Rebecca, thank you for sharing a difficult and painful period of your life. By offering something so personal, you will help many who are struggling within relationships and need to know they are not alone in not understanding why "it" is not working. Your resilience and determination to persevere and learn from your relationships is to be commended. I applaud your honesty with subjects that many would declare off limits, particularly in the world of evangelical churches. Many people will benefit from reading about your process and seeing that there can be a "happy ending".

Rebecca, I love your extraordinary writing and am moved beyond words by your testimony. To confess so much, to bare your soul to the world as you have done, is an act of courage that no one else I know personally possesses. Thank you for sharing your journal and your difficult, heart-breaking lessons to us all.

It is almost unbelievable how much emotion and turbulence you have been carrying, and the "Looking Back" epilogue was a relief for me to reach. Life always presents challenges - this is why we keep living, after all! - but wisdom and grace (as yours) will prevail.

You told your story with piercing beauty yet truth. Where did you summon the idea to organize the book as you have: snapshots from the marriage, separation, divorce and recovery; arranged in non-chronological but meaningful order like poetry? How lovingly you wrote about your ex-husband, yet how understandably you explained your bewilderment, the affairs, and finally the resolution.

Your life has been a difficult, exacting teacher. The readers of your book will be grateful, loving students!

Rebecca Carroll's candid and moving memoir shows how painfully difficult it can be to find a resolution when love proves to be not enough to sustain a marriage. Not willing to suffer forever in a relationship that lacked true intimacy, Rebecca was also not able to tear herself away easily from the commitment she had made to her husband.

This book will be helpful to someone trying to decide whether to stay or go, or trying to cope with the long recovery time of disentangling oneself from a formerly wholehearted relationship. And it will be of interest to anyone critical of the emotional damage inflicted by some fundamentalist religions.

Some will find it a profound mirror for their own doubts, fears and conflicted longings.

The new school year is rolling around, and Jess wants to start thing out right. Instead of detention, Jess wants to get to be better aquanted (i dont think I spelt that right) with her classmates. But things dont seem to be looking up for her. While Jess was on vacation w/ Ruth, after her time at the summer camp was finished, a cheerleader was kidnapped, and murdered. No one seems like they want to forgive Jess about that either.So when another cheerleader disappears, she tries her best to find her before its to late, and before the government finds out she still has her ability

Junior year is starting! And Jess wants to start it off right. No fist fights! No detention! But all her plans change when people start blaming her for the death of a popular cheerleader who was killed while Jess was away that summer. Then another cheerleader, Heather Montrose, turns up missing. Now it's up to Jess to make sure Heather doesn't end up dead too. To make matters worse Karen Sue is sueing Jess for punching her in the nose. Not only that but Douglas is a suspect in the case. Not to mention the death threats Jess keeps recieving. What's a girl to do?

Another great book. Rob was so awesome in this book. I can't wait for Sanctuary, Book 4!

In Safe House, sequel to Code Name Cassandra, Jessica Mastriani must once again fend off the FBI. After getting struck by lightning and discovering her new ability to dream the exact location of anyone whose name or picture she sees Jess is forced by the ever present reporters to take up the FBI on its offer to study her power away from home. After escaping from the FBI with the help of her crush, Ron, and fooling the world into thinking that her power has disappeared when she returns from summer vacation it turns out that almost everyone is blaming her for the death of a popular cheerleader days before. Apparently they decided she hadn't lost her power when the cheerleader disappeared and bombarded her house with pleas for help, but her housesitting aunt refused to give them her number. Now the cheerleaders football playing boyfriend is taking her out to pizza to pump her for info on the Feds, her best friends brother is in love with her, her brother is a suspect in the cheerleaders death, her arch enemy is sueing her for breaking her nose, and another girl has turned up missing. How is Jess, who is not exactly a subtle person, supposed to deal with this and still manage to convince the world and her own surveillance team from the Federal Bureau of Investigation that she is unable to find people?

I love all of Jenny Carroll's books. This one is no exception.

Definitely not the best book available about the low level mission;this is an entertaining book which is full of errors,notably the statement that Wongo Wongo {which crashed into the sea}was the lead plane.The lead plane was always Teggie Ann,a fact which can be verified by talking to members of the 376th bomb group.Still of some interest as long as the book is read with a skeptical eye.Black Sunday is better,though still flawed.

I am overjoyed that this great book is once again in print. Dugan and Stewart, both of whom served with the Army Air Forces in World War II and knew many of the participants, were in a unique position that later writers are not. While they were somewhat handicapped in that some of the documents related to World War II were still classified when they were writing, their information was based on knowledge provided by the participants when they were still young men, with the memories fresh in their minds, and less convulted by the effects of the distance of years and their own personal aging. I bought and read the original while on my way to US Air Force basic training in the summer of 1963 and it is still one of favorite books. Although modern enthusiasts attempt to pick it apart, it will always remain the most important book on the Ploesti campaigns.

Sam McGowan, Author "The Cave", a novel of the Vietnam War

The book was well done and accurate as far as I know from the stories of the Tidal wave as told to me by my father who is featured in the book. I was somewhat disappointed by the fewer pictures in this edition. The earlier edditions had more pictures. (ie more pictures of my father JD Palm who was the brave soul that led the first wave to the proper turn point and was the only one of the first wave to turn at the proper place and consequently was the first one in the target area. According to him was able to salvo his bombs in the target in spite of being wounded and on fire. He crash landed and saved all of the crew that was not killed by the initial Direct hit. It took real guts to continue to the target area alone and do the right thing) His exploits were accurately reported in the book with this omission that he salvoed his bombs ON Target and the first to do so! A well written and detailed account with the mention of many brave airmen by name.

Very, very funny, sometimes scattered, commentary. Although several reviewers have emphasized its unsuitability for novices (for one thing, you won't get all the jokes), the section on Abysses, read and considered early on, will save considerable trouble & provide a good antidote to solipsism.
Something here to offend everyone; much that appears trivial has a sting in its tail, and yours ...

an enchanting, mind eviscerating collection of magickal maxims upon which to feed the brain and fortify your soul. Pop psychologists beware - this is no fanciful step through the garden of love and kisses.

These are biting, highly charged morsels, intellectual bullets that penetrate preconceptions and re-impregnate your mental structures with new and improved software.

If you enjoy turning neurons upside down and spinning them around a bit to see what you come up with, order this roulette wheel for the mind.

Psybermagick is Peter Carroll's greatest work. You will feel the energy of this book creating a vortex around you. This is definately not a book for the newcomer (the title alone should suggest that). If you consider yourself an advanced chaos mage its a must read. Psybermagick is first and foremost a complementary book to Libber Null and Liber Chaos.

Like any Peter Carrol book it suffers from dogmatism and personal propaganda however his ideas are more approachable than his previous books. Strangely enough this book mainly talks about ideas in magic than specific techniques and approaches which I personally found appealing since it opened a new horizon for my magical adventuring.

A little warning: reading this book you might attempt to use we instead of I, which is exactly what I tried. In doing so you will touch chaos with your fingertips at that very moment you might have to struggle to retain your sanity. Thankfully I survived, got everything I needed and moved on.

Assume nothing.

Buyer Beware! The publisher has renamed the original book in this wonderful series. If you buy or own "The Mammy", you do not need this book!

Agnes Browne gives strength and hope to modern day women through her unfailing spirit and determination to conquer odds and see the love and humor in life. As an Irish-American, I can feel, see, and smell the city of Dublin in O'Carroll's descriptions. This book makes the reader pause and consider the universal truths about life-live it to the fullest, laugh whenever possible, love without condition, NEVER lose hope. I'll definitely read and share this one again and again.

If I could rate this book higher than a five, I would. I have never enoyed a book as much as Agnes Brown. I highly recommend it for a good laugh and a very endearing story. I also read the rest of the books Brendon O'Carroll wrote. I bought my books and when I finished with them, loan them to my friends to read. I wish he would write more, I look forward to reading them. Excellent is the word for Brendon O'Carroll's writtings. Thank you.

This is a cute book full of little tidbits of information that really do nothing more than amuse yourself. Most of the excuses in the book will never work for anybody. There are some tips and a few excuses that the author makes reference to that may help you but overall, I was disappointed with the book. The cartoons are funny and cute. It was well put together also. Sorry I could not be very helpful with a recommendation but its not worth it.
Thanks.

I have purchased a copy of "Speeding Excuses that Work:..." What a great book - valuable for drivers of any age. It is written in an entertaining fashion and has an unbelievable number of ploys that are / would be effective.

Excellent book, very funny reading! Definitely worth your while if you want to know what works or what may work in your situation.

I have now read this book twice. Not only have I read the book, I remember this time period as my company worked closely with IBM. One of the other reviewers said, "An amusing book that attributes IBM's success to a couple of lucky business decisions followed by endless blunders. Carroll makes alot of assertions about IBM but provides few facts to back them up..." Obviously, this person either works for IBM or did not know what was going on at that time. What Carroll says is true. Especially if you had ANY ties with IBM during these years, you will find this book fascinating. I have referred back to it many times.

This very readable book is the model that Gerstner should have followed. Elephants can do heavy towing, or push aside obstacles; they can't pirouette en pointe. This book is the viewpoint of IBM by an outside journalist. It lacks a table of contents. The book describes the problems, it does not tell when or why it originated.

Page 20 says IBM developed "a lush bureaucracy that prided itself on having a higher ratio of managers per employee than any other business around." Is this what they teach in business school? IBM's chairmen came from the sales force; if you can't sell it, there's no point in making it. The IBM PC was created from off-the-shelf parts so it could be quickly marketed; pre-defined interfaces too! Page 24 tells how Microsoft did an operating system: they licensed QDOS (a replica of CP/M), then bought it. It eventually made Gates the richest man in America.

Page 27 tells of the management problem in creating software. Architects spent months producing detailed designs for software. Then masses of programmers had a hard time deciphering the hundreds of pages of specifications. More time was spent in communicating than actually writing code! Isn't this a recipe for a project to be over budget and behind schedule? Estridge's habit of shunning meetings, not returning phone call, and ignoring unwanted advice could set an example of a well-ordered project manager who concentrates on the mission, not the housekeeping. Page 37 explains why standards for PCs began at birth.

Page 53 mentions the "fear of nuclear attack" as the reason for moving out of New York city. But other companies also moved out in the 1970s; the fear of a nuclear attack drained away after the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Didn't IBM build a skyscraper in the 1980s only to sell it in the 1990s? Didn't AT&T do the same?

Page 87 tells how Gates got lucky when VisiCorp began to self-destruct. Those familiar with counter-intelligence operations may think of another reason (p.192). Page 97 says IBM never wanted to have too many people in one spot. Unstated here is the fear that nearly all could walk out to a new company (p.186). Page 101 tells that IBM used lines of code as a measure of programming; what did IBM use to measure its management? Microsoft rewrote IBM code to make it faster and smaller, then; how are they doing now? The last pages of Chapter 8 deal with the OS/2-Windows politics. There is no explanation as to why they didn't share the same application interface. Page 201 tells of developing a RISC chip; didn't CDC do this in the early 1960s? Page 208 describes the chip development problem in Burlington VT. Page 217 mentions the "golden screwdriver" and how quickly some machines were upgraded. Think ahead!

Pages 245-7 tell of the PS/1 project: crippled so it would not compete with PS/2. Would General Motors restrict the sale of Chevrolets to sell more Cadillacs? Page 281 suggests Microsoft moles reported on IBM's strategies. Pages 301-9 tell of the changes in Lexington under new owners. In political history, this is like a revolution that sweeps away the aristocracy and lets the farmers and merchants rise to power. Does the description of the IBM bureaucracy remind you of France before the Revolution? Will anyone write a book to cover the last ten years as well as this one does?

People who complain that this book is unfounded because IBM is growing and profitable forgets that over a decade ago, IBM was a stinker: the bottom had fallen out of the lucrative mainframe market, and IBM could not compete long-term in the rapidly growing PC/Workstation market. This book is a great lesson in how not to adapt to change.

Luckily, IBM has pulled itself out, but at what cost? Imagine if IBM had got the PC revolution right? There might not even be a Microsoft today and IBM could have retaken its position as THE corporate super-power.

Besides discussing poor management, I enjoyed the information and great anecdotes about IBM's relationship with Bill Gates and Microsoft. I cannot believe the number of opportunities IBM squandered to acquire, invest or eliminate Microsoft. It seems that IBM pratically pushed Gates to build Microsoft into the power it is today.

I hate to sound like an ingrate writing this review: Herb Ryman has done some great illustrations. Unfortunately, this book spends too much time showcasing Herb Ryman's non-Disney art--which is pretty mediocre--and not enough space showcasing his Disney work. The highlight of the book--Ryman's first illustration of the soon-to-be-built Disneyland--is spread across two pages, but the page break makes it nearly impossible to decipher what's in the middle of the drawing. (It should have perhaps been on a fold-out, or at least on a single, uninterrupted page.) Other great illustrations, especially early renderings of Tomorrowland, are printed in extremely small 3" images, making them very hard to read. All in all, I'd say don't bother with this book. Ryman's best drawings are already showcased in many other books.

As a general book about the person Herb Ryman, it is very pretty and well made, and deserves 5 stars.
But as a source of info for the Disney historian, all I can say is: get the public library near you to buy a copy.
Personally, I feel I should have waited to buy it until I had the chance to have a look at the contents...

i have a herbert ryman oil painting that i would like to sell if you are interested please call robert (562)435-4833

Completely fascinating, this book was full of surprises and wonderful displays of genuine family love. The strength of 14-year-old Dove is remarkable and the caring nature of so many of the characters is something I found pleasing. I reccommend it to anyone looking for some insight into Southern traditions and the true power of prayer.

Swan Place is the fourth of Augusta Trobaugh's novels I have read, relishing every sentence. The author continues to give us lovely stories of Southern women and their courage.
Dove, the protagonist of Swan Place, is a charming adolescent who has not yet come to realize her strength; she just does what has to be done as one challenge after another enters her young life. I would love to read of the grown up Dove to see what she becomes as an adult! Told with a strong sense of the importance of family support and love and sprinkled with southern idiomatic expressions, Troubaugh's novels show me glimpses of my own upbringing.

I loved this book. It was so refreshing to find another work of original southen fiction. This book was different from the Secret Life of Bees. Yes, there are a few similarities but it's a stretch to say they are alike in plot.