie from nearly any situation. He disapproves of Bertie's more garish items of clothing, and will - occasionally - take it upon himself to deal with the offending item.

The book opens with Bertie's return from Cannes, having spent two months on holiday with his Aunt Dahlia, his cousin Angela and Madeline Basset - Angela's best friend. Arriving back at his flat, Bertie is surprised to learn that Gussie Fink-Nottle has been a frequent caller in his absence. Gussie, an old school-friend of Bertie's, is something of a reclusive character : he doesn't drink, looks rather like a fish, prefers country life to the city and is a noted newt-fancier. Gussie has apparently fallen in love, and has - wisely - taken to visiting Jeeves for his advice on how to win the young lady's heart. However, following a disagreement with Jeeves about a white mess jacket purchased in Cannes, Bertie decides to take over Gussie's case.

By sheer coincidence, the object of Gussie's desires is none other than Madeline Basset - who, after the trip to Cannes, has returned to Brinkley Court (Aunt Dahlia's stately home). Bertie sends Gussie off to the stately home in question - though his motives aren't entirely noble. As well as spending time with Madeline, Gussie will also be delivering a speech at the local grammar school's prizegiving day - a job Aunt Dahlia had intended for Bertie. However, when word comes through that Angela has brokern off her engagement with Tuppy Glossop, Bertie and Jeeves race off to the countryside to offer their support. Naturally, Bertie's attempts to ease smooth things over land everyone in a great deal of bother.

A very easy and enjoyable read.

got the blues? melancholia got you in its grip? the prospect of death got you down? jeeves to the rescue! nothing like a good wodehouse read to cheer one up. problem is, the man wrote just short of a million books, and not all of them are good. so where to start? right here, with this book. of all the wodehouse books i've read, this is my favorite, the most consistently entertaining. just what the doctor ordered to smash you in the funny bone and get a smile going on the old face.

If you love Monty Python, Faulty Towers, and the like, you'll love RHJ. The glowing reviews on this page are spot on. This is timeless stuff. And Cecil's reading (if you incline towards the recorded version) is terrific. Laugh out loud funny. I adored every moment!

It is rare that I derive such pleasure from a book, but Right Ho, Jeeves, gave me a delightful surprise. Not only does Wodehouse make an art of the satirical novel, but in the process wraps the reader up in the witty speech of Bertram Wooster and his strange arrangement of friends, family, and butler. Bertram, or "Bertie," as he is commonly known, stumbles through the entire novel with the idea that he alone must bear the weight of being the sole aid to his friends' problems. Despite several attempts at a kind reprimand from Jeeves, his personal servant, ("I beg your pardon sir... What I intended to say, since you press me, was that the action which you propose does seem to be somewhat injudicious."); Bertie continues to give it his best. Among other things, Wooster implements the best intentions while attempting a match between old friends, but with little success: "All he had to do was propose." "Yes, sir." "Well, didn't he?" "No, sir." "Then what the dickens did he talk about?" "Newts, sir."

Despite the playful banter, colorful characters (such as a sensitive French cook), an inept yet lovable narrative voice found in Wooster, and of course, Jeeves, behind all is an incredibly clever satire on the "upper crust," so to speak. Although, admittedly, many readers cannot associate directly with the early-middle twentieth century, one cannot help but feel the idle, privileged and somewhat clueless lives of the English aristocracy seep from the pages of Jeeves. Wodehouse does a wonderful job of capturing the lives of people who have nothing better to do then dabble about ridiculously in the lives of one another.

Indeed, Wodehouse does much to reflect the over-privileged lives to which Bertie and company cling to so humorously. However, what might have become a novel filled to overflowing with hilarity and drama is brought back down to a more substantial level with the constant subtle humor and patronization brought in by Jeeves. "Jeeves, don't keep saying `Indeed, sir?' No doubt nothing is further from your mind than to convey such a suggestion, but you have a way of stressing the `in' and then coming down with a thud on the `deed' which makes it virtually tantamount to `Oh, yeah?' Correct this, Jeeves." The nature in which Bertie and the rest are virtually ignorant to Jeeves' little jibes such as this shows clearly the statement of Wodehouse, how the aristocracy is too self absorbed to notice even the slightest. In short, this is a wonderfully clever novel, which keeps the pages turning with quick wit and snappy humor. I highly suggest it.

THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY is an excellent legal resource which can be read by legal scholars, however, lay people need to consult a legal dictionary from time to time. But the book clearly establishes how the right to privacy applies to every citizen when used against several aspects of everyday life the citizen comes in contact with. Caroline Kennedy, along with Ellen Alderman, has proven her excellent legal scholarship which, in my opinion, qualifies her as attorney general and/or associate justice of the U. S. Supreme Court.

This book starts off Rated R. I wish I could give a copy to my teens, but it gets a little too descriptive (necessary for impact though) of police violations on women. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. (Maybe when they're older...) It is a collection of some landmark cases, conflicts, and horror stories of the reality of our government's instrusiveness into people's personal lives. It is an eye-opener to those who blindly follow government orders. I'm comfortable reading legal documents, but I thought one of the book's better points was that it put legal terms into layman's terms. I found the book so lively and intriguing I finished it in a day! I definitely recommend this for anyone concerned about government instrusiveness and loss or interpretation of constitutional rights.

a bit boring but just shows what big brother can do to innocent people . good to see caroline standing up for ordinary people .

I enjoyed this book, even though it is heavy on legal court cases. Don't let that fool you, though, it's not a legal reference. This book covers significant cases in privacy using a very interesting approach. There a interviews and behind-the-scenes stories that explain what happened, how the plaintiff felt, and what the outcome was.

If you liked this book you will love "The Digital Umbrella." It is a great compliment to this book.

This book is written by a couple of lawyers who specialize in privacy issues. It is essentially a collection of thoughly researched court cases with added commentary from the authors. As such, it reads like...well... a collection of court cases.

A copy was originally lent to me by a very well-read and intelligent friend of mine who considered it overly dry. I, on the other hand, loved it. It's very details-oriented from cover-to-cover and packs in a wealth of information that is invaluable to anyone interested in the legal aspects of privacy.

Many insights to bring you a turn around in a small business. Written in an engaging fiction-style, many insights are taught to help you recognise the valuable resource you have in your small business and make the most out of it, and bring it to its potential for profit and success without going more deeply into debt or pouring money into forms of advertising that don't work. It gives great hope to business owners who have been discouraged by heavy adversity.

As I have said elsewhere, I think Steve Chandler is among the wittiest and most intelligent guys around. His writing is a lovely combination of autobiography, insight, humor and analysis. His "self-help" books are among the finest I've read.

I'm guessing I've read a few more novels than the folks who poured out the 5 star reviews. Because this is a very bad novel, revealing the flaws of those who think that fiction writing is easy and who have access to a publisher. Any editor would have prevented this dog from being published as is.

Here's one sentence emblematic of the many things wrong with this book:

Jonathan looked around for a while before seating himself at a quiet table by the window and waited until a large, overweight gentleman who looked to be anywhere between 50 and 70 came to the table with a menu and a pitcher of water.

If you like that, you might enjoy this book. If you find it a bit of a run-on, with sloppy redundancies, irrelevant detail, an endless parade of prepositional phrases (a guaranteed murderer of snappy prose) and poorly chosen modifiers, as I did, then you will stop now.

As another reviewer suggests, read their non-fiction. It works. This doesn't. Well, at least it was brief.

I stumbled across Steve Chandler's writings as I was meandering one day through the local bookstore. I was frustrated and disillusioned by my small business and wondering if I should continue it. I accidentally (if you believe in accidents) found his book, "9 Lies That are Holding Your Business Back...", co-authored by Sam Beckford. The first chapter deeply offended me; so I knew that I needed to buy it. These guys knew way more than I did about business and I wanted to learn every bit.

This discovery led me to other Steve Chandler treasures and I promptly purchased this book, The Small Business Millionaire. First of all, we meet our hero, Jonathan. I was shocked to discover his obsession with the hit show Magnum P.I., because I currently am watching the entire series via DVD with my husband.

Jonathan's character obviously has a 'wealth mentality' and he assists his friends, Jennifer and her father Frank in their restaurant business. Anyone who has ever owned a business will see their thoughts mirrored in Frank's comments throughout the book. Anyone who hasn't lost hope in their business will eat up every word uttered by Jonathan. Jonathan obviously has a good heart with an excellent business mind; the challenge for us is not only to listen, but to be brave enough to follow his advice.

My small business has improved dramatically in the short timespan that I have read this book. I'd like to see where I am in a year from now, as I apply these techniques to my everyday life. This book is worth every penny, along with "9 Lies" and "Reinventing Yourself". Thanks Steve:)

Annie Bathgate

Yesterday was a long day. Up at 4:30AM for a flight down to LA. A day of meetings then back on a plane to get home by 10:30PM. Too wired to sleep and nothing on TV but people talking about Michael Vick. Time to grab a book.

I figured that I would read a couple of chapters then off to bed. A couple of hours later and the book was finished. It is not a surprise that it only took a couple of hours, the book is barely over 120 pages. The surprise is I finished it before going to bed. I was that tired and it was that good.

This is an easy book to read, and it is a good story, but at 120 pages, I do not think it will teach you how to run a business. It does make you think about the business side of business.

There are two really good things in this book, you have to love business nearly as much as you love the business you are in and don't waste money on advertising.

The author's depiction of advertising sales people is classic. "Of course this Ad will help your business, you just have to keep advertising until people recognize your name." Right, but do you guarantee this will bring in customers? "We can't do that, of course. How do we know why someone came in? But, just keep running the ad and I'm sure it will work." I have been there often.

The danger after reading it is that you may conclude that you should never advertise. Not true. Advertising may or may not be great for your business. Maybe the kind of advertising you are doing is not right.

I ran a business where we were spending $15,000 a month on ads. How did we know what ads worked? We asked. We kept track of which ads worked and which didn't. We changed what the ads said. We changed where they ran. We changed when they ran. And, we asked customers how they found us and noted how much they spent. All of this data helped show that the $5000 we were spending a month in yellow page ads was wasting lots of money and the $3000 a month we spent in Val Pak coupons was bringing in 50% of our business. The other 50% came from repeat, word of mouth, and the rest of the $15000 we spent on other types of ads.

Because we asked, we started running much smaller ads in Yellow Pages and moving that money to send out more Val Pak ads. Sales increased. We then set aside some of the budget to experiment with. We used it to try all kinds of things. Those that worked earned the right to continue, those that didn't, well let's just say Edison had a lot of failures too.

There are many good books on advertising out there, Much thicker than this wonderful novel. I like Dan Kennedy's stuff for how to test and write copy. The guerrilla marketing series is also very good.

So why 5 stars? Because this book does a great job at what it does. It is not trying to be a complete business book. It does a great job in showing you that there is a difference between having a hobby that you are good at and turning it into a business. The difference is you have to spend as much or more time doing the business stuff, as you spend on the fun stuff. And if you do not excel at the business side, there will be a lot of pain.

Reviewed by Stephanie Rollins for Reader Views (1/07)

"The Small Business Millionaire" is about a mysterious patron of a failing restaurant who aids the owners in restoring their business. The cook/owner of the restaurant, Frank, just wants to cook. He really does not want to run the business. His daughter Jennifer was just a college student who worked in the restaurant. She then, inspired by the annoyingly mysterious coach, Jonathan, quits college and starts managing the restaurant. She sees it as means to saving the restaurant and increasing her practical business knowledge. This brazen move worries her father. Is Jennifer making a foolish decision?

There are only 121 pages in "The Small Business Millionaire." I thought it would be concise and to the point. This is not the case.

When I began to read "The Small Business Millionaire," I was surprised to see that it was a novel, not a textbook-like guide to getting rich quickly. I read through the first half of the book, hoping that the degrading preaching would end, and the exciting novel would begin. No such luck.

I felt hostage in one of those get-rich-quick seminars. It was as if the doors were locked or the television could not be turned off. The coach in the book would not answer a question in a straight-forward manner. Everything had to be in riddle form.

I am sure that there were many great lessons to learn from "The Small Business Millionaire," but I could not get past the fact that the book was written for the lowest common denominator. Why insult your readers by dumbing down the material?

Regardless of how poorly written, "The Small Business Millionaire," Chandler and Beckford are superb coaches. To learn from Steve Chandler and Sam Beckford, skip reading "The Small Business Millionaire." Read "9 Lies that are Holding Your Business Back." You will learn so much more. I also recommend visiting their website.

Ray Bradbury is one of the great short story writers. Very few can pack as much emotional punch into so few pages as he can: just read "The Lake" or the haunting "Rocket Man" (which inspired the Elton John song of the same name!) to understand the power of his writing. And while I think most of his novels are mediocre at best (I've never liked "Something Wicked This Way Comes," as much as I admire it for the obvious influence it had on genre writers), I insist that Bradbury should never be forgotten, if simply based on the merit of his short fiction. And this book especially, which collects 100 of his best, should be celebrated.

If you buy this book with the newer Bradbury collection, you will have a fairly comprehensive collection of short stories by the master. This collection is not the best. It has it's share of mediocre stories, but even so the great stories are wonderful. "The Veldt", "The Fog Horn", and "The Jar" are my absolute favorites, but there are more gems scattered about the book.


As others have pointed out, it is a tad bit dated. (One of the stories talks about the year 2003). So if you want more up to date stories the newer volume is better. All in all, some interesting stories, but not essential reading.

It is hard to categorize Ray Bradbury as a writer. To many he is known as a science fiction writer, largely due to "The Martian Chronicles." However, he is much more versatile than that, his stories cover many different themes of life, death and strange things in between.
When I was in high school, my favorite story was "The Veldt", where a couple purchase a high quality virtual reality room for their children. However, rather than experience normal children's playrooms, they prefer constant scenes of an African veldt, complete with lions who hunt and kill their prey. The parents try to put a stop to it, but their children whine until they get to keep the veldt. However, the parents finally decide to stand firm and are going to shut the room off. At this time, the room comes alive and the lions kill and devour their parents. I considered this story so good that I must have read it at least twenty times during afternoon study hall. The imagery that the story conjures up is almost visual, which I find is a characteristic of so many of Bradbury's stories.
He is the best writer I have encountered in putting down words in a simple style that still manages to generate tremendous virtual images in your mind. This book is a collection of his short stories and I have read this book at least three times and most of the stories in it in other collections at least twice. Even after all these readings, they are still wonderful, as the images are different each time. Most stories by other writers keep my attention when I first read them, but I find them boring if I try to read them again. It does not seem that that will ever happen with Bradbury stories, which is why I strongly recommend this book.

What can I say about this collection, except that is essential reading for anyone serious about Science Fiction or Fantasy as a form of literature (that's right I said it-the dreaded "l" word) Bradbury has piled up enough superlatives in his life that I don't think I need to go into them.

Anyway, this is a book of Ray Bradbury's greatest stories, which means that these are some of the best stories that imaginative literature has to offer. Why not make it a two-fer and get the "Bradbury Stories" collection with it? Both are worthy, think of "The Stories of Ray Bradbury" is the top shelf A-list stuff, and "Bradbury Stories" is the Solid B list collection. Still great, and best of all, no repeat stories in the two collections! The man was so prolific that he could probably fill up a third volume with no repeats as well...

This collection of stories affected my writing. At least one story I've written has been professionally compared to Ray Bradbury's style. While I never sought to mimic him, I believe I was drawn to his stories because of my writing style and childhood daydreams. This collection is a prime example of Bradbury's work. It's inspiring, startling, spooky, and just plain hypnotic.

Even though I first borrowed this collection from my local library, (and having read some of these stories in others collections), I tracked down a used copy to own just so I could pull it down and revisit my favorite people and places.

A must have for any Bradbury fan... novice or cult-like follower.

This lovely book of poems came into my life just as I am committing myself to spending the next twenty years as intelligence officer to the poor. We are going to create a global free public grid for early warning and decision support and free multilingual education "one cell call at a time," with a prioritization of needs able to influence three trillion dollars a year: the trillion that foundations give out willy-nilly; the trillion in corporate services that can profit from going green; and the trillion now spent on war that we can over time, through public education, redirect toward waging peace.

This volume is especially valuable to me not just for its open and peaceful thoughts, but because it was written in English, translated into French, and the facing pages offer the poem in French to the left and English to the right. I can think of no finer way to begin my long road back to mastery of the language of diplomacy, than by ensuring I read one poem a night, in both languages, for a very long time to come.

El Recuerdo (the Memory) is already a favorite within this volume.

See also the volume by Philip Levine that I have carried with me all these years that will now be joined by The Astonished Universe:
7 years from somewhere: Poems

If human emotions are the vibrations of the brain, then they will exhibit a resonance when encountering the words in this book.

If human thought is a river, it will seep over its banks when encountering the words in this book.

If reading poetry can bring momentary solace, it will find a restful equilibrium when encountering the words in this book.

If memory is fleeting it will absorb as a sponge when encountering the words in this book.

If the universe could feel astonishment, it would do so when encountering the words in this book.

Hélène Cardona's poems transport us to the realm of myth and spirit, where nothing is tangible yet everything is essential. In French or English, her words speak to our soul.

I LOVED this gem of a book! I especially liked the chapter Life in Suspension as I identified with the fleeting and random memories from my own childhood that came floating up as I was reading...
there is a unique 'sound' to each poem - clear and strong, but with a delicate, fragile echo.

This is a remarkable book of poetry. I am absolutely delighted and I highly recommend this magical read.

Since reading (and forcing many boyfriends to read it to me) the Crying Heart Tattoo, I have looked at my writing and that of many authors all in the shadow of David Martin's unique storytelling style and imagery. His wonderful technique of alternating narrative and storytelling between every other chapter and keeping all of it in harmony is impressive; the details and photographic memory akin to no one. I especially love the honest dialog between Sonny and Felicity as well as their crazy, sexual and forbidden adventures. I never seem to go a year without pulling out my hardback copy of "the Crying Heart Tattoo" to revist such colorful characters!

One of my favorite books EVER, this is a tale of true love, seen in all its ugliness, honesty, and wonder. I keep it close to my heart. Give it a try, it could make how you see life and love much more rich.

I first read about this book in the paper a few years back, it sounded interresting, so I gave it a look. It was the very first book I had read cover to cover, I was 17 years old and very impatient with books. I am 19 years old now and I am on my 5th revisit to this brilliant life changing work. I cannot express how much this book means to me. I need only to read the first page and my eyes begin to tear. Read this book.

A haunting, beautiful love story, with one of the most heart-wrenching last paragraphs I've ever read in a book. there is a genuine magic in this tale. sonny has much to learn from felicity, but he's stubborn, clueless, and thinks he has all the answers, like many of us when we're young, and the lessons he learns from her take years to absorb. and in any tale of love and regret he really learns them too late. felicity's parable is a delight, but lost on sonny. sometimes we don't realize how good we have it, until it's gone. sentimental, but not overly so. this is a book to be treasured, and read again and again. I can hear "as time goes by" playing as I read this book. it seems so appropriate.

When I read this book and reviewed it shortly afterward, I don't think I gave it fair due. As time goes on and I think back to this book I love it more and more.

This is the story of Felicity and Sonny.....life-long lovers with a turbulent and sometimes downright heartbreaking relationship. Felicity, 20 years Sonny's senior, is brazen and even loopy at times. She lends a great deal of humor to the story as well as veiled sadness.

Sonny, on the other hand is a huge jerk throughout most of the story as he becomes more and more bitter and jaded. Felicity seems to be the only spark left in his life...a spark which he almost puts out.

Running parallel to the story of Sonny and Felicity is the tale of Gravelda and Genipur. They are two rather primitive tribal people who are hauntingly similar to their modern-day counterparts. It's a story that Felicity tells to Sonny in chunks over the years as their meetings become fewer and farther between. The story allows Felicity to quietly vent her feelings about her relationship with Sonny.

This is a book that, even if you become a little dazed about in the process of reading, will stick to you long after you've read the last page. Far be it from me to withold credit where credit is due....and I must admit, this book is a jewel.