This is an amazing story and a scary one. For anyone who's been in an American courtroom and been dismayed by the Judge, it reads like a true story. The historical background is realistic and very interesting - a can't put it down kind of book.

My friend told me this was like Grisham, but I found it even better than his best books. Author shows what kind of damage a psychotic judge can do. Edge of your seat legal thriller that builds to a shocking climax.

I could not put this book down. 'The Judgment of Thomas' is so many things -- courtroom drama, war epic, psychological thriller. What's amazing is that author Howard Stern is clearly a master of each genre. All of the characters are memorable, especially the title character Thomas, who is one of the most compelling creations I've read in recent fiction. Stern takes you deep inside this fascinating, maniacal character's head and you won't be able to put the book down until you see just what he is ultimately capable of. This is a completely fresh take on the legal thriller. Stern immediately proves he's worthy of comparisons to Grisham and Turow. Highly recommended.

Also recommended: Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow, LA Confidential by James Ellroy, The Cider House Rules by John Irving, The Alienist by Caleb Carr

This is a book for anyone with dreams, or for someone who just wants to be a better person.

Howard Griffith is a first-class football player. In my honest opinion, Howard is the most underrated football player in the NFL. Year in and year out he is busting his butt for guys like Terrell Davis and Mike Anderson, and not complaining about it. This man made Terrell Davis. And hopefully he will get his pro-bowl before its all over.

Enough about him as a football player, on with the book. In this book, Howard talks about his life and the trials he has been through. This is a story of a man who never lost sight of his goals. While he has had a tough life, he never gave up, and always does his best to help his team - even if that means taking blocking assignments and never getting the ball. "Laying It On The Line, Notes Of A Team Player" teaches people to better themselves... ...to better the world. With his actions speak louder than words attitude, he teaches independance, how to be a person free from following others and just being the best person you can possibly be. He teaches about responsibility and maturity, and taking life seriously.

Reading this book was a turning point in my life. Before i read it, I was, simply stated, and punk kid. This book taught me the importance in doing your very best at everything you do and how important things like you education are to you. He shows you how you can be indepent but still conform, not to stick out. After reading this, It opened my mind really. Before hand I was quick to judge just about anyone that didn't believe exactly how I felt. Now I think empathatically, and am not so quick to judge. I know it's irrelavant, but its amazing what certain situation you can be put in can change you life around in a totally different manor.

Props to Howard Griffith with this truly inspiring story. This is a perfect book for anyone with dreams, and that is willing to work. Howard Griffith's book deserves every 5 stars I gave it, maybe more (if I could). Simply stated, this book can change you life.

This self-proclaimed bookworm ranks this book as one of her all-time favorites. To those who aren't necessarily interested in football, to those who don't understand football, and for those who don't even know what football is, believe me when I say, you will undoubtedly connect with some, if not all of this autobiography. Indulge yourself in this down-to-earth, eye-opening, and often comedic drama that chronicles the ups and downs of life, as it relates to Griffith's chosen career of football. I see this book as more of the spiritual journey of a young man's life, explained through the metaphor of football. It could easily be a training development manual for any business consisting of more than one person - it's all about teamwork and the success, respect, honor and glory that can be achieved if all involved are confident and secure with their individual roles and truly understand the concept of "team." If you need to be "pumped up" and inspired about anything you're trying to accomplish in your life right now, I suggest you purchase this book - it just may be the medicine you need.

This a truly remarkable account of Griffith's story and the obstacles that he's faced to get where he is today(the best fullback in the NFL). There were so many points in his life that he could have given up--but he didn't. Don't think that it's your "typically" sports book--it's not! This book is for anyone that aspires to fulfill their dream. I highly recommend this book. Kudos to Griffith!!!

I like the way this book treats life and death as part of the same continuum, weaving them both in and out of an interesting plot. I enjoyed this book emensly.

Leaving This Life Behind is an exceptionally engaging novel. The style is highly accessible and flows smoothly, but it also contains a lot of interesting images and insights into human character. The author has no trouble making transitions between two substantially different narrators, and between the gritty realism of contemporary New York and a variety of other settings - including the mystical and the historical - which are rendered with moving detail and remarkable credibility. (A typical example of its talent for description occurs when the cab driver narrator describes being hailed this way: "At the intersection of 14th and 3rd, I'm hailed by a heavyset woman who flags me as if she were hand guiding a cargo plane down onto a runway.") The book also contains a view on life which, though it may not be fashionable in its lack of materialism, is striking for its originality and intensity. I highly recommend this book. Anyone who reads it will encounter insights that are unusual and memorable.

It's a deceptive book -- as easy as it is to read, the ideas and concepts stay with you for a long time. It's not preachy or insistant that there is only one answer to the universe, but rather just uses the topic of reincarnation to open up your thinking to the meaning of life on earth ... and life after earth.

I am 34 years old and this was my favorite book as a child. I am certain I learned to read from it and can still smell the pickle and the chocolate mint cookie. I am buying it now for my godchild who is 5 with the hope that she will love it as much as I

A little bunny follows his nose is about is a story about a young bunny who has nothing to do so decides to go on a venture to see what he can smell. While he is on his journey he meets many other kids like him who are collecting all kinds of things for their moms. He goes to the parents houses and smells the things that thier are making and this books lets you smell them too by having a scratch and smell tab on the side. This book is a nice book and would by a fun book to read to your child.

I have a 3 yr old & a 5 yr old...out of there 100's of books that we got at the liberary this is one of the few that they made us go to the store to buy it for them, the 1st one we got was taken everywhere with them,& they lost it & they wanted it replaced right then & there this is the best childrens book I'VE read in a long time. their favorate smell are the cookies,they tell me they wish they could eat them!, anyway this is deffinatly a 5 star book!!!

I found an old copy of this book and read it a year ago. An incredible true story. I`m glad to see that it is available in paperpback again.

After having read The Perfect Storm, I was interested in other stories about the fishermen of the Gloucester area. This book fit the bill perfectly--just as harrowing as The Perfect Storm, but with a happier ending.

This is without a doubt the best seafaring story I have read since reading Joshua Slocum's account of his sailing adventures. Would make a wonderful film if produced by someone careful enough to make the details realistic.

I just LOVE this book. First of all, I love picture books of songs, they combine our two favourite activities. I also love what the author has done with the traditional song - he's turned it into a logical and wonderful story which makes sense, rather than just a succession of things. It's become a story of a 1 yr old and her/his extended loving family. The illustrations are superb. My daughter (now 25 months) has loved it since we got it from the library about 3 months ago. (obviously we had to buy a copy!) She has it all memorized, knows exactly where to turn the page, she loves to sing it over and over. A perfect bedtime book... I can hear her now: " an' maybe hab a dream od a mockin' biiiirrrrd" with an appropriate final flourish to the song!

Ahlberg presents a new variation on an old Anglo-originating lullaby, where loved ones promise to give a baby an assortment of gifts-- each one determined by the last. The sum is a cyclical verse of rhyme and repetition, utilizing a litany form. Beautiful illustrations accompany the timeless text.

My 2-year-old loves books about babies and this is one of our favorites. We sing it every night as part of her bedtime routine. The book is beautifully illustrated and each page offers lots of opportunities to point out objects to help build vocabulary. This is a "must-have" for every baby's library

It's true, my six-year-old loves this book. The truly great thing about it, though, is that it is thoroughly entertaining for the adults reading along with her. Everyone who has ever loved a cat, regardless of their age, should read this book. It's priceless.

My daughter is a beginning reader and loves all of the Mr. Putter and Tabby books, but this one is--by far--her favorite. It is endearing, tender, and funny, too. She reads it over and over, often laughing so hard at the events and characters' expressions, that she can't even read for a moment or two. All of these Rylant series books--and this one in particular--have really been a boost to her enjoyment of reading. I'm sure they would be for any 6-8 year old.

This is the best one yet! The story is so funny and original and the illustrations are fantastic. Simply adorable! The love Mr. Putter has for his cat was evident in the tender way he reacted to and coped with her "problem."

Because of the title I almost bypassed this remarkable book. After all of these years you would think that I would have learned not to judge a book by either it's title or it's cover. I am glad that I looked inside, for this book represents one of the best expositions of the "golden thread" that runs through all the works of the truly great minds and souls. I noted this some years ago, how the same mystic truths kept surfacing in the works of men from so many different times and cultures. In fact, most of my favorite ideas, quotes, and epigrams from my favorite philosophers are contained between these covers- it was rather like an incredible string of synchronicities. I am awed by the author's ability to assemble all of this wisdom (as opposed to mere knowlege and facts) into a satisfying question and answer format that reads rather like the socratic method.

In this beautiful book, I have met countless Masters from all Ages, all speaking in the same vein, All about self responsibility, Learning how to be " A part of this world, but not of it." AS is spoken in the New testement.
To be truely amazed at the accumulation of Wisdom, that Vernon Howard included in this Masterpiece, is beyond imagination.
I have loved this book from the day I opened the cover and read the beginning of a 'journey into myself'.It has changed my life and started a new direction for me toward a New Life...Thank You, Vernon Howard !!

Vernon Howard's books are the clearest modern presentation of the timeless spiritual teachings that I know of -- by far. They are also the most challenging, because every page is a call to total self-honesty. For this reason his books are of tremendous value to those who truly want a changed life. This volume takes the question-and-answer format which Howard frequently employed. What makes it unique is that the answers are all quotations -- quotations drawn from an amazing variety of spiritual and philosophical writers.

We have all heard the statement, "All religions teach the same truth." As an academic, I was trained to dismiss this kind of thing (with a snort!) as an ignorant cliche. But Vernon Howard's books are about something much higher than specialized intellectual knowledge: the truth itself. If your background is anything like mine, that may sound strange to you. How can one speak of "the truth"? Haven't we learned that everything is a fiction -- a construction based on self-interest and historical conditioning? Well, yes and no. The human mind does indeed produce such fictions; but there is something much higher than the human mind, which can be contacted by those who sincerely desire it. This "something higher," and the way to contact it, is the great theme of both Western and Eastern spiritual teachings.

In Vernon Howard's books you encounter such a clear distillation of these teachings, it begins to dawn on you that they really *are* all saying the exact same thing. (Of course, this applies only to the original authentic teachers, not those who organize divisive factions in their names.) When you start to see for yourself how Jesus, Buddha, Spinoza (!), Emerson, the Tao Te Ching, the Upanishads, the Sufis, the Zen masters and others really are expressing the same core teaching, the question invariably arises: how can it not be the truth?

If you're interested in that possibility, you'll find this book fascinating. It's a tour de force of erudition, yet not a scholarly work. Rather, it's one man's personal synthesis based on what clearly were many long years of study and search for truth. It's also encouraging testimony that the search can succeed! -- because no mere collector of these quotations could possibly have brought them together in such a living, illuminating way.

This book is a treasure trove of beautiful and inspiring pearls from many great writers, many of which will live on in your mind.

"This well-researched biography of the first woman to earn a university degree...conveys the majesty of the Italian baroque period and [the Lady Cornaro's] astonishing scholarship." (Donald Miller, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Senior Editor)

I recently noticed that the popular "Book Lover's Page-a-Day Calendar" chose to include THE LADY CORNARO as its featured "star" for December 11, 2002.

"You've probably never heard of Elena Cornaro," observes the calendar entry, "yet she holds a unique place in history. In 1678, she became the first woman in Europe to receive a Ph.D. Jane Howard Guernsey's book is the first full-length biography of this remarkably accomplished woman . . . an inspiring story."

I believe that it is highly appropriate for THE LADY CORNARO to be included in a book lover's daily calendar described as "365 days of good authors, good books and good reading . . . the calendar of passionate recommendations." Truly, THE LADY CORNARO is an outstanding book, worthy of a passionate recommendation!

Although it is unlikely to happen, Elena Cornaro really should be nominated one of the hundred most important people of the last thousand years. In this carefully researched and highly readable book, Jane Howard Guernsey has successfully reconstructed the story of the Lady Cornaro's astonishing achievements and raised the questions they invite. The author has added to the recoverable information about the life of "The Cornaro," as she was affectionately known to her fellow Venetians, valuable contextual details about the life and milieu of Venice and Padua and about her tutors and contemporaries. These details elucidate both the uniqueness of the opportunities granted her and the enormous stress under which she lived as she labored to do the will of her earthly and her heavenly fathers. (Professor Rizzo's more extensive review of "The Lady Cornaro: Pride and Prodigy of Venice" may be found in "Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature," Vol. 19, No. 1, Spring 2000.)

Maxim Gorky's revolutionary novel, "Mother" is propaganda at its greatest.

The story plays with emotional themes and uses common human feelings to drag the reader in while laying the ground work for a book that follows the work of revolutionaries.

The book uses simple style to make it an easy read while slowly adding thicker and thicker layers of propaganda and pro-Marxist Communist theory.

Writen early on in the movement, this great Russian story gives a somewhat acurate look into the lives of the factory workers in Russia around the tunr of the century.

The melodramatic sentamentality, idealistic theorizing and heavy use of playing with our heart strings are the only things that keep this novel from being a 5.

Well written and successful in pushing forth a doctrine for the Social Republicans, this is a wonderful and easy read. It tends to drag during certain sections but can be read without any true effort.

Can be considered as one of the classics of the world literature, and magnum opus of the literary gaint of Russia Maxim Gorky "The Mother" shows how common soviet proletariat inspired and participated in the war against the autocratic czar and the capitalists of the country which eventually ended with the great October Revolution. Pelageya Nelovna - wife of a petty factory worker Vlassov stays away from social consciousness and revolutionery movements because of the burden of her life itself. She is a representative of hundreds and thousands of workers who can only think about their work and hard ways of relaxation out of it. The change she shows with her son Pavel Vlassov who takes a different direction when compared to other people living in the workers townships and moves in the path of revolution and eventually becoming a complete part of the revolution itself inspired thousands of soviet workers lived under the capatilist society of the then soviet union. The moral charecter and support Gorky extended for the revolution was manifested in "The Mother". She became representative mother country calling and supporting her children fighting for their rights. Running under the backdrop of workers township where men work till their bodies are completely tired, drink and beatup their wives and children to sublimate their frustration - mother represent the life of working class people in soviet union of later half of 19th century and early stages of 20th century. Away from political movements and social portrayal "The Mother" is also an excellant lyrical beauty. The events created and the detailed explanation of the backdrop in which the events occur represents creative and poetic story telling capabilities of Gorky. This is not a book to pass your time. If you like to read serious literature, if you want to read how to portray the social history in a contemporary literary work -this should be the first to read.

This is one really good book by one of my favorite writers Maxim Gorkij. Not the best but just read it, I know I will again.