If you need a quick, easy to read but information packed guide on collecting NASCAR collectibles, this is the book you want. Ken Bresalauer has been covering NASCAR and its memorabilia for more than 25 years, and in this book he gives readers the best of his experience. Furthermore, the photos are great - large, sharp and pertinent to the collectibles discussed. Beginning collectors beware - there are no prices shown - you're on your own, armed with Breslauer's reflected knowledge. - Leila Dunbar

"Science, history and human tragedy collide in a heart-stopping tale of natural catastrophe." - from the dust jacket.

Author Peter Morgan makes a canny choice in his book "Fire Mountain" by focusing on the life of the single survivor of the volcanic eruption of Mount Pelee in Martinique in 1902 that completely destroyed the city of Saint-Pierre. By telling the story of the incredible survival of Ludger Sylbaris and his subsequent career as a sideshow oddity in the Barnum & Bailey circus, Morgan warmly humanizes what otherwie would have just been another run-of-the-mill disaster story.

Morgan carefully reconstructs the events leading up to the destruction of Saint-Pierre, describing the city and the colorful personalities in what was then a French colonial town. Called the "Paris of the Caribbean," it was caught totally unprepared when Pelee began erupting a few months before the final disaster. The residents convinced themselves that they were far enough away to be safe before the mountain exploded in much the same manner as Mount St. Helens, utterly erasing the city from the map.

In the aftermath, resucuers picking over the rubble made a startling discovery. Ludger Sylbaris somehow managed to survive the disaster in a solitary confinement cell in the local jail. Though horribly burned, he became an instant celebrity. When Barnum & Bailey made him a part of the so-called "Greatest Show on Earth," he became the first black man ever to grace the stage of the segregated show.

Morgan is an excellent histroian and a good storyteller, and the book contains numerous photographs and illustrations to help the reader. At just over 230 pages of narrative, this is a highly readable and very enjoyable work.

In my opinion, I absolutely loved this book. It was everything I loved in a good fantasy novel. It had action, magic, strong friendships, some adventure, and of course...romance. Kathleen Morgan does a wonderful job developing her characters and making the reader feel like they exist, especially Deidra. This young woman is so headstrong and so determined, yet at times it could get a little annoying, just because she was always so quick to have a sharp retort to come back with, that she sometimes wouldn't listen to the other side. The obvious attraction that Deidra and Hawkwind have for each other, though both deny it in the beginning, is so strong and passionate. I could just feel the tender emotion and love that they felt for each other. For the characters, this is a story of everlasting love that can conquer all, discovering their true identites, and with that love comes a way to heal the heart from past burdens and finally lay them to rest (you'll see what I mean if you read the book). If you love a good love story, this is the book for you!

(If you liked this book, I'd also like to recommend "Heart's Surrender" also by Kathleen Morgan. Both books are similar in that the heroine is very headstrong and speaks her mind, both are love stories, though it takes a while for the characters to admit their passion for one another, and it just kind of flows similarly as well. This book is also one of my favorites!)

If you want to read "Fire Queen", I suggest you do so when you have a lot of time, because you won't want to put it down!

I own this book and have read it at least six times. It's a tender forbidden love story. Plus a great quest for vengence & freedom. The fate of a league of planets rest on the shoulders of our two heroes. Who must complete their mission to the homeworld they both dread. Part of a series.

These books are a very practical guide. Very useful and easy to understand. They simplify what could otherwise be a very unmanageable process.

A Forest of Flowers is a collection of nineteen short stories split into two parts. The first deals with the happenings in the backwater village of Dukana, where superstition, corruption, and ignorance often have tragic consequences. The second part transports us to the city, where we find these same familiar human flaws alive and flourishing.

Don't let the title fool you. In this book, Ken Saro-Wiwa is unapologetically critical of the government, the church, and fellow Nigerians. The stories show the darkest sides of mankind. In an allegorical style, the author touches on everything from adultery to violent ethnic conflict to public apathy. But from within this sea of darkness comes an occasional story about a shining soul, determined to fight the tide.

I found this book to be captivating. Each story is quick (on average of eight pages) and to the point. They evoke a wide range of emotions. Some stories made me laugh out loud. Some made me angry. And others were very touching. It is an easy read, with a very limited use of pidgin which requires consulting the glossary. Despite the dark nature of many of the stories, A Forest of Flowers touches the heart.

While this book stands on its own as an outstanding contribution to Nigerian literature, it would also behoove the reader to learn about the author, who was a vocal human rights activist executed in 1996 for his criticism of the now defunct dictatorship.

Wonderful reading for those who think that the recent cult of goddess-worship is something from the distant past, or that there actually WERE matriarchies in olden times. Plus, many of the "newly-made-up Goddesses" are just plain hysterical!

As you read through this masterful yet succinct examination of the state of the family in Britain today, you are struck, in part at least that despite the social upheaval in Britain in the post war years, much of our social structure remains intact.

Despite the many freedoms won by women and by men particularly in the last forty years or so, what is more surprising than anything else is how conservative Britain has turned out to be. True, the work excludes factors such as race and ethnicity as well as immigration and the impact these may have had on the overall figures, but despite everything, to a degree, the traditional behaviours of marriage hold good to a great extent.

Before anyone should think that I am a supporter of this conservative picture, let me assure readers that I am not. While I think that the study here is a good one, I also am of the belief that the notion of a traditional family is an artificial construct which does not have real meaning.

For instance, it is only about 150 years agao roughly speaking that women were considered to be mere chattels once they became married or put it another way, what is mine is mine and what is hers (including her) is mine too.Female sexuality was under male control as was reproduction. Divorce laws were changed such that women could divorce their husbands. The point here is that this artifact of the family, far from it being something to aspire to has been endowed with a mythological significance which cannot be supported. The breadwinning husband is a construct to, denying women the right to work and the right to financial independence. The conclusion I draw from this is that diversity is good and that all men and women should be free to make their own choices.

I find that the conservatives of all parties who purport to produce evidence to establish the suffering of children and the handicaps in life that they must endure as a result of the lack of married parents are also setting up a straw man. To be sure suffering children are found in many families but often that suffering is a result of insufficient income. The benefits of proper family life are bound to win through if the comparator is a time when most people were in marriages whether they liked it or not. It would not be surprising if mothers in bad marriages devoted their time and energies to their children.

My biggest objection to this book lies in the dogmatic approach set out by Patricia Morgan who seems to be on a crusade against what she terms the atomistic society. This surely must be a topic all on it's own but it does seem to me that the opponents of freedom and liberty are casting their eyes back to a golden age of marriage where none existed. Education is rightly seen as a liberator for women who are as good, if not better than men in many respects. Why should they not have the same freedoms and responsibilities as men for all aspects of their lives. The question really is one of choice. Everyone should have the ability to decide for themselves what they do given the facts available.

In this case, social structure will be determined by those choices and we should be prepared for change whether people like Morgan want to deride it as post-modern or not. The conservatives case is too simplistic and seeks to use emotion and blackmail to return us to an age where men are subjugated to men. For myself, I want to see a time when all people are free to make the most of any opportunities which may be presented to them regardless of sex or colour.

Every student or interested observer of society should read this book and make up their own minds.

I recieved this book from a friend and plan to order several copies to give to as gifts. The delightful illustrations on each page are accompanied by quotes and sayings which touch the heart. This is a small but wonderful book which will lift the spirits of the reader. It is a great gift book that will tell your friends how much they mean to you. Appropriate for girls and women of all ages.

I fail to realize why this book is not used more by chaplains and caregivers who help the sick. It contains prayers from the ages, and helps to describe the way prayer and faith speed the healing process.