This is your typical "choose your own adventure" book. With many endings, some good and some not as satisfying, you will have hours of fun. You take the role of Indy's sidekick and travel with him in his adventures. Of course you will have to make the decisions the will affect your quest to find the Eye of the Fates. But If Indiana Jones puts his trust on you to choose the way, what could possibly go wrong? Enough said, if you enjoy "choose your own adventure" books you will definitely love this one.

"Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" disappointed a number of Indy fans, perhaps surprised at the darker tone of the second film, and is generally regarded as the weakest film of what is currently a trilogy. Not so the novelisation.
Whereas the first book was a turgid and often plodding slog this second volume gets the tone absolutely spot-on. The joy of the Indiana Jones films is that they are are B-movies, big budget and carefully crafted, but essentially homages to the Saturday serials and action adventures of the thirties, and the novelisation of "Raiders" seemed to entirely miss that point, and thus failed to capture the thrills and flavour of the cinema version. It cannot be easy writing a novel based on a screenplay anyway, since there is a severe time constraint and the very real possibility that the finished movie may veer dramatically (ahem... no pun intended) from the early written version. This is certainly one reason for a few of the more disappointing scene changes in the "Raiders" novel.
"Temple," however, is much closer to the finished film, adding to it by way of thoughts and motivations for the characters but thankfully avoiding the trap of getting mired down in efforts to produce a "serious" work. James Kahn's book is slim and has rather large type when compared to the first and third novelisations, but in this case I regard that as a plus.
The pace is furious, the action as ripsnorting as you could wish and even - goodness, I can't believe I'm saying it - Short Round actually comes over as rather a good character, which is more than you can say for the film. Indeed, going back to the movie after reading this book I found that my disappointment with the second film had abated somewhat. It is still a less exciting ride than "Raiders" and not such a glorious romp as "Crusade," yet there is much to enjoy on screen and especially in this book. A pity that Mr Kahn did not pen the later original Indy novels, as they would have been vastly improved by a writer with a keen sense of what a damn good B-movie should be all about. Hats off, indeed.

If you're interested in this sort of thing as I am this book could be of great value however the price is unreal. I have a CD that does much the same for the entire country at a third the price of one state however this book is MUCH more accurate and shows county boundaries that only occured for as little as three days. The CD is also easier to use. That said I'll likely ask for the book as one of those Christmas presents I wouldn't buy for myself.

"This book . . . is both important and fascinating. Indeed, the author provides a case study of the Progressive movement in the United States and gives a balanced portrayal of an individual who -- while achieving neither fame nor elective office -- left a remarkable legacy of public service. At the same time, Ray E. Boomhower has revealed in yet another way the connection between culture and politics in the United States."

William B. Pickett, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology professor of history

Jokelore is a presentation of jokes and tall tales from Indiana. The collection is drawn from a range of groups, and it covers a wide span of Indiana history. The book has a very fine introduction to the study of folklore as it relates to the collection and interpretation of jokes. Each section is about jokes on specific topics, and each section includes introductory commentary that analyzes key themes in the jokes. Be forewarned that these jokes are documented from near verbatim sources, so they might not be appropriate for children. The book also includes examples of jokes that are racist and sexist, but the goal is not so much to sensationalize the objectionable material but rather to honestly show how these types of stories are part of folklore.

Warren Roberts studied countless log buildings in Southern Indiana to write this book. He discusses the history of log cabins in America, and he develops an intriguing way to study the buildings to learn about American history. The book also has a thorough description of how a log building is constructed. The writing is so detailed that one could probably build a log cabin just by reading a few chapters. Roberts finds out some intriguing points about log buildings that challenge the conventional ideas about these structures. First, he provided convincing evidence that hewn-log buildings were probably covered with siding. When originally constructed, the first cabins were almost indistinguishable from frame houses. Second, Roberts challenges the "myth of the log cabin" by proving that log cabins were built more by members of a community working together rather than by lone, rugged individuals who were out to conquer the wilderness with little more than an axe, knife, and gun. It is an important study, and I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in architecture and American history.

we bought this book at pictured rocks national lakeshore halfway through a 17 day adventure visiting all of the great lakes and i wished we had found it sooner. it was helpful with its details and little bits of trivia and information. for example we were not surprised to see the horrible cooling towers adjacent to indiana dunes nat'l lakeshore and it helped us understand the different mindset of the "yoopers" in michigan. i was disappointed that it did not contain more info on the canadian side of the great lakes and it made no mention of lake ontario and new york (our starting point), which seemed to short change the title of great lakes. (afterall, how could it miss one?) if you're aware of this and want some great info on a great region...i defnietly recommend it!

"Middletown" (1929) and "Middletown in Transition (1937) are among the highlights of American sociology. The books were studies of smalltown America by Robert and Helen Lynd and the typical American town they studied was Muncie, Ind.
The Lynds more or less ignored Muncie's Jewish community because it was statistically insignificant.
In the preface to "Middletown Jews: The Tenuous Survival of an American Jewish Community" (Bloomington, University of Indiana Press, 1997), Dan Rottenberg quoted the Lynds: "The Jewish population of Middletown is so small as to be numerically negligible."
The book is a collection of 19 interviews with members of Muncie's Jewish community, conducted in 1979, and is sad a reflection on the future of Jewry in America as you are likely to find. The oral history was edited by Rottenberg.
Muncie has had a temple since 1922, a Reform temple, but has never had a resident rabbi. It uses itinerant rabbis or students from Cincinnati's Hebrew Union College.
There are a few souls who want to follow kashrut and observe tradition, but in the end they usually join the temple. There is a great amount of intermarriage with non-Jews and even attendance at non-Jewish religious services, especially that of the Church of Jesus Christ, Scientist.
The spark for the book was Martin D. Schwartz, owner of a paper company and a graduate of Harvard College, who wanted to have the history of his shrinking community recorded. It is not explained why the 1979 interviews were the last word on the community. But Schwartz contributed a 1996 afterword, which shows some of the change.
What had been a community of merchants, almost all having shops on the same street, has become a community in which faculty of Ball State University have taken leading roles. There is still no rabbi, no kosher food, no real Sunday school.
What got mention in the 1979 interview was the Ku Klux Klan, which acted as a cementing force for the 200 or so 1920s families. Not one interviewee mentions the establishment of Israel and no one mentions visiting it.
But there are mentions of Christmas trees and non-Jewish relatives. There are no conversions to Christianity.
Jews were once excluded from certain neighborhoods and from the country club. They were later admitted to both and several interviewees see this as progress, although they remain members of the non-exclusive country club founded by Jews (which, it is specifically stated, is not a Jewish country club because there were not enough Jews to be able to support a country club of their own).
In his afterword, Schwartz wrote: "The possibility of Judaism's demise through intermarriage and gradual secularization concerns most thoughtful Jews. What they don't agree on is how to counter those trends."

Mobil guides in general have some of the info you need for your stay but I prefer location specific guides more. They only list a few of each (hotels, restaurants, attractions etc.) Overall it was helpful but I wouldn't use it by itself. There isn't enough info about each area.

This is the first Andrew Broom Mystery that I read and I was impressed. It was enjoyable and a definite page turner. I wasn't able to solve the mystery.