I reviewed baseball books for "Baseball Hobby News" for ten years. During that time I read countless books about the minors, both teams and leagues. These books fell into two categories. Some were meticulously researched and written with an almost scholarly sense of detail and professional journalism. Others were not.

"Mud Hen Memories" falls into the category of "not." Giving only six pages to the history of baseball in Toledo from 1883 to 1955, it focuses on the Hens since their return in 1965 as a Yankee AAA team and gives year-by-year coverage, featuring team photos and highlights, down through 2000. It outlines the performance of the team with an utterly dismal record, a playing facility called "The Dump," and a fan base both wafer thin and dubiously devoted.

Never once is there a question as to why this is true, and has been for so long. Why did the general managers keep their jobs for so long, given their terrible record, both in wins and attendance? Why was their field, a dreary former racetrack at the county fairgrounds, tolerated for so long?
Why did changing major league affiliations several times, never, ever, improve things? Why do the Tigers, their parent club since 1987, have such a propensity for drafting players who never fulfill their supposed potential? What role or blame do the Hens have in failing to develop the talent they are given, such as it is?

Instead the book (a soft cover, large format presentation, similar in size and weight to one of Bill James' old yearly abstracts) gives endless game details that would almost certainly be forgotten on merit, plus player responses to what they remember about their Toledo playing days. These include such things as Jim Lindeman's, "Nothing against the Hens, but I did not enjoy my stay in Toledo."

Why then, the five star rating? Because this book perfectly captures the mind and spirit of Toledo, my hometown. Though I have not lived there since I left for college in 1966, I still return nearly every summer, and a Mud Hen game is often included. Toledo is a place that not merely tolerates the sub-mediocre, but often manages to affirm and even revel in it. As such the Mud Hens are at least as representative of Toledo as the relentless-need-to-win Yankees are of New York or the endlessly guilty Red Sox are of Boston.

There is something cosmically appropriate about fans like Mr. O'Brien, who attends every home game and makes cookies for the players. I am comforted knowing that, when Phil Hiatt set a Hen record with 42 homers in1996 and was totally ignored by every major league club (his 26 errors and 180 strikeouts being why), Mr. O'Brien was there with cookies, adulation and a desire for Hiatts' autograph.

The book is broken up into four interconnected short stories. They revolve around a girl (Myrna) and her active imagination. Throughout Myrna performs various heroic acts, ranging from fighting forest fires to stopping a band of cat theives. All the stories would make excellent bedtiem stories. The book has a particularly happy ending.

These paintings are in the same style as the covers of Father Elijah and the related "Children of the Last Days" series (3 of 5 written so far). Taken as a whole, or separately, the books are a deeply moving and convincing meditation on how very close to the precipice modern society has brought us. Be warned, these books will change the way you look at every aspect of your life.

I admit that I purchased my original first edition of this book solely for the photographs of Tahiti and the nearby island of Moorea. The prose was of secondary interest to me.

However, upon reading the first chapter of this Irish-American adventurer's memoirs, I became hooked on the fascinating descriptions of the places and the people, whose life style was already, in 1921, being replaced by imported modernity.

The attitudes are, of course, dated and ethnocentric, but the author's love for the lands and the life of the South Seas becomes evident, as the many characters (both native and expatriate European) virtually come to life in this charming first-hand account of life in Tahiti.

This is a wonderful volume to dip into a little bit at a time, and some parts will read more easily to a 21st century arm-chair adventurer than others. But it left me with an intention to seek out the other two South Seas books by the same author, "White Shadows In The South Seas" and "Atolls In The Sun".

If you like travel memoirs of exotic, unspoiled places, you'll enjoy this book immensely, as I did.

Frank Dalton Embreeville, PA

This is an excellent text on the basic neuosciences and the clinical correlations in pharmacological understanding of the psychiatric disorders.The book raises the fundamental issue of diagnosis which is currently still an uphill task even for an experienced clinician because of the inherent limitations in the understanding of the factors leading on to the current presentation of the disorder.The neuroscientific understanding of the various conditions and drugs used and developed thereof is the hallmark of this standard text. It is essential for any clinician who wants to excel in the practice of pharmacological treatment of psychiatric disorders.

This book had me sitting on my edge of my seat wanting to fast-forward the pages because it makes you have all these different feelings. In the book Frances is married but sees her high school sweetheart at the store and she becomes obsessed with the emotions she has and had for him. Its a gripping thriller because during the story murders have been happening and you wonder who could be the killer. There is a million facts why each person in the book could be the killer, and it makes you sit on the edge of your seat. Once I read this book, I was absolutely excited to pick up and read another book by this author. This book make me scared of what was around the corner yet it has some of those touching family moments. I would said this is a must have for anyone, young or old!

this is the best childrens book I have ever read. I have five children and get the book from the library every time it is in stock. I highly reccomend this to every parent to read to their child.

Bookkeepers and accounting managers taking my Beginning Peachtree course frequently ask for resources for further study. Hedtke's PCAWin Made Easy is at the top of my list. I am most impressed by the clear organization and flow of the book, making it well-suited as both reference and self-paced tutorial (usually a tricky balance in computer books, but Hedtke pulls it off!)

PCAWin Made Easy is my "desert island" Peachtree book ;-)

I am the author of this phonics book and it will help your child learn to read! This is a practitioner or parent oriented book which teaches children the sounds of the English language and helps them understand there is a relationship between the letter and the sound(s) it makes. There is a lesson plan for each sound and each plan includes a motivating way to introduce the sound, a hidden picture activity which children love (they find hidden items with the same sound as the lesson plan such as /b/ they find a ball, bat, etc in the hidden picture), a reinforcement activity or game, and a section on working with words. If you are a teacher, you can't go wrong with this book. Every activity has been field tested with teachers and students and they love it! The book is for grades K-3 regular education or K-5 special education.

Can I order with this overnight and tomorrow? Please let me know