This class taught in an undisclosed school in Connecticut is a delightful, quasi-pioneer voyage with five children with a boatload of emotional baggage.

Douglas -- At 10, he is the oldest and the ringleader. Raised by his maternal grandmother, he has no idea of the where- abouts of his natural parents. He has one older bro- ther who is severely retarded. Bright and outspoken and very funny, Douglas copes with his issues by alt- ernating aggression and clowning. His grandmother fears he will end up in jail.

Kevin -- Also 10. Quiet and originally unassuming, he appears to be Douglas' opposite number. An abusive father and a forum to express his formerly unspoken aggressions helps open Kevin up. He appears to fit the classic profile of passive aggression and one chilling episode of his aggression was when he killed the class pet, a pregnant fish by chopping her to bits with his ruler. He also would go on "sit down strikes" and refuse to do his work books.

Eddie -- At 8, a firey little dynamo. An abusive mother who has questionable boyfriends, Eddie lashes out at any- thing and anybody. He has a younger sister with whom he has an aggressive relationship.

Jonathan - At 8, Jon appears to have a tenuous grip on reality. He is obsessed with ghosts and bodily functions. An encopretic, he is cured of this problem when the author refused to allow him to remain in class after soiling episodes.

Julie -- Also 8. The only girl, she chafes against being adopted. She has mild dyslexia and is antagonistic towards her adoptive parents. Over time, she is able to make peace with them.

The book is a delightful slice of history. The Blackout of 1965 is mentioned and so are some events of the era. I found it interesting to see how these five interacted with one another. It was nice to see an update of sorts at the end of the book (which I first read in 6th grade). Douglas, Julie and Jon were eventually mainstreamed. Kevin left just prior to the end of the year and his whereabouts remained unknown to the author. Eddie entered a residetial treatment center and the author laments that he was the only one of her pupils who wasn't mainstreamed.

Eleanor Craig's work is the most inspiring account of a disturbed child's behavior patterns. Being in the field of child psychology myself, I found this book to be a great account of a teacher's personal emotions, physical actions, and persistence in accordance with the behavior of the children in her group. The vivid language and explicit detail allowed one to see the situation as it really was and not just feel like we were getting a "cleaned up" rendition. One gets great insight into the psyche of the children as well as to what can and cannot benefit them. This book is definitely on my highly recommended list and I am going to try to get many other books by Eleanor Craig whom I find to be a tremendous author :o)

Eleanor Craig really hit me. Five emotionally disturbed children with abusive and ignorant parents. it should really make people wonder how well kids are really brought up and taken care of. if children and parents really need help, there should be help available with easy access and be available at all times to needy people. there is something wrong with the world today if parents cannot be treated as well as children. so, my parents will only love me if i'm normal? Let's get with it, kids and parents should be able to get the help they need.

I had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Smith speak at a presentation to a local church group. He spoke on the real meaning of the word charisma, and how we pretty much misuse it today. We frequently use the word to mean someone who is a good speaker, or presenter. But the meaning of the word, to Mr. Smith, goes much deeper than that. He posits that there are at least three levels of "charismatic speakers." The first level is accessible to many individuals who take the time to master the principles of persuasive speaking. The second level of charisma is more difficult to achieve because it requires a speaker to be "authentic," by which Mr. Smith means they know who they are and they take responsibility for their actions and what they advocate. And the third level of charismatic speaker reaches beyond the material world to associate in some way with the metaphysical, the transcendent, the spiritual, or some other form of perfection.

Mr. Smith then goes on to give examples of each of these levels of charismatic persons, drawing from history and our understanding of historic figures such as Socrates, Plato, Jesus, Buddha, and Augustine. This text is one every public speaker and/or clergy should read and understand.

Echoing previous reviews, I found Smith's treatment of charisma fascinating and innovative. My only quibble is with his cursory look at the Greek origins of the term [flat-out incorrect] and its appropriation by New Testament authors. I'd encourage a careful look at Liddell-Scott's Greek lexicon should this otherwise fine book continue into subsequent editions. Overall, I found the Existential dimension to be very helpful in distinguishing authentic charisma from the simulated pseudocharisma being manufactured by today's media flacks and would-be leadership gurus. A much needed rhetorical look at "the divine gift" and the role played by gospel authors in fostering the charisma of Jesus.

Smith's work is an ideal combination of scholarly precision and lively reading. It will be of great interest to the student of Christianity, to anyone interested in the contruction of the classical world or to those scholars more specialized in either classical or more contemporary rhetorical theory. Of particular interest for the reader will be the application of theories of charisma beyond the scope that is expected. The best thing about the current work is its unexpected and original take of the broad applicability of Pauline concepts. Quite literally, a must read for anyone interested in Biblical exegesis or Faith in a Christian Context.

I live next to this town and my grandfather worked 50 years in the potteries of Sebring, OH. I recognize alot of the pictures and of course he knows all of them. We enjoyed talking about the pictures and I learned alot about how pottery used to be manufactured. In fact one of the guys on the front looks like my grand father. Interesting to read about how thw town used to be.

My great-grandfather was Ellsworth (E.H.) Sebring, but my father never told me much about his mother's family. What a joy it was to find this book, with it's great history and many pictures! I'm told that my father learned to play billards on the pool table in Ellsworth's beautiful home. I enjoyed discovering a heritage that I didn't know I had. Although the city has changed since the peak of the pottery making days, I found it interesting to visit, and reading Mr. Bara's book made it a lot more personal.

Excellent story in picture of small town America. Family and friends tell me that it is very factual and the pictures bring many fond memories. Friends who did not know anything of the small town found it to be interesting, especially the text with all the pictures.

Tale of Gator is a must read for all boxing fans and people interested in what the human spirit can endure in it's quest to overcome the greatest of odds. Gator was that special type of person who may have made the greatest comeback in all sports history. Author Mike Fitzgerald has brought the readers a clear account and a very entertaining one that takes us from Gator's childhood to his eventual quest for the coveted Cruiserweight Championship of the World.

I throughly enjoyed each chapter of this book because it painted a clear mental picture of his entire life and that is always how I have judged a book. With that said, I would purchase any book by this author because he truly has what it takes to put a good book out and keep a reader not wanting to put it down until he is finished.

All the Best,

...

AUTHOR MIKE FITZGERALD AND CRAIG BODZIANOWSKI TELL A GREAT BOXING STORY, THAT IS ALSO A GREAT LIFE STORY. I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED READING THE BOXING PASSAGES AND INTERVIEWS WITH PEOPLE WHO WATCHED THE CAREER OF THIS REAL LIFE HERO. I ALSO ENJOYED IT AS THE STORY OF A PERSON WHO OVERCAME ADVERSITY TO DO WHAT HE WANTED TO DO. CRAIG IS AN INSPIRATION AND THIS STORY IS A MUST FOR ANYONE WHO LIKES BIOGRAPHIES, SPORTS OUR SHARES OUR LOVE OF BOXING. DON LENZA CHICAGOLAND SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT, INC.

Boxing historian and white collar tough guy Mike Fitzgerald (Fitzgerald-"The Madison Mauler"-has 1 professional boxing credit to his name and holds the Janesville Chicken Fighting title) has penned a fantastic story about one of boxing's most courageous athletes in "Tale of the Gator." Fitzgerald, who is quickly becoming one of boxing's most authoritative writers with books on Ken Norton, Archie Moore and Earnie Shavers, beautifully recounts the life of Craig "The Gator" Bodzianowski starting with a tough childhood in Chicago. The book then takes the reader through Bodzianowski's climb through the boxing ranks, up to his motorcycle accident where his left leg had to be amputated. Amazingly, Bodzianowski made a miraculous comeback to the ring with a cutting edge prosthetic leg and a world title shot. Bodzianowski is not only a credit to boxing, but has managed to raise the expectations of amputees on how to live a better quality life. This book should serve as an inspiration to all readers, not just boxing buffs.

Gay does an excellent job summarizing the major problems of worldliness and modernity. He indicates that the issues of modernity involve "control". Science, socio-political issues, technology, and anthropocentrism are about control. This has created a consumer and self-absorbed culture which seeks to control the outcomes of their life, environment, and religious views. Gay indicates that this may be due to the former centuries' emphasis on rationalism. He believes that this rationalism is concerned with achieving predetermined results.

How does this affect the Christian? The cultural Christian has focused on self-therapy, religious freedoms, and a fear of commitment to community. The Christian becomes a private, lonely, and isolated individual.

Gay's solution is to view the self and culture in relation to the all-powerful God. God has created man in His image and the world as His special revelation. This view of creation, human image, and revelation calls humans to view themselves as part of God, rather than apart from Him. The culture may attempt to control but the Christian allows themself to be controlled by God and realizes that life is about obedience and joy rather than manipulation and lonliness.

This is one of the best and most insightful (and dare I say important?) books I have ever read. It's clarity, depth of insight and profundity have few equals in contemporary scholarship. I am reminded, reading this book, of the first time I ever read Francis Schaeffer's "How Should We Then Live?" This book is equally profound in its insight and implications, but is a much better work of applied scholarship than that one is.

Gay's basic premise is that the forces that shape the modern world are not those things we see on the surface, but those hidden assumptions that permeate our understanding of ourselves and our world via modern politics, science and technology, economics, and psychology. Gay argues that these areas are often permeated with subtle "worldly" assumptions which drive our culture in a secular direction and make belief in God seem irrelevant or unrealistic. Not that Gay is against these areas of modern life per se, either. He simply wishes to make his readers aware of the danger in the assumptions that often lie beneath the surface of these areas that can influence us to "live as if God doesn't exist," even if we are professing Christians.

The book is extremely well researched and documented, and Gay spends a great deal of time, in each section of the book, setting up the historical factors that contributed to the rise of these worldly assumptions. In each chapter he also talks about the historical relationship between the Christian church and these different facets of modern life and how Protestant Christianity (Gay is a Protestant Christian) is, ironically, partly responsible for the rise of modern secularity. He concludes the book by offering some helpful reflections on how Christians should think and act in the secularized modern world.

Even though this book is a first rate work of scholarship, it is very lucidly written, and any intelligent and interested person should be able to follow the basic gist of Gay's argument. This has my highest recomendation.

This book is an incredibly perceptive and broadly ranging overview of many of the ideas that make our society what it is today, and the ideas that are making it what it will be tomorrow. The author's ability to offer insight on the fundamental ideas that are inherent to our Political, Economic, and Technological systems is refreshing, and mind-expanding. The author's faith and hope in God are encouraging. This is probably the greatest book I have read in several years.

Never quite understood the barrier to quantizing gravity
when one realizes that R^infinity gravity quantizes without
any of the usual barriers (it is renormalizable on the grounds
that all required counter terms are available).
After which it is just a matter of following Einstein's
route to classical gravity, by setting to zero all
renormalized coupling constants, except that associated
with R.
End result, gravity quantized.

The book looks interesting and the editors are leading experts in the field of quantum gravity. However, I could not make a purchasing decision since the table of contents is not listed in the ad. This is crucial, since the book apparently contains reprints of previously published material and, for all I know, I already possess this material. Thus, I suggest a table of contents be added to the ad for this book.
In order to post this review, I need to "rate" it. I give it 4 stars, since I know the editors are experts in the field, but not 5 stars since the ad is missing the table of contents.

Physics Meets Philosophy at the Planck Scale: Contemporary theories in quantum gravity edited by Craig Callender and Nick Huggett is a book the gives the reader accessible introductions to the main and sometimes lesser known insight to quantum gravity.

This book was a challenge to read, yes, I must admit. But, that being said, I must say that it helped explain one of the greatest challenges in fundamental physics. How to come up with a plausible theory of quantum gravity out of quantum mechanics and general relativity. Yes, that all encompassing theory of everything aka quantum gravity. Space, time and matter all rolled into one grand theory. The so called problem of time in canonical quantum gravity, black hole thermodynamics and the relationship between the intrepretation of quantum theory and quantum gravity.

This book is divided into five parts, each of these parts has abstracts written to coorespond to the question at hand in these parts as chapters. These parts are as follows:

Part I: Theories of Quantum Garavity and their Philosophical Dimensions

Part II: Strings

Part III: Topological Quantum Field Theory

Part IV: Quantum Gravity and the Interpretation of General Relativity

Part V: Quantum Gravity and the Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

This book not only looks at the physics to these, but also, looks at the philosophy that is concerned with fundamental questions regarding the nature of space, time, and matter. Seventeen authors give this book its body and soul for explaination as to how these fit together. What I particularly liked was the three chapters in "Strings" with "Reflections of the fate of spacetime by Edward Witten, A philosopher looks at string theory by Robert Weingard, and Black holes, dumb holes, and entropy by william G.Unruh.

This book isn't for everyone, but should be essential reading for anyone interested in the profound implications of trying to marry the two most important theories in physics. And that's the large and the small of it in a nutshell. But there is also a more positive reason for the connection between quantum gravity and the philosophy: many of these issues arising in quantum gravity are genuinely philosophical in nature.

How should we understand general relativity's general covariance... is it a significant physical principle,or is it merely a question about language with which one writes an equation? What is the nature of time and change? Canthere be a theory of the universe's boundry conditions? These are but a few of the questions asked and the explainations of the answers are trying to be resolved.

All, in all, this is a very good read and it will definately tax your brain.

This is a story about contemporary American Indian life around the Washington State and Oregon border. The author begins his acknowledgments by telling us "...this novel places fictional characters in actual places and against some historical events." The acknowledgments continue to reveal his considerable research into the history and anthropology of the Indians who live along the Columbia River, even as to the variation in pronunciation and spelling of certain Native American words from band to band. Indeed, the book reads as if many of the incidents, conflicts and jokes in the story are embellished recollections of actual events. Although billed as fiction, River Song is more a chronicle on the folklore and contemporary lifestyle of some Northwest Indians. I'll call it Indian Gonzo Journalism.

In River Song, you are going to read about the trials and tribulations of a people living in trailers or BIA housing, and who refer to The Treaty on occasion. They are stuck together by an ethnic bond, but in culture that allows them to con and cheat one another. These people know how to pronounce Tiskaatpama and Tsau-tsau; they might eat at Cimiyetti's restaurant or picnic in Happy Canyon or at Preacher's Point. Although the principal characters have common names like Danny, Jack, and Willis, you will also meet Iggy Two Medicine, Lucy Pretty Mink, and "one of the best-looking young women around Mission," who never wears a bra, called Trudy Two Sleeps, perhaps because her winnemucca has been here and there.

These people survive near the bottom rung of the ladder by rodeoing, picking fruit and fishing. They save the Segram's Seven for "Code Blue Emergencies." As migrant workers, Danny and Jack work along side illegal immigrants, Mexicans, who are the brunt of all their jokes.

River Song is not just about the economic struggle of a band of contemporary Native Americans. Mr. Lesley tells us something of their history, and their beliefs, about Steah-hah masks, Night Ghosts, Weyekin animal spirits, and the value of dentalia shells. Danny, the protagonist, has a vision of the Chinese Massacre of 1887 on the Snake River, an actual event. At first, Danny doesn't know the relevance of this vision, doesn't recognize the river, and is even uncertain as to whether the victims are Indians or Chinese with suntans. To sort it out, he consults Wauna the medicine woman and we learn how these people tame their ancestral spirits.

Being a Yankee raised amongst buttercups and maple trees, I also learned more than I ever wanted to know about the vegetation in Northern Oregon. Up there they have bunch grass, hackberry, klamath weeds, service berries, snake-biscuit, blue bachelor buttons, bitter brush, camas bulbs, lupine, cheat grass, balsam root, rock lilies, and bluebells, to name a few. Leslie Craig did teach me something valuable, though. Now I can to tell the difference between Indians and Chinese with suntans. The Indian is the one telling the Mexican joke.

"River Song" picks up where Lesley's previous novel, "Winterkill," left off. Unfortunately, it's not as strong as its predecessor, since some of the situations the characters become involved in seem a bit contrived. Lesley seems to resort to the device of suspense to keep the story going: early in the novel, the main character, Danny Kachiah, has a disturbing vision which he spends much of the novel trying to figure out by visiting, among other things, a medicine woman on the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho. It seems that this whole aspect of the story was added just to tie in certain actual historical events and give the characters an excuse to travel about the countryside in Eastern Oregon and Idaho. Also, Danny eventually figures out where his vision took place, but Lesley never really explains how. In the hands of a lesser writer, this would have been grounds for tossing the book aside, but Lesley has such a talent for evoking place and time that it's hardly noticeable while you're reading. Thus, Lesley's engrossing style tends to gloss over these and other shortcomings, making "River Song" a very compelling tale. The other aspect of the story, the struggle of the Native Americans along the Columbia River to maintain their fishing rights and thereby preserve their traditions, is handled very well. In a very direct yet unassuming style, Lesley adeptly describes the frustations of the River People in dealing with the U.S. government, the local authorities, commerical fishing operations and sport fishermen and even windsurfers. As with "Winterkill," the characters in "River Song" are very believable, and you often find yourself thinking about them as real people - which attests to Lesley's talent as a top-notch writer.

A wonderful novel about the cultures and the rivers of the Pacific Northwest. This is one of my favorite novels. When I teach it, my students find that it changes the way they look at the world. Read it!

The information is not presented in an inteligent format. Most of the book is basic, and when it does go a little deeper it drops you off at the end. Windows is a huge, error prone, weak, buggy, sloppy OS. It needs much, much more than this book provides to "RUN" Windows.

I finished this book last month and really enjoyed reading. This sounds strange but, I looked foward to getting off work, going home and reading this book. I have read a number of MSPress books and found this to be the most enjoyable and informative. This book covered most features in 98 without going into too much depth. This is one book that I will not donate to the public Libary! I just started reading "Running MS Excel 97" co-authored by Mr Stinson. I hope this book is as good as Win98.

for anyone who wishes to get complete use of their windows '98 operating system, as well as have a comprehensive compendium to reference at their finger-tips, then this book is for them. Novice or advanced user - a must have.

Craig Childs' writng is lyrical, personal, dramatic. He lives a life I wish I'd known I wanted to live when I was able to do so. Every one of his books is in my library. Last year I gave at least a half-dozen copies of 'The Secret Knowledge of Water' to friends and family. I look forward with keen anticipation to vicariously participating in his next set of adventures.

So what happened this time? Craig finds and reveals to his readers what it is that he searches for out there in the desert wilderness. Maybe I didn't like so much introspection. I know more about his friends and their private lives than I want to know. And (I don't want to sound prudish...everything has its place) I really don't want to know the color of his wife Regan Choi's various body parts.

That said, I must also say that I think it would be impossible to read anything by this author that does not inspire and impress. He is a gifted, very gifted, writer. And he is a crazy-man explorer of the wild places that are left in this world.

I read a lot of outdoor books, and I have to say this is one of the best that I have read in ages. Craig Childs lives, breaths, eats "wild." He writes with a clarity that makes me feel like I am alongside him -- and with a passion that is contagious. I am already planning a trip to visit some of the places he writes about. In the meantime, I'll nurse my desires by trying some of his other books.

I heard about this book on NPR and living in the area decided to read it. I have read several books about this area and the desert, in general and this is one of the best. Up there with Edward Abbey's books, but nowhere near as acidic. I have not yet read Child's other books, but he gives a great insight into the vastness of this area, both phyiscally and mentally. From someone who came to this area from back east, I recommend this book to anyone who would wonder why people would want to come to this area to live and work.

The book is ok, but it does have a few major errors:
1. It is a total grammatical nightmare.
2. A lot of the sections repeat the EXACT SAME information! I kept thinking I had already read a certain chapter, when it turns out they just repeat themselves!
3. Darrel Craig must have one big ego. At the beginning of each chapter, he has quotes from famous martial artists, i.e. Musashi. However, at one point, he quotes HIMSELF. How egotistical is it when someone quotes his/her self in their own book!?
4. The explanations and analogies are not well formulated.

The book does contain relatively interesting concepts, but it merely scrapes over the surface of the book. Henka, one of the four elements of kata that is talked about, gets a ONE paragraph explanation. No only is this paragraph SOLELY an analogy (NO explanation), but the analogy hardly makes any sense! I was disappointed- it seemed like I was going to learn a lot of the four main elemts of kata, and while these elements were listed, only two recieved any in depth discussion (Bunkai and Kakushi). Oyo was talked about quite a bit, and Henka was hardly even covered, except for the vague confusing analogies. If the big was meant to cover a wider variet of material, I would have understood. But the purpose of the book was to discuss these specific four elements- and the discussion is grammatically flawed, repetitive, and contains ambiguous analogies and confusing explanations. I would recommend borrowing the book from a friend so you can at least (somewhat) familiarize yourself with the terms and concepts, but save your money.

Watching people on tv showing off with various kicks and jumps can be very impressing, and you can enjoy it like watching a dance. However, in real life, few of these "dances" have much value, and the real "dance" is something you rarely see anymore.
The real "dances" I am referring to, are the ancient kata's which are the basic foundation in martial arts. They do not show those on tv, because they are not about impressing flying kicks and other entertaining movements, but can seem borring to the audience who do not understand the meaning of them.

Darrell Craig does a very good job making you understand what a kata is, and why it is so extremly important that every martial art teacher should teach their students the ancient kata's and their bunkai's.

This is one book that I am glad I bought.

I appreciate that the authors have gone deeper into the meaning of Kata; it gives the reader something to think about. Craig also gives some "goodies" not given in other books like it. It is a must read for martial artists.