The metamorphosis from Al Dunlap to Gandhi requires the hero to visit Fantasy-World, not in his human body but as a dog which turns out to be a great advantage in his mission to lead the good boys to a victory against the bad guys, headed by the devil who prefers to impersonate Marilyn Monroe or Elvis (even Adolf Hitler!) instead of taking care of his troops. How original.

It takes regular bottom-line managers not more than a common heart attack to learn that money/power isn't everything. It seems to me that this book is written for "the rest of us" who always yearn for a confirmation that being poor has its charm.

Bad story, well told.

After reading (and very much enjoying) this author's book "Inhuman Beings", I had to go out and find more of his writings. This story, the prequel to his current "Dog Eat Dog", had me smiling and reading with a sense of glee. The story may be one we've heard before, but never quite told with the hero (anti-hero?) having such a unique perspective. And Jerry Jay Carroll is one of the most entertaining storytellers to come along in the past few years.

"Top Dog" is an excellent example of what great fiction should be: creative, amusing, completely immersive, yet containing the seeds of some very serious ideas. It makes for some wonderful reading, and in the end, is actually quite thought provoking as well. Our hero, a wall-street raider with a razor mind and a weak set of ethics, wakes up to find himself incarnated as a huge shaggy dog. That's bad enough, but he's apparently been relocated to a new planet as well, complete with talking animals and storybook characters. Good news: he's a valued asset in this new home. Bad news: Satan is the one doing the valuing. In short order, our dog friend must learn his way around this magical world, which is enmeshed in a titanic battle between Good and Evil. Now, if only he could determine which would give him the best return on investment. A very intelligent, playful and ultimately serious read. I recommend it to anyone who is looking for something out of the ordinary this summer.

As a traditionalist Catholic and a professional historian, I cannot recommend this book whole heartedly.
This book is a passable Catholic introduction to world history. Maybe I should say, a Catholic tweak on world history. By trying to Catholicize history, the author provides a fresh look but makes no contribution and actually distorts many issues.
There are major advantages to this book. It gives a point of view not normally found in other texts. It covers history in a readable style. It is primarily a survey book.
There are major cons. The author ignores the contributions of major civilizations or glosses oevr them. The author also attributes ideas to time periods where they did not enter into play. Take, for example, the idea of distributism.
I would recommend this book as additional reading but not as the main textbook in schools or hoemschool history programs.

If you, like most people, learned history as written by unChristian or even anti-Catholic people, this book will blow your mind! All history is written with certain assumptions, whether or not they are actually voiced in the text. Mrs. Carroll turns what most of us take for granted as history and turns it upside down--because now it is viewed through the eyes of Catholicism instead of through the eyes of the liberal media. Read it and be proud of your Catholic heritage!

This fast-paced, enjoyable, highly readable and fascinating Catholic world history is being snapped up by Catholic home schooling parents for their high school children. Makes excellent, informative reading for adults too. Covers largely Western world history since the coming of Christ - and all from a Catholic viewpoint. Unabashedly proud of our brilliant Catholic heritage, this work examines all historical developments from the point of the Church and the enhancement or decline of the influence of the Church upon the historical scene. Whereas most secular histories written today give but grudging acknowledgment to the role of the Catholic Church in forming Western (and therefore much of modern) civilization, this book makes the contribution of Christ and His Church the central aspect of ALL history - which indeed it is! In truth the Catholic Church is the elephant in the duck pond of history and Christ the King - Lord of History pays homage to this fact A great book for students, for parents, for history buffs, and for all Catholic adults who want a good overview of world history that shows the tremendous influence of the Catholic Church upon the last 2,000 years!

Also Available: The Workbook for Christ the King, Lord of History!!

As with many other countries, Lonely Planet has a very good guide for Ireland. Every city, town, and village are covered in this book. No matter where we were, we could always find something on the location. The index is wonderfully useful for that purpose. There are also some suggested itineraries. My only criticism is that LP seems to have missed many of the excellent guesthouses in Ireland. I would think this should be LP's speciality, so found this aspect disappointing. Still, I would not leave home without LP, on this trip or any other for that matter. Even if you don't want to go the budget route --something many associate with LP -- you will gain from the descriptions of places, restaurant and pub recommendations, maps, history, and more. And despite its reputation, LP does list high-end hotels, castles, and the like. I haven't found a single excellent guide for Ireland, so I suggest doing some internet research before leaving and taking LP and at least one other guide (I like the Blue Guide series).

Bon voyage!!

I just returned from a three month bike tour of Ireland. I had no tour guide; I brought only myself, my bicycle, clothes (of course), and four guide books on Ireland. The one book that I used over and over again, leaving all others tucked abandoned within my pack, was the Lonely Planet guide. The LP guide has detailed chapters on anything and everthing in Ireland, including phone numbers, prices, hours, city maps, hostels, B&B's, hotels etc... It also includes history and facts so that when you do arrive in Ireland and see a castle or a dolmen or the Burren, you will know the story behind it. I can't say enough good things about this guide. If you are going to travel in Ireland, this book is a must!

The Lonely Planet guide book series is by far the best set of books I have found for travel. Let's Go, Rough Guide, Frommer's, etc do not live up to these books. LP offers a great blend of interesting facts (history, etc) with the travel information that we all really want.

I am a student who spent the summer of 1999 traveling through Europe and spring 2000 in ireland. I did read a number of other books before and durring the trip, and will always buy Lonely Planet as they have impressed me as being the best, hands down. If you want to go on a drunken tour, buy Let's Go and end up in the same run down American hostels and American bars as the rest of the American students, but take my word, you will have enough ability to do that with LP, but you will not be forced to either. LP will help you to actually experience the culture, and take in a more European version of Europe than Let's Go, and still give you the opportunity to party like a rock star when you want - its up to you.

It is the most complete and most versitile book I have found. It will cater to budget and intermediate travelers of all ages and groups. I will buy the same series even when I can afford nice resturants and hotels, because LP tells it all.

The same experience is true for my trip this last spring to Ireland. Lonely Planet Ireland is as good as Western Europe, but more detailed.The Lonely Planet guide book series is by far the best set of books I have found for travel. Let's Go, Rough Guide, Frommer's, etc do not live up to these books. LP offers a great blend of interesting facts (history, etc) with the travel information that we all really want.

I am a student who spent the summer of 1999 traveling through Europe - poor, but free. I did read a number of other books before and durring the trip, and will always buy Lonely Planet as they have impressed me as being the best, hands down. If you want to go on a drunken tour, buy Let's Go and end up in the same run down American hostels and American bars as the rest of the American students, but take my word, you will have enough ability to do that with LP, but you will not be forced to either. LP will help you to actually experience the culture, and take in a more European version of Europe than Let's Go, and still give you the opportunity to party like a rock star when you want - its up to you.

It is the most complete and most versitile book I have found. It will cater to budget and intermediate travelers of all ages and groups. I will buy the same series even when I can afford nice resturants and hotels, because LP tells it all.

Easy to read, well illustrated, reconstructed fossils from protists to sponges to arthropods to fish to reptiles to mammals. It is noted that the original edition of this reference was written in 1958 by Carroll Lane Fenton and Mildred Adams Fenton, with revisions provided in 1996 by Patricia Vickers Rich and Thomas Hewitt Rich.

It gives the reader a solid foundation of paleontology and fossil knowledge on which to build upon. It may not have all of the most recent theories and discoveries because the last revision was in 1996, but it is easy to read and well illustrated. It can be understood by anyone, and contains a wealth of information. It covers the entire 3.5 billion-year history of the fossil record in its 760 pages and is an excellent reference book that I keep returning to time and again.

Much in the way of really good material on fossils including some 1500 pen and ink drawings in this excellent compendium. It also includes highly readable text which others of its ilk seem not to include. Would highly recommend to both the novice and somewhat advanced collector. Has been revised and updated several times since its original 1958 publishing with 1996 being the latest. I equate it to the USA Today of fossil books. Bottom line, an excellent value.

I was hoping to find that the couples, in this book, were alot like my husband and I. Just ordinary people doing something a little different. But these couples seemed to have cornered the market on degrees, phds and compassion (especially w/ children). We are not like the "hippie" "do-gooder" "aura watching" people in this book. I would have liked the author to have found a more diverse group especially in age and income.
We have dogs and cats (our children)and I would have liked to find some animal lovers in this bunch. Where were all the down-to-earth, average people? It was sad to find that these people are not like us after all. Maybe I should just have kids... nah there is that whole diaper thing.

If you want to get a candid look at couples who are living happily ever after without children, you won't be disappointed. I have to disagree with one of the reviewers who criticized the author's lack of analysis. She gives detailed explanations of the couples and her research in the first chapter. This is not a dense or academically oriented book--It is a presentation of real talk from real people, and the couples' commentary provide the comparisons and contrasts themselves. It is refreshing to read a book that gives the information from the horse's mouth, rather than one step removed by an author who writes 300 pages to make a few main points. In this book, we get to know insightful couples from a wide array of backgrounds and lifestyles. We also get an even closer sense of them through some great photos. It was an informative and reassuring read; I left feeling very clear about not having to feel guilty or strange for not wanting to be a parent.

The author interviews couples from around the country about their choice not to have kids, and she does an excellent job of asking these couples insightful, probing questions about their choice. Each interview has its own chapter, and each interview follows a similar format, with similar questions. I liked that because I could compare the various stories of the couples. What's interesting is that while there are some commonalities, the reasons the people being interviewed gave for not having children vary widely.

The author writes a little intro for each couple, describing the setting and what each person does for a living. The people talk about their histories and how they met. So even though this book is nonfiction, I like the sort of character development that comes out. Plus, with all of the well-done pictures, you can easily follow their stories, and you aren't left wondering what people who choose not to have kids *really* look like.

I would definitely recommend this book. I think it quells some myths about the types of people that choose not to have children. It's a must-read, especially for those still deciding whether to have children, for people interested in the choices of others, and for those who know someone that has made the choice. I haven't seen any other books like it, but I sure hope more follow, at least if they're as well done as this one.

The book is not as great as I expected it to be. If you are looking to fight a ticket then I recommend buying "Beating the Radar Rap, Volume 2" "Traffic Ticket Defense," and "A Speeders Guide to Avoiding Tickets." THOSE are THE best books written for defeating a ticket. THIS book is just a general overview of how traffic tickets are about raising money--I already knew that. However, the book does mention an organization that will PAY YOUR TICKET FOR YOU if you lose in court and you are a member. But the other books I listed are better at helping you actually fight your ticket in court and WIN!

I don't care what anybody else says. I'm only 18 for those of you who care. This book does wonders. I'm in the process of my ticket and court case. My mom has got out of about 5 speeding tickets and this is her book that I am reading. It has also helped about 7 of my friends get out of their tickets. there is well over 100 ways to get out of speeding tickets. It's worth your 10-15 dollars to pay for this book. Heck they should make this a noval. There is also help for drinking and driving, red lights, parking tickets, repair tickets, and moving violations. I also have a friends dad that is a judge and he says that you can plea "State of Judustification"(I think that is how you pronounce it), which means that you plea gulty and pay the fine, but it will not go on you record unless you get another ticket or violation within 6-12 months. He also thinks that when you schedule you court date you can see what the officers work schedule, and do a little back round check of you offense you committed. Thank you for you time and good luck with your tickets and violations.

I followed the guidelines detailed in this book for fighting my speeding ticket. I reduced my fine as well as the citation and therefore also the points on license. I started with a 53mph in a 25mph zone resulting in a $160 fine and 3 points in my license. I used this book to prepare for court and reduced my fine to $55 and the citation to 0 points! This book works by pointing out flaws in the system. This book has more than paid for itself, and I've lent it to many other friends as well. BUY THIS BOOK!

I enjoy Jonathan Carroll's novels more than his short stories but this is a good collection. If you haven't read him before this will get you interested in pursuing his other works. The title story is particularly haunting. In his books he writes of death and angels and meeting the devil at a coffee shop in Vienna. His works often start out about ordinary people who slowly find themselves in creepy situations, I usually start getting chills up my spine after 50 pages or so when I realize somthing is going wrong for this poor person. Another interesting thing he does is bring back characters from earlier novels. Panic Hand is highly recommended.

If you are a Carroll fan, there is this void between his last book and next that can be filled by reading the Panic Hand. If you are not yet a fan, time's a wasting, get thee to a Carroll book! The stories in here are little vignettes of Carroll's creative mind: there are stories here that can be novels, movies, dreams and poetry. This book is a good text for the beginning writer--the plots and prose are well-crafted. Some of he stories--Sadness in Detail, being one--are best left as it is in the book-- a short story: what if God is forgetting the details? This and many of the stories question the reader and sometimes invite a brief journey into strange realms. I have stopped trying to place Carroll into a genre; I love his stories and that is enough.

I found "The Panic Hand" to be one of the most original collection of stories I've read in some time. Jonathan Carroll's imagination both stuns and fascinates. At times, I dreaded knowing how a story would end, but I could never put the book down without finishing that story. My senses were chilled and delighted. Mr. Carroll is similar to Stephen King and Rupert Thomson in his use of imagery and horror. I eagerly await more of Mr. Carroll's work

Torricelli's compilation of what he considers to be the greatest speeches of the twentieth century is an impressive collection of famous oratory. No doubt, some of the speeches he chose to include rank as some of the finest and most influential in world history.

That having been said, I get the impression that Torricelli sat down with a textbook of 20th century American history (surely a "revisionist" one at that), picking and choosing speeches that reflected the liberal/progressive/feminist/environmentalist side of pretty much every argument that arose.

If a reader were to base his understanding of the American century solely on Torricelli's choice of important events and speeches, one would think the liberal viewpoint dominated this period, with conservatives providing knee-jerk, reactionary rants to an agenda framed and implemented by the Left with some exceptions. In reality, particularly during the latter half of this century, nothing could be further from the truth.

What particularly disappointed me was the editors' need to give commentary before and after many of the speeches, as if this book would be someone's first jaunt into American history. These editorials, which further display the editors' blatant political bias, add nothing to the book at all - in fact they take away from it.

As with so many things, the truth about this book is somewhere in between the Kirkus Review's denunciation of its liberal bias and the co-editor's apologia on behalf of its utter objectivity.

The chosen speeches, in total, reveal an inclination toward the inclusion of the progressive and liberal viewpoint. That is not to be argued, if you have merely even skimmed the table of contents. Equally true is that certain speeches that are in line with this inclination appear to have been included with wide latitude given as to their literary and historical merit. Would, indeed, a speech given by Hilary Rodham as a college student have attracted the slightest notice without the context of recent political history? I must say no.

That said--and a serious shortcoming it is--the book does, in sum, collect a large number of powerfully written and spoken words that constitute a brief sketch of many of the "big issues" of the century.

Read it with a critical eye, but read it.

Whether you are a political liberal, conservative, right-wing, left-wing, or any "wing" for that matter, this is a good book. It is a collection of speeches that were actually presented (and some that were revamped and thus not presented). All the speeches, however, are from this century. Thus, the book should be read for what it is, (and not as a political statement by the editors, which may not be the case) a collection of actual speeches. The speeches include Theodore Roosevelt condemnation speech of the "Muckrakers," the Rev. Dr. Donald Sage Mackey's speech titled, "Does God Care?" presented after the San Francisco earthquake that practically destroyed most of the city in the early 1900's, speeches from Mark Twain, anarchist Emma Goldman, car maker Henry Ford, President Woodrow Wilson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, George Patton, etc. The speeches go on and on for about 450 pages. The book is very informative and presents a history of words, so to speak. These are the famous words that have been herald throughout the 20th century. The book cajoles your senses, tweaks your intellect, and challenges your positions. It has been very fascinating reading for me and I highly recommend the book, esp. for those who love history.

I just finished this book. I couldn't put it down. It's been a long time since I've read a book that brings the history of an era so much alive as Susan Carrol did in this one. I would love to read a sequel to this book. Jenny's character was so well established in this story, that you can't help but wonder what kind of woman she would grow up to be. She was already so much like her father. A story about a woman with the same strength, convictions, and disposition that Jaufre had would make for a very exciting story.

Very rarely do I find a book portraying this time period, yet alone doing a good job with it. Most writers concentrate on The Norman invasion and some "pet" of William the Conquerer. Ms. Carroll's book, Winterbourne, deals with a later period, that of King John and the Magna Carter. Such an important part of Western history and politic thought. Seeing our hero struggle with the dilemma of following one's pledge or one's sense of "justice" is interesting. I felt that the story was a bit harsh, but then, so was the time period which this was written about...it gave the plot a sense of realism.

I have but 2 criticisms. First, the time jumped so quickly I didn't get the correct feeling of elapsed time. Jaufry was gone for such long perids of time (which warriors of that time period would have been required to do)yet becuase months passed from the end of one chapter to the beginning of another, I didn't get the feeling of separation. Another example is when our hero saves or heroine, we know they are going to get married, but the next chapter begins with the birth of their first child. No passage of time, no stories of dealings of them spending time together trying to build a life. Second, I didn't like the way in which Ronald's story (Jaufry's bastard son) ended (or didn't end). It seemed lame, and I kept wishing to see him "pop up" again.

Thus saying, all in all I felt this was a wonderful story and would reccommend it to anyone.

I love to read a really good book with a lot of adventure and this had it. The characters were great. Melyssan, the heroine, was a little teary eyed but that is how I would have felt if haveing to face a lot of what she had to go through. Jaufre, the hero, made me feel as if I knew him personally with all the depth on his feelings towards a lot of situations on his beliefs. He was a little crude but when in depth on how he really felt it was understandable. Genevieve, the daughter, was the best character of all. I rarely find a book that shows that much attention towards the daughter of the hero and heroine and Susan Carroll had me thinking and relateing to my daughter as well a lot as if it was my own child. After reading "The Bride Finder" I wasn't so sure if any of her other books would be as execellent but this was definitely a book I would read again.

First of all, Katie Roiphe is a very talented writer; this book had no slow spots and was easy & entertaining reading. I've read her previous two books and this one is true to her early excellent form while being in a quite new direction.

I rarely read fiction so I wouldn't know how it stacks up against other books in the "novel" category, but I thought the setting and characters were well-drawn, especially the former.

My main question after reading the book is about whether or not fictional writing using actual historical characters should really be called a novel. After all, these are not new (i.e., novel) characters. Roiphe is clearly launching, under the cover of the "fiction" heading, what she thinks is plausible speculation about the mysterious relationship between Alice and Lewis Carroll. The story as she writes it does come across as being plausible in most regards, not that I think she has the crucial plot twist (which I won't give away) correct.

I'd have liked for the Author's Note which appeared at the end to have been at the beginning -- I was constantly confused throughout the book about whether or not the correspondence and the excerpts from Carroll's diary were real or made up. Perhaps that was intentional. It was easy enough to set the conundrum aside, and the effect was definitely to cause me to question what's real and what's not, which seemed appropriate given the subject matter.

'Still She Haunts Me' is one of the most beautiful books that I have read in the past year. Fiction or non-fiction, it doesn't really matter. What is written on these pages is not a minute by minute account of Charles Dodgson's life, but instead, a clever telling of the story of Alice Liddell and 'Lewis Carroll' and of what befalls the pair. Other books on Dodgson's life that I have read have left me bored, but this book held my intrest until the last. Anyone claiming that this is an uninteresting book could never be a true Carroll fan. Katie Roiphe makes you feel as though Dodgson is a person that you could know. He's the shy professor at your college or the witty man that you see at the library. This book is a must-read for all Carroll fans.

Katie Roiphe's novel of the relationship between Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) and Alice Liddell (for whom he wrote Alice's adventures in Wonderland and Through the looking-glass) is one of the most beautifully-written books I've read in some time. The questions surrounding the relationship are long-standing - was Dodgson's obsession with Alice grounded in innocence or in lust (even if repressed)? How did Alice herself view the relationship, both as it was happening and, as she grew older, in retrospect? There is mention of a reference to Dodgson by Alice, written for a magazine when she was in her 80s, that is warm and sentimental - but even in this reference, she mentions the fact that all of the letters Dodgson wrote to her when she was a child were destroyed by her mother. This novel might not answer these questions completely and thoroughly - how, indeed, could it do that, given the passage of time and the destruction of crucial 'evidence' - but it seems that Roiphe has done her very extensive research with accuracy in mind, and the results make for an extremely readable, compelling and moving story.

Like any relationship that involves even a hint of the possibility of child abuse or pedophilia, there are undercurrents and subtleties swimming just beneath the surface of the more obvious events and emotions. The story of Dodgson and Alice raises questions as questions are answered. The mathematics lecturer met Alice and her family (her father was his dean at Oxford) when the girl was only four years old, and remained close to the Liddells until Alice was eleven, when events caused the tensions which had been simmering for seven years to boil over. There was very obviously some degree of discomfort on the part of Alice - despite her honest affection for Dodgson and his attentions - that was harder and harder for her to contain as she approached adolescence. As she became less and less of a little girl and more of a young woman, she found it difficult not only to reconcile her feelings for and about Dodgson, but to come to grips with the natural changes occurring within her own psyche and body - a transition that's difficult at best, challenging each of us as a rite of passage into adulthood.

Like another reviewer, I had some serious and deep-rooted questions about Alice's mother's ongoing reaction to Dodgson's attentiveness to her middle daughter. She expresses misgivings about it from the beginning, mostly based on 'gut' feelings and motherly instinct. Why in the world would a mother experiencing any misgivings about another adult spending time with one of her children not look into the matter more thoroughly and take action to prevent lasting emotional damage to her child? The answer to this perhaps lies in the age in which the events took place. While pedophilia undoubtedly occurred then as it does now, I'm sure it wasn't given the media attention it receives today, especially considering what was considered 'discussable' in Victorian England - and that's a shame, in hindsight, because we know today that open discussion of this (and other) atrocities in our society can help to prevent their occurrence as well as aid in the healing of those who have been victimized.

In the end, whether Dodgson's obsession was innocent or lustful, what really matters is its effect on the subject - a young girl flattered by the attentions and affections of an adult, led into a relationship that becomes 'curiouser and curiouser', more and more confusing, as it progresses. There are countless cases of children being emotionally scarred for life that began with 'all good intentions'. The novel doesn't paint Dodgson as a monster at all - but the damage done to this little girl (and to numberless others before and since), the results of his actions, is the thing by which he should be judged, not his intentions.

While Roiphe's wonderful novel might not address these questions directly, it certainly makes their presence in the overall scheme of the story known - they are there, just below the surface, moving the characters and story just as if they were characters themselves. This skillful weaving of surface and subliminal plot and action is one of the things that make this such a great piece of writing.