In the flesh was not as good as The Inhuman Condition. While I was glued to my stereo listening to Inhuman I found getting through In the Flesh a bit laborious. In the four stories presented in this audiobook version, only one, "the forbidden" could be construed as being a horror tale. The other thre were really more fantasy then anything else. The last story, "babble's Children" was plain silly and stupid. A filler if there ever was one. Still, as a whole, the book was entertaining to listen to though the reader, Dillinger Steele, while having a sexy voice, did not truly bring the characters to life. Barker is english after all and these stories take place in London or have leading English characters. Steele forgoes any kind of British accent and simply reads the text. he does convey the drama of the story but at times he mumbles the words or speaks too fast. yet his overall reading is passible. As a horror fan, I did enjoy this production and would recommended but it truly does lack the suspense and terror of The inhuman Condition which I also own. Still, since barker is one of my favorite authors I now have one more book to add to my collection. buy it if you can though it might be difficult to track down.

This book, number 5 of "The Books of Blood," contains two of Barker's most masterful tales, "Babel's Children" and "In the Flesh." How Barker can write fiction of this sort and still get lumped in with hacks like King and Koontz is something that angers me still. I recommend Barker's books not just to horror fans--and what horror fan, in 1999, has not read Barker; that's akin to a rock fan not ever having absorbed "Exile on Main St." or "London Calling"--but to more mainstream (argh, I hate that word, makes me think of Oprah and housewives and tanned cell-phoning yuppies and bouncy sorority girls) audiences who enjoy Borges, Calvino or Julian Barnes. Barker's prose is precise, poetic, and subtle; he's hardly the "splatterpunk" he's made out to be. Even today, he amazes me, years after I first read this collection. If you have any curiosity at all, which is probably why you ended up here, get this book, or any of his, and be prepared to enter a dark, evil, sensuous new world....

Clive is par excellence! His work is amazing! Gripping! Enthralling! Emotionally stimulating! I could go on, but I won't. My opinion: If you don't have this book you are missing out! Also, check out Mark Ventimiglia's new book. He is a contemporary of Clive's and his work rivals the master. I discovered him by accident and must say, I was impressed!

Very few books manage to write a 300 year history of anything and stay lively and thought provoking from start to finish. Mr. Gordon's "The Great Game" does so in convincing fashion.

The book maintains a quick pace, touching on all of the major events, firms and people that have led to Wall Street's emergence as financier for the world. Yet despite its quick pace the treatment of each of these characters and defining moments is surprisingly deep. I was surprised by the accolades that Mr. Gordon gave to Alexander Hamilton, and how much he had to do with helping establish the US, and correspondingly Wall Street, as a financial powerhouse. (So impressed I read one of his biographies by McDonald.) The theme of the book is the increasing potency of this small street, how it goes from being the financial focus of New York City to New York State, to the Northeast, to the US and finally to the entire world. Wall Street no long represents a few hundred feet of not even water front property, it has come to represent the very essence of finance, not just in the US, but throughout the world. Mr. Gordon has done an excellent job of walking the reader through this fascinating story.

I highly recommend this book.

Even though I have another book on the history of Wall Street in my reading stack, I picked up a copy of the book just because John Steele Gordon wrote it. Many of you will recognize his voice on NPR and in American Heritage. In fact, Mr. Gordon's article is the first section I read when I receive the newest copy of American Heritage. Mr. Gordon always spins a surprising story each month and this book is no different.

Mr. Gordon covers 350 years of history in just 300 pages, however, don't let the title fool you, it really only covers Wall Street until about 1995, not 2000 (a minor quibble). The book contains many interesting stories along the way such as how Chase Manhattan started off as a water company and why Merrill Lynch was named after two brokers, not one (I didn't realize that).

As always no book on the history of Wall Street would be complete without the Erie Railroad, the "Scarlet Women of Wall Street." Mr. Gordon relives the Erie tale with relish! I could almost see Daniel Drew laughing as he printed additional shares of Erie stock as fast as Commodore Vanderbilt could buy them. The rest of the players of Wall Street take their turn in the book, including J.P. Morgan, Fisk and Gould, Joe Kennedy, Alexander Hamilton, and a few women such as Hetty Green also appear.

Gordon takes time to explain many concepts about how the stock market came to be today including stories on the first corner in Wall Street history to the most recent, the Hunt's brothers attempt to corner the silver market in 1980. Mr. Gordon also explains that each time a player uses the market to their advantage, the invisible hand of Adam Smith pushes the market to correct the "wrongs."

Though it is not one of Mr. Gordon's main points in the book, he does point out throughout the book that the "Robber Barons" of old had many friends/allies in government that turned a blind eye to their schemes.

This book is filled with the history of people of Wall Street, not numbers! Pick it up, you'll find that Mr. Gordon's cornered the market on the history of Wall Street!

If money interests you, then you should read this book. As a Wall Street professional I was enthralled by this easy read about the history of Wall Street. Mr. Gordon does an excellent job of taking us from Wall Street's unambitious start as a northern line of defense for a wilderness trading post to the its role as the most powerful stretch of pavement on Earth.

Some of the unique things you will learn include

1. Who invented modern capitalism (hint: Tulips, 1700th century)? 2. The establishment of our federal tax system 3. What structure made NY city the US's largest city 4. Wall Street's first and greatest speculators 5. The creation of the Federal Reserve System

Gordon does a great job of introducing us to the most powerful people the world may have ever known. The most notable include JP Morgan, arguably the world's greatest banker; Hetty Green, the richest (and most paranoid) woman in the world; Charles Merrill, the man who brought Wall Street to Main Street; and Michael Milliken, the world's most famous Wall Street villain to wear a toupee.

The story of Wall Street is truly extraordinary. Its history is littered with courage, greed, jealousy, genius and lots of stupidity! John Steele Gordon does an admirable job of hitting all the salient points while making the journey enjoyable and memorable. Buy this book and read it!

If you've been programming in Java for a while and want to get down to the nitty-gritty details of Java syntax and semantics, this is the book for you! It's also great preparation for the Java Programmer's Certification exam. But before you buy this book, you should know that the on-line version is available for download (free).. Also, be warned that this book covers Java 1.0 and that it's rumored that an updated edition that covers Java 2 will be published soon.

This book is not for newbie or non-technical person. If you want to sharpen, your java skills add this book to your shelf. Although JavaDocs should be the first place to look for technical specification but this printed, form has its own advantage. Specially if it's hard for you to read online grab a copy of this book. Book is technical, precise and well compiled. Great reference book. Hey, if you are one of those people who go for examples rather than specification then save you money for something else like almanac

Never buy Internet/Programming books by the pound. If you already know how programming languages and compilers work (maybe you've written a compiler or two..) and you want evaluate Java as a language or you want to develop your Java programming "head" in addition to your "C" "head" and your assembler "head", this is the resource. This is learning the beauty of the Java language by drinking from the firehose, not slodging through the mud. The book is mercifully concise, Emily Dickinson would be proud.

When I first had my daughter, I had borrowed this book. After 2 months, I had to return it. I then tried to order this book online, after 2 1/2 months of waiting, I finally got my own copy. It was the best investment in my life. The day the book was delivered, I read it during my daughter's nap. By the time she woke up, I felt more confident, and in control, because I had a plan. She started behaving better, INSTANTANEOUSLY. She could tell that her mom had things in control once again, and that she didn't have to worry about anything any longer. I can't express how much I truly love this book. Being a parent has been a breeze with this book. Everywhere I go, perfect strangers are telling me how well behaved my daughter is. I know it's from the use of this book. I even had a son when my daughter wasn't even a year and a half old yet, and it was such an easy transition. And he's just as wonderfully well-behaved as she is. Anyone who doesn't recommend this book, isn't self disciplined. People who like their life chaotic, can't agree with this book. As well as people who don't believe in telling their children no. I still get my nap during the day, and time to myself at night. This book makes parenting easy!!

We feel very blessed to have found this book when I was pregnant with my first child and followed it precisely with her and our subsequent two children. She is now an attorney and has her own little daughter of 1 month. We loved the results of this book so much that we purchased several copies at the time and saved them for our children. We gave one to our daughter and hope she is using it. Our second child is in her third year in medical school and our youngest is an electrical engineer. Our children are healthy and happy and we enjoyed their babyhood because we knew when they would be napping and eating and could schedule our lives around their schedule. They learned to entertain themselves as well as having time with us. They all love music and I think it began with the daily singing time we had together. We think the schedule is good for keeping marriages intact as well. We couldn't recommend it more highly!

Excellent! In 1972 I had an original book from Gladys Hendrick. I knew almost nothing about babies and this book gave me the answers I needed. I followed her schedule, had sleepless nights, and my son was a happy and continent baby. He's 28 and along with his wife they are having their first child and I only hope that they follow Gladys Hendrick's adivse. My son slept through the night from the second night he was home. He still sleeps soundly to this day. Thanks so much Gladys for an enjoyable schedule that really works!

If you check out the cities of the other reviewers, you will notice they are all from around or near LA. That is because they were all, very likely, students of Steele at CAl State LA.

I wonder if their individual reviews of this book helped them get a better grade in his poetry course?

While Steele is a good poet (see his poetry books), he has made a name for himself in academia by self-righteously asserting that poetry must be written a certain way to be truly poetic. He does not merely frown on free verse; he rejects it.

Steele likens free verse to playing tennis without a net. HIs point seems to be that once the rules of a game are broken, something has been lost in the joy of playing or watching it. However, tennis without a net is called paddle ball, and unless you're a New English prig straight out of the pages of Yankee magazine, it's a heck of a lot of fun.

I am currently a student in an undergraduate creative writing program, and I love (and write) free verse. A previous reviewer criticizes Steele for his "rejection" of free verse; this reason is the basis of his/her low rating of the book. Timothy Steele doesn't have a deep admiration of free verse. He even calls it secondary to the main accentual-syllabic tradition. Although I agree with the previous reviewer about Steele's view of free verse, I do not, however, think this book is lessened by Steele's view.

Steele makes it known from the beginning that the majority of the book will be devoted to iambic verse. I bought this book for an intensive study of form and meter, and the book did not let me down. Not only does Steele cover the principles of scansion and metrical variation, Steele takes the reader into the history of our verse and how it has developed over time. He also explores the development of the English language, rhyme, stanza, elision, and grammar's relation to meter. He doesn't even stop there. He covers much more territory; and, by the end of this book, I feel that I have a firm grasp on formal poetic technique.

The only criticism I have is that Steele does have a tendency to overkill some very basic concepts (the discussion of enjambment goes on page after page, the elision chapter went on for quite a while... it could have been more concise).

If you are looking for a book to give you a thorough, clear, and engaging explanation of formal poetic technique, this is a very helpful book. I can truthfully say after reading it I am more confident of my understanding of meter and versification and that I am also more confident of my skills as a free-verse poet. I highly recommend this book.

I would definitely not recommend this book to beginners. Don't get me wrong, it's probably the best book on prosody out there, but it can be difficult reading. The book is loaded with information, and Steele's knowledge on the subject comes through. But it isn't the book I'd start with. But if you have a general idea of form and meter, then there is no better book to strengthen and teach you. Part One, on iambic verse, should be read by any serious poet. The only problem I found with the book is that Steele uses a lot of Old English, Middle English, and foreign language examples, where I think something we all can sound out would have been a better choice. Still, for anyone who is serious about poetry, this is a book that should be read and studied.

Aside from the Body Politic, the short stories in this book are not memorable. As a matter of fact I have a hard time recalling them to memory ,even though I finished the books only 7 months ago. At his best Clive Barker can scare the hell out of me, but it doesn't seem that he writes at his best 70% of the time during a book.

Again, I love Clive Barker. His work is just awe-inspiring. This collection borders on classic in the likes of H.P. Lovecraft and Poe. Shoot, it doesn't just border, it crosses over. These stories will be remembered years to come, mark my words. Clive Barker is genius. His work is the real deal, he cannot be immitated. His craft is so incredible. The stories are horrifying, gruesome, and beautiful. The Body politic is terrifying as is the title story about a knot and the demons that hell unleashes when the knot is undone. This is great stuff. Why can't all authors have this ambition?

He was just cutting his teeth when he wrote this, but it still stands strong. There are moments that make you cringe and some that make you look over your shoulder. If you're a fan of Barker's or just of horror in general, don't miss this one.

This book is an excellent jumping off point for anyone who is interested in trying to gain an idea of the horrors faced by the millions of men (not only Americans) entrenched on the battle lines around the world. The selection of first hand accounts from hundreds of varied sources is masterful and Miller is at his best when he weaves together the plethora of accounts and lets those who were there speak for themselves. The narrtive he has written/supplemented is interesting and notable for its inclusion of the black experiece in the war but it often feels like he is trying to hard to incorporate it and be PC. Nevertheless the book is fun to read and gives incredible perspective on the realities of war.

Drawing on a vast trove of previously unpublished eyewitness interviews, Miller's work contains text that is more than 75 percent new, more than 100 photographs, and nearly two dozen maps. The book provides extensive new coverage of, among other things, the war in the Pacific, the air war, the liberation of the death camps, and the contributions of African-Americans, women, and Japanese-Americans. Miller places the personal accounts of soldiers, sailors, airmen, nurses, and war correspondents in a historical context that was unavailable to Commager as he wrote in the heat of the conflict

If a person only had one choice of WWII books to read, I would recommend this one. It is a great overview of the major events and theaters of operation. Wonderfully woven into the fabric of events are eyewitness accounts that are very graphically depicted making the reading interesting. Also there is a super bibliography provided. This book will excite you to further reading on many of the events that unfold which is about the highest compliment I can think of for a war history. I agree that Miller revised the original to make it more PC. To this extent the inclusion of the African-American involvement in the war is somewhat "forced" on the reader and stands out as an attempt to be politically correct.

This is a must read for anyone interested in WWII history.

The five points of Calvinism came about as a response to the Arminian 'Remonstrance.' The Arminian Remonstrance demanded a radical change in the 'Reformed' theology of the Christian church in Holland. The Arminians challenged the sovereign grace doctrines affirmed in the Belgeic Confession of Faith and the Heidelberg Cathecism and disavowed the Reformed doctrine of predestination among other things. Arminianism essentially affirms that man initiates salvation in accord with his free will, which I believe is in sharp contrast to the message of Scriptures. This tract compares and contrasts the tenets of 'Calvinism' versus those of 'Arminianism' and then proceeds to document Scriptural evidences for Calvinism. It features a helpful bibliography of resources affirming Reformed theology. Many opponents of Reformed theology disparage 'Calvinism' as if its adherents are duped into some innovative 'new' doctrine contrived by John Calvin- but Calvin only affirmed the spiritual truths espoused by Augustine, the Apostle Paul and Christ himself. Calvin no more invented the doctrines of grace than he invented God's creation.

The five points of Calvinism represent the doctrines of total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistable grace and the perserverence of the saints. These doctrines form an easy-to-remember acrostic: T.U.L.I.P. A previous reviewer affirmed that he is a "2-point Calvinist" while I contend there is LOGICALLY no such thing, since he does not likely affirm a doctrine of total depravity remotely similiar to that of the Reformed doctrine of man's innate depravity. For if he did, he would recognize that there is corollary to the total depravity of man, which is man's total inability to save himself and the need for redemption by God's grace alone. As it is written, it is God who justifies and we who were made alive by the Holy Spirit were formerly dead to our sins and trespasses.

If you're new to Reformed Theology or interested in better understanding it, you might check out my Amazon guide to Reformed Protestant theology as well as What is So Amazing About Grace by Phillip Yancey. Sola Fide!

As a two-point Calvinist (Total Depravity and Preservation of the Saints) I found this book to be an excellent source for pin pointing predestination theology. The authors give a fair assesment of what Arminians believe. They also define each of the five points of Calvinism two ways positively (explaining what Calvinists believe about the doctrine) and negatively (explaining how it is not Arminianism) and conclude each section with an extensive biblical citations.

What the book does not do, however, is reconcile those passages in Scripture that causes problems for Calvinism such as Titus 2:11 "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to every man." or Heb. 2:9 "that he [Christ] should taste death for every man."

The predestination debate between various groups in Christendom centers on whether or not human beings act independetly of their own free will or whether if conscious will does not exist and everything that happens is determined beforehand by a higher power. "Calvinism" is the nickname given to the hardcore, anti-free will perspective within Christianity. However, this title is misleading, as since this theological conflict goes back to the earlist days in Christian history. Augustine taught the doctrines of Calvinism in contrast to Pelagius who upheld the goodness of human nature in the fourth century AD. Most of the Protestant reformers where Calvinists, but a voice of dissent was raised by James Arminius and his followers in Holland. They formulated a five point set of teachings that limited the power of God to the whims of concious human will, in contrast to the teachings of the Bible, as revealed in this book. Thus Calvinism's five points were not randomly drawn up, but were written to consolidate the Biblical teaching against Arminius. The five points are spelled out in the acronym TULIP (Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistable grace and Perseverance of the saints). Basically, God saves man, not man himself. It spells out the total depravity of mankind and his bondage to the lusts of the flesh and to the devil, and cannot of any means raise himself out of his fallen position without Divine aid. God chose those to be saved because He is God, and it is not the role of humans (us) to question the will of God. When God allowed Satan to destroy all of Job's possessions and kill Job's family, Job said to his wife, "the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Furthermore, Christ did NOT die on the cross to save all men, only those who were predestined by the Father to have faith in Him. The angels commanded Joseph and Mary to name him Jesus, because he would save HIS PEOPLE from their sins. This salvation does not apply to all, for instance Christ called his enemies not of his flock and of their father the devil. God's Will is final, and nothing exists outside of it.

The authors quote a clergyman, Charles Spurgeon: "I love to proclaim these strong old doctrines that are called by the nickname Calvinism, but which are surely and verily the revealed truth of God as it is in Christ Jesus. By this truth I make a pilgrimage into [the] past, and as I go, I see father after father, confessor after confessor, martyr after martyr, standing up to shake hands with me...I see the land of the ancients peopled with my brethren...and acknowledge that this is the religion of God's own church."

Currently, "Calvinism" is not very popular in Christian teaching, but that does not detract from its basis in Biblical texts. Most of the material in this short book are in fact passages from the Bible that support human depravity, the saving work of Christ and God's election of the ones who will be saved through Christ. The concept is like that of election day: the president is chosen, but does not actually occupy the office of the presidency until he is sworn into office. I personally do not believe in free will. If we had free will, we could reason and and conquer what is bad in the world, but that is obviously not the case. Just by observing the world, I can tell that sex and death are in complete control, but everything will work out in the end to God's Will, in which the chosen will be glorified and the unredeemed will be condemned.

The AT Backpacker is a well-written, no-nonsense guide. The Logues give the low down on hiking with an eye toward the Appalachian Trail. I found everything I needed to know about foods to eat and how to be safe in drinking water. They also go through the dizzying array of gear out there, from tents and backpacks to stoves, sleeping bags, boots and clothes, all with the AT in mind. There are also chapters on winter backpacking, backpacking with children, and long distance hiking which expand on the basics.

An earlier edition of this book gave me the confidence to get out on the trail for some shorter hikes (weekend hikes and a week-long trip). I have used the checklist for overnight hikes in the back of the book to prepare for many hikes and find it the best equipment checklist anywhere.

I bought this third edition to get the latest as I prepare for a thru-hike of the AT. The Logues have made numerous changes throughout the book. I'm glad they have kept the AT Backpacker current. The additional appendix on websites has proved helpful for planning my hike.

I recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn more before hitting the AT for a hike.

The Appalachian Trail Backpacker delivered what it promised--trail tested advice for hikes of any length. I found the info I wanted to give me the confidence I needed to get out for a week long hike on the AT. They taught me everything I needed to know to go out and do it. I recommend this book to anyone interested in hiking the AT. It's a well-written, no nonsense guide.

This book provides vital information for anyone preparing to hike any part of the AT. This book utilizes good format with headings and different sections to outline almost anything that one will need to know about planning a hike from packpack size to water filters. Since the book is advice from other hikers, it is general information, but DEFINITELY useful! I was extremely pleased!!

I immensely enjoy time travel genre, and Mr. Steele Gray carries off the concept fairly plausibly. However, the book in general lacks rich descriptions of the prehistoric time into which the hero is stranded. Mark, the hero, never really encounters any serious danger through out the entire book, making the book rather unexciting. Compared to Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander", another time travel novel, "Survivor" was flat and uncomplicated.

Robert Steele Gray's "Survivor" was a fascinating and unusual read. Those seeking an intricately woven adventure novel--Clancy in prehistoric setting--will either set the book down halfway through or find themselves as transformed as the protagonist, having fallen in love with the pursuit of history that clearly motivates the author.

The fantastic premise, a lightening-induced return of a modern man to prehistoric times, is a rather bitter pill Gray must have us swallow in order to frame his modern perspective on pre-history. He does so quickly and painlessly at the beginning of the novel, thus betraying his true passion for the history which he endows with his real energy and skill.

A series of somewhat choppy bouts with disaster leave Mark, the time traveler, in a relationship with Um-See, his number two character. Here Gray skillfully begins to give his readers taste after taste of real prehistoric life. The caves of what would later be Arkansas provide an excellent (and of course, historically accurate!) setting both for details of Indian life and for interpersonal relationships.

It is in the relationship between Um-See and Mark that Gray most surprises us and most stretches his own writing skills. With a number of English words you can count on one hand, Um-See nonetheless becomes a warm and full character. Of course Gray uses the relationship to speculate on how communal life amidst the harsh environment of pre-history might have operated, but his efforts to do so are hardly stilted or forced. Mark's relationships with women--his first and second wife--are not so compelling, but luckily, these are neither central to the main story nor essential for the historical education the reader is receiving.

Technophiles like myself will enjoy speculating with Gray about the introduction of warfighting technology and tactics. The bow and arrow production and training are thoroughly enjoyable to read, and yet quite informative. The real depth is in the details. Gray answers the reader's every question from Mark's perspective. He paints in our mind a color photograph of subsistence, war, economy, politics, and perhaps appropriately to a lesser extent, love, in the lives of these prehistoric Indians.

Gray should be pictured as a historian who has turned to fiction to reach an impatient American public with the same material briefly covered in the first chapter of history books they didn't read in high school. His ruse worked. I'll forever see much more in the hills of Arkansas than dubious politicians; and I shall never again pass so quickly by the stale, ill-clad mannequins huddled around the painted campfire in the first room of the natural history museums. These people now have life, breath, and emotion; Gray has put it there.

Having recently enjoyed the movie "Castaway," I was a little skeptical that this book would be almost a rehash. Of this I was totally wrong. Mark Llewellyn, a middle age couch potato is thrust back in time about 1800 years. It takes him several days to realize this and he wanders around looking for a way back to civilization. It doesn't take long for he preservation instincts to kick in to the point where he is putting his hand in the carcass of dead animals to eat some of the innards.

He stays away from the people he encounters, fearing that any encounter would cost him his life. He finally meets an old man living on a mountainside. The old man allows him to stay but makes him do grueling work. They go on hunts together and little by little they get to trust each other. Though Mark is virtually useless in most things, he tries, with crude materials to introduce some of the later inventions to the old man.

The rest of the book is great too and I don't want to spoil it by giving away too much. When you get to the last twenty pages you wonder how the author will resolve everything with so few pages left, but he does a wonderful job of it.