Herb Moore left the "Island" the day I arrived from the balmy Bronx. The nexy day Sgt. Egge picked up Platoon 375. We outposted on 5 December 63. There are some dates you will never forget!! Moore captures Sgt. Egge magnificently. He is a man who is burnt not in my mind but in my soul. Fear and pain must be over come. I did not grasp this until two + years later when I went to Viet Nam, Republic of. Never saw Egge again. Strange, it is close to 40 years and I still hear the cadence call.

Herb you done good and got it like none before you.

Herb L. Moore, an enlisted Marine from South Carolina who served during the Vietnam era, gives an excellent account of his own USMC boot camp experiences at Parris Island.

While this book does not have quite the commercial "spit shine" of other books that address boot camp, I actually appreciated it more than other related books due to the fact that the author recounts recruit training experiences with a bit more honest "true grit" than other accounts. His description is offered as seen through the eyes of a recruit versus the eyes of a detached author as with so many other military books written today.

In addition to a very good account of daily boot camp life, Herb Moore also provides near the conclusion of his book a provoking discussion on why tough training is needed in order to have Marine's ready to handle combat experience. His words ring with an air of wisdom and truth that, again, you won't find as frankly discussed in many other books.

Herb Moore is to be highly commended for authoring this book. If you are looking for a philosophical and detailed explanation of the Corps place in society, I would recommend Thomas Rick's "Making the Corps", and if you are looking for a book that chronicles the training regimen of USMC boot camp then I would recommend Daniel Da Cruz's "Boot", but if you are looking for an engaging and honest account of what boot camp life is like when viewed through the eyes of a recruit than I would strongly recommend grabbing "Rows of Corn" first!

Semper Fi, John G. Kennedy (USMC 1996 - 1999)

I went through basic training at Parris Island the same year as the author. I found this book to be the only accurate description of what happened in Marine Corps boot camp. The descriptions of the DI's were right on target. The relentless stress is written between the words so accurately I felt like I was back in 1963. I wonder why no one has made a movie on this book. A great read of a real life experience!!

This is one of the better written books I've ever read. In fact, I've read it three times and each time I was suprised by its superb irony, excellent dialogues and lyric style. Reading it, I used to think I was reading again Dante's Comedia, but written in 1943 and sewed to our material earth and humanity, instead to Heaven or Hell.

Now that the world is at war again, may be we should read again this book...

This is not an easy book, and it is not a book for everybody. In fact, if you believe in the manifest destiny of your country or are used to dividing people between winners and losers, save your time and do not buy this book because you would not understand it.

Malaparte's book is a series of autobiographic episodes set in WW2 Italy. It shows the despair and degradation of a place where everything, everything is for sale and the only thing that matters is your skin, saving your skin and living another day. In many respects, however, Italy becomes a metaphor for the whole of Europe (watch the movie "Berlin - year 0") in those times, and perhaps mankind. In fact, Malaparte's language is often poetic and his book transcends his times to become a universal portrait of suffering man. It is the suffering, defeated man that Malaparte takes pity of, while describing man in his hour of triumph as "unbearable".

Among all the rhetoric on the Liberation and the magnificent new future that awaited Europe after the war, here is a writer who preferred to set his eyes on a painful present. Malaparte gives us a description of a terrible time which has the same timeless value as Thucidides' account of the plague in Athens.

A particularly enjoyable part of the book is the description of the contact between the Old and the New World. Malaparte, an officer of the Italian Corps that fought alongside the Allies in the Italian campaign from 1943 onwards, was very good friend with some American officers and knew General Clark. He has left us a wonderful description of the mixed feelings of the US troops in experiencing, often for the first time, the reality of Europe, of their obscure fascination and, at the same time, contempt for "corrupt" Europe, of their genuine innocence mixed with a presumption of moral superiority. In an unforgettable dialogue, an American woman serving in the auxiliary forces contemptiously asks Malaparte how can women in Naples prostitute themselves for a packet of cigarettes, clearly they must be putting their habit ahead of their honor. Malaparte drily answers that "With a packet of cigarettes, they can buy 3 kgs of bread"...

"The Skin" is a complex and fascinating book.

Ostensibly it is about the American army arriving in Italy during WWII and coming into contact (often for the first time) with Europe's spiritual and moral corruption and degradation. The idea was copied a (little) bit by Joseph Heller in Catch-22. If you've read Catch-22, you have SOME an idea about what to expect.

But "The Skin" is a deeper book than Catch-22, and Malaparte was much more interested in the differences between the decadence of the old world and the brash, conquering innocence of the New World, where things such as defeat are considered physically and morally impossible. Defeat is actually seen as morally reprehensible and somehow or other, the fault of the defeated.

Unlike Heller, Malaparte never portrays the military or the politicians as out and out bufoons: he realizes that people are invariably more complex than that.

It is a rare combination of intellectual writing, combined with moments of vibrantly dark humour. An example: when an American liason officer speaks about Italian women selling their bodies, Malaparte replies that all that they are actually selling is their hunger. And that it'd be a marvellous thing if every American soldier could take home a piece of hunger to show his wife what amazing things you can buy for money.

The title, by the way, refers to Malaparte's comment that once flags have been proven worthless and shamed, the only flag people are willing to fight for is that of their own skin. The indomitable spirit of mankind is shown to be a greedy, grasping thing that will stop at nothing in order to continue existing. And the spectacle is anything but edifying.

In 1998, I picked up "Slay and Rescue" because I was bored and it seemed like a quick and light read. Little did I know that it was to become one of my favorite books of all time. John Moore is excellent writer who makes you feel as if you actually stepped inside a fairy tale but only here he shows us Prince Charming would have rally been like: a randy teenager who saves princesses in the hope the one of them will thank him on their back. Raunchy, hilarious, and wildly imaginative "Slay and Rescue" will make you forget everything you thought about fairy tales. Some people compare this book to "The Princess Bride" and I must say that those people are insane and should be put away because "The Princess Bride" is drivel compared to this book. Read it. You won't regret it.

Slay & Rescue is a fast-paced adventure with just the right amount of humor added. From the very first page Mr. Moore kept me entertained. Prince Charming encounters beautiful maidens, wizards, a fire breathing dragon and many more interesting characters. Once you read this tale you will view the above cast of characters in a whole new light. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a highly entertaining and fun read.

I have never read any book like it. It is the best I have ever read and now my favorite book in all the world. Surpasses "The Princess Bride" by a universal infinity. I have been inspired.

What a marvelous book. It explains the functions of digestion in a fun way. It has a couple of "fart" and "poop" jokes which are entirely appropriate to a book about food and nutrition, and allows a kid to hear a little "naughty" joke, but the clean kind of naughtiness that a kid can laugh at, instead of the "dirty" jokes that they are probably being exposed to.

As a kid who likes science and math, I think Haduch rules! I have read several of Mr. Haduch's science books and they are always funny and full of good information. I even used his book on tornadoes for a school project (and got an "A".)The food book is very funny while telling you about science and how your body uses food. I hope he does a book on dinosaurs.

Now maybe kids will eat what's good for them!This book is one of the rare kids' books that addresses kids as people to be talked to and entertained....not to be talked down to or preached at. As a mom who has kids interested in science....and off-the-wall humor...I appreciate a book that combines both. Thanks!

Have you ever looked at Jesus Christ in a way much deeper than in the scriptures? A fire that lights up your soul. Such a romance with the Lord as if you have truly known him and walked with him. You have an open invitation to be part of it. 'Jesus One and Only' is that intimate look at the life of Christ. Beth Moore interweaves her own experiences with the Gospel of Luke to give you more brand new insights of the One who is the greatest best friend that you'll ever have. You can hear God speak to you in Beth's words, his caring, loving words to get you to fall in love with Jesus of Nazareth. Walk with him on the dusty roads of Israel, listen to him on a hillside teaching, encounter Him at the dinner table with sinners, or walks on the raging waves and calms the storm . Like the ragamuffin band of followers some 2,000 years ago, you will not be the same. As you read you will you come to know just how much He longs to be close to you. Moore is a wonderful and God-gifted writer. And she makes the gentle, loving Savior so irresistable who couldn't be changed after reading this. It's a much to read all her books. I recommend 'Things Pondered' and 'To Live is Christ.' She's truly one blessed writer, public speaker and teacher. Like to know more about her work? Visit-BethMoore.org.

Beth Moore speaks directly to the heart and soul with this illuminating, stunning book about Jesus Christ. Could not put it down! A must-read for anyone searching to know more about this wonderful, visionary leader. Jesus Christ gave us more than just the Gospels, He gave us Himself! Beautifully-written, well-researched, and irresistable.

This touching, unique book written by Beth Moore has cut deeply into my heart. Through this perfectly layed out book, Moore brings the reader through a realistic adventure about the life of Jesus Christ. She reveals many truths about Jesus' life that we overlook when reading the Bible's facts about His life. Moore's insightful words are refreshing, freeing, and eye-opening. This book touched my heart softly and intimately, bringing me closer to the loving and graceful heart of my Savior Jesus Christ. The realistic views and the heartfelt moments that the reader enters with this book are life changing and freeing. Anyone who has ever wanted a closer look at the life of Jesus and a deeper touch of His unconditional love should readh this book. I absolutely love and adore this book.

I just finished a 2.5 yr concentrated study on Christ's life for an advanced class that I teach. My library on Christ's life went from 25 books to over 200. And now that the study is over I am fully convinced that Mark Moore's 2 volume set is the finest thing ever written outside of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Shephard, Pentecost, Foster, Morgan, Spurgeon, Andrews, Keller and a ton of others are fine books, but a very distant 2nd place to Moore's work. His scholarship is current and DEEP, yet he writes in a very readable, contemporary style. If you don't have this 2 volume set, you need to get it. When? NOW! Remember, as a Christian it is more important to know and understand more about JESUS than any other religious or biblical subject. And if your library doesn't contain Moore's set, it is missing the finest resource available outside of the gospels themselves. God bless. Mike

A well written and factual book. It is not just dry fact but a comparison of the four gospels written in chronogolical order. The reader gets a great insight to the life of Christ and what He went through in the early years of His life on earth. The companion book "From Galilee to Glory" written by the same author takes the reader on to the finish of His life on the cross.

I enjoyed Mark's style - detailed, insightful, and imaginative - as he explored the scenario's in Jesus' life. I found it to be my most useful reference for the flow of Jesus' life and the "ethos" of the events as I studied for a class I am teaching on the Life of Christ.

Wow! What a book! I don't usually read romance novels, and I'm still unsure as to what compelled me to buy this one. But whatever the reason, I'm glad I did!

Had someone handed me this book to read, stripped of its cover thus leaving me no clue as to whom had written it, never in a million years would I have guessed the author to be a man!
Brian Moore should be commended for his impressive ability at bringing to life the totally believable female character portrayed in this book. Few male writers can successfully execute on paper such a vivid and candid depiction of a middle-aged woman in turmoil--the revealing of her innermost thoughts about herself and the world around her as she grapples with the sensitive issues of aging and sexuality.

Anticipating her husband's arrival in France to celebrate their second honeymoon, Sheila Redden dreams of rekindling the passions and excitement once present in their stale, sixteen-year marriage. However, disillusioned by his many excuses for not showing up to meet her, Sheila soon becomes painfully aware that her husband's busy schedule with tending patients takes precedence over her happiness. Lonely and deeply hurt, Sheila does what I guess many emotionally-neglected wives would do--she has an affair. I don't think that she intentionally went out looking to get laid--it was just something that happened quite naturally given the vulnerable state of mind she was in at the time. What starts out as a seemingly innocent enough chat with a handsome young American in a Paris diner, suddenly magnifies into something far more serious. Riddled with guilt, yet driven by the desire to walk away from her loveless marriage in favor of a more independent life, Sheila confesses to her husband (over the phone!) that she is in love with another man. What follows Sheila's confession is an unexpected train of events that will drastically change the lives of all of those she touches.

As I've said before--Wow! What a book! This is one of those
'once upon a time' fairy tale romances, but one in which no one at the end rides off into the sunset happily ever after.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to just kick back and enjoy a good ole' fashioned, brilliantly-written romance novel. But be forewarned--some of the lovemaking scenes are quite explicit.

TWO THUMBS UP FOR THIS THOROUGHLY ENJOYABLE NOVEL!

Wonderfully romantic reading, but not sappy or "unreal"......I loved this book from page one until the end.........a woman's awakening to her life. Highly recommend it.

Smart, quiet, shy, too tall, Sheila had never been on her own. She went from dependence on her parents to dependence on a husband. After 15 years of marriage, a long-planned 2nd honeymoon sets into motion the chain of events which leads her away from her safe, ordered, boring existence, and awakens a desire for autonomy.

Moore's cool, precise, detached prose steers the reader through an emotional storm. If anything, this coolness enhances the intensely erotic scenes in the story. As always with Brian Moore, the tale seems to be driven by its own internal workings, and the personalities of its characters. Yet the ending is neither staid nor predictable. You will not be able to put this book down easily, or to put it out of your mind until long after you have finished reading it.

This is a wonderful cookbook by famous chef Matthew Kenney. I love Morrocan and Mediterranean foods. I found the recipes not only delicious but very easy to make. Matthew describes his first interest in Mediterranean cooking and how he became a chef. Some of my favorite recipes are the carpaccio, the fennel salad, and the poek loin with apricot and pistachios. It's a great little book if you like cooking "exotic foods".

This book offers a great combination of things: Excellent recipes, relative ease of cooking the dishes, beautifully graphic layout/design, and wonderful text.

Matthew has a good ability to cook these dishes, and an equally good ability to "teach" the reader how to do the same.

The recipes are really all over the place, drawing upon influences of all Mediterrean countries. Some dishes for instance, are really more common to Middle-Eastern countries, but all flow wonderfully together in this work.

A truly enjoyable, as well as informative, book.

With recipes easy enough for beginners and interesting enough for seasoned (no pun intended) gourmands, this book is one I keep going back to time after time. This book also makes a great gift, as it is as attractive as it is usable. I'm here in the heart of America's Dairyland, but Matthew's Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes could almost make me give up butter!

In "Social Origins", Barrington Moore conducts a study of economic, social and political change in the modern era. Moore survey's modern societies from England to Japan comparing social and economic structures with emphasis on class stratification.

Moore uses a hybrid Marxist analysis and turns it on its head by finding common conditions favorable to democracies and conditions that lead to fascist and commmunist dictatorships. Moore finds some common factors to successful transition to include a need for social change to accompany technological change, the strength of a "middle class" and the need to address the concerns of agrarian society.

In the end Moore believes that the industrial change took place at great cost in every society. The key to successful transistion to democracy was in how this "industrial revolution" was implemented.

Whether one agrees totally or not, "Social Origins" never ceases to be stimulating in its analysis.

for someone who loves political theory, this is an excellent book to read that delves deeply into what causes revolutions and what creates a dictatorship and what creates a democracy. the only problem with this book is that it can't seem to take an account of why India is still a democracy. the peasants won in india, but they are still a democracy.

One of the very best introductions to how the modern world came to be -- at a high level of detail. This is political economy as it should be written.

This book describes the way creationists approach evolution. If they can find just one thing that evolutionary biologists have yet to explain, they figure that one thing is enough to throw the whole thing out. Such a view is just wrong, and shows an abysmal understanding - or abuse - of science. There are more than enough transitional fossils to convince a fair minded skeptic, but no creationist would ever agree to classify anything as a transitional fossil. Not Archeoptryx, not Acanthostega (sp?), not the mammal-like reptiles. The beautiful documention of the evolution of the mammalian jaw from the reptilian jaw should convince anybody, but it will never convince a creationist.

Of course, there is a lot that scientists don't know about evolution. But there is a lot that we DO know, and there is just too much evidence to simply toss out evolution. This is a theory that will not go away, although I wouldn't be surprised to see it change as we learn more about genetics.

This book is not written for creationists, but for people who might be sympathetic to their cause. If people would learn more about the nature of science, they would be offended by the utter dishonesty and lack of integrity you find in scientific creationism.

FGTG is a 200-page overview of the 2300-year history of the development of the E/C dispute. As an overview, it has the typical advantages and disadvantages of that genre, being written in very simple language, with only a minimum of technical detail. It would be a good introduction to the subject for someone with little prior knowledge of the history of the dispute, but it might not be very satisfying for people looking for a discussion of the most up-to-date, scientific analysis.

The Preface states that science rests on two principles: (1) scientists must base their analysis about how the world operates, not on idiosyncratic, a priori beliefs, but on empirical data; and (2) scientists must subject their analysis to testing and confirmation by others. In this two-step process, scientists failing to follow step 1, would be caught and exposed by other scientists in step 2. The self-correcting nature of the scientific enterprise is perhaps its most important feature. Any human enterprise is subject to error, so having a built-in, error-correction mechanism is essential.

FGTG describes young-Earth creationist organizations, like the Institute for Creation Research, that do not follow the error-correction methods of traditional science. The logical conclusion from that is inescapable.

FGTG analogizes the E/C dispute to the on-going dispute over the 9,000-year-old Kennewick Man skeleton found in Washington. Scientists want to use traditional scientific methods to identify the remains, but local Indian tribes insist that such tests are unnecessary, because their ancient, tribal, religious beliefs have already led them to conclude that the skeleton is the remains of one of their ancestors; and conducting any scientific tests at all would violate the Indians' religious beliefs. The point here is clear: injecting religion into a debate brings science to a halt.

FGTG reviews some of the differences between religion and science as knowledge systems. Beliefs based on religious considerations have a very strong emotional basis and may produce strong feelings of personal satisfaction. Beliefs based on scientific considerations tend to have a much weaker emotional impact. Scientific beliefs, by their very nature, are tentative, because all such beliefs are based only on the evidence acquired to date, and that evidence is ALWAYS incomplete. No matter how much data has been acquired to date in support of Theory X and no matter how compelling the inferences from that data may be, it is ALWAYS the case that evidence discovered next week may totally invalidate today's "unassailable" theory. Ptolemy gave way to Copernicus, Copernicus gave way to Newton, and Newton to Einstein. Science marches on, and that may be threatening to people craving certainty in their lives. For such people, unchanging, superstitious explanations may be more satisfying emotionally than any rational analysis, no matter how brilliant it may be.

FGTG sketches the development of biological explanations, both supernatural and scientific, from ancient Greece to the present. One interesting tidbit reported that religious groups sometimes incorporated scientific work into their religious beliefs. Galen's scientific studies on anatomy and Ptolemy's on astronomy were incorporated into the religious doctrines of some Christian denominations (Protestant and Catholic), changing their character from tentative statements about science into unchallengeable religious doctrines. So when Michael Servetus, a Spanish physician, pointed out mistakes in Galen's anatomical descriptions, the Catholic Church burned him at the stake in 1553. Giordano Bruno met the same fate in 1600 for preferring Copernican over Ptolemaic astronomy. So empirical data and analysis can be incorporated into religious systems, but the data and analysis are then no longer open to question, which violates the second characteristic of genuine science as described in the beginning of the book.

Another interesting chapter compared the dramatically different versions of creation given in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. If creationists believe that the Bible is inerrant in all its parts, then it is difficult to reconcile the fact that these two chapters are diametrically opposed to each other.

FGTG also points out that none of the original Biblical manuscripts survive and that the copies that do survive are significantly different from each other in many aspects. In the story about Noah's Flood, another key, creationist concept, one version says that only man, land animals, and birds will be destroyed, while another version says that all animals, apparently including even whales and fishes, will be destroyed. Again, if the Bible is supposed to be error free, it is difficult to explain why the Bible contradicts itself.

The history of the study of fossils and early attempts to reconcile them with the Bible was also interesting. The idea that a species could ever go extinct challenged belief in God's "perfect" creation as described in Eccl. 4:14.

FGTG reviews the early history of evolutionary theories, and very briefly reviews the data that evolution explains: sequential order of fossils (including Precambrian organisms); classification of organisms into nested categories (based on both gross anatomy and genetic data); data related to embryonic development (specifically recapitulating the embryonic evolution of the mammalian ear from its reptilian predecessor, and the vertebrate kidney); numerous intermediate forms (especially Archaeopteryx and horses); and radioactive dating.

The last quarter of the book reviews some of the major court battles over evolution education, especially the Scopes and McLean cases. One of the editorial reviewers complained about Moore's presenting evolutionists as "fearless truth seekers," but the sad fact of the matter is that evolutionists really have had to be fearless in opposing the religious bigotry that kept legitimate science from being taught. Michael Servetus, Giordano Bruno, John Scopes, and Bill McLean were indeed demonstrating fearlessness in opposing the religious bigots of their day.

The book's conclusion that both religion and science have a place in human affairs, but that the place of religion is not in a science classroom will come as no surprise. What may be surprising is the list of religious groups that agree with that conclusion, including Presbyterian, Jewish, Episcopal, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Unitarian, and Methodist organizations.

Very interesting book, easy to read, and full of worthwhile insights. I recommend it!

What a breadth of knowledge this man has! What humanity! What generousity of spirit! I read it in one sitting because I found it so fascinating. It was worth sacrificing a weekend.