This is one book that becomes a tradition. When the anniversary of the first time you read it comes around, you'll find yourself going to the bookcase, digging it out, and reading it again. It will give you a kind of sad, joyful feeling everytime. The book also gives you different perspective on the 1958 Ford Edsel. As for my daughter and I we bought a 1958 metal cast model of a 1958 Edsel convertible. Everytime we see it sitting on the shelf that joyful sad feeling sweeps through our hearts again. If you ever wondered what it was like being a preachers kid, "St. Ben" will dispell all the myths. So be prepared to make it a tradition the first time you read it.

I am in the middle of reading this book right now, but I have already decided that it is one of my favorites. It has already created a great variety of emotions for me, and I am not even at the climax yet!!! Reading this book is making me think about not only myself, but about the people around me. I picked it up because reading the back reminded me of my godbrother, whose name happens to be Ben. But now, I can't put it down!!!

This is about a young boy named Ben who has differant feelings about things. He meets a friend who is the only one who knows how he feels. But there is a secret that only ben and his parents know. Will Bens frind beable to face the shocking news about his friend? To find out read it!!

This is the best single book on American infantry fighting in World War II that I have read. Then Major Glover Johns recounts his personal participation in one of the toughest fights our GIs faced; the struggle through the hedgerows from the D-Day beaches to St. Lo. More importantly, Johns' book demonstrates the critical importance battlefield communications played in achieving victory. As a Battalion Commander in the 29th Infantry Division, Johns' ability to manage his units was directly related to how fast phone lines could be restrung after each mortar attack or how successful his radio operators were in linking to artillery support units. Despite his relative remoteness from the foxholes, you feel every attack and suffer every loss as if you were shoulder to shoulder with the heroes who defeated Hitler's vaunted 2nd Parachute Division.

This isn't rehashed third-hand research, this is war as it was fought by one of our best combat commanders. Read it.

This memoir is unlike any other memoir of World War II that I have ever read. Johns relates the stress, the worry, the fear, the exhaustion, the humor and the camaraderie with the ease of a seasoned storyteller. For the unseasoned reader, Johns's device of telling his story in the third person will take some getting use to, but that's done after only a few pages. More telling was Johns' own reasons for using third person, "people who fight wars up close to the enemy are not the same while they are fighting as they were before and after...His (Johns) life during that time always seemed that of another person." After that, "Clay Pigeons" is a fast read. Sadly, Bantam books never reprinted this now forgotten classic. Let's hope someone will do such a service and bring this book back. It demands a reprint.

My mother, Mrs. Glover S. Johns, Jr., who recently celebrated her 84th birthday, called me today to advise that a friend had just stopped by her home in Austin, TX. with word of this site and the fine reviews of "The Clay Pigeons of St.Lo", written by my father Colonel Glover S. Johns, Jr. We would like to thank those of you who have treasured this book - a labor of love, pride, dedication and, at times, agony - as much as we have. I want to take this opportunity to salute and thank all those who served with my father and those have shown support for my mother since the Colonel's death in 1976. My father lived "The Clay Pigeons of St.Lo" and gave the book what he gave battle and his men: his very best. It is, indeed, a timeless and monumental work - monumental in its testimonials, monumental in its anonymity, and monumental in its unheralded magnitude. Lee Johns, son of Colonel G.S. Johns, Jr. - one of America's finest Fighting Sons.

I highly recommend this book to interns. it covers most of the topics that you may encounter on your internship oncall. it cover the subjects stepwise and you will know what to do next. it is very helpfull if you are alone and nobody around to tell you what to ask or what to order or how to handle the case. it is very easy to use and not time consuming to find a topic fast when you are oncall and time is short.

This is one of the best books you will buy as a medical student or intern. It is a requirement for your pocket. At Barnes-Jewish Hospital they give this to all the interns in July. If you know read it a couple times it will make internship easy...except for the 100 hours a week you will put into the job...Honestly...BUY IT- I would have bought it in medical school if I knew about it.

Buy this book if you are a fourth year medical student or intern

Wow! This is an amazing little book that presents the story of John the Baptist from a perspective I doubt that most people have ever considered! You will feel as if you are right there in the story with John and you will connect with him, not merely as a "hero of the faith," but as a real person. The story is a fictional account but it is based on the true story of John the Baptist from Scripture. In fact, it is more than just "based" on it because every element from the story here is consistent with Scripture and history. Gene is a wonderful story teller and has created dialoge and included historical elements to piece the story of John's life together in a way that introduces you to the real character. The story does not depart from Scriptural truth at all but actually will help the reader to see it in a clearer, more personal and meaningful light and apply it personally.

The message of this book will grip your heart and pull you closer to Jesus Christ. If you are struggling as a Christian, whatever your circumstance (be it sickness, emotional pain, depression, discouragement, or just feeling and wondering if God has forgotten about you or that He has not lived up to your expectations of Him... If you've ever cried out to God and asked Him, "why? Where are you? Why are You silent?") this is a remarkable book you need to read. It may change your entire perspective on suffering and give you strength and hope when all seems to be crumbling around you. I wish I could have shared this book with my father before he passed away. This book is not what you expect and it is not typical. Some people who have read through it have commented that it ends a little "dark." After reading it myself, I understand to some degree what they mean (though I wouldn't use the term "dark" at all myself), but sometimes life doesn't always have such a simple, happy resolve (at least to our human way of thinking). Sometimes we just have to bear our crosses and trust in a God we don't always understand completely.

Prisoner in the Third Cell is about a mind-renewal process concerning how we approach suffering. Sometimes this story gets a little deep and you have to think about it. When you're "going through it" it makes a lot more sense! Probably one of the most difficult lessons to learn through struggle and pain is that God's grace is really sufficient. In a world where so many televangelists tell you that all you have to do is give money and have faith and everything will be perfect, this book is a refreshing insight into the reality about suffering and true faith and how God's grace really is enough. In truth I have seen more people who have tried so hard to reach some high "position" of health, wealth and success by quoting this Scripture verse and that one and practicing positive confession until they're blue in the face and only wind up more discouraged, depressed, confused, angry and weary in the battle. This little book will open the reader's eyes in a new dimension of God's grace, love and purpose through enduring hardship and those seasons when we just can't understand why, and the heavens seem to be silent.

Gene himself is no stranger to suffering and brokenness and God has revealed much to this brother. Gene has such a tender heart for the Lord and this element of his life is so beautifully sensed in his writing. Highly recommended reading. In fact, all of the books by this author are quite good. Other good titles I found to be really a blessing were "A Tale of Three Kings" (get the video version of this book - much better seeing Gene himself tell the story) and The Highest Life.

4 Stars is my high grade for this title. I think I did not regard it as five only because it did kind of leave me hanging a bit at the end, but I suppose this was the point. Rather than just seek a simple answer, I need to learn the suficiency of God's rich grace. It's a contemplative resolve that's not so easy to swallow. I confess I wanted a brighter, simpler answer myself. I was left wondering, could there be more to it than this? But if you're going through some struggle or have a friend who is, this is a book that will be identified with and point you in the direction of grace. It's a great title, worth reading. It's relatively short and can be read in an evening or two.

Have you ever felt like a failure as a Christian when God disappointed you? When God let you down?

What do you do when God doesn't live up to your expectations?

John the Baptist knew who Jesus was. They were cousins, acquainted with each other, maybe friends. Certainly God revealed Jesus in His glory when John baptised Him! Father, Son and Holy Spirit converge in a moment of spiritual manifestation.

But sitting in the third cell of Herod's damp, dark prison, day after day certainly didn't feel like deliverance. Where was this king? The powerful one? Where was the fire? Where was this Jesus?

If the "greatest [man] born of woman" had his questions, disappointments, frustrations, how much more might we have the same today? He knew Jesus face to face, as a man knows a friend.
Yet, his understanding was rocked by the God who answers many questions but rarely answers "Why?".

Edwards answers these issues, sort of, in an insightful, profound way. The book will lead you back to where you began but with a deeper faith and clearer insight toward this powerful, invisible God who will do what He will do.

"His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts." Thank you, Lord.

Gene nails the issue of God's silent nature dead on. What more could be said on this matter after reading this book? Absolutely NONE. Gene wonderfully shows that there must be a "why" aspect in our lives. He writes that w/out the "why's", there would be no real inward transformation in our lives. I learned that the power of an unanswered question can truly change and transform something as evil and decietful as our hearts. Gene takes you from John the Baptist's "why" in prison to Jesus's "why have you forsaken me" on the cross. Very deep stuff here people. I particularly enjoy the way Gene transports the readers into the mind of the Lord as He walks through the corridors of time. After reading this book, you will never again ask God "why" w/out a slight understanding that sometimes silence is the highest way.

Bill Belleville's sublime story of the St. John's River was a book I could not put down. A modern version of William Bartram's Travels, "River of Lakes" truly catches the history, geology and flavor of life along the St. John's River. For those of us who have grown up on the river, and who have played in its creeks and springs since childhood, it was an absolute joy to read. I hope that Belleville (who also makes films about rivers) makes a film about the St. John's based on this book. Hang up your hammock by the river, sit back and soak up the beauty of this poetic odyssey. If you haven't seen the St. John's before, you will want to now!

Bill Belleville invites you aboard an allegorical raft as he explores Florida's St. Johns River. I was glad I accepted his invitation. With him as your guide "discover" this river with its many surprises and wonderments. With Belleville you learn how much of the "old" has survived modern day Florida and how important it is to preserve what remains. It is a wonderfully written book and before you know it you are caught up in Belleville's storytelling and when his story is finished you wish there were more bends in the river to travel and more tales to read about.

Bill Belleville travels the length of the St. Johns River from south to north, a rarity for rivers in North America, by houseboat, kayak or whatever means necessary to travel the river and many lakes through which it traverses. The book is an excellent balance between the natural and human history of the river and the river valley. The human history focuses on the early settlers, the growth of agriculture and lumbering as well as the later growth of tourism. It disusses some current problems with pollution and sprawl. The unique nature of the St. Johns truly comes across in the descriptions of the natural history. It has narrow passages through subtropical vegetation and then goes through a number of lakes, large and small, all of which have their own personality and unique characteristics. To me, the most interesting part of the book were the dives into the cave from which the many spring come to the earth and are the point where manatees often gather. Well-written, lyrical with just enough ironic humor to make you enjoy the trip.

Most of us think of John as the lucky disciple - the one who didn't die a martyr. Ms. Traylor makes the point that his lot may have been the hardest of all in this fictionalized account of the life of the young man who stood at the cross with Mary and the old man who wrote the book of Revealation.

Living to be an old man meant, for John, the horror of seeing everyone he ever loved die - not only Jesus but his earlier mentor John the Baptist, his brother James, best friend Peter, adopted mother Mary and even the young disciples following Paul. It isn't until the end of his life that he comes to understand, through what he learned from Christ, that it's our souls and not our bodies that count. Only then is he given the rather dubious gift of the vision of the Apocalypse, ad he finally understands why he was meant to survive his loved ones.

The book is quite biblically sound, with the possible exception of the notion that Mary sister of Lazarus was the love of John's life - and althought it's not mentioned in the Bible there's no real reason why it couldn't have been true. All the characters are well written, so you feel awful when John looses them even though you know what's going to happen (I especially liked the charming portrait of Peter's brother-adoring and painfully shy "little" brother Andrew and the powerful, heartbreaking depiction of John the Baptist's last thoughts). A good addition to your biblical fiction library

I have read it three times. You get to walk with Jesus and with the desciples. She has a wonderful gift of filling in the rest of the "Painting" that the Bible doesnt have(i.e. the culture, the geography, the desciples daily lives,etc.). Mostly, you get to sit at the feet of Jesus and hear just what it might of been like at the actual events. The agape of Jesus permeates this work. Moved me very much and made me a better man of God. A must read and then pass it on book!

I just recently made a decision to read and turn off the TV. The first book that God led me to was John Son of Thunder. I know it's a fiction book and that certain liberties are taken, but Ellen does an awesome job of sticking to the Bible. I really felt like John. I felt his love for his two mentors (John the Baptist and Jesus). I understood why he got the title "Son of Thunder". I felt his horror and confusion at the crucifixion, and his important part in the first church.
I was in tears the last few Chapters feeling for John and praying that I might know what it means to give as much of a sacrifice for Jesus.

Do not hesitate to purchase this book! A wonderful reflection on the lessons left to us by the life of St. Francis and how to apply them in our daily lives. One need not enter a monastery to enjoy the applications in this book. As a suggestion, this book is especially wonderful when read with one of the author's CDs playing in the background. Some good ones available from Amazon.com.

John Michael Talbot's little book goes with me everywhere I go. I am nowhere NEAR being a Catholic and never will be, but I have to say that in just a few short chapters, I've learned where mainstream Christianity goes horribly wrong. Most important are the chapters on Service, Prayer, and Humility. If we get just these three right, we will have come a long way. I'm sorry Francis is considered a Catholic; it's not a good time to be one this day and age, but if there were more like him there wouldn't be much problem. That having been said, there is the interesting section on his friend and disciple Clare, whom he didn't even want to look at, yet considered an equal? I'm off to look for a similar book on her life and teachings; in the meantime, I'll keep this unanimous and give it five stars, because I recommend this book to anyone, Catholic or not. I believe it'll give the reader plenty of food for thought.

Talbot offers us a nicely packaged little book on the essentials of Fransiscan faith. He interprets the way of St. Francis for 21st century man, gleaning nuggets of truth that apply to most all of our daily lives. What I liked about the book was its straight forwardness. It's a book that can be read again and again, helping us to strip away the complicated baggage that we clutter our lives with. Someone once said, "To live simply is to simply live" and that sums up this book. Talbot offers chapters on creativity, community, service, peace, prayer, solitude, simplicity, joy, and more. We are richer for the life of St. Francis, and this book brings that to light.

Parkman's Montcalm and Wolfe is more than history, it's American Literature. His prose flows elegantly and distinguishly across each page. The reader can definitely tell that Parkman was most passionate about this work, he spent most of his life researching and writing it. The care and attention he gave to the work shows. Granted this is probably not the best book for a high school student on the French and Indian war, but for someone who has read and enjoys to read history this is definitely worth a go.

As has been said, Montcalm and Wolfe is Parkman's masterpiece. It was the first thourough account of the French and Indian War and contains some of the most detailed descriptions of the people, places, and events that shaped the North American theater of the first truly global conflict. Here we encounter the dramatic events which lead toward the final confrontation for dominion over the continent. We see a young Virginia Colonel named George Washington leading troops into battle for the first time at Fort Necessity, Braddock's fateful campiagn along the Monogahela, the massacres at Fort Oswego and William Henry by the Indians under Montcalm, the fall of Fort Dusquene, and finally, the culmination of many long and bloody battles, the capture of Quebec and the almost romanticized deaths of Montcalm and Wolfe at the Plains of Abraham. What is truly interesting is that we see the war through the eyes of someone still living in a time when the Indian wars of the west were still being fought and when the country was in the grip of Manifest Destiny and, as a result, Parkman is often very harsh in his views of the Indians and their "savage" ways. Yet, even so, he often gives them more credit than most of his contemporaries.

It is unforunate that today so little is taught or learned about this important event in American history. Today, it seems that the French and Indian War is all but ignored save for being mentioned as a prelude to the American Revolution which it helped spawn rather than as the major turning point in the history of North America and the world. For it is this bloody conflict, fought in the unending wilderness of America, where French regulars and courer de bois crept through the dark woods alongside painted Huron and Ottawa warriors to attack the English settlements, and young redcoated soliders marched shoulder to shoulder to their horrific deaths by rifle ball and tomahawk, that gave birth to what would become the Untied States and changed the course of world history. But even more than that, it is a fascinating period of history more powerful than any piece of fiction. This is history of the highest order. Highly recommended.

Parkman "wrote the book" on the French and Indian War and created a benchmark for historians that has stood on its merits since published in 1884. Moreover, Parkman creates a primer on making history real and exciting for the reader. His writing style bridges the century since he wrote it. This book is one of seven in Parkman's series "The French and English in North America". Each volume was intended to stand alone. This, the final and most popular volume, covers the fall of Quebec and events leading up to it. The first chapter alone, "The Combatents" does an extraordinary job of setting the scene in Europe that led to this savage wilderness war in North America. Also of interest will be the foreword which paints a vivid picture of the unusual Mr. Parkman. "Montcalm and Wolfe" reads well, provides a sense of "being there" and must be one of the great histories not only of the battle for North America, but of European history as well.

I ordered this book but was sent a book on grilling...I returned the grilling book but have not been credited for the st petersburg book..please refer this to the proper dept. thank you!

This can be an expensive book if you're not buying it used, but it's absolutely worth it. The beautiful pictures are excellent at presenting St. Petersburg's amazing architectural wonders. The text is well-written, and even if you don't have a great deal of knowledge of Russian history, you'll still be able to follow along without any trouble.

A gem - read and enjoy!

One of the most beautiful books I've ever come across, St. Petersburg:Architecture of the Tsars is a must for those interested in Imperial Russian history, architecture, or both. The lavish book aptly illustrates the architecture of the former capital of the tsars, from the exuberant Russian Baroque of Peter the Great, to the neoclassicism of Catherine the Great, to the Art Nouveau of Nicholas II. With chapters arranged in chronological order, the book illustrates the development of the city through the reigns of each tsar/tsaritsa, and includes seperate chapters on Pavlovsk, Tsarskoe Selo, and Peterhof. The book is well worth the price.

The "Golden Translation" is the best one for this classic. It is published by TAN Books and Publishers, Inc. (tanbooks . com)

Once in a while 'special' kinds of people come to inhabit the earth, living lives that are remarkably pious and outstanding. Therese Martin was one such person. This simple Carmelite nun presents her life in such detail that makes on wonder how blessed she was. Her life is infinitely beautiful; it is like a painting filled with beautiful colurs that one would want to stare at forever. Therese of the Child Jesus is a witness to the Gospel teaching that perfection is attainable here on earth if we try. As a person, she knew her Lord and Master very well and Jesus Christ did use her as an instrument of peace, perfection and simplicity.

Today's world is filled with unbelief, frustration, anger and selfishness. Yet, at the end of the nineteenth century, when the industrial revolution was at its peak in Europe, this lady lived a life so holy in practically total isolation in a convent. Nevertheless, her story radiates to all who seek to find it today. She is a testament to the fact that no matter how much knowledge or wealth we have in life, they are worth nothing without love.

A number of people have claimed that this book has helped change their direction in life. It is now wonder, for there are times when while reading it, one finds ones eyes filled with tears as a result of the beauty of the life of Therese. Please read this book, whether or not you are a Catholic. Its message is deeply spiritual and universal. The autobiography of Therese of the Child Jesus, presents the story of a simple and loving soul in simple language.

St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower of Jesus, gave the world a precious gift in putting her life and mission to paper. It doesn't matter where you are in life - this little saint, a sheltered nun in her mere twenties, will touch your very heart and soul with her simplicity and honesty. As she pours out her innermost thoughts and longings on the pages, you will find your own heart opening in the same way to Jesus - just like a flower.

The spiritual depth of Therese's work is astounding. Her inspiring autobiography brought the greatest of popes to their knees. Such is the power of God working through even the humblest of vessels. This book will change you for the better, as it has thousands of other souls since its publication!