\The first and best true life crime book I ever read. Although other serial killers have trawled the depths of depravity, Randy Kraft has to be the ultimate sadistic murderer because he was obviously the most intelligent, therefore able to plan his crimes to his best advantage.

The author, Dennis McDougal, has written a story both fascinating and horrifying, more awful than any fictional tale. During the course of reading this masterpiece of factual reportage I found myself amazed at the strength of character it must have taken to research the activities of such a deviant personality and to have remained, I dearly trust, untouched.

Having read this horrifically entertaining book I have gone on to read about many more real life murderers, but none have had the same impact as this masterpiece.

No one could have invented Randy Kraft, as fiction it would be too unbelievable. It boggles the mind that he literally got away with murder for 13 years. The author does a fine job laying out the facts of the case giving us a balance between the victims, their families, Kraft, his family and friends, the police and other serial killers who were operating in southern California at the same time. The plotting was well done and flowed smoothly making it a quick read. The only thing missing for me, was some analysis of what made Randy Kraft do such horrific things to people. But life isn't always tied up into neat resolutions. For anyone interested in serial killers or true crime, this book is a must!

Dennis McDougal delivers a true-crime page turner that I simply couldn't put down. Ignore the more negative reviews, the book is well written and superbly researched, painting a truly nightmarish picture of true evil. Randy Kraft is one of the worst serial killers in American history gaining his morbid title by sheer numbers alone with a body count of at least 65! It's a chilling read of continous torture, rape and murder that spans an entire decade. The most disturbing part of the book is what isn't written...why haven't we heard of Kraft before now?

Everyone has heard of Gacey, Dahmer, Son of Sam, etc. but until this book I'd never heard of Kraft...the murder and torture of young women is considered by society as more fiendish because overall women are more easily accepted as helpless victims, while young men especially strong, masculine Marines can take care of themselves. Obviously Kraft proves that anyone can fall victim when evil stalks our streets.

Joe Morgan is probably one of the more astute baseball minds there is today. For the true baseball fan, his analysis is usually right on the mark and insightful. However, he does not translate well into "...for Dummies" book. I purchased the book for a friend, hoping it would provide a basic understanding. But Morgan gets too in-depth too quickly. The level of explanation is too high for the non-fan (the "dummy") and too low for a true fan.

This is a good baseball starter book. It is not "great" as some of the other Dummies books that I have used. Some of it is more involved than I would expect, yet some of the more detailed sections skip important details that should have been included. Still, it is probably one of the better buys in this genre.

I have played ball over several decades and I even learned a couple things from this book. The coverage was fairly good and the strategies for the different positions and analysis of their requirements and difficulties was something that only a true professional could provide with conviction.

This list of "records that are least likely to be broken" were entertaining and convincing -- some things that I probably would not have thought of.

As an avid baseball fan for most of my life, I often did not understand aspects of the game (e.g. types of pitches and how they work) to a great degree. Joe Morgan, in Baseball for Dummies, not only explains this information and other aspects of the game, he does it with unabashed enthusiasm and a simplicity that has only deepened my love and appreciation of our national pasttime. This book is a must-read for baseball fans at any level of understanding.

At first I didn't understand that it was four shorter stories, each focusing on an element. I was a bit disappointed because I truly wanted more to read in regards to the first two stories. I was also a bit disappointed with the dark and hopeless way the fourth story was told, but the last sentence and what it implicated sent chills up my spine and made this a very very good book. I also like the way each story was connected to the one before it. I recommend it.

This is not a book for light reading. It has 4 stories involving 4 elements of earth. Each elemental story has a central character descended from the first, each element involves a powerful story of nature. A very good read that affected me and how I perceive what we're doing to our world, which, I believe, was the authors point.

This book initially seems to begin as a series of rather odd short stories, until the author sneaks up behind you like a thief, stealing your breath and your heart, and you find your jaw was left on the ground about a mile back. I've never been an environmental fanatic, but upon closing this book I immediately went and threw out my aerosol hairspray cans. Well worth reading, and VERY well worth reading a second time!

Imagine growing up and not being aware that you were part aboriginal until the age of fifteen, having been told by your mother that the reason your grandmother was black was because she was Indian. Sally Morgan grew up in Perth, Western Australia in the 50s and 60s, and this is the story of how she eventually went back to discover her grandmother's origins in 1982, and thereby found her "Place". A moving and enriching book, which will have you in tears one minute and laughing the next

Sally Morgan writes from the heart as she explores her family's hidden Aboriginal history in a book that spares no punches. My Place is all about identity and what racism and prejudice can do to a people. The white settlers who colonized Australia have systematically tried to bury the Aboriginal people and their way of life but somehow against all odds they have survived, and people like Sally Morgan are standing up to be counted as the descendants lost tribes of mixed race people who were never given a chance to choose who they wanted to live with. Sally Morgan writes with startling clarity as she describes her childhood with her half Aboriginal Grandmother who would never admit to being native, and often told her Grandchildren to lay claim to an Indian heritage rather than admit the truth. Sally's Grandmother's fears lay deep within her own childhood when she was taken away from her mother, and it was this fear she passed onto Sally's mother who was three quarter's white. Both women were terrified of white authority and the power it had to tear families apart. My Place is a haunting, true story of one woman's search for her roots in a country that saw Aboriginal blood as a taint rather than a celebration. We need more books like this on our bookshelves, and even more people to read them...

I enjoyed "My Place." As an American from the Midwest, the only things I knew about Australia were what I learned in a college foreign politics class centered on Australia and New Zealand. I never sought out more information until I met an Australian friend who inspired me to learn more about his country. And he suggested this book.

I've started reading but just can't seem to finish "The Fatal Shore." But Sally Morgan's book gave me a feeling of reading fiction with some history behind it. I know that all her "facts" aren't to the tee. While I am not Native American, I live in South Dakota, where the Native Americans have been subject to much of the same treatment. This really opened up my eyes of what it must be like to live as Aboriginal, or part Aboriginal, Native American or part Native American in the modern day world. And how we've progressed to get where we are...if you can call it progression.

I think Sally Morgan does a great job of getting you in the story of her growing up, and then tying it all together with the dictated stories from her great uncle, mother and grandmother.

Reading "My Place" has made me eager to learn more about the Aboriginal culture, maybe a deeper knowledge. I believe I really enjoyed this book because it wasn't a straight history book. While it isn't as thick, it reminds me of another text that tells the history of London through a handful of families.

I recommend "My Place." From someone who doesn't have time to read 400+ page books, this one kept me turning the page. It was enlightening

This was my first read of Dan Mahoney's work. I must say I liked it alot. The character of Brian McKenna is a strong one. The story with the two killers is very interesting. The Police work is well decribed.The character Tommy McKenna is based on a real person. He, along with Greve, Bynum, and Big Ed make the investigation end a real good show. The outside agencies, FBI, Arizona Sheriffs, and Singapore police add flavor as well. The Political side show, with Barrone and McMahon, add a good sub-plot. The story, which had parallels to the movie, 8mm, kept me very interested. This book will have you feeling bad for the victims. I look forward to more books by Dan Mahoney.

I'd never heard of Dan Mahoney, but the title caught my attention and the back cover caught my interest. Being a retired police officer, I view with some skepticism any so-called authority on police procedures and policies. I was surprised when I found my attention riveted on the story. I truly couldn't put it down. I couldn't wait to learn the outcome and the fate that awaited the bad guys. The only thing that struck me as being less than authentic was the fact that every investigator from every police agency was not only intelligent, dedicated and persevering, but a really nice guy to boot. That just doesn't happen. I will definitely buy another Dan Mahoney novel

Normally Police Procedurals are not my cup of tea; however, Dan Mahoney's BLACK and WHITE kept me riveted. This was my first (but not last by now) Brian McKenna book by Mahoney, and while I like Brian a lot, my hero and person I'd like to see more of in future books, is the tenacious, intutitive, elderly retired black policeman. I guarantee, you've never met anyone like him. They made him and threw away the mold! As you can tell, I really get into my books - good ones come alive for me - and this is a good one!

There are other very unusual characters in this book that you will come to know and like (or dislike), and this is another book you will hate to put down.

I started this book in the morning, took it with me for my flu shot (stood in line reading) at the Church, and stayed up all night to finish.

I think you will like it!

Lorrie Morgan loved Keith Whitley. So she lets us readers know that he loved frequenting porn shops while he was drunk. He drank cologne and hair spray to quench his desire for alcohol. He begged another women for sexual favors the night before he died. This is a love story? In between such revelations, Morgan portrays herself as a victim throughout her relationship with Keith Whitley, claiming that she "loved " him too much to ever leave him. (I wonder why she didn't think of her children living with and seeing a passed-out father time and time again--especially since she brags about how perfect her relationship with her daughter is).. Another weakness about this "love story" is that Lorrie carries on so positively about herself (let's not forget the invaluable info she gives on staying slender), to the point that her values are twisted around her own desires. One example is when she phoned the one-night-stand-bimbo whom Keith had his last affair with, she prides herself on calling the bimbo every dirty name in the book. Keith's entourage verbally applauds her for this deed. Yet, only a few years later, she has an affair with a married Kenny Rogers. I guess the fact that Kenny "loved" her made a difference. I suppose the real problem with this book is Lorrie herself. I don't think she really knows what a real "love" story is.

I don't know how to rate this book really, how can you put a rating number on the deep desparate love , told about in this book. I am a fan of Lorrie Morgan's, and before reading this book I had no idea what her life had been like. Lorrie and Keith were both victims in the sad story. I felt their love, and although cheating is an unforgiving sin, I don't believe that it was Keith Whitley cheating as much as it was the alcohol cheating. It's sad, but if he only could have overcome such a horrid dependency, they could have had such a wonderful life.

Lorrie Morgan is one person that everyone could look up to and say, if she could survive, I can survive. She has an inner strength that most people don't. Her pouring out of her life is a testiment to her soul searching and being strong enough to do it. She lets her readers see her vulnerable side and has made me a fan for life for being honest. By the way, I am a Keith Whitley fan but you need to understand chemical imbalances to appreciate the hell he lived through. He couldn't help himself though he wanted to. Lorrie, you are an inspiration to everyone who reads such a fine book!!!

This book is well worth reading, but only to broaden a perspective on past books this Author has written. Although, wrapped in a 3 week trip to Scotland, this is really an auto-biography. The Author's life both fascinating and full of sadness. I have read The Road Less Traveled, People of the Lie and several other books Dr. Peck has written. Piercing books of the human condition.

In my view there is a contrast and ambiguity to his personel life and the main tenets and themes of The Road Less Traveled. It makes one want to re-visit those themes, from a broadened perspective of the Author's own paradigm.

Without question the man is brilliant with pen in hand. Provocative and probing in life's more serious problems.

One difficult observation, is the anger beneath the surface directed towards the man's closest relationships. The relationships seem loving on the surface, but the actions portray a darker side. The serial infidelities, his wife has had to endure. The resentment of his parents. The estrangement of his children. In addition to his own physical self destructive habits of alcohol, and tobacco. Unfortunately, one could take the totality, and conclude, the man really doesn't care for himself or others close to him.

I will continue to buy Peck's books and presently have "Golf and the Spirit" purchased and ready to begin reading.

If you're a Scott Peck fan just buy this and read it - it's great. Here Scott Peck blends the story of his and Lily Peck's three week journey through Wales, England and Scotland looking for ancient megalithic stones, with profound insights on life and living and enough stories from his life to make it semi- autobiographical. Each chapter covers a day of their journey (the outward search for meaning and mystery) interwoven with a discussion on various aspects of life (the inward search) after which each chapter is named. These include Reason, Romance, Ageing, Death, Parenthood, Money, and Peace to name but a few (20 in all). For those familiar with Sott Peck, this intimate sharing of his life should prove most rewarding. In fact, with startling honesty and humility Scotty unequivocally removes himself from any pedestal on which many may have placed him. Still he emerges as a gifted man of great insight, his sharing of which, really is a gift to us. I found these triple aspects masterfully blended - a tribute to Scott Peck's considerable talent as a writer. Thoroughly enjoyable and highly educational. Congratulations M. Scott Peck - an excellent book.

I first read this book some five years ago. It was my first Scott Peck book. I have since read the entire Road Less Traveled series, and others, and I found In Search of Stones to be his best. Frankly, I am quite surprised at some of the negative reviews appearing on this page. A reviewer suggested that Dr. Peck should feel shamed at his infidelity. It takes a great deal of courage to openly admit our mistakes, as Dr. Peck has done. He made willing changes in his behavior, and therefore deserves forgiveness. Perhaps other couples experiencing similar difficulties could take a lesson from him. His honesty makes the work all the more endearing. The book could easily be considered an authoritative work on the megalithic sites of Great Britain--a facinating subject. The journey through Great Britain and Dr. Peck's observations parallel beautifully with the journey of life. I recommended this book to a friend as she wanted something to read during a two week trip to Turkey--she loved it! The first 20 or so pages sing of ego--but right after he admits his infidelity, the book glides along beautifully.

Wanting to move up to a more sophisticated WEB language (from ASP,VB) I've bought quite a few books on .Net and C#. However, all of them left me with a lot of questions on how to just get started with the language.

This book solves all those problems. Anyone new to C# or just object oriented programming, can learn from this book.

The way that Karli eases you into the concepts and describes what each line of code does is extremely helpful.

This book is probably NOT for the Intermediate to Advanced programmer as Karli covers a lot of basic programming concepts. However, It also is a great primer for anyone wanting exposure to the language.

Yep after months and months of ranting and criticizing that the red book publishers (Wrox) have lost their magic touch, just when we were about to give up on them, they return with an outstanding book, probably one of the best in their Beginning series ever, and coming back in form in such style, this is simply unbelievable - Beginning C# is all I needed.
Working as a developer in ASP for over 3 years now, but never actually having tried my hands in a real hardcore programming language, I bought EACH AND EVERY book on C# being published since the past one year, but couldn't get past the 40th page of any of the books, they were designed for hardcore programmers and for a moment I wondered if Microsoft and other authors were leaving pure ASP programmers down the drain.
Beginning C# is the answer to all the prayers if you've faced the same delima as I have.
First the drawbacks.
Someone at wrox has decided that publishing a book less than 1000pages is a crime.so I guess I can let go of that. This book has 1031 pages.
Having multiple authors at times irritatingly breaks the smooth flow of explanations from chapter to chapter. GDI+ may be understanding enough as a chapter but the manner of explanations and approach to "try it out" examples is suffocating, irritating and makes you want to tear the entire chapter out of the book.
Also some examples are NOT WORKING and THIS CAN GET YOU FRUSTRATED, so be WARNED.
The plus points.
25 chapters, precise to the point, length of each chapter kept under 25 to 30 pages. Basic aim of each chapter is to explain the topic and right away get your hands dirty with examples.Each example explained step by step.
OOP being an integral part of C# comes only on Ch#8 after you have grown sufficiently confident enough to open Visual Studio and write basic programs for Windows/Web.
This according to me is a very intelligent planning of chapters and hence non of the chapters come across as speaking to you in a foriegn language or in a manner of saying that "sorry if you don't understand us , you are an idiot"....
This book can be held at the same high teaching standards set by Beginning ASPDatabases/Beginning ASP/Beginning JavaScript.

The only other book which even comes close to this is C# By Herb Schildt. Which is another exceptionally good book for beginners, though it does not touch the wide range of topics as Beg.C#
With this book Wrox is back in form.
Simply put... An Amazing Achievement....

I wanted to learn C# (and learn more about .Net), and I'm coming from a mostly VB and ASP background. I was happy with Wrox's "C# Programming with the Public Beta" book (co-written by Watson), but wanted something that was more complete. At close to 1000 pages, this book certainly FEELS complete. It is also smartly outlined with excellent examples and exercises at the end of each chapter (but where are the answers??). Best of all once you step through the chapters on Windows and the web, there are TWO complete Case Studies (something I love about the Wrox books), and an article about building an Online Shopping Cart Using C#.
This book is similar in quality to Ivor Horton's "Beginning Java 2" books. (Only with better examples, in my opinion).

Morgan Norval, executive director of a think tank on terrorism, writes about what he does for a living in contrast to academic blame-America-first people who extrapolate from their field of concentration to write on a subject they know nothing about. This is refreshing at the outset.

To wit, Norval confronts foursquare the irrationality of man and the way it renders useless any attempt to impose critical analysis on the true believers. In the instant case I'm thinking of Chomsky, Susan Sontag, and Michael Moore, all of whom in my opinion would be critical of Norval on this subject.

Norval's insistance on the depth and breadth of the Islamic threat to America is timely and realistic and everyone in the country needs to listen up. The problem of suicidal terrorists on U.S. soil needs to be handled with a continuing vigilance. Not since the war of 1812 has America been truly assaulted by an outsider. Hopefully Norval will continue to write about what is sure to be a long term conflict. In this sense this book is timely and a must read.

I have been reading Morgan Norval's work for years, and find itconsistently stimulating and pertinent. Writing with the expertise of one who has actually been there, he always offers a penetrating look at conflict. Triumph of Disorder, his latest book, looks specifically at the discontents of the Islamic world and the threats arising therefrom. It is a superb job. Mr. Norval does not shrink from expressing strong views, and those accustomed to cautious academic writing may be startled. But even those who disagree with the ideas--and they are genuine ideas--presented in this book will find himself or herself spurred to think afresh and more deeply about a growing problem for which there is no end in sight. On the fundamental issues of motivation, violence and the logical illogic of human behavior, the author is unbeatable. Strongly recommended for the reader willing to take an intellectual step beyond the campus library and into the harsh realities of the world as it is. As a former soldier who has seen first-hand some of the challenges this book defines so ably, I found Triumph of Disorder, worth the price, worth the time, and worth sharing with friends.

While many fine and thoughtful books have been written on the violent aspects of fundamentalist belief in the Islamic world, I found this the most provocative and challenging. Mr. Norval has done a first-rate job of thinking this problem through and marshalling his arguments. Even if the reader does not agree with some of his conclusions, the author always forces the reader to think afresh. Avoiding simplistic portrayals of the Islamic "threat," the author nonetheless captures the degree to which cultural separatism and fear of change inspires a disproportionate amount of international terrorism in the Islamic world--a mark of cultural inability to compete. For those seeking a deeper understanding of a very complex, but urgent problem, this book is well worth the price. Strongly recommended for those interested in terrorism, international affairs and cultural studies, from lay readers to military officers and diplomats.