Another winner by Jessica Steele. She continues to create stories and characters that make for great reading. You won't be sorry if you buy this book. I read it in one sitting, because I couldn't stop until I finished it. Wonderful book!

This book has helped many of my friends through their first, and even second or third, pregnancies. It was written with the idea that your feelings, as strange and new as they are, are normal. Better yet, it was written by a woman who was experiencing it all as she wrote. It's been a wonderful way to understand and express the joys, the sorrows, the fears and the curiosity you feel during those nine months. I highly recommend this book to any first time Mom-to-be! It's a great early baby shower gift!

Given the challenges faced by the U.S. armed forces and our government in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans (still) and, possibly soon, in Africa, this book is as timely in its subject matter as it is sensible and useful. The editors (de Jong, Platje and America's inimitable Robert Steele) have assembled subject matter experts from almost a dozen countries with peacekeeping experience, and they've done a fine job of keeping the entries clear, readable and focused. Having worked in intelligence for over two decades myself, I can attest that the deep human challenges of intelligence operations during peacekeeping and peacemaking operations remain insufficiently met by our own or other intelligence bureaucracies. It's not a matter of failure, but of (too often) mediocrity and inadequacy in the clinch. Intelligence systems that are still haunted by the legacies of Cold War hardware and, worse, Cold War thinking still have not adapted adequately to our grave new world. We're learning, but perhaps not quickly enough. Steele, especially, has campaigned boldly in the cause of using open-source material to supplement classified data--and, in some cases, to supplant it--and we may expect powerful results wherever his advice is taken to heart. Overall, this is a valuable, useful, thoughtful book one can strongly recommend both for professionals in the field and interested citizens. Well done!

This is a captivating tale of the Powhatans and their Pocahontas, or Matoaka as she was known. Born the daughter of the powerful Powhatan, it's almost as though she were placed by providence at the juncture of the English and the eastern woodlands Indians.

Just ten when the Jamestown settlers arrived in 1607, she became early known for her cheer and joy in seeking friends amongst the colonists. But clashes came, and her aging father sought to expel the settlers, and almost succeeded, with the help the colonists' starvation and disease. Three years after their arrival, the colony was abandoned, the departing ships at the mouth of the James waiting for the morning tide to carry them to England.

The relief ships pulled into view at that instant, a miraculous event, and Jamestown survived, and in time established a firm foothold in Virginia. Clashes with the Powhatans continued, however, and the colonists captured Pocahontas as a hostage against the relief of the Indian-held English captives. In her captivity, which seems to have been a friendly one, she was converted to Christianity-- the stories of her memorizing the various church liturgies are dear-- and married the young colonist John Rolfe. Her father agreed to abandon his war against the settlers, and indeed touchingly sent a string of fresh water pearls for her wedding and deeded land to Rolfe. There were to be eight years of peace following their union.

The Virginia Company saw advantage to her traveling to London with her new husband, and by then young Thomas Rolfe, their child. They arrived in England in 1616, and she was received as royalty by King James and Queen Ann, and met many of the English notables of the day. But the climate took its toll, and she succumbed to tuberculosis or smallpox on the very eve of their departure for Virginia. She died in Gravesend in Kent County, and lies today in the little St. George's Churchyard there.

Her monument is the peace which allowed the English the final foothold in Virginia, in spite of its eventual price on the Indians. Barely twenty when she died, she is recalled as a sprightly girl, an evocation of an America long gone.

Woodward's book is filled with details and documentation, and well worth a five-star read! What she omits, however, is that Pocahontas is survived by thousands of American descendants today, each carrying her memory in their blood as the 400th anniversary of that first north American colony nears.

This book is not only a superb source of practical information for professionals working with patients afflicted with dementia, memory loss, and/or Alzheimer's, but it is also a great source of hope and inspiration to the patients' relatives and caregivers. The blend of expert advice with compassionate care motivates me to highly recommend this book. I think all people involved with caring for those with dementia will benefit from reading this excellent book.

My special field is neither statistics nor math. My reading this book was for research purpose. I enjoyed reading it, though it contains a few of "printing" mistakes.

The chapter 6 is somehow hard-to-find. I believe Talagrand's isoperimetric theory has wide range of applications. But it is not easy to read his original article (which, besides, is more than 100-page long). The chapter gives a very informative introduction to the theory.

The majority of this collection is from the Southwest or Mexico but interestingly there are similar pieces from less expected places e.g. Eastern US, central Europe, the Philippines. A significant number of the pieces are pictured. The text mixes technical information about the art pieces with information about how they came into the collection. The art itself ranges from primitive to superb folk art - executed in a variety of media. Among the pieces that catch my attention is a crucifix with an angel at Jesus' side and the retablo of Our Lady of Refuge.

This is an excellent volume for those interested in folk devotional art or Mexican / Southwestern art.

Inherited wealth sure wasn't what it was cracked up to be, what with Lyle Hetherington hell-bent on making Kelsa's life one unpleasant confrontation after another.

Mind you, Kelsa could certainly understand why Lyle might feel a bit peeved. His father had left her-a mere employee-half of his vast empire. And while Kelsa had gotten on well with her late boss, a bequest like that was ridiculous!

So why in the world had he done it? It certainly wasn't for the reason his son arrogantly assumed, as Kelsa hadn't been the old man's mistress. But try telling that to Lyle Hetherington!

from back of book

Don Steele demonstrates his superiority to any philosopher in these two volumes. Steele gives us a more practical way of looking at ourselves and what we should be doing. Any serious student should know something about his work.

Sam Steele was one of the first three men to join the NWMP in 1873. This book gives the true flavor of the pioneering hardships and adventures of the early RCMP force as they tamed the Canadian west. Numerous archival photographs and maps are integrated with the text -- you feel as if you are getting to know the men exploring the plains; you feel like a participant in their experiences as they endure physical dangers from a harsh, unforgiving climate and work to bring peace and "civilization" to a primitive land. From the first contact with Indian bands, through the building of the transcontinental railway, and the northern gold rush, Sam Steele was involved in every aspect of policing the Canadian west. This book does justice to his indominitable spirit and chronicles his amazing accomplishments, including his later action in the Boer War with the Lord Strathcona Horse and as a Major-General with the Canadian army in England during WWI. It's rare to encounter an accurate history book that is so exciting and so readable.