I found this book to be extremely fascinating and well written. Ed Martin draws you into his personal journey, openly sharing his very human feelings, discoveries and excitement. He writes with a genuine warmth that makes you wish you were traveling along with him, not only to share the experience but to hear him tell you first hand about his life. His travels through Afghanistan and India in search of more information about Jmmanuel's (known to us as Jesus) years spent in India are pure adventure. He intersperses tales of his unusual and touching experiences growing up. Great photos compliment the story and Ed's love of travel and freedom surely make him a King of Kravelers as well.

This was an interesting adventure book, I couldn't put it down, and I highly recommend it. One of my favorite parts of the book deals with the book "The Talmud of Jmmanuel" which I had the opportunity to read a few years ago. If your into real Adventure Stories, UFO's and Jesus's(Jmmanuel) Lost Years, then this book is for you.

From its very first page to its last, this book will hold your attention and be very difficult to put down. Ed Martin tells of his first-hand quest for information about Jesus' "lost" years in India undertaken while he was in the Peace Corps in Afghanistan. His investigations confirm that the traditions are still very much alive that place the young Jesus in India for many years, with his having traveled there and back to Palestine along the Silk Road route. Interspersed with Martin's findings are his own interesting experiences, which include many photographs and scenic views from his mountaineering trips. During this quest Martin learns about the Talmud of Jmmanuel document, which gives the true story behind the ministry and teachings of the man known as Jmmanuel (alias Jesus), and allows us to understand the origins of Christianity. The book contains 8 chapters and 48 photos.

Timmy the Great has been a wonderful book for my daughter to hear before she goes to bed. She loves the fantasy of the little prince who makes every child an adult and every adult a child. Imagination, I believe, is the most precious gift that you can develop in a child. The language in this book is clear and enchanting. This book has a magical yet realistic quality and that is why my daughter loves to live in the Country of Hearts. She even loves the "bad guys", John the Nervous, Marvin the Slowminded, and Andre the Gluttonous. This book will live forever for children of the future. I believe it will be read as long as people read to their children at night.

Each page beckons you into the heart of imagination, compassion and laughter; bridging the young and young-at-heart, like a rainbow. A great book for Grandparents to read to their Grandchildren, or Grandchildren to read to their Grandparents.

King Timmy IS great! It has been a while since I've read a book for children that emphasizes the importance of reality and imagination in such a clever and thoughtful way. In the best sense of the word story, King Timmy teaches a lesson to us all.

Have you ever had a struggle or mental block that simply never went away; one that made you feel self-conscious, ineffective, and utterly inept? Well, for me, that bugaboo has always been ' embarrassingly enough ' addition. Yes, simple addition.
I know, I'm a grown woman. I earned a high school diploma, have had some college, am engaged in a career that requires mathematical computation on a daily basis (thank God for calculators and computers), and am a homeschooling mom (thank God again for textbooks with clear directions and for children who know how to read for and can comprehend what they read).
I have never, ever, been able to add two-digit numbers in my head, and have struggled with even the most basic addition of single digit numbers if the sum is higher than 10 (i.e. 8+6=?), without either using my fingers or having a pencil and paper at the ready. My struggles with math are at the most basic level, too! I can multiply and divide, have a basic understanding of algebra, and love geometry. Adding and subtracting make me feel like an imbecile, though. And it's not for lack of trying, either! I've studied textbooks ranging from preschool to college level, hoping to find a way to overcome this challenge, without success. But now I've found the key!
This book is so fantastic; I can't put it into words. But I'll try: First, the artwork is cute without being too cutesy; perfect for boys or girls. Second, the story is well-written, with engaging dialog (i.e. character voice, mood swings, etc.). The mathematical concepts are subtly interwoven in a 'real life' applicable manner, so they make perfect sense and are easily grasped by young (age 6) and old (age 36 and extremely mathematically-challenged) alike. I can't put it any more plainly than, 'I GET IT! After 36 years, I FINALLY GET IT! And now, my children 'get it' too!'
My 'Math Miracle' Book '. Even my mom thinks it's a miracle that I finally 'get' addition!

The king has struck again. He has created havoc in his kingdom by creating too many commissioners. He has commissioners for foul balls, rainy days,and counting to name a few. The time comes when he must count how many commissioners he has. He calls on his counting commissioners who begin the long task. His daughter the princess helps count as well. Each person counts a different way to please the King but he can only follow the logic of one. That person is....... buy the book! This book is a great read for many ages and can be used in and out of school.

This book is a great book for younger children in first grade. It goes threw the math concept of regrouping. The children love the story line and also the illustrations. It makes a great read aloud in the classroom.

When I first read it, I knew it was not your average Barbie Doll Love Story. Why? Because Gartred, the amazing beauty, was far from beautiful on the inside. And the heroine, Honor, was crippled on her wedding day, just before getting married. She wasn't perfect either, but like she said, she got over her new body, it didn't happen over days, or months, but years. And during that time, the man she loved and was to wed, wed another, for money. She wasn't a saint, she felt jealous and happy that the marriage wasn't well. But it was so real and emotional, and the story was written in first-person giving honest and harsh emotions and understanding to why she loved such a despicable man as Richard Grenvile.

This is a bittersweet love story set against the backdrop of the English civil war... I first read this about 20 years ago. Though I was frustrated with the lack of detail, I was so enthralled by the main characters. I ordered it used from Amazon and re-read it yesterday. I was still enthralled and did not want it to end. I re-read passages from it immediately after I finished!

"The King's General" is a beautiful novel, lovingly written by an author who knows what she's presenting. Set in Cornwall (a trademark of the author), it encompasses the era of the English Civil War by telling the tale through the eyes of Honor Harris, one of fictions's most original heroines.

This book was spring water after all of the low grade vintage purple prose I have read lately. Honor is neither beautiful nor rich, but she has strength, gentleness, practicality and wit, all of which serve her better than beauty or money ever could. Her lover, Sir Richard Grenville, is a handsome and proud man who relies on her love and loyalty to get him through the trying times he faces as the commander of Charles I's forces in the West, hence the title.

What makes this story so juicy is its spareness. The prose is delicious in its lack of details, much the same as Larry McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove" or Jennifer Robeson's "Lady of the Forest" are written. Details are revealed through conversation which might normally be told through description if du Maurier were not so deft with her pen. There is mystery, romance, adventure and comedy within the covers, but it is relayed in such a way as to add to the main story, the sure mark of an author with taste and the ability to draw lifelike characters. And there are such characters to be had: Honor, who is strong and gentle at the same time; Richard, reckless and wild; Gartred, beautiful and calculating; Richard's son Dick, sickly and outcast; and the house of secrets called Menabilly, alone and desolate upon the moor.

I came across this book wholly by chance. It is a 1948 paperback that is falling apart, the pages brittle and dog-eared. It is my sincere hope that I will be able to find the story again in a more durable format, but until such time I shall read this lovely novel until it is completely destroyed.

I highly recommend "Jamaica Inn" and "Frenchman's Creek" as companion novels to this one. Du Maurier's history-based novels have stood the test of time as classics and I am proud to give this one such a high rating.

This is one of the best books about the Northwest. Corr does a great job blending the story of an activist family with the rise of Seattle after World War II. Next to "Skid Road," my favorite on Seattle. Should be a movie. A great female lead character in Dorothy Bullitt.

Corr's book is more valuable than the narrow title suggests. More than a history of a powerful Seattle family and its TV-Radio empire, Corr's larger theme is the post-war growth of Seattle, the price of its progress and the universal tension between idealism and commerce. This story is interesting because Dorothy Bullitt did not set out to make money in the new medium of TV. Rather, she and her son, Stimson, created a new media force that shook up the sleepy newspaper-dominated local media. Well into the 70's KING-TV scooped many big stories. Corr does a masterful job of tracing the early deviations from the "King ideal"--Dorothy's dumping of her son in favor of Ancil Payne, the shift from hard news to TV celebrities, and the ultimate cash out by Payne and Dorothy's daughters. Along the way Corr paints many colorful portraits--the Machiavellian Payne, Dorothy's hopelessly dysfunctional grandchildren, the bright and attractive Jean Enersen--the lone remaining link to the glory days, the irasicble Don McGaffin--a throwback to the hard drinking, hard working, macho muckrakers of the turn of the century, and the glib, shallow Jim Foreman--the self-described "ratings machine" and low water mark for KING's television journalism. There is much to savor in this well written and colorful book. One hopes that Corr will soon devote his considerable talent to a subject with broader appeal.

Corr has done lovers of radio, and television, specifically those of us in the Pacific Northwest a tremendous favor, capturing the drama of the Bullitt family. His writing is lively and the story is compelling in its narritive detail. You'll learn of the struggles, gambles and tremendous paybacks the Bulletts made as they began and grew their broadcasting kingdom. If I had any criticism, it would be that the book is a little short of details concerning KING-AM and KGW-AM's heydays as Top 40 Rock N Roll outlets. The author completely fails to include, KINK-FM, one of the most interesting and hybrid FM radio stations in the country. If you are at all interested in radio, television or Northwest business history, this is definately a book worthy of purchasing.

This book contains a catchy, rhyming poem and colorful full-page illustration for each of the English monarchs. Like the best children's literature, it is as much fun for the adult to read as for the child to hear. And not just for children--I found its jingles helpful in cramming for college English history exams!

Last night on Jeopardy!, someone flubbed a question re the Stuart dynasty. If they had only been exposed to this book, they would have remembered instantly: "James and Charles, Charles and James. They all looked well in picture frames." Another contestant did not know Cromwell's title. Farjeon fans would have recalled: "Lord protect us from Protectors." A unique, valuable, and fun book.

My first introduction to this wonderful book with a poem for each of England's monarchs was as a child in the early 50s. I loved it then (George was the king), and learned all the poems by heart. My children found it just as pleasing, and by the time these American youngsters were six they too could recite a poem for all the English kings and queens. As young adults, they are now arguing who will get to KEEP this much-read and much-loved book. How I wish I could find another copy!

I loved each poem. It has made it easier to remember who did what and remember the order of the English Monarchs. I think every American child should get the opportunity to learn these enchanting poems. As an adult, I enjoy the black and white characature each poem represents. This book is a must for any home that loves England, history and literature.

An ideal and captivating quick history of Britain from Julius Caeser's first expedition in 55 B.C. until Athelstan's consolidation of power in 937. This cutoff point seems to be chosen because that is when historical records become more complete, while Ashe prefers to work in the realm where historical records are sketchy or oblique, and must be pieced together with supporting clues from archaeology and legend to fill in a necessarily incomplete picture. Ashe draws heavily from Geoffrey of Monmouth, Nennius, Gildas, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, Bede, and the more dependable Roman records, though always explicitly critical of his sources and lucid in his analysis of how we can draw the kernel of truth out of embellishments or legends. In some cases, such as the pre-Roman British kings listed by Monmouth, the legends are so lacking in support as to be historically hopeless. But where several perspectives exist, even corrupted accounts like Monmouth can be compared with other records to tease out dividends of clues into the reality. The critical view of the evidence and frank analysis leave a rich and fascinating account of almost a thousand years of Picts, Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, and Danes vying for control of the British Isles. A case in point is King Arthur, so buried in legend while so scarce from reliable historical records that uncovering the true history appears impossible, until Ashe navigates confidently through fact and fiction to lay out the most likely possibilities behind the legend. Ashe describes the roles of diplomacy, war, and religion in the constantly shifting tides of political power, gives brief biographical sketches of countless key players, and demonstrates the difference made by remarkable leaders such as Constantine, Maximus, Maelgwn of Gwynedd, Caewlin of Wessex, Saint Aidan, Aldfrith of Northumbria, Kenneth MacAlpine, and of course Alfred the Great. He gives telling insights into the rise of Christianity in the isles despite the resistance in turn of the Romans, Celts, Anglo-Saxons, and Danes. He also emphasises the point that Britain alone of any region in the Empire was granted independence from Rome before the barbarians arrived, which uniquely poised it to maintain a heightened cultural continuity, to the benefit of succeeding eras. I'd been looking for a good, concise history of pre-Alfred Britain, and this turned out to be just right. A fair, even treatment with a brisk, highly readable style.

This book discusses English history from about 1100 B.C to the reign of Alfred the Great, A.D. 871. Much of our information on this period comes from Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose "history" owed more to imagination and folklore (in particular the Welsh Mabinogian) than to historical scholarship. But from Geoffrey's work come many of the underpinnings of the King Arthur story, and he wrote of kings further immortalized in Shakespeares' plays and Eliot's poetry. Ashe discusses Geoffrey's work, comparing it to historical references. The result is a story viewed through the context of myth as well as history. The two do not always agree, but they complement each other and create a fascinating story with a varied cast: the warrior-queen Boadicea, Constantius, Merlin, Arthur. The brief discussion of Arthur's historical roots will be familiar to those who have read other books by Ashe, but it provides a good introduction for readers new to the subject.

As always, Ashe writes in a clear and accessible style. The book offers a historical perspective to readers interested in Arthurian lore and English literature. It is also likely to appeal to the reader who has an interest in history but not an extensive background.

I picked up this book expecting to find some boring interpretation of early Britain as I thought that all of these types of books would be. But I was really interested in the subject matter-----and this book made me even more interested. I was introduced to stories I'd never heard before and the book was easy to read for me (I'm in high school). I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend this book to anyone interested in early Britain. It offers many different perspectives of the legends while analyzing The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth. "Excellent" isn't even near enough to say!

This is a phenomenal read! Fantastic evocation of Hollywood during the 30s, recapturing the beginning of the "talkies" and three unforgettable gay men: Sunny St. James, the androgynous dance extra who becomes Hollywood's greatest drag queen; his rival, hot, sexy Eddie Bostic, the new "Valentino/Clark Gable" and big, powerful muscle boy, Mack Johnson, who almost makes the movie, Tarzan. This would make fantastic movie. Fury brilliantly works in comedy, tragedy, pathos while putting his characters into our greatest movies: King Kong, Gone With the Wind, Dark Victory, 42nd Street. I laughed hysterically and wept. Unforgettable ending. A must have for any gay reader and for those in love with old movies, old Hollywood, nostalgia. You won't forget our heroes screen testing for Gone With the Wind! A real hoot!

The Kiss of King Kong is an exhilirating trip back to Hollywood in the 30s. It offers a fascinating look at the life of movie extras, while the backdrops are the making of "King Kong", "Gone With the Wind", etc. Three gay men struggle to make it big and only one succeeds. Terrific dish about the scandals and you meet Bette Davis, Crawford, Garbo, GAble, etc. Haunting and poignant ending. This would make a fantastic movie with Tom Cruise or Brendan Frasier portraying bad-good guy, Eddie Bostic; Jude Law doing Sunny St. James and some handsome, incredibly well-built guy who portray the amazing Mack Johnson. Anyone into nostalgia for the 30s, especially the movies, this one is definitely for you.

Wow! this book has got everything--three swinging guys in Hollywood during the 30s, their loves, tragedies, triumphs. Jason Fury has long been a favorite author of mine. In this one, he's greater than ever! The men are gay, so if that alone turns you off, then you might skip it. But for the more broad-minded, this is a trip. You meet Davis and Garbo and Gable and Crawford, terrific dish about who was doing who between takes of Gone With the Wind, King Kong, etc. A must-have for any fan of old Hollywood and for those who enjoy a panaromic look of the film colony. You'll laugh, cry, love it!

This is an excellent Bible with a lot of extras that provide in depth information without just being filler. My only complaint is that there's not more room for notes.

In the short time since my purchase of this Bible, it has become my primary carry and reading Bible.

First, the explanations are quite thorough and researched. The introduction to each book of the Bible is quite useful for setting the stage for understanding the material to follow. Timelines are also included to help place Biblical events in perspective.

The overall quality of construction of this Bible is tip notch. I feel that even with heavy use, this Bible will be around for many years.

I would like to highly recommend this Bible for anyone who is interested in studying God's word. In all my years of Bible study and preaching God's word the Ryrie Study Bible is the best study Bible I have found. I have recommended this Bible to many people and they all have enjoyed it also. It will help you to understand the Bible. It has a very detailed section in the back on Doctrines of the Bible, it also has detailed maps and outlines of the chapters. If you are interested in studying God's word this is the Bible for you.

This book beautifully describes the social fabric of life during the Qing Dynasty. As the author claims, she was privy to previously undisclosed Imperial records and has unearthed new insights into Qing customs.
I was introduced to this book after reading Jonathan Spence's "Treason by the book". Mr Spence, perhaps the foremost sinologist writing in a Western vein, has himself praised this book for its fount of new information on the Qing period.
I couldn't agree more and can also add that it is highly readable.

This is a great book the let people to know that Manchu still exists, because most of people had been unknown about China was named Manchu, it really named Manchu. It shows the social life style of the Manchus, the power of kingdom, which is never going to forget about the wealthy lives in Manchu, what is forbidden city really means. Forbidden City is a heaven, it is the most beautiful place to live in. It is magnificent, no where could compare with Forbidden City. Kingdom life is the best!

China should changed the name back to "Manchu" Qing Dynatsy is great!!!

I had been taught in my high school history that "Manchus conquered China on horseback but eventually they were assimilated by the Chinese, becoming more Chinese than the Chinese". After reading E.Rawski's book, I'm beginning to question what my history teachers taught me.

E.Rawski's concentrated research on the Manchu royal family shows that the Manchus, particularly the elite did not lose their cultural heritage but in fact strove to maintain it.

The book explains how the Manchu royal family differed from the Chinese dynasties in their various aspects of social life. As the book is divided in chapters, it's easy to follow and read.

In my humble opinion, this book is for those who wish to study the Manchu monarchy in more detail.