Someone gave this book to Bob Dole after '96; I hope Al Gore gets a chance to read it, too. What I took from the book is that on many occasions, America dodged a bullet by not being governed by a clearly unqualified loser. In other cases, we should consider ourselves unfortunate that the loser wasn't the winner.

Originally written in the 1940's by the late Irving Stone, the book is woefully in need of an update by a prominent historian who can add Dewey, Stevenson, Goldwater, Humphrey, McGovern, Mondale, Dukakis, Dole and Gore. And I agree with the previous reviewer: the inside of the dust jacket is fascinating--if you can find one of these rare hard cover copies.

This is a book about losers. By losers, I mean the men who came in second best in the political arena where winner takes all; specifically in the race to become President of the United States.

The book, published in 1945, consists of twenty biographical sketches of losers of presidential races from Henry Clay in 1824 to Thomas E. Dewey in 1944. THEY ALSO RAN, as well as giving biographical data on each of its subjects, includes a history of the times in which each of them lived, ran, and lost; and social, economic, and political backgrounds of each era. Using these twenty men as focal points, Stone gives us a fairly comprehensive picture of the political history of the United States from 1824 to 1944.

Now, I am going to do something that I think is rare, if not unique, in these book reviews. I'm going to devote most of the rest of this review to the dust jacket. Across the dust jacket there is a graph consisting of 21 lines ranging from minus ten (-10) to plus ten (+10). In case you're wondering, the twenty-first line is the zero (0) line in the middle. Stone refers to this zero line as "the danger line," i.e. a candidate in the negative zone may well do more harm than good if he wins the presidency. The graph rates the winners and losers of twelve elections according to Stone's estimation of each man's "ability and worth to the nation at the time of the election." The candidates are represented by silhouettes having their heads at one of the lines. For clarity and consistency, the winners are in white and the losers in outline form. It is interesting to note that the lower ranked in some years are sometimes ranked higher than either the winner or loser in other years.

Some interesting evaluations:

Highest ranked winner in any year: Abraham Lincoln (+10) in 1860. His opponent, Stephen A. Douglas had a (+1) ranking.

Lowest ranked winner in any year was Warren Harding (-9) in 1920. His opponent who lost the election was James M. Cox who was rated at (+3).

Most evenly rated election: 1928 when winner, Herbert Hoover and loser, Alfred E. Smith were both rated (+5).

In three elections the winner fell into Stone's "danger zone." These were: 1856, James Buchanan (-1); 1872, Ulysses S. Grant (-5); and 1920, Warren Harding (-9).

Of the twelve elections on the graph, according to Stone's ratings, the man more valuable to the country at the time the election was held won six times and lost five times. In the twelfth election the candidates were considered evenly qualified.

It is my opinion that Stone's research was good, and that he was as politically unbiased as was humanly possible. I would find it interesting if someone with Stone's credentials and even-handedness were to write a sequel covering the elections from 1948 through the court decided election of year 2000. Any takers?

It's obvious - John Hedges knows his topic. In this book, he brings together an enormous amount of information on Neolithic Orkney and gives it summary and scholarly analysis. If you're looking for a book on life during the Neolithic, this is a definite! Worth every penny.

The distant human past is visible in the Orkneys, the low green islands in the sea north of Scotland. People who lived there five thousand years ago built fine stone tombs and henges older than the Pyramids.

They watched the sky and kept calendars. And they used the right triangle of Pythagoras two thousand years before Pythagoras was born.

It used to be thought that culture slowly radiated north from the Mediterranean to ignorant savages in northern Europe.

But the people of the Orkneys turned our ideas about cultural diffusion upside down.

Tomb of the Eagles is their enthralling story.

These tweo white men are chosen to take a journy in life. This is not a come on along along and pack you bags. This is an inner and spiritual journey for these two men as much as it is a journey for the elders of different nations to accept and trust these men to some of the their most private thoughts and lives. a book well written and appericated that it shows The People as the caretakers that they are to the world.

A wonderful account of two men, a writer and a photographer, who become enveloped in a new consciousness; or more accurately an old one. I was up until the wee hours every night until I finished it. And each morning I found myself more aware of the Creator's presence in every stone,tree and being - an awareness and an awakeining that they are all following God's instructions. Thus, I was gently brought to the question: am I following the Creator's instruction? The "Origional Instructions" Harvey and Steve have passed on to me in this volume have helped me answer that question.

Another marvelous work from Mr. Meyer. Unfortunately there may be no further publications from this gifted lecturer, author and spiritual leader. Chuck Meyer died in a traffic accident on November 13,2000. I had the opportunity to hear Chuck lecture on many occasions and found him to be always inspiring, as well as personable and humorous. Hopefully his wonderful work and writings will continue to live on as a testimony to this man's spirit.

This is a book I have given to my three children (ages 16, 18, and 21)along with the wish that I had the wisdom and courage to write and speak so forthrightly with them about issues and challenges that face them and us as a family. Chuck Meyer tackles the tough topics like sex and alcohol in a way that guides and empowers his readers--and, of course, catches their interest, but he also writes engagingly about friendships and career choices and parents. As the mother of two daughters, I found his words to his daughter about the difficult dance that daughters and mothers do so they can separate from one another beautiful--and helpful.

Don't wait for a graduation-gift opportunity. This is a book of comfort, wisdom, humor, and help for parents and teenagers.

If you are a reader of Rolling Stone magazine and a fan of U2, then you should pick up this book. It compiles all the articles, concert reviews, album reviews, random notes, interviews, etc. that have appeared in the magazine on the band. It is interesting to read the earlier stuff before the band became superstars. A great compilation.

My boyfriend and I have been together for about 4 months. I've definetly heard of U2 before, but I never really got into them until my boyfriend introduced me to their amazing compilation of songs. Ever since, I have been a die hard fan of U2 just like my boyfriend. I was searching for a christmas gift for my boyfriend, and I came across this book. I orderd it and intended to give it to my boyfriend, but I liked it so much I had to keep it for myself. The book has great and vibrant images and very conclusive articles. This book is a must for and die-hard fan!

Dear Amazon.com Our teacher just read to us the Voygers Stone.We thought the book was great!!!It takes you into the story and tells you a lot of real life facts. We liked the way the author put a lot of adventure and detail into the story. It tells you everywhere that Voyager goes. We liked the way you put a map once in a while, so we would not get lost during the story. It really leaves you hanging. We really recommend this book to all readers.

Our teacher just finished reading us the Voyager Stone. We live in Hawaii and are studying the ocean. We really like the Voyager Stone. It's a really great bbok. We liked that the author told information in the book. It was very exciting. It makes us never want to stop reading it. At the end of the book we felt wanted to read it again. We liked the non-fiction and fiction parts put together. We really recommend this book for everyone in the whole world. It's great!

I read this book nearly 30 years ago, back in elementary school. I'm not usually one to reread many books, but this was one that I would check out from our public library at least once a year. Without recalling details of the storyline, I do remember that this book totally involved me in a way that just a few have. I've looked for a copy of the book off and on for some time. I'm excited to now be able to share with my own kids.

A wise old man gives Donald the knowledge - and the poser - to prevent the ancient mystical circle of stones from being destroyed. Just like any other Magic Carpet books, once started, I just couldn't put it down. This is a must-read for all those who enjoy fatasy books.

For technology lovers and technophobes, and even for those who don't think about the man/machine relationship at all, Stone's book offers intimate accounts of how humanity is dealing with the computer age. Some are anecdotes, some are discussions of theory, and there is a corporate history of Atari that had me on the edge of my seat (really). War of Desire and Technology is a quick and fun read that gives you much to think about

Allucquere Rosanne Stone is one of the most fascinating writers in this moment. Her book, "The War of Desire and Technology" explores a changing world, in transicion between science and mythology. As Orwell and Huxley warned about, our world is fastening its pace around the axe time and place. Machines and tools are executing the utopias, making dreams and nightmares come true. Stone's book is a challenging book, with questions and a few answers, a book for seekers and poets. The encounter between feelings and facts is described by Stone as a meeting between two worlds in permanent fight, two pictures painted by blind painters, who has never seen any colours. The War of Desire and Technology is a book about nomads and cyborgs, lonely hackers and autists, leftovers from the time before the beginning, when the earth was new and the ages were newborn.

I live just a few miles from Oxford, Ohio and Miami University, where Dr. Green does his work when he's not away from civilization, and have sailed or swam many times at Acton Lake, which he uses in an early chapter to introduce the science of limnology, or the study of lakes.

This is a complex and ambitious book, and the result is thoroughly engrossing. It is an introduction to lake science, an adventure tale, and an account of how a scientist plans and executes his work, but these are just at the surface. It is also a personal exploration of the author's own memories and motives. Ultimately, it is a book about what moves mankind to keep learning and exploring, presented using the author as his own example.

Wondering about the powerful emotional draw that Antarctica exerts on him, the author is reminded of his boyhood, when Great Lakes winter storms would transform his town's landscape with a featureless cover of snow, allowing him to explore what became, in his imagination, an unexplored land. He describes the beauty that can be found, if one will allow himself, in the terrifying nothingness of the universe, whether it be seen in the vast coldness of space or the inhuman bleakness of an ice-covered continent. Some of his colleagues found Antactica intolerable, probably for the same reasons. He writes...

"The ice seemed a reminder of the universe at large, of the universe as accident, as matter blown and strewn and expanding, 'heartless' as Melville had described it, all moon-filled and dry, hung with poisoned worlds, incinerating stars, vacuums of frozen light. Loneliness, the warm sun as memory, as myth, the blankness of white landscape, in which we see no trace of ourselves, no artifact of our genius and cunning...". Reading this, I was taken back to my own boyhood to find my love of exploration awakened as I stood studying the cold and vastly distant stars from by back yard, and felt the fearful thrill of being sucked upward into the eternal void...

As a classicist and poet, I am shy - if not wary - of "hard science". I stumbled upon this book by accident, browsing the non-fiction shelves in the public library. It is unique! I have ordered it - and I'm not even quite finished with it - I am reluctant to finish this first reading, although it is five-star enjoyment. Water Ice and Stone is a "braided river" (read it and you'll see why the phrase is in quotation marks) of a) Green's personal passion for his field and his subject that took him to the Antarctic lakes again and again; b) scientific explanations of that field that are accessible and fascinating without being either patronizing or unscholarly; c)the personal reminiscences and experiences that led to his choice of profession and to the Anarctic; d) the daily observations, colleagues and acts of living while he was there; and e) the beauty and wonder and astonishment and inspiration that this world we live in has to offer any of us who will take the time to look, to understand, to see. The book is science and it is poetry; it is wonder and it is analysis; it is a marvel. My highest acolade for books in fields that I did NOT take up is: it makes me almost wish I had become a.... Water, Ice and Stone left me an almost-geochemist.

"The Weeping Stone" is an emotion-packed novel based on fact. It should appeal to anyone interested in the Oklahoma City bombing, anyone who has experienced grief, anyone who is touched by nostalgia, and anyone who enjoys romance. Lee and Johnny met on the schoolyard in 1954, and it was love at first sight. Their 41-year-relationship, off-and-on romance, was brought to an abrupt end on April 19, 1995, when Johnny was killed in the Murrah Building bombing. Visit Johnny's grave with Lee and eavesdrop on her as she tries to deal with her deep grief and find a reason to go on living without Johnny in her life. Laugh and enjoy as she reminisces about the more noteworthy times in their relationship. Follow them all the way from that spring day in 1954 until that fateful day in 1995. Romance and a study in grief, guided by a deep faith in God, this story is one to be read over and over.

This is Lee's personal journey through a 41-year relationship that began when Johnny shyly handed Lee a creamsicle during a break in their elementary school's field day activities in 1953, and ended April 19, 1995, at the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Or did it end there? A relationship of 41 years could not end as suddenly as so many lives, including John's, were brought to an end that day by a terrorist's bomb, but in "The Weeping Stone," Lee does not focus on the horror of that day, and she does not once mention the terrorist or any anger or hatred toward him. Instead, she chooses to focus on the positive things about her Johnny: his strength, and the strength she drew from knowing and loving him. The book is uplifting, humorous in places, and filled with faith, hope, and love.