I worked for Hughes during the time of the event described as his "kidnapping." At the time, the entire Staff on Romaine street was in a major uproar, ostensibly because of a "falling out" between Hughes and Noah Detrich. However, the behavior of some members of the staff subsequent to this event have convinced me that a great degree of truth is contained in Gemstone.

This thick new volume on the famous Gemstone Files is complete with additional research and photos. An extremely valuable book that looks into the roles of Howard Hughes, (Aristotle) Onassis, World War II conspiracies and the Kennedy assassinations in the light of a mysterious document known as the "Gemstone File."

An extraordinary analysis and cross-reference of the Gemstone File, which concludes that many of the bizarre Gemstone events might have really happened: Howard Hughes may have been kidnapped by Aristotle Onassis and replaced by a double, while the real Hughes lived his life out as a zucchini on a Greek island! This book digs up so much dirt your mind will never be clean again. Haven't you wondered why Jackie-K became Jackie-O

Lions and tigers an bears? Oh my! Add Munchkins and Winged Monkeys and a Horse of a Different Color to the list. This is Oz Country, and things simply don't get better than this. To celebrate the centennial of the publication of L. Frank Baum's novel (and the 60th anniversary of the classic MGM flick), preeminent Oz historian John Fricke has written a glorious homage of all things fun and fantastical. Not only does the book offer a fascinating chronicle of the Ozian phenomenon, but the illustrations, culled from Willard Carroll's priceless collection of more than 10,000 museum-quality pieces, are breathtaking. Oh Auntie Em, there's no place like home . . . provided you're snuggled up in front a fire with this gem.

With Willard Carroll's Oz collection as a backdrop, John Fricke has cataloged the fabric of Frank Baum's stories of Oz. I am certain that Frank Baum could not have been aware this fabric would become a great tapestry upon which the world could identify what it meant to be human. Oz has permeated our society with its influence. It is found in our languages, our politics, human behavior, and is probably used more often as a simile than any other imagery in our language.

From the opening pages of this book to the last, the book is a compelling journey through Oz. The collection of Mr. Carroll's Oz memorabilia is so large that it is like trying to comprehend the distance between stars or that a few people actually have a billion dollars. This colligation of Oz collectibles somehow unites every civilization, geographic location, and human condition. It is one of the few things that have true universality.

After reading John Fricke's take on Oz, of course, based on Willard Carroll's collection, I am left wondering how history would be different were it not for Frank Baum's Oz?

The pictures are glorious, the layout intelligent and thoughtful-I will never see Oz in quite the same way again. John Fricke's writing is stellar. Willard Carroll's collection ---what can I say, WOW! 100 years of Oz is entertaining, educative and provides a new look at Frank Baum's Oz through the other end of the spyglass. This is a visit to a museum with a very knowledgeable guide through an unforgettable exhibit. Thanks for the tour. I'll be back again.

This book is a must for all collectors.

"100 Years of Oz" is a delight for everyone who has ever fallen in love with "The Wizard of Oz" (which includes just about everyone.) The success of the book lays in John Fricke's capabilities as a writer. His words are consise, thoughtful, and honest. The photographs, likewise, catch the eye like flashes of brilliant light. It is not easy to take one of America's most chershed series of books, its favorite film, and 100 years of mechandising and condense it all into one volume. Thankfully, Mr. Fricke has done that- impeccably. Buy this book today. I highly recommend it to everyone as an example of first class research. Above all, it is a time capsule of memories. Fricke will long be heralded as "Oz"'s best friend. Congratulations to all who made this book such a beautiful addition to my library.

I have not had the opportunity to put any of the recipes to use. But I am a fan of Williams-Sonoma products and own many of his easy to follow and tasty recipes. The book is in good condition and free of foul mildewy smells! Such was not the case with another used book Chuck Williams Thanksgiving and Christmas. The recipes and pictures look attractive but the smell keeps me from using it.

I've made a few recipes ou tof this cookbook and so far my family has loved them all (and some of them are fussy eaters that never like to try anything new). The marinades are so simple to make and from there the meat just needs to sit and marinate before throwing it on the grill - very easy!! At my fourth of July BBQ I was able to very easily assemble three of these recipes in a very short period of time in the morning for an afternoon celebration while still having time to prepare a bunch of other things. So far I've tried: Teriyaki Chicken, Lemon Chicken Breasts, Curried Pork Sate, Scallop and Mushroom Brochettes - all very good!!

This cook book has to be one of the best. I have made several dishes and everyone has been a hit by my family and friends. The recipes are easy to follow and alot of the prep work can be done ahead of time. I definetly would recommend this book to others and I have...enjoy.

I hardly ever buy nonfiction but seeing this at Borders I knew I had to have it. Lewis Carrol is one of the greatest writers of the nineteenth century, surpassing even Tolstoy,Dostoevsky,and Dickens. I have a complete collection of all of his works and enjoy them all(except for the math puzzles, math has never been my strongest point.) If you are a fan of Lewis Carroll then this is the book for you. Gorgous illustrations and photographs, an interesting and informative text, this is a wonderful little book to own. It is also informative if you are interested in Victorian England such as Iam (probably due to my Lewis Carroll fixation) There are also examples of Lewis Carrolls photography and pictures of the Liddle children. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves the world of Alice and who is obsessed with Mr. Dodgson's books.

A small in size book, being about 5 x 6. It is printed on glossy paper with many photographs. It is an exceptional buy for the amount of money tendered. If you read anything by Mr. Carroll you have to have this book too. Mr. Carroll's work is a must for anyone writing anything. The simple truth is his writing means nothing as far as plot, but his style is brilliant.

Is there anyone out there that knows what the name of the writing style used by Mr. Carroll. For instance his characters are telling a story to someone small Mr. Carroll aims his text at a small animal. The small animal answers back in small type. When someone is running and talking, there are long drawn out sentences.

This book provides a well written description of the conditions and environment that led to the writing of the Alice books. The reader is immersed in Victorian culture both verbally and visually. The profusely illustrated book is a joy to read and informative as well. It fills the niche between biography and textual analysis.

Joel Birenbaum, president of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America

People--especially the young--who are headed for the first time to the feast New York provides will appreciate the wit and wisdom of David Carroll, 'one time lad, now a druid sage.' He knows the menu! For those who have already partaken of New York, Carroll's poetry is a feast in itself. Marilou Awiakta

New York: A Feast of Memories weaves a poignant path of poems highlighting the wondrous 20th Century history of the "Big Apple". H. Wm. Card, Jr.

David D. Carroll has captured with sensitivity, insight, and humor the exuberance of a New York of yesterday . E. Blagbrough

This book changed my life in a matter of minutes. I am a 23 year old mother of a 9 month old baby boy that has down syndrome. I have come to realize that my son was an absolute gift. He was meant to be ours and we were meant to be his...this book gave me the extra inspiration that I sometimes need. When I get discouraged, I just read a few pages of this book and I instantly feel refreshed! This is a must have for parents of children with down syndrome-the sooner you read it and listen to the beautiful song, the better!

Please keep in mind that this book is most appropriate for parents of children with Down Syndrome. I had bought it, hoping it was applicable to various disabilities, but with a few exceptions, Down Syndrome was the primary disability, as well as anencephaly.
In any case, a disability is a disability, and this book is perfect to give as a gift to someone who recently discovered that their child is "special". That is always a traumatic discovery, and coping is so difficult. This book will bring many tears of sadness, but when you finish reading it - - you will find that God has indeed blessed you, and that you have plenty of the two most important things you will need: love, and hope. Terrific buy!

To read this book is like sitting around a table of your peers and to finally realize that your feelings of love mixed with grief are not unusual or wrong. What a wonderful way to teach you that your special child was chosen to be yours, because you too are special or why else would God allow you to care for such a special gift with such a sweet spirit. We love our Anna and this book helped us to see what a very special gift she is and how lucky her dad, her twin sister and I are to have her in our lives.

"The Hunting of the Snark" is a brilliant nonsense-poem. Yet Gardner has seen fit to put pretentious, geeky, ...pedantic annotations all over it. Now I like nonsense, but the vulgarly rational "sense" of some of these annotations irritates me. Do we really need to know that the word "BOMB" begins and ends with B (thereby relating it to the Boojum) and that OM is the Hindu name of God??? Do we really need to know of a political cartoon in which Kruschev says "BOO", and does Gardner have to tell us that he was trying to say Boojum??

Annotations should be done in the manner of Gardner's own annotations of Alice in Wonderland. Now those were annotations that made *sense*. Annotations that simply explained out of date concepts, gave relevant details from Carroll's own life, or obscure humour. That's all! That is what annotations should be like.

The pedantic geekery of these annotations remind me of the...games of Star Trek fanatics (or Sherlock Holmes fanatics).

The poem is brilliant, though; and the illustrations were funny, before the annotations over-analysed them.

Lewis Carroll is brilliant in this piece. First of all the poetical music is perfect, absolutely perfect, and yet the words don't mean much. Many of these words are not even to be found in any dictionary. Be it only for the music, this piece is astonishingly good. But the piece has a meaning. I will not enter the numerical value of the numbers used in the poem : 3, 42, 6, 7, 20, 10, 992, 8, and I am inclined to say etc because some are more or less hidden here and there in the lines. Hunting for these numbers is like hunting for the snark, an illusion. But the general meaning of the poem is a great allegory to social and political life. A society, any society gives itself an aim, a target, a purpose and everyone is running after it without even knowing what it is. What is important in society is not what you are running after or striving for, but only the running and the striving. Lewis Carroll is thus extremely modern in this total lack of illusions about society, social life and politics : just wave a flag of any kind, or anything that can be used as a flag and can be waved, in front of the noses of people and they will run after it or run in the direction it indicates. They love roadsigns and social life is a set of roadsigns telling you where to go. Everyone goes there, except of course the roadsigns themselves who never go in the direction they indicate. Lewis Carroll is thus the first post-modern poet of the twenty-first century. He just lived a little bit too early.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

I am a fan of Lewis Carroll, but somehow was unaware of the existence of an edition of "The Hunting of the Snark" with annotations. As someone who tremendously enjoys Martin Gardner's "Annotated Alice," I heartily recommend this book to like-minded readers. Gardner's annotations and introduction set the stage for the reader, putting the composition of the poem in its proper context in Victorian England, and in Lewis Carroll's life. And as with "Annotated Alice" the annotations are fascinating and amusing in their own right. "The Hunting of the Snark" is one of Carroll's lesser-appreciated (or at least lesser-known) works, and this paperback is an excellent introduction.

I noticed some confusion in the Amazon listings for this book, so let me clarify that the edition with Gardner's annotations is the paperback, and for illustrations it contains reproductions of Henry Holiday's original woodcuts from the 1800's. There are only eight pictures, and these are in old-fashioned style which may turn off some modern readers. This edition does not contain the illustrations - listed in the review of the hardcover editions - by Jonathan Dixon, nor the illustrations by Mervyn Peake also listed as available in hardcover from Amazon.

To Snark fans, though, I would unhesitatingly recommend both those editions as well. Dixon's is little-known, but excellent, the most profusely illustrated Snark, with pictures on every page in lush, gorgeously detailed and humorous pen and ink. It may still be available through the website of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America, who published it in a small edition. Peake's drawings are also in beautiful black and white, and capture his own rather dark, quirky "Gormenghast" take on the poem. (A good companion, too, to the recently released editions of "Alice" with Peake's drawings.)

He was one of a kind.

He got in on the ground floor of aviation & rode the elevator all the way up.

He grew into a doctorate in aeronautics; he grew into military administration. He KEPT growing, for nine decades.

He had spunk, integrity, loyalty, vision. The only thing he ever lied about was his height.

Like Nestor, he wanted to share fame with his wife.

Diplomacy was not his strong point, because he was an individualist. His friends were individualists: Patton. His antogonists weren't: Eisenhower. His was a century of individualists. It was a different age, and he was right about it: He never COULD be so lucky again, not nowadays anyway.

[Paperback edition hard to read, as 8-point print disappears into binding; no offset. If you are over forty, read the hardback, if you can.]

Gen. Doolittle is an extrordinary man. This book is filled with several of his exploits from the early days of aviation to modern times. In it he recollects several amusing stories from his career as well as heart-warming stories from his family life. I strongly recommend this book to any aviation enthusiest.

Intelligent, courageous, and honest, Jimmy Doolittle is an excellent example of a true American hero. He proved his worth as a test pilot during the early years of aviation, as commander of the 8th Air Force during World War II, and as chairman of NACA, the predecessor of today's NASA. His view that dishonesty is a form of cowardice and his determination to serve his fellow human beings well into his old age is refreshing in an era of selfishness, half-truths, and outright deceit.

Doolittle's autobiography does a wonderful job of portraying his life. And what a life! If only one could achieve less than half of what Jimmy Doolittle had, he or she would already have a very full and worthwhile life. Let the reader be warned, however, the book is written as only a lifelong engineer could write it; succinct, precise, and relatively technical. Yet among the descriptions of aerodynamics experiments and strategic bombing raids over World War II Germany one also finds heartfelt accounts of his family life. Doolittle reveals that the one thing that has sustained him throughout is the support of his beloved wife, Josephine.

While I would primarily recommend the autobiography of Jimmy Doolittle to aviation and World War II history buffs, I would also recommend it to anyone interested in the life of a real hero of American history whose sacrifices will benefit mankind for years to come. Thanks to remarkable individuals such as Jimmy Doolittle, I'm proud to call myself an American.

War, Human Sacrafice, Courage, and A Fight Against All Odds! This books brings to life the struggle against the evil one in Aztec Mexico with the arrival of the Spanish, just after having defeated the Muslims forces in Europe, under the mission of Mary, Mother of God, to bring Christ to millions onto millions. At the same time so many rebelled against the Church of Christ's founding in Europe, so many found it as their salvation against brutal death in the name of pure evil -- the actions of the Spanish guiding the natives to Christ through Mary. And through her, Juan Diago was able to bring full sight in this amazing story and truly conquer evil in a spiritual war (following the actual war) with the victory in baptism of millions. If I could recommend any book to my friends, this would be one of the first!

I loved this book. Absolutely excellent story telling, and explains perfectly well the historical context of the Blessed Mother's famous appearance in Mexico.

The riveting history of a great man, Hernan Cortes, who with 300 men conquered the demonic empire of 14 million Aztecs who had ritualistic human sacrifices of ripping out live human hearts on top of their pyramid in Mexico City. Naturally he had circumstantial Divine help and great courage. What man destroys his own means of escape (he sank his vessels) and turns to face odds of 46,000 to 1? Then a few years later the miraculous appearance of Our Lady and huge conversions. Some were still carrying on human sacrifices in secret til Our Lady came. Greatest book I've found in years, excellent for young men to read about heroism and faith. Some ladies may be turned off by the barbaric cruelty and cannibalism of the Aztecs, but it gives great perspective as to the evil that had to be conquered. It is also one of my wife's favorite books and we have gone through 4 as I continue to give it to others.

My boyfriend and I nabbed Partner Yoga at a book sale. After a few fun but not entirely successful attempts to perform a number of the asanas described, we both decided that we needed to work on our flexibility a little bit more. (Beginning yoga class and books like Yoga for Beginners have proved helpful in working towards that goal.) We are looking to cracking this book back open soon, because doing something as relaxing yet awakening as yoga with a partner would be a great addition to our relationship, particularly since partner yoga encourages communication and a sense of humor. (The authors will easily convert you to their love of partner yoga!)
The authors explain the poses well, with modifications to make the pose easier or harder, and the photographs are generally very helpful. One of the book's strengths is the warm up session, which we have used a few times on its own to relax while getting some blood flowing. It also has a great section towards the back with suggested flows and suggetions of poses that might help specific conditions, such as lower back pain and PMS.
I would recommend this book, particularly to romantic or workout partners, as a fun way to vary your exercise routines and get to know each other in a slightly different way. The book itself is easy to follow, without too much new-agey fluff, and helpful.

My boyfriend and I got this book to try together; he'd had some yoga experience, while I am a beginner. The instructions and pictures are very clear and easy to follow, and there are a wide variety of positions ranging from very easy to very difficult. Some are less intimidating than they look! The instructions are very helpful, and then to realize afterward you have actually done the things in the picture is quite a rush.

Only experienced yoga students will be able to do everything in the book from the start, but most people in reasonable shape will be able to do a good portion of it and work up to the rest. A good way to get close to your partner while exercising, and I felt great afterward as well. Worth a shot for those who want to add a little variety!

I had wanted to begin practicing yoga for some time, when I came across this book. I managed to get my boyfriend to try it with me and we had the greatest time learning together! Both first-timers, the book showed the positions in action and had great details and breathing suggestions. And because it is a book, you go at your own pace (we still haven't reached the asanas at the back yet!). I think anyone at any level could really gain knowledge from this book. It's very straightforward and lets you go at your own pace!

I really enjoy this book, and don't plan on buying another!