I thought that this was a great book for my first year hunter students!!! However maybe the title is a bit misleading, as some of the kids thought that just by reading the book they were guaranteed an armfull of ribbons! However it illustrated proper turnout and horsemanship well!!

This is the first Ward Just book I have given less than 5 stars to, and I stand second to no one in my admiration for his skills as a writer. The first piece (a play) is an embarassment. We're all entitled to temper tantrums and to vent our spleen once in a while, but doing it in public and asking people to pay to watch is not right. Enough said. The two short stories are vintage Just and pretty good, but there are problems. He has a lawyer in the 1960's talking about "expanding the business" which no lawyer of that era would ever have said; "expanding the practice" is correct. And there is "moot court" and "mock trial" at law school, but never "mock court". The introduction in a vain effort at blue-collar solidarity talks about how difficult it is to drive a "sixteen-wheeler". This would be a lot more convincing if it were correctly identified as an "eighteen-wheeler". If you like Just, you won't be able to resist any of his books no matter what I say. If you don't know him, don't start here -- read his other books first and then come to this one last, if ever.

Like most R&D books, it's overpriced. It does have a lot of good code, however. And the text is very easy to folow.

Lionel Cramer, the Earl of Blaize, was a rather brusque, volatile man. His servants were devoted but disliked his black moods. His valet was his right hand man in the war and continues to be that way - deflecting his anger towards useful purposes. You can't help wonder why he is so bitter and reclusive. But later you learn his secret and begin to understand him. (If you read the description of this book, it unfortunately tells you what that secret is.)

Since Blaize has inherited a library of books which need put in order, he seeks out his old school pal, Dracot, who had been very bookish. The letter of employment arrives at his friend's fiancé's door. Diana is in desperate straits! Penniless, she is an unwelcome resident in her uncle's house and cannot bear that she and her brother are treated rather cruelly and shabbily. Dracot has been lost at Waterloo. So off she goes to take advantage of the job offer. Her brother, Archie, is an unusual young man. He can talk to the animals much like a pet psychic or horse whisperer. Although Diana and Blaize have a bad start - he yells at her - Archie has success with an uncontrollable horse and Blaize's aunt persuades him to let Diana & Archie stay on. At first they are just there for dinner but Blaize can see her reduced circumstances and as a way to repay a debt to Dracot for help when they were in school, he asks her to stay and restore the library.

The storyline follows their friendship and eventual love. Also it contains a little romance for Blaize's aunt. There is a mystery to solve - Dracot's horse is found and Blaize seeks the answers to what happened to Dracot. Could he be alive - and if so, can Blaize face losing Diana?

I did not find the characters well fleshed out. They were charming but I felt no real emotion while reading this book. The side story of Diana's interfering relatives (the uncle and aunt who were cruel to Diana arrive on the doorstep!) rather ridiculous and annoying. It just did not fit the story well. The arrival of Blaize's parents (the Duke and Duchess of Naunce) was fairly interesting. I like that Blaize and his father come to understand each other better. All in all, I can recommend this for a light afternoon read but not a keeper.

Outstanding helper for when the frustration level is exceeded. I've given it three stars as the book does not cover certain scenarios (my favorites) possibly due to my having the "latest" version of outlaws. Book may be directed towards 1st version of outlaws. SASS and CAS lovers of this game will find this a handy reference. Always try to figure it out yourself, but... Well, you know how it goes! Keep your heart and your aim true, Marshal Trinity SASS #18484

A nice coverage of the proud history of a local area. Written in a lively and altruistic prose, Martin carefully regards the many aspects of her hometown. However, she has a peculiar habit of occasionally trailing off in ellipsises. A must read if one is a resident of Dothan, AL.

The book was OK for the beginner but don't get it if you have the full version. The book is woefully short on picture (they are non existent) but overall it is an OK book to get the novice Quake player started.

This is a good book on respiratory care. It is not as good as Egan's RC, but it does have certain sections which Egan's does not have; therefore if you have both of them you should be OK. This book has very good adult and neonatal/pediatric cardiopulmonary disease section, but it is not as easy to read as Egan's is because of condensed text and lack of illustrations/color (it does have alot of chest x-rays though). Another problem with this book is that it gets published every 7 or 8 years, which is almost unbeliavable in todays world, especially respiratory care, which is probably one of the fastest changing medical fields. Constant update is needed, at least 3-4 years. Basically, this book used to hold 2nd position behind Egan's RC for many years, but it looks like many new comprehensive textbooks on RC will surpass it easily(example:RC: principles and practice by Dean Hess et al, 2001). One advantage of this book is that it is very light because the publisher used very cheap thin paper to print it which is OK when it comes to being light, but the book lost alot on its quality. This book also lacks cardiopulmonary anatomy and physiology section (it only has 10-20 poorly written pages). You know what, let me stop bashing this book because I'm concentrating too much on its bad points. It has some good points too, but I only recommend it to those that like to read alot, like myself (good as an extra reference), but if you only plan to have one good or best text on resp care than you should get Egan's Fundamentals of resp care (I believe 8th edition [in full color] is out in may or june of 2003) possibly before that.

When moving to Honolulu recently I bought several guides to Hawaii, and this is the one I use the most. The maps in the back are great, and I especially like the hiking trail maps & info. Plus the book is very small, and easy to fit in a bag to carry around without much hassle. The map in the front mislabels the two mountain ranges on Oahu, though, which was confusing until we figured it out. Also has an excellent index, and if you don't want or need info on the other islands, this is just the ticket.

I'd like to take this chance to review another book of the same series called "Colors"
The book shows a "creator" and a box of crayons, each crayon with his own purpose. However, two crayons are excluded throughout the book--purple and blue. These colors are never mentioned in the text although the illustrations depict blue standing off to the side looking sad, and purple moping in the crayon box. After each color has been shown the plan for him, they all dance and are happy, because the creator has a plan for them. Then the attention turns to blue. "Blue was sad because he thought the creator had forgotten him. But it was blue who forgot to trust the creator, for the creator said...'Blue, I have saved you for last. You will be the color of the sea... and of the sky that covers all.' And Blue was happy because the creator had a plan for blue. All of the colors were happy." This concludes the book, and purple never leaves the box. So, I owned this book as a child and I really thought the creator had no use for purple. I mean he actually says, "Blue I saved you for last" so that's the end of that right? Some of my friends tell me that the book is supposed to teach children to make that leap of faith and assume that the creator has a plan for purple that will be realized soon sometime in the near future, but I think this book is much too ambiguous for children. Thank you for your time, if somehow anyone read this review. This has really been getting to me lately.