I was so looking forward to this book. It actually turned out to be a big let down. It gave great details of the Greyfriar cemetary and the atrocities that led to the suppose hauntings. Which is why I gave three stars. But I must say the accounts of the victims were just not convincing. All we got here are stories of how people fainted or felt themselves being grabbed or pushed. No sightings or apparitions,just some loud poundings on walls. Also the persons being grabbed had red marks were the poltergeist touched them,but when they were filming the documentary on greyfriars, the tour guides tried to call the camera man over to film such markings,the markings mysteriously disappeared. One more thing the title of the book had nothing to do with Greyfriars "The ghost that haunted itself" was about a fairy tale ghost from Canada and they even put that in the book.

Now dont get me wrong it is interesting stuff just very inconclusive-like everything in the spiritual world. I would love to visit Greyfriars to see for myself. Great history of the events leading to the hauntings. I still dont know what to think.

The end of this book is scary, wicked scary.

Being from Edinburgh I thought I would be a little disappointed that this book would be "another old Edinburgh ghost book". Wrong! Greyfriars kirkyard can be quite scary in the daytime even when the sun is shining and this book certainly enhanced that view and made any contemplated visit at night seem both terrifying - and inviting! It was simply one I could not put down. It is written in an almost documentary-style way which made for easy reading. An excellent read which I was sorry to finish.

Ronald Wright, Henderson's Spear (Henry Holt, 2002)

Liv Wyvern has a problem (well, aside from that of having been beaten up every day after school for having a name like Liv Wyvern). She's in jail in Tahiti on suspicion of murder, having gone down to track down her father, who's been MIA since the Korean War. She's recently been tracked down by her twenty-two-year-old daughter, whom she gave up for adoption shortly after her birth, and is now attempting to write a letter to that daughter explaining the life that is Liv and, in no small part, her extended family. Coincidentally, a few years back, she also found in the basement of her ancestral home a number of notebooks penned by a man with some connection to the family (no one really knows what)--Frank Henderson, who journeyed the Pacific himself with Princes George and Eddy back in the 1880s. There has always been a good bit of scandal attached to Eddy (aside from that supposed Ripper business), and a lot of it centered on a possible side trip Eddy and George made to certain Pacific islands...

It all does sound intriguing, doesn't it? And to some extent it is. Once the book gets off the ground, the two mysteries therein take on lives of their own. However, it's the getting off the ground part that requires a bit of doing. The book's pace never gets above slow, so saying that the pace increases tremendously two hundred or so pages in should tell you all you need to know about the first two hundred pages of this.

The most intriguing piece of the puzzle is left for the very last page (and never answered, probably because Wright doesn't know the answer himself): Wright gives us a one-page afterword telling us that he is, in fact, related to Frank Henderson, and while large stretches of Henderson's journals are works of utter fabrication, some aspects therein are true. This should have been a foreword. Two hundred pages of glacially-paced writing are far better served when one is busy trying to figure out how much of the stuff about Henderson being captured by the Sofas in the 1870s and then running off to the South Pacific with two grandsons of Queen Vic is true. (More, Wright intimates, than the Tahiti expedition. But, as Dick Francis recently reminded us in Wild Horses, sometimes the maker of fiction basing his materials on real life stumbles upon the truth of it quite by accident.) Oh, one other thing that would have been helped by having that as a foreword: realizing that the Sofas are an actual existing African tribe would have stopped me fifty pages of snickering about naming a tribe of African warriors after living room furniture. But I digress.

At a guess, the book's enjoyability hinges upon both one's tolerance for leisurely-paced writing and one's ability to find a character to identify with relatively early on. Thus, this is going to find a limited market in a world where Tom Clancy and Danielle Steel outsell the Bible year after year. Still, for all that, it's not a bad little book. ** ½

A Canadian filmaker writes from a Tahitian jail to her unknown daughter she gave up at birth, of her troubled past & her family's buried history. In the search for her father, a pilot missing since the Korean War, Liv travels to Polynesia his last known whereabouts, & winds up behind bars on a trumped-up murder charge.

It is that long-forgotten child's note, received while in jail, that brings up Liv's childhood memories. HENDERSON'S SPEAR is a love letter from a woman who never thought of herself as a mother, to her now 20 year old daughter.

Ronald Wright tells of the history of the end of the Korean War & the French & American atomic bomb testing on the atolls of that vast ocean. He keenly describes the affects of the fallout, the use of pilots to photograph the explosions, & the islanders' memories of being guinea pigs; uncovering an era we would all rather forget - what hell we brought to paradise!...

This novel is like a treasure chest found on a desert island, in which you will uncover all sorts of histories; Herman Melville's meanderings before he wrote MOBY DICK; South Sea Island cultures - past & present; how Darwin's theory of evolution affected his contemporaries; how Queen Victoria's grandsons were groomed for public life; how one man's memories of a life in the service of his country affects another's two generations later & so much more!

Normally such yarns have a male protagonist & this one is refreshing & unusual as the Reader listens to what a woman has to say about the affairs of the heart & our ancestors. Ronald Wright has woven out of the threads of history, a compelling story of the ghosts people carry with them. HENDERSON'S SPEAR is a tapestry of depth & intrigue, affection & redemption.

In April 1990 from a jail cell on Tahiti, Olivia Wyvern writes a letter to the daughter she placed for adoption years ago. Olivia tries to explain what happened that led to her current "home". Liv's father Jon was a Royal Air Force pilot who survived Hitler, but vanished during a Korean War mission leaving behind a grieving family of three women and Lord Jim the parrot. Though neither the plane nor his body was found his family always sought news on Jon.

In 1988, while Liv lived in Vancouver and her sister in London, Lord Jim dies and a few days later, mother passes away too. The two sisters go through two centuries of family stuff when Liv finds an 1899 journal written by Frank Henderson telling his adventures with Queen Victoria's grandsons Princes Eddy and George. This leads Liv to come to Tahiti to learn about Jon's disappearance. Instead she's arrested on phony murder and spy charges. While lingering in her cell, Liv learns about her own daughter, a product of a seducer who promised her information on Jon and never delivered.

HENDERSON'S SPEAR is a complex historical tale that never loses its path while entertaining the audience. Though the narrator Liv tells the story late in the twentieth century, she relates her present predicament with the 1899 Henderson diary and the Korean War vanishing of her father without either account losing steam. The two subplots tie brilliantly back together as Ronald Wright proves he has the right stuff with a forceful twentieth century triumph that genre fans will appreciate.

Harriet Klausner

Sol LeWitt is an artist for whom the catalogue is both essential and apt. Because his conception and work mainly consists of a set of instructions that are then executed by other artists, the results can be displayed in many different places. While the literally enormous beauty of the wall paintings and drawings cannot be displayed in the book, that's not the point. The paintings and drawings themselves are temporary, to be whitewashed over when the exhibit 'moves' on. The catalogue provides the valuable service of capturing moments in time when the work was someplace, and brings that to the reader, along with excellent essays on the artist.

I saw LeWitt's "Retrospective" show in Chicago and loved it.It's great that a book is offered of such a fabulous show that offers the diverse and evolving work of one of the best contemporary artists in the U.S. If the book is anything like the show, I highly recommend it as an enjoyable addition to anyone's collection of art books.

sol lewitt is my #1 favorite artist. i own many books of his work, and i must say that this is one of the most complete. its got everything. if you went to the sf moma and saw this exibition you wont be dissapointed by this book, it captures it the experience well. if you ever get the chance to see lewitts work in person, DO NOT MISS IT ! you will regret it ! in person these works are extremely powerful !

I haven't had a chance to make anything from this book yet. I like the designs and feel they can be made quickly, as long as you have the tools needed. I'm glad I bought it.

The collection of 2 X 4 Furniture books are wonderful. The only thing they need are the dimensiions of the finished project stated. This way one can determine if the project will fit in their house. When is the next book coming out?????

I built the coffee table in this book, and it turned out really nice. Some of the dimensions are off, so I recommend buying as you go. Other than that the only power tool I needed was a small sander. Great book for the beginner.

I feel that this book is a good learning tool for young kids today. Many of our youths don't know how hard was back in the day to get what you wanted and needed. The book tells about a strugle a young man went through and I feel that all teenagers and young adults should definately pick this one!

This book is about overcoming many obstacles that get your way. He told about a lot of things people would have block out of their minds. By telling of his experiences, it will reach out to someone who has gone though the same things. I encourage you to read this book to see how someone can grow up to be sucessful after overcoming the odds.

Henderson's book offers a personal insight to the harse world of child abuse and survival on the streets of the 'hood'. To see him survive this cruel environment and become a model citizen is an inspiration to people everywhere.

I highly recommend this book, especially to teenagers and young adults.

Although I believe Lynne Franks has good insight for people who want to start their own business, I found it annoying the way that she would name drop and take credit for the success of others. If you are looking for an uplifting book that will help you take the next step toward running your own business, I would recommend, "Building a Business the Buddhist Way : A Practitioner's Guidebook" by Geri Larkin. This book provides the inspiration to take the next step and more practical advise on how to write a business plan and get started.

If you are thinking about starting your own business, and need encouragement and motivation to take the plunge, and if you are very visual, than this book could be helpful for you. It offers inspirational advice and is extremely well-designed and fun to look at (one of the reasons I bought the book was to put some of the illustrations on my bulletin board). If you are looking for hard-core information about the steps you will need to take to start your own business (i.e. legal and accounting information) this is not the book for you. Other than a list of organizations at the back, this book contains almost no practical information about the logistics of starting a business. Because the author's previous career was in public relations, there is a bit more information in that part of the book. Having said that however, if you get a headache every time you pick up one of those traditional business "how to" books filled with IRS type forms, this might be the book you need to ease you into the process. I find that it gets me in the mood and gives me the courage to tackle the dry practical books. Just be advised that you will need to purchase another book for the technical information. I would have given the book a higher rating, but I found the frequent mentions of the author's personal achievements to be quite irritating.

The book tells you that it is ok to shoot for the stars when every one else tells you other wise. If you want to start you own business and your a women PLEASE BUY THIS BOOK TODAY!

This book is dated, superficial, and at 70 pages of fairly large type, barely a book at all. I most enjoyed counting the number of times the authors wrote "tall poppy syndrome."

After reading this book and agreeing with it's analysis of Americans, I let some of the Americans with whom I work with read it...and yes, they agree that it fits me (an Australian) down to a tee.

The book outlines some basic cultural differences that are hard to finger when you first arrive in the USA from Australia. Many of my work and social experiences living in the USA (from Australia) made a whole lot more sense after reading this book - for example the emphasis Americans place on their job titles, and their comparitive lack of long term friendships... Definitely worth a read for Australians planning to live or do business in the USA.

This was my Latin book in high school. I have very fond memories of the class (my first foreign language class), and learned quite a bit about grammar. I still remember some of the lessons.

The book is good. It is not always clear, and tries to explain things on the level of a high-school student. There are times that a linguistic explanation would be much simpler, but it's a school text book. It seems a bit slow at first, and I would order some things a bit differently. However, Latin is a *highly* inflected language, so there really isn't a simple place to start. The book does its job quite well, and I'm very happy I found it again to re-learn some of what I once knew.

Latin For Americans written by Ulman BL et. al is the best Latin book i have ever worked with i am a four year latin student at California high school and our teacher Mr. Panezich has a way of teaching with this book that made me want to buy it myself and recomend it to everyone trying to learn Latin. it is also the most used Latin book there is... Latin is not dead over 97% of all english words derive from latin. If you plan on succeding in life i highly recomend this book.

I've been taking Latin for two years now in school using Latin for Americans, and I have to say it is one of the best Latin textbooks around! It has easy-to-use, comprehensive tables, etc., fun facts about the Romans interspersed throughout the chapters, and the funniest pictures!

I was disappointed with many of the designs in this book. I think the pasted on fabric was tacky and extra-homemade looking. The colors she chose for the painted pieces are hard to look beyond. There is a great buffet and an interesting kitchen cabinet piece in here, though. I would recommend her previous book entitled "2 x 4 Furniture - Simple, Inexpensive & Great-Looking Projects You Can Make" over this selection.

As a beginning woodworker, I thought this book might be a good place to start, and I was right. It begins with a discussion of tools you'll need, with a picture of and writeup about each. It gives options about differing tools you could use and explains their pros and cons. Next it discusses wood, explaining how wood is sized and graded, and discussing how to select and purchase wood, nails, glues, screws, and nails.

The projects are simple and I feel they are well documented, with lots of drawings depicting key techniques of construction. They do a good job of using simple shapes and pre-made parts to simplify construction.

In all, I recommend this book to beginning woodworkers or anyone looking to make relatively simple furniture.

This is a fine book for people (women and men!) on a budget who want nice furniture and are willing to put some sweat equity into their decorating. I am a beginner at woodworking and I learned a lot about the basics. Plus, I have some good looking furniture that was inexpensive and fun to make.

I read this book and it didn't really teach me anything new that I didn't already know. The only thing that stood out to me is something the author suggested that I definitely do not agree with- that you let toddlers of equal size and strength battle it out for toys. Think about it... I found the book "How to raise an unspoiled child" much more helpful and respect the authors approach and credibility.

We'd been determined to not read any books, and generally follow instict in raising our son - though admittedly, that becomes more difficult as he gains enough attitude and verbal acuity to talk back. This book was fairly good, but not a page turner.

This is the best book ever written on toddlers, with the most practical advice and information. Best of all, it is easy to refer to when you don't have time to read. Pat Shimm and Kate Ballen are geniuses!