North Star Bay is an exciting novel by Richard Thompson which is set in 1968 when a clandestine clash takes place between diverse nations over lost megatonage H-Bombs, one of which has survived in the sea near Greenland. A fast-paced, action-packed thriller about deadly scuffles and desperate machinations, acts of heroism and terrible tragedy, North Star Bay is a compelling read from beginning to end.

His first book (Tiger Cruise) was great. With the luck of the Irish, I managed to purchase the Proof for North Star. I was actually in fear that Thompson could not meet the high bar he set in penning Tiger Cruise. Nothing is worse than being let down by an author. As I began to read the proof, my mental state was totally absorbed within it. Thompson has done it again! He manages to take facts, slide in amazing and totally believable fiction and presto... another suspense novel with real life action. The plot twists and turns, keeps your mind racing with the result of your eyes wanting to absorb the words on each page faster than your brain can process. IT is a Winner! He has brought "Clancyism" to a new era. I now call it "Thompsonism"! Read the book! Few new author's of our era have the ability to come out of the box swinging like Thompson.

This is our first fiction review and we picked a dandy. By a stroke of luck we got our hands on a galley copy and it almost found its way into the circular file had it not been for the first chapter in the book, which is factual.

As a maritime and military history book reviewer we were quite familiar with the January 21, 1968 incident in Thule, Greenland when a B52, flying the Strategic Air Command, caught fire and crashed into the ice spewing radiation from its cargo of four hydrogen bombs. The U.S. has long maintained that all four bombs were destroyed in the fiery crash but many Greenlanders believe otherwise. The theory is that one of the bombs survived the crash and lies on the bottom of North Star Bay.

The author turns the theory into fictional fact when a local fisherman inadvertently snags the weapon while fishing the fjord. Not surprisingly, the bad guys (Libya and China) learn of the discovery when alarm bells go off in the CIA - activated by sensors placed on the H-Bomb 34 years ago. The CIA, FBI and the NSA, not all that concerned with an antiquated nuclear weapon, aren't really worried about its discovery until they get word that the Libyans are going to sail halfway around the world intending to snatch the bomb and bring it home. It seems that America's National Missile Defense (NMD) pet project is located in Thule's backyard and the thought of the Libyans snooping around the area makes for some very nervous bureaucrats in Washington.

Things deteriorate quickly for the U.S. when the bad guys find out there's more in Thule than the bomb. When a test of NMD goes awry resulting in a live "shoot," the Chinese and Libyans decide against snatching the bomb but instead plan to detonate it and destroy the NMD site that, heretofore, they did not know existed. That's enough for now; we don't want to give too much away.

A page-turning thriller set on top of the world, North Star Bay will keep you on the edge of your seat until the exciting, surprising ending. Grab it wherever you can and get ready for the best darn fiction to come your way for some time. Five stars all the way!

Have you ever wondered what's really going on at those mysterious "satsangs" with spiritual leaders in traditions of non-dualism? While these modern-day enlightenment gurus often shun media appearances, their mystique grows. Short of joining one of their organizations, it can be challenging to find out the basis for their teachings, and whether they might be helpful in guiding one to a sense of enlightenment and spiritual fulfillment in one's life. Berthold Madhukar Thompson presents riveting interviews with twelve such spiritual teachers of non-dualistic traditions in the story of his search for truth, THE ODYSSEY OF ENLIGHTENMENT.

Thompson finds and shares something truly amazing and unexpected in this book -- completely unique perspectives on how one can best find joy and a sense of eternal peace. I was surprised to find so many different definitions of enlightenment in one book, as well as some rather unexpected points of view on whether or how enlightenment should even be pursued as a goal. I was glad to see that a biographical profile and photograph of each of these special individuals is included at the beginning of each section, so I got a better sense of who they are. I found the diversity of perspectives to be quite refreshing, and know that this is a book I'll be glad to refer to whenever I want to see the world in fresh, new ways.

Thompson is a kind and trusty guide through an exploration of the essence of reality, consciousness, and oneness. Thanks to Thompson's thoughtful observations and willingness to share his own personal experiences, THE ODYSSEY OF ENLIGHTENMENT transcends potential confusion and presents the reader with a fascinating overview of the teachings of some of the world's pre-eminent enlightenment gurus of the 21st century. This book is bejeweled with insights that can help bring peace of mind, such as "thought activity is the main hindrance to realization." In addition to sharing these gems of wisdom, this book also explains how to put them into practice in one's life.

Whether you are curious about what's really being taught in various schools of non-duality and enlightenment, or would like specific information about Osho, Papaji, Harish Madhukar, Gangaji, Annamalai Swami, Lakshmana Swami, Ramesh S. Balsekar, Dadaji, Kiran, U.G. Krishnamurti, Andrew Cohen, and D.B. Gangolli, this is the book for you!

The Odyssey Of Enlightenment: Rare Interviews With Enlightened Teachers Of Our Time by Berthold Madhukar Thompson is a selection of interviews with twelve East Indian spiritual teachers, each of whom are widely respected for their enlightened wisdom. Hindu guidance to life-long harmony, the full depth of the immortal truth within Socrates' classic phrase "Know thyself," as well as insights on the meaning of destiny and God's will round out this superbly presented anthology of spiritual acumen. Essentially a chronicle of Thompson's personal quest for spiritual meaning and eternal truths, The Odyssey Of Enlightenment is a welcome and highly recommended contribution to Eastern Spirituality reference collections and Hindu Studies supplemental reading lists.

The Odyssey Of Enlightenment: Rare Interviews With Enlightened Teachers Of Our Time by Berthold Madhukar Thompson is a selection of interviews with twelve East Indian spiritual teachers, each of whom are widely respected for their enlightened wisdom. Hindu guidance to life-long harmony, the full depth of the immortal truth within Socrates' classic phrase "Know thyself," as well as insights on the meaning of destiny and God's will round out this superbly presented anthology of spiritual acumen. Essentially a chronicle of Thompson's personal quest for spiritual meaning and eternal truths, The Odyssey Of Enlightenment is a welcome and highly recommended contribution to Eastern Spirituality reference collections and Hindu Studies supplemental reading lists.

FANTASTIC!!! It was amazing!!!
Everything that you want too know is in this book!!!
I LOVE Pharlap and anything too do with him!!! So read Phar Lap as soon as you can it ROCKS!!!

What a wonderful book - great photos and narrative. It fully explained what was probably the reason for his untimely death. This book will someday be a collector's item, but I won't part with it!

I knew I was in trouble the moment I saw the cover of this book with the beautiful chestnut horse named Phar Lap. I knew I just had to have this book. I knew because I had seen the movie, Phar Lap, years ago and had fallen in love with this incredibly beautiful and gifted animal that had a heart and soul big enough to affect those that loved him and those that knew him from afar.

This beautifully crafted book does not disappoint as it unravels the life and mysterious death of this beloved racehorse while revealing a darker side of greed and jealousy that surrounded him.

Filled with incredible black & white photos and memorabilia, this book will draw you in and keep you there. It will amaze you, it will disturb you but it will always remind you of the winning spirit and courageous heart that was Phar Lap. A name you will never forget...

Once I started reading The Presidents' Doctor, I found it difficult to put the book down. What especially intrigued me were the insights into the personal sides of Presidents Harding, Coolidge and Hoover as seen by Dr. Joel Boone, who served as a White House physician during their administrations. Despite their prominence, the three Presidents had individual and family joys, sorrows and challenges just as everyone else.

As I read Mr. Heller's descriptions, I pictured myself in the shoes of Dr. Boone and his family. Imagine meeting, providing medical care to and socializing with key national (and in some cases international) leaders and then at the end of the day returning to "regular" home life and routines.

The book captures the spirit of the times it covers. As an example, the reader can easily imagine the scene of President Harding and his entourage on their meandering, transcontinental train trip followed by an ocean voyage to Alaska and then a last train trip down the Pacific Coast to San Francisco where Harding met his untimely death. Indeed, in our current era of ever-faster communication, it is hard to conceive of a President running the nation without the benefit of airplanes, televisions, computers, fax machines, cell phones, etc. Yet, despite the lack of these conveniences, the leaders of the time somehow were able to manage the country.

In summary, I highly recommend The Presidents' Doctor for an absorbing and personalized account of three Presidential administrations and life in the U.S. in the early part of the 20th century through the perspective of the extremely dedicated and talented White House physician, Dr. Joel Boone.

If this book were a novel it would be a great read.. It is lively, has fascinating characters, and colorful background.

As a novel, however, it would have one fatal problem. As my English professor used to say, it would lack "an aura of verisimilitude". To put it in plain English, "You wouldn't believe it!".

However, it's not a novel. It is a well researched and thoroughly documented LIVE history book. It describes an absolutely incredible man, who performed absolutely incredible feats in his admirable life.

A few examples:

Joel Boone was a medical doctor. He was awarded a congressional medal of honor, the nation's highest award for bravery, while he was serving as a doctor! There are few enough medal of honor winners, but did you ever hear of a doctor - a non-combatant - winning one? Now you have.

In his early days he led and commanded troops in combat, even though his commission was as a medical officer.

He served several U.S. presidents and their families as their doctor.

Any one of these by itself is interesting and unusual. Taken all together they are unheard of - until now.

The book has a tremendous advantage over a novel. Since it reports on a real person, who really did these astonishing things, you have to believe they really happened. Poetic license would never get you this far. This is a book you don't want to miss.

Milton F. Heller,Jr. tells the story of his father-in-law with grace and lucidity. Admiral Boone came out of Pennsylania, along with his wife, to carve a nitch in history. His career spanned 50 years, a youthful Medal of Honor, serving as doctor to three first families, to director of Vetrans Administration. This slim volume is just what the doctor ordered for all americans who love their heroes. Great Christmas gift.

I've created basic database structures and applications for about five years and pledged never to go past writing macros, because I didn't want to be forced to learn VBA. I run a realty and mortgage office and just couldn't spare the time. Now that Outlook and the Office suite is becoming more familiar with my crew and now that we've joined a WAN and some B2B data sharing, the basic stuff just didn't fill the bill. I've bought quite a few books on Access recently (not to mention dozens from the past few years) and have found this one to be one of the best in its presentation and content.

It gave me some real insight on how I should be considering networking and upsizing. I answered more questions I had after spending 12 hours with the book, than I had spent searching the net or reading the other books for several months. I even read though the code and understood it, and contrary to the warnings the presentation still flowed well. I still know little VBA and am now going back to get a Wrox book on Beginnng Access 2000 VBA.

Concise, very detailed, stuffed full of info and reference. I'm a Wrox fan now.

I've been consulting for over 5 years with Access in all it's iterations except 1.0 and I must say that this is the best book on intermediate topics that I have found. There is no "fluff" like in books from other publishers (especially Queue in my opinion). This book is concise with real world examples for real world issues. When I first opened this book and read a bit I realized this book was written by consultants/developers who have gotten there hands dirty and not "feel good" academics who have never written a line of code for a company. Keep this one handy if you're the Access guru at your firm.

Professional Access 2000 Programming is a combination of a training book to heighten your programming skills, and a reference work that will give you a complete overview of Access 2000 and it's related programming environment. It's written in the traditional Wrox style that is so easy to read and usable for developers.

One thing I do miss, is the usual Wrox opening statement where it is described whom the book is written for and if any previous programming skills are assumed. It's not until chapter 3 that you find out VB or VBA programming experience is assumed to make use of the chapter. Don't start on this book without any knowledge of VBA, since it is used in most of the coding examples. If you don't know VBA check out the following books: ISBN 0782123244, ISBN 1861001762 and ISBN 0735605920. An understanding of ADO would also improve on the usability of the book.

To make use of the books fullest potential, have a design plan of your database next to it and make notes or check for errors in your design when you go through the chapters. This helped me to improve on the design of my database.

Not essential, but it would have been nice if the sample code used in the book had been made available to the reader. At one place in the book the author even writes that the sample code is available from Wrox' website, but as of today it is not.

This book has given me the skills and confidence to start working on client/server solutions and integrating SQL server. It breaks down the entire complexity surrounding Access 2000 and database development to sizeable blocks and tools that I can piece together according to programming and design goals. A must have for any Access programmer on his way to become a true professional.

River of Memories: An Appalachian Boyhood by David L. Thompson is an excellent book for all people of all ages. It really allows the reader to understand the way everyday life was in Appalachia. It reminds us of the importance of family, friends, hard work, and God's influence. It brings out the best of a time that has passed, but will never be forgotten.

In order for us to truly understand ourselves, we must look to our heritage. As Mr. Thompson recalls to his readers the vivid memories of an Appalachian childhood, he entangles them with the warmth of a heritage that may someday be forgotten. This work will possibly answer many questions of future generations who may ask "what is Appalachia?"

Mr. Thompson's is a wonderful tale of a young man growing up in rural America. It tells of a wonderful childhood filled with loving memories in a time when a child was still allowed to be a child. It has both good and bad memories that add up to the formation of an interesting individual and family that anyone would enjoy getting to know. If everyone could only be so lucky as to know someone like this it would improve the world as a whole.

I think this a great book to take on an airplane or when you just need to sit down and have a good laugh. It can relieve stress and really help you deal with your next best excuse!

Do you find yourself stammering and stuttering when faced with a conflict? Then hire yourself a speech therapist and a psychotherapist. But if you just find yourself in need of some light humor and a few dozen nickels too heavy, this is the book for you. From the ridiculous to the sublime, TUBOE:FESE(JAW) covers every possible area of excuse necessity. If you only buy one book this year, you should buy a bigger one, in case the leg on the kitchen table goes wobbly and you need something to prop it up. If you can possibly manage to buy more than one book, you're going to be hard-pressed to find a better one for this amazing low price, unless you're into those trashy Harlequin Romances.

(Look, what else can I say? It's a book of excuses. If you have an excuse not to buy it, you probably don't need it, right?)

Anyone in need of a zany and rollicking excuse need look no further than the frighteningly hilarious "The Ultimate Book of Excuses." I have a dozen copies on my shelf which I give as gifts after each birthday I forget: but not until I use one of its excuses like "I thought you were dead," or "I paid a clown with a hacking cough to knock on your door and sing 'Born Free' but he just screamed and jumped into a manhole."

Whatever the occasion, this book has the perfect excuse. If you don't own a copy, what's your excuse?

I read Wild animals i have known by Ernest Thompson.Its a 245 page book fild with short storys about animals.It as A little something for everyone. It has adventure, comody, sadness, and bunnys. Each story has its own characters both human and animal.My favorite story is one intitled Lobo.Its about a wolf traper and his toils with lobo the leader of the neiborhood wolf pack. Each story kept my attention throughout the whole book.I would recomend this book to everyone who likes to read about animals.

I first read this book as a very young reader, almost sixty years ago. Seton's ability to identify with the wildlife he studies,but with a minimum of anthropomorphism or sentimentality, and then write touching, exciting mini-dramas is enhanced by his role as an observer who does not inject himself as a foreign influence in their lives.

I'm buying copies of the hardcover edition for my grandchildren, for this book will be read more than once, and kept for a lifetime. Get it before it goes out of print again. Robert H. Tyrka, Sr. rtyrkasr@chesint.net

Seton Thompson's stories of wild animals and their wonderful ways touch the hearts of young and old. There are no happy endings in this book, because the moral is that animals always die tragic deaths. But if you want to learn the laws of nature and better understand animals and their ways, these accounts of a hunter-trapper will reward you with hours of enchanted stort-telling.

John A. Thompson, author of the Reformers and War: American Progressives Publicists and the First World War (1987)and a leading authority on the Progessive Era and First World War, has written a superb and compact biography of Woodrow Wilson, the best one-volume biography of Wilson that we have. Thompson's insightful account focuses on Wilson's leadership style and assesses both its strengths and weaknesses. As president of Princeton, governor of New Jersey, and president of the United States, Wilson exhibited both firmness and flexibility, and idealism and a practicality. Examining the abilities and the limits of political leadership in American democracy, Thompson carefully weighs the degree to which Wilson's successes and failures were a result of his own actions and a consequence of other factors beyond his control. This is a masterful achievement.

It may come as a surprise to many American readers that it has fallen to a British scholar (from the prestigious University of Cambridge) to write such a lively, elegant and thoughtful study of one of America's greatest Presidents. But those who have followed Thompson's earlier work on Progressivism will know what a fine writer he is.

Here he follows Wilson's career through all the highs and lows of political life, deftly sketching a powerful pen-portrait of Woodrow Wilson the tortured man even as he skilfully demonstrates just why Wilson was such a pivotal figure in American political history. The writing is crisp, the pacing never flags, and Thompson's conclusions are both striking and convincing. A powerful read, and in the current climate, perhaps an instructive one. Buy it, read it, and send a copy to the White House.

"Wilsonianism" has defined, and in many ways imprisoned, American foreign policy since the end of World War I. But what if Wilsonianism was the product of pragmatic, ad hoc, political considerations rather than an idealistic grand strategy?

In his marvelous and very readable study of the statecraft of President Woodrow Wilson, John A Thompson argues that Wilson blended certain idealistic values with hard political realities in his response to World War I. Thompson's book, while brief, is comprehensive: it begins with Wilson's childhood, takes the reader through his career as an academic and later President of Princeton University, discusses his term as Governor of New Jersey, and finally delves into the domestic and international aspects of the Wilson presidency.

This book will appeal to general readers, particularly those who wish to be better informed about the Wilson presidency, as well as academic specialists.

The 9th Edition of the "Comic Buyer's Guide Comic Book Checklist and Price Guide" for 2003 covers comic books from 1961 (i.e., the birth of Marvel) to the present. The basic purpose here is to includes individual listings for more than 100,000 comics broken down by Good, Fine and the proverbial Near-Mint. Most of the time you will find out both the month and year of publication for particular issues. With most of the superhero comics, especially those from DC and Marvel, there is information about specific guest appearances by other characters (so this will tell you about Spider-Man crossovers but nothing about Betty and Veronica). Abbreviations identify artists from Alfredo Alcala (AA) to Wally Wood (WW), as well as issue information on everything from O (Origin of) and W (Wedding) to 1 (first appearance of) and D (Death), as well as HOL (Hologram cover) and N (New costume). In other words, there is a lot of information available from Maggie Thompson et al. besides the basics.

Additionally the opening section of the volume answers a series of fundamental questions (e.g., What is the "Silver Age"?) and tells you want to pay attention to if you are new to collecting (cover variants, issue condition, etc.). There is also a Photo Grading Guide and Guide to Defects that will help you grade your comics, along with a system for maintaining an inventory of your collection. Each two page spread includes one small comic book cover in the upper right hand corner of the right page, which give you glimpses of both classic issues of Batman and forgotten titles like "Gold Key Spotlight" featuring Tom, Dick and Harriet. Consequently this is a solid volume that can be used to keep track of what you have and what you need to track down: already I have been using it to make a list of issues I need to pick up because stories begin in comic books I am collecting but then get continued in some title I pass on. At 800 pages this might be a bit much to tote around to Comic Book shows and conventions, but the alternative is copying all this information into some other format.

I want the prices to the comic books