I first heard of "Soul Sword," from a friend who said it was the best Zen book he had read, bar none. I was surprised to learn that an American had written it. Later, I discovered that the author, Vernon Kitabu Turner came about the Zen flavor the hard way, he has lived the life.

I was fascinated that a person who had admittingly come from a Christian (Baptist) background could take to both the Martial Arts and Zen as if they were but a seamless thread.

The book helped me to see that the primary problem of human beings is that we have made fragmentation of mind a way of life, thus spirit and body are out of harmony, as well.

"Soul Sword," discusses faith as a true and demonstrable powe in daily life and real situations, not as a Sunday School lesson focused only on the actions of men and women of faith in yesteryears. To warrior of "Soul Sword" fiinds God in his fingertips and the warning of impending danger. He finds Him in the still moments.

What I like most about "Soul Sword," is that it is not a book about Zen, martial arts or spirituality in general. It is all of those things. Vernon Kitabu Turner is not afraid receive wisdom at its source. With the boldness of a Lao Tzu or a Bankei, the Zen Master, he recognizes that the secrets all lie withiin. He challenged me to really seek that master. "Soul Sword" helped me to see that no one has to be a victim.

If you ever felt there was something about yoursef, about human beings that was eluding you then "Soul Sword" is the book which will lay it out for you to feel...FEEL. I keep it handy for a booster shot when the forces of the outerworld seem to be closing in, or I think I am powerless. Iam looking forward to Vernon Kitabu Turner's next book.

Some read for entertainment and some read for instruction. It is not often that one finds a book that meets both criteria. I found that unlike many self-help books, I actually apply this book to everyday life. Also, with colorful anecdotes that show how the author's teachings and discoveries are incorporated in his own life, the book is entertaining. I used applications from this book to improve my free throws,through the realization that there is more than one way to look at things and accomplish goals. Where as many may consider this feat miniscule, the author led me to open my mind and see the relevance in all things. To focus on what I don't know as opposed to what I do know is the key to knowledge and potential enlightenment. Vernon Turner is an eloquent writer that leaves one reminiscent of Voltaire in the way he makes the seemingly complex, obvious. Take the time to experience this work.

I am a journalist who met and talked with Vernon Kitabu Turner before reviewing his book for a national paper.

Generally I do not like inspirational books, or those with a 'self-help' theme. Those books heavy with pretense and portent about the consequences of not following the author's advice -- whatever kind of rubbish THAT might be. Soul Sword was not so at all, assuming no knowledge that the reader couldn't himself gain by sufficient dedicated search, and experience....Kitabu's revelation of himself and his own journey demonstrates this.

It was a delight to read for this reason first. But beyond this, SS is a journey of discovery -- a slicing of the soul to reveal a cross section of yourself, now and in the future...This daily war that is a warrior's lot becomes defined by your own experiences.

SS is not only for the 'warrior' who must make the journey into himself, and to discover his potential, but for all who must fight those little daily battles.

Once you begin,you're not likely to walk away from it as another 'good read'. SS will remain with you, enriching your life and broadening your vision.

The most exciting idea in this book for me was that it is by becoming nothing that we can be everything -- a principle I believe in. It is on this ground that the battle is won.

Put it on your bookshelf: in fact put it in your purse or briefcase...

I personally found the *gritty* style of this book annoying. I knew it was an intimate look at the circumstances surrounding the disasterous Hubbard expedition and the subsequent journey undertaken by his wife Mina, but this account reads more like a 1950s pulp novel or a Louis L'amour western. The prose is choppy and entirely too chatty, sinking at times to a veritable nadir of banality: "George stepped off the Williamstown train, feeling like a fox ready to have his heart pulled." (whatever hell that means), or "...a lot of trappers weren't interested in the idea of foolin' with someone dead" (too folksy). In short it's a slipshod narrative history written in the vein of an adolescent adventure story.

This is a fabulous narrative of a wilderness adventure, like many others filled with the hazards adventurers encounter when they stray far from home. What makes the story unique is not a side-bar intrigue of romance and mystery but a deep underlying question about human motivation, relationships and dreams - as lived through the minds and bodies of the adventurous. The story is told with skill and grace - and is spellbinding.

From two of the men who brought us "The Complete Wilderness Paddler" (a marvelous book in itself), this is a must read, preferably while you yourself are tucked comfortably at camp, or in the tent waiting out the storm, or late at night by the oil lamp. You won't miss with this one.

Byrd was in an incredible location but there are many many more interesting books out there. When I read a book that I think is worth reading I will lend it to someone else. I don't think I will give this book to anyone else just because there are better adventure stories out there. Read "Endurance" instead.

This journal account of Byrd's months at the South Pole reveal the most extreme circumstances that force a man to discover the absolute limits of his will and inner strength. With the heritage of the great sea explorers, and precursor to the great space adventurers, Byrd forces himself to unveil the depths of fear and determination when he alone is responsible for his survival. This book is one of the great adventure stories of the twentieth century and its factual account rivals any piece of fiction.

If you are looking for a book on an Antarctic adventure, perhaps there are better choices to be made. But if you want to understand the struggle and hardship of being physically and mentally isolated, or experience the terror of dealing with an unknown adversary, then I can recommend no better book than this one. Byrd takes what could have been an extremely dry subject and makes it read like a classic adventure novel. And it's all the more exciting because it's true!

Now that the original manuals of DiGrassi and Saviolo are widely available on the Web, and Silver's Brief Instructions is likewise available, this work's shortcomings in presenting the actual stylings of Elizabethen swordplay are rather painfully evident. Most glaring is the way that "Methods and Practice" got Silver completely wrong, only referring to his "Paradoxes" and not once citing the in-depth, competent, incisive combat instruction available in Silver's "Brief Instructions on my Paradoxes of Defence".

If you are interested in a first look at Elizabethan swordplay, this isn't a bad place to start. They have gone through the basics reasonably well, and tried to explain how to use them. Choreographers and fencers who wish to be shown what do do, rather than doing the research themselves, will find it an excellent resource.

But accept it for what it is - a basic explanation of Di Grassi, Saviolo, and Silver, not an advancement of the art. I came to Turner and Soper after many years of trying to work out these moves from the original manuals, and found a frustrating blend of careful analysis of the painfully obvious, further confusion of the already muddled, and utter silence on all my real questions. Serious researchers will be disappointed.

For a first place to begin, it's probably easier and quicker than trying to read the originals. A choreographer interested in pre-digested knowledge will find this book an excellent source.

Detailed and scholarly work about which the theorists can argue. Worth reading at least twice if you choreograph fights regularly for someone who is interested in "realistic" portrayal. From The Ring of Steel: www.deathstar.org/groups/ros/library.html

There are so many beautiful knits in this book, using very fine yarns. Although I love the thought of making my daughter a few of the knits here, I really have to think about the cost of the yarn and the difficulty of the patterns before I decide if I'm going to make anything here. I think this book is geared more to a very good knitter.

I love this book and have made several outfits from it. I have substituted each yarn making my projects less expensive then the suggested yarns and they came out perfect. I can not wait to make more from this book! They are fun and keep you thinking so they never get boring!

When I first decided to start knitting, I knew I needed an inspirational collection to propel me forward. Monkeysuits was just that, and I've been joyfully knitting away ever since because of this book. Really!

The designs in Monkeysuits are lots of fun and inspirational, and the patterns themselves are very clearly written. She provides final measurements (a simple & helpful thing, but not everyone does it), and fun little anecdotes for each pattern. Also, the photographs are very detailed (again, not everyone does this -- a personal pet peeve), giving you a clear picture of what you are making. These are all especially helpful to newbies like me.

Turner choses very nice, but not wildly unavailable or expensive yarns. Most importantly, all gauge and yardage information is listed with the pattern, making substitution a cinch. Other collections, written for specific yarn companies, hide the yardage information in an index, forcing you to flip around if you want or need to substitute (of course, the idea for these collections is to sell their yarn, so...fair enough).

If you are looking for something traditional or conservative, you're best going elsewhere, I suppose. If you're a Minnowknits fan, buy this book! While I would argue that these designs are not at all off-the-wall, they are all inspired and very fashionable. And why not have some fun dressing your little ones? My daughter loves the way her "Electric Smock" swings out when she twirls! The sweaters I've made from this collection (and I've made quite a few) have all garnered a lot of praise -- they just have that certain something that draws attention.

I really do love this book. It's far and away my favorite collection, and I'm hoping that Sharon Turner is coming out with another one soon.

LOVED IT, LOVED IT, LOVED IT! If you enjoyed the television series, you will really love the comics. This one tells you how it all began. Although the story is similar to the series, there are enough differences to keep you guessing. Also, amazing graphics!

I loved the Witchblade series on TNT. Recently TNT announced they would be canceling the series. I've never read a comic book before in my life but I thought I would give it a try. I loved this book. I didn't realize that such an interesting story could be told via a comic book medium. I was very pleased with the book and will be ordering Vol. 2 soon. If you aren't sure if you would like a comic book but like the series, rest easy, the comic books are every bit as good as the series. By the way, I am a woman and did not find it offensive.

Just a comicbook? No. Never. The Witchblade is one of the best blends of story and artwork that I have ever seen and believe me when I say I've seen plenty. Christina Z, David Wohl, Michael Turner, D-Tron and Jonathan Smith have truly done a great job and it is a pity that the team broke up. This book is definitely worth every cent!

Did you ever wonder why your international counterparts or customers are so hard to deal with?

If your work involves people from multiple countries and multiple cultures, this book is required reading. If your work involves understanding culture at all, it is definitely worth a quick read.

Authors Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner share their cultural insights based on broad research - 30,000 interviews and questionnaires so far - which puts this work on solid ground. They distinguish culture along a number of interesting axes, including relationships and rules, group versus individual, feelings, personal Involvement, status, time, inner directed versus outer directed, and national versus corporate culture.

The writing, while not exciting, is clear. And the statistical graphics further clarify and simplify many of the authors' points.

On a personal note, whenever the book authors ascribed a particular cultural aspect to Americans, I naturally tried to locate myself on the USA part of the graph. The surprising part was that although I was often squarely in the "right" place, this was not the case a good amount of the time.

I work in a large international ag company. I've been working on a project on how to approach the challenges of language and culture in fully integrated cross-hemisphere teams. I've done a lot of reading of articles and books. This book is the best resource I have found. Trompenaars gives you a framework to begin to think about and understand the differences between cultures. What makes this really valuable is that the information on how specific cultures operate within this framework is based on a database of reponses from more than 30,000 managers around the world. The book is full of specific examples and data to support conclusions.

Having read a number of books on intercultural management, I can only say that in my opinion, "Riding the Waves of Culture" is by far the best book on this subject. Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner present the results of their research on cultural differences in a most engaging way. Their book is a quick read that is full of wonderful anecdotes about cross-cultural business dilemmas. The stories are presented in a way that demonstrates great awareness of and respect for very diverse approaches to business. The authors also offer a methodology for reconciling value differences that incorporates the best of both worlds.

First, if you're going to rely on this guide, spend some cash on a couple of decent maps, especially for Kuala Lumpur. This guide has by far some of the most off-the-mark maps I've ever experienced with Lonely Planet. DO NOT rely on the book! As well, some amazing hotels are missing, and they're literally next door to some pretty grotty places the authors here rave about.
Also, I found the author's attitude to Singapore to be rather tiresome. Much is made of the fact that the city-state is cleaner than other congested and polluted cities in South East Asia, and that 'color' has been wiped out of Singapore.
But it seemed to me that authors had an underlying motive when writing about Singapore, to slyly convince travellers from visiting the place, or at least, from staying too long.
Of course, Singapore's not a place where anyone stays on for more than a week. But the author's mightier-than-thou point of view (that only cities with disgusting toilets, $5 hotel rooms and edgey red light districts are worth visiting) was annoying. Also, it was continually noted that Singapore is a "repressive" country. I think one only has to travel to countries like China, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and even Morocco before they can whine about Singapore being repressive.
But I digress.
Finally, precious space is wasted in the guide with the inclusion of Brunei. I think LP should give Brunei it's own slim little guide (look at Maldives or Bhutan if you want to see tiny countries with their own books). First, Brunei is culturally and politically different from Malaysia to warrant its own book.
And it would give the Malaysia authors precious space in which to include some decent maps.
Yes, I'm griping here, but when you bring a guide for a longish trip, you tend to notice these things!
Anyway, you could do worse... but Lonely Planet could have done better.

Lile most Lonely Planet guidebooks, this travel guide won't come as a disappointment to any of its readers. The unmistakable excellent standards we can expect from LP, combined with the fact that this particular guidebook is in its 8th edition already, makes of this book a masterpiece no traveller to the region should leave behind. The information about hotels and restaurants, things to see and do, etc, is dense, well-written, excellently ordered, and up-to-date. Likewise, the maps, the various tips on do's and dont's, are invaluable. As always, the sections on history, politics, culture etc, are excellently written and well condensed, ensuring pleasant reading for the traveller and the prospective traveller alike. Without exaggerating nor diminishing the fascination of this wonderful part of the world, this guidebook does great service to Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. It is the ultimate travel tool for those intending to visit these countries, enabling them to make the most out of their stay, as well as ensuring moments of fascinating reading.

We ended up calling it "the Bible". Why? Because all the answers are in it.!! Several times we said to our selves that this information should have been in LP. And looking one more time - it was usually there. LP helps you plan and avoid vasting time. Of course you shold try to do things which is not mentioned in LP but this can be a major challanges. The guide goes every where and the information is incredibly reliable. So if you go - bring LP or bring no guide book at all - alternatives are poor sustitutions. We also brought a Footprint - but the reality is that nobody is above or besides LP. 22-08-2001

I read my girlfriend's mother's copy in 1943 when I was ten years old. All my life I wanted a copy of that book. I discovered Amazon and received my much beloved book. You learn to love Osa and Martin Johnson. What a brave girl Osa was to follow her husband to wild Africa, to be such a great helpmate and joy. I will read and re-read this book because it is like you are on an adventure that continues on and on. You feel like you are right there taking part in their adventures. I am so thankful that this book was republished for generations to come. (The book I read in 1943 was large, hardback and the cover was black and white like Zebra skin.) The book has great photographs. I highly recommend it and rate it 5 stars! Wonderful!

My grandmother gave me this book 20 years ago and told me it was her very favorite book. I began reading it just to please her, but soon found out that it was ( and is) my favorite book also. I have recommended it so many times, but I only have one very old,worn out copy. I am so pleased to be able to find it at Amazon. This book is magical, and all the more beautiful because it is true. You will never forget this book once read. A note, I have recently found that there is a museum devoted to the Johnsons in Kansas. I can't wait to go......

This book is great for all ages. It is one of the most exciting books I have ever read. I picked this book up thinking it was going to be a dull story about traveling. I couldn't put it down. I think I must have finished it within a week. It is packed with death threating adventure, tragedy, romance and so much more.

Interesting but not definitive.
It was a marriage of convenience that had turned inconvenient for someone. In 1875, Florence Ricardo married Charles Bravo. He was after her money and she was seeking to cleanse her name after a lurid sex scandal by marrying respectably. After less than six months of married life he was dead and a cloud of suspicion hung over his wife and the servants of her home.
A Coroner's inquest determined that the death was murder by poisoning. But it was never able to solve who had committed the crime. The chief suspects were: The widow who resented his attempt to control her money, the groom who had been fired by the new master of the house, the lady's maid who was next line for dismissal, or the elderly doctor who was Florence's ex-lover embittered about her marriage.
This unsolved Victorian mystery has been the subject of numerous speculations for over a century. Investigative reporter James Ruddick feels that he has finally cracked the case with damming new evidence. He goes beyond the source material used by many authors and travels the world over to contact descendants of the infamous participants in the original mystery. He weaves together a narrative that he feels is the definitive solution to the case.
This book is, in my opinion, a little too concerned with showing off the intrepid exploits of the author than it is with reasoning out the evidence. While his solution is very plausible this book is by no means going to be the final word on the case.

In 1876 a young newlywed and Victorian aristocrat, Charles Bravo suffers a horrible death by a caustic poison in his London area mansion, the Priory. Murder! Despite four clear suspects, a Scotland Yard investigation, a highly publicized Coroner's inquest and 125 years of professional and amateur sleuthing, the murderer is not identified . . . until now!

James Ruddick solves an infamous riddle in "Death At The Priory". His book is divided into three intriguing parts. The events leading up to the murder and the inital inquest provides all the suspense and mystery of an Agatha Christie yarn. Ruddick skillfully weaves Coroner's inquest testimony into facinating dialog, adding color and spice to a brisk narration.

The second part enables the author to narrow the suspects and eventually identify the murderer by utilizing the wealth of research on the murder and a very creative perspective. The third part takes the reader through some of the dark secrets of Victorian wealth. In a society of double standards, even a wealthy woman becomes a prisoner within her own household. What can she do to stop being beaten, sodomized, robbed, verbally abused and nearly killed by an abusive husband? There are no help groups or laws to protect her.

In the end most of the charaters involved in "Death At The Priory" are poisoned by the notoriety. For the reader there is a great deal of satisfaction from this work and a greater appreciation that today's standards, no matter how flawed, are far more preferable than the good old days of Queen Victoria. Enjoy!

It was called "one of the most mysterious poisoning cases ever recorded" by none other than Agatha Christie, and if you have not heard of the murder of Charles Bravo, you would have when it created a sensation in 1876. It has been investigated, reinvestigated, fictionalized, filmed, and solved by different experts who have shown the same sort of unflagging interest in the case as others have for that of Jack the Ripper. It is astonishing that although the crime was never solved and the murderer never punished, now 125 years after the case made its headlines, a plausible and new solution has been meticulously proposed by journalist and researcher James Ruddick. In _Death at the Priory: Sex, Love, and Murder in Victorian England_, not only do we get a good look at some of the dark underside of Victorian life, but also we learn that some traces of crime never fade, and effects of it may last for generations.

Ruddick's characters, especially Bravo's wife, Florence, are just as colorful as any from a novel of the period. The inquest after the excruciating death by poisoning of Charles Bravo was a cause célèbre. As in any good murder mystery, there were plenty of suspects, all of whom had motive to kill Bravo. Perhaps Bravo was drinking and suicidal and took the poison himself. George Griffiths, Florence's coachman, had made what could be interpreted as an actual threat against the man who fired him. Jane Cox, Florence's housekeeper and companion, had debts, children to care for, and a position with a mistress she truly cared about, and Bravo was trying to fire her, too. Florence could have done him in because life with him was intolerable for many reasons. Dr. Gully, her former lover, was suspected (by Agatha Christie, no less) of killing Bravo in revenge for stealing her away. Ruddick explains how the police system at the time was inadequate, only starting an investigation eight days after Bravo's death and failing to get details right, details that Ruddick himself has uncovered. Ruddick, in true whodunit fashion, shows how the evidence against each suspect is quite convincing, and then shows how other evidence exculpates each, until he circles around again to the one he has fingered.

It is probably wrong to think that this famous case has produced its last bit of speculation, but Ruddick's explanation is clever without being too clever. He has gone to The Priory and found evidence that the inquest should have investigated at the time. He has been to Jamaica to discover surprising facts about Jane Cox, and he has interviewed the descendants of those involved. He has discovered that some descendants could not bring themselves, even a century and a quarter after the scandal, to discuss the events with him, and that some of the families involved never recovered from the shame of it. His explanation satisfactorily fits into the Victorian atmosphere he has taken pains to describe. It is a suspenseful puzzle, showing the British world at the cusp of various social changes, and is irresistibly entertaining.