In 2008 Libya, Russian Nobel Prize winning virologist Dr. Leonid Andropov completes his work on developing a deadly virus and a vaccine. He and his benefactor plan to unleash the deadly bug on an unsuspecting world. Years ago, the egomaniacal Leonid faked his death and moved to this North African country where President Ahmed Al-Almohad has made him welcome. A staunch communist believer, Leonid expects six billion to die for the cause. Ahmed supports his effort because the oil economy of his desert nation will soon dry up, leaving them with nothing.

After a near death experience during a hold-up in which he froze in fear while a thug murdered the clerk, pharmaceutical sales representative Gavin Alexander is a traumatic wreck. He attends a seminar sponsored by his firm Draco on the East Coast where he meets his friend, researcher Cherokee Dr. Ross Hawke, who also works for Draco but in North Carolina. However, neither one realizes that they will soon be a team trying to stop Leonid and Ahmed from unleashing Raptor while seeking a cure for the deadly virus.

FLIGHT OF THE RAPTOR is a quality political thriller that seems like a real possibility of occurring in a world where biological-chemical weapons exist. The story line is fast-paced and filled with cleverly developed action that provides the audience with a wonderful ride. The characters are fully developed, especially the heroes and obvious villains so that the reader understands the varying motivations of each one. Having Florida being a key state in presidential election politics demonstrates talented author Cord Harper's ability to read the future. Hopefully, he is inaccurate on the future of a Raptor-like virus.

Harriet Klausner

In Flight of the Raptor, old-fashioned heroism meets a future filled with money-grubbing drug companies and dangerous terrorists. The entire population of the planet is at risk when terrorists develop a deadly new virus. The effort to thwart Armageddon runs head-long into political ambition and, thankfully, the heroism of one man.

The book is engrossing, a quick read and a good first novel. I look forward to the next one.

A wealth of new ideas and ways to consider doing business! In this economy, all business owners need to access their goals on an accelerated basis..this is a Must"!

A very eye-opening view of the ever-changing business world. Challenges your current assumptions and forces you to "think out of the box" in regards to your company goals and personal ambitions. A must read for anyone considering opening their own business or looking to keep an existing endeavor afloat!

"Give to Your Heart's Content: Without Giving Yourself Away" is one of the best books available on the subject of giving. Continuous giving without taking time for yourself leads to exhaustion, frustration, and burnout. The book has some self-assessment exercises that can be used to help determine the type of giver you are. Do you give expecting something in return or do you give without expecting reciprocation? Do you take on more than you can do because you find it difficult to say "no"? Do you give so that you will be recognized for your giving or do you give silently without requiring recognition for your gift?
Once you know the type of giver you are the authors lead through several ways to change your giving patterns to ones that are more holistic in nature. Give authentically, give from the heart, give wholly, but learn where you have to draw the line so that you can continue to give in the future. In a society where we are taught that to give to yourself is selfish many people find it hard to take care of their own spiritual and emotional needs, but if we don't then our value to others is decreased. It is only by taking care of ourselves that we are able to truly help others. This is the basic message of "Give to Your Heart's Content" and it couldn't be more true. Highly recommended reading.

Give To Your Heart's Content Without Giving Yourself Away by clinical psychologist and workshop leader Linda R. Harper is a practical-minded, "user friendly" book specifically written for volunteers, caregivers, and workers in social services. Focusing on how giving affects one personally, and finding balance between sacrifice and a healthy, well-adjusted life, Give To Your Heart's Content Without Giving Yourself Away is a powerful testimony and guide to enriching one's life without becoming a martyr, and very highly recommended for the non-specialist general reader undertaking a responsibility for the well-being of another individual as a caregiver or volunteer.

What a shame that this classic children's tale is out-of-print. I was introduced to this story about five years ago and have shared it with many children along the way. I can almost see the Gunniwolf standing in front of me when I read the book aloud and his voice is a clear as a bell. What a joy to read. I only wish that I could give it as gifts to all of my friend's children.

My experience with using the Gunniwolf as a preschool teaching aid has been very successful. This tale of little girl and her forbidden, flower-picking adventure in the jungle evokes the imagination of children and inspires their dramatic play. The marvelous detail of this poetic emprise is a valuable tool for teaching critical thinking skills. The Gunniwolf successfully accentuates the importance of following the instructions of parents and caregivers. Little girl's jungle adventure provides the opportunity to teach the concept of a multicultural world with common issues among its people. The creative writing style of the author makes it simple to incorporate creative storytelling techniques that will enkindle children to request, listen to, and retell over and over again the story of little girl and the Gunniwolf.

I have had my copy of the Eastern edition of this book for over 6 years. I own many field guides, but this is the one I turn to time and time again. Great pictures, logical layout, comprehensive coverage. I'm finding more opportunities to travel West, so now I'm looking for the companion. It's a treasure.

I purchased my copy of this book over 10 years ago. Being an amature Ethologist and ardent back packer, I have continously found this field guide very complete and easy to use. Each section gives overviews of general species charactoristics. Specific data is direct, to the point, and covers a broad spectrum of information. Excellent color plates can easily be used to quickly narrow down cassification. This handy book is far superior to any other Field Guide on the market for meeting the challenge of identification of any wildlife encountered localy or on the trail. Why carry a pack full of books and manuals when you can have everything in this great book. Our only mis-fortune is that it is currently not in print, But if you get your hands on a copy, KEEP IT! I am sure you will treasure it as much as I treasure my copy.

...One tears it from his guts. The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket." (Charles Peguy, p 479) What a wonderful reference! I have found this book useful for speeches, papers, special occasions, toasts, etc. Organized topically, this book is amazingly easy to use and is filled with great quotes from a wide variety of sources (the Bible, various ethnic proverbs, presidents and other political figures, a range of artists and writers and various entertainers). A great book for anyone who ever speaks or writes in any capacity.

"A word is not the same with one writer as with another. One tears it from his guts. The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket....Charles Peguy"(pg 479)....................... There are quote books and there are quote books. THIS is quote book you'll mark on every page and return to again and again. It's a feast of ideas that will become one of your favorite reference books. Forget Bartlett's. Here's a reference book you can actually use and enjoy reading at the same time. No wonder its on its third edition. I'm sorry I didn't discover it sooner.

I learned everything I know about grammar and usage from this book! It was a gift to me as a teenager and it guided me to A's throughout high school and college. Who would have thought a dictionary could actually be FUN to read? Well this one is because it poses a multitude of common problems in contempory usage, e.g. "to split or not to split infinitives", and then lets a range of academics and humorists tackle them. The results are both enlightening and amusing.

Too bad its out of print.

Ain't, copacetic, happily, hopefully--if these make your skin creep you should check out the Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage. The authors have solicited opinions from a varied group of successful users of the USAmerican language, such as: Saul Bellow, Walter Cronkite, and Andy Rooney.

This is a great book to have as a reference as you study the Bible or just to browse through when you have a few spare moments. This book has been put together by leaders in the study of religions. It is not biased toward any sect within Christianity. The information is backed up with references to the original documents.

A great companion to the Harper Collins Study Bible.

I became aware of this volume while leading a Disciple II Bible study group. This volume is an excellent source for familiarizing yourself with almost any topic of interest from the Bible. I have been checking other sources and have not yet found another to be as helpful and readable as the Harper Collins Bible Dictionary. We have made it a part of the resource library for our congregation's youth church school class.

This was a key reference throughout my undergraduate days at Wesleyan University. The reference room had a first edition copy. If I'd had my own, I'd have probably spent FAR less time in the library. The OCD just didn't cut it. This was my indispensible companion studying Plato.

This volume is, in my opinion, the most comprehensive and accesible available in English. I can't remember a single time that this failed to illuminate the obscure asides and references in Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides, Herodotus, and the Tragedians. So, as far as the Greeks are concerned, this is the one to have. I'll leave it to someone else focused on the Romans to offer that perspective.

This is a massive text, contining the most comprehensive information on ancient peoples and how the lived, loved and worked. A must for the ancient history lover, Numismatist or collector of antiquities. For instance, what is a fibulae...you'll find out here not only what it is but how they were manufactured, used and distributed. What about a domis? It's in there too. Everything in alphabetical order. The only drawback is that the massive size of this volume restricts its portability. But, it's well worth this minor inconvenience for the content

Madeleine and J Lane Miller have written a valuable resource for the study of everyday life in Bible times. The blurb inside the dust jacket says that there are 74 subjects in 14 sections with 150 illustrations. There are sections on geography, homes, food, clothing, medicine, family events, the life of a nomad, the life of a professional, etc.

Let's say one is reading the story of David and Bathsheba. One might turn to the section on military life and read Soldering under David. There one might read that Saul was the first to establish a professional army in Israel rather than depend upon a militia. David added mercenaries to his army. In Israel mercenaries worked for wages but had no rights as a member of an Israelite tribe. A mercenary so totally belonged to the king that when a king died, like a concubine, a mercenary passed on to the king's heir. This raises the question to mind as to whether Uriah the Hittite was a mercenary along with other members of "the Thirty." One then might decide to read the section on Prostitutes. Prostitution did exist in Israel and there may have been temple prostitutes at Shiloh in the pre-monarchial period. Deuteronmic Law prohibited both male and female prostitution, but prostitution was a fact of life throughout the Ancient Near East.

Though the Millers have included a section on the Industrial Life, their book is lacking in discussing the economics of Bible life. There are no chapters on money or taxation. Even so I found this to be a valuable resource. When a favorite sister-in-law admired the book, I gave her my first copy. And then I missed the book so I went out and bought a second copy.

This book really has an excellent cover!