Mr. Owen guides you through the reference process in "Success At The Enquiry Desk," with a touch of lighthearted candor that makes the learning process enjoyable. Chapters on topics including where to find reference answers, how to present the answer as well as what to do if you can not find an answer compliment this wonderful book. Although the book's examples are geared towards British resources, Mr. Owen presents them so that basic reference searching strategies are the primary focus. He also includes a bibliography of key reference sources. This book was fun to read and included humorous yet, realistic examples that illustrated reference search strategies. I think this book would be a good resource for library students and the beginning reference librarian.

TO MOM, WITH LOVE is a heartwarming and romantic collection of three novellas dedicated to single mothers. The Alonzo Clark Morning Show has decided to sponsor a special Mother's Day contest, in which three special single moms will win a makeover, shopping spree and blind date. Children are asked to write letters about their mother and why they deserve to win the contest and the winners are selected on the basis of the letters. Each of the three stories follows this same general theme as authors Deirdre Savoy, Jacquelin Thomas, and Karen White-Owens add their own unique spin on the story line. The three novellas are interesting and take the same general story line in three totally different directions. Check out this creative tribute for a pleasant and enjoyable read.

Of the three stories, I thought White-Owens' story "A Mother for Scott" was the most creative because of its initial focus on the relationship between a father and son. As the story progresses the author even incorporates a little supernatural flair, which is believable and fun. Thomas' story, "The Price of a Mother's Love," reminds readers that it is never too late for true love and it will touch your heart and bring tears to your eyes. It tells of a character named Kree, who gave up her marriage to raise her younger siblings after the tragic death of their parents. "Fairy Godfather," the story by Deirdre Savoy, shows how sometimes falling in love is just meant to be. When Alonzo Clark participates in his own contest, he is paired up with a woman that works in the same building, fate takes over and each of their plans for the date, and, indeed, their respective futures, are dramatically changed.

Reviewed by Stacey Seay
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

The author relies on Austin's newspaper (no longer in print) called the Reese River Reveille to describe what every day life in Austin was like, from its founding in the 1860s to about the 1950s. Most of the book focuses on the 1860s, when Austin was founded as a mining town. The book then discusses its growth and development, the struggles of its inhabitants in an isolated location, and the hopes for Austin's own "place in the sun" as a premier western town.

The book is easy to read and very enjoyable. Having spent about a month in Austin this summer, I was pleasantly surprised to find this book in my college's library. Recommended for anyone interested in frontier history.

This book follows an English woman and her husband's year with a Mexican Circus. She talks about the people, the places, and the tragedies with such great love and fondness. It is a great read, and although I felt it was not always well written and prone to the side of sentimentality that occasionally distracts what is of interest to a reader. I also wished she paid more attention to the minor characters in the book, because each and every one of them seemed to have a story to tell, in fact those minor stories seemed to have more changes, tragedies and secrets to reveal. Instead Hickman concentrated on the powerful, the stars, and the family behind the circus.

Criticisms aside it was a wonderful travelogue and fulfilled a lot of my childhood fantasy of running away with the circus. The characters in the book are real, with their flaws and their good sides exposed. The details of how the circus is put together, the hopes and dreams of the people, the feeling of performance are all encompassed. The book does give you a sense of the great dramas, loves, and loyalties that involve a moving, roaming group of people. I know I used a lot of grand words to describe the book, but it is because circuses are a grand endeavor.

As a pest control educator, I have LOTS of pest control reference books. "Truman's Scientific Guide" is my most used book. While others may have some higher levels of specificity at times, Truman's is the best overall!

I bought this book after reading about it in Motor Sport. As someone who has spent nearly 25 years in the automobile business I found it is wonderfull, insightfull look at how the automobile business used to be, for better or for worse!

If you an Anglophile, enjoy cars, or in the car business than I strongly suggest this!

It is ironic that the diverse careers of Albert Jennings Fountain and Albert Bacon Fall emerged from the frontier town of Mesilla, New Mexico. Both men rose to fame as consumate lawyers and held their own in the rough and tumble world of politics of the time. They also came to tragic ends. Fountain disappeared at the age of 58, along with his young son, Henry, and presumed murdered in the White Sands, while Fall lived to the age of 83, disgraced and dishonored from the Teapot Dome Scandal, when he served in the Warren Harding administration as Secretary of the Interior. Gordon Owen, professor emeritus at New Mexico State University, carefully analyzes the lives of these two stalwarts in Territorial New Mexico. He also chronicles the lives of these two men in such a way that the work is in actuality two novels in one. When Fountain successfully prosecuted a number of cases involving cattle rustling, it is speculated that this may have led to the disappearance of his son and himself in early 1896. Fall, who came to the defense of Oliver Lee and several friends when they were implicated in the alleged murders, was part of one of the most riveting trials ever in western history. Held in Hillsboro, New Mexico, the trial was tatamount to a carnival atmosphere. After all was said and done, the defendants were judgted not guilty, leaving the fate of the Fountains to the mercy of legends and latter-day speculators. Although the book bogs down with a lot of minute detail initially and makes one wonder why both men were written about, the answer to that question is that they were excellent examples of the American spirit which pushed our national boundaries and our democratic society ever westward, while providing leadership and vision for the communities needed to survive and prosper.

Jenell Paris and Margot Eyring have prepared a most useful tool for those involved in missional efforts, whether leader or participant. Urban Disciples is a workbook for persons or teams participating in, or planning on engaging in, urban mission experiences. The content is adaptable for various kinds of missions groups, including, as listed by the authors, "church Bible study groups, college ministry groups, small groups, cell groups, urban plunge programs, short-term mission projects, urban ministry courses at seminaries and colleges, and people in the first years of long-term ministry."

The book consists of twenty-four lessons or sessions in five units. The units cover the themes: Beginnings, Learning and Ministering in the City, Growing in Faith, Building Community Together, Endings. There is no substantive content in either the units or the lessons that would help the reader shape a theology of missions, or to discover a biblical basis for missions. Rather, the book provides a more experiential approach to engaging in theological reflection on the experience of urban mission experiences. Each lesson or session moves the reader from scripture to life application with an additional emphasis on a prayer activity. A "Digging Deeper" section gives readers and leaders ideas for additional learning activities. Several of the learning activities are quite creative and imaginative and provide for excellent ways to engage missions participants to learn meaningful lessons through activities, questions, dialogue and interaction with their mission environment. An underlying assumption in the book is that to engage in missions means that one will not so much change the mission field and others, but that one will be changed through the experience. The structure of the learning experiences goes a long way to ensure that that insight is not lost on the participants.

The book includes seven appendices, some potentially more helpful than others. The reviewer found "Appendix B: Important Contacts", for example, to be superfluous (one cannot imagine that someone away from home for an extended period of time would not take along a Daytimer or Palm Pilot with a list of "important contacts"). By contrast the appendices on "Learning from Important People and Places," "Visiting a New Church," and "Personal and Corporate Spiritual Disciplines," are succinct but substantive.

Urban Disciples is, overall, and excellent and much-needed resource for churches and missioner-sending agencies or groups. It provides a model for what is most lacking in the missions engagement experience: a structured and intentional approach to theological reflection on the meaning of the missions engagement experience.

This book was required reading for my History 302 class this term, and yet it still managed to be an interesting read, something that is shocking for college material.

It tells the story of a parson and squire in 19th century England who alone would be totally uniteresting in the grand scheme of history, but together they engaged in a battle that was well documented in their diaries, and which gives a good example of the way life was in Victorian England.

All in all, this was a very good read and a must for any English history buff.

I'm not sure if this book is worthy of 4 stars but when I was 8 years-old it was my favorite book and the first chapter book I ever read. It is simply hilarious and I remember reading it through about 4 times when I was in 2nd grade. It wasn't easy because I am dyslexic and was very severally so at the time but this book was made me decide to have some the stick-to-itness that I needed for learning to read.