According to Webster, the definition of memoir is "a biographical sketch, usually one written by someone who knows the subject well." It is from the Latin word memoria, meaning memory. But in Inventing the Truth, Annie Dillard says, "Don't hope in a memoir to preserve your memories. If you prize your memories as they are by all means avoid--eschew--writing a memoir" (70). Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir is a sort of instructional anthology composed of six chapters written by six authors. The purpose of this book, edited and introduced by William Zinsser, is to give writers different perspectives on how to write a memoir. If you are writing a memoir, or even just thinking about writing one, this book will be helpful to you. It contains examples of good memoir writing, advice on what to put in and what to leave out, and an overview of the process of writing a memoir. The advice given by William Zinsser and the other five contributors to Inventing the Truth pertains mostly to organizing memories. Annie Dillard's chapter entitled "To Fashion a Text" is very focused on memoir writing, and would not prove useful to the average Joe. However, Lewis Thomas' chapter called "A Long Line of Cells" would be interesting for anyone to read. Unless you are thinking about writing a memoir, this book probably will not entirely interest you.

Capturing Your Memories
In the book Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Writing a Memoir William Zinsser along with other well renown authors take the reader through the writing process of a memoir.
The book is divided into six sections individually composed by each author. In their own words they describe how to create a memoir that will be interesting, fluid, and accurate. A memoir is not just the facts as they are, but the facts as you experienced them. There are many other pieces of advice through out the book that add to the reader's knowledge of writing a memoir.
William Zinsser is a well renowned author and teacher. He has written and been editor for the New York Herald Tribune, and Life Magazine. Zinsser has also taught non-fiction writing at Yale University. In his book Inventing the Truth Zinsser gathers advice from many talented and experienced authors. They not only offer up advice but also describe their own trials and tribulations throughout the process. From Zinsser's boyhood in Long Island to Thomas's interpretation of evolution the book Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Writing a Memoir gives comfortable and informative lessons that a writer will find useful.

Memoir writers Russell Baker, Annie Dillard, Alfred Kazin, Toni Morrison, and Lewis Thomas share their thoughts on writing memoir. The chapters are taken from a series of talks given on the subject.

The authors point out that memoir is not biography. The hardest thing about writing memoir, they agree, is not deciding what to put in, but what to leave out.

They point to Emerson, Thoreau, Twain, and each other as models of good memoir writers.

Annie Dillard says that she writes memoir to fashion a text. She advises that those who want to preserve memories will avoid writing memoir since the act of writing an event often takes more time than the event itself. She compares writing to taking care of a baby. "You don't take care of a baby out of will-power, you do it out of love," she says. It's the same, she says, with writing.

Haunted by the death of his wife, FBI agent, Frank Reardon, doesn't want anything to do with his present case, nor the beautiful woman he doesn't completely trust. Now, though, Frank finds himself on an Indian reservation, investigating stolen Indian art and the murder of Eddie Honanie. It appears the two crimes are somehow connected, but Frank is frustrated by the lack of assistance he gets from Eddie's sister, Ella.

Part Hopi and part Navajo, Ella Honanie has tried to keep herself out of tribal confrontations - and Frank Reardon's investigation. She isn't a fighter like her brother was. And his fighting was, in her mind, what got him killed. But, at every turn, Frank Reardon is there. With little time to call her own, Ella is busy running her store and raising her young niece. Much too busy to help Frank - or fall in love with him. But together, Frank and Ella must find answers and will come to realize that a future together is only possible once their old wounds have healed.

"Broken in Two" is a wonderful read for those who enjoy Native American lore and mysteries. The romance itself is slow to develop, but this was a well written story.

FBI Agent Frank had watched his wife die in his arms, thanks toAIRO, the Native American militia group that he had beeninvestigating. He had seen his partner shot by that same group, and the whole debacle had been blamed on him. He was a man plagued by guilt, loneliness and remorse. The last thing he wanted was to investigate stolen Indian art on a reservation. But that was exactly what the Bureau had sent him to do. And now he was immersed in superstition and Indian lore and surrounded by implacable reservation Indians who felt nothing but hostility toward him. And vice versa. Ella Honanie was half Hopi and half Navajo and trying desperately to stay out of the tribal confrontation between the two nations. She wanted nothing to do with the federal agent, the superstitions he was up against or his investigation. A story steeped in Native American lore and mystical ceremonies. Very interesting reading.

Excellent book! Very reminiscent of Kathleen Eagle (Sunrise Song, The Night Remembered). This is the story of Ella Honanie, part Hopi/part Navajo Indian, attempting to find meaning in her life, and Frank Reardon, an FBI agent, who seems to be the key to a lot of problems in Ella's life and area. Both hero and heroine are very sincere and warm as they care and try not to care for their life situations and each other. A nice, slow-moving romance but one of great depth. I really liked it, I loved them and I highly recommend this book.

Courtesy of The Best Reviews

Kaylee Matthews is out riding her family's ranch one day and comes across a Lakota warrior who was wounded and left for dead. She knows she must help him, and does so while hiding him from her family. As she is helping him recover, Kaylee finds herself becoming bound to him, tighter and tighter.

Blue Hawk awakens to find himself in a white man's lodge, with a beautiful vision before him. He is an injured outsider to this world and longs to return to his village and people. All the while though, he is drawn to Kaylee and does not want to leave her. However, his people need him, and he longs for revenge against the white man who broke his word, stealing supplies meant for the Lakota, and shooting Blue hawk, leaving him for dead.

Kaylee promises to help Blue Hawk return home, getting a lot more than she bargained for in the process. Now Kaylee is the outsider among the Lakota, and must learn to live as they do. As she adapts to her new life, the passion between her and Blue Hawk grows...their love becoming stronger every day. Kaylee discovers she loves the Indian way of life, but misses her family all the same, hoping they are well.

However, the Lakota are on the run and Kaylee with them. Custer is tracking them down, to force all Indians on to reservations and free up their land for settlers to develop. The Indians decide to take a stand and defend their sacred land. Will they be successful? Will Kaylee and Blue Hawk overcome the odds to remain together?

Ms. Baker has once again proven why she is one of the reigning queens of Native American romance. Kaylee and Blue Hawk's relationship is so pure and true, each only wanting what is best for the other. The secondary characters are also a rare treat. The interaction between them and the hero and heroine is well done and adds to the story. Their growth as people is as evident as Kaylee and Blue Hawk's, but never overshadows them.

The research that went into this story is unmistakable. One will love all of the historical facts thrown in. It was wonderful to read such detailed scenes, even the violent Battle of Little Big Horn, which is a vital turning point to the story. There is even a little bit of mystery thrown in, though this reviewer had it solved as soon as it was mentioned.

This is a touching story, full of emotion. The reader will laugh, cry, scream, and grieve along with Kaylee and Blue Hawk. Their emotion is so powerful; one will feel how torn they are between their families and their love for each other. Ms. Baker's books are always a pleasure to read. It is known that each story will be unique...a masterpiece...and Lakota Love Song does not disappoint.

This was a really great book. I just finnished it last night, I couldn't put it down. I love Madeline Baker, she is my favorite writer. This book was so interesting and exciting, I was amazed by her detail and gift for writing.

I throughly enjoyed this book. I liked the way the story flowed with the relationship between Kaylee and Blue Hawk. I couldn't put it down, I had to keep reading to find out more. It is a must read!

the book was okay but I don't think Marilyn and Berniece were that close so there wasn't a lot of information through Marilyn's point of view but it a lot better than some stranger that Marilyn didn't even explioting her.There are some personal information that only Berniece would know so that's what makes it unquic.

I recommend this book to anyone vaguely interested in Marilyn Monroe, not merely the die-hard fan. I do not fall into that category, , but am aware of her enduring presence as an icon. This book lived up to its intriguing promise of providing ANOTHER viewpoint about Marilyn – other than the myriad biographies which have been about Marilyn by ‘outsiders’ and those enriching themselves on the proceeds.

This is very much the biography of Norma Jean Baker as she came to be known by her sister.

The picture of ‘private Marilyn’ depicted here does an enormous amount to restore Marilyn’s humanity, her connection with her family and peers, the person behind the impenetrable Goddess Icon that she has become in the decades since her death. This is the uncommodified, unexploited Marilyn, a person who loved and was loved. It’s a great corrective to the hagiographic or shallow tendencies of most Marilyn-abilia and I thoroughly recommend it.

Please buy this book instead of one written by someone who didn't know Marilyn...

Berneice Miracle was Marilyn's half-sister. They shared the same mother, a fitfully employed lab worker at a Hollywood studio during the silent film era. When Marilyn aka Norma Jeane was seven and didn't know Berneice existed, their mother bought a house in Los Angeles, a daring move for a divorced woman at the height of the Great Depression. But Mom became mentally ill a few months later and spent the next fifty years as a revolving door mental patient and old-folks-home resident.

Berneice's father seems to have been a stable man who abandoned the liberal lifestyle of California for the Kentucky of 1926, a different planet. Whoever Marilyn's father was never claimed her as his daughter unless you count a phone call that C. Stanley Gifford supposedly made to her out-of-the-blue a year before she died. Even if Gifford was a dishonest stalker, we still know Marilyn's real father kept quiet, likely out of guilt and sensitivity.

That point brings me to Berneice. While she adds little to her half-sister's previously documented fights with Twentieth Century Fox, Arthur Miller and Patricia Newcomb, she nonetheless shares her sisterly information with sensitivity. Possibly without meaning to, Berneice demonstrates that Marilyn's amazing sensitivity, a requirement for all the artists who share her degree of fame (Billie Holiday, Georgia O'Keeffe, Elvis, Andy Kaufman, etc), ran in the family. The reader experiences Berneice's thin skin in every sentence. The reader witnesses mother Gladys' fragility overpower her, shattering her dream of becoming the new Norma Talmadge (the silent film star after whom Gladys named Norma Jeane). The silence of Marilyn's father echoes with meaning throughout this and other books.

I will close by segueing to the money issue. If you assume Berneice inherited big bucks and she hates everyone who profited from her half-sister's death, then remember the old saying about what you do when you [assume]. The abundant love in Marilyn came through when she made major provisions for Berneice in her will, but the suddenness of her death and the huge debts of her Estate blocked Berneice from getting a penny for fifteen years.

During that time Norman Mailer famously made money from a sloppy investigation into the Kennedy brothers sleeping with and killing Marilyn mixed with a pseudointellectual portrait of his beloved stranger as "the Stradivarius of sex." Mailer's attitude didn't exactly thrill Berneice, but she still wanted very much to know how her sister had died. She had no money to hire a private investigator. To this day Berneice harbors suspicions of foul play. If she, with her genetic sensitivity in the same league as Marilyn's, entertains these thoughts, then a lot more people should. Not just nerdy JFK researchers.

Please buy this book. Berneice, born in 1919 and alive as of this writing, deserves a little money and empathy. As Arthur Miller wrote in "Death Of A Salesman," "attention must be paid to such a [person]." If Berneice's grandchildren are out there reading this, please give her my love. If things sometimes stretch her or you to the breaking point, please remember the love.

I too am a Reiki Master, and cannot recommend this book to my students. This book dedicates almost one third of it's length to a section about supposed metaphysical meanings of the symptoms of various illnesses. This section makes statements such as, "male sterility indicates fear of close relationship", and "When a miscarriage occurs, it is probable that the child is being consciously or unconsciously rejected." - statements I believe to be insulting, and untrue. Regardless of my opinion of the accuracy of these statements, at the very least, they have nothing whatsoever to do with Reiki, and it is irresponsible to present them as such.

A sweet and nice book, but still a little "vacant" to me. It contains references to eventual emotional and mental symptoms behind the causes for illnesses that can be a worth while reading if you are interested in such things.

I think this really helped me get closer to understanding the metaphysical side of reiki and how it can help yourself and others. I would love to see you all read this one. Love & Light

The information inside the Robot Wars Technical Manual is superb. It's got the background of each house bot as well an imaginary story about each one.
BUT and it's a big but, the book is made so poorly that its pages are falling out after only a few days. Every time we open the book the spine splits and a page comes loose. We've had to stick it all back together with tape. We expect better quality for this price.

This is a must have for the fan of the Robot Wars tv show or one who wants to build a robot for competition. Lots of great ideas and alot of photos.

I haven't read this book, infact I'm entering this contest so I could get the money to buy this book. But a friend who has read this book stats this is a very good book and if you want to build a robot this could really help. I took his advice becuase he never let me down before. I fliped through the pages and their is a some diagrams to help you out if your a picture person. This is really my friend rating this book 5 stars. But as I hear it is a very good book.

... I would have never purchased this book.
I love the idea of giving my little 2 and a half year old a universal approach to tales and stories from all over the world. I new Rudoph qualified. I had no idea that there was a monster in the story; note that it was the one thing that impressed her, and she asked me what it was.
I wouldn't suggest it to anyone that wants to introduce the idea of Santa Clauss to their child.

I was very impressed with this book . . . a beautiful book, wonderfully illustrated, containing the original story, which did not have the Abominable, or Herbie, or Yukon Cornelius, like the later movie. I remember as a child in 1951 listening to the original story on 78rpm records put out by RCA and have attempted for years to find the original story. Although I did notice some subtle differences in the words . . .the original referred to Rudolph's, er, "forehead" (Santa was too polite to call it a big red nose) . . most of the text stayed true to what I had memorized. Definitely a book not only for children, but for us baby boomers who remember the original. A must-have to hand on from generation to generation.

Yes, the other reindeer make fun of Rudolph's red nose. (I would hardly call this bigotry.) That is the point of the story: Rudolph overcomes adversity and the other reindeer learn to accept differences. Even the elves learn to accept a dentist and the misfit toys are given to boys and girls who love them. Maybe the USA reader should have watched (or read) until the end of the story instead of making snap judgements like all of the other reindeer.

Written in the style of a sales brochure, this supplement provides lots of useful gear for Alternity players. The weapons section doesn't feature many new guns though, most already listed in the basic rulebooks (Players Handbook or Gamemasters Guide). Also included are stats for personal gear, clothing, utility equipment, computers, and vehicles. Well illustrated throughout and features some original ideas. A nice, though not essential addition to the rulebooks for busy GMs too lazy to dream up their own high tech gear.

The Arms & Equipment guide is a very useful book, no doubt, as all its cyberware, extensive clothing lists, and valuable equipment is invariably a must for any alternity player. however, when it comes to the weaponry section...there's much to be left out, for instance where's that arc pistol when you really need it, and just really how hard is it to come across some of these items. without a good head on their shoulders, a gm could easily lead a monty haul with this one.

this book is awesome! its filled with cool weapons, armor, and specialty material for clothes like Antiscan and Stealth cloth. an awesome suplimentary for only 12 bucks!

This book has a beautiful gallery and wonderful pictures, but there are only like 3 projects in the whole book. I can see how a very early beginner like someone who just decided to try this would like it but for more experienced flower makers you might find this book dry. I waited for weeks to get a copy of this book and found myself a bit dissapointed when I finally got it. I just expected more projects.

I couldn't wait until I owned a copy of this book! I love the instructions and all of the how-to information. I am currently trying to reproduce the roses on the cover. It is wonderful for learning and inspiration.

This book is an excellent resource for French beading technique, and the written instruction and illustrations are very easy to follow. The selection of vintage flowers included in this book are a great resource, and I have been able to use these images along with the patterns to help me to develop some of my own work. I also really appreciated the high quality of craftsmanship shown in the pattern section. The sample projects show all of the detailing that has gone into finishing the pieces, such as the cord wrapped stems, flower buds, and color selection. I recommend this book to anyone who uses the French beading technique to create beaded flowers.

The novel starts off not exactly as a typical FR novel; it reads more like a generic fantasyland. The feel of the Realms atmosphere is sadly rather lacking in the beginning. The book doesn't leave a lasting impression, and frankly it was a tedious read rather than entertaining. The prose and style are not that bad, though, hence the three stars. But it's not a book I'll read a second time.

One thing. Richard Baker seemed to have made an error - he called the language of the elves "Tel'Quessir" (!) instead of Espraur. Tel'Quessir = The People, as in the elves, not the language. *sighs*

I didn't even finish this book. I got about six chapters into it and had to set it aside because the boredom factor had set in.

The beginning of this book was believable enough-but it was very slow. Things seemed to take forever, and the plot kept going around in circles. The characters, most of them, were very detailed and had good lives, descriptions, etc.; but I was not fond of this plot. I am not one to continue reading something if the crisis has not set in by one hundred pages into the book, and it doesn't in this book. It is about the same length as all the books in the Cleric Quintet by R.A.Salvatore, but nothing starts happening until after 100 pages...in those books, the crisis happens only about 50 pages in.

Maybe you'll like this better than I did, and maybe I'll go back some day and finish it-or at least try to.

I read this story directly after barely surviving Elminster in Myth Drannor and found it rather refreshing to know that there are still some "normal" folk around. You accompany the wizard Aeron as he learns and matures and unlike Elminster doesn't spring almighty from somewhere or else. The college of magic though was transplanted directly from the American educational system to the Realms. Quite obvious I think, at least if you only know colleges from American television series. Overall well worth reading.