I read this book many years ago, when I was in Junior High, and had no clue it was the same Jack London that wrote "Call of the Wild". The book was that timeless, I thought it was a contemporary writer. I have been looking for it for years and will definitely get another copy to read again. If you're a SciFi/Fantasy Fan looking for some thought provoking, but "light" reading, this is a great book.

While I'm not much into reading fiction or Sci-Fi type books; I have to say, this is probably one of the best books, I've ever read in my life. ( and I'm an avid reader)

Jack London has a way of really pulling your mind into the picture. ( Or putting pictures/stories inside your head)

If you're looking for a book to take your mind of things, or want to live a vicarious experience, I can think of no better book than this one.

This is one of Jack Londons stellar achievements. The ending will surprise you.

An awesome book, that you'll have trouble putting down, until you're finished.

Nightmares plague the narrator's childhood. In these dreams he relives the pre-stoneage life of one of his proto-human ancestors. Each night is a different episode from his ancestor's life, and the episodes are lived and relived in a jumbled, non-chronological order. The narrator places the episodes in chronological order and tells his ancestor's biography. What emerges is an action-packed, engaging saga of adventure and romance at the dawn of humanity.

London got the science of genetics wrong as he tried to explain how the narrator could have such memories, but he seems to have gotten one thing right. Modern paleo-anthropology posits that for most of prehistory, the earth contained several coexisting species of hominids. London peoples his world with three hominid species. His description of the interaction between these species probably gives an accurate depiction of ancient man's inter-species interaction.

If you like adventure you will love Bluestem by Frances Arrington, this book was very descriptove!The book is about polly,12, and Jessie,9, who live with their parents and their papa was going away for a week. Little did Polly and Jessie know it was a week to remember forever.
Polly and Jessie went with their mama yo their neighbors. Mama had to go get something and she promised to be back by sunset. Well sunset passed and mama wasn't back yet. So Polly and Jesie decided to go up to get dinner and go to bed. When they walked in their house there in the chair sits mama. They asked twice, "Why didn't you come get us?" Both times mama doesn't answer. Does this gp on throughout the book is their mama crazy?You have to read to find out. This is a book for people who love their families and adventure.

1. EXCITING, when the kids are in the sloughgrass 2. MYSTERY what is wrong with Polly's mom? 3. BEAUTIFUL a beautiful place where Polly lives 4. BAD GUYS Simon and his whole family are interesting but really mean! 5. ANIMALS Polly loves her horse and her cat. So, read this prairie book and have fun.

I had to read the whole book to see what would happen next. Polly is my favorite character. She is brave and always knows something to try next. I liked the way she stood up to those mean neighbors. Jessie was nice but she made me mad when she got them in so much trouble in the slough. I think most girls my age would like this book. It's easy to read and intriguing.

I guess I was not moved like some of the other readers of this book. I listened to the audio tape numerous times trying to understand the "movement" around this book. I spoke to other reader's as well and what I got was God wants us to work, represent his image at work and rest. This is not revolutionary or eye opening to Christians that walk in his light. The examples are predominantly Chick-fil-a and the founder of Chick-Fil-A has written his own book, "It's Easier to Succeed than Fail". There are many better books on Christian beliefs in the workplace. Try anything by Laurie Beth Jones for example.

"How did we ever get to the place where we thought that to be good Christians, we had to quit our jobs and become full-time 'ministers,' sail for foreign shores to serve as a missionary, or run a homeless shelter?" ask The Fourth Frontier authors Stephen R. Graves and Thomas G. Addington. "All those assignments are good," they continue. "But those jobs have no higher value than any other assignment God gives to his people."

Graves and Addington, co-founders of the Cornerstone Group, authored The Fourth Frontier: Exploring the New Role of Work as a road map to help us navigate a landscape of fragmented lives, and to find a focus on our destination.

According to the authors, we try to separate our lives into compartments and not worry what one has to do with another. Subsequently, we live very unbalanced lives. They call work the fourth frontier, and insist that biblical truth calls for us to integrate it with the first three frontiers -- family, government and church.

"As we grow more prosperous from our work," they write, "we are growing more alienated from our friends, our families and our God." We use church as a place of retreat, a safe place to withdraw from the world. We want to break life into segments we think we can handle one at a time -- family, work, church, leisure, volunteerism, school, community.

"In addition to the worlds of family, government and church, God has created this fourth frontier," they say. And Jesus is the "whole-life solution to the problem of fragmentation ... the antidote to the fragmented life."

They lament that work is usually considered a negative thing, and they rebut that fallacy with the thesis of The Fourth Frontier: "God has ordained work. It was his idea." The volume cites sound biblical principles to support that thesis, pointing out that more than half of Jesus' parables incorporate a theology of work for his followers.

Graves and Addington dismiss the claim of some who say man didn't have to work until after Adam's fall. It's simple. They quote Genesis 2:15: "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." Because God's original plan called for man to work, the authors believe we'll work in heaven. Finally, they point out that the Word never refers to a time at which one should quit work -- i.e., retire.

To help us integrate work, faith and all of life, The Fourth Frontier offers several practical strategies. First, the authors suggest we check our attitude toward work. To help do that, they offer a series of questions including: Do you feel passionate about your work? Is your work significant for God's Kingdom?

They also spend some ink debunking four common myths about work: (1) Work is a four-letter word, (2) Work is enemy territory, (3) Work is our "salvation," and (4) Work is our last priority.

Addington and Graves believe that work, the marketplace, is currently the "greatest opportunity for kingdom influence the world has ever known." And, they say that as we discover this fourth frontier, we should find a rhythm of family, church, government and work.

They contend further that believers should reflect God on the job by -- among other things -- displaying purity, building strong relationships, focusing on the task at hand, showing mercy and compassion, providing servant leadership, demonstrating balance, offering forgiveness and setting correct priorities.

The meat of the volume uses six of its eleven chapters to explore fourth frontier "realities" that are key to having a full and balanced life: devotion, calling, integrity, stewardship, rest and influence. The concluding chapter returns to scriptural foundations, and the authors declare without apology, "New believers are the only people with a legitimate reason to say, 'I don't know the Bible very well.' " Know the Book and live the Book, they conclude. They are persuaded that people have never been more receptive to the influence of believers on behalf of God's kingdom.

The Cornerstone Group, founded in 1991, is based in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and specializes in change management and strategy to both non-profit and for-profit organizations around the world. Graves, with an earned doctorate from Dallas Theological Seminary, is known as a no-nonsense businessman and a solid theologian.

Addington, an expert in organizational analysis, strategic planning and communication strategies, holds his doctorate in communication from Penn State University. He spent several years as a professor at the University of Alabama-Huntsville and the University of Arkansas.

Graves and Addington are also principals in The Life@Work Company, a non-profit group which publishes the bimonthly Life@Work Journal and other professional materials dedicated to helping men and women blend biblical wisdom with marketplace excellence.

I have never really considered developing a theology of work. Work for me has been a means to pay the bills, looking for "sacred" opportunities to use my gifts and talents given by God.

However, the authors really enabled me to discover the value of work, the purpose behind it, and how to let God lead us through the journey of finding our place in the workforce.

Wonderful book, and I bought it as a gift as a present to my company president!

My 9 year old daughter received a copy of this book and chose it for her class book report. We both enjoyed the story of Susan Farmer and found it fascinating to read about her life in what is now Fort Worth (our town.) I recommend this book for elementary students and would encourage teachers to read it to them. What a great way to capture reading and history together in one lesson.

I immediately became enthralled in this wonderfully written book of a young girl in the frontier days of Fort Worth. This book makes history for children a fun and exciting adventure. It was a bonding time for my seven year old and I when we read it together. It's a MUST READ!

Well grounded in fact, the story proceeds briskly, with lots of dialogue and fascinating details to hold the reader's interest. Here I found confirmation of something I'd read recently in a book on pioneer crafts--that leather tanned the Indian way, using animal brains, was softer and more supple than today's commercially tanned leathers. The tidbit about making one's own ink from gall balls on oak trees is another of the many authentic touches that add color and interest to this highly readable tale. History buffs of any age will find much to enjoy in this meaty account of Susan Ann Farmer's girlhood on the Texas frontier.

Take a look at the Portland newspaper, The Oregonian, for January 6, 2002. An article recommending Opal to Northwestern readers also questions the authenticity of the allegedly precocious young Opal. Apparently, she turned up in Los Angeles without a diary or notes; two years later, a box of diary notes with a surprisingly literary, sophisticated mentality arrived at the publisher's. So: the book may be good, but it may have been written by the adult Opal as she was on the verge of mental illness.

Re: the reader review that said "This book's authenticity is in question..."

I refer you to the exhaustive research that Benjamin Hoff conducted and later decribed in his introduction to The Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow that argues very convincingly for the diary's authenticity, and disproves and discredits her detractors.

Opal was the real deal, and a true genius.

I'll start out by saying that I have not read the original version of Opal's diary, nor have I read the book by Benjamin Hoff on the diary that is so highly regarded. When I first began to search locally for anything by or about Opal Whiteley, this book was the only one I could obtain. It did not disappoint.

I was led to seek out this remarkable work (written by a young girl of 5-6 years just after 1900) through singer-songwriter Anne Hills. I had heard Anne perform a song called 'Brown leaves' -- words of Opal Whiteley, set to music at Anne's request by her good friend, songwriting genius Michael Smith. She explained the background of the song to the audience that night, and I was deeply touched by it -- enough so that I began to look for the book the very next day.

Orphaned before she was 5, adopted by an Oregon lumberman and his wife and transported across the country to live in nearly 20 lumber camps by the time she was 12 years old, Opal turned to the beauty of the natural world around her and saw it like no one I've read before or since I discovered this amazing journal. Not only is her keen sense of observation astounding for a girl of her age, but the unique language in which she conveys it to us allows the reader to do away with any preconceptions that might be held, revealing our world in an entirely original, glorius light. It's almost like seeing for the first time.

A brief sample: 'Now are come the days of leaves. They talk with the wind. I hear them tell of their borning days. They whisper of the hoods they wear. Today they talk of the time before their borning days. They tell how they were a part of the earth and the air before their tree-borning days. In grey days of winter they go back to earth again. But they do not die.'

This young girl was possessed of an incredible mind -- she understood what she saw in the forest around her better than most adults, and she articulated it in such a way as to make it spring to life as only the mind of a child can do.

The writings, in their original form, were made by Opal on note-paper, wrapping paper, scraps of paper bags, whatever she could lay her hands on -- in the closely-spaced, all-capitals scrawl of a girl of 5 or 6 with little or no formal education. The scraps of paper remained hidden in the Oregon woods until Opal was 20 -- it's a micacle (and a blessing to us) that they survived. When she had retrieved the scraps, it took her 9 months to reassemble them.

There are many aspects of Opal's life that are still mysteries to us -- some of these are touched upon by the introduction and afterward by Jane Boulton, who assembled this volume, and by a postscript from Opal herself.

This is one of those books that will continue to touch and affect the reader for a lifetime -- Opal Whiteley's voice is a fresh, powerful and unforgettable one. If more people could experience the pure, unadorned beauty of the world through the lens of this work, perhaps the fight to preserve and protect our fragile environment would be an easier battle to win.

As a final note, Anne Hills' recording of 'Brown leaves' can be heard on her fine cd 'Angle of the light', available through amazon.com.

When a book creates polarized reactions, it usually means that the status quo has been challenged, the truth has been questioned and rules have been broken. That is what Anka does. It's ironic that no one ever criticizes Dave Berry, George Carlin or Jerry Seinfeld. They are comedians making people laugh. So is Anka. She satirizes and makes jokes about the lighter side of sexual extremes. So why do people feel they have to attack her? Her book is very funny but with a cutting edge. The topic of sex and the unusual subcultures that she writes about throws people off-balance. She can touch someone's raw nerve and they take it personally. She is just trying to have fun! Must everyone be so serious? I envy your talent. Anka's skill is to mock the pretentious, to expose the vulnerable underbelly and find the hilarious poignancy of sex. What could be better?

Sexplorations is a very funny book. Just ask David Alan Greer or Conan O'Brien, they love her.

Anyone who is familiar with Anka's article's in Details will definetly love this book. It's filled with stories of Anka and her friends going around and partying throughout the American fornication sites. It is filled with *ANKAHUMOR* which I love and I really think u should check it out.

In "CrowHeart" by John Gist, Wyoming's frontier history and contemporary events are told through the eyes of a family that strayed from the beaten trail and settled in "The Big Empty" against the better advice of their fellow travelers.

It is the story of the Daniels family, descendants of a "crazy" group who left one of the main trails through Wyoming in the mid-1800s. Gist's first novel, published by a small press based in Mills, Wyo., is an exploration of some familiar themes very similar to Doig's: Connection to the land over generations, family troubles and complex conflicts in time, place and relationship. Gist's characters are so obsessed with individuality they skirt personal destruction. Gist has a ways to go before he's on a par with Doig, but the essence is there

Gist is a Wyoming native, with a master's of fine arts in creative writing from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. His poems and essays have appeared in small journals such as Parnassus and Colours, but Montfort Press of Mills, known mostly for its western historical non-fiction, chose his book as its first novel. The book's release in May 1999 was scheduled to commemorate the U.S. Congress's funding of the National Historic Trails Site, soon to be built outside Casper.

Set in contemporary Wyoming, CrowHeart, a novel by John Gist, shows the dark side and rivalries of the decendents of early Wyoming pioneers who left the trail to settle in central Wyoming...an area they call "The Big Empty."

It's story of mystery, deception, sexuality as the characters deal with the emptiness of their land and they deal with emptiness of their lives. Issac Daniels, the youngest of three brothers is haunted by his feelings towards his mother and her sudden death. He attempts to escape the memories of his families homestead, the Crowheart. He is haunted by those memories and other demons. It is difficult to find a likable character in the book. Issac's brothers and their wives carry their own dark secrets and find that, even pleasures of the flesh are unfulfilling. This is NOT the idyllic, romantic frontier of the old west.

Although it is a first novel, Gist shows a great ability to paint pictures in our minds. Those who have lived in Laramie and have spent any time at all at the University of Wyoming and the Snowy Range and the Shirley Rim area can easily see the areas and feel the atmosphere of locations. So few contemporary novels are set in Wyoming that as a setting, Wyoming landscape offers a refreshing change from other novels of the day. Gist gives us a different and startling vision of contemporary life that forces us to face the reality that the challenges and angst that some people feel at the end of the 20th Century are real even in Wyoming. One person's solitude is another person's barrenness. One person's "wide open spaces" is another person's "emptiness".

The following except is an example of how Gist paints a picture of a regular student hang-out at the University of Wyoming in Laramie:

"What do you say we go down to the Beer Garden for a couple of brews and some nachos?" he asks. Cassandra sits on the couch. "I'm buying," says Isaac.

"I was hoping we could talk," says Cassandra.

"We can talk down there," says Isaac. "This pit isn't exactly conducive for good conversation, and we're running low on smokes." He stands.

"Okay," says Cassandra, her voice edged with an air of defeat. She stands. "It'll do you good to get out of here for awhile."

Isaac starts for the bedroom. "Just let me find my boots."

In order to quash her desire to follow Isaac, Cassandra looks at the television.

Isaac drives his brother's truck through the University of Wyoming campus and parks in a visitor's parking slot in front of the Student Union. He turns off the ignition and waits for the engine to shiver to a stop. He opens the door and steps outside. Instead of climbing out of the passenger's door, Cassandra scoots across the seat and exits the truck from the driver's side. She stands next to Isaac. The breeze is as faint as baby's breath. The air is cold.

"Wind died down," says Cassandra.

"Temperature's dropping," returns Isaac. He takes Cassandra's hand and starts forward. "Let's get inside where its warm.

It is dusk. The oily sky muffles the footfalls of student and professor alike as they hurry towards the sanctuary of the wind-proof halls of academia. Electric lights flicker on illuminating the pines that stand like sentinels in front of the brick buildings. As the darkening intensifies and the pedestrians quicken their pace, Isaac and Cassandra walk easily, hand in hand, toward the certainty of beer and food and warmth inside the Student Union.

Downstairs in the Beer Garden, they find an empty table next to a rubber tree so large that its upper limbs are secured to the railings of the stairway, so it will not topple on the patrons below. After hanging their coats on the backs of the plastic chairs (to secure their rights to the table), they make their way, again hand in hand, toward the bar. A murmur of voices rises and falls rhythmically around them and is punctuated by bursts of laughter. Light flows down from bromide lamps, which hang from the high ceiling, basting with an orange hue, the hair, faces, and ingertips of the congregation below."

CrowHeart is a worthy first novel that shows a dark side of contemporary life. With a tone that challenges and a style that evokes strong emotions, we look forward to Gist's next work.

The Wyoming Companion

A pioneer tale of those who dared to stray from the beaten path of the Oregon/ Mormon Trail. It is the story of a family and it's descendants. I could just about smell the horses. If you've always dug old Western movies then you should like this one.

Leann Arndt, Reviewer

"Too Long a Stranger" was a so-so book. I enjoyed "Roses For Mama," by Oke, much more. The plot seemed more relevant of today's family situations - I found that ironic. It seems Janette Oke didn't know if she wanted to focus on Sarah or Rebecca. It shifted main characters all of a sudden, with no hint of it. I couldn't feel for the characters - I don't think Oke developed them well, they had no dimension. It felt like Seth was thrown in the story to help the ending along. I didn't understand why Sarah would finally give into hiring help, when for more than 10 years she was against it - it didn't make sense. The ending came very fast and abruptly, without a sense of closure - an Epilogue would have been helpful. I do not recommend.

This is one of the best Janette Oke books I have read. However, as usual, everything was wrapped up nice and tidy in the last chapter. I often wonder if Ms. Oke is running out of paper as she writes the last chapters of her books. Or maybe her editor allots her only so many pages (303 in this case) and she has to rush the ending. I would like to see her write a book on what happens to the characters after conversion and reconciliation. Or maybe give the woman some more pages!

This is a wonderfully written Christian book! I love Janette Oke's book, and have just started reading them! I think they are very encouraging and wonderful! I think this is one of the best!

To read about Custer this is the best place to start. Utley gives a great frame work of Custer's life from his pre-cadet days, courtship, Civil War days (noticed by McClellan which starts it all) and captures his post war duties of reconstruction duties, Kansas-Nebraska-Oklahoma campaigns, court martial, Battle of Waschita, hobnobbing in New York and Washington, Yellowstone Survey of 1873, the Black Hills exploration, political conflicts, Washington and Grant episode and of course the LBH. Also reveals perhaps a weakness in frontier military life such as the remoteness followed by extended leave for officers including Custer. Objective in that Utley traces some questioning financial aspirations of Custer that may even have involved sutlers on a small scale while later he serves, perhaps as a patsy for the democrats, as a political foil against the Grant admnistration in reference to malfeasance with military supplies and sutler relations. Only wish their was even more material on Custer but you do get a good picture of the man including his racuous fun loving side. The book also demonstrates that Custer treated friends and family well and that those that were not were not fond of him. Supports the often quoted "loved or hated".

This biography of George Armstrong Custer devotes most of its pages to his post Civil War career. Most people only know that he died at the Little Bighorn battle; they know the legend or the symbol, not the real person. Chapter 1 discusses his legend from 1876 to the present. Before his last campaign Custer charged the Grant administration with fraud and corruption. So whether he was a "victim of Grant's Indian policy" or a "foolhardy glory hunter" depended on the politics of the beholder.

Custer's postwar career depended on the support of Sherman and Sheridan ("Custer never let me down"). Since the Indians kept far away from the railroads, building the Northern Pacific railroad would ethnically cleanse the northern Dakota territory. The railroads were given tens of thousands of square miles of land ("sunblasted in summer, frozen in winter" p.125). They could not be sold to settlers until Indians were removed and neutralized. Settlers would then buy railroad lands, then use the railroad to transport their produce and supplies. The army's task was to implement this political policy; they only followed orders. There were treaties such as at Medicine Lodge in October 1867. But the Indians had no idea that they were giving up the country they claimed as their own (p.59).

The announced purpose of the Black Hills Expedition of 1874 was to find a site for a new fort, and for scientific exploration. The discovery of gold meant that miners would flock to these Indian lands via the Northern Pacific. The chief geologist, and Lt. Col. Fred Grant, cast doubt on this report: it might have been planted (p.141)! These lands could not be developed while the Indians held title, unless a war was created to negate the treaty (p.147). The Interior Dept. issued an ultimatum to the Sitting Bull bands: move to the Great Sioux Reservation or be driven in (p.156). But the Indians were immobilized in winter! Their failure to migrate was used to start a war. The military campaign started in April 1876. Custer believed that the Indians should be civilized into Christian farmers, but "if I were an Indian I often think that I would prefer to adhere to the free open plains rather than submit to a reservation" (p.149).

Just before his last campaign Custer testified against the actions of Secretary of War Belknap. Was he looking for some heroic action to gain popular acclaim? Was he suffering from any ailment that could affect his judgment? Chapter 9 discusses the "Judgments" on the defeat. Utley wonders if Custer received his chest wound at the beginning of the battle, and this demoralized and confused their defense? This would account for much that is puzzling about the battle (p.199). Those paintings of "Custer's Last Stand" are imagined. The Sioux fired their rifles and arrows from long range while concealed (p.190). They were too smart for a "Charge of the Light Brigade".

I have been an avid reader of Custer related literature
through the years and this is simply the best book on the market
on George Armstrong Custer. As a graduate student at Mississippi
State University and taking a course on the American West I gave
a lecture on Custer and recommended this book to the class.
Mr. Utley gives great detail on Custer's life. As with any
reader of Custer the debate rages on about General Terry's orders
to Custer and if they were obeyed or not. The author brought
out something I had not read before and that being the affidavet
of a cook who overheard a conservation between Terry and Custer.
A great book on Custer and especially on the Battle of the
Little Bighorn. Also, being a Civil War buff I liked the way the author mentioned how former Confederate generals were some
of Custer's biggest defenders after the battle.
If one were looking for a starting place on Custer this book
would be the one.

In "The City on the Edge of Forever", onee of the best-loved original Star Trek episodes, Spock and Capt. Kirk have to prevent a drug-crazed Dr. McCoy from saving a woman from being struck by a car in 1930's Earth---a woman Kirk ends up falling in love with. This novel begins by picking up where that episode leaves off.

Kirk, now seriously debating whether or not he should resign his Starfleet commission, takes shore leave on Earth where he manages to take comfort in letters from his father, Commander George Samuel Kirk Sr.

But these letters are more than just conversations between father and son. They contain clues to the mystery of one of Starfleet's most highly classified first contact missions that went horribly wrong...and at the same time made the Enterprise truly worthy of her name, twenty-five years before Kirk would assume command.

I gave this book four stars because it isn't the easiest Star Trek read in the world, since you have to wade through a lot of "background" or "historical" information to get to some of its most important points, but it is very well written; I enjoy it mostly for the great amount lot of insight given to the character of Jim's father, and what the Enterprise might have been like as an unmarked, unregistered, completely brand new Starfleet prototype. I have only one negative: George Kirk's befriending of the Romulan Field Primus t'Cael adds good drama, but it doesn't quite gel with the idea that eventually the Romulans and the Federation would go to war, which would lead to the creation of the Neutral Zone (see classic episode "Balance of Terror"), but it's still a good book.

Diane Carey's "Final Frontier" has to be a must read for any fan of the original series. It tells the first story of the Enterprise before it acquired it's legendary name. Under the captaincy of Robert April; George Kirk (Jim's father) embarks on the test run of the infamous ship. The adversary in this one is the Romulans. We get a glimpse of their uncompromising world of political treachery within their own ranks. This one is everything the new prequel series should be. Alive with interesting characters that act like real humans; unlike some of the Starfleet members we've seen on TV in the show Voyager. If there is any book that needs a reprinting it's this one.

This book was very well written. It kept me on the edge of my seat. I couldn't put it down till I read the whole thing. It was interesting to go back and forth from the past and future. I liked 'Final Frontier' alot.