I feel quite strange presuming to give a numerical rating to a book by one of American literature's greatest authors.

It's important for readers to realize that White-Jacket is not what would, in the modern day, be considered a novel. There is essentially no plot structure. It's a melange of events, descriptive passages and polemic, narrated by the eponymous White-Jacket, whom I suspect of being Melville himself. At times the book is entertainingly humorous - as when the narrator tries to get rid of his famous jacket. And much of the description of life aboard a man-of-war is fascinating -- the book would make a helpful companion for people reading modern novels such as O'Brian's series. (And, of course, White-Jacket probably was one of the sources used by O'Brian and other aquatic novelists.) The polemic -- Melville's rants against flogging and his pacifist pleas -- I found tiresome, as I always find polemic, regardless of its aims.

If you find yourself in a position where the individuals in authority over you are, in the actual state of affairs, your moral inferiors, then on this level alone you will be able to appreciate this book.

Fascinating, entertaining account of life on a man-of-war. Hilarious in parts; always subversive. Melville's mock glorification of the U.S. Navy and its officers is brilliant.

I was very disappointed in this book. It started out well, it had potential. I -really- enjoyed the way in which the book was written (nice style). The descriptions were -beautiful-. A very colorful world, it is. But it was very weak in the plot. You did not get enough in-depth information about the war, the backgrounds of the characters, the queens themselves. The dire warning shouted by the mechanical bird (which reminded me -waaaay- too much of Clash of the Titans) meant absolutely -nothing- until you were told 'oh, and yeah, those big black things they met in the swamp are war machines'. It was too big a story to fit into such a small novel and it really needed more.

Every year or two I take this book off the shelf for sheer
reading pleasure. Many authors would have padded this
volume out to make a trilogy (or worse), but the brevity of the
tale and the beauty of the writing make this a wonderful
experience. More is not necessarily better - this book just
leaves the reader wanting more. A great adventure story,
a quest, with memorable characters, plot, and a startling
denouement. Scour your pre-owned bookstores for this one. (I buy every copy I can find and pass them on to friends.)

I pull this book out a couple of times a year and let it take me for a spin. I've been doing that for about 30 years now and I still get a thrill every time. This is very fine work indeed.

Mr. Harrison will have you visualizing his landscapes and characters as few other authors could ever hope to do. These are real people in unreal settings, and that makes for the greatest of storytelling.

This is a tale of a far future land where technology has mostly been forgotten and rusted away. A power struggle between two queens has erupted in the post-Arthurian city of Viriconium and a handful of loyal old knights gather together to protect the young queen and restore her to the throne. Some of my favorite characters in fiction live in this book. I consider it an absolutely must read for sci-fi and fantasy fans alike.

This book looked great at first, but then, on closer inspection, the drawings are second-rate, the information is thin, and the inaccuracies mount. Yet, there are no real alternatives that seek to comprehensively catalogue ancient life. I'd still buy it, but my enthusiasm has waned.

Several months after acquiring the book I leaf through it and wonder how I could have given it such a high rating as I did. It has flaws throughout!

- The book appears to have a drastic shortage of species to list - it is only half as thick as Simon and Schuster's Encyclopedia of Animals - despite the fact that on numerous occasions they list but one or two species from a thirty-species family;

- The art is severely degraded from the above mentioned encyclopedia of animals. While I can see the puzzlement concerning the colors of the creatures' hides, there is no excuse for the the sloppy drawings of several of the animals! If you make a conjecture, please, be sure to follow through! On several of the animals the hair cover fails to obey the laws of physics, and most of the amphibians look like a horrid joke.

- The information is sketchy at best - on numerous occasions special biological mechanisms are mentioned (like a new jaw bone arrangement for the fishes, and the skull structures of the early land animals), yet are never explained in function. Almost all species are captioned with the basics like weight and dimensions followed with senseless filler.

- The between-section class summarizations and the cladistic graphs are also very, very basic. While I understand that the book was not intended for specialists, even the basic layman will find the charts a bit "dumbed down".

This book is flashy and artful, but lacking, lacking a great lot.

I have always longed for such a book. Probably it's a grave mistake on my part to make that the firt sentense of a review, but still. I daresay, anyone who has ever been in the very least intereste in paleontology has always longed for this sort of tome. The authors have satisfied both our love of visuals ( pictures are abundant - they accompiny every entry, in full blazing color by very trustworthy artists, generally sure to catch anyone's eye) and our love of the unknown ( this is the first non-specialist book that I have seen that goes beyond the everyday banal creatures like the pachycephalosaurus and the pterosaurids). This book is sheer pleasure while doing any sort of research, even for the specialists who need solid information. Perhaps there isn't quite enough data with every entry ( due to page limits), but the information that is included is accurate and up-to-date. This is a very good book.

I've read all but one of Colin Harrison's books. I love his blunt style, and I usually have a hard time putting the them down once I've started reading. I've often started reading, expecting to stop after 1/2 and hour, only to look up at the clock and realized its been well over an hour.

However, that being said, these books have all been ruined by a mediocre ending that leaves you saying, "Well, that was certainly anti-climactic."

Was it bad enough to put me off his other writing? Not at all. It didn't stop me from buying all of his books. It's just a small quibble.

Devotees of Voodoo will be happy to note that Colin Harrison's new novel once again brings us a protagonist whom the author slowly destroys. Mr. Harrison uses up a whole quiver of needles while sticking them in his character of Peter Scattergood. Peter's an upstanding, decent assistant district attorney who is assigned a case involving the murder of the mayor's nephew. Peter investigates the murder, and comes up with more leads than the police. Is the criminal investigation the main plot of the story? Perhaps not. Peter's wife has left him and he is disconsolate; he needs to win her back. He tries unsuccessfully to mend the relationship, and, to our dismay, turns into a stalker. What a paradox as his legal ethics begin conflicting with the unethical behavior in his personal life. He becomes seriously deluded in his belief that his marriage will be saved.

Colin Harrison frequently presents us with extremely fallible humans. They tend to persist in following a bad turn along one of life's roads. Reason falls victim to rationalization. You want to slap Peter Scattergood in the face, and hear him say, "Thanks, I needed that." So once again we have a Harrison novel in which it is hard to identify with those who live in its pages. For those who do like CH, however, this is another rewarding read.

I was spell bound by Colin Harrison's excellent legal thriller right up to the final few chapters. Harrison weaves a clever tale around the central character, Peter Scattergood, an assistant District Attorney in the Philadelphia District Attorney's office. As the story begins, Scattergood is on the verge of completing another successful prosecution in a case of sexual assault and murder. He is about to take on a high profile prosecution following the murder of the nephew of the city's black mayor. His assignment to this case is the result of self interested political motivation by both his boss, the DA, and the mayor himself. Scattergood is in a lose-lose situation with his natural support mechanism, the police investigators, being in the pocket of the DA.

That Scattergood's wife walks out on him at this very time makes his life almost unbelievably challenging. His own parents seem to have more sympathy for his wife than for him. He is almost penniless too with heavy financial commitments leaving him with virtually no discretionary disposable income. Far from bringing any relief into his desperate situation, a casual and very sexual affair, only adds to his unhappiness and causes his guilty conscience to work overtime. He desperately loves his wife and would do almost anything, legal or illegal, to have her return to him.

At the stage where only a few pages of the book remained to be turned, I was concerned that all the loose ends in the tale couldn't be neatly tied up. Were my concerns real or unfounded? You will have to read the book for yourself and find out. It is an excellent story and easy to read.

I was surprised to find that this may be the only book which Colin Harrison has written. I have read reviews of "Afterburn", "Bodies Electric" and "Manhattan Nocturne" written by Colin Harrison, but it seems that may have been another author with the same name. There was no link or reference to "Break And Enter". My research is clearly not yet complete.

It is always a pleasure to discover a new author and be able to look forward to the promise of reading all his/her other books. Colin, if it wasn't you who wrote those three other books please pick up your pen, or fire up your lap top and start on another novel.

As usual this book is well written with interesting characters, settings, and story. The only problem, as with many Queen novels, is the identity of the killer is obvious. Still its a fun book and is well worth listening to with Scott Harrison's solid naration.

To refer to the authors, I'll use their real names - Fred Dannay and Manfred Lee - to distinguish them from their chief character, Ellery Queen. _Calamity Town_ was first published in April 1942, nearly 3 years after _The Dragon's Teeth_. At this stage, Ellery Queen is in his second incarnation. He's no longer the 'pure reasoner' of the first EQ stories, who had filed for divorce from the human race; he agonizes over the consequences of his investigations, he loves and loses like anyone else. (Mind you, in the right frame of mind, I can enjoy the pure puzzle type of mystery, too, but *this* is a *novel*, where 'why?' can be as important as 'who'.) In fact, Ellery's been fleshed out enough to serve as the viewpoint character for most of the story, though not in first person. The fleshing out of characters and emotional situations is decent, although through Ellery's perception we're often given his take on something rather than being left to draw our own conclusions - i.e., some gracefully handled exposition here and there.

Ellery, no longer drawn as a dilettante, takes his writing seriously. Since his next novel will be set in a typical small town, the normally city-dwelling Ellery plans to live in one for the next six months, incognito, researching the setting and producing a draft.

Welcome to Wrightsville, Wright County, New York, making the first of its many appearances in the Queen canon. As in most Queen stories, the setting was contemporary when written - in this case, August 1940 - May 1941 - making it a period piece today. Rural Wrightsville, founded by Jezreel Wright in 1701, still has some cobbled streets, and horses are still commonplace in the area. The fact that Ellery can *sign a six-month lease* under an assumed name, with no ID and no credentials (other than 'I'm a writer under a pseudonym' and 'here's 3 months' rent in advance') *really* drives home that this is a vanished world. Even 2 years later, he'd have been a suspicious character, if not actually arrested for espionage or whatnot. (He later avoids being exposed by draft registration by quietly registering in his native New York City.) As it is, the defence industry is rejuvenating Wrightsville's economy, although not yet on a war footing, so Ellery can find only one available furnished rental: Calamity House.

The Wrights remain the first family of Wrightsville: John F., bank president; his wife Hermione, holding the reins of Wrightsville society. They built a separate house on their property three years ago as a gift to Nora, their middle daughter, upon her marriage to Jim Haight, a promising young bank officer - but the engagement was broken, Jim left town, and Nora shut herself away, as much to protect herself from the town's petty gossip as from her broken heart. A now-ex newspaper reporter coined the tag 'Calamity House' when a massive heart attack struck down a would-be buyer. Ellery scoffs at the jinx theory, of course: "Calamity House! As sensible as calling Wrightsville Calamity Town!" Only gradually does he come to see the calamities inflicted by spite and mean-spirited gossip, and the hidden wish to see the mighty fallen.

In this small town, the arrival of 'the famous writer, Ellery Smith' (as the realtor calls him while buttering up the Wrights) causes a stir - think of Hitchcock's film _Shadow of a Doubt_ for the flavor. Most of Wrightsville society bluffs its way through enthusiastic gushing over the famous author nobody's ever heard of, following up with clandestine visits to the library that, of course, come up empty. :) But even during Ellery's smooth entry into Wrightsville society, shadows occupy the picture, not only for Nora, but her elder sister Lola, who not only eloped, but (gasp!) got *divorced*, then refused either to take alimony or crawl back to her parents - who won't take her back since she won't play by the rules. Lola lives on piano lessons, alcohol, and guts. Only the 3rd sister, Patricia, is socially in good standing, and frankly enjoys using Ellery to make her *real* interest jealous - the Wright County Prosecutor.

Ellery's lease soon creates a problem - Jim Haight reappears, demands to see Nora, and the long-delayed wedding finally takes place. Their long honeymoon cruise (late August - Halloween) is all very well, but Ellery's lease will still have a few months to run. He amiably offers to leave before being asked, and the Wrights, senior, settle matters by offering him rooms in their mansion for the rest of his lease.

But upon the newlyweds' return, disturbing patterns begin taking shape: quarrels, escalated as Jim's poisonous sister Rosemary settles in for a long visit; a book on toxicology containing letters about an illness and death that haven't happened, yet; Jim's occasional binge drinking. And at last, on New Year's Eve, a poisoned cocktail sets events in motion that lift the lid off Hell, as the subsequent murder trial and its aftermath bring out the worst in Wrightsville. This tale is more like _The Scarlet Letters_ than the earliest Queen stories, as Ellery's part is more concerned with the court case than the arrest.

In the first of the Wrightsville mysteries, Ellery seeks the peace and quiet of a small town for his writing, but soon becomes involved in the affairs of the Wright family. When newlyweds Jim and Nora Haight find themselves unwilling hosts to Jim's sister Rosemary, it is only a matter of time until Nora begins to suffer from sudden attacks of illness. However, it is Rosemary who dies on New Year's Eve of arsenic poisoning. What appears to be a straightforward murder case against Jim turns out to be anything but. There are plenty of romantic twists to the satisfying plot.

Alf claims to be the first rock n' roll bodyguard and it's interesting to read how he fell into the job. A nice guy and a nice read but if you are buying this to read controversial info on celebrities, you will disappointed.

Alf describes his early life, history in the service and boxing followed by his foray into the life of a bodyguard. Alf has great history with the Beatles particularly, but also the Stones, Led Zeppelin, Cher and Frank Sinatra as well as many others. While he talks about the good traits, there is no dirt or secrets about these people.

Probably the most interesting relationship he has is with Mike Nesmith of the Monkees. Mike comes across as an interesting guy stuck in a bubble gum band that wants to evolve on a higher level musically.

While this is an enjoyable read, there is no real meat to the book that would need to be there to sell in large numbers.

Alf Weaver tells it like it is. No bull****, no boring stories, but ballsy writing and a whole bunch of stuff about all your favourite rock 'n' roll stars.

Lots of former friends of the stars write kiss and tells, but forget about the kissing and the telling. Weaver ain't one of them. He's got the juice on everyone from Frank Sinatra to The Beatles and also a lot of interesting stuff about The Monkees, Led Zeppelin and all the great bands from the 60s and 70s.

Harry Harrison has never been one of my favourite authors, and this book certainly did not change my opinion. But I have to admit, alternative histories have always been my weak spot and in "a Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah" Harrison succeeds pretty well in combining an intriguing victorian setting and and an interesting plot with the enormous engineering project required by the tunnel between England and its North-American colony, USA. As in Harrison's popular science fiction parodies, this book also has a fluent storyline and although it didn't quite catch the level of sense of wonder I expected, at least it managed to keep away the boredom of our mundane world. And isn't that way most of us read science fiction anyway?

Harry Harrison pre-empts the steampunk novels of the 1990s with this "Victorian" romance set in a parallel world of 1973 where the war of American Independence was won by the British. Travel by sea is slow and cumbersome, so a group of engineers on both sides of the Atlantic come up with a way of building a tunnel that will traverse the ocean. Chief engineer on the British side is Sir Isambard Brassy-Brunel who is in disagreement with the man in overall charge of both sides. Captain Augustine "Gus" Washington, a descendant of the very George Washington who was executed for his traitorous activities against the UK at Lexington, has been awarded the difficult job of co-ordinating both sides of construction. The fact that Gus wishes to marry Brunel's daughter only adds to his problems in this fun, light-hearted SF novel which also features a medium who can allegedly see into the various existing parallel universes. Her only comments regarding our particular timeline regard our weapons capabilities and (naturally) Woolworths, and Marks & Spencers. Good fun

This is one of Harry Harrison's all time greats. His understanding of "what could have been" is unsurpassed.

I could read this book over and over again.

Focusing primarily on the intricacies of political history with occasional forays into the realm of socioeconomics, this book is notably dry. Because it covers several centuries in one not especially long volume, it doesn't seem to have been possible for the authors to describe any one topic in enough detail to really draw the reader in. The emphasis is almost completely on small details of elections and campaigns. The history of women and minorities is slotted in here and there, though this reader found it interesting that the authors feel the need to make a statement about the immorality of slavery while not feeling obliged to comment on the forcible taking of land from Native Americans. I would have liked to have seen a chapter on the natural environments and topography of the state so as to understand the ecosystems in which people have lived, but ecological history doesn't seem to have been an interest of the authors'. Overall, this is useful as an introductory volume but is really not what I'd call exciting or engaging. Perhaps the book's greatest fault is its dearth of useful maps. There's no good relief map and the maps overall are scanty and simplistic.

Spohie a thirteen-year-old girl goes on a sailing trip all summer. Her adoption-mother is worried sick about her while she is gone. She goes with her two adoptive cousins and her three adoptive uncles. They are sailing from America to Ireland to get to her grandpa Bompie's house. They make it to Bompie's house and Bompie tells them his stories from when he was a child.

On a scale from 1-10 I would give this book a 7 because it is about her life. It is a very good book. It has good details and strong words. This book has intresting characters and good settings that a lot of books don't have. I would recommend this book for kids the ages 8-12 years of age.

A welcome new history of the first state to be established west of the Appalachians, it is written in an engaging style. Each period of Kentucky's history is throughly covered. The index allows for a quick search of key events and persons. The book is very comprehensive overall. While the authors provide a "history from the bottom up" approach in that they look beyond just the "famous men" of the Commonwealth, other minorities are missing. My only criticism would be that the authors should have explored the impact of hispanic immigration into the state in the chapter covering the 1990's (this is a relatively recent phenomenon), as well as the incipient gay rights movement represented by the Fairness Alliance in Louisville. These are a part of social history that needed to be explored. Well, hopefully in the next edition of the book. Since this volume appeared, both of these subjects have received extensive coverage in the press. History is being made by both groups in the Blue Grass state as we go into 2000 and beyond, history for the next edition of "A New History of Kentucky"

The jokes are lame and the dialog ridiculous, written as sort-of a James Bond meets Han Solo. The plot is thin, the characters are one dimensional, obviously written as a gag or as an afterthought. I cannot imagine anyone over the age of 15 enjoying this story.

Not one of his better rat stories, but a classic for any rat fan.

If you like the Stainless Steel Rat books, this will be one of your favorites! Slippery Jim is at his best when accompanied by Angelina and the boys... which is the case here. The SSR puts together one of his best schemes with the help of his lady love and slippery sons. This one has it all: politics, laughs, adventure & even a hint of romance! Harrison does it again.

A good book, but not a great one. The subject fascinates me so when I see a book at a discount bookstore in Philadelphia w/the title Stigmata I pick it up. The title and the cover intrigued me. However, Harrison does not break any new ground here. He uses modern day examples of people who have been given this gift from God. He explains the migration of the stigmata from Europe to America. There have been several instances of people from the U.S. with the stigmata. He also touches on the recent phenomena of other Christians besides Catholic Christians receiving the stigmata. The book is very easy to read and is neatly broken down into titled chapters so if you don't want to read about "cases from the past" you can move straight to "cases from the present" without losing anything. In other words you can read chapter six before you read chapter three and not get confused. He does have an interesting chapter on how the medical profession views these phenomena. He sites papers authored by medical doctors on spontaneous wounds and not just the stigmata type. Doctors do not have an explanation. People under close medical observation have spontaneously received scars or burns for no reason. Very odd. He mentions "blushing" as a very small example of this where an intense emotion triggers a visible physical response. I gave the book only two stars because it didn't go into any depth on the subject. I enjoyed parts, but for the most part I knew this stuff prior to reading it. I get a little annoyed after I finish a book and realize I didn't learn anything from it.

All things are possible. Many debate, is sigmata, the act of expression of a god, or the subliminal acts of the minds of a few. It matters not. The point is well made, all things are possible.

A very good overview of the evidence for the occurence of thestigmata. Most of the cases point to its reality as a psychosomaticmanifestation of the individuals identification with the sufferings of Jesus of Nazareth. While this view makes the stigmata less "miraculous," it makes the event just as fascinating as a demonstration of what the mind can render through the flesh (those who insist that all the cases are fraudulent haven't read any serious work on the subject). Ian Wilson's Stigmata is also a good read as well.