Kit Carson was everywhere and did just about everything. I must agree with other reviewers and Milo Milton Quaife in his introduction, that because of Carson's nature, the book seems somewhat curtailed of descriptive events. What may have taken a few months to happen, Kit says it all in a paragraph. That aside, he came out west at the age of sixteen to become a mountain man. As time went by he was involved with trapping adventures, expeditions with Fremont, the Mexican War and as an Indian agent. Maybe it was a sign of the times, but Carson certainly does not hesitate to boast about how many Indians he killed during his day to day adventures. This may have been brought about by his upbringing as a young child. The settlers in his part of Missouri where he was living at the time had to "fort" themselves against the activities of hostile Indians. This may have carried on into adulthood. Nevertheless, this was a good book on an extraordinary and remarkable man of the early American west.

Kit Carson was a man of few words in life and in his own autobiography. It is unfortunate that such a dynamic individual didn't write down more! Quaife does a terrific job with the notes. Explaining everything that Carson failed to include. This is a common problem as, for example, Kit Carson will say something to the effect: Fought indians today, and Quaife will fill in all of the details about what tribe, how many, who was killed or wounded in both parties, etc. I am fascinated by how much detail is known of Carson's time. Very readable, my only complaint was that it was too short! The editor has included a nicely laid out index. I found the book well worth the purchase price! BTW, for those of you looking for information on William F. Drannon, he is not mentioned anywhere in Carson's autobiography.

Disclaimer: Kit Carson is my first cousin, five times removed! And that's why I read this book.

It took a while to sink in, but the compelling feature about Kit's autobiography is the editing. There are extensive footnotes throughout that put Kit's text in historical perspective, point out errors in his memory, and round out the story.

He describes his 16-year life as a Mountain Man in almost monosyllabic terms. In other words, he compresses a whole year into a single paragraph. A short paragraph!

But it gets better when he has something to say about his scouting and Indian relations roles.

Why does it explain it all? Because I have this wanderlust locked up inside me, and I've always wondered where it came from!

I loved this book. Not only was Carson's essay wonderfully thought-provoking, but it was poetic as well. Her message is simple, if you love nature, share that love with a young person...so that they, too, might one day pass it along. By sharing your love of nature, you help carry hope that we will begin to take a little better care of our mother earth.

The book includes photographs which compliment Carson's words. Thank you for reminding us to share our love of the natural world.

This would be a wonderful gift for a new parent or new grandparent.

I'm a 78 year old grandmother. This book opens doors to nature and humanity in a gently subtle magical, mystical way. It's a book to read, and to EXPERIENCE. If you are fortunate enough to be living with children it is a chance to open new doors of wonder. All of you will be enchanted! What a joy. A great gift book!!!

This book was recommended to me by a friend some years ago. She told me that she had read this book in her youth and it had changed her life. At the time, the book was still out of print, but I managed to find a well-read copy through inter-library loan. After reading it, I can well understand how this little book can transform a person's way of thinking. In a very personal and lyrical remembrance, Rachel Carson shares her vision of the natural world and the wonder it inspires. "A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood," Rachel Carson writes. And this book, filled with its sage and poetic insight, and illustrated with luscious photographs of the natural world is a first step toward rediscovering that amazing sense of wonder within. I particularly love her thoughts about one starry summer night when she muses, "if this (the starry sky) were a sight that could be seen only once in a century...this little headland would be thronged with spectators. But it can be seen many scores of nights in any year, and so the lights burned in the cottages and the inhabitants probably gave not a thought to the beauty overhead; and because they could see it almost any night, perhaps they will never see it." This wisdom is both a gift to the young and the old alike. I only wish I had read it sooner. When I found the book in print again, I promptly bought it, and have read it over and over. It is a treasure that will be enjoyed for years.

The story follows the teenage Benson who have to suffer humiliation for being fat and to cope with his homosexuality. Despite a rather serious content, the story is told in a humorous manner, which makes this book every entertaining. I like the segment when Benson did a report on Hamlet, what he wrote seemed perfectly resonable in his viewpoint but totally ridiculous to the rest. The book covers Benson's journey of self-realization but the ending was very sad. (To find out why, please read the book!) This is trult a remarkable book which is very touching yet I laughed when I read through the pages.

Although this book is many years old it's message is timeless. One of the few books I have read that can have you laughing and crying on the same page.

One of the funniest books which I have ever read. Michael Carson leads his readers through the agonies of adolescence and the neuroses of religion with real insight. This book should really be made into a film!

This is a great little commentary. D A Carson has done an excellent job of teasing out the flow of the letter as Paul might have intended it. It is because of this and the exceptionally practical nature of Carson's exposition that I can recommend this book to every Christian. It is also set out in such a way as to be useful for group Bible studies.

Even though it is very small, Carson's book is deep, practical, straight-forward and challenging. It makes a great resource for pastors. It is like a mini-commentary on the book, full of great insight. Buy a copy soon and use it for personal devotion or as a starter for sermon ideas on Philipians.

Another one of Carson's books which began as expositions at a Christian conference. Reading this book, you can almost hear the author speaking to you.He tells a number of helpful stories throughout the book which powerfully bring home the points he is illustrating.

The book is simple, but it shows a deep understanding of Paul and his theology. It will help you to fall in love with Paul's letter, but also with the Christ whom Paul urges us to emulate and serve.

The collaborative effort of author Nancy Carson and photographer Jennifer Jones, Believing In Ourselves: A Celebration Of Women showcases the wisdom and inspiration of thirty-five ordinary but nonetheless remarkable women drawn from all over North America. Black-and-white photographs enhance each of the women and their exemplary encouragements placing pinnacle importance upon women having faith in themselves to achieve their goals, dreams, and aspirations. Believing In Ourselves is a very highly recommended and inspiring addition to personal improvement and Women's Studies reading lists.

A perfect gift for your close friends, your sisters, your mothers, this inspiring collection of stories about the triumphs of real women in their everyday lives, written by Nancy Carson and accompanied by lovely photography from Jennifer Jones, is a reminder of the heroines we encounter daily but don't always recognize as such. These are women who have made their way through extraordinary difficulties and built successful lives for themselves - success defined as they see it, not in the narrow confines only of career and money -often helped along the way by other women. Their life stories, beuatifully presented, serve as a reminder to all of us that: 1) we are each the architect of our own life story, and 2)we don't have to do it all alone. Of course, in Ms. Carson's skillful hands, even a less amazing life would probably provide inspiration to others.
Put this book on your own table or next to your bed, to read on a sunny morning, or when the darkness looms and all seems hopeless: at least one of these women will "speak" to you and help you find a way to go forward.

Believing In Ourselves
From a housing project in the Bronx to the U.S. Court of Appeals, from life on welfare to working as a top industrial engineer . . . the stories of these amazing women inspire dreams.

Believing in Ourselves: A Celebration of Women (Andrews McMeel Publishing,..., April 2002) introduces the reader to 35 amazing, inspiring, and unstoppable women from all over North America and from all walks of life. Many of these women have overcome significant obstacles in their lives. Others have succeeded in fulfilling unusual personal goals. Each of them will amaze and inspire you with their courage and fortitude.

Strengthened by hardship and made generous by their experiences, they offer up their stories to guide and encourage others. In this new book you will learn about:

--Mary-Lisa Orth, Tucson, Ariz., who struggled out of welfare to become a top industrial engineer - while raising four children on her own.

--Beth Bakke-Stenehjem, Bismarck, N.D., who gave life and hope to a friend and coworker through the gift of one of her kidneys.

--Sonia Sotomayor, New York, N.Y., who went from a housing project in the Bronx to sitting on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

--Sinthea Brown, Seattle, Wash., who overcame drug addiction and poverty to become a counselor to the homeless in her community.

Believing in Ourselves celebrates the gifts of women who pursued goals that people told them were impossible. They proved themselves by taking the hard road instead of the easy road. Their journeys have instilled each of them with self-awareness, inner peace, and a sense of satisfaction.

About the Author and Photographer
Nancy Carson, a freelance writer from Alexandria, Va., writes regularly about everything from educational technology to family caregiving, but her favorite form is the personal essay. She travels widely and is often in Manhattan, the home of her artist daughter.

The pages of Believing in Ourselves are enhanced by the graceful black-and-white photography of Jennifer Jones of Tucson, Ariz. She attended the New England School of Photography in Boston, Mass. Her photographs have appeared in a number of newspapers and magazines.

I actually do not have cancer but am going through chemotherapy treatments for Hepatitis C, and found this book wonderfully encouraging and helpful. I have all the possible side effects and so I have lots of trouble eating. I am on a weekly treatment for a year so there are some days each week whenI can't eat. What I found the best about the book are the great easy recipes and the comments by patients and Dr. Ghosh. I found many recipes which I have already tried and my family loved the results. The recipes are easy and you probably already have the items at home or they are readily available. The book has helped encourage me to continue treatments and given me lots of easy food to prepare for my family.

Having lived with cancer for 8 years and having had over one hundred treatments so far, I am thrilled to find a book that really talks to patients from patients who have lived through the same thing I am going through. This book shares real world recipes that are easy to eat and easy to make. In addition, the recipes have been eaten by patients who have the same problems I have had namely nausea, constipation, mouth sores, diarrhea and special diets such as neutropenia and low residue. The lists of recipes on pages 48 & 49 help me and family members chose food that I can eat AND that will benefit me for the side effects I am going through. This is incredibly encouraging!!! I especially appreciate the Q & A section from Dr. Ghosh and the diet plans for the special diets in the back of the book. Another great feature that I love are the special tips pages such as Snacks (p109), Humor and Healing (p149), Food during Treatments (p207), and Great Gifts (p223). I think this book would be the best gift to give to a cancer patient going through treatment. The best part of this book are the real quotes from real patients on nearly every recipe in the book. This book is a both a manual for Living with Cancer AND an excellent cookbook with tried and true recipes. Thanks Betty Crocker!!!

Not only does Dr. Ghosh give good advise and explainations to what is happening to a cancer patient, his recipies are great too. He explains why some things happen and what to do to combat them. This cookbook is not only good for the patient but for the family as well. The notes and question and answer section will help everyone involved with a cancer patient unterstand the issues surrounding the disease much better.

Hiking Washington's Geology is a well-written, informative book that describes the geologic evolution of a wide and varied landscape. I especially appreciate the detailed directions on how to get to the trailheads and equally detailed descriptions of things to look for while hiking. This book is a must-have for anyone interested in the geologic natural history of Washington....

This is an excellent read! The book highlighted some outstanding hikes and I learned lots about the interesting geology of the PNW. This book is a must for any hiker in Washington!!

This is a great book outlining interesting geology in Washington State, and offers suggestions of which hikes should be done.

For years scholars have documented what happened at the hands of Hitler... however, few have taken the time to fully place a historical foundation beneath the these events. Mann's encompassing perspective on western history challenges the reader to look beyond cursory scholarship directly into the heart of Hitler's psychological, cultural and religious struggles. A ground breaking work from this veteran writer!

Hitler's Three Struggles opens up a whole new area of the study of this diabolical leader as well as the real origin of Nazism that is patterned in a distorted way ( as all fascisms are) on the ancient Romans. No other writer dealing with Nazism has shown the link between Nazism and the cultural-psychological presented by the Greek, Roman and Jewish elements in the Western mentality. In reading this work, it opened my mind to completely new ways of viewing Hitler and Nazism, but also to a new understanding of Western history and how it continues to influence the world. A must read for those wanting to understanding our continuing historical journey.

For the first time, hitler's three struggles: the neo-pagan revenge, clearly explains what hitler was all about and why he diabolically selected the Jews as priority victims.

Its amazing how quickly we forget our leaders. After serving 31 years in Congress, running one of the most likeable Presidential campaigns in history, and nearly getting elected majority leader of the U.S. House of Represenatives, Democrat Morris Udall's political career was cruelly and tragically brought to a halt by Parkinson's disease. Once famed as perhaps the wittiest man in Congress (as well as one of the most effective), Udall died seven years after his retirement -- his sterling wit permanently silenced as the disease robbed him of his ability to speak. Most tragically, this man who -- with his brother Stewart -- co-founded both the current conservation movement and America's first Mormon political clan, died a forgotten figure, remembered only by a few political junkies like myself. Fortunately, however, Donald Carson and James Johnson have produced a wonderfully engaging biography of this man that gives us a warts-and-all portrait of a remarkable public servant. While giving ample reason why the man was so beloved, they also don't flinch from revealing why Morris Udall ultimately remained a mystery to even his own family. Unlike other political biographies, this book neither sets out to debunk or canonize Rep. Udall but instead stands as a sharp portrait of a complex man whose public service -- whether you agreed with his liberal politics or not (I certainly don't) -- made this country a better place.

Written in a breezy, conversational tone that still manages to maintain a proper biographical distance, Mo follows Udall from his strict Mormon childhood in Arizona to his first election to the U.S. House. While a great deal of the book focuses on Udall's legislative achievements -- Udall was an environmentalist before it become trendy -- the best of the early chapters deal with Udall as a liberal upstart setting out to reform the stodgy House. As Udall himself would often wryly point out, his political life was often a bizarre tragic comedy of second-place finishes that ultimately became victories for others. Both of Udall's insurgent campaigns for both Speaker and Majority Leader ended in failure but sparked the revolution that overthrew (however briefly) the Congressional seniority system. The book's highlight is the detailing of Udall's 1976 campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination where he managed to finish second in a record number of primaries without ever once finishing first. If Udall didn't set the electorate on fire, he did distinguish himself by revealing himself to be one of the most genuinely witty Presidential wanna-bes to ever pop up on a primary ballot (or, as one columnist put it, "Is Morris Udall to funny to be President?" That's the 70s talking. As of late, some genuine and intentional humor in American politics would be a bit of a relief, I'd think.) The campaign made Udall famous for his wit but as this biography reveals, that wit often concealed a rather distant temperment that so focused on work that even his own children grew up calling him "Mo." As a politician, Udall was that rare thing -- an honest and sincere compassionate liberal who actually saw big government as a way to help the downtrodden. Yet this same man who dedicated his life to helping strangers drove one wife to divorce and another to alcoholism and suicide. The dichotomy makes for a fascinating read and Carson and Johnson explore these issues without ever descending into lurid muckracking. The book concludes with a touching (and quite frankly heartbreaking) section dealing with Udall's final, brave, and tragic battle with Parkinson's Disease (which, as I read it, was also sadly reminicent of Ronald Reagan's -- another politician never given the respect that was his due -- current battle with Alzheimer's; another nefarious disease that, like Parkinson's, cruelly robs men and women of their dignity without reason or warning.)

Despite the fact that, politically, I'm probably about as far to the right as the late Congressman Morris Udall was to the left, I still find myself mourning the comically tragic failure of his 1976 campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination. As the election was the first post-Watergate election and the Republican Party was going through one of its periodic near-deaths, the election of a Democrat was pretty much assured. All Udall had to do was win the nomination and, for four years at least, a one-eyed, 6'5, former probasketball player and nonpracticing Mormon named Mo Udall would have been President. Of course, the nomination didn't go to Udall but instead went to the far less witty Jimmy Carter. Considering the way the world was in the late 70s, its doubtful Udall would have had any a better time of it than Carter but instead of hearing that America's problems were due to "malaise," a President Udall would at least find time to tell at least one corny, Ayatollah joke. And, even if the voters didn't realize it at the time, America would have been better off for that joke. Just as its now better off to have this book to remember Morris Udall by.

Every student of U.S. politics or Arizona history should read this book. Carson and Johnson thoroughly and brilliantly chronicle the life of a man who profoundly influenced the course of America in ways that politicians of greater renown never did. The authors reveal how Mo Udall could champion the most liberal causes and yet gain the respect of someone as conservative as Barry Goldwater. Read this book and you'll wonder what turns America might have taken had Udall fulfilled his dream of becoming president.

This meticulously researched and scholastically outstanding biography of Morris Udall follows his life and political times, focussing on his career, his 30-year congressional history, and his radical challenges to seniority systems. Recommended for anyone studying contemporary American politics in general and House/Senate politics in particular, Mo is a "must" for the legions of Mo Udall supporters and admirers.

After being given a diagnosis of Sjogren's Syndrome, I really didn't know what it meant. I searched the internet, but really couldn't find any detailed information, so I hit Amazon to find a couple of books. This one was recommended by the Sjogren's Foundation, and was an excellent choice. I was able to see some detailed information, including a break down of the different symptoms. One negative note - it is very medically oriented, so you may need to read through it a few times.

This is a must read for anyone with this syndrome. You will need to buy several coppies to carry and give to your care takers and Dr.s. Most Dr. know OF Sjogren's, but very few know HOW TO care for people with it and the complication that come from not understanding how important that moisture is to a Sjogren's patiant. My Husband had surgery and told the anesthesiologest of his condiction and they did not make any changes. After surgery he was so dried out and throat was sore, he could hardly sleep. We received the book about a week later and found that Sjogren's patients should have different trement to keep them from dring out. We have given all the Dr.s that tend to my Husband this book to read. It is cheeper to educate them, than suffer the discomfort.

Very good book. I found it very informational. It is a must have for people that want to understand the disease or learn more about it. I specially liked the chapters about Sjogrens and pregnancy and the one about the antiphospholipid antobody. It has been the most complete and comprehensive handbook in Sjogrens that I have read.