Robert Ellis Smith colors the historical settings for the many pivotal developments, cases and treatise related to privacy. From a description of the Puritan "Tythingmen", who were charged with keeping their eyes on ten families (including the right to inspect the inside of homes), through Madison's early drafts of the First Amendment, forward all the way to the "DoubleClick" controversy, "Ben Franklin's Web Site" covers the myriad of privacy related issues with great elan.

With more than 25 years of experience writing on privacy issues in his newsletter, Privacy Journal, Smith has written a clear, readable history of privacy in America that weaves the various threads of and threats to privacy together in a well-documented fashion. From Americans' insatiable curiosity to the tabloid press, from mistrust of the census to the endless collection of personal information we face today, Smith examines it all thoroughly and cogently. Certainly the best book on privacy I have read. Highly recommended both for those who know something about the area already and those who would like to know more.

Robert Ellis Smith brings the privacy debate back home and to an understandable level in "Ben Franklin's Web Site : Privacy and Curiosity from Plymouth Rock to the Internet." Many privacy books dwell on obscure legal cases that bore the reader to a near state of torpidity. Not so with Mr. Smith's common sense descriptions and explanations of privacy issues throughout the American experience. Aside from giving the reader the ability to understand the importance of privacy in a number of critical facets, this book is just plain fun to read.

This book is SUCH an easy read. It explains everything you'd need to know in plain english and gives many real life examples. I've just started to put what I've learned in the book into practice and I can't wait to see the results.
Two things would have made this a better book: 1) a tearout that can be used as a quick reference guide and 2) it really could use to be updated. It was written in 1986 and many organic and chemical products have been introduced since then that I would like to get his take on.

I was quite starved for information to help me repair drought damage to my front lawn as well as seed a new lawn from scratch in the backyard. I read the book from cover to cover quite quickly and I feel somewhat enlightened. The concepts put forth by Stuart et al for maintaining a healthy lawn are quite simple to understand and execute. Each aspect from choosing a grass type to how to effectively seed and then eventually maintain your lawn is covered in detail in its own chapter. One aspect of the book which I particularly enjoyed was the explanations of exactly what you need to do to cause problems in your yard. I think sometimes its just as important to be informed how to to screw up as it is to do things right. Sometimes people can accidently kill their lawns without the knowledge of exactly what they are doing wrong. The book covers the functions of different chemical approaches to lawn care, but maintains that natural care is the most cost effective and safest way to maintain a lawn in the long term. I was very impressed by the book, and would highly recommend it to anyone.

This is the best book I have read on the topic. It is clearly written, and loaded with useful information. I recommend it as a great book for those who want to understand why their lawn looks so bad.

I grew up reading this book along with others on Christmas Eve every year. My parents won't give up their copy for the same reasons I want one. I have a four year old now and can't wait to share the magic of this book with him. This book contributed to some of the best memories of my life.

As another reviewer said, we read this book every single year at Christmas. The "snitcher" steals all the cookie sprinkle and everyone is looking for them to decorate Christmas cookies. The little boy follows a sprinkle trail to find the sprinkles and teach the snitcher how to share. I, too, am looking for a book for me and my children as grandma is keeping her copy for her house. A must have.

What are Christmas cookies without sprinkles? This book addresses the question and throws in a lesson about sharing and the Christmas spirit at the same time. This was my all time favorite Christmas story as a child. I read it over and over again every year. I am currently looking for my own copy of the book so my Mom can keep the copy she read to us to share with all of her grandchildren. Precious story, wonderfully illustrated!

I thoroughly enjoyed THE FRANKLIN AFFAIR, and highly recommend it to any reader, young or old, male or female. The author presents the age, the setting and Ben Franklin in a way that seems totally authentic to this reader. The tale combines political intrigue, mystery and physical danger in a suspenseful and exciting plot. While Franklin is well drawn with charm, humor and liveliness, his mentoring relationship with young Henri is especially heartwarming. Henri is an engaging youth whose winning character evolves in a coming-of-age adventure. I'm glad to hear Mr. Drago plans further Henri Gruel stories.

Whether you're a fan of historical novels or not, this is a must read. Gripping, intriguing and utterly delightful. I couldn't put it down. I do hope Henri Gruel has many more adventures.

The Franklin Affair, an Henri Gruel adventure, is a fast paced, often humorous and always fascinating look at what COULD have happened during the beginnings of The United States of America. Mr. Drago is a very dramatic, upbeat writer who can hold his own against the likes of John Jakes or James Michener without the heavy handed history lessons. Rather than being preached at, The Franklin Affair lets the reader experience history with a new freshness and excitement. Lots of laughs, gasps and spinetingling intrigue, it's a page-turner! Almost a colonial "Young Indiana Jones", I look forward to further Henri Gruel adventures and anything written by Mr Drago. Couldn't put it down!

FRANKLIN AND THE THUNDERSTORM is a colorful, entertaining, imaginative young reader book dealing with a relevant issue--FEAR. We all have them so this young reader book is sure to grab the child's attention. There is conflict and character growth, the formula for a great story a child will remember and ask for again.

Franklin's mother sends a reluctant and nervous turtle dressed in galoshes and a rain hat, carrying an umbrella, over to his friend, Fox's house as a storm begins to brew. When he arrives, there are three other animals there sharing their opinions about the approaching thunderstorm such as: "My fur feels funny," says Fox. "My feathers get all ruffled," says Hawk. "I can smell a storm coming," says Beaver sniffing. No one seems to be scared but Franklin. But he is scared enough for all four of his buddies! The storm hits full force and they all run inside. When the power goes out Franklin is so terrified he retreats inside his shell and no kind of coaxing on anyone's part, even treats from Mrs. Fox, will get him out. So Franklin's friends use their imaginations and begin talking about the CLOUD GIANTS. Whether the Cloud Giants are bowling or playing drums in the sky (thunder,) swinging from chandeliers or turning their lights on and off (lightning,) the illustrations are what make the story so great. Beaver quotes Mr. Owl's factual definition of thunder and Franklin, by this time, is out of his shell and smiling. Fox and his friends go back outside and Franklin discovers a rainbow. What Franklin say at the ending rounds out this very special story.

*You should buy this for the funny illustrations of the Cloud giants and what Franklin says about rainbows alone. Wonderful short story for ages 4-8. I got a set of 4 Franklins in a book club for my young daughter and this is her favorite.

It helps children to deal with fears. In this book Franklin is afraid of thunderstorms. His friends help him thru it when they find out and are supported. This is an excellent book for any child that has a fear.

Franklin is leary about journeying to his friend Fox's house as an eminent thunderstorm is brewing in the skies above. Through understanding and encouragement from his friends, Franklin learns to deal with the inevitable storm and gains comfort from his friends.

The story was mainly told in the forest. The main characters in the story was Franklin. The minor characters were bear, rabbit,fox beaver skunk. The theme was that this book would be that school is alot of fun and don't be afraid to go there. School is a good learning experience. The style would be that the author has a picture on every page and it has friends playing and having fun on every page.

FRANKLIN IS A CHARACTER THAT ANYONE REGARDLESS OF AGE CAN LOVE. IN FRANKLIN GOES TO SCHOOL HE HAS GREAT RESERVATIONS ABOUT THIS NEW EXPERIENCE AS DID WE ALL AND OVERCOMES THEM WITH THE HELP OF HIS FRIENDS. I WOULD RECOMEND ANY FRANKLIN BOOK.

All of the Franklin books deal with something a child might face.They are written so it is easy for children to conect with their new found friend, and thats just what Franklin will become. I teach children and Franklin is the most asked for of all the books we have. His stories are great and children learn from his experiences.

I've read a lot of books about Franklin, but this one is in a class of its own. It's a psycho-biography (kinda) that traces Franklin's religious development from his early childhood through the rest of his life. Nope, he's not the deist we learned about in school. Instead, he's what Walters calls a "perspectivist." If that sounds boring or dry, think again. The book reads like a novel. I definitely recommend this one. It puts a new spin on old Benjamin. My only objection is that sometimes you have to wonder how much of this is Walters, and how much Franklin. So it loses one star.

Kerry S. Walters has written one of the best studies of 18th century religion yet produced. Benjamin Franklin is a difficult subject, in part because as Walters puts it, Franklin "wrote both too much and too little about his religious thought." (p. 4) Different historians read the same documents and come up with radically different interpretations of their meaning. Walters, however, has produced a nuanced study, sensitive to the wider religous context in which Franklin lived his life, and profoundly learned too in the cultural and intellectual developments of the Atlantic enlightenment. By meticuously locating Franklin within this larger context, he has written a work which sheds insight both into Franklin himself, as well as the larger society in which he lived. To do this in 151 pages of lucid and economical prose is quite a worthy achievement.

Walters argues that Franklin's religious views developed in tension between two ultimately irreconciliable religious traditions. On the one hand was the Calvinism of his native Boston, the faith of his father, with its sophisticated Augustinian piety. On the other hand was the "New Learning" which captivated so many polite and cultivated men and women on both sides of the Atlantic, the faith of men like Isaac Newton or John Locke, with its concomitant liberal Christian emphasis on the capacity of human reason to arrive at religous truth. As a young man, Franklin wavered, adhering first to the one and then the other.

As a mature adult, however, Franklin came to accept the ambiguity of his earlier commitments. "Recognizing that a Newtonian-inspired deism was spiritually impoverished, but unable either rationally or emotionally to return to the orthodoxy of his boyhood, he was at loose ends for a few years," Walters argues. But in 1728 Franklin found a way to reconcile the contradiction. "The solution he arrived at--his doctrine of theistic perspectivism--enabled him to escape from the mechanistically sterile cosmos into which he had drifted without falling back into a Calvinist worldview whose central tenets he found unacceptable." (p. 12)

As Walters explains, Franklin's perspectivism stemmed from a belief in an inaccessible God, which humans symbolically represent to themselves in order to establish an emotional and intellectual relationshop with the divine. This means that while God *is*, there are various human representations of God as well. "These anthropomorphized conceptions of the divine," Walters writes, "serve as the foci for personal adoration as well as sectarian theologizing." (p. 10) The result, then, is a commitment to religious toleration because human representions of the divine are culturally and historically bounded. Human religous traditions, to the extent that they share the same purposes, contain some worth.

In arguing for this understanding of religion--an understanding which arises from the tension between the two religious traditions within which Franklin was working--Walters can explain Franklin's religous statements with a cogency missing from earlier accounts. While Walter's statement of Franklin's perspectivism may sound superficially anachronistic, that is a misreading of this work. This is a terrific exercise in intellectual and relgious history, and Walter's demonstrates convincingly the historical origins in Franklin's thought of the theology he discusses.

I really like this book, even though I'm not sure I agree with its spin on Franklin's religion. Walters argues that Ben is a "perspectivist"--basically, a proponent of religious fictions that he knows have no objective basis, but which he thinks are necessary for psychological health and social stability. The case is well presented and nicely written. (Would that all historians wrote as well!) But I can't help thinking that Franklin comes out more of a twentieth-century existentialist than he is--complete with religious angst and identity crisis. What the heck, though. This is one good book. My guess is that it's going to make a lot of people mad--especially those good American Christians who want to think that all the "Founding Fathers" of the USA were also Christians. As Walters demonstrates, it just ain't so.

This is the best Franklin half dollar book I have seen. It starts out with a history of the series. Then it shows 5 tables showing which dates are the rarest. Next it gives detail on every date and mintmark, proof and mint. It gives the value for toned and untoned coins. It also gives historical price comparism and a census of how many have been graded by PCGS and NGC. The only bad thing about the book is it isn't that updated. The prices are from a couple years ago and then censuses are from late 1997. All together this will help you make a great profit off the half dollars you buy. DON"T WAIT, BUY IT!!!

Excellent book for collectors of Franklin Half Dollars. Lots of GOOD information. A MUST HAVE for collectors.

Info virtually unavailable elsewhere

The book, Flight into Danger,is the perfect book for those who love adventure stories and have extra time on their hands... because you won't be able to stop reading it!

I really liked this book because you really did not know what was going to happen next. The beginning was a bit slow but the end was very fast moving. The beginning was as fast as a bullet, the middle was as fast as sound and the end was fast as the speed of light. I especially liked the part when they were flying the jets and chasing the Max-1.
H. Gregory Moore IV.

Not many people realize that this is the story that the popular comedy classic film Airplane! parodied. So if you loved Airplane! you should read the original story.

This is a pretty good book, which can leave you squirming in your seat with excitment, though some times it (the plot), is rather slow. Overall it is a good book and I would recomend it to any fan.

If you love soccer this book is for you!This book really teaches you the game and tells you to think about playing as a team and not about winning so much.You've got to read this book!

Hey. Do you like Soccer? Y/N. Hey. Do you like books? Y/N. If you answer yes to both of these questions, you'll like this book. It's filled with action on and off the soccer field. What I really like is that it just if not more exciting with off-the-field, the people part then on the field. It was a wonderful book. If you enjoy soccer, then It's for you.