Texas Books

Third book in The McCabes of Texas series: Dr. Cowboy (Jackson & Lacey), His Cinderella (Wade & Josie), A Cowboy's Woman (Shane & Greta), and A Cowboy Kind of Daddy (Travis & Annie)

Shane McCabe thought he'd teach his matchmaking mom a lesson - so when she engineers a situation where he ends up in the same bed with Greta while mom 'surprises' them, he decides to call his mom's bluff and locks Greta in a passionate clinch just as the door opens ... what he hadn't counted on was that his mom had brought the entire bridge club and Greta's mom with her, and now Greta's reputation was in ruins ... what else is there to do but marry her and then get a quick annullment? No one's going to want them to stay married if they're not in love, after all, both of their parents believe in only marrying for true love, and that's why his plan will work, he's certain of it ...

Description from the book back cover:

Bride: Made to Order ... Shane McCabe had a reputation - in his work and with women. The 'baby' brother in the McCabe clan, Shane was as wild and rugged as the land. But good girl Greta Wilson had always wanted him ... A tornado couldn't get Shane down the aisle - though his matchmaking mum was determined to try. So when she hatched a plot to get Shane and Greta together, they decided they'd prove they weren't made for each other ... even if it meant getting married!

The McCabes of Texas series is back with a story about Shane. The "bad boy" and baby brother of the McCabe clan, Shane is as rugged and wild as the Texas land he was raised on. Good girl Greta Wilson had always been in love with Shane, and in awe of his fun lovin' escapades, but she also knew he was not the cowboy for her, as not even a stampede of wild horses could get that cowboy down the aisle. Until, that is, Shane and Greta's mothers hatched a matchmaking scheme that landed the two together in bed! Then they'll do whatever it takes to prove to one and all they are not a match made in Texas! Even if that means getting married! This book is a lot of fun, and romantic to boot!

In 1997, the Electronic Frontier Foundation announced an experiment. On a budget of $200,000, they blew the roof off of something that had long been suspected: the long-time United States Data Encryption Standard was not secure.

This is something that had been suspected for some time. The original Lucifer encrypt that it had been based on had been designed by IBM with a 64-bit keyspace (quite large for the late 70s), but had been reduced to 56 bits, reducing the number of possible keys by two orders of magnitude. It was widely suspected that this was due to the NSA's desire that there not be a standard in the public domain that they couldn't crack; indeed, DES was slowly obsoleted over the years by ciphers like RSA and PGP. In 1997, it was announced that the EFF had created, using an array of custom chips, a relatively inexpensive system that was capable of a brute-force attack on DES, and came to the conclusion that such systems were probably already in the posession of not only the NSA (the largest purchaser of computing power in the world) but also numerous corporate and governmental entities that could afford to pay substantially less than the EFF paid for a technology that was likely not only available on the QT but quite mature.

This book comes with everything needed to build a DES cracker -- operational notes, history, and even the VHDL code needed to build the custom chips and C code to control the chip array. This makes it of interest not only to cryptography researchers (who probably consider this book old news after seven years) but to those learning about hardware and embedded systems development; the extensive listings make for good study material.

It's a worthwhile book to buy for anyone interested in privacy and cryptography concerns, though for the layperson Simon Singh's Code Book is probably a more general introduction to the issues involved.

This is a "killer book" in every respect.

The authors have done a tremendous service to the entire population of the World by exposing the vulnerability of the DES algorithm. The DES algorithm is the formula for encrypting your bank account and keeping other secrets safe.

DES has become unless and the authors have taken more than a little risk to inform you including absolute, undeniable proof in the form of "showing you how", down to the last detail.

The books not only gives detailed plans and references but also the correct current political motivation behind the desire to retain the DES and how it affects you.

Details of how government "politicking" of your civil rights and how those rights are being "watered down" for the benefit of the intelligence community is explained, too.

I don't personally plan on spending $200,000 or so to build a "engine for cracking DES", but I do believe that the money spent for this book was one of the better investments I have made. The books contents have been placed into the public domain by the authors. Tell a friend.

Bravo, guys!

This book helped me TONS. I took my TExES and almost aced it. I'd recommend it to anyone.

This book is an excellent source to help you PASS the PPR! I read through other books and found this one to be more explanatory and easier to understand. It goes into great detail of all the types of questions that appear on the exam. I finally felt like I knew how to go about taking the exam without the confusion and frustration! I positively recommend this book to anyone who needs a better understanding of how to choose the BEST answer on the exam. This is the book that finally helped me PASS!!! Cheers & Good Luck!

This book was fantastic. As a teacher, it is hard to find really good Hispanic authors for my students. This book will most certainly be in my classroom. Xavier is a wonderful storyteller who captures the spirit and imagination of the folklore of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. This book is written in vinettes, which makes it a fun and easy to read for classroom students. The young and old will enjoy this book.

This was a fun read, creepy but in a fun way. I really enjoyed the book, and children will love the just right blend of humor, horror and shock!

Readers of American history in general and Southwest events in particular will find Crisis In The Southwest, a survey of the US/Mexican struggle over Texas, to be clear and well done. The logic and events of the Mexican War and Texas Revolution come clear with a story which covers both ideologies and underlying roots of conflict.

The latest addition to the outstanding Scholarly Resources "The American Crisis Series", historian and civil war expert Richard Bruce Winders' Crisis In The Southwest: The United States, Mexico, And The Struggle Over Texas is a thoroughly "reader friendly" historical study clearly laying out facts, battles, and the profound impact the conflicts had upon history of Mexico, the European powers of the day, and the emergence of the Republic of Texas, eventually culminating in the role Texas was to play in shaping the events that were to ultimately result in the American Civil War. Black-and-white maps and illustrations enhance the carefully researched text, which presents life-and-death struggles in direct and simple language accessible for readers of all backgrounds.

For many people, passing on one's life story can be as simple as telling family members and friends personal vignettes that have shaped who they are, and hoping that those stories get passed on to future generations without being altered, embellished or completely forgotten. But when those stories are put on paper, they can preserve a treasure trove of information that can make for fascinating reading decades later.

Such is the case with "Crossing the Rio Grande: An Immigrant's Life in the 1880's" by Luis G. Gomez. Originally published in Spanish in 1935 under the title "Mis Memorias" by a small print shop in Rio Grande City, Texas, this translated edition published by Texas A&M University Press is a labor of love and devotion by a grandson determined to safeguard not only a piece of family history, but Texas history as well.

Guadalupe Valdez Jr., the author's grandson, first learned of his grandfather's book in 1934. Gomez told his then 17-year-old grandson that he was writing two volumes of "notable incidents" of his youth for a "public who loves to read." He also hoped that the book would "be of great help to the young."

Valdez finally saw a copy of the book for the first time in 1947, 10 years after his grandfather had passed away. The grandson never put the book out of his memory, and as he himself grew older he began giving formal presentations on it to genealogical organizations. It was at one of these conferences that he met someone who put into motion the opportunity to translate and publish the book for a new generation of readers.

"Crossing the Rio Grande" is an English edition of Gomez's memoir translated by his grandson with assistance from Javier Villarrreal, a professor of Spanish at Texas A&M University--Corpus Christi. An introduction by Thomas H. Kreneck explains the book's value to academia and describes what has been learned of the publication history of the original Spanish-language book.

Gomez came to Texas from Mexico as a young man in the mid-1880s. He made his way around much of South Texas, finding work on the railroad and other businesses, observing the people and the way of the region. From the moment he crossed the Rio Grande at Matamoros--Brownsville, he sought his fortune in a series of contracting operations that created the infrastructure to help develop the Texas economy.

Through setbacks and perseverance, Gomez has crafted a heartfelt memoir that is beautiful in its simplicity and historically valuable in its glimpse into the rugged frontier of the Lone Star state. No exact record exists as to how many copies of the original book were printed, but what is known is that five copies remain in existence today. Interestingly, a second volume is alluded to, but has never been located.

This current edition is a testament to the bond between a grandfather and a grandson that has stood the test of time, language and culture. Regardless of your position on today's immigration reform debate, it will give you insight into one man's struggles to achieve a better life in a country not legally his own.

"Crossing the Rio Grande" is a small volume, but don't be fooled by its size--it packs a powerful punch. It's sure to be on the "Top Ten" list of any Texas border community considering a "One Book, One City" reading program.

This is a great read! It was very interesting to read about his memories of this time. It was as if I was reading about my great-great grandfather's life during this time period!

According to the introduction of the book, this story was told in the indigenous language of Keresan by a well-known elder of the Cochiti Pueblo near Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1928. This traditional story is part of a larger tradition of Native Americans in teaching values and right ways of living in community through storytelling. Crow is impatient and leaves her eggs in order to do the things that she wants to do. In essence, she gives up her responsibility towards her children. When Hawk comes by and sees the eggs abandoned, she sits on the eggs, hatches the eggs and feeds the chicks. She has taken on a responsibility that was not originally hers and will not give it up even when Crow comes back and is indignant that Hawk will not give up the young fledglings. While it is a hard story for Crow, one does notice later that Eagle is comforting Crow in her loss. As for the colorful and vibrant illustrations, childen will definitely enjoy them as they are led to think about personal responsibility and the costs associated with giving it up.

This book reveals how modern adoption suits should be handled. The answer was plain, simple, and correct--how ironic that the bird which symbolizes America could see it so easily.

The author never jumps to conclusions, but slowly, gathering the clues to lay out a history of the Mayan calendar. It is up to you to decide whether his logic is correct, I could not find any flaws. As the book goes you pick up plenty of astronomical, geographical and historical facts. Very engaging.
The book has gone out of print, but is now posted in a digital format on the author's website. Still it is sad that it did not get wider attention.

Vincent Malmstrom has written a wonderfully entertaining book stuffed full of facts on the Mesoamerican systems of calendrical accounting. I had no idea the history of their calendars went so far back, nor that they were so widely used by such a great number of civilizations. His theories fill in where the facts leave off, as most studies on ancient cultures must, and the facts support his hypotheses. Malmstrom's theories on the origin of the calendar are quite different in some aspects than those of scholars before him -- one major difference is that he does not believe the Olmec developed the calendar. I don't want to ruin any surprises for a reader -- and there are some for those who accept the commonly supported theories of the Olmec as the "father" of all subsequent Mesoamerican civilizations -- so I will stop with just one more comment: If you have any interest in Mesoamerica or the cultures of the Zoque, Olmec, Zapotec, Maya, Mixtec, Toltec or Aztec, GET THIS BOOK!

this was a gift for a friend of mine....book was in excellent shape and had shrink wrap around it

I gave this book as a gift. Dave is a fanatical Dallas Cowboy fan and he takes this with him where ever he goes. His wife says it has become his new bible for Cowboy trivia

As a 25 year resident of the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, I must say this man knows his stuff. His ratings of the restaurants are dead on and his discriptions of the cities is not only factual but also amusing. There are things he found I didn't know about and are dying to check out. This is a must read for anyone who wants to know some little known facts about this great metroplex.

As a 25 year resident of the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, I must say this man knows his stuff. His ratings of the restaurants are dead on and his discriptions of the cities is not only factual but also amusing. There are things he found I didn't know about and are dying to check out. This is a must read for anyone who wants to know some little known facts about this great metroplex.