I absolutely love Bill F's stuff, and this one is no exception. Plenty of laugh-out-loud action and a broad sweep satirizing all kinds of tempting targets. The cross-dressing idea (i.e. one guy dies and the survivor "loses" his life) is brilliant.

This one would easily get 5 stars from me if it weren't for two shortcomings: I would have prefered a more respectful treatment of other's beliefs (particularly the Catholic church). Satire is one things, disrespect is another (btw, I am not, nor do I desire to be, a Catholic)--cheap shots are just that. Secondly, the book's editorializing on this subject did at times descend into preaching and amateur theologizing. That I could have done without.

My misgivings aside, I got plenty of great laughs in. Stripped of ideological baggage and treated as a light read, this still earns the book a favorable rating!

I missed Cross Dressing when it originally came out, so I was happy to see it released on paperback. I only just recently finished "Fender Benders" also by Bill Fitzhugh (see separate review) and enjoyed "Cross Dressing" so much more!

This novel has the laugh-out-loud situations and interwoven storylines that made "Pest Control" such a funny and utterly delightful read. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

Dan Steele and his twin brother Michael grew up poor. Dan vowed long ago never to go back to this lifestyle, so he dives head first into the world of advertising and print/television commercials. Michael is a Catholic priest, who lives his life in service of the church, mostly helping starving tribes in Africa.

An ailing Michael returns home to "visit" his brother and their whack-a-loon mother. Lacking insurance coverage, Dan sends Michael into the hospital posing as him. Michael dies. Dan becomes Michael in an attempt to escape the snowballing events surrounding his own life. (Read the book, no spoilers here!)

The sequence of Dan first masquerading as a priest in the hospital as he receives the bill for services rendered is funny enough to warrant buying this novel. The litany of tests, surgeries, probing and prodding that the poor priest went through is absolutely hilarious.

Can a 30-something, money-grubbing, Glenlivet drinking, conniving ad-man on the run pull off the ultimate performance?! And what's Dan going to do about celibacy around the knock-out nun, Sister Peg?! (Read the book and find out.)

"Cross Dressing" ranks second for me of the Bill Fitzhugh books. Just behind "Pest Control" and one place above "Organ Grinders" and "Fender Benders".

Without giving too much of the wonderful story away... know this much...There's a lot of fun to be had! Give this novel a try.

Pest Control was one of my favorite books....too funny. OK, now we have "Cross Dressing" as another favorite book. Brothers, church, prostitute, what a wonderful scenario. I love hysterical reads...Fitzhugh provides me with this. Laugh and love the characters. The rich vs. poor, sainted vs. slutty, moviedom vs. churchdom. Hey, I am having a wonderful time with Fitzhugh's book. It all makes for a wonderful ending.

Erwin Rommel was one of the most complex, intriguing and effective personalities during the Second World War. In, KNiGHT'S CROSS, David Fraser shows readers the intricacies of Rommel's personality while giving them a well-researched and written historical documentary of Rommel's life from his serives in the First World War till his death near the conclusion of the Second World War. Fraser shows that Rommel existed as a true honorable warrior among an evil regime. This book is an excellent historical reference while still retaining the readability of a great work of fiction. A great selection for those interested in the Second World War or military history.

Erwin Rommel (1891-1944) was the most celebrated German general of WW II, in large part because of his campaigns against the British but also because of his personal magnetism. Relying on speed and shock, his style of maneuver is a standard subject of study in most war colleges. Fraser, a historian and retired British officer, shows that Rommel's uncanny aptitude for maneuver warfare was evident even when he was a junior infantry officer in WW I. Promoted to field marshal in 1944, Rommel commanded German troops defending the coast of France against the Allied invasion, abandoning the proven precepts of mobile warfare for an uncharacteristically rigid defense, a change in tactics which Fraser explores. Implicated in the July 20, 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler, Rommel was given the choice of suicide or facing a people's court. Fraser explains why he took a fatal poison draught, though his only crime was to question Hitler's leadership. Fraser's superb biography reveals Rommel not only as a warrior who ranks with Napoleon and Lee, but also as an unpretentious man who found much contentment in the company of his wife and son. Photos.

An informative, well researched, fascinating and descriptive book about one of the 20th centuries greatest Generals. The author definitely did his "homework" when he wrote this work about Erwin Rommel. Knight's Cross not only gives you Rommel's military strategy but also an insight to his character and motivation in both military and personal life. An ultimate tragic ending to an honorable and chivalrous (sp) man. Rommel's background in battle during World War I definitely influenced his strategy during World War II. His ultimate flaw was seeing the way Adolf Hitler was when it was too late. If Hitler would of given Rommel the supplies and ammunition that he need for his Afrika Korps the outcome of the North African theatre of battle would of turned out quite differently, with Rommel as the ultimate victor over Montgomery and Patton. Historian's more often than not put the ultimate blame on Rommel for the allied victory at Normady. Yes, he should have part of the blame of the German defeat at Normandy. However, blame should also be given to Hitler for not releasing the Panzers that were needed at Normandy. Overall, the author goes over these points very well and also gives a much needed analysis about Rommel's military career, personal-family life and the ultimate fall of the Field Marshall who finally realized that Germany's only of hope survival was disposing of Adolf Hitler. Overall a fascinating read!

While there are plenty of good UNIX Perl books this is the first book I have seen that addresses the differences between Perl for UNIX and Perl for Windows NT clearly and definitively. The author not only describes both Win32 and OLE Automation Windows NT applications but supplies several good examples for each. Furthermore he dissects each piece of example code and highlights each method and function within the example. The examples, fortunately, are not code "fragments" but examples you can run immediately. The CD-Rom saves typing. I would have given the book a 10 but I would have liked to have seen more examples. All in all a good text you can pick up and use right away

If your looking to start learning Perl, this is the book to have. I didn't know anything about Perl when I started and this book got me going quick. I often refer back to it as a reference and I'm starting to wear down the book binder.

This book is one of the best I have seen on CGI and Perl. It is put together like a programmer likes to see things. Eric, just opens up and lets us into his vast knowledge of programming. This is one of my most valuable books.

This book seems to have been created by two people.
The first half is dedicated to charts depicting the signs of the zodiac and the results are stunning. I have rarely seen such powerful cross-stitch designs.
The second half of the book is disappointing, substandard figures of wizards, unicorns and viking gods. The sun/moon design is ok, but not better than other such designs out there.

Overall, I would recommend the book highly because you'll never find anything like the first half - it's worth the wasted back pages.

The designs in "Julie Hasler's Fantasy Cross Stitch" are rich and textured looking, without using difficult stitches, blended threads, or backstitch. Indeed, Hasler keeps backstitch to a minimum, using darker stitches for outlines and detail. The zodiac signs are particularly appealing. The Pegasus and Unicorn designs are also lovely. The use of darker stitches instead of backstitching gives the feeling of painting to these designs (rather than pen and ink!) I would highly recommend this book, both for the ease of stitching and for the unusual designs.

this is a brilliant book if you are fed up with stitching teddies and other "cute" images. the designs are charted using symbols and colour together which make them easy to follow whichever method you prefer. The designs range from huge fantasy figures such as mermaids and vikings to tiny symbols from various religions and cultures both ancient and modern.

Julie is a bit of a maverick in the world of cross stitch. She started stitching while laid up from a serious motorcycle accident. she must be the only cross stitch designer with a shaved head and tatoos.

so if you are looking for something different this one is a must.

The book is helpful with good information but it could have been better organized for easier reading and finding of information. For example, using headers to block out specific areas. Also it could use more lodging and eating information. It would be nice if there was more information on side trips off the covered routes to major destinations.

But, there is no other book like this that I am aware of, and I think it is a good buy if you are planning a cross country road trip and want to stay off the interstates. However I recommend supplementing it with a good comprehensive USA guidebook since there are a lot of attractions you will probably want to see that are not covered in this book.

This is an excellent, excellent book for anyone who wants to take a road trip as a vacation and see the country like you've never seen it before. I used this book to see so many funky pieces of Americana: everything from a miniature Stonehenge in Missouri to the world's largest ketchup bottle in Illinois. I traveled Rte. 66 and stayed at a great little motel in Missouri (Munger Moss) recommended by this book. That motel is a must for any Rte. 66 fans: its gift shop is filled with Rte. 66 memorabilia. And it's cheap!! $25 a night with clean rooms. The whole idea of this book is to get people to see that America isn't all the same, though it seems that way when you stay on the highways. It's filled with great road trips to take wherever you are in the country, north or south, east or west. It's really an amazing country we live in and you'll find out that you can have a great vacation traveling endless roads that provide new discoveries.

You'll get a whole new perspective on areas you may have visited. And the author offers suggestions on places to go to get a local flavor. So instead of eating at a McDonald's or Denny's for breakfast, you can try a diner in Memphis that Elvis used to frequent.

A couple of my Chicago-based colleagues were very impressed when I told them I ate at Berghoff's and Lou Mitchell's in downtown Chicago. They said nobody from out-of-town would have gone there.

It's like having a knowledgeable traveling companion with you wherever you go. I enjoyed every town and city I visited on a two-week trip thanks to this book.

I've looked at other travel guides and they don't compare to this book. High praise to Jamie Jensen for creating such an informative book, packed full of useful nuggets. This book was never far from my fingertips on that trip.

I'm planning a motorcycle road trip in the near future and will definitely have this book along. I only wish I had more time to take more of these road trips.

Enjoy and happy motoring.

When we drove across country last summer, we searched for a book that could lead us on an off-the-beaten-path American adventure. Jamie Jensen's Road Trip USA gave us more than we could have hoped for. Road Trip USA is filled with credible and detailed information regarding sites, hotels and restaurants. The book provides vivid history and current information, so you can get a real sense of the places you go. We ate crabs with the local beachhounds on the Outer Banks, had BBQ with the 9-to-5'ers in Montgomery, ate pizza with LSU fans in Baton Rouge, and drank the best beer we'd ever tasted in a tiny town off the California coast. The detailed, quirky tidbits the book includes are invaluable. What other book tells you about the B'Hai radio station that you can listen to as you drive through Myrtle Beach, SC? If you want to see the USA- not just check out the tourist sites, but see where and how other folks in the USA really live - this is the book for you.

This book must be a good candidate for being the most important book of the 21st century. British psychologist Richard Lynn and Finnish political scientist Tatu Vanhanen find that recent IQ data from scores of countries world-wide show really strong correlations, of around r = .65, with national prosperity -- whether Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated for 1820 or for the 1990s. Quite contrary to the theorizing of most Western economists of the past fifty years, the underdeveloped (later, 'developing') countries of fifty years ago have not generally closed the gap with the help of ongoing Western handouts and advice. Clearly, several East Asian countries have in that time made enormous strides -- as may also happen soon in the ex-Communist countries of Eastern Europe; but in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa (i.e. largely Black Africa), mean IQ estimates hover around 70 and progress has been slight. Of the world's 21 countries which steadily tripled their GDP from 1983 through 1990 and 1993 to 1996, none was on or near the African mainland; whereas of the 27 countries whose GDP decreased by 50%, ten were African (Angola, Burkina Faso, Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Libya, Madagascar, Somalia, Sudan, Zambia and Sao Tome & Principe).

Yet will L&V prove persuasive about causation? Doubters will raise four particular problems.
First, IQ and the Wealth of Nations is published by an American mail order house which charges £70 for the book. Terrorized by the politically correct, mainstream Western 'publishers' have for ten years been entirely unwilling to bring out books that touch on race - whether by Arthur Jensen, Phil Rushton or myself. Recently, it turned out that top psychologist Steven Pinker (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), who had converted to hereditarianism after hearing from friends how a second child was often very different from a first, felt he had to remove a chapter about race from the final draft of his new pro-heredity book, The Blank Slate. L&V are not alone in finding themselves up against the Zeitgeist, and the reception of their book has not so far been auspicious. L&V's reply will have to be that such repression indicates that the liberal-left consensus (which in 1950 persuaded the United Nations to declare all races to be of equal intelligence) is a hysteria that must one day lift.

Secondly, some will doubtless try to quibble with the IQ estimates that are the central novelty of IQ and the Wealth of Nations. L&V typically present some three 'normative' IQ studies for each of the countries they discuss; they do not provide details of social sampling; and they estimate IQ's for some nations by taking the average of the IQs in neighbouring countries - e.g. crediting Afghanistan with IQ 83 as an average of India's 81 and Iran's 84. Surprisingly, L&V maintain that the mean IQ in Israel is only 94 - ignoring the possibility that Sephardic Jews, like other Africans, may have special deficits in the visuo-spatial abilities that are needed to do well on 'culture-fair' intelligence tests like the famous Raven's Matrices. None of this is ideal. However, L&V have a very strong reply from both the general consistency of their IQ estimates and the sheer strength of IQ's correlations with national productivity. If workers had seriously confounded their assessments of national IQ, L&V would simply have had to present the usual miserably low correlations of around .25 that obtain throughout psychology and the social sciences. As it is, L&V have plainly struck gold.

Thirdly, there is the question of cause and effect. Can L&V convince us that IQ actually causes national wealth, rather than vice versa? The literature on the causal importance of IQ is only partially covered here, and L&V settle rather easily for the view that IQ and wealth will both tend to cause each other. This concession will weaken their case in the eyes of those who already deplore the idea that IQ is causal. L&V would have done better to point to the exceedingly slight IQ advantages accruing to Black children in the USA even when their fathers are seriously rich, and to the failure of the American Black-White gap in intelligence to decrease despite many billions of American dollars being thrown at the problem for the past forty years. Even a century of national impoverishment does not lower IQ -- as shown by the cases of mainland China, Poland and Russia in L&V's own data. By contrast, IQ correlates .50 with individual upward social mobility, relative to the position of the testee's father (Touhey, 1972). The simple truth is that a normal national IQ is necessary though not sufficient for prosperity; and that a low IQ holds whole countries back even if individuals can compensate for dullness by good looks or hard work. Neglecting such points, as also the full range of arguments that race differences are of substantially genetic origin ... L&V will have partly themselves to blame if their book is set aside.

Lastly, L&V show remarkable modesty about the implications of their findings. This may have been intended as placatory; but it, too, will win them few friends. Rather than stress the need for eugenics in Africa, L&V conclude their book with two bizarrely half-hearted recommendations. The first is that the West should recognize continuing IQ differences and thus continue pumping subsidies into Africa as a matter of "ethical obligation." The second is that some fraction of this conscience money should be spent not on eugenics but on "improvements in nutrition and the like." No change there, then, for this is what the West has been doing ever since it abandoned the responsible idea of empire! It is remarkable that L&V should have troubled to write a 'controversial' book which cannot be published by a mainstream publisher only to come to such feeble practical recommendations. L&V have provided a way of forgetting their book which social-environmentalist ideologues will be desperately eager to take.

Is IQ the final "Missing Element" in World Development???

Anyone who spends time watching TV news or reading any publication is struck by the amount of poverty and uneven development in the world. According the U.S. World Factbook, many nation in Africa have life expectancy little above 40 years old. Half of the population of India is illiterate and a majority of the populations of China still live in the rural countryside with annual incomes in the hundreds of dollars.

What causes the great differences in wealth and poverty between the world's nations. I personally have many of these questions, as I am sure many others, of the wealth and poverty of nations. That's why Professor Lynn and Professor Vanhanen book seems to be a bolt of lightning out of the blue on the issue of Wealth of Poverty of Nations. Book is pricey but definitely worth the cost.

The Wealth of Nations can be assessed on three areas:

1.Natural Resources. Land, Oil, Diamond, Agriculture, Fishing, etc.

2.Planned versus Market Economies. Planned, controlled economies have brought poverty to North Korea, Russia, Eastern Europe, Cuba, China. Professor Lynn compares North to South Korea where income in south is 15 times higher than the north. In fact, there is now famine in North Korea.

3.National IQ of population.

IQ and Wealth of Nations dwells on the third component between National IQ and Economic Development. The author's ideas are original and are to be commended for a doing a full academic study.

The UK IQ of 100 is used as standard measure. The lowest measured is in Guinea (IQ, 59), Nigeria (IQ, 67) and highest in Japan (IQ, 105) and Hong Kong (IQ, 107).

Of note, readers will find IQ interesting if not debatable such as India (IQ, 81) Iraq (IQ, 87) Mexico (IQ, 87) US (IQ, 98) and Israel (IQ, 94). You would think India with so many engineers would have a higher IQ.

The highest average IQs are of the East Asian nations of North East Asia (IQ, 104), European nations (IQ, 98), and white populations of North America and Australasia (IQ, 98), South and Southwest Asia from the Middle East through Turkey to India and Malaysia (IQ, 87), South East Asia and the Pacific Islands (IQ, 86), Latin America and the Caribbean (IQ, 85), and Africa (IQ, 70).

Many readers of the 1994 The Bell Curve will be interested in the authors' finding of IQ of 70 for the native African population in Africa. The African-American IQ is usually 85 in U.S., Jamaica (IQ, 72). The Africans in U.S. have a higher IQ of 85 compared to Africa of 70. This will be of note to historians.

Of concern to American reader are the IQ of it's neighboring countries. Canada (97), Mexico (87), Cuba (85), Jamaica (72), Haiti (72) in the news Russia (96) Afghanistan (83). The numbers may be incorrect but nonetheless are worthy areas of debate and data for additional research.

Of China (100) and India (81), two nations in the billion people range. China (IQ, 100) compared with U.S.A. (98). China has five times as many people as U.S. The IQ of 100 may be depressed because of poverty. If it is 107 like the Chinese in Hong Kong, China seems to be a nation destined to rule the 21st. century. China has ten times more people than Japan (IQ, 105).

The IQ on China seems to be of world-historical, world-economic importance if they have such a high IQ. Sitting here in Austin, Texas, this bit of information makes me think. Not will they provide cheap labor, they will also provide the brains for the world.

The author posits an IQ of 90 is needed for a technology-based society. Only 20% of the world population have IQ above 90. Africa (IQ, 70) and India (IQ, 81), Latin America (IQ, 85) raises the impossibility of technical development there. This is depressing news. People who work in aiding the Third World really needs to look at these IQ numbers. If the IQ of 70 is correct for Africa, there going to be endless poverty.

Having read the book twice, this book really raises unsettling questions about he future of the world. Professor Lynn is expert on IQ with 20 years of scholarly research behind him. Both are not cranks nor pseudo-scientist. Both are professor-academics laying out an academic argument.

This maybe the book of the decade if not century. It raises unsettling, alarming, incredible, amazing, tough questions. Has the "missing element" in economic development been IQ after all. Will China (IQ, 100 or 107) dominate the world. Is IQ of Africa 70. Is the world average IQ equal to 90 and only 20% of the world's population above 100. Are nations doomed to poverty because of their IQ.

This book is a must buy, must read and must book for talk and analysis. Granted this is the first scholarly analysis of IQ and world development. Presumably more books and articles will follow and the IQ of individual nations will be researched and debated. I urge all readers to buy book and read it for themselves. It will keep you thinking for a long, long time as it did for me. If the IQ numbers correlate with economic development, this maybe the book of the decade. Period.

The book's content is irresistible - at its heart is a table of the average IQ scores of 81 different countries, drawn from studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. The national average IQs range from 107 for Hong Kong to 59 for Equatorial Guinea.

Lynn and Vanhanen benchmarked their IQ results so that Britain is 100. America scores 98 on this scale, and the world average is 90. IQ's are assumed to form a normal probability distribution ("bell curve") with the standard deviation set at 15. Here are a few examples:

Nation Avg. IQ
Eq. Guinea 59
Nigeria 67
Barbados 78
Guatemala 79
India 81
Iraq 87
Mexico 87
Argentina 96
US 98
China 100
UK 100
Italy 102
Japan 105
Hong Kong 107

Admit it, you want to know what the rest of the table says! Beyond satisfying sheer curiosity, though, the strong correlation between IQ and the wealth of nations is of world-historical importance. From now on, no public intellectual can seriously claim to be attempting to understand how the world works unless he takes IQ into account.

How much can we trust these IQ results?

As soon as I received the book, I turned to Appendix 1, where Lynn and Vanhanen describe all 168 national IQ studies they've found - an average of just over two per country.

Are the results internally consistent? In other words, when there are multiple studies for a single country, do they tend to give roughly the same answer?

I expected a sizable amount of internal divergence. I spent 18 years in the marketing research industry, so I know how expensive it is to come up with a nationally representative sample. Further, Lynn and Vanhanen use results from quite different IQ tests. They rely most on the non-verbal Raven's Progressive Matrices, which were designed to be used across cultures, even by illiterates. Yet, they also have a lot of results from the Wechsler exams, which are more culture dependent - the Wechsler include a vocabulary subtest, for example. And they report results from other IQ tests, including a few from the oddball Goodenough-Harris Draw-A-Man test. Also, sample sizes vary dramatically, from a few dozen in some obscure countries to 64,000 for one American study. Finally, some studies were of children, others of adults.

This doesn't sound promising. Nevertheless, the results show a high degree of internal consistency. Here are the first eight countries for which they have multiple scores:

Argentina: 93 and 98
Australia: 97, 98, and 99
Austria: 101, 103
Belgium: 99, 103, 98
Brazil: 88, 84, 90, and 85
Bulgaria: 94, 91
China: 100, 92.5, 103.4
Democratic Republic of Congo: 73, 72

That's not bad at all. In fact, leaving aside China, the results are remarkably consistent. There are, of course, a few countries for which different studies came up with quite divergent results, especially Poland, where the two scores Lynn and Vanhanen found were 92 and 106. Still, the correlation among results when there are two or more studies for a country is a striking 0.94.

You shouldn't take every score on faith. The reported IQ for Israel (only 94????!!!) has elicited much criticism. Lynn has replied that he wanted to publish the data as he found it, even if some of it looked implausible. His hope is to encourage further research to resolve seeming anomalies.

The IQ structures of the two giga-countries, China and India, demand more intense study, in part because the future history of the world will hinge in no small part on their endowments of human capital. The demography of India is especially complex due to its caste system, which resembles Jim Crow on steroids and acid. By discouraging intermarriage, caste has subdivided the Indian people into an incredible number of micro-races. In India, according to the dean of population genetics, L.L. Cavalli-Sforza, "The total number of endogamous communities today is around 43,000..." We know that some of those communities - such as the Zoroastrian Parsees of Bombay - are exceptionally intelligent.

But we can't say with any confidence what is the long run IQ potential of Indians overall. Their current IQ score (81) is low, especially compared to China (100), the other country with hundreds of millions of poor peasants. Yet, keep in mind just how narrow life in rural India was for so long. In 1952, on the fifth anniversary of independence, the Indian government commissioned a survey to find out if the average Indian villager had heard yet that the British had gone. The study was quietly cancelled when early results showed that the average villager had never heard that the British had ever arrived!

It appears likely that some combination of malnutrition, disease, inbreeding, lack of education, lack of mental stimulation, lack of familiarity with abstract reasoning and so forth can keep people from reaching their genetic potential for IQ. Lynn himself did early studies demonstrating that malnutrition drives down IQ. The co-authors conclude their book by recommending that

"The rich countries' economic aid programs for the poor countries should be continued and some of these should be directed at attempting to increase the intelligence levels of the populations of the poorer countries by improvements in nutrition and the like."

A clear example of how a bad environment can hurt IQ can be seen in the IQ scores for sub-Saharan African countries. They average only around 70. In contrast, African-Americans average about 85. It appears unlikely that African-Americans' white admixture can account for most of this 15-point gap because they are only around 17%-18% white on average, according to the latest genetic research. (Thus African-Americans white genes probably couldn't account for more than 3 points of the gap between African-Americans and African-Africans.) This suggests that the harshness of life in Africa might be cutting ten points or more off African IQ scores.

Similarly, West Africans are significantly shorter in height than their distant cousins in America, most likely due to malnutrition and infections. The two African-born NBA superstars, Hakeem Olajuwon and Dikembe Mutombo, are both from the wa-benzi [people of the (Mercedes ) Benz]upper class. Only the elite in Africa gets enough food and health care to grow up to be NBA centers.

This also implies that African-Americans might be able to achieve higher IQs too, although the environmental gap between white Americans and black Americans appears to be much smaller than between black Americans and black Africans. As I pointed out in VDARE in 2000, the most promising avenue for improving African-Americans' IQs is by promoting breastfeeding among blacks mothers, who nurse their babies at much lower rates than whites.

In fact, we know that IQ is not completely fixed over time because raw test scores have been rising for decades, about 2 to 3 points per decade. To counteract this, the IQ test-making firms periodically make it harder - in absolute terms - to achieve a score of 100. Lynn was possibly the first scientist to make this phenomenon widely known, although New Zealand political scientist James Flynn has gotten more credit for this recently. And, indeed, Lynn and Vanhanen scrupulously adjust the test results in their book to account for when each test was taken.

Few females were writing fiction in those days, but it says a good thing about Great Britain that most of them were British. Mary Ann Evans, the real name of "George Eliot", was an enlightened and socially conscious woman, who wrote a story about the Torvill family, from the standpoint of Maggie, a young girl with a sharp mind, struggling to be herself in a world which was hard for that kind of person. The central theme is perhaps her struggle between family loyalty and independent spirit, as revealed through her relationship with his beloved, but tough, brother. The book is long and evocative, painting with acuteness the social surroundings in which the story develops. And the development intertwines many messages and situations, always revealing Maggie's inner self. One important characteristic of the book is that it is difficult to classify, since it contains features of Romanticism and Realism; social narrative and a glimpse into what psyichological literature would be in the Twentieth century.

This was my first (of four, so far) George Eliot novel. It's also my favorite. Unlike Adam Bede or Silas Marner, I found the characters to be interesting and enjoyable. No, it's not a finely-crafted piece of literature like Middlemarch. And it might be a bit on the melodramatic side. But for some odd reason I found the story to be ultimately quite moving.

Other folks who I gave the book to gave it mixed results. No one disliked it, but most found the "brother-sister" element to be a bit corny. And pardon my sexism, but I thought the book would appeal more to women than men (since the main character is a teenage girl). Not so. This book is definitely "not for women only".

I imagine if you have a sentimental streak through your bones you will probably love this book.

In THE MILL ON THE FLOSS George Eliot provides an insightful and intelligent story depicting rural Victorian society. Set in the parish of St. Ogg's, Maggie and Tom Tulliver endure childhood and young adulthood while experiencing the harsh realities of poverty, devotion, love, and societal reputation. I emphasized greatly with Maggie as I have experienced some of her own lived experiences. I truly loved every chapter of this book and didn't want it to end. It is indeed very rare that I have this type of reaction to a book. Although this book was published during the Victorian era, it's amazing how Eliot's prose flows virtually unobstructed. The reader is given a rare glimpse into rural life during the 19th century and is treated to how strictly structured society was then. I am now a fan of Eliot and look forward to reading her other novels.

Bottom line: THE MILL ON THE FLOSS is an excellent novel. Enjoy!

I enjoyed reading Crispin : The Cross of Lead, but do not feel that it quite reaches Newbery quality. Other of Avi's books, notably Nothing But the Truth and The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, are much better reads. In the genre of Medieval Fiction for kids, Karen Cushman's books rate higher. I will recommend Crispin to my students, but not with quite the enthusiasm of the others mentioned above.

Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi was a little bit of a disappointment to me.
The book goes through the story of an outcast boy in his small village in about the early 1700?s. His mother dies, and he is forced to leave the town, as the royal ruler of his town is after his head, accusing the boy of being a thief.
Throughout the boy?s travels, he is trying to find out the truth about his mother and family, but seems to fall short more than once. He meets up with a large, jester man, named Bear, and becomes the man?s apprentice after promising never to try to escape. The man at first seems like a mean, cruel, dictator to the boy, but seems to warm up to the boy, becoming a sort of father figure.
After entering a large town in England, where the boy thinks he is scheduled to perform with the jester, the boy finds that his dangers have followed him, and the pursuers are hot on his trail. Well, lucky for the boy, he has his new friend to protect him, for the most part. The boy finds that his new friend knows about his past, and his family, and is doing all to protect the boy from knowing about it.
I?ve heard the book being compared to Harry Potter, and that Potter fans will love it. Well, truth be told, the book is nothing like Harry Potter. Other than the boy on the cover being a shoe in for the Danielle Radcliff role, this book contains no magic, and can?t even compare to Potter.
The story line sometimes seems to get off track, but in the end, you?ll find it all come together. Some points are boring, but don?t skip past! I found this story to be hard to put down, after you?ve gotten into the heart of the story.
I?ve given this book 4 out of 5 stars, as it is a SUPER read for young fantasy/adventure readers, but it looses a star due to the poor ?wanna be? Harry Potter comparison.

I teach fifth grade and read Crispin aloud to my students. We all were spellbound by the story. They begged me to read it to them. I would highly recommend this book and so would they.

It is a very good effort to bring to light the similarity between Islam and early christianity. Though Quran differs significantly from canonical gospels, it is surprising to note how Quranic depiction of Jesus is so similar to the popular description of Jesus among early christians, at least till 5th century CE. The author has really done justice to this topic. It is hoped that this book will bring both Muslims and Christians together to appreciate the depth of commonality which exists in both Islamic and Christian traditions. Only if the masses knew them! Highly recommended for students of comparative religion.

As Muslims, we have a certain perspective ideas concerning Christianity, Christ, The Bible, etc... The book brings forth a lot of information which confirm the Islamic belief within the early church. The reader is adviced to have in mind that this book is merely an Islamic propaganda, but in the right way. It shows one a lot of information that one doesn't know or rather not to know. It questions the liability of the Bible as old and new testaments ...

Having read this book and taken a class on comparative religion with the books author, I can say that it is truly fascinating book. For me who was baptized and confirmed as Lutheran, I found it amazingly interesting what the christian theologians know and do not tell the laity. The information is easily verifiable by reading the book with a bible in hand, page by page, reference by reference. I was particularly interested in the comparisons between the religions and their similarities and also their differences and what those differences are based on or found in. Especially given that most the time answers are available but the Pastors, Preachers, Deacons, and Reverends will tell you to just have faith. Which to me is a cop out. I have gotten from him a list of books that you can further read, the apocrypha, that shows the true foundation and teachings of the original christianity. For anyone who likes history and religious study, this is an absolutely fascinating and educational read, despite the review from the reader in Colorado who purports to be from Harvard. Even if you don't agree with someones point of view we all can always learn from each other and this is an excellent learning tool for such learning. Does it matter what the Authors religion is?? He doesn't say because it is not the focus, what he teaches in this book is, and it is good.