Well, what can I say?

This is a very pretty book, with many gorgeous illustrations.

It is a well-written book, and very easy to read. The descriptions of the signs are accurate, and while the book is easy to thumb through, you will find that you have just sat down and read half of it. Like I just have.

I recommend it whole-heartedly, and look forward to reading more from the same author.

The book is great for those who are interested in the investment banking industry and want to get a a better idea of what J.P. Morgan is really like. The authors do a really good job of stepping away from the brochure-mentality and the information is almost as valuable as the information you would get from a close friend who works there. The fresh and candid "insider" perspective is ideal for assessing what the culture is like.

This relatively small volume is like its author. It delivers a fierce line drive which splits the alley and rolls to the wall for extra bases. One regards this book in the same way that he looks at the little guy sliding into second or third base afterwards and wonders, not for the first time, how he could have hit the ball so hard!

Joe Morgan's "A Life in Baseball" is the story of an intensely driven individual who overcame the twin handicaps of race and small physical stature to become a Hall of Fame second baseman and a crucial component of one of baseball's most famous dynasties.

Morgan's dedication rings forcefully in each word of this volume, and so do the same affability and sense of humor that he displays in the broadcast booth. Yet he never forgets that baseball, like most other endeavors, is a team sport, and that sacrifice of time, effort, and personal aggrandizement is necessary for the good of the team. The Big Red Machine not only required the talent of players like Morgan but their attitude as well. This is a man willing and eager to share what he has with others.

As described by Morgan, the smallness of other baseball men such as Harry Walker and Bill Virdon - in moral, if not in physical stature - stands out in stark contrast. Walker was an original Brooklyn Dodger who harassed his teammate, Jackie Robinson, and the revelations about his stewardship of the Houston Astros shouldn't surprise anyone. It's startling to realize that the trade that sent Morgan, Jack Billingham, and Cesar Geronimo to the Cincinnati Reds and engendered the Big Red Machine was largely driven by Walker's grudge against Morgan.

Virdon's fatal flaw was ego-driven, not race-driven, but Astro fans who wonder why their team has not reached the World Series in 40 years of existence will weep over Morgan's description of Virdon's actions during the deciding game of the 1980 championship series against the Phillies.

On the West Coast, Morgan, a Bay Area native, is best known (with reverence or with acrimony) for providing San Francisco Giant fans with bittersweet vengeance by knocking the Los Angeles Dodgers out of the pennant race with that three-run homer that he hit on the last day of the 1982 season off of the Dodger's Terry Forster. This was while Morgan was playing for the Giants in the twilight of his career. The Atlanta Braves, who were playing the San Diego Padres on that final day, were the ultimate division-winning beneficiaries. Alas, this book doesn't dwell enough on that historic moment.

But following that event, Morgan (who once almost signed with the Dodgers as a free agent) has found himself denying that he is a Dodger-hater. He should know better. It's not just Giant fans but everyone who is not a Dodger fan that is a Dodger-hater. The Padres were uprightly playing "spoiler" to the Braves by beating them, but after Morgan's home run ultimately stood up as a game-winner over the Dodgers and settled the issue, the TV cameras showed the Braves and the Padres interrupting their contest to celebrate together. Come on, Joe; admit it. You enjoyed the taste of Dodger Blue blood in your mouth as much as anyone.

Morgan is able to describe baseball's racial problems forcefully but without rancor. This book was published in 1993, and is partly outdated. He remarks that black managers are under more pressure to win than white managers. Perhaps this was true at the time, but the current ubiquitousness of black non-winners such as Dusty Baker and Don Baylor suggests that, slowly but surely, blacks are being given the same opportunity that Gene Mauch always had to fulfill the Peter Principle by rising to their level of mediocrity.

Morgan refers to the infamous Al Campanis remarks as evidence of a larger problem without acknowledging that Campanis's remarks were not so dissimilar from those that Morgan and other black ballplayers made in a magazine article. The context of Campanis's remarks was somewhat different but hardly enough to justify banishing him from the game like a pariah after a half century of Morgan-like dedication to it. Morgan would have done better to reflect on the injustice, and he should realize that dialogue can't take place if one party is going to be penalized for frankness and knows that at the outset.

And Morgan's complaints about the corrupting effect of money on the game are accurate but not so prescient, having been made on the eve of the 1994 work stoppage that cost America the World Series. And they have to be regarded in light of his own actions. Morgan and Tim McCarver are two of the best baseball minds around today. Are either of them willing to step down from their broadcast positions and accept a lower six-figure income as baseball managers or as intermediaries/roving ambassadors of the type that Morgan suggests in his book?

However, it appears as though Morgan's suggestion has since been adopted since that is essentially the role that Tom Lasorda and others have been playing.

Finally, I can only give Morgan a mediocre grade for his discussion of the "Pete Rose" issue. Yes, Pete was probably guilty of betting on baseball, Morgan says. Yes, he lied about it. Yes, Pete has failed to address his actions with the requisite humility and penitence, wrongly regarding his banishment from baseball as another tough fastball to be hit; another catcher to be ploughed through. But Morgan weakens and says that Rose should STILL be allowed entry into the Hall of Fame because of what he has meant to the game, blah, blah, blah.

That's only a "C plus" response. By comparison, another of Rose's Cincinnati teammates, Johnny Bench, once gave an "A" response. "When should Rose be admitted to the Hall of Fame?" Bench was asked. "When he's innocent," Bench retorted.

Write it down in Big Red letters, Little Joe.

This book was read on NPR this morning and it is an adorable story. I understand the illustrations are as enjoyable as the story. If you have small children on your Christmas list, give this book some thought.

Anna and her son Louis went to a place called Siam, to teach the king's children.There was a evil magician who wanted to take over Saim. During that time the king wanted his older son
Chululongkorn to get marry and that his son can be crown and take over his place. But he didn't want to marry anyone else but a girl called Tuptim, who working for his father.Then, the king's son, Tuptim, and Louis ran alway.Then the king went and look for them....

La homeopatia como una forma de preservar la salud es la mejor allternativa para preservar la fuerza vital tan maravillosa de la niñez. Ampliamente recomendado el uso de esta informacion para ayudar a la salud de los suyos.

After many years of wanting to go there, I recently "discovered" the Olympic Peninsula while on a get-away vacation. I also heard about this book and after reading it, I have to give it a qualified thumbs up. Reading this book would have been somewhat bewildering and a little tedious before I traveled to the Olympic Peninsula. Having made the trip before reading the book gave me a basis upon which to appreciate the writing. There are some very interesting and even disturbing stories in here, from the fantastic to the bizarre and the terrible. For anyone interested in a behind the scenes look at one of the most fascinating and beautiful places in America, this book is a must-have. The writing is generally excellent and very readable and the organization is sound and chronologically logical. There are some poignant descriptions of life in earlier times and a rousing look at turn of the century logging practices. On the down side, the discourse on modern resource extraction activities is a bit long-winded and the book concludes with a rather disjointed short chapter which I am still trying to place in the larger context. Overall, a good read and of definite local interest.

There is a real dichotomy between Forster's novel "Maurice" and the homosexual stories collected in "The Life to Come." The novel, while it does focus on the trials and tribulations of a gay man coming to terms with his sexuality, ends on an optimistic note. By contrast the stories collected in "The Life to Come," especially "The Other Boat," "Arthur Snatchfold" and the title piece, reflect the author's own obsession with the negative consequences of exposure and perfectly illustrate his reticence to coming out either personally or professionally. This is a man who witnessed the grossly indecent prosecution of both Oscar Wilde and Alan Turing, is it any wonder he was reticent? Don't miss these early gifts from the master.

Many times, it's amazing how much "color" can be seen in a black & white photograph - the smile of a child peeking out from under a tattered hand-me-down hat, the knowing look from the eyes of a man who's lived a century and has seen more than he can bear. New Bern, NC born Bayard Wootten, captured this sort of color throughout the 1920s South, creating an artistic record that's both beautiful and many times heartbreaking.

In his book "Light and Air," Jerry Cotten, photographic archivist at the North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill, shares the story of Wootten, a determined and independent woman who illustrated local color in a variety of ways, all on black & white film.

Wootten was a trailblazer for women photographers and a true artist behind the lens. She excelled at portraits and landscapes, photographed gardens and architecture, but is best known for capturing the true soul of the 1930's south - the hard working people in the lower reaches of society whom other photographers of the day for the most part ignored.

To our advantage, Cotten stumbled upon two envelopes of Wootten's photography in an out-of-the-way cabinet when he first started working at the North Carolina Collection in 1972. He was, as many are when they first see a Wootten photograph, taken with the artistry of the photos, as well as the subject matter. Since that time he has researched and collected Wootten's work, and lucky for us has produced a book that not only tells about the pioneering lady photographer, but lets the reader see first hand the amazing ability and vision of one of NC's own.

In "Light and Air," Cotten details Wootten's personal and professional life, her early struggle for acceptance in a field dominated by men, as well as Wootten's later involvement in helping herself and other female photographers gain an equal footing in the profession. Many of his sources are family and friends of Wootten who provide personal insight and quotations that add a special touch to the work. But moreover, Cotten lends a great portion of his book to the photographs themselves - pictures that show the true beauty of black and white photography and the amazing ability of Wootten to create a work of art from a subject as simple as a man or woman sitting in a chair.

"Light and Air" features 190 illustrations, including 136 duotone reproductions of Wootten's photographs - many of which have never before been published. These images of Southerners in the lower reaches of society during the 1930s will many times tug at your heart, yet one will quickly notice the dignity and charm in their eyes that inspired Wootten to stop along the road or walk down a dirt path to photograph an otherwise unlikely subject.

"Wootten's artistic skills, her success as an early woman photographer, and a career spanning half a century," Cotten tells us, "have secured her place as a dominant figure in the photographic history of North Carolina."

For a look at the life and work of this talented photographer and independent and inspiring woman, "Light and Air" is a brilliant combination of written text and illustrations. Whether you call North Carolina or New York home, the photo collection alone will make this a book you'll want to own - there's something special and naturally beautiful about each image that will have you looking through the pages again and again.

Joey is very disappointed to be getting a used pair of hockey skates rather than new ones. A sensitive salesman tells him that the skates are magic and come with three wishes. Joey carefully uses his three wishes to impress his older brother Zach with his skating and hockey skills. Ultimately he helps Zach's Atom hockey team win the championships. This is a great story for children who often get hand-me-downs. We now have two pairs of "magic hockey skates" at our house!