Services Books

Well written stories in the style of "The Armed Citizen" excerpts in NRA publications. Instead of just focusing on the incident, the author also gives background information on the victim and the aftermath.

Especially interesting were the stories from recent events in the news such as New Orleans during Katrina and Mark Wilson in Tyler.

For those who believe in the right to self-defense, these stories highlight the consequences of using deadly force to defend yourself. Not everyone is going to pat you on the back for saving your own life. For those who believe individuals should rely on some government official for protection, these stories may cause you to reconsider that notion.

Bottom line...a good book that provides much food for thought.

These stories are about people that had a gun when they needed one. You don't hear about these in the paper. You only hear about the ones (Usually DEAD) that didn't have one. Good read!

"Thank God I Had a Gun" by Chris Bird

This is a book of stunning accounts wherein ordinary people protected themselves from assault, for the simple reason that they had a firearm on hand with which to defend themsevles.

Stories such as these, wherein ordinary people defend themselves against criminal violence do not receive much attention in the media. Their stories do not always appear in print or in news accounts. Nonetheless, many Americans do protect themselves and their loved ones on a regular basis. Ordinary people, in their homes and places of business, subjected to criminal attacks, do not always suffer injury and death, if they have the will to survive, and a firearm in their grasp. The unarmed however, are not so fortunate. They become statistics, and end up in the morgue or the hospital on many occasions.

The author is very experienced in the use of handguns and makes his living as a shooting instructor.

Most people, with no criminal background, can purchase a firearm for self defense. The background check takes between 20 minutes to 1 hour generally. After which time, you can leave the store with the means to protect yourself. That, and some affordable self-defense classes in firearms saftey and uses, can make the difference between living and dying, or going through life with nightmares for memories.

A very good and informative read for those who desire to educate themselves regarding the facts of firearms possession. Whether renter, housewife and mother, businessman, or just plain folks, this book is very useful.

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Of course you will not be able to put down the book because you are on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next in each story. Chris Bird doesn't just focus on the story itself like a cheap Hollywood film. Details of each victims personality, what led to the incident, how the police responded and the aftermath (how people who defend themselves feel afterward) gives you a lot of food for thought. There is probably someone who was involved in defending themselves that you can relate to. I bought this and the The Best Defense by Waters, read them in a few days each, and passed them among girlfriends. They make great conversation; we consider the possibility of an earthquake putting us in a situation like the Katrina chapter. Or what gun control means to an older woman who lives alone. Also, knowing what really happens when gunfire is exchanged, you will never look at an action adventure movie or police drama the same again!

I was very pleased that I learned so much from this book. I am an advocate of personal responsibility and self defense is a part of that. I try to think of ways to keep myself from ever having a confrontation and ways to remove myself from one if it were to happen. This book gives accurate descriptions of how people behaved in these times of stress, and while reading them I automatically inserted myself into the situation and noted how I "think" I would behaved differently were it me. At the conclusion of each story, I was able to compare what actually happened to what may have happened had it been me and I found some of my decisions to be in error. Hopefully I'll never have to be in one of those stories, but if I am, hopefully I'll be able to apply the knowledge gained from this book.

I ordered two weeks before classes started and I received my book the following week! This book is great, the graphics are more than helpful... they are insightful! Recommend highly!
Thank you for your prompt delivery and great quality!

I purchased this book when I was half way through massage therapy school. I wish I would have had it right from the start! It is a great book with amazing real pictures of muscles. I brought this book to class and about 1/2 the class wanted to order it! The instructor saw it and was going to look into getting it for future classes. Just get it; you won't be sorry you did. Money well spent!

This book is fantastic for all the reasons the other reviewers gave, but oh that's not all...the CD-ROM is fantastic really amazing. It's a great way to see the muscles again in another view. The images are of computer generated models to show the attachments and then there is a video of a therapist massaging the muscle. It took me months to watch this CD-ROM because I had no idea it was going to be this great. Buy this book it's well worth the money. Plus, it's a business expense!

This book is so beneficial as reference material. The images are unreal and so specific. At least four therapists I know have bought the book since flicking through my copy.

This is the most practical and informative book that teaches what you need to know and what is relevant...not filler material.

I have found that most books about marketing are about someone's one success in the past and just discuss the barriers they had to break to make their winning strategy work...they tend to be egocentric. I have wanted a book that really lines out the steps to take to create people loyal to a brand. I am not looking for a magic step-by-step I know everything takes time, but this book is doing a great job explaining practical things to do to create a loyal following. I got turned on to this book by their blog which is amazing...check it out at http://www.churchofthecustomer.com/

Ben and Jackie have written a great book about how to harness the power of your happy and loyal customers to build relationships with new customers. Their authentic ideas allow brands to build trust with customers.

Dr. Karen Mishra
Author, "Trust is Everything: Become the leader others will follow"

I have the original hard cover book and absolutely love it, it is my bible. So I bought this new one to share it. Looks updated but still has all the good stuff in it. This book has amazing ideas and examples that really work when you put them to use.

This book provides all the research needed to help you easily find customer evangelists! It's a great book, I highly recommend it.

This book is a perfect companion for wannabe-evangelists, or simply to understand the mechanisms behind some kind of "marketing" efforts (such as Dallas Mavericks' or O'Reilly Media's) that can be unclear at first.
I suggest it, a great purchase!

This book is a surprising gem.

The one line review that I've been passing on to friends is "This is what Ursula K. Le Guin would write, if she did something light."

On the surface, it's light but well-written storylines woven together in a sci-fi/fantasy twist.

But the book forces you to shift perspective, to move between different points of view, and to think.

I picked it up because I figured anything that got a Newberry Honor medal was probably worth reading, and I wasn't disappointed.

This is a re-read from my youth and I am glad that it has been reissued. I love all of Engdahl's work and I only wish that she would write more after her long dry period. A well-writte intelligent and charming female protagonist learns and grows within a setting much like early (good) Andre Norton- reminiscent of Ice Crown, in fact.

This is an interesting book. I like the three different voices she uses to narrate the three different worlds, and the way the most advanced world, being the most self-aware, is done in first person.

Interesting questions are raised and about truth, right/wrong, etc. I do not agree with everything the author seems to believe, but this book would be a good springboard for discussion of questions like, "What is truth?" and "What/who is God?" and "Is there anything beyond what we can see and study with traditional science?"

There are a lot of other interesting questions that can be pondered that the book raises but does not answer. For instance, was Alana's father exploiting her young heart and propensity to fall in love in order to save the world of Andrecia and, if so, is that a morally defensible thing?

Not the absolute best book I have ever read, but worth reading, and probably worth reading more than once.

Having read Sylvia Engdahl's excellent novel, The Far Side of Evil, several years ago, I approached this book with a positive outlook that it would be just as thought-provoking and well told. I wasn't disappointed, though this novel is indeed different in tone.

The Enchantress of the title is Elana, whose exact age is never given but can be assumed to be in her late teens or early twenties. Elana, looking for adventure and real life experience, stows away on board a starship that is sent to Andrecia, a medieval planet that is currently being colonized by a more advanced society. Once her presence is known, her father and boyfriend decide that Elana can indeed help with the plan to oust the invaders, which will allow Andrecia to continue to develop at its own pace. Elana becomes the "Enchantress"; she befriends two locals who are off to fight the "Dragon" (a massive rock-chewing machine), and helps them by awakening their own skills so that their quest will be successful. In the process, Elana finds herself falling for the local known as Georgyn, and in her inexperience, putting them both in grave danger.

This book moves seamlessly between points of view, which gives it a much more universal feel than had we only known Elana's side of the story. When Georyn's voice takes over, the story almost becomes a fairy tale; indeed, that is how he sees Elana and the invaders who have come to his world. Elana is, of course, young and inexperienced but desperate to do the right thing; and Jarel is the lone voice of the invaders, unsure of his world's plans but unable to do anything to stop them.

I enjoyed this novel but did feel that at times it was a bit on the fantastic side. I felt the plans Elana's father made to dupe the invaders weren't necessarily believable, but I was able to keep in mind that this is indeed a fantasy. Elana could be infuriating in her lack of knowledge and her headstrong ways, and her poor boyfriend Evrek is relegated to the background while Elana forges ahead with a relationship with Georyn. Overall, however, this is a well-written novel and Engdahl has a gift for telling a tale that will pull you in from the first pages. Over thirty years since its debut, this thought-provoking novel holds up well and is just as relevant today. Recommended for lovers of fantasy.

Please keep in mind that I really liked this book. "Enchantress" is well written and enjoyable. That being said, I could not entirely enjoy the story because I had a problem with the heroine. I know this probably says more about me than her but...

The heroine, as thoughtful and insightful as she is, is a bit of a hypocrite. She "suffers" enormously with guilt about even the smallest of lies she is forced to tell her "poor primitive" lover.

On the other hand she only feels a twinge of condescending pity for her fiancé whom she has been more-or-less betraying by concealing her "forbidden love" for the "primitive" for most the book.

And when it comes to lying to her father and sneaking around behind his back; forget about it! She doesn't even hesitate a second and even takes a certain pleasure in it, even when, inevitably, her "disobedience" endangers entire civilizations.

There are only four main characters in this book. The heroine, her male father, her male fiancé, and her male lover. I found myself many times wishing she had a mother, sister, or best friend to whack her upside the head and tell her to stop acting so ridiculous.

The one woman who COULD and WOULD have set her straight was killed as the book opened. (Actually there WAS one other female in the book; a practically-unconscious sacrifice victim being "delivered to the dragon.")

Anyway enough about my problems. If you didn't even notice the things I had issues with, (and you probably didn't) "Enchantress" is a good read.

Several months ago while surfing the Internet, the name Dr. Davey popped up in association with "fluoride poisoning," the WWII "Manhattan Project," making of the "atomic bomb" and secret "human experimentation" in the 1940s. I am aware of my father's D-Day story but now, 60 years after his death, the final chapter of his life has been revealed in this incredible book. After further investigation and filling in between the lines, it is apparent that Navy Medicine, having seen X-ray reports of "fluoride poisoning" in the bones of American workers during WWII, refused to participate in a medical cover-up during the early Cold War years.

It was shocking to read "Chapter 8 - Robert Kehoe and the Kettering Laboratory" in The Fluoride Deception by Christopher Bryson. My father, LT. J. Russell Davey, Jr., MC, USNR, who died in 1948 (unknown to the author), is described on page 108 as "the offending radiologist" who inadvertently exposed Dr. Robert A. Kehoe's study regarding industrial fluoride exposure of workers at the Pennsylvania Salt Company in Easton, PA. Dr. Davey made a January 31, 1947 medical X-ray diagnosis of "fluoride poisoning" which became known to management and workers several miles away at the Pennsalt plant in Easton.

Bryson describes top officials at Pennsalt headquarters in Philadelphia as being "furious" with Drs. George Pillmore and Davey. The two Navy radiologists were not aware of Dr. Kehoe's Kettering Laboratory mission, to secretly collect medical data regarding poisoned American workers in order to protect the US government's bomb-related defense industry from potential lawsuits. The author brilliantly lays out Pennsalt's role in producing hydrofluoric acid (HF) for atomic bomb production and the resulting cover-up of workers suffering from fluoride poisoning.

Fluoride poisoning resulting in "crippling skeletal fluorosis" had been recognized in Europe since the late 1800s. In 1937, Danish scientist Kai Eli Roholm, MD, published "Fluorine Intoxication, an encyclopedic study of fluoride pollution and poisoning." Dr. Roholm reported that fluoride exposure produced a host of medical symptoms in factory workers. Most distinctly, fluoride could visibly disfigure a worker's bones, disabling them with a painful thickening and fusing of spinal vertebrae, a condition he called "crippling skeletal fluorosis."

In 1944, 26-year-old Lieutenant Davey, 6th Naval Beach Battalion, returned from the Normandy invasion and became a student and protégé of Captain George U. Pillmore, MC (S), USNR, Chief Radiologist at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital. During that period, the Philadelphia Navy Yard housed a super-secret facility using hot liquid fluoride and pressurized steam to enrich uranium for the atomic bomb. Although bomb making was an Army project, the purpose of the Philadelphia plant was to supply insurance against failure of the Army's "separation program" and provide the Naval Research Laboratory with materials for the study of atomic energy.

Bryson describes a serious accident at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in September 1944. There was a release of man-made radiation and perhaps the worst fluoride accident of WWII. "A giant white plume of uranium hexafluoride gas drifted over the dockyard." Twenty-six men were exposed, killing two and seriously injuring the remainder. The Philadelphia coroner was not told the "cause of death." Body organs of dead men were considered "classified" and stuffed into a briefcase becoming the property of the Manhattan Project Medical Department. Years later, a Navy doctor explained to injured nuclear scientist Arnold Kramish that when fluoride gets into your bones, it "stalks you the rest of your life."

The following year after the accident, Dr. Davey was ordered to a Naval Special Hospital, Camp Wallace, Texas to serve as Chief of the X-ray Department in a 1,000-bed-hospital. After retuning to Philadelphia in May 1946 and relieved from active duty, Drs. Davey and Pillmore teamed up in a radiology practice 65 miles north of Philadelphia in Easton, PA. Dr. Pillmore established a Naval reserve unit that included Dr. Davey and about 30 medical doctors in the Easton area.

Bomb making was under the purview of the US Army during WWII. The Army maintained that "fluoride poisoning does not occur in the United States." However, the Navy Medical Department Cold War position on "fluoride poisoning" contradicted the Army Manhattan Project Medical Department. In 1946, Captain George U. Pillmore published Clinical Radiology: A Correlation of Clinical and Roentgenological Findings, Volume I & II, with 1,558 pages. LT. Davey was a contributing author. Navy Surgeon General Ross T. McIntire, Vice Admiral, MC, wrote in the Forward that X-ray examinations are "often the magic key in diagnosis."

Clinical Radiology states, "The source of fluorine intoxication include: (1) drinking water containing one part per million or more of fluorine, (2) fluorine compounds used as insecticidal sprays for fruits and vegetables (cryolite and barium fluosilicate), (3) the mining and conversion of phosphate rock to superphosphate which is used as fertilizer. (The fluorine content of phosphate rock is about 4 percent. During conversion to superphosphate, about 25 per cent of the fluorine present is volatilized.) (4) The fluorides used in the smelting of many metals, such as steel and aluminum, and in the production of glass, enamel, and brick....In 1932, Moller and Gudjonsson described a peculiar form of bone sclerosis in workers exposed to cryolite dust for a number of years. Since that time there have been many published reports of chronic fluorine intoxication and its effect on the osseous system."

Guided by a group of corporate attorneys known as the Fluorine Lawyers Committee, Dr. Kehoe's Kettering Laboratory conducted secret research in order to defend fluoride on behalf of a group of corporations that included Pennsalt, DuPont, Alcoa, and US Steel, all of which faced lawsuits for industrial fluoride pollution. Kehoe's aim was to block scientists from serving as effective witnesses in court cases. Manhattan Project Chief Leslie R. Groves wrote a February 28, 1946 memo to the Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Atomic Energy, advising that "the Department of Justice is cooperating in the defense of these suits."

Unfortunately for the plaintiffs, Dr. Kai Eli Roholm, the world's leading fluoride expert who visited this country just after WWII, died March 29, 1948. The brilliant Danish scientist was regarded highly by the medical profession but now would be unavailable to provide testimony in the fluoride lawsuits. Dr. Roholm's death was "a tragedy for all who rely on scientist to tell them the truth about chemicals they handle in the workplace and the risk from industrial pollution." The 46-year-old physician left a wife and two young children.

Dr. J. Russell Davey, Jr., the young Navy radiologist who exposed Dr. Robert Kehoe's scientific cover-up of fluoride poisoning, died suddenly June 5, 1948 of undetermined causes. The 30-year-old physician left a pregnant wife and three young children.

In 1949, US worker fluoride lawsuits resulted in no compensation. Former Manhattan Project toxicologist Harold C. Hodge, coordinator of the secret human radiation experiments at the University of Rochester and the nation's leading fluoride expert, wrote in 1965 that "crippling fluorosis has never been seen in the United States."

In easily readable style, investigative journalist Christopher Bryson reveals the appalling truth about how an industrial waste product with toxicity equal to that of lead has come to be dumped in our drinking water. Researching official documents from the years of World War II and the cold war of the 1940s, declassified in the 1990s after 50 years, Bryson tells of the lies and the cover-ups, names the multi-million dollar corporations and the people involved, and through rigorous footnoting, his source documents. This book is a must-read for all those wanting to know the shocking facts about how, through misrepresentation of the results of scientific research and skillful propaganda, unsuspecting communities have to been made to believe that a toxic industrial waste product is completely harmless and will prevent tooth decay.

This book is far better researched than the material that consumer use of fluoride is based upon.

Very scary!

It's all about a substance that has been placed in our municipal tap water for the last sixty years. It is classified as a non-approved drug, but is prescribed to everyone without our consent, without public debate, and without dosage instructions for each individual. It amounts to mass medication without consent. This is the main reason that 98 percent of Europe will not fluoridate. In fact, most of the industrialized countries of the world do not fluoridate. And, statistically, their oral health is just as good as in the U. S..
Extremely detailed and thoroughly researched, this book cannot be recommended more highly. Bryson spent ten years digging into the dark depths of government and industrial deception to produce an eye opening revelation concerning the health of everyone who is a victim of the risky practice of fluoridation.
Upon reading the information in this book, I personally visited the website, [...] to discover a treasure trove of detailed information, both scientific and popular about fluoride, its politics, and its adverse health effects, and how to reduce exposure to the substance (which proves to be quite difficult).
However, nothing convinced me more solidly than my personal experience. Once I had reduced my exposure to fluoride for only a week (by distilling our tap water and using "organic" foods when possible), twenty-five years worth of "mysterious" symptoms that had confounded my doctors simply went away, ..... vanished. My symptoms were diagnosed as depression, arthritic pains, muscle aches that really shouldn't have been there, cloudy thinking, and several other problems that came and went as drugs were prescribed to mask each new symptom. But, nothing worked as well as simply drinking clean, pure water. (I found out later that it is estimated that about five percent of the population is particularly sensitive to very low doses of fluoride. I can only guess that perhaps I am one of the five percent).
I have spoken with expert toxicologists both corporate and with the EPA. They have all confirmed what Bryson explains in this book. In fact, the union that represents the EPA's scientists and workers in Washington, D. C. continues to publicly recommend that all fluoridation of municipal water systems be stopped. This is in direct opposition to the stance taken by the administration of the EPA.
Despite being painted as crazies and loonies by the pro-fluoridation corporate and governmental lobby, I can tell you that all of the people I have met who are working against fluoridation are intelligent, forthright, and not willing to be led like sheep when they feel an injustice is being done to others. Rather than dedicating time to deriding the credentials of their opponents, they use logic and scientific evidence to patiently explain why fluoridation should be stopped. They really care.
I sincerely hope that Christopher Bryson's thoughtful exposition will find its place as one of America's finest exposures and examples of how science and the truth can be distorted and twisted by money and influence until even the experts are convinced that something inherently dangerous is safe for everyone, no matter what the dose.

I read this book as part of a book club and was absolutely amazed at the history of lies and chicanery associated with flouride in our water, toothpaste and dental use. If you want validation of what is in the book look no further than the January 2008 issue of Scientific American who interviews and quotes many of the scientists whose stories are found in this book.

I used to think that anti-flouridationist were cranks, based on the way they are characterized in the media and by folks in public health. Now I am seriously concerned about the level of flouride in my drinking water and trying to figure out how to protect myself and everyone else I can. Do yourself a favor and get educated. The public health implications, including the risk of neurological damage in the very young and arthritis and other unexplained disorders in adults is worthy of great concern. Especially when you realize that adding flouride to water was initially done to whitewash and to undermine concerns that this industrial pollutant (from coal mining and steel production among others)was poisoning communities and workers.

I was very pleased with the depth of this book. The amount of work and research that was done is obvious. This book is intense, with an active imagination you can almost feel the pain and horror this child endured. Excellent job of writing with a presentation that is unique. (Special note to Eric) Thank you for writing this book. Sylvia Baker, CRNI

This book is a book that anyone who is considering a career in any type of child services needs to read. I myself am going into social services and this book made me realize what I will be seeing on a daily basis. Mary Ellen was such a brave little girl and I applaud her for surviving her early life!

The book Out Of The Darkness is an awesome book. It shows the hard time that a little girl named Mary Ellen had to go threw. She has such a hard life, but in the end everything work out. I recommend this book for everybody. This is an outstanding book, everybody should read it.

I'm Eric Shelman, co-author of Out of the Darkness. I just wanted to ask that if you buy this book, come on back and write a review of it when you're done. I've never had anything but positive feedback about it, but others can use YOUR personal experience with it to better judge it prior to purchasing. I thank all of you who have read and commented on our book.

The authors of this book have created a wonderful window of understanding how child abuse/neglect has evolved over the years. This book should be required reading for anyone interested in the human service field. Through the heart-felt story of Mary Ellen, we can see why there is such a strong need to protect children and continue to evolve for many more years. Thank you to Shelman & Lazoritz for telling such an important story.

Setting the Table by Danny Meyer provides lots of value for business leaders. I ranked this book five stars based on the value alone. The reader should be apprised that the book is written as a memoir of Mr. Meyer's experience in the restaurant business.

As a business leader you should study excellence in your industry and outside of your industry and there are numerous take-aways in Setting the Table that can be applied to any business. Here are ten excellent points I took away from Mr. Meyer's book.

1. The Excellence Reflex - "A natural reaction to fix something that isn't right, or to improve something that could be better." The excellent reflex is a natural reaction that some people have and cannot be taught. Meyer trains his leaders how hire those that have it.

2. Employees can be categorized as Overwhelmers, Whelmers, and Underwhelmers. It is easy to identify Underwhelmers and get rid of them. The most dangerous employees are the Whelmers because "they infuse an organization and its staff with mediocrity...and send a dangerous message to your staff and guests that "average" is acceptable."

3. Coaching is correcting with dignity.

4. You obtain valuable leadership skills while managing volunteers. It requires you to consistently motivate employees beyond their earnings.

5. Create a sense of "shared ownership" with your customers by taking an interest in them and making them feel important. They will view you as a partner instead of a provider.

6. ABCD - Always Be Collecting Dots. You should aggressively collect lots of little information about your customer (dots) as they interact with your product or service. Then make the connection between the dots as a mechanism to improve your product or service to all customers.

7. Customers may love your product or service but the relationship that they have with you or your employees is what builds loyalty. Therefore you should take every opportunity to exceed expectations to create a lasting relationship.

8. Enlightened Hospitality - "We would define our successes and our failures in terms of the degree to which we had championed, first, one another and then our guests, community, suppliers and investors." This is an extremely powerful concept and is rooted in the integrity theme Meyer has throughout the book. You can't expect employees that don't treat each other with respect, who can't be hospitable with one another to then turn around and treat the customer with respect and high levels of hospitality a customer deserves. Poor relationships internal to the organization migrate to poor relationships external to the organization. Ultimately being last on the list benefits the investor by long term organizational success.

9. Judge your staff on 51 percent emotional job performance and 49 percent technical job performance. You can always teach technical while emotional is much harder if not impossible to develop. Lack of emotional job performance skills destroys teams and alienates customers.

10. "The road to success is paved with mistakes well handled" and "the worst mistake is not to figure out some way to end up in a better place after having made a mistake."

The ten points above are obviously more powerful in the context of the book when illustrated with Mr. Meyer's stories and experiences.


Dr. James T. Brown PMP PE CSP
Author, The Handbook of Program Management

Danny Meyer is now one of my new heroes. I'm at a point where I will be opening a new restaurant in the coming year and I plan to buy a copy of Setting the Table for all of my employees and all of my investors. I can't wait to have the time to visit all his restaurants one by one. This book or cd should be required listening or reading for anyone going into the restaurant business. Thanks for stocking this amazing informative book.
All the best,
Danny Quinn

The restaurant business begins with a vision well founded on food knowledge. Having had great and many good meals helps. But the lessons of this book are many: the best is his order of priorities....first the employees, then the customers, then the suppliers and last the investors. Brilliant.

One of the best business books I've ever read. Danny really "gets it" as far as treating his employees and customers like family and VERY important people. THIS is why he is so successful with the top restaurants in NYC. A MUST read for anyone in sales or who deals with customers and employees on a daily basis

A great book that describes how to create customers for life, with "enlightened hospitality", creating an outstanding customer experience, based on a dialog with the customer. As he puts it "picking up the rocks" (to find the info) and "connecting the dots", a process that could and should be copied for every business.

His passion for food comes across the written page, its contagious.
I'm not a wine drinker but his passion made me want to give it a try.

I never been to one of his restaurants but I now see a trip to New York to visit his restaurants.

Highly recommended not only for restaurateurs, but for every business that has contact with customers.

This is a book for the young, but it is also a good book for the parents and everyone in between.
I had this book w/record when I was a little girl and the meaning behind this very small simple book came to mind many times through my life... (middle aged now) It resonated with me because I perceived my family didn't believe in me, didn't think I would amount to anything, treated me as if I was stupid and laughed at me, my dreams... so I grew up trying to be my own "cheerleader"... which was daunting at times... yet, like this boy planting the carrot seed, I also somehow knew (trusted?) inside me there was a seed that would grow with enough positive energy, light and love. It is my passion to cheer my fellow humans on... believe in yourself, believe in your children, believe in the people around you and they will believe in themselves and so on and so on and so on...
We all came here with a gift (seed)... let it move through you (grow) and do not listen to the negative voices/opinions around you, no matter how "influential" they are.
"My story" is done, coaching session over ;-) Cheers to ya!

My 3 year old son knows this book word for word. It is a superb story about patience and tenacity. Yet another library book that become so beloved we turned to amazon....

This book is a wonderful portrayal of perserverence and faith. Delightful to young and old!

i was happy to receive the book. it is exactly the book i remembered and its nice because it is hard.

thank you

This book had a huge impact on me as a child.

Everyone told the boy his carrot seed would not come up. Even the adults. My reaction was this: adults know everything, so why is this boy still trying? I was truly surprised when the carrot seed sprouted, and I clapped and cheered. My next reaction was this: maybe *I* shouldn't give up, even when other people tell me to. This is one of the greatest lessons I've ever learned.

I read this book to my own kids now, and they love it as much as I do.

It was in great condition and made an excellent gift for my grandmother

I'm surprised by how many reviewers read this book in high school. I think I read it in 8th grade. I also reread it within the last couple of years (over 40 years later). For me this book still had a great impact; I know I never forgot it. Caldwell was a great story teller and the forces at odds in Luke as he travels the road from angry nonbeliever practicing medicine in the Roman World to a man of faith who eventually writes his own gospel is a wonderful journey for the reader. I was pulled into his struggle like I have been in few other books. So the book stayed with me, but the second time I read it, I thought it would make a great movie directed by Martin Scorcese. I remembered his Last Temptation of Christ from the late 70's. I've tried to find a way to contact Scorcese to encourage him to do the movie, but was unsuccessful. If anyone reading this can get through to him, you might suggest it would be a great opportunity for him... (I think Leonardo Decaprio would make a great Luke). Anyway, the book is currently out of print; if somebody would republish it, I'd give it to everyone I know. The used editions have actually gotten a little pricey. But, I encourage everyone to read the book. On many levels, it's a great read. Finally, one of the best and most moving parts of the book is when Luke interviews the Virgin Mary and the Apostle John for his gospel; coming near the end of the book, these episodes raise the book above conventional historical fiction and make it somehow a spiritual reading experiance.

This book is to be read and re-read!!! It contains so much wisdom, insight, and all of it written in such a powerful way.
If you are curious about one of history's most fascinating time periods, this book will definetely enthuse you. It is filled with so many visual descriptions capable of transporting you back in time as you read! I could not put it down
Luke's story is inpiring and Caldwell's treatment is sublime.
GET YOUR HANDS ON IT TODAY!

This book is REALLY awesome. I like how Taylor makes St. Luke ( Lucanus) like a real person instead of some holy guy that you can't relate yourself to. It's full of Israelites, Romans, and Lucanus' quest to find who he is and what God calls him to do. It's truely hard to put down and is a beautiful story. I'm 13 and I reccomend this book to kids my age and up. If you want a really good book to read... this book is for you!

Love this book about the physician, Luke, who wrote the Gospel according to Luke. Fiction, yes, but such an accurate depiction of the human struggle for spiritual relevance and the rebellion of the human soul. The detail and depth of characters, the complex and rewarding plot and the historical accuracy make this one of the finest works ever done by any author, in my opinion. Rarely does reading the last page cause such a sigh of satifaction. I am buying another because I've loaned mine out so often.

I've always ranked the first Bond book, "Casino Royale", as the best of the series. "On Her Majesty's..." is also one of the best -- perhaps because it has much in common with "Casino". Bond returns to the gambling tables of Royale; he enjoys various foods and drinks; he falls very hard for a girl, with potentially tragic results; and he comes across as very human, rather than the Superman of the movies (contrast the effortless skiing ending in a parachute jump or some other stunt in a typical Bond movie with Bond's desperate, exhausting downhill escape run that is a highlight of this book).

One of the best Bonds.

This is the best by Fleming. A real treat to read! Danger is what Bond gets into.

You know what ? This is a great book !
Being a french reader, I waited that I'd improved my english in order that I could really appreciate such good novels.
Ian Fleming is excellent at slowly revealing the psychology of his main character. And Fleming write with a skill and sureness of touch that go straight to the essential, without any "fioritures".
I do recommend this book to anyone who simply want to be appealed by good stories.

In Ian Fleming's On Her Majesty's Secret Service, James Bond is chasing Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the villain from Thunderball. Bond has to do a bit of role-playing in this classic Bond thriller, and he plays the part of a professional from the College of Arms (an organization dealing with genealogies and family trees) with panache. The novel begins with a terrific display of suspense, as Bond is in eminent danger. This feeling also lasts through most of the novel.

This novel is set mostly in the Swiss Alps at a sort of combination ski facility/ scientific lab. Bond is posing as a man from the College of Arms because Blofeld has expressed interest in his heritage. The novel continues as Bond attempts to find out all that he can about Blofeld's strange facility on this Alp.

The first part of the book was not quite as exciting as I had been expecting, but it provided enough humor for me to be satisfied until it got to the more action-filled sections. However, this book provided more than humor and action. The plot was excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The skiing scenes were especially suspense-filled and exciting, Bond's romantic interests complemented the plot, and the characters were full and vibrant.

I decided to read a Bond novel after having watched several of the movies (you know how they all come on tv at once,) and I am glad I did. This novel was surprisingly good even though my expectations were high. This book is better than the movies because instead of mere sound-byte-intensive humor, it provides a real humor that I found to be much more affable than the movies. Also, Bond is portrayed somewhat differently than in the movies. I found that the action scenes were just as vivid as they are in the movies, something that is not often successfully managed by authors. I believe that any Bond fan should read the books, not just watch the movies. Trust me, they are at least equally enjoyable.

I think that this book is at least comparable to today's suspense novels, and my only complaint is that I was not around in the 60's to read it when it was a new and, I suspect, rather progressive novel.

One of the last of the original Bond Books, On Her Majesty's Secret Service is also one of the best. Picking up a year after the end of Thunderball, this book finds James Bond again battling the nefarious schemes of Ernest Stavro Blofeld and SPECTRE and, most importantly, falling in love with the beautiful, resourceful, and ultimately tragic Tracy. Though the usual intrigue is well-presented by Fleming, he also makes it clear that Blofeld's plan is hardly meant to be taken all that seriously. (Without ruining it for those who might never have read the book or seen the surprisingly faithful film adaption, it all comes down to Blofeld hidden away in Switzerland, pretending to be an allergist, and brainwashing English farm girls. No, it doesn't make a lot of sense but Fleming obviously had so much fun presenting it that most readers won't take offense.) The heart of this book -- and this Fleming treats with an admirable seriousness that should take his critics by surprise -- is the love story between Bond and Tracy. In Tracy, Fleming has created perhaps his most fully realized "Bond girl." Vulnerable yet resourseful and more than capable of taking care of herself (and, at times, perhaps even more so than Bond himself), its hard not to fall in love with this character and when Bond finally does decide to reject all others for her, its impossible to disagree with his logic. Its a compelling, rather touching love story and, even though most Bond films know how its going to end, the ending still packs a heavy impact.

As for Bond himself, after being a rather predictable presence in Thunderball, he's back in full form as a full realized, interesting character in this novel. On Her Majesty's Secret Service was written after the release of Dr. No (Ursula Andress even makes a cameo appearance at the time) and one can sense that, with this book, Fleming is reestablishing his claim on the character. From the intentionally ludicrous evil scheme to the frequent excursions into Bond's head (revealing him hardly to be the ruthless, unflappable killer that filmgoers though him to be), Fleming comes across as a reenergized writer in this book -- determind to let all the new Bond fans out there know who is really in charge of their favorite secret agent's destiny. The result is one of the best of the original Bond books and one of the best spy thrillers I've read in a long time.