"Chinese Box Mysteries" is a series of short stories featuring Sherlock Holmes (well after his retirement) and John S. Watson, son of his late chronicler. Dan Kilcup obviously tries to produce stories worth reading, but sadly doesn't succeed.

The problems, to me, are a poor portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, a failure to depict the Edwardian age in a believable fashion, and an attempt to use language beyond the author's grasp of vocabulary.

Kilcup's Holmes is an extraordinarily arbitrary character. I have no problems with the fact that Holmes is not infallible as this is consistent with Conan Doyle's portrayal. However, some of his actions are very strange, and do nothing to progress his investigations. I think his intention was to make Holmes likable, but I think he fails.

In setting stories in a particular time period, an author should portray the period believably. Mr Kilcup's characters use oddly harsh language - not necessarily for our time, but for that about which we are reading. Other things, details like Holmes' unlikely query of a London cabby as to when the next train to Brussels leaves, grate rather harshly.

With these factors distracting the reader, Mr Kilcup's use of words in the wrong context certainly makes the reading of this book a chore.

Sorry, Mr Kilcup, but not worth the time I spent reading it let alone the money I spent buying it.

I have had the priviledge of reading this book as well as Vol II which is now available. Not only is this one a must for fans, don't miss out on Volume II. I would recommend this book for any lover of a good mystery solved by the master!

Spellbinding! Keeps you entangled throughout!

Loved the book for the first 338 pages but the last 10 basically destroyed it. Sanders books are usually well-plotted with interesting, if slightly dishevled, characters and situations. This one followed the same basic format but self-destructed in the end. He built characters who took turns scamming each other but at the finish, only the reader was scammed. Not a good effort from a writer who usually produces.

I picked up a copy of this book for $2 on a discount rack and I wasted my money. Character development was virtually non-existant with a storyline almost impossible to believe. Everyone jumping into bed with everyone else and everyone scamming from each other...including the cops scamming from each other. And practically no ending at all. After reading KING CON by Stephen J. Cannell, I was hoping for something similar but no such luck.

WOW..I just got done reading Sullivan's Sting...what an amazing book, I could not put it down and when I finally did I jumped online to find if there was a follow up to it anywhere..I'd love to know? Amazing piece of work Mr Sanders Congrats :-)

This book started off good, with the opening of the stadium and the first home run hit by Babe Ruth to christen the stadium. But after the first two chapters the book becomes to involved with the politics and the businessmen behind the stadium and its players. This book did not keep me entertained while I read it, and I found myself many times struggling to turn to the next page.

If you are a baseball fan,Yankee fan or ballpark buff expecting to find a history of the Stadium and/or the events on the field,you'll find this book boooorrriiing.If,however,you are into politics with a little baseball history thrown in,then this book is for you.The Introduction sounds promising-Yankee owner Ruppert using his own money to build a new stadium as opposed to modern day owners looking for a handout.Weighing the importance of financing a stadium against the other needs of a city.And,does stadium subsidy take money from things like public safety,transportation,health care,etc?
The book itself starts on Opening Day 1923,describing the festivities and on field happenings.It quickly delves into politics of the era and ties between team owners and City Hall.There is a brief background on Babe Ruth and his influence on the game.There is a history of the early Highlanders,Hilltop Park and the Yanks stay in the Polo Grounds.Some mention of the Stadiums construction.Then,we're bought back to the late 19th century and a look at immigrants,including details of a dog fight.After a history of early 20th century Bronx,I started skimming through the pages.The mysterious Tammany Hall is of no interest to most baseball fans.Neither are Mayor Walkers escapades,Prohibition,the Depression,President Roosevelt or Mayor LaGuardia.There is a brief recap of each season.The next chapters cover the Stadiums sale in the 50's and the race issues in the Bronx {and Brooklyn}which factor into matters even today.
Thing get interesting {to me} in the 70's with discussions between the Yanks Mike Burke and NYC Mayor Lindsay regarding Stadium renovations.It seems that the Yankee Village concept actually began back then.The threat of the team moving to New Jersey was real {the NFL Giants moved} although the author does not feel the threat was as real regarding the Yankees.The last few chapters discuss the failed Steinbrenner-Mayor Koch lease extension negotiations,and the Mayor Giulianiani love-fest with the Yanks.A good amount of local columnists reactions are included,though there are too many from the high brow NY Times for my tastes.The photo section includes fourteen in all,seven of which I found interesting.
In fairness to Mr Sullivan,I enjoyed his earlier book,The Dodgers Move West,which detailed the political manuevering regarding the Brooklyn Dodgers and their attempts to get a new stadium built.Perhaps that book was better written because Mr Sullivan is a Dodger fan and the subject matter was more interesting to him.Except for brief passages,his Yankee Stadium book will leave most fans wishing they hadn't spent the money.I borrowed mine from the library,and noticed that it had been taken out about two dozen times,almost always for a period of two days.I feel that this is because most readers realized it is a political book disguised as a baseball book,and they quickly became turned off.

Although i felt the book started off rather slowly with a lot of discussion of politics and insignificant dates, further along came an extremely informative well written account of New York Stadium. The book isn't about the team itself, but the field in which they play and the significance of "the house." Sullivan's historic knowledge of the game of baseball will enthrall the reader with a variety of interesting facts beginning with the birth of the franchise all the way to present day activity.

I bought this book after reading some some positive reviews. No doubt it is a good book BUT it is targeted for paper based TOEFL test. Although it has 6 complete tests it does not come with the audio casset to take the listening comprehension part of the test. Further the audio casset cannot be purchased seperately as [it has been]... discontinued [from] print.

It give a good review on question type of CBT TOEFL but the pratice questions are still in PBT format. I will give it 5 stars if the 6 sample exams are in CBT format.

Much better then "Barron's" TOEFL book; * The most current preparation for Computer-Based TOEFL; * Reviews of all subject areas; * Examples and comprehansive answer explanations for each testing point in every topic; * A vocabulary list for the TOEFL Test; * Strategies and analyses of each subject area tested on the exam, including listening, reading comprehension, grammar, structure, and writing; * 6 full-lenth sample exams; * This is the only book you need! Don't even think - buy it now!

I really have been loving this series, but the conclusion didn't live up to all I had hoped for. Apparently Stephen didn't bother to read the previous books written by his cohorts, and decided to skew the meticulusly created characters. Toturi's character was nice but not delved into enough. The other character's profiles seemed totally off from how they appeared in the other books - not only that but some events even seemed to occur differently!! The final battle seemed to drag on for ages, with people going to their "last" ounce of strength over and over and over again. While it was still a good book, it definitly was not the sort of conclusion the series deserved. I am very suprised the man who crafted The Scorpion wrote something this starkly different.

The great finale to the Clan War starts with more story and background on the Lion Clan characters, and picks up the story of the other main characters in this series. For about 200 pages, it's a solid read and consistent with the best books of this series ... and then it goes downhill fast in the last seventy or eighty pages. Perhaps Sullivan was rushed in finishing the book, perhaps he felt there was little to add to what had been written game-wise ... but suddenly all the characters start behaving and talking like modern-day teenagers instead of honorable samurai, with lots of short phrases and repetitions in the writing as well. The huge battle on the outskirts of Ottosan Uchi drowns in endless skirmishes and reprises of the same action (he said , he said, he said ... 20 times in as many phrases / went there, came back, slaughtered dozens of bad guys .... again and again). The entire finale should've been written more in the style of Ree Soesbee's prologue of The Dragon, but I'm afraid Sullivan didn't keep up the quality of his first instalment (The Scorpion) with the end of this book (and I'm not talking about how the story ends, but rather about the writing itself).

I HAVE READ ALL SEVEN OF THE SCROLL BOOKS AND IF I COULD GET MY HANDS ON ANOTHER I WOULD WALK OVER CRUSHED GLASS TO GET. THREE BOOKS STOOD OUT OF THE SERIES, THE SCORPION, THEPHEONIX AND THE LION. MY GOODNESS HOW THE BOOKS CAME TOGETHER AT THE END WAS JUST FASCINATING. NOTHING IN THE BOOKS WERE PREDICTABLE. IWOULD WAKE IN THE MORNING AND READ, GO TO BED AT NIGHT AND READ, GO TO SLEEP AND DREAM OF THE CLAN WARS. FOR ME AS A PRACTISING MARTIAL
ARTIST,[2ND. DAN KARATE] THIS WAS LIKE THE DAYS OF OLD.........YOU GUYS IN THE STATES ARE LUCKY YOU CAN GET THESE BOOKS AND NOT HAVE TO WAIT UP TO TWO MONTHS LIKE I DID. THE THREE NAMED WERE BRILLIANT, THE SCORPION SETS THE SCENE, THE PHEONIX GIVES THE SERIES THE MYSTIC WAYS AND FINALLY THE LION, WELL THE LION, I STILL CARRY THE EXCITEMENT AND THE SORROW. I AM STILL LEFT WITH SOME QUESTIONS OF WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM ALL AFTER,BUT LIVE IN HOPE THAT MR. SULLIVAN WILL CONTINUE.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND PLEASE TREAT YOUSELVES TO THESE BOOKS AS YOU WONT REGRET IT.

HEY I HAVE TWO WEEKS WAITING! I REALLY NEED MY BOOK!

A Must have Pre Calculus Book. I'm really satisfied with the text. Author did a great job explaning whole different aspects of pre cal. He gives nice slick introduction to Limits to prepare you for calculus. My teacher wasnt so great, I dont know how I could have made it in class with any other book. I'm never selling this book. Its a best Math book so far for me. Highly recommended !

This book is very well laid out. It has easy to follow examples in the introduction to the chapters. After each example, you are referred to a homework problem patterned after the example. As you read the introduction, it explains how to solve a particular problem then refers you to say problem 7. If you then go and work problem 7, the ideas you just read are fresh in your mind and and get cemented even more because you are then applying the concept or method you just learned. Its a great way to begin recognizing types of problems and how to go about solving them. I am very pleased over all. I just wish I could get a hold of the solutions manual for this particular edition.

Professor Sullivan it seems isn't familiar with the truly scholastic nature of theology. His tirades about Christian faith in "the rugged old cross," truly show his lack of understanding or scripture, true redemptive faith, and prophesy. As a matter of fact this whole work seems to be a huge soap-box session for a disenchanted dissident - who, it seems, wishes to undermine the authority of the true nature of salvation, by attacking it's heart. He then wraps this collaboration of fallacious, ill-considered, arguments that even the most ill mannered atheist wouldn't dream of using in the mask of thought provoking, scholarly work.

He states that the crucifixion wasn't a religious occurrence but rather a political routing of a volatile enemy by politicians. He draws proof from Christ praying to escape death in Gethsemane. He flagrantly ignores the fact that the same said Jesus predicted His own death and continuously gave the reason why, REDEMPTION. I suppose he bluntly passed up the prophesies written centuries before Christ that predicted his redemptive death (Psalm 22 practically a play-by-play of the crucifixion, and Isaiah 53 detailing the redemptive nature of Christ's suffering, and let us not forget Leviticus 17: 11 which discusses the need for blood to receive atonement from sin.)

He sites ministers attacking Pilate and the Sanhedrin for the crucifixion one week, then praising the suffering and death of Christ another. How can this be done he asks? People do evil things - but God means them and uses them for good. That use doesn't excuse the evil though. This is the most rudimentary of theological ideas. It doesn't even take a scholar to get that one.

It also seems that he has an ill hidden agenda to stop evangelism and begin a "hug everybody," approach to other belief systems. In a world and a time when tolerance is so vaunted as necessary it is most curious that the view of Christians that Jesus is the ONLY Savior and Light is so sternly not tolerated. This is just another example of this behavior.

Oh let us not forget that Sullivan also points out to us that we shouldn't aggrandize or over sentimentalize Jesus and His death. Let us not do such! I say that if Christ did all that He did, then rose from the dead as He said He would - then how might anyone do less than pour our everything into Him and weep for God as He suffered for such unworthy people as myself, you, and even Clayton Sullivan? ...

This work turns out to be nothing more than a higher-criticism of accepted and understood doctrine badly argued, then lightly veneered as an attempt to enlighten or educate. If you want a book of rants and ravings against orthodoxy don't pass this volume up! Remember this however, even Nietzsche in the midst of madness and a debilitating brain disorder wrote better and more respectable tripe against Christianity than this book ever thought about being...

Oh yes, I gave this book one star - for effort alone, not for research, not for understanding, not for teaching, not for anything but that he wrote it.

As a rule any Baptist church numbers right up there with other erroneous versions of the Christian religion as far as I am concerned. And I am not suggesting that my own views concerning the same Christian religion are free of error. However, some reviwers are giving Sullivan a bad rap because he is a Southern Baptist. I, too, cross to the other side of the street whenever I have to pass by one of these places but in this case, Clayton Sullivan might get a wave from me as I pass by.

It is a rudimentary treatment of some aspects of the Christian religion. In Part One Sullivan presents his views concerning certain questions about Jesus that many uninformed persons want answers to. They may be what he calls "inquisitive Christians."
And then he deals with several suggested strategies for rescuing Jesus from some antiquated notions and out-of-date thinking respecting Jesus.

This is truly a good book for the "inquisitive Christian" who has for years thought that some notions about the church and Jesus are downright weird, stupid, or at least confusing. It is not a major intellectual, theological piece but rather a slim paperbound volume of 182 pages including an index and a glossary and the price is right.

A church book study club may find this a good volume to read and study. I liked it and plan on recommending it to my Lutheran (ELCA) book study group. It could help a person move forward into a more advanced study of these and other questions concerning the Christian religion.

Rescuing Jesus From The Christians by Clayton Sullivan (Professor of Philosophy and Religion, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg) is a solid, scholarly study that seeks to reconcile Jesus and His message with the latest archaeological and historical findings about Christ and the era he lived in. Four strategies for understanding Jesus are presented: distinguishing between pre- and post-resurrection Jesus, accepting that there is no obligation to embrace all beliefs held by the early church, guarding against the tendency to sentimentalize or aggrandize Jesus, and the importance of not simply tolerating, but rather rejoicing in religious pluralism. Rescuing Jesus From The Christians is a powerful presentation with a profound message for all readers and highly recommended, very welcome contribution New Testament Studies supplemental reading lists and reference collections.

I though this was George W's gaffes, but it turns out his father mispoke quite a bit himself. A little bit too politically motivated, these people obviously had no idea how much worse things could get when his son would be elected, er, annointed, or ah, democratically- you know what I mean!

Is intelligence learned or inherited? It's a question that has puzzled scientists and philosophers since the beginning of time. On the one hand, you can argue that this book proves the latter conviction, since it's obvious that Papa Bush is as grammatically challenged as baby Bush, but on the other hand, who taught Baby to speak? Seriously though, this book is hilarious, a welcome companion piece to more recent versions attacking the more recent Bush. I've owned it since it came out and it still makes me laugh. If you can find it, buy it.

If you are looking for symbolism or imagery I might suggest a different book, but for some of the funniest quotes this side of Yogi Berra I definitly recommed "Bushisms". (Of course if you are a big Bush/Republican fan AND have NO sense of humor this one may not be for you.)

In the last few years with the discovery of Frank Waters' original manuscript for this book, scholars of Western American History now understand how much Waters distorted the memoirs of Allie Earp (wife of Virgil Earp and sister-in-law of Wyatt) in this later, published version. It is shocking to realize that literally every negative thing Allie Earp was alleged to have said about Wyatt Earp in "The Earp Brothers of Tombstone" was absent in Waters' earlier manuscript. The conclusion that Waters altered Allie Earp's words to fit his strongly anti-Earp prejudice is inescapable. "The Earp Brothers of Tombstone" was highly influential in the 1960's and 1970's in creating the image of Wyatt Earp as basically an adulterous criminal far removed from the 1950's television portrayal as a peerless hero. In fact, Allie Earp's memoirs presented in the original manuscript show Wyatt Earp in a rather favorable light, as a stern and taciturn man, but honorable. Frankly, I think that the University of Nebraska should be ashamed to continue to publish this book in the light of the discovery of Waters' original manuscript -- it is not history, only a fictionalized smear.

This book is an excellent counterpoise to the silly, inaccurate and self-serving blather which usually passes for a biography of Earp's life. While it has problems, here and there, it is, by orders of magnitude, more accurate than books which claim Earp was a lawman, primarily, or cleaned up any western town, of which several more have been published in the last few years.

Read it, look up the very accurate records kept by the justice department regarding who was a Deputy US Marshal (including special deputies, commissioned for one purpose or another), and who was not, and decide for yourself which story is correct: the intrepid lawman, or the pimp who abandoned his common-law wife; the wealthy gambler and real estate magnate, or the lazy ne'er do well who ran out on a ...mortgage; the unfailing courageous battler for law and order, or the braggart who had his face slapped and gun taken by a real US Marshall in Alaska.

This book is a remarkable treasure. A painfully honest look at the Earp brothers from the point of view of Virgil's wife. Unbalanced in it's own way as all memoirs are, it's still the most credible account we have of this troubled but fascinating family. Waters has been under attack lately by a new generation of Wyatt Worshipers but his book stands out among the volumes of Earp literature as a light in a dark forest. Read this as an antidote to Casey Terfertiller's love letter to Wyatt that passes itself off as a objective biography.