Tim has written well about letting circumstances rule our lives. With personal incidents from his own family life and humor he shows us how we can have a better relationship with ourselves and those around us. Recommend for anybody but especially those who sometimes feel like they have no control over their own life.

I've suffered a lifetime of insecurity and a lack of self-esteem. Scared to death about taking any positive steps in my career and personal life. Mr. Riley's book has given me hope and a new perspective on clearing out my clutter. I keep his book at my bedside and reread a chapter every night. I find my spirits have been lifted, a weight off my shoulders and I'm having fun. I can't wait to get started every day. Thank you, Mr. Riley for making a difference in my life.

Larry Wilde Carmel, CA

"I'm Lettin' Go... But I Ain't Givin' Up!" brings humor and delight to the process of how we view ourselves and others in relationships. The book is an easy read reminder that we all have access to simple resources for guidance. As a Hypnotherapist, I would recommend this book to clients who have need of positive reinforcement for similiar issues. J. Simonian, C.Ht., Idaho

Jacquie D'Alessandro is an enchanting new author, one to watch! Summers and D'Alessandro both offer lively, amusing tales. A good beach read.

I found Naked in New England by Jacquie D'Alessandro a breath of fresh air! Very funny throughout the story. Architect Ryan Monroe has just landed a big project that could sky rocket his career. He needs quiet and seclusion to work on the plans for this project so he borrows his friends vacation cabin while his friend, Dave, is on his honeymoon. Unfortunately, Dave's bride Carmen, has hired an interior decorator to redecorate the cabin as a surprise wedding gift for Dave. The interior decorator, Lynne Waterford, has already moved into the cabin when Ryan arrives. Ryan and Lynne are instantly attracted to each other but both have their careers as a priority and not getting involved! Lynne's friend, Killer, is a riotously funny character. All in all the book is funny and highly recommended to all those who enjoy romantic comedy.

Both books in this DUETS are completely adorable. Funny, innovative and a darned good time. I read them both at one sitting. Don't miss this volume.

This wonderful little book makes a good companion for whichever Paris guidebook you plan to carry. It not only lists many interesting Cafes to visit, but also gives interesting background information on the famous writers and other celebrities who once hung out in them. It gives you an excuse to visit parts of Paris you might not otherwise visit. Great book.

I stumbled across this little gem a few days before my wife finally dragged me to Paris in 1991. Lucky for me! Thanks to this work, we have come to love Paris, especially the Left Bank. Away from the tourist throngs, the reader can people watch and sip for literally hours reflecting upon Hemingway at the Brasserie Lipp, Picasso at the Cafe de Flore, Shirer at the Brasserie Balzar and so much more. It is truly amazing to me that these places still function just as they did 75 years ago and more. I considered myself a well educated and well traveled person, but this small volume has opened up a world that I knew about but never fully appreciated before and has made Paris one of my favorite vacation spots. To heck with the Louvre, this is what Paris is all about!

This is the first book to take to France with you (or to give to a friend who is going). The history is brief, but it goes back two centuries.

I got this because of a friend who said he loved it. Well he was right. I couldnt put it down. Mayer just pulls you in deeper and deeper until you want to know what happens, so you turn every page faster and faster. And let me tell you the end does not disapoint. Pick it up if you can find a copy.

The third novel in the Dave Riley series is suberb. A splendid mixture of a government science project gone wrong, Special Forces operations, the CIA and the army. When genetically enhanced creatures, Synbats, escape from their creators and raise havoc with anyone in their path, Riley's team is assigned to clean up the mess. Terrific plot, great characters, nifty dialog, plenty of explosive action and some really creepy scenes with the creatures lurking in the shadows and sewer tunnels in Chicago. A good blend of action, dialog and comradeship. This would make a great action movie if handled right. Find this series if you enjoy action adventure books with a twist. The books are hard to find in some cases, but they are out there. Check out Mayer's other books, The Gate and The Line (written as Bob McGuire) for more splendid action novels. More Dave Riley.

This is a fast-paced and easy-to-read action thriller with a hint of sci-fi which could well become science fact! Escaped convicts break into a biotechnology lab and unintentionally release two genetically-altered creatures bred to be the ultimate fighting machine. Sounds familiar? Well, this is better than PREDATOR! As the creatures prey on unsuspecting campers, Civil War re-enactors and Special Forces personnel brought in to stop the Synbat(synthetic battle form) creatures, it is up to ongoing hero Dave Riley, a SPECFOR commander, to stop the Synbats. And it seems, they're heading for Chicago . . . This would make a rockin' movie as well!

For years.The fans of Abbott & Costello wanted to find out how their most famous film parody of horror movies"Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein!"came about.A few books have come to light in recent years:"Movie Comedy Teams"by Leonard Maltin,"The Abbott & Costello Book"By Jim Mullholland and:"Abbott & Costello In Hollywood!"by Ron Palumbo & Bob Furnemack.Now..As a companion to These three manuscripts is the paperback edition of the film's script.Film historian Phil Riley has found an early draft of the script that shows us all scenes and dialogue that never appeared in the final release print:"Oh Oh! And Up Pops The Devil","You're not going to leave me with all of this work"."You're not suppose to throw away all of that fat wasite".etc in terms of the film's dialogue.There is one scene that was never used in the film and sadly.It prohibieted Poor Lou from using his improvational skills as a true movie clown.The scene has "Dracula"(Bela Lugosi)using his hyponotic powers to lure poor"Wilber Brown"(Costello)back into the castle for the brain transplaint.Lou keeps trying to run away.But the power of the evil vampire's spell is so strong that he is constantly being pulled back into the castle via the cave entrance.He finds a rock and sits there."Dracula"(Bela) by now is getting madder than hell! And he says to "Wilber"(Lou)"I Said Come Back!"."Wilber Brown"sits on the rock and says"'No! I'm sitting right here and I'm not going back!".Until both Lou and the rock are zipped back into the cave and into the evil clutches of "Dracula"(Bele Lugosi) and "Dr.Sandra Morney"(Lenore Aubert).The book also shows some photos from the film and some wonderful behind the scenes candid pictures from the cast members,the film's director(Charlie Barton),The film's producer(Bob Arthur)and Dialogue Director(Norman Abbott..Bud's newphew)and the members of the Abbott & Costello families.There are also some thoughts about the making of the film from the team's family members and the true story of how this classic parody was conceived and filmed by the book's author:Mr.Riley.For fans of horror movies and for fans of classic comedy movies.This is one book to have in your collection.Bravo Phil! Kevin S.Butler.

This is a great treasure for Abbott and Costello fans as well as Chaney, Lugosi, or Universal fans. The pictures alone are worth the price of the book. The script is still titled "The Brain of Frankenstein" and includes deleted scenes which further add to the story. As someone who has seen the film many times the added info gives new insights as to the characters performances.

Classic horror film stars meet legendery comic duo make for great film and great book. behind the scenes info with rare photographs and insight into the relationships with all protagonist's. Also critic's reviews and posters and billboards from the orginal time of film's release.

This book is adorable! Finally there is a book that teaches children about real facts and information in a delightful setting. The photos of the real animals jump off the page and the illustrations are charming! My youngest will sit and look at the pictures over and over, while my seven year old will read the book and fact boxes and then ask me "Did you know?" questions. I learned a great deal from this book and so did my kids. I would recommend this book to anyone with young children!

I liked seeing the photographs of the tigers. There is a lot of information about other animals, too, and a scientist with antlers.

The combination of adventure and educational material in this book made it a great hit with my daughter and her friends, as well as the moms and teachers. The story follows a boy on an expedition to study the paths of some endangered tigers. We love the photo/drawing combination and the extra tidbits of info on the sidebars. A friend borrowed the book for her 6th grade class, and they loved it, too - I would extend the recommended ages to at least 4-12. (I'd guess it's a 3rd grade reading level). We can't wait for the series to be extended to more adventures of Riley.

This book is absolutely excellent. Covers all aspects of jazz drumming: interdepence, timekeeping, drumset orchestration and soloing. The accompanying CD is very good, and contains several excellent play-along tunes (with and without drums).

I have progressed very quickly by using this book alone! It has been laid out in such a way as to start from the very basics of a simple swing beat and then takes the reader up to the very complex syncopated rhythms. The most important thing to note regarding the book is that it is laid out to advance the student at a VERY quick pace. And since it comes with an audio CD you can 'hear' what is written on the page. There is also five songs that do not have a drum track so the student can play along. For [money] I have at LEAST one year of drum lessons!!! The author not only explains WHAT to play but WHY and also WHEN. The book teaches you not only how to be a good drummer, but also, how to be a good musician. A perfect drum book!!!

The Art of Bop Drumming (with CD)

"The Atlas of the Crusades" is one of my all time favorite books. While it's enormously helpful to the specialist, the book is also a perfect introduction to the Crusades -- visually describing this interesting historical phenomenon from beginning to end. Beyond the route maps which can be found in every atlas of the Middle Ages, this book has everything from birds-eye views of Acre and Constantinople to the layout of Crusader castles, churches, and villages, to a schematic diagram of the Mamluk Chain of Command. You can't go wrong adding this to your library.

Twenty-one historians under the guidance of Jonathan Riley-Smith have provided us with an invaluable resource for the Crusades. This atlas offers 150+ pages of beautiful maps punctuated with painstaking detail -- geographical features, historical dates, battle sites, travel routes, castles & fortresses, monasteries & holy sites, cities & towns -- all set against the backdrop of splendid color plating. The expeditions to the Holy Lands (1095-1291 AD) are charted in great detail, as well as the campaigns in Spain and the Baltic region. This provides for a collective 500-year time period (1000's-1500's AD) of "The Crusades". One's knowledge of medieval Christendom and the Islamic world will be strengthened beyond measure by this handsome tome. It reflects highly specialized research and is a tool for students and professors alike. Definitely worth $40.00

Jonathan Riley-Smith is today's #1 Crusades historian whose works have rivaled even the three-volume classic by Steven Runciman ("History of the Crusades"). Four textual sections in the atlas briefly present Riley-Smith's newer theories which have gained wide acceptance. For instance, it was once fashionable to look back on the Crusades as barbaric wars waged by colonizers relishing the prospect of battle, loot, and glory. But Riley-Smith has demonstrated that Crusaders, on the whole, were not "intolerant fanatics" intent on acquiring economic or material gain. Most of them, in fact, did not look forward to Crusading at all. They dreaded the perils of travel, not to mention the expensive costs involved in embarking on a long journey to Palestine. And there were few rewards to be won in the Holy Lands. Crusaders were motivated by anything but establishing domains and principalities for their own self-aggrandizement. We certainly do not accept the Crusading world-view today, but we are obligated to understand it and describe it as accurately as we can. Riley-Smith has done so, and this atlas stands as a monument to his scholarship of the past three decades.

The maps are wonderful. They are well-researched and provide an overview of the Crusades, along with all the peripheral things going on in the world of the Middle Ages. The text gives a good objective summary of events, which is difficult to find elsewhere in sources on the Crusades. Riley-Smith has chosen his topics well, including aspects of specific cultures of the time. He achieves a vivid picture of the political, economic, and social life of the time in all of the world's hot spots. This perhaps does not give the most comprehensive picture possible, since it does not take into account conflicting primary sources on the Crusades, but Riley-Smith achieves his goal. Readers looking for more information can easily find other sources; the Atlas of the Crusades is an excellent supplement to these and does a good job pulling them together.

Absolutely and wonderfully inspirational!! Linda does an excellent job at explaining how to open the heart to LOVE!

Linda gives the encouragement and information needed to love ANYONE!(especially the hard to love). If everyone would read this book, our world would be a better place to live in!
I can't believe it's out of print, people need to snatch up the remaining copies and pray it goes back into print.

This is one of the few books that has actually changed the way I think, feel and live. It challenged me to love, not in just a feel good way but in a deeper more meaningful, authentic and effective way. People around me are already feeling the difference.And so am I.

Throughout Mexico, one can hear of the legend of the SanPatricios, a battalion of soldiers in the U.S.-Mexico War that wasmade up almost entirely of deserters from the U.S. Army. Predominately Irish and/or Catholic, the San Patricios fought well for the Mexicans -- and they suffered for it significantly when the U.S. finally won the war.

Stevens does an excellent job of telling the story of the battalion, the history behind its foundation, and the punishment its members faced after the war. Adding to the interest of the story is the role that many of those in the U.S. Army during the U.S.-Mexico War went on to play pivotal roles in the U.S. and CSA armies during the Civil War.

A must read for the student of Irish-American and Vietnam history. Goes into detail of the anti-Catholic/anti-emmigrant climate of America in the the 1840's. A story of America's first war of agresssion against another independent nation, shows the beggings of Americas imperialistic wars.A good companion text for istorians of America's involvement in South East Asia,"if we do not learn from history we are cursed to repeat it."

Truly awesome story. Well written and researched. Really made me think. Brings up a lot of repressed issues that are difficult to deal with as an American.