Services Books

Lifeboat Sailors by Dennis Noble, a retired Coast Guard Senior Chief, is reading life as it is in the Coast Guard's world of Search and Rescue. I was stationed in Port Angeles for over 10 years and visited the Small boat Stations he talks about. As an Enlisted man with over 15 years, I have many friends at those stations and Dr. Noble tells it like it is. Of course this book was written pre-911 but still with all the growth for the Coast Guard and larger focus on Homeland Security, the Small Boat stations have had little change or given any more assets, but definitely have more patrol requirements. Dr. Noble's ideas and problems still remain. Search and Rescue has again taken back seat, this time to Homeland Security instead of Law Enforcement of the 80's. His prologue and epilogue tell the story of the tragic events of February 12 of 1997, when the 44 foot Motor Life Boat 44363 rolled and lost 3 of its four person crew. Dr. Noble happened to be a Station Quillayute River that night and provides us a first hand account of the events. It is a sobering tale surrounding his plight of the Lifeboat sailors in this excellent book. A must for Coasties new and old.

I was stationed at Station Willapa Bay , Washington from 1974 to 1977. The first time out on a 44ft MLB we had 25ft breakers to play with. What a ride. Spent time at the MLB School at Cape Disappoinment. Had the time of my life with the small boats.

Great book. A must read if you what to know about the Coast Guard search and rescue. All of Dennis books are great..........

This book offered a rare and informative insight into the world of US Coast Guard lifeboat stations and the sailors that man them. It gave great first hand insights into the day to day operations of a lifeboat station and a very informative history of the stations from the early days of the lifesaving service to the modern lifeboat station. A great read and a must for anyone in or wanting to be in the US Coast Guard!!!!!!

I was very impressed at this very well written book. Mr. Noble is retired from the Coast Guard and is very knowledgeable about the traditions and history of the finest life saving service in the world.

Mr. Noble is able to show both sides, good and bad, of the Coast Guard small boat stations.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Coast Guard history as well as someone wanting to join the Coast Guard.

Although the book was a nice, easy read, I was involved to the point where I couldn't put it down and wanted to know more about the Coast Guard. These men and women of the small lifeboat stations are true heroes. Thanks to Dennis Noble for telling their history and story. I was inspired so much by the desire to become a part of such an amazing tradition and responsibility that I visited my Coast Guard recruiter to join.

`Night Mother, a 1983 Pulitzer Prize winning play deserves just that! This one act play with simply two characters was unlike something I have read. The play draws on emotional dialogue, an unpleasant subject of suicide and the challenge to convince one not to do it. What is prize winning about the dramatic story is the realistic conversational tones and often painful sounds. It is the exchange of normal everyday dialogue, intermixed with riveting rationalization, pleading, bargaining, and coming to terms with life as it shall be. For the theatrical onstage drama, a clock is visible to the audience that indicates the action takes place in one evening and with no intermission. Time is of the essence.

The drama takes place in the early 80's in a small home, and one main character is Jessie, a 40ish woman with epilepsy, was deserted by her husband, and her son is a teenage criminal whose whereabouts are unknown. The only other character is her mother, whom Jessie lives with and Jessie, somewhat, does caregiving.

In the midst of Jessie carefully and strategically planning her suicide, she is nonchalantly taking care of last minute obligations for her mother, like doing mother's nails. Included in the planning, is a list of instructions so mother can locate everything needed after Jessie's suicide takes place. As mother tries to reason and rationalize and beg, Jessie conducts herself normally, making the preparations and letting nothing interfere. Here, we learn about Jessie, her dead father, why she was deserted, her son, and much more. Then the author transfers the dialogue with brilliancy..... This is wonderful, sad, emotional and powerful.....There is a movie version with Sissy Spacek and Anne Bancroft that I am trying to see also. Rizzo

I thoroughly enjoyed this play. I watched the film awhile back, and since I wanted to change choose different films for my Film Appreciation class, I decided to review the play before adding 'Night, Mother to my list. What a powerful play. It sheds light on a very difficult subject. Jesse, the main character, makes the decision to "get off the bus early" after careful thought. She shows that some people contemplate this critical experience probably more carefully than buying a house or a car. Her decision is hardly spontaneous or emotional, nothing that I imagined at all. The power of the read helped me to decide to buy the video later on. I also ended up buying a collection of Marsha Norman's other plays, hoping that I will duplicate the insight gained by reading this play.

"'night, Mother" is a tour de force conversation between a mother, Thelma, and her daughter, Jessie, who has just told her that she is going to commit suicide at the end of the night. The play is a taut high-wire act that leaves you spellbound as Thelma tries to convince her daughter not to go through with it and Jessie sternly insists. Thelma and Jessie are extremely dimensional, deep characters with an achingly believable relationship. Through the course of their conversation it becomes apparent that there is a yawning chasm between them despite their seeming closeness, and while Thelma thinks that the two can put it right Jessie doesn't believe it -- or want to try. The fierce, emotional back-and-forth between Mother and daughter keeps you on the edge of your seat. The dialogue is very natural and believable, and the playwright, Marsha Norman, displays an extraordinary acuity for what her characters are feeling and have gone through to reach this point. Norman has crafted a devastating portrait of two women that leaves an enormous impact on the reader. I only finished it two hours ago, but I seriously doubt that "night, Mother" will be leaving my thoughts any time soon. Highly recommended -- but keep the Kleenex on hand, just in case.

Marsha Norman's 1983 Pulitizer Prize-winning 'NIGHT, MOTHER is frequently described as a play "about suicide." Although the play does indeed deal with suicide, this is actually a shallow designation; it is about a lot of things, but most particularly control: who has it, who wants it, and the extent a person will go to obtain it.

The play involves two characters: Thelma, an elderly woman, and Jessie, her middle-aged daughter. They have lived together in an isolated house on a rural road for a number of years. Thelma describes herself as "a plain country woman;" she enjoys life in a fundamental way, not expecting more than she already knows, watching television, knitting, nibbling at sweets, and enjoying regular visits from her son and his family. Jessie, who suffers from epilepsy and is divorced, has become something of a recluse, and her life consists largely of managing her mother's home and thinking on the past. One evening, as the play begins, Jessie informs Thelma that she has decided to kill herself right after she gives Thelma her weekly manicure.

Thelma does not take Jessie seriously at first; clearly there have been too many scenes between the two for Jessie's statement to have any real meaning for her. But Jessie is serious indeed, and over the course of an hour and a half the play evolves into a battle of wits, Jessie determined to kill herself, Thelma equally determined to prevent her from it. In the process, we learn quite a bit about the family and their lives and the various emotional and factual secrets the women have hidden from each other over the years.

The play is brilliantly constructed, performed in "real time" without any scene changes or intermission; the characters--and the equally vivid people they discuss but whom we never see--are equally well rendered. There are moments are laughter, even more moments of insight, but the play is progressively intense, progressively dark, with all the power of a noose that slowly tightens around your neck. One of the most fearsome bits of theatre of the past thirty years or so, easily the equal of such legendary works as Albee's WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? Recommended.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

This is one of my favorite plays of all time. it's a great discussion on the issue of suicide. There's one line Ive always remebered: When the daughter is trying to justify the idea that she wants to off herslef, and she uses an illustration of someone riding the bus and riding the bus, and they could just stay on and ride it around the block another round, but why bother. It's really well written, and how the mother and dauther get along is interesting.

We are in the Network Service consulting business where our product is the delivery of services through technical people dealing directly with our customers. We often encounter situations where our engineers do not have the sales knowledge to properly deal with our customers. The issue we have is that our business depends on developing strategic relationships with our customers for us to get the next sale. In the Oh Norman Diary, the authors, Uly Meixner and Eric Mock, discuss the art of sales communication in a manner that's clear and easy to understand. They draw on years of experience in sales training at all organization levels and with varied clients, they are able to identify the "keys" to a successful sales program. The importance of developing a customer focused and oriented approach is very well illustrated with the to-the-point examples that explain the importance of each step as they relate to the sales cycle. Using OH Norman to help train service delivery engineers about sales has been very effective and fun.

This is a really useful volume. Simple, common-sense examples, and punctuated by humor, not another deathly dull how-to book. Full of the kind of sales insights that you might not be practicing, but when seen in print make you exclaim, "Of course!" You want to rush right out and start to utilize 'em.

Definitely a favorable addition to my library.

If you're in sales (and who isn't?!),a seasoned pro or a just starting out, this book will help you develop or polish a more effective approach to selling. The authors outline a step by step approach to engaging your customers--listening to, understanding and serving their needs--not just presenting your products or services. And unlike some treatments of the subject, it is not some "academic treatise" but is written in a clear, engaging and conversational style with plenty of useful examples.

Getting to the next level in sales is often a difficult task, however the sage advice that Norman receives from the various Professional Business People we meet through his Diary entries is simple and straight forward. This book is excellent for helping novice salespeople secure a strong footing through a needs oriented sales approach, as well as reminding and reinforcing strategic selling skills with more senior salespeople. Building strong and lasting sales relationships using the Sales Cycle as outlined in this book is critical to all salespeople in today's difficult selling environment.
A definite read for the Professional Salesperson.

At first, when a colleague recommended this book to me, I thought.."Oh great, another motivational book,...80 percent motivation, 20 percent meat..." I`ve been general manager of a quality plastics manufacturing company for over 20 years. I have been fully involved in all areas of sales and negotiations with our customers, and strive to stay in tune with the most effective techniques and technologies available to assist me and my associates in selling our fine products. I thought I was on top of my game, but after just a few pages, a burning sensation started in my chest as I saw several direct references to the same problems and pitfalls that we have experienced just recently in our dealings with new and old customers alike. After reading "The Oh Norman Diary", I discovered there was one key ingredient in our sales strategy that was not being utilized to it`s fullest potential....the customer.
This priceless work by U. Meixner and E. Mock is simple and striking. It has been quite an eye opener for us, as it helps to break down many of the barriers that we face in our sales process. It has helped us to ask the "Right" questions, and avoid making the wrong assumptions about our customers needs.
We are also able, now, to learn and profit from our past mistakes as never before!
Our customers are responding very favorably to our new methods and mind-set, and my company is already reaping the benefits from the new insight and skills we`ve gained by reading this fine book. I would highly recommend this book to
owners, managers and salespeople. It`s well worth the time.

Karl Krause
Krause Plastics
Tulsa, OK

Most current and objective risk assessments indicate that the risk environment faced by the U.S. during the Cold War has drastically changed. The risk of conventional war with peer nation states has been greatly reduced while the risk of asymmetrical war by non-state actors has greatly increased. Further because of the dynamics of the globalization, regional instability, failed states, pandemics, poverty, and immigration all have become serious risks to U.S. National Security. This new risk environment clearly needs a new carefully crafted National Security Strategy based among other things on timely and accurate strategic intelligence.

Which brings us to this altogether remarkable book by Robert David Steele. In spite of, or perhaps because of, the many recent efforts at reform the U.S. Intelligence System remains culturally moribund. Steele offers a rather detailed plan to rebuild this system into an open, flexible, and relevant source of knowledge about the threats and risks faced by the U.S. in the 21st Century. It is necessary not just to read this book, but to think carefully about what Steele is proposing. For example, this reviewer had to really contemplate such strange concepts as a "Global Knowledge Foundation" and "University of the Republic", before fully understanding how such institutions are vitally important to the sort of Intelligence System that Steele is advocating.

Now Steele has written a number of books that offer innovative, if radical, ideas about reforming intelligence, but this is the only one of his books that provides sufficient details to understand how he really would like to transform the U.S. Intelligence System into a system capable of dealing with both military and non-military threats and risks to U.S. security. The opportunities and risks of the phenomenon called "Globalization" are fluid and often elusive. It will take an intelligence system such as the one Steele is advocating to provide the knowledge needed to formulate an effective National security Strategy to deal with both the opportunities and risks.

This book is not an easy read. Readers need to be pro-active in critically thinking about what Steele presents. This effort will be rewarded with new and original insights on the state of U.S. security. More to the point Steele will provide the reader with a clear and unique understanding of the often arcane world of intelligence.

As a book, it's rather ugly. The pages are obviously printed out by an inkjet printer or something (you can actually see some jaggies in the font), and the index is created by MSWord indexing menu, which has multiple entries of the same item, and the way he indexes whole phrases makes it very hard to look up.

It's contents are extremely repetitive. You'll see the same ideas and examples expressed over and over and over and over again, in almost exact same wording. With proper editing, this book would have become 1/3 the volume that it is. The ideas are interesting, although some part, like his suggenstion that the US government should engage in industrial spying, seems questionable. Also, when he uses the word "Open Source", it's not the open source that the people in the software community is used to, so be careful. But it's a book worth skimming through.

For over a decade, Steele has been trying to draw attention to the fact that intelligence needs in the post-Cold-War era require different strategy, organization and tactics. This book is a useful summary of his views.

One point of emphasis is "open source" intelligence--the information that is available from sources outside of the secret intelligence community. Steele argues that the institutional secretiveness of the FBI and CIA is a hindrance rather than a help.

Another point of emphasis is language translation. A further point of emphasis is the fact that threats no longer exclusively take the form of powerful nation-states. I wish that the book focused more specifically on Islamic terrorism, since the other potential threats seem more remote at the moment.

Yet another point of emphasis is database integration. Writing this review in the aftermath of the DC sniper investigation, this seems to be an important point. Before the suspects drove to Maryland, they were involved in a murder in Alabama at which one of them left a fingerprint. Had the Alabama police been able to access a national database, they would have been able to identify the murderer and perhaps apprehend him. Instead, the fingerprint was matched only after a dozen more murders and after the suspects themselves told police to connect the dots to Alabama.

Lack of database integration kills.

This is a very difficult review for me to write. I want all those in positions where they can have some effect on American Intelligence gathering and analysis to read this book, but the book's organization and construction will ensure that won't happen. Hence the four star rating.

The book (the Oct 2001 edition) looks to be the author's collection of lecture notes or lecture passouts organized in one or two hour presentations. They are full of one-liners and short paragraphs making sweeping statements, and I wanted space below them to write my comments and questions. Perhaps they are indeed lecture passouts that formerly contained those spaces in which listeners could jot notes on the author's detail comments and examples supporting those statements. Without such support, there is simply far too much to be taken on faith for the author's ideas to be accepted or implemented.

A simple example should suffice to make this point: Steele says on page 6: "Today there is insufficient emphasis on defining and meeting the intelligence needs of overt civilian agencies, law enforcement activities, and contingency military forces." OK, what would be sufficient? What are we doing wrong today (examples would be nice), and what agencies are doing such? What emphasis do we currently have, and how can that be morphed into something meeting the author's definition (unstated) of necessary and sufficient emphasis? What are we spending today on activities that must be de-emphasized or eliminated, and how much will it cost to achieve the proper necessary and sufficient emphasis? Without this level of detail, the author's statement is simply a platitude that will be roundly ignored by those agencies and personnel who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.

This defect remains throughout the book. Although the author's statements have much merit and his recommendations for organizational structures and missions to achieve necessary and sufficient intelligence for US policy makers and general security are generally well considered and excellent starting points for implementating the necessary changes, the missing detail allows opponents to dismiss his points out of hand as being simplistic, unsupported by evidence, and dangerous.

Nor is the public ready for this book, even after 9-11 and seven years having passed since publication. There has been no political movement towards addressing any of Steele's charges or implementating any of his ideas discernible by the general public or myself -- quite the contrary, the intelligence agencies have become increasingly ossified, bureaucratic and bureaupathic. CIA employees now arrange their work schedules around their children's activities, and providing day care to the CIA's time-serving employees is more important than providing intelligence to the President of the United States. Steele cannot be an effective change agent until he gets his message (this book) out to the public, but it must be in a form that the public can comprehend -- which is not this book.

I agree with the author that turf wars are the primary activity of all intelligence agencies in the US (my words, he just inferred this), and they must be limited as much as possible. It seems impossible that the US possessed better intelligence on enemy and potential enemy activity before the computerization of information data bases than at present, but that is my conclusion. An example of how turf wars destroy is that the world's best data base management system, the multivalued system created by Dick Pick in the US in 1968, is not being used in US federal agencies but has experiences acceptance in Russia. Meanwhile we are saddled with cumbersome systems like Microsoft's SQL Server, IBM's DB2, Oracle and others. The "free" marketplace doesn't always allow the best product to filter through the weeds -- powerful organizations protect their turf at the expense of the general welfare. Other examples would include the Christie suspension system for Soviet tanks and Deming's ideas seized by Japanese industry.

In short, the book's content is excellent but so many things must be taken on faith due to its organization and presentation that it almost neutralizes itself. It ends up being a handbook of ideas for the intelligence professional -- precisely the individual who will not implement any (or very few) or the ideas in the book. Steele would have done better to take his own advice and provide intelligence to the general population that "remain(s) desperately ignorant of history and culture (and what is happening in the intelligence community" (page 273).)

Nevertheless, BUY, READ & STUDY THIS BOOK.

By the way, the bibliography alone is worth the price of the book.

And lastly, it will take a powerful US President to force through any of this book's recommendations on the American intelligence community. His support will have to come from an informed populace to overcome the opposition certain to come from current organizations. It may be possible, or it may be too late. If this book does as well in the next four years as it has in the last eight, then it was too late.

Robert Steele is the one man crusade for the importance of open source intel. This and his more recent New Intelligence tell and show why open source intel is the most useful means of understanding the world around us and at the same time maintaining our personal liberties. To him each citizen should be running their own open source collection in in the areas of their personal interest. Read both of these books. Buy both of these books. Then go to the OSS convention in Washington. You'll quickly see how muth the professionals think of him.

If you are a consultant, as I am, you owe it to yourself to read Pain Killer Marketing, It will give you insights about what we as consultants should all be doing to improve our brands and our own marketing! Read this book for its content, but also read it as a great example of how to market consulting services. No matter what kind of consultants we are, our job requires understanding client pains, and in many cases, helping clients understand what is keeping their customers up at night.

Pain Killer Marketing did more to make me want to consider hiring the authors than write a glowing review of the book. If you are looking for something "new" that no one else has written about, or if you are looking for in-depth how-to's, you really won't find those here. (You won't, for instance, be able to grasp the subtleties of QFD or become an expert interviewer.)

But make no mistake: this book emphasizes the right things! It is full of useful stories that illustrate the authors' perspectives and illustrate why understanding the customer's pain is so important. I also found it valuable because it got me thinking about QFD again, an approach that doesn't get used very often in the industries where I tend to work.

But again, what made this book most interesting to me is that it is a superb example of what every one of us who is a consultant should consider doing for ourselves - i.e., writing and refining what we believe and what we have learned, giving some of our knowledge away to prove our merit and because in some situations it's just the right thing to do, and packaging what we know for mass distribution and marketing purposes.

I saw Chris Stiehl speak recently and was interested to see if the book could deliver as well as he did. The book did not let me down. It includes great real world examples for finding the pain. I especially enjoyed Part Two. We're working to implement the ideas with our clients now.

As a Career Consultant, I was delighted to discover that Pain Killer Marketing is a great resource even for the executive in transition who is seeking a better way to differentiate themselves in the job market. This book provides easy to follow direction on how to determine the pain a company is experiencing and then gives constructive ways in which we can position ourselves as the antidote to relieve the pain. This book is a great resource for helping someone in job search create their killer elevator speech!

"Painkiller Marketing" provides a useful framework to clearly identify
problems such that the solutions are obvious. The book is pleasant to
read and the methods are simple to implement. We found we were already
doing some of the things they suggest, but our reasoning was unnecessarily convoluted. In short, I recommend the book because applying their methods has already proven useful for our small company.

Pain Killer marketing excels in focusing on the core of business success- customers. It develops a logical, practical approach to understanding customers and delivering goods and services they will value. Teh appendix gave excellent examples. The section on the rules for developing good internal metrics for tracking and predicting success was also quite useful. I bought the book and gave it to several of our key leaders!

It's not a good idea to spend time memorizing answers to questions. It is in your best interest to know the principles behind the answers, if you plan on passing the registry. This book is a fine condensed version of your 2 year program.

THIS IS A GREAT BOOK TO GET READY FOR THE TEST , AFTER BEING COUPLE YEARS OUT OF THE FIELD I USED THIS BOOK AND THE Q & A BOOK, AND I PASS WITH AN 85%. IT HAVE SOME MISTAKES BUT THEY ARE OBVIOUS.. ITS A VERYYYY GOOD BOOK !!

Arrived very promptly in perfect condition. great book for review. gives you need to knows for boards.

I would totally recommend this book to anyone who is going to be taking the ARRT registry. It's a great review from the x-ray program. A must have!!

This book helped me pass the ARRT Exam. I haven't been in school for a couple of years...plus I went to school overseas. I had the old version of this book but I needed to buy the newer one. It lived up to it's title "Radiography PREP". This book together with the Lange Q&A - Radiography Examination were the only books I needed...now I'm a Registered RT.

This book is about when the British soldiers came over to Lexington, Massachusetts. The British soldiers started a war. Sam is a boy who becomes a Minute Man, like his dad. In a battle, the British soldiers kill 8 people, and hurt Sam's friend, John.
But in the next battle, Sam gets to shoot the British soldiers. He used to be scared, but then he becomes angry.
I really liked this book. I think other boys would like it, and maybe some girls, too.

This book helps children understand what the Minutemen did for the British. It gives explainations that young children can understand. It also keeps their attention in wondering what is going to happen next. Characters are great. My son was able to visualize himself as being Sam. Wonderful book.

My eight-year old son has been reading Sam The Minuteman for several years. He loves the book so much. Although the reading doesn't challenge him anymore, he continues to check it out at our Public Library time and time again. I am glad that he has chosen a good wholesome book as one of his favorites. I have gotten this copy for him as a Christmas Gift. Hopefully, he will continue to enjoy it and pass it on to his children. Good reading material is getting increasingly more difficult to find for 4-6 graders.

When young Sam grabs his gun to enter The Battle of Lexington alongside his father, young readers won't help but wonder: What's going to happen to him? This central, suspenseful question is just one of the mature thematic elements encountered in Sam the Minuteman, a lean, accurate, and surprisingly contemplative historical narrative of the American Revolution's opening days. Benchley slips in key events and characters (the anonymous first shot, British Redcoats, Captain Parker, guerilla warfare) that may encourage young history enthusiasts to uncover the other stories behind Sam. Most provocatively, Benchley takes Sam on a hell-bent ("I'll shoot [the British soldiers]--every one!") revenge quest against his protective mother's pleas. This sub-plot alone may spark deep dialogue usually encountered in higher-level books.

Lobel, of Frog and Toad lore, illustrates with a smoky yet highly detailed pencil, and inks in a sparse amount of red and shades of ocher. His limited media and autumn palette connote the era's harsh agrarian lifestyle, and the stark "do-or-die" mentality of the colonists. Benchley douses his prose with rich poetic metaphors, describing the warring British troops as "a bright river of red," and deadly bullets that "buzzed about like bees."

The ending is abrupt, but Benchley's intention is to extend the conversation beyond the book's pages; quite likely to George the Drummer Boy, the companion piece to this book written from a British boy's perspective during the revolution.

In plain language, and with just a bit of humor, prolific author Nathaniel Benchley (son of the great humorist Robert) and the equally experienced Arnold Lobel tell the story of the beginnings of the American Revolution, as seen through the eyes of a young boy. On the night of Paul Revere's famous ride, Sam accompanies his father to the village green. The pensive faces of the Minutemen and the monochrome and two-toned drawings of Lobel build tension as they await the possible arrival of the British. Finally, they hear the "TRAMP TRAMP TRAMP" of the British soldiers-the "lobsterbacks": "Over the hill and past the tavern came the soldiers! They came on and on and on." At close range, the British kill eight men (they're shown lying on the ground), and wound Sam's friend John in the leg. "'Sam!' John cried. `I'm hit.' John held his leg and fell down."

Soon after, the British attack again. Sam joins his father, despite his mother's loud protest. This time the Minutemen shoot back from behind trees and rocks. Benchley's dramatic narrative continues: "No one knew it then, but that day was the start of the American Revolution." Lobel shows the Minutemen's strain, the families' agony, and the fatigue of Sam and others.

Although a simply told story intended for young readers, Benchley and Lobel convey some of the key elements that went into the eventual American victory. Perhaps a little violent for the younger audiences, this is a realistic story with the look and feeling of an archetypal children's book.

Simply could not resist trying the book after seeing the video. The reviewers are right---the book is even better than the excellent film.

Some things are different --- the book has a Methodist church not Lutheran, and the book has a date with the two string players at a drive-in.

What a wholesome book for youth and adults.

Rachel is a young girl who is talented at playing the violin. Her best friend is now playing softball and spends most of her time with her team. Rachel, an only child, thinks she is in a weird family. Besides having no school, she isn't looking forward to summer. Then, to her surprise, she is accepted to play in a professional orchestra. Despite her excitement, she feels major things could go wrong, especially when the conductor quit.
I recommend this book to anyone, especially those interested in music. It shows that things can turn around and prevail, even if you don't think it will.

I first read this book about four or five years ago, when I was around eleven, and it's become one of those books that I can just go back to and re-read as many times as I want and never get tired of. OK, so it's not one of the deepest books ever written, but the style is easy, the plot simple and entertaining, and yet somehow it manages not to slip into cliche or become overly shallow.

The books follows exclusively the character of Rachel Green, an early teen whose one solace from life and parents is classical music. Perhaps the reason that I found this book so enjoyable is that I am a big fan of this type of music myself (as you can see from my name!). The girl displays all the characteristics typical in an early teenager - paranoia about her appearance, desire for acceptance, the feeling that her parents are unbearable, etc. However, in the last case, she might well have a point.

Her mother is a crusader for better education and artistic facilities in the town of Sandy Bottom, and forbids a TV in the house; instead there is a grand piano. Her father meanwhile conducts imaginary symphony orchestras in the den, and cries over recordings of classical music.

As you can see, the characters in this book are, shall we say, unique, and even those characters which could be called "transitory" are invested with larger-than-life personality traits. (The foremost among these being Drew and his mother.)

Mainly due to these characters there is a good deal of humour in the book. However, there are a lot of wry observations made by the authors on some aspects of life and love. Speaking of which, there is a touching romance between Rachel and a cellist thrown into the book, further making the character of Rachel even more real and vivid.

The book's overlying theme is obviously music, which makes it a joy to read for someone who is interested in this, but you definitely do not have to be a music-lover to get a great deal of enjoyment out of this book.

All in all, for something which appears on the face of it to be merely a "children's book" it is a very enjoyable and easy read for people of pretty nearly every age.

His review was largely quite positive, so it is only a very gentle disagreement I have with reviewer Eugene Barnes, who wrote that anyone who knows music will realize this isn't realistic (regarding the music). I very respectfully disagree! I think the opposite is clear from this book--that they DO know music! Not only does one feel that way reading it, but it is well-known that Jenny Lind Nilsson, Mr. Keillor's wife, actually IS a successful professional violinist--I think she was good enough to make a living as a violinist in New York City--how many people are that good? And she definitely contributed heavily to this book--it isn't exactly in Garrison Keillor's ordinary style, although there are certainly hints of it, and this book is certainly compatible with it. Having said all that, I found this an extremely pleasant book. I wish I knew a teenage girl (or preteen) to give it to!

This is a wonderful book! It is warm and funny, and hearfelt. It has characters who are believable and interesting. It asserts that young people's feelings are every bit as important as those of grownups.

The Sandy Bottom Orchestra is, as far as I know, the only book to result from the collaboration of Jenny Nilson and her husband Garrison Keillor. There is a lot in this book of the writer's diffident voice that America has come to love on "The Prairie Home Companion" on National Public Radio. But the boisterous, sometimes salty humor of Keillor is admirably moderated here. So, the work is inoffensive, suitable for the young, but it is a treat for their parents as well.

I have now read this book twice. It was wonderful both times.

I simply couldn't put this book down! I found myself laughing out loud, tearing up, and refusing to turn the page until I re-read a passage that simply gripped my heart. I loved getting to know each of those children at the Hogar, and then hearing how their lives unfolded after 25 years. I also found the first hand perspective on Chile's political oppression in the 80s fascinating. This is a book I will read again.

After studying about Chile's dictatorship, one learns about the history and the ensuing events, but from afar. Through writing Santiago`s Children, Steve Reifenberg has done a masterful job of bringing Chile`s complicated history to the reader in an accessible and extremely thoughtful way.

As a US citizen living in Chile, I am grateful he was willing to share his insights and experiences with all of us as he not only gives a much fuller context to today`s Chile, but he also reminds us that we can get as much out of any experience as we give!

Reifenberg does a fantastic job with this memoir. The stories of the orphans he works with are engrossing, and his own story is quite interesting to follow as well. He also writes about the brutal dictatorship in Chile which is very much tied to why his orphanage is so important. I would highly recommend this book, especially for people who are interested in international service.

I read Santiago's Children after returning from a long-term volunteer placement in Latin America, and was thoroughly impressed. This book provides an unusually realistic account of volunteer work in a developing country. Although Steve Reifenberg occasionally sees dramatic results, he also learns to appreciate slow changes and small-scale victories in the lives of the children with whom he works. He depicts Chileans responding to political oppression not with heroic displays, but with quiet acts of kindness, courage, and generosity.

Fortunately, you don't have to be an international traveler to enjoy this well written and engaging story. Its protagonist, the young Steve Reifenberg, is a complex, down-to-earth, and entirely likeable character. Steve offers honest, self-deprecating accounts of his successes and failures, enthusiasm and frustration. His love for the people and places he discovers, and especially for the children of Hogar Domingo Savio, is apparent in every anecdote. He comes away from his experience in Santiago with a universally useful lesson: "I learned to believe that maybe it was not a bad thing to have big dreams, even if sometimes they fell short."

I read Santiago's children coming from two places :

First as an avid reader of autobiographies. This one will remain a gem in my memories. It is seldom that one finds a life story so well written, funny, terribly moving, sad, authentic and yet so humble. Reifenberg takes you from the first chapter to the very last page through numerous simple - yet incredible - everyday life stories in Chile. This book combines epics from the childhood of Chilean orphans, their wonderful "mama", Chilean history and includes Reifenberg's own story in the background. I roared with laughter, was moved to tears, even sobbed and did not want this unforgettable book to finish. A must read for anyone !

Secondly relating to the book as a career counselor. I wish that the choices my clients made could often take this path of self-reflection, as long, thorough and difficult as it may be. But where in the end one senses that the person has found his or her core values, the ones that will enable them a fulfilling career and life. Reifenberg seems to have set the ground for a lifelong self-understanding and calling during those two years in Chile.

Loved this book as a kid. I read it and read it and read it until the book literally fell apart. Great one for young readers who are looking for a nice book to read that they will treasure for a long time. This little dog won my heart.

First Impressions on SPUNKY by Dori Brink

I just started it yesterday, am already past pp 50. It's just so real but imaginative too...

Most my work is also about doggies but non-fiction. I wasn't even able to imagine the beginning of Charlie's life. I met him in a shelter at about the same age you Dori met Spunky.

I admire the novel tone of Spunky even though I'm sure a lot is true to life. Dori, You personify Spunky so well and yet he is the one who tells the story!! All those dog thoughts and talk don't take away from his character and don't anthropomorphize him in a bad way. Spunky is a full-fledged dog!! Yet he tells the story making the book and the main character (Spunky) adorable and so close to the reader he could be in the same room!

I also want to add (maybe because I'm not a native English speaker or writer) that the richness of vocabulary and of language is amazing.

Hoping the best for you and wishing Spunky who has been immortalized by you, is reposing in peace in Pet paradise, I must say Dori you are a very talented novelist.

Gallia Taranto (writer)

I read this book as a child a zillion + times! I could never put it down. Now as a adult and the mother of 2 kids I have told my daughter to go to school and find this book (cant find my copy =-( ) and read it! Everybody should read this book. Yes, granted it is a sad story but the author is superb in her writing of this novel!

What can I say about this book? It opened so many doors for me. I remember finding it that one day in second grade in my school's library. It was torn, yellowed, and rather sad-looking when compared to the newer books. However, being a lover of dogs, I decided to try it.

I loved it.

"Spunky" is the book that really got me reading. Ever since then, I've been an avid reader, reading everything from fiction to poems to autobiographies. I never really knew how much fun reading could be until I discovered this little book that could.

Now, I'm a sophomore in high school, and a huge advocate for reading. I spread the word everywhere. I write, read, and am even the editor of the Literature section of an online magazine. Although there are other factors that have influenced my love for books and all that apply, I know the "Spunky" was a huge contributor.

I always re-read my favorite books, but, after a busy move from Colorado to Georgia and adjusting to a new life, I forgot about "Spunky." It was only about a year ago that I suddenly remembered it, as most childhood things do. I tried finding it in libraries, but never could. But, today, it occurred to me that perhaps I could find it on Amazon, and I did. It's here, true-and-blue.

I know I just gave my whole life's story, but that's only to show how much this book really has affected my life. This book doesn't deserve five stars-- it deserves eight, or maybe ten. It's a wonderful book for all ages, and now that I've found it again, I can't wait to re-read it after all these years.

This was my favorite book as a child, I first read this book when I was 10 years old and fell in love with Spunky the dog. I read it over and over and even read it to my sisters and later to my nephew. I have a 7 month old baby now and I'm so glad that I found it on Amazon because I plan on reading to my daughter as well.