Military Madness is a strange book. Sort of a Kurt Vonegut Jr meets Jack Kerouac. Each chapter made me feel really strange in a different way. I read it two years ago and I'm still thinking about it.

Like I know what life in California is all about,but man, can't Hawkins spend some quality time with godfearing people? Like why is he always writing about sex,dope,booze and cats? I mean there are other more meaningful things in life. I think he should write a story about organic radishes. Oh man, I almost forgot. I really liked Cincinnati Red and hope he writes more about her, like where is she now. Whatever, I hope she stopped smoking cigarettes.

This is a zany and amusing series of short stories set in suburbia in the early 80's. I remember it very well and wish I could revisit that carefree time and place. Light hearted and entertaining. Really enjoyed this book.

It was that boring! I usually don't even give up on books, but this one was an exception. Ellen was one of those classic tomboys who just wants to like her daddy and grandpa. How original is that. She just happens to also live on a ranch where she just acts like the real cowboy. Wow. I'm not saying that Ellen couldn't be that way, but she could of been less one-dimensional (just like many of the other characters in SURVIVAL! and American Diaries, the latter not as much). Her Grandpa gets hurt so she has to think up some crazy plan using all these ranch equipment pieces that people from the nineties could really care less about. The description where she was trying to move her grandpa (about five million chapters long) drove me so crazy I just had to stop. Try reading one of the first American Diaries books, they have more on the character of the person and less historical mumbo jumbo (and don't get me wrong, I love history!)

Living in Texas in the 1880s, motherless twelve-year-old Ellen longs to be a rancher, but her father discourages her because she is a girl. Ellen herself is a dissapointment to her father - he wishes for a son that can help him out more around the ranch. When her father goes away during a drought, Ellen's first true challenge comes. The windmill is broken, the valuable herd is scattered, and her grandfather is injured. Ellen must find the stock, bring them to water, and help her grandfather. Can she accomplish all these tasks and make her father proud of her? A good historical novel with a strong main character.

Ellen is a 12 year old girl growing up on a ranch in Texas. Her Father is gone and her Grandpa is hurt. Everything seems to be going wrong, the windmill is broken and the herd is thirsty. But that doesn't stop Ellen! She proves herself a true rancher by saving the day!

Just returned from a trip to Ireland using this book and most of the information was seriously out-of-date. Tourist offices there actually know that the bad information you received is from this book. Also, pretty sketchy on the details. Stick to the Internet for better info.

Ireland might seem a simple place, but it isn't. During a month in Ireland, Cadogan's "Ireland" by Catharina Day (Globe Pequot Press, ......)was my constant travel companion, and I'd highly recommend the newest edition to anyone traveling in the Emerald Isle.

The book contains excellent maps, historical perspectives, a guide to the politics, historic chronology, Gaelic language, geology, myths and legends, and religious complexities of this beautiful country. It also has a fairly hefty section on practical travel advice tailored specifically to the Irish traveler.

The book is divided into very logical sections, and information is generally easy to find in its rather comprehensive index. Best of all, the island is divided naturally in this guide into its four regions -- Munster, Connacht, Ulster and Leinster -- so the traveler needn't thumb through the whole book to find things that might be one mile apart. It is further divided county by county, and travel is laid out very nicely and clearly, in the order you would see it by car. I found only minor errors, none that would have significantly changed my travel plans for the day and none that might not have been the effect of changing markets and seasons.

I often would read this guide in bed at night, it's so well-written, entertaining and informative. I would highly recommend this book to the American traveler in Ireland. It's complete, funny and quite educational.

There's a new edition of this great guide available, as of March 1999. This is definitely the one to go for.

This is a very high level view on the subject of HA, as previous reviewers state. It does present some basic guidlines at the system, network, and operational level which in my experience are so basic and intuitive, that I wonder why the author needs to state in "Special techniques for system realiability", that you should purchase from reputable supplies and even to recommend not to use shareware and freeware ? In general for a CEO or Manager who knows nothing on HA, this book is for you. This is a non technical brief, and its undenable shortcomings are its lack of coverage on recent hardware and software based clustering, cashing and load balansing technologies in the market now, specifcally related to e-commerce applications, middleware and CMS tools which now incorporate many HA features. Additionally, its lacks clear focus with hardly any case studies or real worl examples, and the primary examples of HA in the defintion of the author are client server related hardware technologies such as RAID, redundant NIC's and clustering examples.

A must read book for all IT Tycoon Wannabe.

You cannot judge a book by its cover in most cases. This book's cover, however, subtly provides clues about what's inside. The picture is a panoramic view of Hong Kong taken from Victoria Peak. It accurately portrays the book, which is a high-level view of a wide number of topics related to high availability. If you are expecting nuts-and-bolts technical information, then you are better off purchasing Blueprints for High Availability. If you want a "how to" book that blends a specific technical approach with processes you should look at Mission Critical Systems Management. However, if you want a book that provides a clear set of processes, takes a business case approach, and touches on most of the issues associated with high availability, then this book is what you are looking for.

Like Hong Kong, where realities are in the eye and mind of the beholder, the book can be viewed as addressing either high availability or service level management. In fact, the book uses service level management as the driving force behind achieving high availability.

Included in the panoramic view of high availability are the many issues and factors that need to be understood in order to achieve high availability. It starts out with reasons why high availability is important, and quickly segues into factors, such as total cost of ownership (the treatment is pretty close to what GartnerGroup has been peddling since the early 90s). It does cause one to get back to basics and consider that a high availability solution has a lot of hidden costs.

The book goes through the process chain needed to develop a business case for high availability (one of the book's strong points, in my opinion), through implementation of the solution itself. If you are familiar with other books in this series you will recognize the pattern. Unlike the companion books, though, this one does not contain contradictions or have glaring gaps in the processes. The authors have thought this one through and have the writing skills to make it readable and understandable.

The treatment of service level management is highlighted by a chapter on user availability. If you are in IT you should read and take to heart this section. User availability is a key component of aligning IT to business. The complex and myraid political issues in Hong Kong sometimes seem trite compared to the political issues that surround aligning these two factions. The authors, like seasoned China watchers, provide insights about how to understand the seemingly inscrutable players and sage advice on hot to achieve consensus among the two opposing factions.

Another area that impressed me was the attention paid to facilities as a key component of high availability. Although this was a high level view, it can serve as a checklist of considerations as you are developing the business case for high availability. There was one missing fact that I wish the authors would have highlighted: compliance with fire and safety regulations and local building codes. I have seen cases where well designed solutions that were supported by excellent processes and sound management were compromised by failing a regulatory inspection. Imagine explaining to a CEO why the multimillion dollar investment in people, process and technology failed because an inspector shut down a mission critical data center because of a building code violation.

There is some token attention paid to the technology at the end of the book where high availability features are examined for specific products. Among the products covered are Windows 2000, Novell Netware, Solaris 8, AIX and OS/400. Also covered are various hardware platforms, such as S/390, AS/400, RS/6000 and Compaq Proliant server, and Oracle 8i availability features.

Bottom line: This book is about processes. It complements and augments Blueprints for High Avalability by wrapping a sound approach to making a case for, and implementing, high availability. It is also a great companion to Mission Critical Systems Management, again by providing complementary processes to the approach taken in that excellent book.

I wish the authors had summarized the issues and factors in an appendix of checklists, but other than that, this book is a solid addition to any service delivery library.

I have no problem with the material in this book. The only thing I don't like is the index. I know that is petty, but with a book like this it is important. In the book you can look up houses by neighborhood but there is not a reference that shows the page number. Why is this bad? Lets say I wanted to go for a walk and look at some old Portland architecture. If the index were set up properly I could look at which neighborhood I was going to and then reference the page to see if it was still standing (very important) and if it was something I really wanted to look at!

This beautiful volume examines the first century of Portland's domestic architecture with a critical but sympathetic eye. Many of its finest examples have disappeared in all but photos, and others exist only in misshapen form, but the author is able to recall the grace, dignity, pretension and whimsy which went into their original design. This is a book for both new and old residents who may have decided that our "Stumptown" had little adornment in its early years,and proves that Portland was already a place of discernment and competitive display long before the 19th Century turned, when Seattle was a fishing camp and jumping off point to Alaskan gold. Besides the implicit social and artistic history lesson, the book's black and white photos are a memorable eyeful for anyone who loves American homes, furnishings, or decoration. A very rich read, indeed.

This book has got an interesting premise, but it doesn't have as broad a scope as it's title suggests. It concentrates primarily on a relatively small number of works and doesn't draw nearly as heavily on postmodernist theory as one might imagine. She places herself slightly on the relativist side of the cultural studies chasm, but for many she won't go far enough. She researchs the works she deals with really well and the book is well written, though she uses that Lain phrase a bit much (I had to look it up too) Her arguements are compeeling, though the debate she deal with polarise people so much that she's either preaching to the converted or blowing against the wind.

A witty and accessible argument for the enduring necessity of Shakespeare, Milton, and many of the other "greats"--not just because English teachers SAY they are great, but because popular culture from "Star Trek" to "Jurassic Park" keeps them alive andwell. If you set yourself free from the tyranny of chronology, Hawkins argues famously, "King Kong" can influence your reading of "King Lear" just as much as the other way around.

Hawkins was cultural studies before cultural studies was cool, and her work is ripe for a reassessment.

From the humorous opening to the surprise ending, Karen shares with us the tangled web that has become Lucien Devereaux, the Duke of Wexford's life. Lucien has an assignment to see to in his old stomping grounds. Fate has decreed that he and his former love meet again.

Was it his fault that her carriage ran him down, knocked him out and caused damage to his head and shoulder? (We'll forget the fact that he ran his horse out in FRONT of said carriage!)

Maybe it should be his fault that Arabella's two eccentric aunts thought his "assets" assured their niece of a happy life and set about seeing to the union? (I think we'll have to give him this one - he WAS unconscious at the time.)

Whether him ending up in a bed - naked - and dopey on Aunt Jane's sheep potion (which he enjoyed - don't let him tell you different!) was his fault or not, he decided to stay. And started implementing his own plot to capture the attention of the elusive Arabella.

Karen's touches of humor and Lucien's hero potential, a mystery, lost treasure and two secondary romances keep this story hopping from beginning to end. If you like humor or action, mystery or romance, this story is for you. Karen just keeps getting better.

Lucien Devereaux, the dashing Duke of Wexford, never knew what hit him. Knocked from his horse late one night while pursuing some smugglers intent on funding Napoleon's return to power, Lucien finds himself in the arms of Arabella Hadley, the woman he loved and left ten long years ago.

Arabella is none too happy to see that Lucien had reentered her life, especially when her wacky aunts decide that he is the man for her.

From the first page to the last, Lucien and Arabella struggle to ignore the tension that flares between them. Things get complicated when Lucien realizes that Arabella might be involced in the very smuggling operation he has come to expose. Filled with laugh out loud moments (like the "morning after" scene in the cottage), you'll be so glad you found this one!

If you like Julia Quinn or Amanda Quick, you'll love Karen Hawkins in this hysterical romp! A BELATED BRIDE is a keeper!

Wow! I always thought Karen Hawkins had talent, I just didn't realize how much talent.

If you enjoyed One Lucky Lord (under her pseudonym Kim Bennet) and if you loved The Abduction of Julia, you will be blown away by A Belated Bride!

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your viewpoint) Lucien Devereaux, the Duke of Wexford was rescued before he bled to death on that bleak, country road. Reality set in when he realized his beautiful savior owned the very heart he broke so many years ago!

Arabella Hadley loved Lucien forever, heart, mind and soul - not to mention body - and that is what caused all this trouble to begin with! Her traitorous body! If only she could control her reaction to this devilish man she could get on with her life just fine!

The sensuality sizzles, the intrigue will keep you turning the pages and humor will have you rolling on the floor, laughing out loud!

Come join the fun! Meet Arabella's aunts Emma and Jane and a whole host of secondary characters that you will remember forever!

If you only read one new release for the year 2001, let it be A Belated Bride... you won't be disappointed!

An affair to remember??? I don't think so. This book had a good, though typical, storyline. Anthony becomes the guardian of five young mischievious children whom he apparently doesn't get along with. He can't keep a governess employed for more than two weeks at time. After he goes through many he hires the best governess, Anna Thraxton. She comes to the estate and gets the children in line and everyone else too.

This just wasn't the story I thought it would be. Anna and Anthony had sparks flying off the pages but it wasn't enough to keep me riveted to the pages to see what would happen. The children kept the story entertaining, along with Anna's grandfather. He was such a sweet old man. This story just seemed to drag by until the last few chapters. This is much like the other Hawkins book I read, The Seduction of Sara.

Sorry I couldn't agree with everyone else who apparently seemed to love this story. I just don't think it's a book I'll remember.

I should have realized when I read "The Seduction of Sara" (my first Hawkins book) that I was being drawn into yet another of these family series where you feel compelled to read all the books just because! The fact that she had 5 brothers should have tipped me off. While I enjoyed "Sara", I found some of the secondary characters more interesting than Nick and Sara - primarily St John family head Marcus (whose story will likely be last as he seems to be the most interesting of them all). And I was very happy to find that overbearing half brother Anthony's story would match him with his nemesis, Sara's unconventional best friend Anna Thraxton. I was not disappointed - I liked it better than "Sara".

Anthony Elliot, Earl of Greyley has "inherited" custody of the five unruly and mischievous children of one of his Elliot cousins. As head of the Elliot family, he takes all of his responsibilities seriously and they're no different. But dealing with them is more than he bargained for and several governesses later, things are out of control - a state of affairs Greyley cannot abide. And so in desperation he seeks out Anna Thraxton who has the reputation of being the best governess in London. If only there were some other alternative since he and Thraxton cannot stand one another. He finds her impertinent, disrespectful, opinionated, irritating and stubborn. Too bad he needs her!

Anna Thraxton was not always a governess and she misses her life in society very much - the clothes, the balls, her best friend Sara. But she and grandfather must eat, and so she must work. When Greyley approaches Anna about working for him, she initially refuses. She's always found him overbearing, heavy handed, arrogant, irritating and stubborn. Too bad he's offering to pay her more money than she could make in a year for three month's work!

And so, Anna and grandfather move into Greyley House where Anna begins to bring order to the nursery - and disorder to Greyley's peace of mind. Their often heated disagreements somehow end as passionate kisses. He's helplessly attracted to her eventhough he has agreed to marry another. And Anna is just as hopelessly drawn to him, but knows there is nothing but heartache down that road for he's an earl and she's a mere governess - and certainly no man's mistress! So it may just take the mischievous children, together with Anna's equally naughty grandfather to bring this situation to the end they choose - whether Anthony and Anna like it or not!

A really fun and recommended read.

This is exactly what I want when I pick up a romance novel. It has all the right elements to make it great, including well-drawn characters, a good story line, and five unruly children that make the entire book.
Hawkins brings two characters from her last book, The Seduction of Sara, back in An Affair to Remember, and turns up the heat between them. If you've read the Sara story, you will have already met Anna Thraxton and Anthony Elliot and you'll understand exactly what I mean when I say: What chemistry! Add five children into the mix and you will get one great book from beginning to end. I especially liked the scene at the pond as told from the children's point of view. Since I have no intentions of spoiling the story, make sure you read the book to find out what I mean. It really is well worth it!

... on the history of Black Women in the world. The author basically brainstormed many facts to the reader. Nearly all were fascinating and interesting.

However, Sharp, fails to provide an adequate bibliography, footnotes or other sources for her facts and quotes. Also, she included too many sarcastic captions (via comic book fashion) which were very degrading to Black Women (and the crass language was not appreciated either). For these 2 reasons, I give this book only 3 out of 5 stars.

The author has wonderful information but did not treat the subject of Black Women in world history with the respect and sacredness it deserved. Nevertheless, the book is a good start. I recommend with hesitation. For immediate follow-up: a better, more scholarly book is Ivan Van Sertima's Black Women in Antiquity.

This book is written by Suandra Harp and it is written in a very entertaining style. The author makes you feel comfortable in the first few pages and makes you feel relaxed that this is going to be an easy book.

The book is divide into 6 or 7 sections dealing with many aspects of Black Women Influence. For example, one of the sections at the end of the book focuses on how black women fight in the army and how they have have fought in many wars. Another section talks about how black women were part of history and how Cleopatra was really black.

The book is written in very, very easy language and there are probably words on each page which makes it quick to read. There are also picutres and many quotes from books to support her point.

She tries to show in the book that Black Women were the orignal beauties and that white people originated from blacks.

Now comes my personal thought of the book

The book was good in the sense that it was very easy to read and it had many sources but the book portrays as black women being basically perfect and that a lot of their problems were caused by whites.

The book did not show to many opposing opinions. For example, in the book she talks about Cleopatra being black but she doesn't give facts to support. This might seem a contridiction to what I said earlier about her using sources but her sources in certain parts are from refutable sources.

But all in all the book is good in the sense that it does have some good information about the history of black women. It talks about how they fought for civil rights and how they fought for women's rights and many other accomplishments that black women are responsible for.

Buy this book for a fairly good history of black women.

Then know a sistah. Black Women for beginners gets you started on the right track of black woman's history. Remember though it is only a beginning, there is much more to learn.

This is a book that all Pagans should read, not because it is insightful or well balanced but because it is necessary for Pagans to understand what Christians think about their religion and the attack on ones religious beliefs Christians will make. I will be the first to say that it is a difficult book to read. Many pagans are either infuriated or amused at the strange notions about our religion the Mr. Hawkins has.

Because Pagans are generally tolerant of other religions we are often blindsided by well intentioned though misinformed individuals who feels the need to change our religion to theirs their religion for their own good. This book provides some small insight into the Christian mind and worldview and offers some hint as to just why Christians use the arguments they use against other religions.

Does Mr. Hawkins provide a clear accurate picture of the Neopagan religion? Well...not really. The description of Wicca is drawn entirely from readings form popular text on the subject. Recognize that popular does not mean either good or accurate. Mr. Hawkins quotes liberally from a number of texts on Wicca, Witchcraft and the New Age but he misses an essential element. While Mr. Hawkins has read extensively it is painfully obvious that he did not actually talk to Witches and Pagans about their religion. If he has had conversations with experienced and educated members of the Neopagan religions he has apparently only made attempts to convert these individuals but not actually to learn from them.

The third section of the book, "Philosophical Critiques of Witchcraft" is the most interesting. Mr. Hawkins attempts to makes four points
1.the Bible condemns witchcraft and the occult
2.the Wiccan worldview is obviously false
3.that Wiccans dispute both logic and science in a self-defeating fashion
4.that Wiccan beliefs are unethical

As for the first point, no one is arguing that, the Bible condemns many things from eating shellfish to wearing particular fabrics.

As to the second point: I believe that Mr. Hawkins was trying to build an argument against religious pluralism but missed the mark. He indicates that pluralism is illogical but does not actually provide any evidence to that effect; he just states that it is obvious that it is so. Mr. Hawkins goes on to attack relativism. Despite the fact that relativism is a pretty easy target he does not do this very well arguing against it. Mr. Hawkins operates under the notion that Pagans are relativists, he arrives at this by , which does not appear to be the case. Like many people, including other reviewers of this book, he confuses relativism with subjectivism.

As to the third point: Mr. Hawkins spends a great deal of time talking about the experiential nature of Wicca. Hawkins states that Witches have difficulty distinguishing experience from truth, he does this by quoting Margot Adler who was quoting Aidan Kelly who did not in fact say that everything one experiences is true. Kelly argues for the exact opposite, that experience does not equal truth, that we cannot know what is and what is not true. Of note in this section was the paragraphe where Mr. Hawkins states that "Witches disdain the idea that there is only one truth." Immediately after this Hawkins criticizes that Starhawk and "many witches like Starhawk" for believing there is only one truth.

As for the fourth point: Mr. Hawkins indicates that Pagan beliefs are unethical because the Pagan worldview "results in an inability to morally distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong." The main thrust of his argument is based on the "fact" the all Pagans are relativists and relativists (as everyone knows) are incapable of making such distinctions. Mr. Hawkins is very critical of both the Wiccan Rede and the three fold law, both indicate that one is responsible to ones actions. Exactly why being responsible for one's actions is unethical is a mystery that Mr. Hawkins did not go into.
The problem of evil is brought out as a weapon against Paganism. Hawkins argues that since the writers he has read do not discuss evil to any great extent they are ignoring it in the false pretense that it will just not be real. Unfortunately he fails to realize that Pagans can utilize the same defense for the problem of evil that Christians have used for years, free will.

Ultimately Mr. Hawkins fails to find a fatal flaw in the word view of Witchcraft. His arguments are largely based on assumption that have no baring in the real world and as such they fall apart when they are looked at in the light of reason. What shines through most of all is Mr. Hawkins lack of respect for the beliefs of others. What is truly disappointing is that Mr. Hawkins could have made this a great book, one that helped start and foster interfaith dialogs. While the book is a good place to start a better place would be in talking to people of different religions for yourself.

Pagans need to read this book, but the need to read and understand the worldview espoused in it does not make the book either good or well balanced

The book is divided into three parts with nine chapters as follows: PART I: The Contemporary World of Witchcraft {1 - The Contemporary Craft: A Relativistic Religion, 2 - Convictions of the Contemporary Craft: How Witches View Deities, Death, and Life, 3 - Setting the Stage: The Theoretical Framework for the Practices of Witchcraft, 4 - How Does the Witches' World Work? The Structure and Practices of Witchcraft}, PART II: The Biblical View of Contemporary Witchcraft {5 - The Word of God: What the Bible Says about Witchcraft, 6 - True Teachings? A Biblical Critique of Witches' Views}, and PART III: Philosophical Critiques of Witchcraft {7 - The Question of Truth: An Epistemological Critique of Witchcraft, 8 - The Problem of Evil: An Ethical Evaluation of Witchcraft, 9 - Conclusion}.

Part I is broad in nature and attempts to define witchcraft within the neo-pagan context by reference to many non-Christian authors of neo-pagan and witchcraft books. Apart from input from the neo-pagan community and extensive personal reading of their books, it is difficult to ascertain whether Hawkins has accurately represented them in general, so I appreciated the earlier reviews by neo-pagans. Although I am far from well-read on the subject, what I have read seems accurately reflected in Part I (e.g., Bonewits' Real Magic, Weinstein's Positive Magic, Curott's Book of Shadows, Amber K's True Magick, Starhawk's Spiral Dance, Adler's Drawing Down the Moon - These are just some of the books I own. One video I own is "The Occult Experience"). One minor problem I noticed is Hawkins' use of the term "occult". He defines it broadly on page 55 to include not only the secret, hidden, nonnormal and forbidden but also, connotatively, (among the noninitiated and nonwitches) the mysterious and supernatural (key components to Christianity). He then quotes Isaac Bonewits and Raymond Buckland to show that many occultists see magic and the occult as involving natural, not supernatural, powers of the mind. Although this is all true, Hawkins then uses the term "occult" throughout the book as synonymous with the forbidden which promotes confusion since there are mysterious and supernatural aspects to Biblical Christianity that are obviously not forbidden but included in his broad definition of "the occult".

The reason for Part II is to show what the Bible says about witchcraft in particular and forbidden practices of the "the occult" in general. Although Hawkins admits that neo-pagans don't accept the authority of the Bible (or the Christian God), he wants to refute those who try to justify their practices by appeals to the Bible. After arguing for the historical reliability of the Bible based on historical evidence to show that the early church did not tamper with the Bible to exclude certain teachings as some occultists claim, he looks at certain passages of scripture within context and references the original biblical languages to show that certain occult practices are forbidden and that neo-pagan references to biblical passages to justify certain practices are unfounded. The intent of Part II is not to prove the existence of the Christian's God or the truth of everything taught in the Bible. These are assumed by Hawkins in this book. For those who are interested in such proofs, one should refer to some of the books in Hawkins' Bibliography under Relevant Christian Works. See, for example, the works of Norman Geisler , esp. "Christian Apologetics".

Part III is philosophical in nature and, in my opinion, incomplete. Although he strongly points out contradictions by proponents of witchcraft by using the law of non-contradiction, he fails to expound on the deeper, mystical and miraculous elements of true, biblical Christianity that would make it a positive, desirable alternative to witchcraft and magick. Also, how does Christianity deal with the problem of evil? Hawkins criticizes witches with committing the "naturalistic fallacy" but he fails to show how evil fits into a world supposedly created by a good God who sustains it all, including evil, in existence by an act of will. Although neo-pagans and witches can certainly learn from this book as the other non-Christian reviewers have pointed out, this book is incomplete in its approach. (Hawkins may point out that the book assumed a Christian audience, but this doesn't reduce the need to show the deeper side of Christianity to self-professing Christians who need to be well-grounded. Also, non-Christians are obviously reading this book.) Also, some Christian readers may be left with wondering whether magick really works although Hawkins' point is that regardless of whether it works, the Bible forbids the practice. Some Christian authors - such as professional illusionist Andre Kole (the Christian counterpart to the secular humanist and magician James Randi) - argue that there is more fraud than psychic powers in much that goes on in occult circles. But Kole goes so far as to deny the existence of any psychic powers and denies that Satan and demons can give such powers or perform miracles. He also criticizes other Christians who believe in psychic powers or the possibility of Satanic miracles. His point, however, is worth considering: If Satan, demons, and occultists can perform "miracles", then the argument of miracles as an apologetic for the deity of Christ must be considered worthless. Personally, I'm still studying the whole issue, including the nature of so-called "magick" as it relates to supposedly natural (and God-given) powers of the human mind (as occultists affirm), but coming from a Pentecostal and Charismatic background, I do believe in divine miracles and that they can be manifested through faithful Christians who are being led by the Holy Spirit as revealed in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 in the New Testament of the Bible. This chapter was referenced in a quote by Gavin and Yvonne Frost from their book "The Magic Power of Witchcraft" on pages 89 - 90 of Hawkins' book, but he failed to give the Christian perspective on these spiritual phenomena. Many Christians believe such phenomena went out with the apostles and are not for today - Hawkins (and Andre Kole) may be one of them (Norman Geisler is definitely one of them). I, however, am NOT one of them and sincerely believe that there is a deeply spiritual and miraculous side to Christianity that some Christians, real or just professing, are missing out on.

I know Craig Hawkins personally and took a class on the Occult from him. Craig does an excellent job in his research. Craig uses primary source material to show the "worldview of the Wicca". Craig's purpose is to show the reader what Wicca actually teaches, then seeks to show the faults of the religion compared to Christianity and logic. Craig is a Christian, he believes that Christianity is the only path to God (which Jesus promoted in John 14:6), so therefore Craig gives a defense for Christianity then shows, based off that defense, that if Christianity is right, then neopaganism is wrong (despite the postmodern desire to see all "paths" lead to God, logic dictates that all paths cannot lead to God since they contradict each other, and one of the primary laws of logic is the law of non-contradiction which states that two beliefs cannot be true at the same time or in the same sense). Craig also uses reason to show the "internal" logical errors to the Wiccan worldview. Any Christian who desires to understand Wicca, what the Bible has to say about it, and how a person might be able to dialogue with a Wiccan for evangelistic reasons, should read this book.