Tracks Books

While I found Walter Burkert's book, Creation of the Sacred, very interesting, well written and persuasive, I'm not certain that I entirely agree with some of his concepts. I was most impressed with the gentleman's erudition. As a professor of Classics at the University of Zurich, he has, as expected, a thorough knowledge of Greek and Roman classical literature, but he also exhibits a very broad spectrum of knowledge in history, anthropology, linguistics, psychology and sociology. He also has a good command of the professional literature on these subjects from the world's scholars, citing topics from journals in English, German, French and Italian.

From the perspective of research on the issue, I have no doubt that some of the author's arguments with respect to the evolution of religious ideas are very plausible. They are certainly interesting and suggestive. I'm not as certain, however, that they constitute "proof," and there is a distinct difference between the proven and the plausible.

Among the topics he subjects to scrutiny are: the function of religion in the context of a world of information, the design features of myths, legends and fairy tales, the reinforcement of hierarchy, the concept of "religious therapy," the cultural function of reciprocity of giving, and the process of validation through signs and oaths.

Some of the concepts I found particularly interesting. The author's suggestion, for instance, that, "By a process of reduction, religion provides orientation within a meaningful cosmos for those who feel helpless vis-à-vis infinite complexity (p. 26)." Certainly in a world where information seems infinite, not always consistent, and mistakes can be dangerous, the possibility that a superior force can help narrow things down to a few key pieces of data would reduce the anxiety of dealing with life. As he points out in later chapters, this is probably why belief in things like astrology have been so long lived. It might be pointed out that science serves this function for the modern world, but that it often seems counter intuitive and inaccessible to many.

I also found Burkert's suggestion that sacrifice was a form of gift giving between the Gods and mankind and was a form of manipulation, even bribery, logical. Certainly in ancient society it had a capacity to bind society together, and even to effect reciprocity between nations. Other authors have suggested that gift giving between widely spaced societies may have operated to spread risk over a greater population and territory.

Again, a very plausible book with many interesting ideas to think about.

Burkert has assembled the rituals, myths, and outlook of a global retinue of religions to demonstrate the universality of human approaches to the unknown. An amazing range of cultures have developed nearly identical attitudes and practices in coping with the mysteries of life. Where did this universality originate? Burkert sees its roots in the deep time of pre- literate humanity. He makes this connection loosely, but the connection is surely there. Loss of body parts by trapped or threatened animals becomes ritual sacrifice in humans. Social hierarchy in primates becomes kneeling before an altar with downcast eyes, submitting to some superior entity. These habits, practiced over endless generations have almost certainly become entrenched in the genetic messages making up each of us. There might just be a gene for religion by now, although Burkert avoids such a radical assertion. The logic behind his contentions clamors for acceptance; the validity of Burkert's assertions too thoroughly supported to contest. In Burkert's

Although there are other books on comparative elements in religion, few have drawn the picture so clearly; none have reached into such our distant past in seeking origins of religious practices. He assembles a wealth of supportive material, much of it European in origin. Historically, European religious attitudes have anticipated those in North America; Ernest Renan in France, for example, preceded Robert Ingersoll in America. Burkert, however, has confined himself too much in reviewing his sources in compiling this book. His studies have stopped at the water's edge by ignoring two decades of development of Richard Dawkins' suggestion that cultural elements, such as religion, are the result of the memes.

While Burkert superbly describes the universal aspects of religious practice, he fails to present us with the reasons for its persistence. In the most literate age in human history, why does a concept as illogical as 'god' continue to draw on such a wealth of human time and resources? The science of memetics, which bases its theory on replication and dissemination in imitation of genetic methods, would have been the fulfilling conclusion to Burkert's otherwise flawless analysis of religion's survival. His conclusion argues that 'direct imprinting of parental attitudes, nor arbitrary transfer of information [by which we assume 'not traceable] can account for it['s success]'. Yet these two mechanisms are precisely the way memes, cultural principles transmitted over generations, works. You need not go all the way to the end of the book; simply review the opening chapter and use 'meme' to account for each of the factors Burkert lists in the inventory of topics he further develops. Not one eludes the definition of how a meme functions.

This lack of addressing a concept that has been with us for a generation doesn't flaw this book, it merely renders it incomplete. Read Burkert closely for he has much to say and says it well. Then go pick up Susan Blackmore's THE MEME MACHINE for the complete picture. The pair will complete any library's collection of religious studies. Only someone bringing these two concepts together will further add to your thinking on 'why we believe'.

This is an excellent work (by a respected author) which boldly tackles the task of presenting a clear and coherent explanation for the practice of sacrifice in religions. Mr. Burkert both enhances the reader's understanding of the practice of sacrifice, and dispels many foolish romantic views of ancient religions.

Burkert is a great scholar, and I strongly recommend his book "Greek Religion." However, in this book he tries to tie his encyclopedic knowledge of classical cultures to his knowledge of biology (animal behavior), psychology and anthropology. This is an ambitious project, and appropriately, he attempted it for the Gifford Lectures, dedicated to "natural theology in the widest sense." He is brave for attempting this when such synthetic descriptions of religion are out of style.

However, most of Burkert's connections are too loose to feel convincing. He piles on loads of examples from primarily classical and Near Eastern cultures--neglecting altogether China and India, and most other cultures--but they do not really come together to form a theory or even a series of compelling insights.

It was a noble attempt, and he remains a titan in classical studies, and I recommend "Greek Religion" wholeheartedly. Read that before you read this, at least because it will help you understand this one. But consider books by Max Weber, Claude Levi-Strauss, Mircea Eliade, Rudolf Otto.

Today's Twain is famous for Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. Even worse, people seem to pick those books up only when another book burning is threatened. That is a shame on two levels. First, burning books, be it Rowling, Twain, even Mao's little red book, is a crime against nature. How can we study, learn, recall the past, with its ugly pimples and all without keeping that record?
Second, Twain wrote far more than those two books. His editorial writing, his short stories, and most importantly, these dark stories, show a fertile mind, regardless of age, a creative force that still entertains, amazes, and informs. To some extent, Twain can be viewed as the father of science fiction, because of his willingness to step out of his role as a human participant, and become a third party, semi-removed observer and commentator (not to mention his creativity which never grew stale or tired).

His dark stories are wonderful. Some of them will surprise, even shock a reader who never heard of them before. But that is not necessarily bad. I am glad these are in print again. I've been trying to replace my copy (lent out 20 yrs ago, and never returned) for some time.

But not that good either. This book contains writings that were all attempted after Mark Twain was over 70 years old and after his daughter had died. The majority of the book is composed of incomplete manuscripts, some of which are highly amusing. Most of the stories here start out the same way . . . he tries to get a story going which is gloomy, defeatest, and which ends in disaster. But Twain's natural sense of vigour always gets in the way and st a critical point, the stories tend to take a different turn than he had intended, thus he abaondons them. There are some interesting stories here. One of them includes the story of a slave who, through craft, turns the tables on his white master (named George Harrison, oddly enough!) and enslaves him, which is a rather interesting thought for those modern critics who continually chastise Twain as a racist. A few polemical pieces are included which are bound to irritate the Christians -- not all of these are gloomy, however, as the editor seems to think Twain intended them -- he obviously enjoys his heretical antics a great deal. Although this collection did not really impress me that much, there are several pices of writing here in which Twain shines like he has in few other works. A social statement on the Natie Americans and on growing old are also included. Although not for everybody, fans of Samuel Clemens will find this book a rare treat.

Twain was one of the greatest writers of all time ,especialy if you compare him to other southern writers.the book is a beutiful interpritation of twains dark side. twain had a very cold side hidden away from most who knew him as americas leading humorist.twains dark side was brought on by family deaths and bad investments.i consider twain a realist and a true southerner, a man of his word but also a man of tall tales. all in all twains dark writings are as real as his humor ''some of them personal experiences''. it takes a l ot to believe twain could write such things because most people knew him as the humoristof such books as '' the notorious jumping frog & short stories such as curing a cold'. he let you see a different side of him in his dark writings. in the dark writings he showed the world the twain that greived & felt pain from his losses.

As a lazy philosopher in search of a belief system, I found this book exceptionally provocative, if occaisionally irritating. I'm generally not a fan of compilations, particularly when many of the pieces are unfinished manuscripts. However, it was wonderful to see so many of my own half-formed questions given an eloquent voice. The beauty of these writings is that though Twain/Clemmens pokes fun at or denounces the futility of the human struggle and our attempts to understand, he never gives in to his own dark thoughts. Throughout it all there is an undercurrent of hope. Contradictory, yes, but well worth look.

This is a picture of America that you don't get elsewhere! She worked inside fast food restaurants to research this book, and I think she has done a stellar job here. Any American could learn a lot from reading this fine, fine book.

Sociologist Jennifer Parker Talwar spent four years working in a Burger King as a part of her research on this book. She interviewed a wide range of immigrant fast-food workers in New York City's ethnic communities. The result is an interesting study in immigration, ethnicity, labor and community in New York City.

As a white American who has worked in fast food before, I was surprised to read about just how much is going on with fast food restaurants in a major metropolis, both in terms of the labor side and the business side. My experience was archtypal middle America - the kid working to make extra money. I think that this description still applies for the vast majority of the country, but the more I think about the faces behind the counter of many fast food restaurants in Washington, DC, Talwar is right - fast food is the entry for many immigrants into the mainstream American workforce. Accordingly, this book is a must-read for those who want to consider how immigrants are assimilated into modern America.

The main limitation is that it is a study of immigrant labor and fast food in New York City. The broad range of ethnic diversity and community experiences that were drawn upon for this book simply do not exist anywhere else in the United States. I cannot think of any other city that could readily provide the "United Nations" workforce of the Chinatwon McDonald's described in this book. Therefore, how applicable Talwar's work is to the country at large must be called into question. Also, do not be fooled by the cover into thinking that this book is anything like "Fast Food Nation." It is a specific (and appropriately narrow) sociological study, and lacks the range of that excellent book.

A very readable book while addressing important contemporary issues related to immigration and the consumer economy. Highly recommended.

Clearly the result of exhaustive research, this book takes traditionally very dry material and presents a highly readable text that identifies fascinating perspectives on the American Dream.

Recommended without reservation.

I expected this to be written in a practical, bare-knuckels style similar to "The Goal". There are a few narrative pages like this scattered about the book (which are the highlight in my opinion), but less than 10% of the book is devoted to these pages. The bulk of the book is a clutter of every hackneyed acronym manufacturing consultants have used over the last couple of decades: Takt time, Toyota Production System (TPS), one piece flow, Workplace organization, U-flow, Error-free processing, JIT, Pull manufacturing, kanban, kaizen, SMED, contiunous improvement, lean manufacturing, 5S, you name the buzzword - its in there. The author seems to revel in this verbal masturbation. The book basically glosses over these flavor-of-the-month manufacturing concepts (assuming a level of knowledge of each) and compares them to each other. There is very little explanation of how to implement them, or how they were implemented in any of the companies the author says he worked for. There is a refreshing honesty that some of these concepts are useless (which you already know if manufacturing is your field) The book 'feels' very much like the work of a consultant and NOT a plant manager.
I found almost nothing useful that I could apply to the small company where I work.

Having worked as a facilitator, manager, and consultant transitioning fortune 500 manufacturing companies from batch to lean manufacturing operations since 1991, my hat is off to Mr. John Davis on his superb book "Fast Track to Waste Free Manufacturing." In my travels and teachings I have been exposed to hundreds of teachers, managers, and authors who profess to be experts in the tools, techniques, and principles of the Toyota Production System and lean organizational skills. However, few if any, have the true experience of being in a position responsible for the success of failure of its implementation. Having had the privilege of working with Mr. Davis in the early 90's as he developed his expertise in waste free manufacturing, I can attest that in this book, Mr. Davis does what he always did best. "He walks the talk." In this book, he takes you on a journey of successful implementation of waste free manufacturing and profitability. This is a must read for managers and associates who understand and belief in the tools, principles, and techniques of a waste free manufacturing organiztion and want to learn how to do it. In this book, Mr. Davis demonstrates the importance of focus, commitment, communications, and leadership in transforming a batch organization to a waste free, profitable organization. "For when a true leader has successfully completed his task....They will say we did it ourselves.

I've been researching and reviewing dozens of books on Suzaki, Womack and Jones, Liker, Hamel and Prahalad, Treacy and Wiersema, Womack, Jones and Roos, Schonberger, Imai,Shingo,Monden, et. al. This book is the first one I've found that provides both rationale for change and, most importantly, step by guidance on "how to" implement the necessary changes. Written in a style that is at times reminiscent of "The Goal", Mr. Davis offers suggestions, recommendations,and guidelines in an easily readable 264 pages that contain no unnecessary jargon, disconcerting statistics, nor is it part of a doctoral thesis meant to impress the academic community. One gets the feeling from reading this book that Mr. Davis has actually "been there"; that he has worked in a career in manufacturing and is truly speaking from experience. Take my word for it; if you want to read one book or recommend one book to your subordinates on the subject, this is the one! I am pleased to write this review and would be willing to communicate with anyone regarding my impressions

John Davis takes a simple step-by-step approach in describing the transformation of a plant from a typical troubled operation to a lean operation. Davis focuses on basics and "how-to", not buzz words and jargon. Davis provides a framework that can be used by any plant manager who is trying to implement lean manufacturing concepts in a 'traditional' manufacturing setting. This can be used in high volume opertaions but is especially useful in low volume or job shop manufacturing, where the Toyota model with its manic focus on tact time is not always applicable. Davis focuses on workplace organization (using a 6C model which is an adaptation of the familiar 5S concept) as the basis of any lean transformation. This perspective alone is worth the price of the book because many lean efforts fail due to lack of fundamental workplace organization. If you are a plant manager or GM tasked with turning around a low performing operation, or you simply want a primer on Lean, this is the one to buy.

This is a really good history of horse racing and has so many wonderful pictures. It was a gift and the person receiving it is a huge horse racing fan and he loved it.

This book showcases an outstanding photographer, Bert Morgan, and the era of horse racing that he captured on film with style and elegance. These photos are an education for any student of American racing in the 20th Century, since they identify the big players in the game, both human and equine. As an historic resource, it is fascinating and invaluable. Anyone finding fault with the content would seem to be an armchair expert who hasn't done their own homework.

This book has many wonderful photos but it seems sometimes that the focus is more on human celebrities rather than their magnificent equine counterparts. There is also no information on any of the horses whatsoever except name and what race it was. Interesting book to skim through, but not something you could spend hours on, or even one hour.

Fans of racing will learn something new by looking at the images in this book. A racing fan myself, I saw great horses, jockeys, trainers, and owners in a new light. We read so much about War Admiral and Whirlaway, "Sunny Jim" and Eddie Arcaro, but images, especially good ones, are difficult to come by. This book opens up that world of racing's golden age of Triple Crown winners and celebrity owners. I think the book is an excellent companion to the Seabiscuit book. The images capture on film much of the world that Seabiscuit lived in. A worthy addition to any racing library.

Steven W. Wise sets The Jordan Tracks in the small town of California, just southwest of Columbia, Missouri. It's a part of the heartland that Wise knows well; he and his wife live on a wooded farm about ten miles north of Columbia. The novel, his fifth (including three originally published by Thomas Nelson), is peppered with references that readers in the Show-Me State will appreciate. (I've lived in Saint Louis long enough to know who wore #6 for the Cardinals, but as a native Chicagoan I'm still sore about the Brock-for-Broglio deal.)

The Jordan Tracks takes place in the fall of 1968 and follows the struggle of Ernie and Christa Bates as they anxiously await the return of their son, Aaron, from his tour of duty in Viet Nam. As with so many plans in this life, the "welcome home" pig-pickin' is put on permanent hold when the Bates are informed that Aaron has been killed.

Christa is solid in her walk with Christ, as was Aaron. Knowing that she'll be reunited with him someday helps to ease the pain, but not so with Ernie. Burdened with guilt from a terrible deed in his childhood, Ernie has never accepted the existence of a loving God. The death of his only son sends Ernie into a shell, unable even to attend Aaron's funeral. He seems barely alive, like a sputtering candle about to flicker out. Forces are at work on Ernie, just beyond the limits of perception, and Christa fights to pull her husband back from the abyss before he allows himself to be swallowed by eternal darkness.

Steven Wise paints a colorful backdrop against which plays the struggle for Ernie Bates' soul. Some may find the dialogue and the characters a bit rustic for their tastes, even corny; to them I politely suggest getting out of the city and taking a good look around. The Jordan Tracks is about ordinary people dealing with extraordinary hurt, and there are an awful lot of folks just like that out here in Flyover Country.

The friendship between Ernie and his co-workers at the local turkey processing plant, Harley Raines and "Fudd" Ledbetter, rings true. (It's obvious that Wise has some turkey processing experience in his work history.) Wise also does a fine job of developing even the secondary characters into personalities I believed and cared about. The plot moves along at a leisurely pace, but that's all right; I really enjoyed getting to know these folks.

Wise is to be commended for avoiding the stock Hollywood happy ending. While The Jordan Tracks ends on a hopeful note, strings are left hanging as strings often do in real life. God promises no tidy resolutions to all of our problems, at least not in this world.

My only criticisms of The Jordan Tracks stem, I think, from the author's choice to self-publish. There are a couple of instances where the word "drug" is used instead of "dragged". This would have been acceptable in dialogue, but it seemed out of place in a novel that is, as a whole, very well written.

A few typos can be forgiven, but one other error stuck out just a bit: Identifying the inspiration for "Fudd" Ledbetter's nickname as a character from a Disney cartoon. Most readers would correctly recognize Elmer Fudd as Bugs Bunny's nemesis in the Warner Brothers cartoons. A second set of eyes would probably have caught that minor mistake.

However, these were minor flaws that didn't distract enough from the story to bother me.

In sum, The Jordan Tracks is an engaging story of average, small town people dealing with world-sized grief. It's not for the reader who wants explosions, monsters, or exotic locations. But The Jordan Tracks may move you in ways that so-called thrillers simply can't.

I have a confession to make. Actually, I have two confessions.

- I judged a book by its cover.
- I was wrong in my judgment about the book.

You see, I received the book "The Jordan Tracks" by Steven W. Wise in the mail. I had known nothing about the story line or the author. I look at the book cover and frankly it looked cheesy. It looked like a high school student had done the cover art. My attitude toward the book immediately turned sour. I thought, "Oh no, what have I gotten myself into".

But I knew I had committed and I had a job to do, so to be faithful, I decided to gut it out and started to make my way through the book. Once I started reading I could tell that I had misjudged the book and I was pulled into a compelling tale. There were a few points in the beginning of the story where the story did not quite flow smoothly and I even got confused as to the distinction of two of the main characters, but that was quickly cleared up.

If you boil the story down to its simplest plot, it is a story of people's faith journey. The story is set in a small town in
Missouri and all of the characters on their faith journey were influenced by a young Christian soldier, Aaron Bates, who was killed in action in Vietnam in 1968.

The first character was Aaron's father, Ernie Bates, who was raised in a very difficult household and actually killed his own alcoholic father while protecting his mother from a beating. Ernie has somehow managed to make it past that terrible event in his life and build a somewhat normal life until that fateful day when he found that his son had been killed. Ernie had idolized Aaron and he was crushed when he heard the terrible news of his son's death.

The second character was Gino, a friend from Vietnam
. Gino was also raised in a difficult environment in
Chicago

. Aaron had tried to have conversations about the things of significance but Gino was just not ready to have those conversations, Until after Aaron had died.

And finally there was the lovable, affable Fudd. A simply man that worked at the turkey plant with Aaron's father. Fudd would admit to not being willing to have conversations about deeper issues. He was just not interested in spiritual matters in life. But Aaron's death had changed things for him also. That years of being influenced by Aaron and his Christian mother Christina planted seeds that were taking root.

Wise has a way of telling this story so that whatever issues of a spiritual nature would occur, I would find myself in tears. I found the situations so real, deep and compelling that it appeared that I was experiencing them for real in person. His Christian characters exuded the type of grace and love that you see so infrequently in real life but that when you do see it in a person you immediately know that it is genuine. Barron's father Ernie experienced the "pit of despond" that most of We'll never experience in life, yet for the grace of god he somehow persevere.

Wise gave me a view into the activities of the spiritual world that I have not seen since reading the Frank Peretti's books This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness . In my book that is very high praise.

In the end, some characters came to believe in Jesus and some you're not sure where they're at with their journey. That seems to be pretty typical in life, we plant some seeds and we see some sprout. That is just the way of life.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend it for you also.

Wayne M
Questions and Answers Blog

This book is an attention-grabber from the very beginning, which I always like in a book. The story takes place in a small town in Missouri, 1968, during the Vietnam War. We are introduced to Ernie, the main character, when he is a little boy. The scene is a grim one- a scene of the abusive family he grew up in. There is a graphic description of a murder, but it is necessary to set the stage for the rest of the story and to understand Ernie's character. The rest of the book is not graphic at all. Then we fastforward to 1968 when Ernie has grown up and has a family of his own. We learn his son Aaron is fighting in the Vietnam War, and is only a few short months from returning home.

There are some great characters in this book. Christa, Ernie's wife and Aaron's mother, is a strong Christian woman who longs to share her faith with her husband. She goes through a long struggle trying to reach him.

Fudd and Harley, two of Ernie's best friends and coworkers. Fudd has many hilarious stories to tell at the lunch hour at the plant where they all work, and Harley is a strong, dependable friend whom Ernie and Christa both turn to in their hour of need.

I have read about 3/4 of the book, through chapter 11, and I certainly want to continue! It is different from any book I have read before. Hard to pinpoint exactly why, it's just different. The plot line is easy to follow, the characters made lovable, and the story is very unpredictable. Not to sound too cliche, but, I laughed and I cried. I gasped out loud numerous times. So far, the story paints a beautiful picture of God's love and how circumstances all come together to reach one man.

I would not reccomend this book for children under 13, and would encourage parents to screen it first, as it has a few graphic descriptions and "grown-up" situations and circumstances that younger children might not understand. (Notice I said "grown-up" and not "adult"-- there is a BIG difference!!!)

The Jordan Tracks takes us back to the late 1960s which was an era highlighted by almost universal unrest over the war in Vietnam. The story brings this conflict to the lives of seemingly ordinary people going about their day to day routine. These events cause great turmoil to the lives of those depicted. What makes the story come alive for me is that I grew up in a small town in the Midwest and the characters are much like people I used to know. Woven through the details of the characters is the strong faith of many that allows them to carry on and even reach out to others in the face of terrible situations.

It is common today to evaluate people on their net worth or job which, if done, will cause one to miss the people who are the most worth knowing. In this book, it is the people who are "ordinary" who are the most amazing.

I urge you to take a trip in history and find out what it is like to live in a small town. You will learn how things happen in the "real" world and that truly great human beings lived there in 1968 and live there today.

The Jordan Tracks touched me, caused me to relive a time when I was coming of age and to view that time and the people from my older and hopefully wiser perspective. I believe this is Steven Wise's best book to date. I hope you will take the time to find out for yourself.

We were pleased to see how the book was organized and how the examples were truly life sized, however, the book was too short and we would have been more pleased to see more examples included.

While her parents were packing the car after Christmas, my 7-year-old granddaughter, Chloe, said, "Let's go track animals."

We had only gone 30 feet from the house when I pointed to a track that looked like a barefoot baby had been walking there. I flipped through Mammal Tracks and found the only footprint that size and laid the book down on the snow beside the pawprint for comparison. "What do you think?" I asked.

"A bear?" Chloe said with round eyes.

"Headed straight for...," I said pointing.

"The compost pile," she said.

Three minutes later we were in the side yard wondering what could have consistently leapt 6 to 8 feet between indentations in the snow. I turned the page to Bounders. The previous day's rain had degraded the exact tracks, but the size seemed to indicate....

"A rabbit," Chloe said definitively.

"Okay Chloe," yelled her mother. "Time to go."

As we headed toward the car, we found deeply-indented deer tracks, and the light whisper of mouse tracks on top of the snow.

As Chloe buckled herself into the backseat, she confided to me," I thought we were going to see an actual bear."

I smiled.

In our imaginations, we had.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading, learning from and using the original "Mammal Tracks ..." book. The brilliant addition of learning how to identify animal scat contributes tremendously to a more holistic method for tracking animals.

Similarly to the way in which Mss. Levine and Mitchell broke down the various style of animal motion in the tracks segment, they created a way to identify the various animals' scat by shape and size.

The book is intelligently constructed; it is lightweight, making it an easy item to pack for a day hike or several nights out in the wilderness. The water-resistant paper also allows it to stand up to harsh conditions. Because you can put the book directly on the ground, it make it easier to do comparisons of life size illustrations of both the tracks and the scat.

It's easy to read and follow, and full of great information. Anyone who camps, hikes, or spends time outdoors will find this book helpful. I recommend it highly.

This is a really cool book. It helps a non-naturalist like me identify mammal tracks by their movement patterns, then their group (rodent or cat), then narrow it down to the actual species by comparing the prints I find with the life-size illustrations in the book. The writing is easy to understand, and it's a snap to compare the prints in our field with the pictures. I can also identify the animals' droppings by comparing them with the photos in the book. The pages are waterproof, so I don't have to worry about placing them against snow or wet ground. The book is thin and very light, and fits easily into a backpack or even into a larger coat pocket.

What I especially like about the book is that it invites the reader to get inside the mind of the animal, to "begin to think like that wild being," "to understand the daily lives of animals." I can "become the animal I am following" by imagining that I am its size, then I can ask questions about the animal's path and gait, thereby understanding its intentions. Without this book, I would never have thought to do any of this when coming upon animal tracks.

The book is ideal for boy and girl scouts, students, and adults who want to get closer to the lives of animals. It takes almost no time at all to learn to use, and offers a knowledge that many of us would never think to pursue. I can well imagine every scout troop and school library having a copy.

Highly recommended.

After providing a brief autobiography Mark Allen, who does not seem the slightest bit arrogant, recounts the few days of and before Ironman Hawaii '87. The book clearly shows that Allen spends a lot of time sports-psychoanalyzing himself and his competitors (contrasting Dave Scott's seemingly machine like approach to racing.) The intimate description of IH '87 is interesting. The end of the book provides brief, but useful training advice incorporating heart rate monitoring.

Since the date this book was written Mark Allen has progessed as an athlete to reach even greater glory and to conquer the Hawaiin Ironman, winning the race more than any other man in the 90's. In a sport where any of the top ten competitors are physically capable of winning on the day, I have no doubt that the mental strategies contained in this book have been the distinguishing characteristics between Mark and other athletes. The book deals with a brief description of Marks history in the sport, mainly with his 1987 season and the successes and dissapointments of that year culminating in the Hawaiin Ironman. Unlike the plethora of training material available today, this book deals with how the author motivates himself, focuses, faces his fears, and controls his mental energy in all aspects of his life particularly in triathlon.

If you are serious about getting 100% out of your body and enjoying training and racing in any endurance sport, read this book.

Mark Allen, the greatest triathlete this world has ever seen, puts pen to paper and muses about the myriad aspects of his personal philosophies and motivating factors.

This book lets the reader enter the mind of a great warrior, while learning to appreciate just how mentally strong one must be to conquer an Ironman race.

Excellent book!

After providing a brief autobiography Mark Allen, who does not seem the slightest bit arrogant, recounts the few days of and before Ironman Hawaii '87. The book clearly shows that Allen spends a lot of time sports-psychoanalyzing himself and his competitors (contrasting Dave Scott's seemingly machine like approach to racing.) The intimate description of IH '87 is interesting. The end of the book provides brief, but useful training advice incorporating heart rate monitoring.

I suspect that everyone who really enjoys model railroads has a dream of building huge layout someday. Everyone knows that it almost never happens but, still, it's nice to dream. Even when the dream is not realized fully, there are stages that most go through. A small layout is built. With the experience gained in doing that, a medium sized one is built and from there a large one may be built. All of this is in preparation for someday building the whopper.

This book takes a dream killing but realistic approach. It points out the reasons why the dream will probably never be built. It also points out reasons not to build it even if time, money and space were available to do so. The arguments are well reasoned and cogent. The problem is that they help to kill the dream.

That is not the main purpose of the book, though. The main purpose is to provide track plans and ideas for mid sized layouts. That it does well. The pictures are nice and visually interesting. Most of the text, though, details the background of the railroad upon which the model is to be based. This too is well read.

The plans are nice but the dream has suffered.

Mr. Rice has an eye for elegance. His model railroad track plans lay a foundation for creating a distinctive feel of a prototype railroad in a small space. The plans in this book are well within the reach of the average person with a spare bedroom or corner of a garage or basement. They are small enough to be operational soon enough to stave off discouragement and challenging enough to keep an operator or three busy for several hours.

Written by Iain Rice (a model railroad enthusiast and author of 11 modeling handbooks), Mid-Sized & Manageable Track Plans is a straightforward guide to creating track plans and track backgrounds to appropriate N & HO scales. Full color photographs, extensively detailed instructions, and no-nonsense advice combine to make Mid-Sized & Manageable Track Plans a first-rate addition to any dedicated model railroad hobbyist's personal reference collection.

"Mid-Sized & Manageable" is a wonderful track-planning book that belongs on the shelf of anyone who is currently spending a lot of time thinking about model railroad design. Rice's entertaining writing style and his charming water colors of the layout designs make for an entertaining book. The layout designs themselves are nice, although the text descriptions are lacking for many of the layout ideas. After reading a few, I was left wondering if the Kalmbach editors had hacked away half the text in the interest of keeping the book short. If so, it is sorely missed. In addition, the layout diagrams are sometimes badly mislabeled, with missing titles and apparently misplaced arrows.

My greater gripe with the book is that it looks to me as though Mr. Rice, after his amazing and thought-provoking first Kalmbach effort "Small, Smart, & Practical", was asked to write a book that uses "American-style" layout design. (An impression that was backed up by the non-sequitur inclusion of vaguely related photos from old Model Railroader magazine articles.) As such, it is missing the space-saving and life-simplifying devices such as "cassettes", sector plates, modular design, etc. There's very little here that has not already been done by John Armstrong.

In short, it's a really nice book and I don't mean to be too harsh--I expect I'll refer to it every now and then as I plan my new layout. Very entertaining writing, good prototype (and not-so-prototype) inspirations, and I always look forward to the illustrations. If you are looking for a standard Kalmbach-style book chock-full-o' layout plans, it's a good one. However, I hope to see another book on the topic whenever Mr. Rice can get back to it, one that provides a more convincing answer to the question I had in my mind as I paid for this book--"What would Iain Rice do if he had an entire 20ft. by 20 ft. basement at his disposal for his model trains?"

ilikethereviewu

This one is ok, not one of the best, but not the worst either. It did have some decent tips and strategies for spotting an overlay and has been somewhat of a help to me in my handicapping.

ilikethereviewu

I thought the book was pretty good. Some good straightforward advice that is good to take with you to the track. No systems or guarantees, just common sense. The only drawback is that the analysis is using older formats of the Racing Form that doesn't include Beyers, and other newer things. The insight from the Mig, PG Johnson etc. was helpful.