Having been awakened by Frontenac, his valet, and finding himself not in his own bed, Sir Jared Branden was not having the most splendid morning of his life, but even worse was the 'angel' that appeared across the hall from him when he was fully dressed and seeking to break his fast. None other than Maria Addams, the woman who jilted him ten years ago to the day - Valentine's eve. Although, now she was the 'dowager countessa' - widow of some infernal Italian count she had met on her 'grand tour' of the continent.

Crossing swords and words with her this very morn was not something he was expecting, but they could not seem to exchange friendly words between them if their lives depended on it. Maria did not know why he was here - but finding him standing there - handsome as ever - always seemed to weaken her knees until he opened his mouth to say something so 'Jared like' to hasten up all parries to his sword thrusts. Would he interfere with her latest scheme to save a young damsel from a forced marriage arranged by her cruel guardian?

I really enjoyed this very light regency romance - the characters were darling and their very witty and biting 'word plays' were highly amusing. Ms. Carroll also offers up a wonderful cast of secondary characters - from the stuffy and irreverent valet to the 'clueless' damsel in distress. Very, very funny and a delightful read I can certainly recommend

During the 18th century, a new recreation emerged for the literate English public: gothic romance novels. They were loved by young women, the chagrin of their fathers, and spoofed by Jane Austen. With the time and expense required to gain a personal copy of a book (usually sold unbound by the printer) during this period, most readers found a more inexpensive way to "fix" their reading habit by taking memberships at a local lending library. In the VALENTINE'S DAY BALL, Author Susan Carroll takes the worst nightmare of a father of the Regency period and hilariously exploits it.

Maria Addams stood Jared Branden up at the alter. Maria jilted him because she wasn't convinced he loved her. Because of his unexpressive family, Jared had always had problems verbalizing his feelings. Ten years later, they have both have moved on with their lives, but both are unmarried. (Well, Maria is a dowager countessa after a "grand tour," but she is available.) Jared has since became a bit of a wastrel while Maria, always the romantic, has spent her life rescuing friends from unwanted entanglements. They meet again at a house party Jared's uncle, Lord Brixted, is giving for Valentine's Day. Learning Brixted, who is unaware of their history, has set his cap for Maria, Jared tricks his uncle into making the former lovers partners again, even if for the temporary games of a ball.

Maria is in the thick of another scheme to save the niece of a domineering duke from an unwanted alliance when Jared comes into her life again. She is surprised he still has the same giddy affect on her as he did when she was seventeen, although he is an irritant when he tries to talk her out of helping the "hen-witted" girl she's made a crusade. He comes to Maria's aid while she's being threatened by the duke, and her conviction against Jared starts to melt. When she turns down his marriage proposal a second time, he does what he thinks it will take to change her mind.

The characters in this 1994 novel are one of Carroll's finest ensembles. Maria's quest for the romantic, nurtured by the many gothic romances she read while growing up, brings about some of the funniest Regency contretemps that can be found since the work of Georgette Heyer. Not only do the conflicts between the two lovers provide some good laughs, but the supporting characters are also vivid and quirky, especially Miss Lucas, the "damsel in distress"; Alice, Maria's literal abigail; and Frontenac, Jared's self-righteous valet.

Whether or not this book adhers to its holiday marketing is a no-brainer. Any romance category story--no matter what the subgenre--captures the spirit of Valentine's Day. Carroll, regardless, has sprinkled this one with a Valentine's Day ball and cards, so it's overt.

It's also interesting to note that Maria's eccentricities are timeless. Although today's media has increased the methods of how these stories are delivered, females of all ages are still inspired by romance, but most keep their yearnings in perspective. Anyone looking for a good drawing room comedy is sure to love THE VALENTINE'S DAY BALL. This is an example of Carroll at her best.

I received this wonderful book as a gift from a thoughtful friend who had planned her wedding with this book's help. I found it to be very useful by providing lots of ideas on various wedding choices. The tips and sage advice set us on a path to creating the wedding experience both Jim and I truly envisioned for ourselves. The result was a magic and memorable weekend with friends and family celebrating our afternoon wedding in Yosemite last May

Since we're both professionals in our early 30's your basic Cinderella/ princess-for-a-day package just didn't fit and would have been boring even for us.

My husband is from New Delhi, India and we finally opted to have one wedding there and one in the states. We did both with great style and for far less than we could have had a medium sized wedding in New York City, our current residence. Reading about other people's individual choices really helped us figure out which traditions we wanted to skip and which ones we wanted to keep. Surprisingly, in the end both weddings were fairly traditional for their respective cultures but without extraneous and superficial fluff.

We had considered every conceivable option from a simple elopement to various long distance locals to trying to combine the Christian and Hindu cultural ceremonies. Finally, my best friend loaned me her copy with her highest recommendations. I loved the book and it really helped me sort out what I did and didn't want.

Good Luck!

This book was easily the most helpful book I read when planning my wedding. Sure, Martha Stewart was ready to give advice. And yeah, Modern Brides was there with the same articles they run year after year. But this book made me realize that I could make my TRUE dreams a reality. It made me realize I wasn't horrible for not sharing the same wedding vision as my mother. It made me believe that I could do *my* wedding, *my* way (which meant including the wishes of my groom), and still have it turn out beautiful, and even better, be a good representation of who my husband and I are, and let our loved ones see the character our marriage would take on, from the very beginning.

Of all the books I read when planning my wedding (and I read a lot!), this one gave me the courage to have the wedding I really wanted, and the strength to not be guilted or bullied into the wedding I didn't want.

Everytime I hear that someone is planning a wedding, I recommend this book. No others. Just this one. It's really all the advice you'll need.

This is the second book in the "Southern Sisters" series -- which looks to be a series that's worth reading in order. (Murder on a Girl's Night Out is the first in the series.) Once again, being sixty-something and retired in Alabama is looking to be lots of fun and a little bit dangerous.

This time the sisters get involved in a death at an art gallery featuring "outsider" art (think quilts, primitive oils, etc.) The book is strong on humor, sisterly chat (and teasing), winter in Birmingham and teacher love. The mystery is pretty weak -- particularly the conclusion which both comes out of nowhere and is way too convenient.

Bottom line -- a fun, light read of the cozy kind. As another reviewer mentioned about Anne George, it's nice to find an author that you can recommend to your senior citizen mother.

I have always been a big fan of Southern writers; Conroy, Samms, Edgarton, Burns, and of course Mitchell to name a few. And now I have a new name to add to the list: Anne George. Her books are just precious and her characters are lovable! As I have previously stated, since I live in Alabama, I especially enjoy all the references to the Birmingham landmarks. When I read about highway 280, the Vulcan and the Galleria I feel that I am part of the story. Speaking of the story, I loved it. The writing is crisp, the dialogue forceful, and the plot is scrumptious! If you want a great book that will grasp you on the first page and is effortless to follow, get a copy of Murder on a Bad Hair Day: A Southern Sisters Mystery--you won't regret it!

I usually have 2 books going...a more serious read and a light one. Just discovered Anne George this week-end. What a hoot! Two sisters in their sixties who are total opposites (one petite and more mild-mannered and one large and out-spoken). Just imagine the large one playing Mrs. Claus at the local mall (Birmingham, Alabama) with a funky wig and a top with blinking lights. An opening at the local art gallery ends in death. Now the sisters are on a quest to find the murderer. The

dialogue is clever, the situations are rather unique, and the gallery owner has been deemosoed. Read it to find out. I LOVE Joan Hess. Her tales of Maggody have often made me laugh out loud. Now, after reading all of Hess's, I have a new Southern author to seek out. Patricia Anne and Mary Alice (the sisters) are my new "light read." Funny, I finished this one in 2 days while my "serious" book kept calling to me. I'm off to Border's to find more of Anne George.

"If you haven't died by an age thought predetermined through the timing of your abuses and excesse, then what are you to do?" These words typed across the back of Carroll's "forced entries" resonate in his latest book of poems "Void of Course."(VOC)The book begins with the poem "8 fragments for Kurt Cobaine," which is remenisent of Frank O'hara's "The Day Lady Died." Argueably the crown Jewel to VOC, "8 Fragments" professes an erey mixture of wisdom and confussion surrounding Cobaine's suicide. The difficulty of being known as "a young poet" comes up again and again in his work and Carroll expresses the difficulty in the film "Gang of Souls."The other major poem of the book "While she's gone" contains the same confussion, so to, do shorter poems like "ruins." Although, Carroll's work in VOC is his best and most original to date, it is he himself who seems in danger of becoming the cliche of Great American writers. In the way someone once described American literature, "A varitable who's who list of self destruction."And yet it's ironic that the poetry of his youth, which "kept [him] alive above any wounds," has created a new wound. I find that psychological dissonance and writing poetry go to togeather hand in hand; unfortunately, this seems to be the type of ironic neurossis with which only another poet can relate.

I think this book shows a growing, a progress, in both Jim Carroll's depth and his vision...he's no longer the 15-year-old street kid he was in The Basketball Diaries, and this book proves it. He still may not be completely at peace w/his past, but he has gone on, at least to a point. The ever-beatiful "8 Fragments for Kurt Cobain" strummed a string in my heart-he went through addition and all and survivied, but K.Cobain didn't. Also, the last poem, "My Ruins" on Pools of Mercury, is amazing...it sums it up!!! "While She's Gone", the longest poem in the book, tells powerfully the pains and anxieties of a parted lover, but the shorter poems are jewels on equal terms. He's taken a turn from TBD, and it's incredible!!! Get the book, read it, love it, and you'll be rewarded w/infinite wisdom!!!

Void Of Course is one of the best books I've ever read in my whole life! Jim Carroll proves once again that he's a genius. All the poems in this book prove that Jim Carroll is only getting better! It was definitely worth waiting for! The poems range from very short pieces ("What Burroughs told me") to long poems - such as "While she's gone" which is nine pages long, but doesn't appear that long. Jim Carroll is the unofficial king of the poetry scene.

The Wooden Sea, by Jonathan Carroll (Tor). Carroll's latest book, The Wooden Sea, is a truncated Remembrance Of Things Past meets Dr. Who. Frannie McCabe is a middle-aged, small-town cop in Crane's View, New York, an ordinary guy with an ordinary life who dries his face on pink towels. But Frannie is having an odd week. A three legged, one-eyed pit bull dies in his office; he buries it, then later finds the canine corpse in the trunk of his car. Read more in The Spook where we review The Wooden Sea and interview Jonathan ... .

If you have never picked up a Carroll book because the terms "fantasy" or "science fiction" scare you, or because you are convinced that "that kind of writing" isn't for you, I urge you to move past the stereotype and give THE WOODEN SEA a chance. Carroll is an amazing novelist, severly underappreciated in this country. Since his first novel, THE LAND OF LAUGHS, he has been introducing his readers to characters who have heart, soul, a sense of wonder, and a sense of humor. His latest work is no exception. Frannie McCabe, Police Chief of Crane's View, is content and happy... until such time as he buries a dead dog only to find that it continues to come back to life. While trying to understand why, McCabe meets past and future versions of himself, is forced to make decisions that will affect those people he cares the deepest about, and searches for answers to questions that we all ask at some point in our lives: "What is life really all about? Are we alone here, or is there some higher power influencing who we are? What is death? And does any of it matter in the end? Carroll leads his readers down a mystical and imaginative path that could only be better if it never had to end. He continues to be one of my favorite authors and his latest work does not disappoint. It is no wonder that authors like Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, and Stanislaw Lem continue to sing the praises of Jonathan Carroll.

I bought this book after hearing a reference to it on an NPR show about "Summer Reading" lists. The person recommending it read a passage from early on -- I think it was a description of the dog Old Vertue -- which struck a chord with me. I thought anything that starts out this odd must get odder and be quite fun in the process. I was right.

But I didn't expect to be as sucked in as I was to the story and its various turns and bizarre events. I could not put this book down.. and as soon as I finished reading it I started it again. After the first read I was left with questions -- I think I took some of the more fantastic elements of the plot a bit literally -- the answers to which become more apparent on the second read -- which I approached in terms of looking at the life of Frannie McCabe, much as the first reviewer suggested. But dont see this as a reason NOT to dive into The Wooden Sea. It was well worth the journey!

The writing style is a joy: very conversational with a pearl that made me smile every few pages and at least one stunner per chapter. Carroll made me care about these people and I plan to buy his others books as soon as I finish writing this review!

And I liked the idea that seemingly odd things would occur that I did not expect -- life throws us wingers every day, okay maybe not as strange as those in the book, but I appreciate the wonder he presents the reader. Its a small book that tells a fun story and packs a lot in besides that if you care to investigate. The notion of our various "selves" at different ages being present to help us out of jams and to consult with about life's problems is a provacative one. Carroll is an author to keep an eye on, no doubt. Read this, again and again.

The Catholic Study Bible is one of the best study bibles for students and scholars of biblical criticism. The biggest asset: the extensive Reading Guides, which are very helpful for gaining a historical perspective and general background on all books of the bible. The New American Bible translation and footnotes are understandable enough, but this study bible lacks an important feature: an index or concordance. This study bible is recommended mainly for those in serious critical bible study, not those in mainstream Christianity.

The Catholic Study Bible is one of the best study bibles for students and scholars of biblical criticism. The biggest asset is the extensive Reading Guides which are very helpful for gaining a historical perspective and general background on all books of the bible. The New American Bible translation and footnotes are understandable enough, but this study bible lacks an important feature: an index or concordance. This study bible is recommended mainly for those in serious critical bible study, not normally for the mainstream Christian.

The beauty of this NAB is that it offers two services in one. First, it is a faithful translation of the ancient and ever-new inspired scriptures. This is the product of the finest Catholic Biblical scholars in the English-speaking world today. Secondly, it provides helpful footnotes and excellent introductory articles which offer readers an orientation to the Bible ingeneral, contemporary study and scholarly conclusions, as well as a sketch of the issues and background that concern each book of the Bible. I differ with the two other reviewers above in regard to this Bible. I believe it is not only for the serious scholar, but indeed can help the new Bible reader and the "average" reader appreciate the Scriptures more deeply. This version of the Bible can help support Catholic Christians, and Christians of any denomination by helping them to appreciate the important place of the Bible in their life of faith, and to incorparate this timeless wisdom into their everyay life more faithfully. I have found it helpful personally in my own study, and I always recommend it to people who ask what Bible they might purchase.

Carroll is one of my favorite authors and he doesn't dissapoint with "Kissing The Beehive." However, this novel is much more a straight mystery story than Carroll's other efforts that always seem to have several fantastical elements to them. I gave the book only four stars because it was missing that bizarre twist that seems to surface halfway through other Carroll novels (e.g., the dog talking in Land of Laughs). Regardless, I do recommend this book. As with all of Carroll's work, it keeps you totally engrossed in the story till the very end.

Kissing the Beehive Carroll's latest foray into sinister stealth

By Bram Eisenthal

It was 1985 when I first discovered one of the horror field's greatest latter-day writers. I asked a clerk at Ottawa's House of Speculative Fiction if he could recommend someone really unusual - I had my fill of early Stephen King at the time - and he immediately whipped out a book and thrust it at me. "Land of Laughs," he said. "It's unbelievable... really different."

I had never even heard of Jonathan Carroll before and I generally knew my horror authors, so I was perturbed. How good could he be? Published in 1980 and the New York-born resident of Vienna's first novel, The Land of Laughs lived up to the clerk's billing. Highly imaginative and very frightening, it showcased the talents of a writer who excels at setting a macabre stage by allowing the horror to creep up on you v-e-r-r-r-y slowly. His tales are happy, funny and whimsical to start with, but chapter by chapter, Carroll adds sinister elements. Before you realize it, you're staring death squarely in the face. His second, Voice of Our Shadow, is even more shocking for its sinister stealth.

Kissing the Beehive is Carroll's tenth novel; one of the more recent ones, The Panic Hand, is a Bram Stoker Award-winning anthology that I highly recommend. As with the others, Beehive begins innocently enough, with a few stragglers rather than the swarm yet to come. Author Sam Bayer is in a slump, meeting with his agent in an attempt to untangle the cobwebs responsible for his terrible writer's block. His pending divorce is really creating havoc. Later, at a book signing, he meets an incredibly gorgeous fan, a California blonde named Veronica Lake. She really knows her Bayer, down to her business card, which contains an image from his novel The Tatooed City.

Bayer jogs his sluggish memory in an attempt to birth ideas. He drives to his hometown of Crane's View, visits old haunts, looks through high-school yearbooks and greets former acquaintances. The trip is the perfect panacea for his blues, as Bayer delves into an unsolved boyhood murder mystery, that of a free-spirited young woman named Pauline Ostrova. Her nude body, which had spawned so many adolescent fantasies, had been found by the young Bayer. Over the years, he had shunted the awful memory aside, but now he seizes the opportunity to gather important facts and unburden his soul.

During the excitement, unable to get her out of his thoughts, Bayer contacts Veronica Lake, they meet again and make love. He tells her about the burgeoning plot for his new novel and she is thrilled about her confidante status. Remember, she is his number one fan, like the character in Stephen King's Misery... only much more dangerous.

Bayer heads back to Crane's View, his teenaged daughter Cassandra in tow. He meets up with Frannie McCabe, childhood bad-boy turned chief of police, and brings up the Ostrova mystery. The police chief has his own take on the dossier and suspects that the town's crime boss, Gordon Cadmus, since murdered, had something to do with her demise. She had been seeing his son David, now a Hollywood film producer... and the old man as well.

In typical Carroll fashion, the story begins its slow spiral into madness just as Bayer and McCabe initiate their joint sleuthing. Also, something is terribly wrong with Veronica Lake. Bayer uncovers unsettling facts about her, most notably the fact she was two-time porn movie headliner Marzi Pan and a member of an infamous suicide cult. He decides not to see her any more, which first saddens and then infuriates her. Meanwhile, someone with knowledge of their unofficial Ostrova investigation is following Bayer and McCabe around, as well as videotaping unspeakable things, like the murder of David Cadmus on an L.A. street.

Lake, whom Bayer is trying to ignore, is in-his-face throughout. She slyly interacts with all his witnesses, subtly threatens his daughter and her boyfriend and, after McCabe barely survives an attempt on his life, befriends the cop. We also learn that she is a deft film technician and has been taping lots of footage, including shots of Bayer taken in a suit he had discarded years before and explicit images of them having sex.

The horror escalates when Cassandra goes missing, every father's nightmare but nothing compared to Bayer's ultimate scenario. His novel has taken the most sinister twist possible.

Jonathan Carroll is still unknown to many fans of mainstream horror literature, rather surprising in light of the stellar quality of every single one of his works. The author humbly pays homage to "Pat Conroy, Stephen King, Michael Moorcock, Paul West - Friends, Mentors, Wizards" - in the dedication, but I dare say that he has earned the right to appear right up there with them on that marquee.

In Doubleday's press release on Kissing the Beehive, King is equally complimentary, one master of the macabre to another. "A stunning novel of obsession and memory by the always amazing Jonathan Carroll. A brilliant writer - Jonathan Carroll is as scary as Hitchcock, when he isn't being as funny as Jim Carrey."

-30-

Kissing the Beehive Nan A. Talese, an imprint of Doubleday HC, 232 pgs., $31.95

I believe that this is one of Jonathan Carroll's best works to date. (Yes, I've read them all.) While I adored "Bones of the Moon", "Kissing the Beehive" is only the second of his works that I've finished completely satisfied. I can live without the usual magical plot devices if I get the plot and character quality of this book in its place.

I was subjected to this book as part of a reading regimen on the Vietnam War. I find that odd, since, despite the title, Vietnam seems to play very little part in Carroll's narrative. This book is about a man grappling with his faith and with his father, the only two subjects that he really engages in this book. His treatment of the Vietnam War is restricted to his platitudes about its evils and recountings of activities performed. Carroll never really engages the war in any meaningful way, just like he as a person never really engaged his priesthood. The War was treated as a backdrop for the narrative, but it should never be described as a book about Vietnam.

A heart wrenching memoir of Mr. Carroll's journey through catholism, politics and the family structure. As one who stood in those crowds pleading the injustices of a war many miles away not only in distance but purpose, I found James Carroll's life story inspiring. Many times through this novel I would find myself saying "I didn't know that." A major announcement from one who thought she knew just about all there was to know about the Vietnam war and the lies, senseless deaths and minipulative politics (is that an oxymoron) that surrounded this dark time in American history. I found the chapter "Holy Wars" most intriguing. It never ceases to amaze me how the Catholic church seems to find itself in the middle of some of the most important conflicts of the past two centuries.

"American Requiem" should be required reading for any 20th century history course and it might not be a bad read for a catholicism course. Since I was raised catholic and still practice in my own way, I could sympathize with the agony Mr. Carroll and his father experienced when it came to their faith. Fortunately, James Carroll was able to vocalize the conflict surrounding his love of God and a church that gives him spiritual balance and the problems with that same church's power and its decisions that appear to be made sometimes more for political gain rather than spiritual enrichment. The real tragedy falls in Mr. Carroll's father's story. Although the senior Carroll's professional life is nothing short of fascinating, his personal life reminds us how empty it all can be if we do not acknowledge the things that are truly important.

This was the first "history" based novel that I was unable to put down. Go get it now.

As a reader in my early twenties, until I read this memoir it was difficult for me to understand the enormity that was the Vietnam War to American consciousness. The power of the book is two-fold. The first is the picture Carroll paints of his family -- a distinctly American creation with which most readers can identify, especially those like myself who had a military upbringing. The second is the historic moment in which Carroll's emotional story unfolds. Until this book, I never truly felt what a blow the Vietnam War was to many Americans' faith in their country. The pathos in the story lies in the fact that while Carroll finds himself politically and ideologically in the tumultuous era of the 70's, he simultaneously alienates himself from his beloved father and the values the older man embodies. Some readers may think that the memoir is overly sentimental, yet the sincerity and introspection with which Carroll writes makes the emotions in the book more evocative than the more tired tear-jerkers out there. The complex emotions of love and regret are expressed beautifully by the close of the book. One of the most emotionally evocative books I've read in a long time and also an informative glimpse into a period of American history.

I like this book very much. I am biased, because I have been an apprentice of don Miguel Ruiz for four years, and the Toltec path has changed my life. Mary Carroll Nelson has done a wonderful job of bringing don Miguel's simple wisdom and love to the pages of this book. I have traveled many paths searching for my freedom, although I did not always know what I was looking for. Now, with this and don Miguel's other two books, and using the tools found here (The Four Agreements, Stalking and Dreaming, The inventory, recapitulation, forgiveness, etc.) I have reclaimed my personal power and found the simple peace that I was seeking. Thank you, don Miguel. I recommend that anyone who has read this far in these commments buy this and don Miguel's other two books (THE FOUR AGREEMENTS, and THE MASTERY OF LOVE.) And then do what he says! Miguel Ruiz lectures, leads workshops, and takes Power Journeys to Mexico and Peru, also. Find him, and go!

No book has changed my life more than Beyond Fear and The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz. I have been reading these books almost every day for the past six months. The gratitude I feel for these books cannot be expressed in words, because the transformation they have engendered is too profound. This book gives you all the information, love and tools you need to create the life you choose. This is not a book which tells you what to believe. This is a book that teaches you how to choose what you want to believe. It leads you to discover your own truth and your own path to happiness. Living the words in this book has freed and empowered me to find the peace and happiness I was seeking. Now, this book and all of don Miguel's words live in my heart, and they will continue to guide me every day in deepening my experience of spirituality. If you are considering buying this book, do. Give it a chance to wake you up, open up your soul and amaze you!

Having read don Miguel Ruiz's book, "The Four Agreements" and after meeting him at a lecture, I picked up a copy of "Beyond Fear" with the hope of learning more about Miguel's process. I wasn't disappointed. Author Mary Carroll Nelson has crafted a very well written summary of the life experiences and teachings of a modern day nagual (keeper of spiritual knowledge). Readers unfamiliar with the words of Ruiz are presented with a clear explanation of his principal teachings and a glimpse of the man behind the message. While not exactly a "how-to" book, "Beyond Fear" does contain a few exercises and ceremonies to help the reader align themselves with the spiritual practice that is the basis of The Four Agreements. Those agreements are: Be impeccable with your word. Don't take anything personally. Don't make assumptions. Always do your best. The basic premise of Miguel's teachings is that we must break old patterns that are based in fear and replace them with new "agreements" that are based in love, shedding the habits of "judging" ourselves and others and no longer being a "victim" of those judgements. And, the way to do that is to adopt The Four Agreements as a code of conduct, which is the "Toltec guide to freedom and joy." Anyone can become a Master of Intent. All it takes is a conscious effort to look at your life and "your world" without fear or judgements and realize that the dream you are dreaming can be whatever you want it to be.

Don't expect to find a football book you can use exclusively from the rest. This is a good supplement to books like "The Pro Football Encyclopedia" (by Maher/Gill). If you're into statistics this is one of the best to have. Whereas "Pro Football Encyclopedia" has players longest gains, which this book doesn't, this book gives you kickoff and punt return stats for all players, the encyclopedia doesn't. This book is mainly about the NFL. I bought it for the statistics. It's also a good book to use if you want to find out more about a specific player (statistically speaking). Chapters like "The 25 Most Memorable Regular Season Games" and "The 300 Greatest Players" etc.. are not what I got this book for. I would prefer a book that leaves out author's opinions. I've seen games I'll never forget that I knew wouldn't make the list and also players. Although these chapters are somewhat interesting along with others I could live without half this book easily but like I said, it's a good season by season individual stat book that has information other books don't. It mainly depends on what you're buying this book for. There are statistics here excluded from other books but there are stats left out that ARE in other books, like blocked punts for instance, which may not seem to matter to most, but it all depends on what you're buying it for. It has stats other books don't, that's what I bought it for.

This revision of "Total Football" is amazing! Without a doubt, when i read it, i knew this book should be own by every serious football fan. The analysis, the statistics, and the information provided makes this one of my favorites in my collection.

Total Football has a wealth of information that football fans will find delightful. All of that data and detail occupies a lot of space (over 1800 pages). Those pages are in 8 1/2 by 11 inch format and the book weighs about 8 pounds. It is a bit unwieldy to handle and so is somewhat difficult to manage on anything other than a table or desk. I would like to see it published as a two volume set in a smaller and lighter format. Other than that, Total Football II is an absolute pleasure and I recommend it highly.