This five-star debut über-novel, a sequence of short stories, takes the reader across oceans of time to Sydney and the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. Pierce risks sentimentality on his poignant journey - and comes up with something like a prose poem I could not put away until I reached its last intense page. Other readers have praised the novel's plot and characters. I'd like to extol its poweful nostalgia, its longing for what Proust called les temps perdu. The Australia Stories creates an almost mythical aura about its setting and characters; it is exponentially more radiant than any travel guide. The wonder of the author of this book is that, rather than living like an aesthete in a cork-lined room, Pierce has performed an enormous service to all writers by maintaining a stellar Web site about literary agents. He is both at home in the fictive world he creates in The Australia Stories - and alive and well in his generosity and tirelessness as a member of the workaday literary community. Cozy up to Pierce's pocket-sized The Australia Stories and let it take you to a magical Down Under!

"The Australia Stories" is a beautifully written, captivating novel. Pierce's amazingly clean, crisp writing creates wonderful images that transport the reader to the time and place of each story. The stories would appeal to anyone, young, old, male or female. Each individual story is masterfully woven as a part of the larger story, and the end pulls them all together in an unexpected, but perfect, way. I could not put the book down and, when I finished, I wished there was more!

Pierce, whose short stories have appeared in numerous literary journals, shapes his first novel as a series of interlocking stories, each exploring different forms of love and loss, from familial to puppy love to the blood's connection to place. The 30-year-old narrator, Sam Browne, spent a year in Australia as a boy, living with his mother who had left his American father to return to her native land. Here he fell in love for the first time, an experience he deftly describes, remembering how, "I felt older, as though my presence filled more of the world than it had just that morning." From his adult perspective he recalls how it distanced him from his mother, "neither of us understanding we had arrived at a crossroads, a place where our paths would slowly move apart, mine leading more toward school and women, hers bringing her more deeply into the country she again called home."

As Sam enjoys the first pangs of love, his mother turns to the past, attempting to understand her own mother through her unpublished writings, essays on life and nature she wrote in the years she lived alone in Australia's Blue Mountains after leaving her husband, a man who had always yearned for England. It was only after his grandmother's death - a "walkabout" into the mountains from which she never returned - that Sam's mother returns to Australia and assembles her mother's papers for publication, becoming so absorbed and intrigued that she follows - too literally - in her mother's footsteps.

Sam's short marriage disintegrates painfully and inevitably. He too, immerses himself in his grandmother's writings, plumbing his own Australian roots as, more vulnerable, but wiser, he grows into a new love, finds new hope.

Pierce has a lot going on - first love, mature love, the emotional resonance of place in self-identity, the difficulty of knowing those closest to us, particularly family. Sam is an introspective, tentative character who makes more effort than most to understand the people in his life. Pierce's writing is nuanced, reflective and assured, with an atmospheric sense of place. A fine debut.

I would ask that all my supporters make an effort to read my brother James Rayle's book Billy Running Dog.

Billy Running Dog is an authentic and corrosive vision of hell. Alternately funny and tragic, it speaks to and for the forgotten and ignored; the humans that society feels most compfortable consigning to the trash heap. PETER COYOTE, Actor/Author

A powerful portrait of aspects of life that need examining. Highly recommended. VVA Veteran..Marc Leepson.

As others have said this is a great book to have if you are going to take a golfing vacation to Scotland. Mr. Finegan provides wonderful information about many diferent course. I enjoyed reading it before I went and even more after I returned and played a number of the courses. Would love to return some day to play the ones we missed!!!

Blasted Heaths is a true gem of a book. James Finegan literally knows the country - its golf, its people, its nature - like the back of his hand. You get expert, finely crafted, hole-by-hole reviews of over sixty courses. As a added bonus, there are restaurant reviews and lodging suggestions.

The book is divided into geographical regions and is helpful in helping you lay out your agenda. Sure, you know to play St. Andrews, Troon and Turnberry, but the book helps you go beyond the usual brand names.

An example of how 'Blasted Heaths' can pay off: Gleneagles is quite the amazing golfing experience, but perhaps a bit too steep in the wallet for this 20+ handicapper. Finegan points out a course right next door (Auchterarder G. C.) that, while certainly not in Gleneagles class, has a 'handful of first-rate holes' at about one-third the cost. A great recommendation! Not the holy, near-religious experience Finergan associates with Royal Dornoch, Cruden Bay, and Machrihanish and others, but it shows that the book can be used for all levels (skill and monetary) of golf.

My one recommendation (seconded by Finergan) is that you spend a couple of days in St. Andrews and soak up the environment. There's enough golf to keep you there for 3+ days, and the town itself has a real university feel and exudes charm and history. I suggest staying out of the hotels and setting up in one the many cozy guest houses a block or two from The Old Course. My wife and I stayed at the Craigmore House (ph: 334-472-142). You'll need a reservation, but it's well worth your planning ahead.

A friend gave me this book as a gift just before my first golf trip to Scotland. I played 10 of the 40 courses he reviewed. I read the entire book before the trip but enjoyed it much more after having played the courses. Many great tips in the book, as well. For example, we stayed in a Bed and Breakfast in Gullane and the author mentioned a restaurant there which he considered the best in Scotland. He is correct and we would have missed this wonderful experience without his book. His descriptions of many of the golf holes on the courses he covered were just great. For the golfer who enjoys the British Open and the Ryder Cup, this book will be delicious.

"Blue Fire" is an anthology of selections from James A. Hillman's major works, including "Insearch: Psychology and Religion," "Suicide and the Soul," "Healing Fiction," and others, including journal and magazine articles in such diverse publications as "Spring," "Utne Reader," "Institute Newsletter," and "Loose Ends: Primary Papers in Archetypal Psychology." This should not scare you away. On the contrary, the reader will find that "Blue Fire" is quite readable and understandable. The selections in this book challenge you to think. Thomas More (editor) did an excellent job in assembling and introducing the selections in the book, tying them together so that they show a logical continuity of thought. If you read "Psychology Today," you should have no trouble with this book. You will find it delightful. If you have a deeper interest in 'depth psychology,' Jungian Psychology, or archetypal psychology, you will find this an excellent read.

Hillman's approach to psychology is one of addressing the individual as an individual within a society, paying strict attention to the needs of that individual and his/her soul. Psychology is not treating mental disorders and symptoms of such disorders, it is caring for the soul. Much of what can be accomplished is a transformation of the soul symbolically through the use of imagination, poetry, symbolism, and metaphor. "Blue Fire" was an epiphany for me. It caused me to look at many things from a different prospective. I found a new appreciation for spirituality and soulfulness, as well as the need to accept others and myself.

This book can be consumed as a full course meal. For example, read a chapter like "The Salt of Soul, the Sulfur of Spirit," and there is enough material to feel full for several hours as you digest the many metaphors, and delicious word play. For a snack, Hillman provides "Recipes", little snippets to be consumed in the morning or before going to bed.If consumed before bed, one's dreams may be seeded by an ever-expanding Hillman metaphor. Bon Appetit.

i

This book is soulful dynamite, appearing intellectual, but don't be fooled; read it with an open heart, and if you are into meditation, you will find much to meditate on here, e.g., "The Psyche historicizes to make it look real." Don't just think about it, meditate on it, and perhaps you, too, will pierce the veil of Illusion (Maya). I can at least hope that for you :)

I own a slimline Bible, which I thought was a great size and for the most part it is perfect. After a mission trip where we did alot of street witnessing and I carried my slimline all day long along with tracts and more in a back pack, I realized I wanted to have tracks and Bible in my pockets, rather than in a backpack. This Bible is perfect for that. This version has a zipper, rather than a snap, which I think is ideal. It is the size of a deck of cards and thanks to the zipper, the pages don't get ruined, nor does the snap closure make it fatter. The letters are small, but it is impossible to expect the letters to be normal size, and for good eyesight, this is not an issue.

If you order by ISBN# 0-529-06059-0, then you will receive a burgundy, King James Version, genuine leather tiny Pocket Bible with a snap flap! I love mine! It has gold accents and is so tiny, it fits neatly in my pocket and purse. It has small print, but if you have 20/20 vision, you should be able to read it just fine. I looked in many places, and you cannot get a better price anywhere other than Amazon.com.

The poetic beauty of the King James Version and timeless grace of the Biblical text are combined in this unique miniature version that can be carried easily wherever one goes, in pocket or purse. It enables the reader to "be ready in season and out" with the scriptures, which are able to make one "wise unto salvation through faith in Jesus Christ" 2 Timothy 3:15. No time need be wasted, whether waiting in line or parking lot, when you have the immortal Word of God close at hand!

I am a Longaberger consultant and have every Bentley's Guide ever published, including an autographed first copy. It is a great help in promoting the value of our products (the fact that they appreciate, not depreciate)! It has been of great help in increasing insurance coverage, not only for myself, but also for customers. I had one customer who lost items in a fire; we used the guide for the replacement value for the insurance company. I now have customers who purchase their own Guide.

This was a great book. I wish that I had the book earlier, when I first started collecting Longaberger Baskets. This is a very good reference book I will use for years to come.

This is the book to use to evaluate your Longaberger collection or to help evaluate a basket before you buy. A must for any collector that trades on the secondary market! The book is divided into sections by basket type and includes an index for quick referencing. Take it along to the next basket auction you attend!

Memoirs can be thoroughly boring if not done particularly well. Fortunately this one is well-written indeed. The first half of it deals with the author's coming of age as an academic and transition into a food writer. The second half of the book mainly consists of accounts of famous chefs and famous diners whose lives have intersected with his.

Villas is a outspoken (and perceptive) critic of nouvelle cuisine, fusion and all of the unfortunate food-foolishness of the past couple of decades. He savages some big-time chefs like Wolfgang Puck and is simply dismissive of many more famous names.

The author is also a creature from another time, say the 1930s, and is a terrible(wonderful?) snob. More than anything he reminds me of Lucius Beebe, a mid-century American bon vivant who managed to live a gilded life and then write about it.

The book misses occasionally when Villas gets a little too bitchy, but perhaps these slight lapses are as revealing as the more elegant parts. An interesting and somewhat disturbing revelation is just how many food writers live lonely and seemingly desperate lives. Perhaps only the ones in New York are this way.

James Villas has capped a brilliant career with this enthralling and entertaining biographical and gourmand journey. It is mouth-watering reading, in more ways than one. Villas is amoung two or three "foodies" who can write. I think of M.F.K Fisher and another North Carolinian like Villas, Jean Anderson (no relative).

For anyone who likes to eat and read, this book is for you. A very interesting tale, well written, and one that keeps your intention. I highly recommend it, and think it makes a terrific mother's day gift.

I've been hooked! This book is definitely one good read- page after page this is one of the most entertaining books i've read.

192 pages is just not enough- this volume is an informative and entertaining compendium of mankind's best (or worst- depending on the reader) pastimes.

This volume contains everything you want to know about sex, drugs, booze, and everything in between.

This book is definitely worth your $13.50

One more excellent entry from Paradox Press! Here, you learn about all the good/bad things of life. Learn the pros and cons of all vices. If you're hooked on Big Books, it's an obvious must-have!

As a lover of bizzare facts, I felt that I hit the mother-load. The Big Book of Vice is an incredible well of information, with great a bibliography that serves as a roadmap for the dedicated kookologist. For anyone else, it is an extremely entertaining, fun and easy to read book, as are all the "Big Books" Paradox press puts out. The art is wonderful, and the short, comic style is the perfect addition to your bathroom reading list. Highly recommended!

Though the title implies that this is the story of a single bomber crew over Germany in 1943, "Bomber" goes farther - much farther, only starting with the crew of the heavy bomber "Joe for King". Deighton proceeds to cover the families of the crew, other crew members and their superiors before cutting across the channel to the enemy - night-fighter pilots, their controllers in German air defense, various suspicious characters from across the spectrum of Germany's military - from "respectable" Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht personnel to shadowy types from the "Abwehr" and the SS. We also meet the civilian residents of Altgarten, a Ruhr-area town nobody would think of bombing, but which manages to get plastered all the same. It's mid-summer 1943, when "Joe for King" is sent into the Ruhr as part of a massive night-time raid against the industrial centers of Krefeld. Lacking night-vision goggles, RAF pilots drop their bombs on targets marked by flares left by directing aircraft - in this case, specially equipped Mosquitoe night-fighters. When the marking aircraft for the Krefeld raid is shot down too early, its flares are released over Altgarten. This error is compounded by inherent flaws in RAF tactics (like targeting bombs in the center of cities, where bombs are more likely to hit civilian homes than factories and military installations), and the town becomes the unintended target for the massive strike. "Bomber" is to RAF's wartime bomber command what "Traffic" is to the DEA - a story of massive scale borne by wide cast if characters that never stops growing. Deighton doesn't let something meaningless as nationality get in the way of determining who is good or evil (the Germans get the bombs here, but Nazi genocide also gets prominent mention, with plenty of nasty Waffen SS to remind us why people were fighting). On the British side, we see officers acting less like gentlemen than soldiers. Political correctness is the rule (this is the country that gave us "1984"; "Joe for King"'s commander is suspected of incipient Bolshevism - it's very name hints at Stalin). Those who won't fall in line risk being labeled as LMF (Lacking Moral Fiber) - officially branded as cowards. Though books with such a command of detail normally favor the efforts of those they depict, Deighton is uniformly negative on the subject, a tone reinforced by his many subplots. Lambert, "Joe for King's" rebel pilot, plays the best cricket in Bomber Command - leading his odious superior to compel his participation in an upcoming tournament on pain of getting LMF'd. (Worse - the commander puts pressure on Mrs. Lambert after her husband has departed for the big raid). The bombers fly from Warley Fen, a once verdant field seized from its original owners who now stare at the airfield, mourning for what they know they will never have again. In Germany, ADF is managed by August Bach, an aged warrior preparing to marry his young son's nanny, not knowing how her youthful looks have made her the target of vicious rumors through Altgarten. The pilots of a night-fighter squadron (nichtjagdeschwader), preparing for a feared RAF attack on the Ruhr, are thrown into turmoil when Abwehr and Gestapo appear in search of a stolen classifed memo. The memo, it turns out, details hypothermia experiments on concentration camp prisoners (this may be same memo mentioned early in Robert Harriss' superb "Fatherland"). The corrupt assistant to Altgarten's Burgomeister arranges for the downgrading of the town's remaining Jews (from 1/3rd to 2/3rd "Jewishness" - though these jews are even more likely to face deportation and certain death, they will have greater freedom to marry other jews). Altgarten itself is flooded with profiteers funneling goods looted from conquered parts of Russia and the Netherlands. It seems that war is the only thing keeping the world safe because it occupies all the amoral typed who have to fight it. The only morally just adults are the TENO - the civil safety personnel who dig people out of bombed buildings. Because they are stationed in Altgarten, they get the biggest break: when the raid comes, they have the shortest commute. With so much going on, you just know you're bound to miss something. This is the sort of book that speed-readers hate. You'll probably lose count of all the characters that Deighton throws at you, though this doesn't hurt the plot as much as make the book one you'll want to re-read. Be warned - once you pick up bomber, you'll probably be spoiled for any other novel on the war in the skies over Europe.

The best fictional account of the "Other Side's" (German) view of being the "attacked". Mr. Deighton obviously has done his homework in showing how one massive,confused attack on a German town in the Summer of 1943 devastates everyone involved from the British RAF planners and pilots, politicians, and even more the German civilian home front, not to mention just about everyone else on the German side,from the SS,Luftwaffe, to the totally innocent on the ground. When the air raid alarms go off in the ficticious German town to the inevitable,terrifying end, mistakes and all, you know you're reading from a master. The ending is as terrible as you can imagine...

In this meticulously researched and finely-wrought novel, author Len Deighton interweaves the stories of a large cast of characters, German and British, in the hours leading up to a night bomber attack on a fictional Germany city. Due to crew error, a small German town is accidentally bombed by part of the bomber force. The story revolves around the men who fly the heavy British bombers, the men on the ground in Germany who must deal with the carnage of the bombs, and the German airmen and radar men who try to stop the bombers short of their tragic attack. Deighton writes that he read over 200 books to prepare for this novel. He also interviewed many British and German veterans and civilians and flew in most of the planes described in the book. The result is a book that favors neither side but instead focuses on the individual humanity of the characters, with all their strengths and weaknesses. Thousands upon thousands of warriors and civilians on both sides died horrible deaths and in a war that was, without a doubt, hell on earth. Though there is no glory in war, the book is filled with individual acts of selflessness and heroism that elevate the participants above the slaughter. Their heroism is not without great price, though, from the fireman battling the blazes to the British pilot who fights to bring his plane home only to suffer a breakdown, and the German pilot who is being hunted down for disagreeing with Nazi policy. I highly recommend this book. It is a must-read especially for those who desire to learn more about the air war over Germany.

I purchased James Murphy's book in 2000, we just completed our financials and I am pleased to report that we doubled our revenues. We contribute this increase to a single statement we found in the book, Business is Combat. "All of our resources in the Air Force are alligned like a shaft of a spear, pushing the "pointy end forward". We did that in our business and the results were dramatic. We have become great planners, we execute efficently and we now debrief, all of this we learned from Mr. Murphy's book. I keep it on my desk and refer to it often because it makes us money.

Many business books are long on theory, but short on providing any insight about actually executing. And face it, theories come and go, but getting things done is never out of style.

James Murphy has written a book about getting things done. His style is informal and accessible ... he writes as if he's sitting across the table talking to you. And he remains focused on his message: the planning, execution and debriefing required to build a successful business or organization.

Getting into this book requires the reader to accept that the skills taught to fighter pilots apply to business. The amazing thing is that they actually do. I've not received this training, but I have been in business for a long time. And the information imparted in this book can help anyone run a business better. From handling 'task saturation' to staying focused, this book provides useful insights in an entertaining way.

If you're looking for a book on the latest theory on business, skip "Business is Combat." If you want to pick up some ideas you can start using immediately to get things done, I highly recommend it.

Jim Murphy's book is dead on. As an entrepreneur, one can tend to overlook planning on a day to day scale... this book brings the necessity of a plan back to the center of your business. The best thing you can do for your business or life... finally something that you can read and then put into action RIGHT AWAY. Just what I needed.