As a second grade teacher, I have been teaching my classes about the Iditarod Race for many years. Until recently, it has been difficult to find support for this wonderful unit of study. Shelley Gill has done a fabulous job of showing how this exciting race is the best example of integrated curriculum to be found. She covers ideas for all disciplines of study from mapping skills to science projects. She has captured the heart of the race and understands why teachers choose to teach the Iditarod. Her book will fill your classroom with wonderful hands-on ideas that are great fun to use and enrich the children's understanding of this exciting race.

Dr. Shannon has exploded a series of myths in this landmark study. His research is impeccable, his analysis bulletproof, and his writing elegant. Anyone interested in the collapse of the British Empire in North America should read this book and, I daresay, commit major parts of it to memory.

You may have seen Dr. Shannon on The History Channel commenting on the authenticity of popular movies like Dances with Wolves and The Patriot. This man is serious, smart, and incisive. Read this book and hope he is working on more.

I became a Christian in 1978. Though not a Catholic one of the first books I read after my conversion was Merton's Seeds of Contemplation. I don't claim to have understood it all at that time. As a new Christian I was just trying to learn. I didn't even have the slightest idea who Thomas Merton was, I just found the book in the community college library and started reading. In the intervening years I have gone through many changes and have read many Christian authors. I have come to the point where I am not so concerned with the denomination of the writer or whether or not he or she shares my particular background. What has become important to me is that if I can detect true reverence and submission to God in the writer's words then I will read and benefit. Though I am Protestant and, theologically speaking, Reformed in my thinking, I love Thomas Merton with all my heart.

A few months ago I listened to his autobiography The Seven Story Mountain on tapes. Before that I listened to The New Seeds of Contemplation. Merton stirred up things in me and gave a voice to private thoughts that, unfortunately, can hardly be expressed even in most churches. When I ran across this new book, The Inner Experience, I bought it immediately. I finished it in a couple of weeks, savoring it slowly. Merton is not bound by any lables, denominational or otherwise, yet he remains Christian. This does not make him an enemy of the non-Christian and he never comes off that way. He is wide ranging, yet Christian. In this new work Merton is like someone who pulls you to the side and fills you in on all the details that are really important but were left out of what we've been told is really important. He never hides weakness, never claims to have the definitive answer. He let's you know he's acting as more of a guide, as someone who is clearing mental debris so that you can get a better picture of not so much what he is telling you but what you can become by following God yourself if confusion is lessened. I found myself constantly underlining passages and putting the book down just to let cetain words sink into my thoughts. When I finished the book I knew I would have to read it again. I felt a tinge of sadness as if I was saying goodbye to a friend, but also joy that one who has been dead for over thirty years still spoke with such quiet strength. And isn't that precisely what Scripture says about those who were truly faithful, that they being dead yet speak?

I also found William Shannon's scholarship and guidance helpful. He relates to you the circumstances surrounding the writing of this book, which was actually a rewrite of an earlier work of Merton's (What is Contemplation?) that took on a new form and thrust. Mr. Shannon used different type fonts to let the reader know when the words were part of Merton's revision. These are cataloged neatly by chapter in the back of the book. Merton speaks to our time just as poignantly, maybe even more so, than he did to his own. There are certain people who are ready, indeed who hunger, for the words in this book. You will know who you are when you read it. As Merton says on page 3...

"But if in some sense you are already a contemplative (whether you know it or not makes little difference) you will perhaps not only read the book with a kind of obscure awareness that it is meant for you, but you may even find yourself having to read the thing whether it fits in with your plans or not. In that event just read it......and pray for me, because from now on we are, in some strange way, good friends."

Though Merton is gone I do feel that in some stange way we are good friends. And I feel a little saner in a mad world.

Very good book.....very interesting insights into some of the "big" Internet players and their thoughts on the future. Most interesting was the chapter written by the CEO of Egghead....Definitely recommend the book.

I just loved this book! It was really funny and you could see everything in Daisy's life actually happening! Read this book if you want a laugh or two!

The lack of courage and impartiality of Historian during the occupation leave us a lot of unanswered question about the behavior of the haitian elite. Jean Price Mars tells it as it was. He tells us from primary sources how the occupation was a turn over of the indigenious power to a power that control by the elite and the imperialism. If you want to know why the yankees destroyed the haitian popular indigenious army, why the americans occupied the Haitian National Bank until 1948, it is the Book to read. You will learn everything you want to know from a famous writer.

This book is an excellent reader for the young baseball fan. Easy to read, designed for young readers. Follows the life of baseball's greatest all-time catcher from his humble beginnings in Binger, Oklahoma to his induction into Baseball's Hall of Fame in 1989. Includes carrier stats and additional bibliography of other books about Johnny Bench. Also includes numerous photos for the reader to enjoy.

Lizard's Song is the story of a lizard who teaches his friend Bear his favorite song ("Zoli, zoli, zoli...Rock is my Home"), only to discover that Bear keeps on forgetting it. Ultimately , Lizard realizes that the problem lies in the song, which is about Lizard's home. When he makes the song about Bear's home(..Cave is my home")Bear never forgets the song again. Share this story with anyone, but especially share it with homesick preschoolesrs, and remember to ask them at the end what they live in, and make a song for each of them never to forget.

Lauren is the second in a series of books written about four girls who grew up on the island of Harmony, south of Cape Cod, MA. Lauren returns to Harmony 12 years after leaving in shame with her family and falls in love again with a man from her past. Their tale is similar to Romeo and Juliet, with dueling families. Lauren's restoration of an historic site is fascinating. The town and its characters are detailed and believable; Lauren and Cameron's love story is wonderfully romantic.

Joyce Brennfleck Shannon edits Liver Disorders Sourcebook an in-depth coverage of diseases ranging from hepatitis to cancer and disorders caused by drugs.