R.S. Christie exposes a complicated network of interdependencies, relationships and problems in a seemingly narrow area of government. Yet, this work can be used as a model for anyone interested in the old "Where does the money go to?" question in the area of Government Science. Christie's writing is fluent and crystal-clear and she clearly has a good grasp of the inner workings of the Austin government. The US has long been debating issue regarding public spending in the area of Health Care. This work is an example of how some basic problems can be unlocked. I'd call it "A Barefoot Model for Problems in Government Spending". We usually talk of "taxpayers' money" - and this scientific work does an important service to those of us who wonder why red tape does seem to get worse every year. Highly specialized, yes, but recommended without doubt.

This is an amazing cookbook! Something for everyone. Chapters include Toasting and Tasting, An Austin State of Mind and Kid Friendly. Beautiful photographs and thoughtful menus make this an ideal gift. The last chapter includes recipes from famous local chefs. A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++!

This book is great whether you are new to the Austin area or have lived here all of your life. There is information from a list of area parks to schools to where you renew your drivers license. Basic information that we need everyday but often don't know where to find as well as historic information about buildings and parts of town are included. It is great.

If you want to see and read about Austin's history, this is the book for you. The book covers Austin's story from its inception in the late 1830s to the mid-1980s. Overall, I learned how Austin evolved into the city it now is.

Having just read Steven Saylor's "A Twist at the End" and visited the O. Henry Museum, I was most interested in Austin's history during the last two decades of the 19th century. Readers wanting to know more about other parts of the city's history will find that the text and graphical content puts each stage of Austin's development into a useful perspective.

I learned...and thoroughly enjoyed the process.

This map is great! Much better than anything else I have found for Austin. Be sure to buy this if you live in Austin or are traveling there.

The book is an indexed compilation of the newsletters published each February and August by the Austins of America Genealogical Society (AOAGS) during its first ten years. It is the first book in a series of such volumes preserving Austin lines for posterity.

The AOAGS is an organization of people involved in Austin family research, both in the United States, and abroad. One intent of the organization is to publish the valuable research of its members, and to provide a vehicle whereby this research can be organized, indexed and presented to others doing similar research, so that resources can be pooled, and problems shared and solved.

Another objective of the organization is to publish reprints of articles that originally appeared in journals, newspapers, local histories and the like, and which have received only limited circulation. Such reprints, selected whenever the original is of genealogical or historical interest to Austin research, assure that their contents will result in exposure to the greater Austin research community.

The book is handsomely hard-cover bound in a durable red fabric, and imprinted in gold. It contains 354 pages, of which 42 are devoted to an excellent index which separately lists names and places. Articles include family histories, vital records extracts, wills, deeds, miscellaneous records, reviews of applicable published literature, and queries sent in my AOAGS members. Extensive use is made of photography, most of it of older priceless pictures of people and the places in which they lived, which nicely compliment the usual genealogical text.

A major project of the organization is to extract every Austin from the Federal Census of 1850. At the present time, 16 states out of the 32 admitted to the Union prior to the 1850 census have been completed and the results periodically appear throughout the book.

The book has proved invaluable to this reviewer on numerous occasions in my personal Austin research, on some occasions, providing breakthrough information in extending my Austin lines. The human nature of the information contained in the book has also provided a counterpart to the otherwise drab genealogical data: birth, marriage, death, etc. The book is heartily recommended to all Austin researchers, and we look forward to the publication of Volume 2.

Mitchelson's study of the life of Sherlock Holmes is no work of fantasy; based fair and square on the facts, as related by Dr Watson and other Holmes critics and commentators, the result is a cracking good yarn that pulls up the accepted beliefs about Holmes and takes a good look at the roots. Holmes' unhappy childhood, dependence on drugs, and criminal activities are examined in depth, leaving the reader in no doubt that our preconceptions of Holmes, and his portrayal in the media, are very wide of the mark. To read this book is to challenge one's faith in the great detective's ability... but it is an important document, too, since it exonnerates several "crime lords" and "criminal masterminds" of the late Victorian period. I thoroughly recommend this book to any serious Sherlock Holmes fan. Chapter seven, especially, is breathtaking.

Readers in grades 5-7 will find this 'New Perspectives' series addition stands alone as an excellent survey of history surrounding the Berlin Wall in general and Eastern Europe in particular. The Berlin Wall uses different viewpoints to tell of how the wall was built, how it affected the peoples' lives, and how it came down. Politics is clearly explained and explored.

This book is loaded with color pictures of numerous birds from around the world..I found pictures of birds in this book that I couldn't find in my other bird books (I have many). Though it's an older book,it's a useful addition to my bird reference library. Definitely worth buying if you like pictorial bird books.

A. O. Spare is a watcher at the gates, and will cast assprsions at all who grovel. Stand and be Man, or do not.