I am no expert on medieval England, I simply find it as a hobby to read about it now and again. That said, I must say that I found this book very well written. It tells not only the story of Richard, but a fairly good description of the War of the Roses. I found this book very informitive about his life, and it tells it in a very readable way, sometimes it is as if you are reading a novel, not history, such is Kendall's skill at telling stories. It brings a fresh new perspective to the life of Richard, discarding all the Tudor propaganda.
It makes Richard out to be a real person, not the monster that the Tudors made him out to be. It even contains an excellent essay about who murdered the Princes,it does not discard Richard as a suspect, but also explains how others could have done it.
My one complaint, however, is that at some points, particularly in the middle, it can get a bit boring, and it is sometimes hard to keep all the names strait. But over all I must give this book a very good rating for keeping my attention with the vivid battle discriptions, while still informing me about the world and life,of Richard III

This author has attempted an un-biased, historically accurate tale of Richard III. He uses all available references to present the story of an often misunderstood King. While he is not always successful in being unbiased, this book is worth the read

This book makes me happy just thinking about it! It's a wonderful, friendly view of Richard III, chock full of historical facts. Kendall also puts in his own conjectures concerning many events (i.e. murder of the Princes) which are extremely interesting. A completely wonderful, informative read

I enjoyed this book very much. Gell-Mann's contribution to quantum physics is explained well (to the extent that anyone can explain that subject). The author also did an excellent job of exploring Gell-Mann's complex personality and his (often stormy) relationships with other great physicists of the second half of the 20th century. The author's personal relationship with his subject (getting permission to do a biography, getting access to Gell-Mann) is an entertaining sub-theme to the book. My main disappointment with the book (and perhaps this unfair, since the author's subject is Gell-Mann, afterall) is that there is not enough about the interplay between Gell-Mann and his equally great contemporary at Cal Tech--Richard Feynman.

All in all, a well written and enjoyable book.

Given his status in the pantheon of physicists, one might expect Strange Beauty to be a standard paean to Murray Gell-Mann's brilliance. Instead, George Johnson tells a much deeper story of a complicated man, his accomplishments, and his foibles. In 1994, I had eagerly awaited Gell-Mann's own book, The Quark and the Jaguar. I found it nearly unreadable. I was terribly disappointed, as I was very interested in a man who could simultaneously be held in such high regard by both reductionists (as a leading particle physicist) and fans of complexity sciences and emergence (as a co-founder of the Santa Fe Institute). Armed with Johnson's insights, I'm ready to try Gell-Mann's book again.

I'd also recommend Strange Beauty to anyone interested in the process of innovation. It's difficult to imagine a more competitive environment for pure creativity than that characterizing particle physics during much of this century. I took odd comfort from the fact that even among Nobel Prize winners, the process of innovation is marked by redundancy, countless dead ends, internecine struggle, pettiness, and seemingly sudden breakthroughs. Maybe we mere mortals need not be too discouraged when we find the same during our own efforts.

George Johnson beautifully describes the life and work of the Nobel-Prize physicist Murray Gell-Mann and the revolutionary history of elementary particle physics. In addition to how the important discoveries of the Eightfold Way and quarks were made, we learn Gell-Mann's diverse interests in linguistics, ornithology, archaeology, environmental problems and complex phenomena. The author writes not only about the physicist's brilliance and success but also his human frailties such as his experiences of writer's block and procrastination and his brooding temper, thus making the biography complete as viewed from every side. This is a good book for laypersons as well as for physicists.

Bette has done her usual great job at describing Celiac Sprue, Gluten free living, using gluten free ingredients and baking and cooking with this challenging diet.

In this book Bette shows how to make up "mixes" for we who are gluten challenged. For example she explains cake and bread flour mixes, my two favorites, that can be made up in large quantities, mixed very well and stored for later use. This makes it as convenient to bake a gluten free cake, as it is to make one from one of those boxes from the grocery-baking aisle. There are many other mixes. (I counted 36.) One of my favorite everyday mixes is Onion Soup. I use it when cooking meats and stews. This one alone has saved my day when the children's activities take up all my time and energy and I just could not have sliced and diced and browned and simmered, etc, to get the onion base for the gravy just right.

Bette supplies recipes for lots of the hard to find things like Sweet and Sour sauce, Sweet Pickle relish, low-fat dressing and lots more. She also explains some very helpful substitutions like things to use in baking if you have lactose intolerance and Sprue (and the taste doesn't overwhelm in the final product).

Just seeing how Bette creates her mixes and uses them in her recipes is a great education. Once you start using this book you probably will get the courage to try out your own mixes or vary Bette's until it meets with your palates delight.

Her recipes are easy to use. She explains the directions well. The end product is delightful.

I love this book and refer to it often even when I am not using it to bake. I take it to the grocery store to use as a reference.

This book, along with Betty's others, is a MUST have for any person with Celiac Disease. Her recipes give hope that we might eat "normal" food again. Wonderful tasty recipes and good information at the beginning of the book also. BUY IT!!

Bette Hagman has outdone herself with her third gluten-free cookbook! She has included many recipes that incorporate the newer use of bean flours as well as bread machines. She continues to come up with innovative new recipes for both breads and main dishes. It is a must for any gluten-free cook. I particularly enjoyed how easy the recipes are to do, and they are quick. I also appreciate the health-conscious attitude the book takes. As always, she provides quite a bit of excellent reference information and background to help people newly struggling with the gluten-free diet, as well as those who have been on it a long time. Definitely my favorite of the three!

I bought this because it looked like a comprehensive resource for a H.O. that could be stuffed in my pocket, but I found myself in a bind with this book. I think it might be useful in England, but if you are not ready to work with British units and medication names it is pretty tough to use in an American hospital. I found myself scrambling for other resources when I tried to use this book. I wish I would have bought something else.

This book is one of many pocket sized texts aimed at junior doctors, but it is distinguished by its realisation of Descarte's "Ghost in the Machine". The Ghost is the collected medical knowledge of scientists and clinicians, and it is "growing and changing shape" every single day.

The Oxford Handbook helps you keep up with the Ghost in three ways: stimulation of memory, interactivity and insertions. It is a large resource of over 700 pages, including tables, diagrams and summaries of thousands of medical problems, tests and treatments, so useful brain power can be freed up from regurgitation of facts for more problem solving. It has hundreds of blank pages facing the text for notes on memorable patients, lectures, and texts. And the content is regularly reviewed and rewritten by a large team of practising doctors who are now publishing updates on a website, so you can print off new pages from the web and stick 'em in.

Round our way it's known as! the "Cheese and Onion" because it's wrapped in Yellow and Green plastic like a bag of flavoured potato crisps. It's tasty, uses British terminology and it fills a gap, too. Good for enough for anyone who needs a flavour of medicine that doesn't go stale.

"Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine" is an excellent Medicine handbook for medical students. It provides a comprehensive, essential and easily accessible information of Clinical Medicine. It is extremely useful when using on the wards. It also has blank pages for writing your personal notes in each items.

Drs. Ditchek and Greenfield were both personally trained by Dr. Andrew Weil, whom I trust more highly than any other contemporary medical authority. Dr. Weil wrote the Foreward to HEALTHY CHILD, WHOLE CHILD and his essay makes it clear that this book is essential reading for parents of young children. I read it from cover to cover and came away empowered with a new understanding of my childrens' health and what I can do to enhance it.

This is a great and important book.

Review Summary: Drs. Ditchek and Greenfield take Dr. Andrew Weil's approach to combining conventional and alternative medicine (called "Integrated Medicine") and apply it to younger children. As a result, you will get new ideas for ways to avoid recurring ear infections, chronic colic, allergies, asthma, and various attention-related problems. The book provides a sound foundation for having a healther, happier child. As compared to other books I have read on the subject, this one is the best overall resource.

Review: Your child is just undergoing her or his 37th ear infection. Your pediatrician has informed you about putting in tubes to drain the ears as a possible solution. You don't want to do that. What now? Chances are that if you read this book, you will never have to face that exact dilemma. Chronic ear infections are often a consequence of other kinds of problems such as allergies. If you don't eliminate the causes, how can you hope to eliminate the symptoms?

Integrated medicine is based on a belief that the best thing to do is to boost the body's natural immune defenses; consider the interaction of body, spirit, and environment; focus on preventing disease rather than curing later; customizing treatment for each individual; tring gentle and noninvasive methods first; integrating the best of conventional and unconventional medicine; forging a nonauthoritarian healing partnership with patients and their parents; acknowledging that patients and their parents have good insights into the problems; and treating children as children, rather than as small adults.

Where do you find these pediatricians who practice integrated medicine? Well, there are few formally trained ones today. But some traditionally trained pediatricians operate in a similar fashion. The book can also be used to help you get better results while working with a traditional M.D.

The book looks at a lot of key issues for smaller children: optimizing immunity beginning during pregnancy, vaccinations, proper use of antiobiotics, the right kind and amount of food, getting enough water, exercise, rest, relaxation, protecting children from environmental hazards, and offsetting the bad cultural influences of television and advertising.

There is also an unusually open-minded discussion about mind/body medicine, osteopathy, chiropractic, massage, herbs, homeopathy, Chinese medical techniques, and energy based medicine (like Reiki and Qi Gong). I'm pretty open minded on thse subjects, and the authors go beyond my openness.

The book's final section looks specifically at how to avoid and deal with colds, flu, sore throats, ear infections, colic, reflux, abdominal complaints, headaches, allergies, asthma, skin problems, and attitude issues.

Most people would give the book five stars just for the colic, ear infection, and allergy materials.

The materials on food, eating, and exercise are good, but you will want to supplement them. I recommend Marilu Henner's new book, Healthy Kids, for that purpose. It espouses many of the same principles in those subject areas and has recipes, as well.

Despite being the father of four with plenty of experience for these complaints and illnesses, I was impressed by how much new information was presented here. My only complaint about the book is that it wasn't written 30 years ago when I was preparing for fatherhood. Dr. Spock wasn't nearly as helpful on these subjects!

On the matter of ear infections, I would like to note that you can gently rub your child's Eustachian tubes through the skin on the neck and often relieve the interior pressure on the ear drum. While it may not stop the infection, the pain will be less and you can probably avoid a punctured ear drum. A partial vacuum often forms near the top of the tubes. By getting air in there, the air pressure is equalized and comfort is improved. Most dictionaries have a drawing to show you where they are. Basically, they go straight down from the base ear into the throat. You can usually feel them as swollen tubes through the skin.

Forewarned is forearmed. Use this information . . . and pass it on!

This must-read book is rational, grounded in scientific medicine, open to safe and effective combinations of conventional and alternative medicine, and extremely well written. I really liked the authors' respectful and friendly tone, and their comprehensive consideration of everything that affects the health and well-being of children. Well organized into 3 easy-to-use sections: foundations for healthy living; alternative forms of medicine that are safe for children; and how to combine conventional and alternative treatments for run-of-the-mill problems. Good guidelines on when to call your health professional and what you can try on your own. Great references and resources for all parents. I've been giving it as a gift for showers and new parents.

This is an excellent book that details the importance of daily juicing. It is packed full of recipes and nutritional information. I would highly recommend this book to anybody wishing to improve the long term quality of his/her life.

This book is an outstanding reference. Michael Murray has written a book that will help change your life. I have lost 22 pounds in the past 3 months and improved both my health and well being using the recipes and guidelines in this book. As part of a healthy diet, juicing can change your life.

I bought this book after reading the many other reviews and wanted to take the time to come back after I had actually used it to provide some input. This book combines a wide variety of recipies with nutritional information and very helpful advice, of all of the books I have reviewed and/or purchased, this is by far the best - buy this book, you won't be disappointed.

This is an excellent juicing and nutritional resource. I have learned so much about the value of certain foods that I didn't know before. I have been juicing for four weeks now and I feel so much better, have more energy, lost weight,and my appetite is reduced so I wouldn't miss a day of juicing.

The book outlines which fruits and vegetables you should juice with for certain ailments as well as giving you detailed measurements of the nutritional value of each food so you can determine what you need to juice with so you can add certain nutrients to your diet.

I would highly recommend this book. It's enjoyable reading also.

John Murray's work deals with The Atonement in all of its simplicity and manifold accomplishments. He rightly begins his exposition with God; the offense to His Holiness caused by the fall of man.

The book is divided into two parts; Redemption Accomplished, which deals with the necessity, nature, perfection, and the extent of the Atonement, followed by Redemption Applied. The chapter on Justification is the capstone of the book.

This book is not an easy read, nor is it a cursory treatment of biblical soteriology. The thoughtful reader will benefit from the richness of John Murray's prose, as well as the masterful way he rightly divides the word, using both Old and New Testaments.

Professor Murray's study of soteriology is the best of its kind. He masterfully unfolds the various aspects of the atonement with careful exegesis of Scripture. He Biblically defends the doctrine of particular redemption and explains with clarity such difficult concepts as propitiation, reconciliation, and redemption. Part two deals with the application of redemption. Again, the arguments are developed exegetically with precision and clarity. The chapters on justification and perseverance are particularly insightful, and I think his understanding of the ordo salutis is both logical and Biblical. This is one of the ten most impactful, thought-shaping books that I have read. I heartilly commend it to all pastors, theologians, and students of the Word.

An anecdote -- a few years back I was a graduate student at Princeton Theological Seminary, taking a course on *The Atonement.* We had half a dozen required texts in the class, plus a suggested reading list with another 20 or 30 titles. Not one book was by a contemporary conservative/evangelical, of course. I had a question on the ordo salutis, which none of the books for the course addressed. I asked my professor(probably the most distinguished theologian at Princeton and certainly no evangelical) for help. He looked around and literally whispered to me *Don't tell anyone I said this. But the best book on the atonement written in the last 100 years is John Murray's Redemption: Accomplished and Applied. You'll find your answer there.* I wondered why he didn't have the courage to place it on the reading list!

I have given away at least 6 or 8 copies of this book over the past few years. It can't be beat for rigor, orthodoxy, and clarity. Buy two or three while its still in print!

I have been using this vocabulary development book in teaching students from 8th grade Honors English up through high school levels. I really like the concept and the way the exercises are developed. I was pleased to see the changes from the 2nd edition to the 3rd and now I am anxiously waiting to see the 4th edition. However, I find that some of the idiomatic phrases have fallen into such disuse as to not be of much practical help. I also question the connotations implied in the context of some of the vocabulary words being used in the vignette. I still think it is the best book available for vocabulary development and I use it continuously throughout the school year.

I also bought this to help prepare for the GRE. It is broken so that you can learn five new words a day for 46 weeks (plus an idiom a day). I agree with a previous reviewer in that some of the definitions of the idioms, while they may be text-book, are not concurrent with today's usage. I still found myself referring to the dictionary when trying to understand a new word (hence the 4 stars--I thought some of the definitions were too brief to be fully understood). However it's a great series of exercises which can be done at whatever rate you wish (I usually do one or two "weeks" in one day). There are also weekly reviews and "book so far" reviews, if that makes any sense.

I tried wordlists and many different techniques to master vocabulary words, yet for whatever reason, I found this book most helpful in enabling me to remember the words. The short passages that you read with the words in context in each section repeat words that you have already mastered, or should have, and I think this method works particularly well. Moreover, the words that you study in this book are extremely useful for the GRE, SAT, or just strengthening your vocabulary in general.

This book could be retitled "How I Coped With My Father's Journey to Monastic Life." Matt Murray recounts the mysterious story of his father's conversion and his own efforts to be fathered effectively after the death of his mother. This is an engaging account of two lost souls and how they eventually came to understand one another, or, at least, how Matt came to terms with his father's spiritual oddyssey. It is an engaging story for spiritual seekers or for anyone who is interested in the narrative of familial dysfunction ultimately redeemed.
The only reservation I would have is that his use of churchly vocabulary is at times faulty. For example, he refers
to a Franciscan monastery in Virginia. Those in that loop will recognize the description as that of the Trappist abbey in Berryville.

I'm writing through tears brought forth by Matt Murray's moving (and funny) exploration of his relationship with his father and of his father's decision to become a priest and enter a monastery. The inquiry is honest and direct and the writing is clear, precise, and witty. Anyone who wants to know how to approach a relationship with an adult parent can learn from this book. I know, because I am Matt's brother, and in reading this book, I discovered a whole new family for myself.

The Father and the Son is a true and complicated story. Matt has done an extraordinary job sharing his father's singular life, portraying a loving but lonely man evolving over time. The writing is unique, blending a reporter's precision with a collection of voices, ranging from compassionate to sarcastic. Matt traces his father's path from childhood to priesthood, following him through a series of families. The story is often sad and poignant, as a loving son watches his father move on to a new, monastic family. The story is also uplifting, as we gradually appreciate that his father made the right choice, finding fulfillment and peace after a long journey.

As an atheist, I was not prepared to appreciate Father James' calling. However, no religious conviction is required - the author himself has wavering beliefs. The portrayal of his father's struggle is compelling, and the resolution of his journey is gratifying, regardless of the reader's (or the author's) personal views. The final chapter is touching and remarkable.

I believe this book will appeal to many people, regardless of faith or family history. However, it had special meaning for me. Matt and I became best friends in second grade, and we remain close today. For over a decade, I spent most every day (and many nights) in Jim Murray's house. He took us to countless movies, to amusement parks, and to far-away places. He took me on my first plane trip (to Disney World). He took us to Niagara Falls.

I loved Jim Murray like my own father, and later found him equally baffling. Matt and I were best friends during his slow conversion. When Jim sold the house, I spent the day helping them move to a new apartment. When Matt was alone for his first Thanksgiving in college, I went to Evanston. We drove to the monastery to see his dad. The day that Matt's column appeared in the Wall Street Journal, first describing his father's life, Matt was an usher in my wedding. For me, this book was a bittersweet memoir. For other readers, I believe it will be a fascinating and moving story.