A Changed Called Death is an excellent book. As soon as I started reading it I could not put it down. I read the whole thing in one day, because I just had to know how it ended! It was full of suspence, mystery, and interesting characters. It kept me wondering what would happen next. Ray Frasier is an excellent medium and a writer. I have attended many of his classes at Mystiques West over the past 5 years. When he said he was writing a book, I just knew it would be good.! I can't wait to read the next two books in the series.

I originally read this book in February, 2000. I have known Ray Fraser for about 10 years. I have attended his mediumship classes, and I always knew he was a great spirit medium. But, I never knew he could write. I sat down with A Change Called Death to "start" reading it. Finally, at 2:30 in the morning, I finished it. I simply could not put it down. The ending is totally unexpected, but you've got to read it to believe it. I think anyone who likes a good mystery will like this book.

I have read alot of books in my time and this is one of the best. It keeps you glued to every word and makes you want to keep reading and reading. The story line is great! Hope there is a part two real soon.

"Heart of the Falcon" was the very first book I read by Francis Ray and boy was it worth it. Daniel Falcon is a character that readers will never forget. He was determined not to fall in love with Madelyn. The sexier they are; the harder they fall, the better; the book. Since reading this book I have purchased all of Mrs. Ray's books, including a very hard to find, "Fallen Angel".

"Heart of the Falcon" was the first book by Francis Ray that I had read. It was recommended to me by a co-worker. I found the story very interesting and exciting! It was refreshing to read about someone with Daniel Falcon's mixed Native American and African American heritage since there are so many of us out there with the same type of ancestry in our own families. I especially liked the side love story of Daniel's estranged parents finding their way back to each other.

Reading this book has made me a Francis Ray fan. I loved reading about the Taggert family. All of them Matt & Shannon,Madelyn & Daniel, Kane & Victoria. They all should be made into movies. I love the idea of reading romances about successful people of color. I can't wait to read about the rest of the Falcon family. Luke sounds very interesting. I loved Dominque & Trent story in Break Every Rule.

And Judith Viorst has created one of them. I didn't know who the author was until just today but Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day has been my all time favorite book since I can remember. Of course to all my adult friends, I would rather die than admit it. Even today, when I am having just one of those awful days, I tell people I am having an "Alexander" day. I think it also developed my love for poetry.
You hear all the time how it is important for kids to read, but it is just a cliche, it has lost all meaning. It is when you stop and think about authors like Judith Viorst or Dr. Seuss and how I know for myself it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have such a deep love for the written word and its magic it brings that you see its true value. Alexander is a classic, just as much as Moby Dick or Oliver Twist and everyone with a sense of whimsy (and especially those without it) need to read it.
I was reading another book Mrs. Viorst wrote and when I found out she wrote my beloved Alexander book, my face lit up. That's the power of Alexander, he makes 33 year old women's faces light up as they recall his tale of plight. (And a note to Alexander: I talked to my cousins in Australia, and your mother was right, they do have those kind of days there too. LOL)

This book was recently read to my kindergarten sunday school class. While I was listening along with the children, I just had to crack a smile. I've had plenty of days just like Alexander. As a college student, days like this are normal occurances, but it wasn't until I read this book that I realized how much I can blow things out of perspective. Just like in the story, my bad days often begin with my bad attitude while getting out of bed. I truly believe that this book is absolutely essential for everyone to read. If you're not having a bad day, then great...but if you are, it'll definitely put a smile on your face and help put things back in proportion. Just a reminder that good advice for everyone can come from anywhere, even a children's story book.

I have been using this book for several years with groups of children. Mostly when I just needed to fill some time, I would read this story to them. They have always loved it - even the ones who thought they were too old to have a story read to them. By the time I am halfway through it they are already repeating the familiar phrase with me and supporting early literacy skills. The humor is enjoyed by all and the illustrations of Alexander and his brothers are just wonderful.

Everybody has had those days where nothing seems to go right. The misfortunes of Alexander on such a day where he wakes up with gum in his hair - and that was the high point - will keep anyone smiling. A nice little lesson is that the book does neatly wrap up with Mom coming in to save the day. Rather, Mom comes in and tells Alexander that "some days are like that, even in Australia."

Why 5 stars?:
This book has gotten me out of jams before when I needed to fill time. Kids and adults love watching Alexander and the rough day that he has because we can all relate to it. The kids are able to see themselves in Alexander. The repeating phrase is one that they can all join in on. The realistic ending of the book just adds to its magic.

One of my earliest memories as a child is of Mom and Dad taking the whole darn family to the only McDonald's in our area at that time (mid-60's) in Belmont, California - it was still the old fashioned McD's with giant golden arches and outdoor seating (why they decided to tear all of those down, I have no idea - they were wonderful!). A week after my 16th birthday, I started my first real (non-babysitting) job at the local McD's in Foster City. Although I seldom dine there now (waiting for veggie burgers!), the impact and history of McDonald's has always fascinated me. Before picking up "Behind the Arches" the only book I had read about the subject was "Big Mac - the Unauthorized Story of McDonalds" which in fact is not really the story of McDonalds at all, but rather one of franchising in general with a bit more of a focus on McDonalds.

Mr. Love's book, however, focuses more on the genius of Ray Kroc and Fred Turner; how the corporation relies on its owner/operators and suppliers for new ideas (Filet-O-Fish, Big Mac, apple pies, McMuffin, etc.). The chapters on the development of the perfect frozen french fry and Chicken McNuggets were especially interesting...as well as how McDonald's moved into Japan and Europe. Even if you detest McDonald's food, read this book - HIGHLY recommended.

The story behind the ubiquitous golden arches, and the man who expanded them coast to coast, (and today they reach the edges of the Earth). This book provides a reader friendly, detailed synopsis of McDonald's through decades of the original brothers, to Ray Kroc's entry and exit of what would become one of the most recognized oranizations of the world. (Whether this fact has positive or negative implications is another matter entirely). This is a good book about Mickey-D's and sheds light on many other aspects of American history, diet, culture, business and advertising.

Two brothers named McDonald went west to California from the north-east. They came with about about $8 dollars in their pockets (according to them) and got jobs moving props on movie sets in Hollywood (sound familiar?) After some initial business ventures the brothers opened their own small restaurant in San Bernadino.

Meanwhile, in the Midwest Ray Kroc left school at 16, and like almost all other achievers that reached his level of success, he had a strong work ethic and a hard-driving tenacity to succeed. Expecially at concepts that intially proved successful (hence SOP procedures). How ya build opon something that has a good and successful foundation. A gifted, successful salesman from an early age, he got a job selling paper cups and sold them for 17 years as one of the top salesman of his company. Some of his clients for example, were Wrigley field's vendors, among other Chicago establishments. In his late thirties, he started selling shake mixers. McDonald's comes into the picture when Kroc noticed that two brothers who owned a drive-in hamburger restaurant in Southern California, kept ordering lots of shake mixing machines, when Kroc's mixer business was dying out everywhere else in the country. He met the McDonald brothers and was greatly impressed by their practices. Ray implored them to expand and they replied "who'd want to do it, we don't," and Kroc became the seller of their franchises in the Midwest. He was very successful at establishing McD's in that part of the country (hint).

For his work he didn't earn a lot because of the deal he made with the brothers (an inkling of what was to come). So he added a creative and logical way to profit from his diligent work in spreading the franchises. He formed a separate corporation, and when setting up franchises he'd purchase the property where a new McDonald's was to be built, from his own original corporation he created. (Read Robert Kiyosaki's "Loophoes of the Rich" for details). So, with his corporations being the owner of the property, Kroc would either collect the rent, or a percentage of the restaurant's profits, whichever was greater, by contract structure. This allowed him to be compensated more fully in addition to his original deal with the McDonald brothers, which wasn't the most favorable.

Kroc was selling the franchises and focusing on keeping the model and SOPs identical for every franchise. Perhaps an analogy to the assembly line of the Ford. Kroc had a methodology. If a winning method was not altered or diluted by individualistic owner operators or franchise restaurants here and there across the country, the sales, expansion, and growth would continue. McDonald's had tapped into what a large part of the American public wanted in post WWII America. Ray later bought McDonald's from the McDonald brothers for $2.7 million cash. When he discovered after the deal was finished that the original McD restaurant in San Bernadino was not included, and was to be kept by the brothers, Kroc had forced them to change their restaurant's name on legal grounds, and then and built a franchise across the street to put them out of business. The brothers asked for this, and likely didn't understand 3 major things: 1. ethical business practices 2. the law 3. common sense.

Advertising: to help solidify more growth and consumer loyalty, Kroc knew the value of kids. He hired top advertising people: enter Ronald McDonald. After some marketing tests in some particular regions, came the major nationwide promotion to get the kiddies pleading with their parents that they wanted to go to Mickey-Ds. Have you heard kids clamour their parents to do this? I have. And today, McDonald's has continued the kid-concept by investing large amounts into the Playgrounds added onto many of its' stores.

McDonald's represents many things about American culture. To Americans, and today throughout the world. No matter what you think of Mickey D's it's quite an interesting story of how it started, evolved and came to it's ubiquity today. It's a fact that those golden arches are more recognized than the Christian cross. Again, whether we think that's good or not leads to several other issues involving, chemicals and food science, general health, obesity, globalization, homogenization, marketing to children, and corporatization.

For additional insights into the McDonald's phenomenon read, Jennifer Talwar's "Fast Food, Fast Track" and Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal," and Fumento's "Fatland."

This book is as fascinating as any of the best Ludlum novels I have read. It put to rest many misconceptions of McDonald's as a "cheap hamburger joint". One cannot help but leave with great admiration for Ray Kroc and others surrounding McDonald's for their perseverance in bringing to the world an affordable, quality food product in spite of a barrage of barriers placed in their way.

THE BOOK OF LIES, WHICH IS ALSO FALSELY CALLED BREAKS, THE WANDERINGS OR FALSIFICATION OF THE THOUGHT OF FRATER PERDURABO WHICH THOUGHT ITSELF IS UNTRUE... Within the 93 "chapters" of this enigmatic little book lie the deepest and most profound "truths". Ranging from a single symbol to nearly two pages in length, the subject of each chapter/poem is determined by the Qabalistic significance of its number. The often outrageous and entertaining commentaries accompanying each chapter explain just enough, but not too much, to assist the reader in their own Qabalistic understanding of these words and numbers. Concerning this wonderful collection of gems, Crowley himself writes: "At first sight the book is a jumble of nonsense intended to insult the reader. It requires infinite study, sympathy, intuition and initiation. Given these, I do not hesitate to claim that in none other of my writings have I given so profound and comprehensive an exposition of my philosophy on every plane..." Need we say more?

Of all of the books by Aleister Crowley, this is perhaps the single most complicated, most challenging. Certainly, this is true for those not included as Holy Books. It reads very much like those other 13 texts.

This, however, is not a Holy Book. Rather, it is a series of poems and prose written in a highly obscure and intricate fashion.

To understand what really is a simple concept (and which forms the intellectual basis of the book) you would have to read Crowley's essay "The Soldier and the Hunchback". Even the number of chapters (93) has an important symbolism: "93" is the numerological equivalent of the Greek word "thelema" ('will') and "agape" ('love')--the meaning of this is a doctrine of the religion Thelema.

The basic concept of the book deals with a kind of moral relativism. Truth, for all intents and purposes, doesn't exist outside the realm of consciousness of the individual. This book attempts to make as large a jump between the gap of truth for one and falsehood for another, as possible.

It was originally designed for those who have reached a great height of spiritual attainment (Magister Templi 8=3, to be precise). However, this was the first book by Crowley that I ever read. Those of you who are students out there might want to familiarize yourself with the book anyway. It provides a great introduction to the style and character of the man, and most of its mysteries can be understood with enough patience and thought (some require esoteric knowledge which is not supposed to be known outside the A.'. A.'. or OTO).

This was also the passage for Crowley to enter IX degree of the OTO (see the introduction). There have been references to this book in pop culture (see the album called Psalm 69 by the industrial band Ministry--the title is derived from the 69th chapter, entitled "The Way to Succeed-And the Way to Suck Eggs!", and the title track contains several references to this chapter, including its title).

In short, this little gem is a masterwork of poetry and intellect. Even if the words make absolutely NO sense to you whatsoever, it should be read simply for the value of the poetry. It's money well spent.

This book is quite puzzling and entertaining...Many poems with deep hidden meanings that take much time and understanding to fully appreciate...each time it is read something new is found, one of Crowley's best...

BLAST OFF is not only a beautiful book to behold it is researched by and with the help of fans who love the space toys of the 30's, 40's and 50's. The team at Dark Horse has given space toy fans a bookmark in the history of childhood toys.

BLAST OFF includes photos and information on toys inspired from the space heroes of Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon to the Space Opera heroes of Space Patrol, Tom Corbett, Rocky Jones and other role models of the 1950's. There are chapters on the English toys and the robots from Japan along with well-researched sections and chapters on the makers of the space toys of our childhood, Archer, Marx and Pyro. Many of the toys displayed in this book are rare and hard to find items that have not been seen before now.

However, the backbone of the book is the interviews with collectors and fans of space toys. Why we remember and kept these playthings of our childhood is as interesting as the fantastic photos and ads that are generously spread throughout the book.

I found that I would move back and forth between chapters, reading about the toys that I remembered but had not seen in many years. It brought back many good memories along with information and research that should be saved and shared with future generations.

A must have book for any science fiction or space toy collector. Thank you Dark Horse Books and the creative team of Mark, Steve and Mike for bringing us this fantastic slice of childhood back to life. I hope BLAST OFF stays in print for many years to come as a reference point in the history of not just toys but SPACE TOYS!!!!

Blast Off! does what other collector's books only pretend to do. Collector books usually center around value guides, and pass themselves off as glorified shopping lists for toy shows and antique malls. Other books forego any knowledge of the subject whatsoever, and go with photographic essays of the nostalgia craze. A third sort of book tells long stories about growing up in some bygone era. All three sorts of books have, understandably a small readership and limited popular appeal.

The authors of Blast Off!, on the other hand, did the hard work of writing a real book, somehow combining it with the best photos and graphics I've seen in a collector's book, and sprinkling in enough anecdotes and oral histories to keep it interesting. This book is a major effort from an accomplished team: a knowledgeable collector, a lively writer, and an avid fan and history buff--the last being Mike Richardson, publisher of Dark Horse comics and owner of the Things from Another World sci-fi comic shops.

Blast Off! launches itself as an overview/ intro to the golden age of space toys, but its appeal is really wider than that. This is a book collectors will want, not simply to locate market values for haggling at the junk shop, but to remind them what they like about their hobby. Beautiful and imaginative graphics evoke the promise and wonder of the space age, but the book is so lively and informative I had to read it twice: once to read the captions and look at the pictures, and again just enjoying the text.

It's impossible to overstate how great this book is. The photographs are incredibly clear and bright, and the subject matter is drawn from endlessly rich collections. Books like this tend to fall through the cracks--not really appealing to the general reader, and yet not in-depth enough for the collector. But a reader from the first category who casually glances at this book may find a new interest, and seasoned collectors may find rarities they didn't know existed. Every era has volumes that define it; for the space age, that would be Blast Off!

BUY THIS BOOK!!! "Why?", you may ask. Well, aside from being the definitive book on space toys, BLAST
OFF! gives you more color photos of incredible space toys than you have ever seen at one time and in one place.
We all have fond memories of some space toy from our childhood. Trying to recapture our past, we may even
buy back one or two of these toys at a swap meet or toy show.
Going one step further, we now start buying books, magazines, or auction catalogues featuring space toys. All
these serve as our mental guide to what's "out there".
Initially, this method succeeds; eventually, however, it fails because the photos we've assembled are in black and
white while our memory of these toys is in true, living color.
Enter S. Mark Young with his book, BLAST OFF! Any space toy you ever had or read about, along with others you've never seen before, is photographed here in color so real that you can almost reach into the page and take out whatever wind-up rocket, disintegrator pistol, or bubble helmet your heart desires.
And, for those fans starved for information, wait until you read the chapter on Archer Plastics! Did you know that
the first Archer space playset and the first Marx space playset debuted at the same time? The year was 1952.
So, don't wait, don't hesitate, order your copy now. Be the first kid on your block to own a copy of S. Mark
Young's BLAST OFF!

Although I am an avid reader of American military history, I read few first-person accounts of war because I tend to prefer books about geopolitics, grand strategy, and decisive weapons systems. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this book about a marine officer's experience during the Korean War. It was easy reading, its narrative was straightforward, informative, and, I believe, honest, and it provided some valuable insights into the harsh realities of the first of the Cold War's regional conflicts.

The United States' "forgotten war" began on June 25, 1950, when the People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) invaded the Republic of Korea (South Korea). At the time, Author Joseph Owen was a Marine Corps lieutenant stationed in North Carolina, living with his wife and their two young children. According to Owen: "Nobody at Camp Lejeune had expected a shooting war. Nor were we ready for one." A captain who had been an adviser to the South Korean Marine Corps predicted Korea would be "[o]ne lousy place to fight a war. Too hot in summer, too cold in winter, and straight up and down mountain terrains all year round. Except for those stinking rice paddies down in the valleys. Human manure they use. Worst stink in the world." Nevertheless, according to Owen: "The possibility of American Marines in a combat role excited us." Owen writes: "The North Koreans continued to overpower the meager resistance offered by the South Korean soldiers....Seoul, the South Korean capital, fell with hardly a fight, and the Red blitzkrieg rolled southward. In response, President Truman escalated American involvement in the war. He ordered General MacArthur, America's supreme commander in the Far East, to use U.S. Army troops stationed in Japan to stem the invaders." And: "General MacArthur called for a full division of Marines to help him turn back the North Koreans. According to Owen: "The Marine Corps welcomed the call, but we did not have a full division to put in the field;" and "More than seven thousand of us at Camp Lejeune received orders to proceed by rail to Camp Pendleton. There they would form into companies and embark for Korea." Owen's unit, "Baker-One-Seven became one of three rifle companies if the 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment....Our ranks were filled by 215 men and 7 officers who had never before served together....Many of [the privates] were beardless teenagers with little training beyond the basics of shouldering a rifle and marching in step." While training, there was much concern about the readiness of the Marines for combat. At one point, after a sergeant remarks that the troops need more training in boot camp, Owen succinctly invokes reality: "They are not going to boot camp. They are going aboard ship. And they are going to fight." On September 1, the company boarded a Navy transport for the three-week voyage to east Asia. According to Owen: "Ready or not, we were on the way to war." And, according to Owen, the 1st Marine Division's orders were "to go for the Yalu River," North Korea's border with China. At one point, a veteran officer provides this paraphrase of William Tecumseh Sherman's famous dictum: "War is hell, but you never know what particular kind of hell it's going to be." The Korean War hell was cold and barren. Owen writes: "We were chilled through and bone tired as we slogged our way back to battalion....The bivouac was lumpy with rocks and boulders;" "The cold weather was as formidable an enemy as the Chinese;" and "Rarely did the [daily action] reports exceed zero degrees, and there were lows of twenty below."

By the time Owen's outfit arrived in Korea, he writes, "we were making bets that the war would be over before we got into it." Owen's Marines could not have been more wrong. While Owen is inspecting his men's weapons, a private asks: "Think we'll get shot at today, Lieutenant?" Owen replies: "We're taking the point for the regiment. If the gooks are there, they'll be shooting at us." A few pages later, after the outfit's first experience in combat, Owen comments: "We were fortunate that the enemy had not chosen a "fight-to-the-death" defense of this hill, as they would when we advanced farther north." But some fighting was hand-to-hand. At one point, Owen writes: "Judging from the noise they were making, and the direction of their grenades, the North Koreans were preparing to attack, not more than thirty yards away." The Captain tells Owen and the other subordinate officers: "The Chinese have committed themselves to this war....The people we will fight are the 124th Division of the Regular Chinese Army....They're tough, well-trained soldiers, ten thousand of them. And all of their officers are combat experienced, their very best....A few hours from now we'll have the Chinese army in our gunsights. We'll be in their gunsights. You damn well better have our people ready for some serious fighting." The combat was, indeed, brutal. According to Owen: "The Chinese attacked in massive numbers, an overwhelming weight, but they also endured terrible casualties." Owen recalls that, while waiting for one Chinese attack, the "men stacked Chinese bodies in front of the holes for greater protection." And the fighting around the frozen Chosin Reservoir may have been the most brutal of the war. Owen ultimately suffered wounds requiring 17 months of treatment, and he never regained full use of one arm.

A few months ago, I reviewed James Brady's wonderful The Coldest War: A Memoir of Korea here. This book has different charms. Whereas Brady is a gifted professional writer, there is no elegant prose here. But Owen provides an equally vivid account of this ugly war. Big, sophisticated studies of military history focusing on geopolitical principles and grand strategy rarely offer narrative moments like the ones in this book. Reader are unlikely to forget the Korean War after reading Joseph Owen's Colder than Hell.

Colder than Hell: A Marine Rifle Company at Chosin Reservoir. By Joseph R. Owen. Reviewed by Mike Davino

Army Korean War expert Lieutenant Colonel Roy Appleman has called the 1st Marine Division of the Chosin Reservoir campaign "one of the most magnificent fighting organizations that ever served in the United States Armed Forces." The remarkable and inspiring story of the division at the Chosin Reservoir has been the subject of numerous books and several films. During their fighting withdrawal, the Marines decimated several divisions of the Chinese People's Liberation Army while at the same time fighting an exceptionally harsh winter environment.

Joseph Owen's new book on the subject tells the story from the cutting edge perspective of a rifle company. The author served as a mortar section leader and rifle platoon commander in Baker Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines from its activation in August 1950 through the Inchon-Seoul and Chosin fighting where he was severely wounded.

There are many reasons given for the outstanding performance of the Marines in northeast Korea during the winter of 1950. It is clear from this book that a large measure of the credit goes to the Marines and their leaders at the small unit and rifle company level.

Owen's narrative covers the hasty activation and training of the company, its brief participation in the fighting north of Seoul after the amphibious assault at Inchon and the details of its intense fighting at Chosin. He candidly discusses the mistakes made by the leaders and Marines of Baker Company, to include his own. More importantly, Owen covers what they learned from these mistakes and how they used that knowledge to defeat the Chinese in a series of intense actions.

Although focused at the company level, the author frames his story with the overall conduct of the campaign. Refreshingly, unlike many books about the Chosin campaign, it is free of partisan sniping about the contributions made by the various services involved. Owen gives credit to the Army units that fought at Chosin as well as the contributions of naval and air forces and our British allies.

This book is rich in lessons about small unit leadership, training and combat operations. It is an excellent addition to the personal narratives on the Korea War.

When preparing to travel to an Asian country on business, I seek context by reading of the wars the U.S. has fought there. When I look in those Japanese, Chinese and Korean eyes, I see the children of old enemies and old friends. While plowing through Fehrenbach's canonical Korean War history, "This Kind of War", I took a break and lost a weekend of yard work to "Colder Than Hell" which I ordered based on the praise given by my fellow Amazon reviewers. My thanks to the other reviewers, for this is a superb first person account of a Marine company fighting it's way up and then back down the Korean peninsula in 1950. Marines of Baker one-seven fought and froze to the death too often, but their sacrifice has let 47 million Koreans in the South build a democracy and learn the meaning of freedom. The price of freedom was huge for Baker one-seven, but the esprit de corps so crisply described by ex-Second Lt. Owen carried his Marines from hill to hill. This is an excellent book and a must read for fans of first person stories of war and sacrifice.

The first section of Ray's book covers the fundamentals of all grain brewing. I seldom refer to it.

However, the second section not only profiles many of the classic beer styles, it analyzes the recipes and techniques used in producing competition winning entries for the styles. While one can argue that strict style guidelines and competitions based on style guidelines are counterproductive in the craft beer industry, it is very interesting to see how accomplished brewers are formulating their recipes. Many of the formulation compilations are surprising. If anything, they show that you CAN deviate from strict recipe guidelines and produce a quality beer.

I have two shelves full of brewing books. This is the one I would hang onto if I was allowed only one brewing reference.

First, let me say what this book is not. It is not a recipe book, or a book which describes the techniques for brewing beer. In other words, it is not for beginners.
After following recipes for a number of batches of beer, it was time to learn how to create my own recipes. The purpose of this book is to do just that; come up with your own recipes. The first part of the book tells the reader how to compute the grain bill, the hop bill and how to hit original gravity. It also contains information on beer color, yeast and water. I used this section to make the computations for my first original recipe. This, in turn, gave me the incentive to buy a brewing software package which I now use in conjunction with the second part of the book.
The second part describes beer styles and what ingredients go into each style described. There is a chart for each style which gives information on ingredients used in beers which made it to the second round of the NHC. I found some of the charts in this part somewhat confusing and there are a few references in the text to wrong charts. However, as a result of this book, I have started to formulate my own recipes with a lot of success.

I've got several brewing texts, but this is the one I frequent the most. If you're a moderately experienced brewer looking for details on a particular style, or you're trying to get away from just copying other people's recipes and try your hand at it for a change, this is just the book. It tells you the ingredients, mash schedule, yeasts, etc that would be appropriate for a style and what worked for other award winning beers, plus some history on each of the major styles.

I could not put this book down! I have an interest in childbirth and midwifery, and just happened to pass by this book. Am I glad I picked it up! This book makes the biblical account of Moses' birth really come alive! The Hebrew midives' story was so compelling. The characters were so real -- I cried through one entire chapter! When I'm reading the Bible, sometimes I don't really think about the details of what actually transpired, and it can be hard to relate to. But this book made me realize what heroic women those Hebrew midwives truly were. I definitely want to read more!

This is one of those books that I hated to see come to an end...wonderful story from the Bible. This author has a talent for bringing the women of the Bible to life. While reading this book, the reader realizes how special a good midwife was in Egypt in the time of Pharoah. This is a story of Moses' birth and his survival. The sacrifices his mother made to give birth to him and also keep him from being murdered. Here's another example of how wise and sacrificing the women of biblical times were.
I would encourage everyone to read this novel. The writing flows, there are no unnecessary wordy descriptions. Very enjoyable as well as educational.
If you enjoyed Red Tent, Queen maker, or any of Francine Rivers' books....this is a book you do not want to miss reading, enjoying, and discussing.

I picked this book up thinking I would learn about midwifery traditions in ancient Egypt...specifically the use of herbs and non-invasive techniques in childbirth. This book does not address these topics in depth, what I did find, however, is an inspiring story of love and faith. I was also moved by how the biblical midwives were regarded with respect and reverence. She was not "threatened" by others, i.e., doctors or whatever they were called then. I've read other books about midwives, mostly those in the turn of the century and also one about a modern-day midwife, what they do and how they do it has not changed much but how they are regarded by the medical community, the public and their clients has. Thank you for giving us a heroine !!!

I have not read Ray's newest book, but I recall reading this one a couple of years ago. First, kudos to Ray for turning up some of the resources that many diet "experts" remain ignorant of (thanks also for turning me on to Paul Shepard!). Employing an Old Testament structure was brilliant in light of his arguments that we've been in poor health since the first agricultural transitions.

Evolutionary diet principles represent an approach that ever more people, (then) their doctors, (then) their doctors' alma maters, and (eventually) government interventionists will pay homage to - especially as the testimonials and research abstracts continue to mount, and as the theories behind it become more refined.

However, current theories are a problem for Audette and other "paleolithics" such as Eaton et al, who do not sufficiently question or examine the saturated fat-CHD dogma that rests shakily on what has been referred to derisively as Ancel Keys' "armchair epidemiology". For his part, Audette cites authors such as Eaton, Konner and Shostak (low sat-fat, high polyunsat-fat advocates) in the same breath as Abrams and Enig (sat-fat defenders who cite epidemiological associations between polyunsats and certain cancers), without attempting to reconcile these fundamentally different approaches to the issue of fats in human nutrition. There will be a fundamental split in the ranks of "evolutionary" dieters along this issue (see the Kordain v Enig debates on the paleonutrition site - my money's on Enig for the long haul, as she has the greater weight of biochemical and ethnological evidence, whereas that ol' time "armchair epidemiology" is still a major pillar of support for Kordain et al). The most reasonable approach seems to be that taken by John Yudkin and Wolfgang Lutz - both of them are worth a look.

My only other criticism would be that Ray is something of a neo-Luddite regarding the role of technology in food production. If he eats anything that his falcon hunts (and I don't know if he does), he would clearly be exercising a technological imperative in regards to his food choices. Even the concept of shopping for 'only what you could kill with a stick' ignores its obvious technological implications (besides, it stands to reason that most killing with sticks was done by large groups of hunters). As this debate moves forward, we should remember that technology is only a manifestation of human intelligence, creativity and adaptation to external stimuli (such as increasing or decreasing affluence, ecological or social change, etc etc). It's the unforeseen consequences of technologies that sometimes get us into trouble - not technology as an entity unto itself. Furthermore, technology has played a critical role in enabling modern humans to finally reapproach the economic and nutritional well-being of antecedent human cultures; it might even allow us to surpass those cultures in health and well being someday (which God forbid, might require the use of nutritional supplements! ). Ray must also recognize that the ecological insults faced by human bodies are probably far worse than they were 10K to 1M years ago, and in that regard, nutritional supplementation may be of critical importance (the jury is still out, but again, I'm betting against Ray's horse here). Rather than criticize technology on the romantic premise that it inevitably leads to untold human suffering, we would be far better served by exploring how we can most effectively employ technological innovation in the "hunt" for optimal human health.

Neander-thin makes sense. Most other books and theories on nutrition take a more high-tech approach and get really bogged down with "scientific" details, making them extremely tedious and boring. This book is a pleasure to read. I especially like the excellant narrative at the beginning about the history of dieting and how we have come to wrongly believe that complex carbohydrates are healthy. Since first reading this book over a year ago, I have never been sick. Not once. I've had no colds, no flu, virtually no allergy symptoms and no more arthritis. I believe that if everyone read this book, there would be a lot of doctors out of work.

Not just another weight-loss diet guide, NeanderThin presents a rational case for how humankind's digestive genetics have not caught up with the radical changes in diet since the start of the Neolithic era (10-20 thousand years ago). A clear, well-stated argument is made for elimination of modern foods that need to be cooked or processed to be edible, or which couldn't be obtained by a hunter-gatherer on the savanna, 'naked with only a sharp stick.' Well done, and totally workable recommendations without demanding too much in the way of dietary sacrifice or lifestyle change. It works!