Like Shadow of the Wind (good) with chuckles (bad)
	I'm at page 116 right now.  The writing is lovely, the specifics dense, and the sense of place rich.  If the author tries to create suspense one more time by having the father say, "I just can't go on with this story!" I'm going to throw the book at the wall.  Also, so many embarrassing little holes.  If I were a librarian I would say, "So Dracula's checked out.  Go to a bookstore.  Every bookstore in the country has a copy."  And if I were the cat, I would know I was a goner the second I appeared as indeed he does within a paragraph(you need to plant the gun in an early scene if you're going to fire it).  Lastly, it seems like Dracula would be so much more efficient if he just killed the main characters rather than killing everyone around them.  Unless "Dracula" is related to our heroine--that would be good.  Will read a bit more. . .


Confusing but better than nothing
	Overall I found this guide pretty confusing, but I guess it is better than nothing.  There are better choices, and some may want to consider auto-formatting software such as Eazypaper and others.


MEDIOCRE
	I read this book, it was okay but the story flashed back to much, and I couldn't folow all of it but I read all of it anyway. I wouldn't recommend it. TOO SLOW MOVING, and BORING because of the flashbacks. The movie was the same way


Another Awful Book
	Let me start by saying that I would have given this book zero stars if I could.  The reviews I've read are all true.  This book is boring, extremely repetitive and a waste of time.  The only reason I finished it was because I paid for it.

I truly believe that Danielle Steel has lost her gift of writing.  She has not published a good book in a long time.  I also think that she's lost her editor, because to me, a good editor wouldn't let books like this be printed.

This story pretty much follows stories she's done before except it's told from the guy's point of view.  There's the rich guy, Charlie, who can't seem to find the "perfect" girl to marry.  He finds a flaw with every one he dates.  He lost his parents at a young age, his sister left school to raise him, and just before he graduated college, she died of a brain tumor.  So of course he's afraid that anyone he gets close to will die or leave him.

Then there's rich Adam, whose wife left him and took their two children with her.  It was a bitter divorce, so he has no desire to ever marry again.  He dates girls half his age and never stays with one long.  His parents blame him for the divorce.  Every time he visits them, his mother let's him know what a huge disappointment he is to the family.

The last of the trio is Gary, a struggling artist.  He has no desire to ever marry or date.

The three men spend the month of August each year on Charlie's yacht, partying and going on and on about how they don't want commitments.  Well of course, each one meets someone, they start to date, they argue, they break up, they have their epiphany and everyone lives happily ever after.  Same old story.

Danielle Steel should stop writing.  You can't tell me she doesn't have enough money to live on.  I for one will not read any more of her books, even a paperback, and I won't even bother renting them from the library.  I won't waste my time having to check the book out and worrying about getting it back on time.  There are better authors available and I'm going to read them


The Gothic aspects did not work for me.
	This is the second Nevada Barr that I have read. I picked it up on the strength of Deep South, which I thought was really terrific. It was frustrating that nearly all of what I liked about Deep South was missing from Flashback.

Flashback is structured with interwoven narratives which involve both the real-life murder and a civil war mystery related to Anna Pigeon's own family. The civil war story (told through letters and dream-like sequences) is clearly intended to add a note of gothic mystery to the story. Some may like the flavor that this element provides, but for me it dilutes the elements of the writing that I most enjoy. I really liked the crisp realism of Deep South, and felt that the style put it a cut above most books in the genre. Flashback, on the other hand, felt painfully contrived. The plot line with the letters was extremely unrealistic and (to my mind) unnecessary.

If you like historical mysteries with a gothic flavor more than you like realism in a detective novel, then you will probably be significantly less bothered than I was by Flashback. Barr at least made a clear choice with her approach to the book. Judging from the reviews, not everyone had a negative reaction to the interwoven plot lines.

I will go ahead and pick up a third Barr book, because I did like Deep South so much. It was disappointing to have not had my high hopes realized with my second outing, but hope that it can be redeemed with a third.


where is the quality control
	design of book is very poor--pictures totally unclear and print is crowded making it impossible to focus on the story.  The translations are not bad but there is no effort to organize the material and put it in contex


Basic Stuff
	I was not impressed with this book.  It is just basic stuff.  I would have expected a more sophisticated analyis of financials from this publisher


disappointed
	I expected information about design, but this is just a self serving "I am good at what I do" book. I am sure he is good but there is little or no information about how to actually desigh furniture. No proportions, no instruction except make your mistakes on paper by sketching first. A waste of good money.


Astoundingly Poor
	If an author sets out to write a collection of short stories about adultery, you'd think they'd have a lo say about it, right? Well, Ford certainly expends plenty of words, but the net impact of them is next to nothing by the end of this incredibly feeble navel-gazing group of stories. Mind-numbingly similar in tone and temperament, the ten stories center of upper and upper-middle class white, middle-aged, married professionals who seem to have drifted into infidelity. Story after story plods cautiously along, poking at the consequences of adultery in a very mild way, with leaden dialogue and a lot of empty moodiness. Adultery is treated almost as a kind of bland rite-of-passage for a disconnected male. Marital infidelity can happen in so many ways for so many reasons, and yet Ford seems interested in only a very limited field of it. I have no idea what his personal background or situation is, but it's a collection you read and leave wishing the author had worked out their issues in therapy or something. If he wasn't such a literary bigshot, there's no way this would have been published-it strikes the same note over and over and over, and isn't provocative, insightful, or even interesting. PS. If you were planning on the audio version, don't. Ford is a terrible reader, sounding like someone reading the telephone book aloud as punishment


A Terrifying True Story...A Completely Mediocre Read
	If HZ's sensationalist title gives you pause, you're on to something.  The "story" Preston narrates is, indeed, terrifying.  It is a story about disease, politics, epidemiology, history, geography...  So much could have been made of this story (and so much has been, by far more capable writers).  Preston, it seems, is only capable of going for the jugular.  HZ shows no evidence of research (it lacks even a trace of a bibliography), and attests little more than a rudimentary grasp, on the part of its author, of the history, epidemiology, or politics of Ebola (no more than one might glean from any half decent article on the topic).  From its opening page stroll through the air-lock doors of a bio-containment research lab, to its closing page 'death-defying' romp through Kitum Cave (how very brave of you, RP!), HZ is in full pandering-for-the-cameras mode.  If this book was not a thinly veiled Hollywood screenplay, I'll eat my proverbial hat.  Even this might have been tolerable were Preston a remotely thoughtful observer or a marginally adept writer.  HZ is all cliches and lazy reporting.  It is an embarassment


Very Disappointing ... There're better books out there for Co-dependency
	Most of the information is very "theoritical" and "limited" -- author focus mainly on her own analysis of her mother and her relationship with her.  ...  In a nutshell, the message is that a dysfunctional mother'll pass her emotioanal issues to her daughter(s), and in turn, the daughter(s) may pass that onto her offspring(s).  ...


How to Ignore Genocide
	The official censes of the Ottoman Empire in the early 1900s showed well over five million Christians living in the provinces of what are now modern Turkey.  Western specialists who helped the Turks conduct their censes stated that the Turks purposely undercounted the Christians and overcounted the Turks.  So, there were many more than just five million Christians.  There are now approximately only a hundred thousand Christians in Modern Turkey.  The question that the author pointedly neglects to address is what happened to the difference between over five million in the early 1900s and only a hundred thousand people today.  We know that over a million surviving Greeks were expelled in the exhange of populations between Greece and Turkey in 1923.  Again, what happened to the huge difference of 4-5 million people?  To the 1.5 million massacred Armenians, must be added three quarters to a million Assyriac Christians (Aramaic-speaking Arab Christians) and as many as two million Greeks (almost 30 percent of the Greek people).  The author does not touch on the large numbers of Christians who were enslaved by Turks or forced to convert to Islam to avoid massacre which explains the large number Greek-speaking "Turks" around Trebizon on the Black Sea.

It is not as if there is not vast contemporary accounts of neutral and Western observers of this enormous genocide and ethnic cleansing of the original, pre-Turkish populations of Anatolia.  I can only conclude that the author had such an inborn bias in favor of Turkey as to ignore a slaugher that approaches the Jewish holocaust of WWII.  Avoiding this subject amounts to holocaust denial.

The Christian genocide was the first great genocide of the 20th century and Hitler's model for the Jewish genocide. The massacre of the Greek and Armenian population of Smyrna (now Izmir) ranks with the Rape of Nanking in sheer horror and scale, but the author skips over it in a rush to avoid any detail of the crime or assign any blame except to the Greeks and Armenians by repeating the discredited canard that they set fire to their own city.

The author's treatment of the Christian genocide reminds me of the comments to me of a Turkish officer at a NATO conference which were to the effect that there had been no Armenian genocide (the Turkish Government official line) but, in any case, that they had deserved it.  The author seems to have taken her treatment of the subject from the Turkish Government as well


The title of the book tells all.
	Pick up any dictatorial king from the past world and read any writing about him by one of his blind followers, whose very existence and relevance is due to that king. What you will get from that kind of writing? Noonan was a speechwriter Reagan administration. Sound familiar? Noonan does not get how ordinary citizens used to live under the rule of kings and how they felt about kings. Probably she does not care. Americans are lucky that they never had any king. Noonan fails to provide any inside information how Reagan dealt with many difficult things of his presidency - AIDS, Iran-Contra, welfare, deficits, funding mujahideens, cozy relationship with Saddam. Instead she tried to portray his 8 years like a Disney feelgood fairytale - good ruler, happy citizens..."happily lived ever after". Basically, this book contains just glorification of a person who is viewed as king by the writer.  Her admiration took away her basic ability of criticism and desire to provide any information that readers don't know already. This is a writing isolated from the reality of 80's (which is nothing new in human civilizations). Secondly, she fails to understand that Reagan was just an elected politician and many have contributions on whatever achieved in his 8 years of presidency - including average hard-working Americans. But she gives ALL the credits to Reagan, except all the negative things, like Iran-Contra. In the world of democracy this book deserved to be in trash - a perfect place for the kings, characters of kings and the writings about them


Extremely Disappointed, couldn't even finish it.
	My grandmother and my mother have read Danielle Steele for years, but I must admit I'd never picked one up. I was always more for historical romances. But I wanted something different, had heard good things about her, so while at the library, decided to give her a try. I have to say I'm extremely disappointed. Granted, I'm a fellow writer (a very picky reader by nature), and an unpublished one to boot, but the writing could've been better in my opinion. The first five pages are all backstory of Paris's marriage (no action, no excitement, told very "history lesson-ish") and what could have been an extremely powerful scene between Paris and her husband (the inciting incident in the first chapter) left me wondering, "So what?". Twenty five pages in, I could care less about these people. I honestly expected more from a bestselling author.


why is it dragging on and on and on?
	i wonder if im reading the same book the others are reading. i'm on page 101 right now and it took me about 4 days to get this far. (i've gone through 3 clique books in a day, so it's not like i'm a slow reader) the book is just so boring. its like ive read all of this cr@p before! so far sam had a graduation party at her dad's yacht, we hear about 2 new characters from a rival school who happen to be enemies of sam and her group and conveniently enough the two schools do something together, i forget what but it looks like it will be the opportunity for sam to get her revenge for getting poop smeared on her white jeans a few years back (eye-roll). anna is incapable of taking care of herself at a time of crisis (her car gets rear ended by some cliche white trash woman) so her dad's 'dont judge a book by the cover cliche' tatooed but hot new intern comes to rescue her, omg romance! (another eye roll) ben is being a troll my guess is hes cheating on her, but seriously reading that chapter where they go on this really uncomfortable date just made me want to scream at the book! it was so annoying.

the only thing keeping me reading right now is the cammie storyline, i want her to confront her dad and find out what happened to her mom.

right now im giving the book 2 stars, after i finish the book (if i ever do) ill come back and edit this. if anyone wants to take me out of my misery and tell me what happened to cammies mom, be my guest! lol

***EDIT*** it got a lot better after page 101, the Sam plot got developed (a bit overdone, tacky and stalkerish, i mean a life size cut out? a 100 cell phones? come on, what a waste of money. she could have donated all that $$$ to some charity in peru and impressed her guy a lot more. the cammie story is getting juicier, and parker may have a bona fide crush on sam. i still think ben is a creep. well i guess i wont spoiler everything lol. i'm still not done yet. ill continue this after i finish.

***FINAL EDIT*** after a good middle, the book took a nosedive.  the story of cammie's mother was horribly disappointing. i officially HATE ben now and im getting more and more sick of anna for even being into him. what kind of guy tries to make a girl feel weird and uptight for thinking that sex between two people should be special??? that just really turned me off. the girl who wins a contest by wearing nothing but body paint to the party?? okay, this is a book that 12 year olds read, did we seriously need to hear that? the best way to get liked is to get naked?

sigh... the two stars rating stands. sorry


Disappointing
	After having read and loved Howard Pyle's 1968 Classic Press
edition of "The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood" I was quite
disappointed with "The Story of King Arthur and His Knights".
Whereas Pyle brilliantly brought his characters to life in "Robin
Hood", the characters of "King Arthur" seem flat and lifeless
by comparison.  The King Arthur stories read like little more
than a description of events; one doesn't really get a feeling
of being there while things are happening as in "Robin Hood."
The dialogue seems much more realistic in "Robin Hood", but I
think there's more to it.  The writing style in "King Arthur"
I'd characterize as prosaic---in sharp contrast to the charming, poetic style of writing in "Robin Hood."


boring
	so very boring... i gave up halfway in. i usually hate to leave books unfinished but i felt like it was a waste of my time. my sister liked it though.


Give it a rest Alan!
	As I've said before NATIONAL HYPNOSIS!!! Liberals want to dupe the masses into believing that modern Conservatism and Lberalism are different ideologies (they both come from Hegel and Machiavelli the philosophies that gave birth to Communism and Facism).


PollyAnnaEducation
	Mr Wong is making a good living selling his book and working the lecture circut.  Some good ideas but a lot of impractical stuff included.  The reality of the classroom and the ineffectiveness of school administration make working under such ideal circumstances unrealistic.  Work in 5 classes of 40-50 kids each day who can't read (many are moved up so they can be with their friends) and such touchy feely programs quickly fall aside.


revised review
	These are revised remarks since my comments about "Prediabetes" and "Stop Diabetes" being the same book.  I got them both and felt somewhat duped.

Gretchen did contact me to explain the Prediabetes is a second edition of Stop Diabetes.  I wish it said that on the cover.

The book(s) info about stopping the progression of diabetes is great, so I do recommend either of these books.  It is well written in a style that's easy to understand.  Just don't get both books; they're essentially identical


I read this book why?
	I have to admit that my wife read this book first and said it was slow.  She didn't say how slow though.  But rather than take her word for it (why should I?  After all, she's my wife) I bothered to pick it up and read it.  How I wish I had listened to her and left it in the box of stuff for the rummage sale.  I cannot stand Baldacci's juvenile charactor dialog, but finish it I did though most of it I could have read through closed eyes and not missed anything.  I'll stick with my Nelson DeMille from here on if I want literary junk food


A Profusion of Details: Lacking Significance
	This book is so densely packed with miniscule details and examples that the information's significance becomes blurred, if not obsolete.  The authors show they are very knowledgable on the subject, but they fail to analyze the information they present.  The reader is left to interpret the meaning of details and ponder why they are included.  The authors also use repetitive examples that become tiring and ineffective.  The only minutely important information is presented in the topic sentences of each paragraph, and the book can be reasonably well understood just by reading the introductory sentences.  While this book could be a treasure house for someone researching the relationship between manors and their respective villages, the average reader's attention is never captured.  Students, beware!  Before embarking on an excruciatingly dull explaination of medieval village life, reconsider your other options of reading material. (One option is another book by these authors that has gotten better reveiws.


101 Ways to Massively Increase the Value of Your Real Estate without Spending Much Money
	Attention: Seasoned RealEstate investers don't waste your time purchasing this book. Ideal for amatuer investors who want to add more value to their piece of real estate.


Snore is Right
	I found this book to be a vaguely interesting dissertation on what the SHAM (Self-Help Actualization Motivational) Movement is, and maybe even on why it is, but no help whatsoever in giving me any tools for argument against it.  I thought, sucked in by the interesting cover suggesting brain-washing in such a humorous way, that the author might have a sense of humor herself and I'd find her book absorbing intellectually and on other levels as well.

I would read a page or a paragraph or two, close the book, and nod off.

This is such a fascinating area, it could be the basis for a really fascinating book, but "Self-Help, Inc..." left me feeling I needed to go to a self-help group to deal with the density of the verbage.  It would not appeal most to the people most in need of reading it  -  the victims of SHAM


Don't support this writer by buying this piece of trash
	A friend recommended this book which I unfortunately bought.  I feel sorry for people who think that this is "writing."  The author not only contradicts herself but the writing is shallow and lacks any depth.  If you want to feel good, buy yourself a bottle of wine, not this book


Willy Loman This Guy Ain'y
	This play explores the same old turf as "Death of a Salesman", but it does so with much less satisfaction and much less character development.  Eddie is no Willy Loman, though, and the play suffers immediately from a lack of a central, driving force like Willy.  Parts of the play seem borrowed from Tennessee Williams, and they don't seem to work in this context.  There is some business about the romance of the Old World Italy versus the New World of Opportunity on the docks of New York, and it is the only topic that is at all explored well, if still unsatisfactorily.  Eddie's dreams are represented in his pretty niece, Catherine; and unlike Willy Loman's uncle, she is still an attainable dream. That makes Eddie's life seem all the more petty, in comparison to Willy's: he longs wearily not after what he could have had, but after what he can never have, as he is already married.  The death scene at the end of the play also seems like a forced, tacked on ending, and Alfieri's entire presence is a more or less unsuccessful stage gimmick.  There are better plays by Miller, and many better plays by others


White Males Only
	Before purchasing Made in Detroit I read the reader reviews.  The reviews were so mixed that I decided against buying the book and checked it out of the library instead.  As it turns out I made the best decision.  All I can say is `thank you fellow reviewers'; this book was definitely not worth the purchase price.  My statement has nothing to do with the author's writing skills, he is a skilled writer.  It has everything to do with his lack of insight.  That Paul Clemens could live in a city and have such a skewed view of it is downright scary.  I read the book, waiting for Paul to have a revelation that would help him put the pieces of his life together and make peace with them.  But after 241 pages he was no more enlightened than he was on page one.  Blacks are caricatures whose sole role in life is to make Paul's life hard.  Women are peripheral characters who are barely given a voice.  He finds a way to put down and demean everyone who is not a white male in his book.

If you are a white male who harbors secret racist feelings you will enjoy this book and it will validate your feelings.  If you are anyone else your reaction will no doubt range from mild boredom to outrage.  As I read this book I felt sadness, a profound sense of dismay and had some of my worse fears confirmed.  (There are white folks who actually still think like this.)  My hope is that the light comes on for Paul, he is still young.  If it does maybe he will share his insights with us.


I guess that were the adventure end for me.
	After reading the first book *(which was catastropha) and reading the second which was really good, I thought that the series is taking off, I was mistaken, the third book is slow, and boring, you can see very well that Stephan king has no Idea what so ever where he is going to take that series

Nothing much is happening, and while the second book introduce some interesting ideas, the third book just go to the ordinary adventure that you can find (And better written as well) in dragon lance series, or other adventure books, also many ideas that were in this book already appear in many king books,

reading reviews of manuy users on the fourth book, which some say is very boring
I guess this is where the adventure end for me..


One-sided and angry...
	This book reads like the blog of some angry person who ignores evidence to the contrary and embraces anything that agrees with him.  It was very hard to take seriously


Worse than painful!!
	I've enjoyed Johansen's books for years, but this one was awful...I'm beginning to wonder if she's using a ghost writer.  Totally ridiculous plot, trite dialogue...I lost count of the times she used the phrase "Sophie said through her teeth..."  I was beginning to wish someone was PULLING my teeth rather than having to read this book.  Johansen is capable of SO MUCH BETTER than this!  I'm praying she isn't falling into the Nora Roberts/Danielle Steel/James Patterson habit of churning out the same old tired fodder just to meet a publisher's deadline


One of Koontz's Worst
	This is truly a disappointing book.  It starts incredibly slowly and I found it very hard to become interested in the plot.  Another disappointment is Koontz's recycling of elements from other novels: (1) plucky, highly intelligent disabled girl (the young female protagonist in "The Hideaway" had almost identical deformities and personality), (2) devoted, super-powered canine companions, (3) bad guys driving around in ultra pimped-out RVs, and (4) evil bioethicists.

The Leilani character is patently ridiculous.  She conveniently has a genius IQ, but that does not make the absurdly adult manner in which she speaks any more believable.  I found it so disconcerting as to detract from the plot.  Koontz clearly has trouble writing for children, and this book is no exception.  Almost all the children featured in his books are either autistic/MR or genius wunderkinds; the latter, however, does not justify his habit of making smart children talk like genius adults.  Dean heaps the hardships on poor Leilani, with all the subtlety of an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger.  In case you miss the anvils, you are supposed to really, really like her and fear for her safety.

I don't know how or where Dean Koontz learned about bioethics, but he has a terribly misguided view of the field, taking an extreme sect of it to represent the main viewpoint of the field.  Further, he states multiple times that these eugenic bioethics principles are being taught to medical students at major universities (who will have to pay for their involvement with evil bioethics) -- as a medical student, I can assure you that this is patently untrue.  That Koontz could be so off-base on a topic that directly relates to the central motive is disconcerting and makes an already weak book even harder to swallow.

The final issue is Koontz's near-deification of dogs, particularly Golden Retrievers, which is a common motif in his more recent works.  It is ridiculous and unintentionally funny to an almost painful degree.  His obsession with dogs and their mystical powers borders on the psychotic (and I like dogs).  This novel probably features the most egregious example of Koontz's tendency to create overly sappy, sugary-sweet endings.

Dean Koontz has written many books better than this one.  Spend your money on one of his stronger efforts


Three Junes -Where did They Get That Name?
	Sometime ago I read my Sunday paper and noted that "Three Junes" was listed as a popular book choice.  The title sounded interesting so I bought it.  That was 2 months ago and I am still trying to get through the paperback edition.  It is difficult to follow the timeline, to understand the characters and where they fit, and to get involved in the storyline.  I will finish the book because that's my style.  It has not been a book that I could not wait to get back to.


Not for fans of TR
	As an admirer of Theodore Roosevelt, I was very disappointed in Mr. Brands' book. It appeared to me that Mr. Brands' intent was to analyze the life of this great man strictly from his critic's point of view. While any good biography worth its salt should present a balanced view of the man, Mr. Brands appears to go out of his way to find fault in almost all of TR's actions. TR was by no means a perfect man, however, history has proven him to be one of our greatest presidents. One gets the sense after reading this dreadfully long and depressing account of TR that Mr. Brands'truly disliked his subject


lacking in details and intimancies
	i'll be the first to admit that i'm biased based on my expectations from shaara's father's great book, the killer angels.  it is not fair to compare the two, but because reading the father's book lead me to buy this one, i thought i should mention it.  this book does not contain nearly the details and intimancies of the father's book.  it is not surprising since this one covers a much longer time frame than the battle of gettysburg, so shaara has less pages to devote to each person and battle.  but the result is a less satisfying book.  it skims rather than digs deep


Fell well short of my expectations...
	When I started reading this book, I was hopeful that it would be an insightful commentary on the ridiculous nature of politically-correct word choice.  Unfortunately, I did not find it to be particularly clever or funny.  On some level, it seems like the PC craze has subsided since the mid-90's when the book was written, and it just doesn't read as the brilliant critique that I expected.  We've now heard so many silly descriptions followed by the suffix "challenged" that it just isn't funny anymore.  I suppose that this book worked much better when it was written, but it hasn't aged well over the ten years since


Nonsense redefined
	I must admit I was skeptical when I first opened this book based on previous knowledge I had of MPD.  This book made me that much more skeptical.  In most cases of MPD or DID as it is now more commonly referred to the problem arises through the suggestive power of the therapist.  This case is different though.  On page 67 of the paperback copy I got, Ms Chase describes Stanley(her name for Phillips) as wondering how it is that the personalities could seemingly communicate with each other while at the same time not being aware of each other.  Her answer that she or as she claims her "troops" give is that it is through the use of "thought transference" which was known to the ancient Greeks as she tells us later on.  I almost burst out laughing when I read that.  She also contradicts her claim that the alters don't know of each other later when she has one of them discussing the alters Rabbit and Sister Mary Catherine at the same time.  Another way this happens is how they often refer to themselves as 'we'.  Many of the alters sound as though they came from books or movies.  The abuse that she claims occurred while living with her stepfather is rather graphic.  Her claims really belong in the same realm as those who claim past life memories, ufo sightings, satanic ritual abuse, and second sight.  I think she is not credible in the least.  There is not one fact given to support her claims of past abuse and it would be interesting for someone to write a book looking into her claims to see if there is anything that would substantiate them.  She does let us know in the book that she is very creative, artistic, intelligent, and apparently well read.  I think this has a lot to do with her claims of multiple personalities.  The book itself is long, boring, anti-climatic even with the final confrontation with the stepfather which occurs at the end.  She also seems to be claiming in the book some pscyhic abilities.  Don't waste your money on this book, unless you have to read it for a class as I did.


Blah Blah Blah
	This book just rambles on and on and never seems to end.  I don't think I have ever been so disappointed in a book.  Since I started to read it, I feel like I have to finish it.  I am just praying for that day to come soon.  I have to skip over entire paragraphs just to get through a chapter.  It is overwhelming proof that hippies should NEVER write books


Ballz.
	this book blew my ballz.  it was possibly the worst book i have ever read in my entire life.  although i am usually sleepless in seattle, i found myself falling asleep each time i tried to read it.  i advise no one to ever read this godforsaken book


OK - but you didn't tell the whole story
	I was there, as were several of my fellow Sitka Fire Department EMT's and State Troopers from the Sitka Academy.  The 6 of us, along with two parajumpers from the Canadian Armed Services were flown through the typhoon winds, on a helicopter, out to the Williamsburgh where we spent the next 33 hours attending to the rescued passengers - literally giving them the clothes off our backs and keeping them calmed.  We knew there was a doctor onboard, from Anchorage, but we literally never met or saw him - I'm sure he did good work in the little clinic he had set up - but that is where he stayed.  The real story was out in the rest of the ship that weekend.  But I was disappointed to see that Mr. Jeffers failed to fully research this book - the role the Sitka rescue teams played (both on the Williamsburgh and trying to assess/fight the fire on the Prinsendam) was totally overlooked - despite the fact that there is a lot of documentation available that tells our story - which was the human side   had some quite amusing moments in the face of this event.  I was so looking forward to this book and then to find out he left a large part of the story out, was very sad.  At least we all have our commendations from both the Coast Guard commendant and the Canadian armed services - they knew we were there!   Too bad Mr. Jeffers didn't due diligence.


Highly overrated
	Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller. Not recommended.

In his 1960 introduction to Tropic of Cancer, Karl Shapiro said, "I call Henry Miller the greatest living author because I think he is," ". . . as a spiritual example he stands among the great men of our age," and ". . . he [Orwell] predicts that Miller will set the pace and attitude for the novelist of the future. This has not happened yet, but I agree that it must." Shapiro does not support any of these points in his essay, and nothing about Tropic of Cancer supports them, either.

Tropic of Cancer consists of 318 pages recounting Miller's experience as an American expatriate in Paris and expounding his personal philosophy, often in ways that are rambling and painfully nonsensical. Miller's stories about his friends are tedious, pointless, and catty; like Miller, they seem to have been talentless hacks whose belief in their own artistic abilities makes them artists and writers, as though believing is being. Miller writes, "A year ago, six months ago, I thought I was an artist. I no longer think about it, I am"--which is the type of arrogant pretentiousness he mocks in virtually all of his acquaintances.

When they are not creating, or talking about philosophy or creating, Miller and his circle seem to spend nearly every moment picking up women (and disease). They rarely use a neutral term such as "woman" when there are so many obscene, demeaning words with which to objectify the gender. The women that Miller and friends find are invariably portrayed as stupid, drunken, irrational, loose, sly, deceptive, and good primarily for one function, which Miller turns into a squalid, cold, joyless act. In spite of all the vice and the "living," no one seems to be having fun, and some characters, notably Fillmore, find themselves nearly trapped into the bourgeoisie life.

Miller expresses contempt for the machine, the industrial age, and money--although he schemes to keep 2,800 francs from Fillmore's mistress and revels in having so much in his pocket. Often hungry, Miller obsesses about food and relies on his friends to support him. When he describes his Indian friend Kepi as ". . . a scrounger, a sort of human tick who fastens himself to the hide of even the poorest compatriot," he could be talking about himself as he bitterly complains about those of his friends who are stingy with money, accommodations, food, and wine.

Miller's logic about the working world is facile; he writes, "If you want bread, you've got to get in harness, get in lockstep." On the surface, this is true, but it never seems to occur to him that, if you want bread, someone must cultivate, raise, and harvest the wheat and produce the other components; someone must transform these components into bread; and someone must deliver it to the shops and cafes. In other words, if most people weren't in "lock step," Miller could choose to starve or set himself to produce bread, joining the world in harness. He makes his choice clear, then whines about it. He may despise those who support him, whether they are friends or workers, but that is perhaps because he, a misanthrope who finds fault with everyone but himself, needs the very people he denigrates (including "the grocer, the baker, the shoemaker, the butcher, etc.--all imbecilic-looking clodhoppers"), a reliance which he resents. He hates the machine and the machine mind, but offers no alternatives.

Seemingly incapable of sincere feeling, Miller finds human emotion amusing. When a friend says, "A boy can break your heart . . . He's so damned beautiful! And so cruel!" Miller writes, "We had to laugh at this. It sounded preposterous. But Collins was in earnest." When an acquaintance to whom he owes money dies, he writes, "At any rate, he was killed in an automobile accident shortly after my arrival, a circumstance which left me twenty-three francs to the good."

Shapiro claims that Miller is a poet, but his attempts at poetic and philosophic ramblings often make little if any sense. Speaking of buildings and statues, Miller says, " . . . they must be saturated with my anguish," the kind of bad metaphor in which he frequently indulges. He describes artists such as himself as the "inhuman ones." "I am inhuman! I say it with a mad, hallucinated grin, and I will keep on saying it though it rain crocodiles. Behind my words are all those grinning, leering, skulking skulls, some dead and grinning a long time, some grinning as if they had lockjaw, some grinning with the grimace of a grin, the foretaste and aftermath of what is always going on." Whenever these attempts at poetic philosophy appeared, rambling on for pages, I found myself yearning for a return to his insipid stories about prostitutes, disease, friends, and hunger.

Tropic of Cancer is perhaps the worst book I have ever read (and I did promise myself that I would read Tropic of Capricorn). Shapiro says, "There are not many of these emancipated beings left in our world [emancipated from what? --DLS], these clowns and clairvoyants, celebrants of the soul and of the flesh and of the still-remaining promise of America." If Miller, with his whining, his criticism, his holier-than-everyone attitude, his "art," his two-dimensional view of people, and his obsession with excrement, is the "greatest" of these souls, may I never meet the least.

Note: If there were a 0 stars option, Tropic of Cancer would have earned it


I would have put 0 stars
	This book was a complete waste.  It was boring to read and hard to follow.  I finished the book just see how it ended and hoping to clear up the confusion.  I never should have read past the first chapter.  Read Pop Goes the Weasle, or Lake House by Patterson.  Just not this book.  It is hard to believe it is written by the same author


Wish I could get my money back...
	As a strong proponent of attachment parenting and a rather radical unschooler, this book was a BIG disappointment!!! I bought this book after reading the reviews and wish I hadn't paid more than $1 for it. While the title "The Unprocessed Child" accurately describes Laurie's upbringing, this book shouldn't be grouped with other unschooling literature. The author, while cherishing the close bond she has with her daughter, reminds me of the mother in "Love You Forever" who sneaks across town and climbs into her grown son's room at night to spend time with him--sweet but a bit creepy. The fact that she admits that she even went to college at the same time as her daughter so she could spend more time with Laurie pretty much says it all. The mother clearly has her own issues that I hope she allows herself to work through and heal from now that she's not spending 24/7 with her only child. We have been unschooling each of our four children since birth --challenging temperments and all--and I feel very privileged to spend so much time with them as they discover how exciting it is to decode and discover the world around them. If you want to read a GOOD book about unschooling without unsupported platitudes and preaching in almost every chapter, I would recommend "Homeschooling our Children, Unschooling Ourselves". Those authors offer more balance and eloquence than Ms. Fitzenreiter.


Not bad, but not really good eithier...
	This was my first reading of Jamaica Kincaid. She has a short, concise style, which made me often feel like I was reading poetry. However, I felt that it also had some downsides, like stifling character growth. In Lucy, the title character comes to America to be an nanny for a rich couple with four young daughters. Lucy watches as their marriage crumbles and tries to avoid turning into her own mother, who for some reason she hates. I wish we knew a bit more about Lucy, like why she hated her homeland so much. It was  an alright quick read, but had it been longer, I doubted it would have held my attention


Bias Was Off-Putting
	Dr. Northrup provides women with practical information about their bodies, stages of life and medical procedures.  However, I was appalled by her bias against Western cultural heritage and Christianity.  Her views on those topics were extremely unbalanced, with no acknowledgement of their positive contributions to culture and women.  As a Catholic whose best teachers were strong-minded, compassionate religious sisters, I felt offended by her slur against nuns.  I am aware that not everyone feels the same way about their religious upbringing, but I would expect an academic to strive for some balance in their research.


Black House
	Ive read mixed reviews on this book and though i had to make my own mind up. I first bought the book, 120pages later i realised that i had no clue what was going on, so i bought the audiobook (5 hours later i was still thinking what the hell is going on).
Now im stephen kings No1 fan and have loved the majority of his work, the talisman for me was a fantastic bolt on to the dark tower quest. So naturally i thought this would be the same.
The book is one of the slowest drawn out books ive ever came accross, not a patch on previous work. I forced myself through the book expecting more, and im sorry to say this one doesnt deliver on any horror, excitment etc, do yourself a favour, get a tin of paint and watch it dry - more happens in that and at a much quicker pace than it does in this book.
This book is for die hard fans only... but even diehards will find this a chore


Not for experienced runners
	The book is interesting, and well written. It contains little unique or scarcely known or understood information. Novice runners might like it and get more from it than experienced runners.


Not sure of ownership, but sure of his bad theology
	I have a book of Ross' by the same title, but the cover is different (remake?) but most of my problems with his theology come from his advocation of the "big bang theory" which has numerous scientific problems (quantized redshifts to name one) and serious theological implications.  If the big bang were true, then there were animals before man. Animals that lived and died.  The Bible says that man's sin is the reason why we die and suffer.  If death was around before sin ("For the wages of sin is death") then what good would Jesus' death on the cross have been


Knew it was bad after three pages
	I'm sorry, but I expect more out of a book. Beginning on page one the character development was infantile and the writing sophomoric. After reading beautiful books such as Cold Mountain and Brideshead Revisited, to mention just two, I found that this book started off so poorly and was so amateurish that I knew it would be a plot-driven monstrosity that wouldn't be worth the read. At page four I was fed up with the author's style and slammed the book shut


Not what it appears
	I was excited to see the book with recipes for the "14 Super Foods" after reading Steven Pratt's book, but was very disappointed.  Yes, the recipes do use the "14 Super Foods", but also use such ingredients as shortening, Cheez Whiz, and yellow cake mix - hardly healthy!  If you are interested in eating good, healthy meals made with the "14 Super Foods", don't buy this book


full of lies, propaganda, and hate
	This year, 60% of college entries will be female.  Look at this spring's honor role listings.  Last year, 78% of honor role members in my community were female.  Schools are fails boys - not girls.

If you wish to waste your time on a politically correct diatribe that is full of anecdotal and subjective pap, then get this book.  If you want to really improve the quality of education, there are thousands of reads better than this


Where are the flags? And sound effects?
	I remember hearing about this book by the great patriot Sean Hannity sometime in 2001, then it was a mere idea. From that time on, until August 20th 2002, I waited for what I thought would be the greatest book of all time. I remember seeing the cover art and hearing about the title: "Let Freedom Ring" with not just a picture of Sean Hannity on the cover, patriot that he is, but also a flag. I loved it, couldn't be more happy.

Well, the day of the book's release, I took a day off work (i've never missed a day of work before in my life), and rushed to get this book. It looked better than I ever imagined.

With the flag on the cover and the title of "Let Freedom Ring," I thought, finally, technology has caught up to our patriotism. I expected a book filled with flags, flags with sound effects. Maybe some firework sound effects.

Boy was I wrong. I opened the book only to the colors black and white. No red. No blue. No stars and stripes. I quickly turned the pages, looking, searching for flags. I found none, no sound effects either, no fireworks.

At that point, I went into a 4 year long depression. I nearly committed suicide at several points. It's only now that I can bring myself to review this man's book, patriot that he is.

I say this so you know what you're getting yourself into. There are no flags, no stars and stripes, no fireworks, no sound effects.

I have since recovered, but only because of old stars and stripes. I went back to teaching last year, not fully recovered, and my colleagues, knowing how much I love America and the STARS AND STRIPES, suggested I have my class do a research project: find the most patriotic book ever made.

The methodoloy was simple: A book made out of flags with flag pictures would score high, a book that was not made out of a flag or flags and had no pictures of flags would score the lowest.

We found some very good books and they did cheer me up. The one that was the most patriotic by far was a book called "President Jesus: How Jesus Wrote the Constitution, Freed the Slaves, and Won World War II." Its published by a small church in Texas. I was very proud of my students for finding it. It has brought countless joy to my life. Along with the book, made entirely out of a flag, with flag pictures, and written in blue and red ink, you get a giant flag. I'm not sure of the dimensions, but they had to haul it to my house in a moving truck. I've draped it over my house and it covers it completely. People even have to crawl under the flag to enter the house.

Now I often go outside and just gaze at old stars and stripes for hours at a time, smiling.


Betty's Not What She Used to Be
	Time was when the words Betty Crocker actually stood for something good in cookbooks, although the books' recipes, for better or for worse, were always a product of their times.  The very first "Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book" was published in 1950 (still available), revolutionized how cookbooks were produced, and was an enormous best-seller.  The recipes were the result of much thorough testing in the company's kitchens and in homes across America.  This was cooking from scratch with very little reliance on convenience foods in its pages.  This gradually changed as Betty and her books became more and more of a shill for General Mills' products and her name got plastered on one mix after another to the benefit of the company's bottom line, but to the detriment of good cooking.

The two all-purpose cookbooks that came out in 1961 and 1969 were both loaded with recipes and wonderful tips/helps, although you could see the beginnings of sacrificing quality for convenience--especially in the 1969 edition--but this was still relatively minor in proportion to the majority of the recipes.  If you have one of these books, treasure and keep it; you'll never see their likes again.

The current 10th edition looks good but, like the past several editions, the number of recipes has been drastically reduced.  Gone are the many variations, which are especially missed in baked goods.  It was wonderful having recipes of many cakes that were sized for two people or small families and having different mixing methods to choose from.  Now way too many recipes are of the "dump and stir" method instead of choosing methods that would insure the best results.  Also gone is the very friendly, assuring, conversationial voice of yesteryear.  Yes, there are recipes covering a wider range of ingredients and styles, but they are mostly stripped-down versions.

It's obvious that the folks at Betty Crocker now seem to think that no one really cooks anymore and can't be bothered with proper preparation of dishes, which begs the question of why General Mills even bothers to publish these cookbooks anymore.  The "Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook" is a better bet for those looking for an all-purpose, everyday guide.  It has a better layout, the recipes and ingredients are generally of a higher quality, and there are more recipes and variations than Betty Crocker's had in some time.  Even better, if you care at all about the quality of the food you eat and serve your family, I highly recommend the cookbooks of Cooks' Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen.  Their comparable, general-purpose cookbook is called "The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook."  The recipes are tested and reworked--dozens of times, if necessary--to be the best their staff can make them and you get precise directions in preparing them.  It's a shame that Betty Crocker has abdicated her throne and good name, but there's even better stuff out there now.  Go for it!


Not much beyond the cute title
	The cover of this book declares that you'll learn "Ten Simple Truths That Lead To an Amazing Life."  If your idea of an amazing life can be distilled to "eat, drink, and be merry," then perhaps you'll see value in the sophomoric platitudes that abound in this book.  Alfred E. Neuman, of Mad Magazine, with his declaration of "What, me? Worry?" provides a pithier statement of the philosophy proposed by Ms. LaRoche.  If you're looking for some deeper meaning to life, to success, to accomplishment, you'd be much better served by reading Napoleon Hill, Anthony Robbins, Dr. Covey, Denis Waitley, or Brian Tracey.


Very Disappointing ... There're better books out there for Co-dependency
	Most of the information is very "theoritical" and "limited" -- author focus mainly on her own analysis of her mother and her relationship with her.  ...  In a nutshell, the message is that a dysfunctional mother'll pass her emotioanal issues to her daughter(s), and in turn, the daughter(s) may pass that onto her offspring(s).  ...


E for effort
	I am agreeing to the comment of "E for effort" on this book.

This book describes the author's attemps to improve his condition and how he suceeded. But he admits in his book that he is not sure which ones actually worked. Plus, the author also takes diabetes medications, along with other medicines and supplements. My main concern is what worked for him probably won't work for someone reading this book.

This book does not really provide a clear picture on what to do. He made so many changes on the medications and supplements, it is hard to say what worked.

One can find the general imformation presented in this book on "Diet", "Exercise" and "Stress management" (relating to clog arteries   heart diseases) through the internet. I didn't gain any new information by reading this book.

The printing of this book is also done in a very strange way.
The text is printed at the center, occupying only the center area with a lot of spaces around, so about half of the page is blank.


YOU NEED MORE THAN 8 but good choices
	I Look for books all the time on this topic to see if there any new moves I can pick up to help shape and tone the stomach area which is a problem for most of us. I think if you are just starting out this book will help you understand the positions you need to get into but it's going to take alot more than 8 minutes to get results and I have been training for years


Profiting from the Christian Man Shortage
	There is no doubt in my mind that Josh Harris is a good person, who sincerely wants to help people, particularly young Christian women, who are especially affected by the vicissitudes of the modern dating scene. However, he doesn't seem to offer much honesty about why this book has been so popular.  Either he's guilelessly uninformed or deliberately avoidant: inexcusable in either case, considering how influential this book has become.

Is it because it offers the best possible advice on how to navigate the most clear and direct path from singleness to marriage?  No.  For the vast majority of singles, the approach described in this book will be too rigid and contrived to be workable.  Few couples have actually gotten together this way.

The real reason why this book, with its overwhelmingly female readership, has sold so well comes down to one main reason: there is a SEVERE SHORTAGE OF SINGLE CHRISTIAN MEN, as documented in CampuslifeCollegeGuide.com male/female ratios, and the Barna Research group website which estimates the shortfall to be in the MILLIONS.  Christianity Today recently identified the gender imbalance as being the issue that "rises to the top" for Christian singles.

Because Christians are encouraged to look at circumstances as springing from "God's plan" for their lives, many of the surplus women faithfully avoid doing the math, but certainly feel the lack of male attention.  Unfortunately, this often gets boiled down to some kind of "passive Christian guy thing", but it probably has more to do with the complacency that accompanies the abundance of women: which is the defining masculine climate wherever there is a man shortage, whether it's New York City, Post-war Russia or your local mega-church.  It's not so much a lack of male leadership, but a lack of males.

And so the idea of courtship appeals to the romantic longings of single Christian women frustrated by what they perceive to be a lack of initiative taken by single Christian men, who they greatly outnumber.  Since reading Christian books about relationships can be as titilating as any romance novel, many of these women will pour over every detail looking for the one piece of advice, the one thing they can change about themselves that will make a difference.  Which means they stay on the spiritual self-improvement treadmill, fuelling a Christian singleness industry with its own slogan "The Gift of Singleness" that refuses to tell them the truth about the Christian man shortage that is the greatest cause of their prolonged singleness!  Of course, their lack of contentment (an innate response that tells you that things don't add up) is something they are told to repent, ironically by pundits who themselves will not repent of how they profit from this symbiotic relationship.  But as long as these women can be convinced that their discontent is caused not by unnaturally protracted singleness that's the result of the Christian man shortage but their by own spiritual failings, there'll always be a market for Christian self-help books like this one.  Pure genius!

What's more, there are "unintended consequences" that can go along with Harris' model for "courtship" that he doesn't really address:

1) Because all masculine initiative taking must be based on a guy's intention to marry the woman, it makes asking a woman to do anything a BIG DEAL to him. This can have several sub-consequences:
(a) It creates a lot of anxiety for guys in terms of their decision-making and rejection-risk (getting turned down for a date is bad enough, but imagine having your "potential marriage proposal" crash and burn!) (b) It fosters prolonged crushes, as stakes get so high with the guy investing all kinds of time and energy in figuring out that this is "the one", he might not ever do it (c) Ironically, it can boost up the guy's expectations in terms of a woman's looks. Because the guy has to have everything worked out in their heads (that yes, this is the kind of woman I want to marry) lot of guys end up not bothering to spend time with girls who don't LOOK like whatever their "wife prototype" might be. Guys who date and don't make a big deal of "a date" are more likely to ask out women they never thought of marrying and possibly end up getting married anyways (In "How to Get a Date Worth Keeping", Henry Cloud explains how couples will admit that their spouses weren't really "their type" when they first met).
2) It keeps people from the humbling reality check that dating provides. Serial dating (as practiced in Latin American countries, where a guy will ask out tons of women, get turned down by most of them until he has a "short-list") teaches you where you stand with the opposite sex. You ask your way down your "ladder of options" until you find your equal (likewise for women, in terms of dealing with the facts about who's asking and who's not). With courtship, a man or woman can nurse an untested prototype of what they want in their heads for years. The idea that it's better not to have any previous flames to compare them to is FALSE. You're better off being compared to their last girlfriend/boyfriend (a real human being with chunky thighs and all) than with the evangelical Angelica Jolie/Brad Pitt that has filled their imaginations since adolescence!
3) It reduces interactive opportunities that promote the acquisition of social skills needed in a romantic context with the opposite sex. It reinforces the pattern of psycho-social-sexual immaturity you commonly see in Christian singles circles.
4) It's unfair to the woman to have some guy spring a potential marriage proposal (which is essentially what courtship is) on her without any prior notice that the guy (who's had a head start on working out his feelings) is romantically interested. Most Christian women seem to need some time to progressively get used to the idea of having a date with most of the guys who would realistically ask them, let alone entertain the thought of marriage.
5) It also heightens the significance of anything the men do when interacting with the women in their circle, who inevitably end up reading too much into their behavior and expecting too much whenever any nuance of interest gets expressed by a someone they like. Kind of like, "he's a nice, sincere, Christian guy and he wouldn't be spending this kind of time with me if he didn't think of me as marriage material, right?"...not always so.

If we are to stand back and take a look at it, the whole courtship redux really hasn't gotten off the ground: it works for too few people at this time. Maybe the world has changed too much, or perhaps there are other issues today's Christian singles face in the mating game that need to be dealt with first: such as the confusion about "the gift of singleness" and the shortage of men. I would recommend Debbie Maken's Getting Serious about Getting Married: Rethinking the Gift of Singleness for an alternative view of courtship that embraces the ordinariness and universality of marriage, instead of this moldy oldy.


More errors
	In addition to the errors listed by others, I see missing letters in the middle of words, quote marks that are the wrong style (backticks instead of curly quotes, done inconsistently), inconsistent indentations ... it's a typesetting nightmare.  Big disappointment


Useless unless
	This bool from the evil russian is useless if you already own
" naked warrior " .Good techniques  and informations nevertheless


Terrible
	Lets say you were reading a book on the mafia, written by John Gotti, or perhaps some lesser-known mobster.  And there was nothing but glowing accolades for the mob and it's activities.  Furthermore, anyone who opposed the mafia and it's activities was labeled an "extremist" and in the text, their names were never more than about 4 or 5 words away from words like "Ku Klux Klan," "racist," "bigoted," or "paranoid," you'd begin to suspect that the book was a bit biased, wouldn't you?

"Americas Uncivil Wars" is a book written by Mark Lytle, a professor at Bard College.  He documents events in American History, in this book, from the 1950's to about 1975.  Practically every time a genuine conservative individual, or organization is mentioned in this book, it is associated to a racist organization, whenever Mr. Lytle doesn't add his own commentary.  For example, on page 22, he says Joseph McCarthy revealed himself as a "mean-spirited slob."  This is a far cry from the McCarthy I know, the McCarthy who wrote the brilliant "Americas Retreat from Victory" for example.  And forget about anything good mentioned about the John Birch Society.  Page 138: "Most Americans ignored the hooded Klansmen, the John Birchers, and other extremists..."  never mind the fact that JBS is not and never was a racist or an extremist organization.  But here is their name, sandwiched between the KKK and "extremist."

It is a typical tactic of the left to associate the opposition with the "stench of racism" as Stalin may have put it (I don't remember his exact quote).  But you might ask, what about on page 89 where he refers glowingly to William F. Buckley as "the cornerstone of the anti-communist wing of conservatism...?"  Keep in mind that this is the same Buckley who years later, in Lingua Franca magazine, confessed that he would be a "Mike Harrington Socialist" or a "Communist" if he were college brat today.

Now on the other hand, try to find anywhere in this book, the words "murderer," or even "extremist" in front of names like Mao Tse Tung, or Che Guevara or Tom Hayden, to name a few.  There is a good reason for that, but I will leave it to your imagination, the reason why.

In summary, should you decide to read this book, take it with a grain of salt, or better yet some motion-sickness pills because unless you are prone to the same convictions as our professor Lytle is, you're going to need a barf-bag


Poisonous Misinformation
	The most depressing thing about a book like this is not the outrageously inaccurate content, but, based on the high ratings and adulatory comments by other reviewers, that most people actually believe this drivel. How can we possibly form an effective energy policy when the citizenry are not only uninformed but ill-informed? The answer is that we cannot. I will not bother to go through a detailed criticism, not only because it would take an almost book length document to do it, but because, in the highly politicized atmosphere we live in, no one would believe it. Today, the "truth" depends much more on one's political views than on an objective evaluation of the evidence.


A Classic Text, Superficially Updated
	The cover claims that the book has been "revised and updated for the digital age," but Winston's information on technological tools is both superficial and already dated. The term, "PDA," does not even appear in the index


A Real Chore to Make it Through
	I approached this title with all the expectations fostered by many friends endless promotions. I did my best to like it, to find some secret meaning, some redeeming quality within, to no avail. Actually finishing the book was an accomplishment, in my opinion. Ultimately I found the book aimless, soulless, and the promoter of everything negative about the human species. I know this sounds harsh, but time after time I felt let down by On the Road.

No, I don't "dig" it, Dean


Be careful downloading e-books!!
	I was disapointed when I downloaded it and got 8 pages.
As a customer, I expected to have the digital version of the full book and not a summary.
I thought that the price difference was due to the absence of paper, printing, handling, shipping, etc.
The hardcover version is more than 300 pages; if you take the price per page of the digital version, the hardcover version should cost then ten times more!!!
All the examples are referred to that version and nowhere I was said that I was paying 5 dollars for a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PRODUCT.
I honestly believed that I was buying the full book.
I will think better before ebuying again...


Squeezing Spiritual Growth into a Business Box
	This guide to church growth has gained popularity during the recent trend of mega-church models and numerical prowess in evaluating the current health and future viability of individual churches.  Many of the theories and models are based on business studies and business growth theories.

While the guide may be helpful in identifying strengths and weaknesses in your local congregation, its theories for projecting future growth or your church's demise are analyzed using European and Urban models, and have limited insight into the unique dynamics of the Christian church in the varied regions of North America as a whole.

Most limiting in this perspective is the distinctly spiritual aspect of church growth which results in a gigantic disparity in trying to compare churches and businesses.  This is a manual for analyzing and strategizing, for plotting and planning to stock more "seats in the pews," and makes no significant mention of the actual spiritual journey or genuine troubles and struggles of the very real person searching for belief.  The philosophies of this book graphically illustrates why some other Christian writers such as Eugene Peterson, contend that too many pastors view the members of their churches as assets to be managed rather than human souls with questions, concerns, needs and priorities of their own.  Issues that cannot be forgotten in the numbers game of current church growth modalities


Am I Still Awake?
	I devoured all of this writer's books when I first discovered them and it had been quite some time since then when I bought this book. I'm a real sucker for a book with dogs so I dove right in only to become disappointed all too quickly. I didn't remember all the rambling. It is rampant! At times it was almost like reading a text book for all the 'skimming' that I did. I can't say it was a waste of time but some more editing would be appreciated


one star is one too many
	I am both astounded and confounded by the reviews here.  Simply put, this is the single worst novel I have ever read.  Everything about it--the writing, the characters, the story--is godawful.  Here follows an absolutely true story.  While I was forcing myself to read this drivel, I went out on date.  She and I were discussing how much of a book one should read before giving up on it.  I was advocating the 25 page litmus, and she insisted on at least fifty.  She did several long train commutes a week to and from work, and so read a lot of novels.  Anyway, I started describing this book.  She recognized it immediately, and interrupted me saying,  quot;The Bear Went Over The Mountain!  Don't read another word!  If you think it's bad now, it only gets worse, if you can believe it! quot;  She was right.  If you feel the need to find out for yourself, save your money and borrow it from a friend or the library


Unrealistic premise...
	Joseph Nye keeps repeating himself: multilateralism by global American charm attack. That is simply a stupid assumption. And it is untrue of American history in foreign relations. Nye still owes some answers to European scholars of International Relations who criticized his idea. In fact that is no personal multilateral approach..


Interesting, but not an ethics.
	I found the book thought-provoking, but there is more to philosophy than provocation. The common underlying argument of this book, and its only valid statement as ethics, is that since the only purpose of ethics is to regulate human behavior, the ethics society adopts should reflect the kind of society we want to live in. This results-oriented approach is all very well, but Singer doesn't really build upon it through any legitimate philosophical argument. Virtually all of Singer's arguments about particular issues rest upon emotional premises that the reader either does or does not accept. If you accept the premise you are likely to find at least some merit in the argument; if you don't accept the premise, its impossible to follow along to any useful conclusion. In short, these are not ethical writings but the political writings of someone who is too smart for standard political discourse and not interested in limiting his thoughts to philsophy as a discipline. How useful you find this is up to you. I personally don't know Singer from Adam and had not received any prior indoctrination about how groundbreaking he was before I picked up the book; as a result, I have trouble seeing what people are so excited about


Old predictions that have not come true
	This book is old news and is filled with predictions for 2005   2006 - most of which are inacurate.  His boom and subsequent bust theories are not materializing - and at this point even if they do will be of much smaller scale than his grand predictions (DOW over 40,000) presented in this book


The South Rises Again in all its Historically Inaccurate Glory
	I originally wrote a review of this book in 1999, titled "This is a racist book disguised as a work of art."  It seems that I didn't explain well enough my objection to Styron's co-opting of the story of a real human being, Nat Turner, whose story was more accurately depicted in the 1831 book, "The Confessions of Nat Turner," by T.R. Gray.  Not only did Styron steal the title of Gray's book, in which Gray recounts his interview with the real Nat Turner, but the incidents Styron invents for the sake of drama reveal his southern-bred racism.

Unlike his depiction in Styron's book, Nat Turner was married.  Styron's invention of Turner's pivotal and conflicted relationship with a white woman, Margaret Whitehead, is entirely fictional.  So is any self-doubt that Turner did the right thing by leading the revolt.  In Gray's account, Turner did not express regret. There is so much more depth to Turner's life that is either fictionalized beyond recognition or left unexplored in this book.

Do those facts make a difference in a work of fiction?  Yes. The parts Styron has unnecessarily fictionalized are key to the story he invented.  Turner's fictional relationship with Margaret is saturated in the southern myth that black men are obsessed with white women -- lusting for the forbidden fruit, for which they must die.  That Styron crawls into Nat Turner's skin in order to infect him with self-doubt about his mission emasculates Turner and diminishes his cause.  What offends me most is that Nat Turner's life deserves to be explored by a modern author who does not condescend or patronize this African-American hero.  Instead, we have William Styron's version of Turner's life, taken by many readers as fact.

If one prefers racist fiction posing as a legitimate account of a life, then one might enjoy wallowing in this version of "Confessions."  But if one prefers reality, I recommend Gray's book as well as other accounts available about the slave revolt at Southampton, Virginia.  Styron's book does not provide significant insights into Nat Turner, slave revolt or slavery itself.  His book clouds the truth with the same kind of Reconstruction era distortions that spawned the hideous phenomenon of lynching


This one's a stinker
	I really love Amanda Quick, but this one just didn't work. We don't even get to see the hero and heroine meet and spend time together; the action starts after they've already spent a week getting to know each other. Very disappointing from a romance novel.

And I don't really expect tightly woven mysteries in my romance novels, but the plot in this one defies belief. It's never explained why the first murder even occurs. The hero's fear that the murderer will focus on Venetia because she's using the last name "Jones" is beyond ludicrous. If that was going to be a major plot point, at least make it an unusual name that would link the hero and heroine together. But JONES?!

All would be forgiven if the romance were compelling, but it wasn't in the slightest. I will probably choose to wait for the next one in paperback or at the library


two stars for evocative writing
	The notion of "interpretive communities" is at best derivative of Kuhn's classical work, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, and at worst a framework of obstruction employed against those who wish to revivify literary theory and criticism in the wake of postmodern hegemony


sorry I spent the time
	Like others, I picked this book up after reading several in the No. 1 Ladies...series.  No comparison.

The story is in the first line on page one and the last three pages of the book.  I just don't understand the rest of this book.  Isabel never even asked the key question to the whole "mystery" until it slapped her in her silly face.  The mystery for me is - what is the Sunday Philosophy Club, and what in the world does it have to do with this book?

I'm sorry I spent the time on this - there are important books to be read


Pot Noodle Bushido
	This novel of a 17th century samurai's odyssey to Europe starts as a very straightforward story and rather continues that way, but towards the end, Endo does get in a few good points. The style is somewhat pedantic and staid, but easy to read. It's certainly not a zen classic and the story never really gets off the ground or totally convinces. The historical backdrops are paper thin and obvious cut-and-pastes from history textbooks. I must admit I am somewhat baffled by all the rave reviews here. I can only conclude that a lot of people who don't really have much experience of Japan, think they've stumbled upon some sort of motherlode of bushido spirit in this conveniantly Westernized piece of writing by a Japanesese Christian. Remember, not every Japanese woman is a geisha, and not every Japanese writer can wield his pen like a samurai's sword


Just Awful..................No Stars Whatsoever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
	It took me a year to finally complete this book.  And honestly, the only reason I completed it was because I had nothing else on my bookshelf to read.  This book dragged on and on to the tiny climax about 5 pages from the end.  What a waste of such a beautiful book cover.  Do not waste a year of your life or a dime of your money


Wonderfully creative but overcomplicated and not easily indexed
	The book had so much promise, but I find it to be disappointing in several ways, alas.  The recipes I've tried have been delicious, and the instructions accompanying those recipes are fairly clear and authoritative, although the discussions and instructions don't rise to the level of a cooking teaching tool, as would, for example, anything by Julia Child, Marcella Hazan, Jacques Pepin, or any of the King Arthur Flour baking cookbooks, all of which really teach one new skills while providing wonderful recipes.  In this case, I was already pretty experienced at making ice cream before I bought the book.  Were I a tyro, I don't think this book would be the best introduction, although of course there is nothing like plunging in and trying.

My biggest disappointment, though, is the organization of the book:  ice cream recipes are "bundled" with their accompanying cookies, garnishes, and the like; instead of a group of recipes for chocolate ice cream, for example, we have a group of recipes for ice cream sandwiches, with ice cream of any of several different flavor families.  One has to dig around in the index at the back of the book to find, say, recipes for chocolate ice cream.  I would much prefer to have an index or table of ice cream recipes, by flavor and page number, right up front -- I don't want to spend so much time looking for the flavor I want.

My next disappointment is that the text is printed in a graphically attractive and most stylish but virtually illegible size and color.  My middle-aged eyes struggle desperately to read the book, even with my reading glasses on, and I surely can't prop the book 18-20" back from my utensils, to read as I work without changing position, as I like to do with my cookbooks.  This is a case in which the author and editorial team seemed to have chosen (admittedly very attractive) style over function.  The book IS very attractive, and the photographs are lovely -- but I would gladly sacrifice some beauty in favor of being able to read the recipes and discussions more easily.

My final disappointment is in the complexity and elaborateness of most of the "dessert packages," for lack of a better word.  Making the ice cream or sorbet and its accoutrements is, in most cases, a tremendously labor-intensive exercise.  I have opted for using some of the creative and delicious ice cream recipes and figuring out my own much simpler and easier garnishes and accompaniments.  I work a demanding job and have a house to run.  I love to cook, but can't devote as much time to making an ice cream sandwich, for example, as these recipes require.  So I use less of the book than I'd wish.

Over all, Ms. Luchetti's sense of style and taste are impressive, and she seems superbly knowledgeable about frozen desserts.  And many of the ice cream recipes are lovely.  But I had hoped that this would be a book I would pull from the shelf much more often than I will, in fact, because the book is so difficult to use


Yuck, Yuck, and double Yuck
	This is like teen-love-fiction, and by that I mean it's like a teenager wrote it, one who uses bad detail, cliche phrases, overused idioms, bad dialogue and poorly crafted plot.

Meet mr. millionaire who teaches polo to a woman -- and they of course fall in love, slowly, boringly, painfully.   Then the kids come in and the remainder of the book is like a couple dealing with kids, with no plot development. Yuck.

She says on the back she's responding to a call for something like energy and thrills and sexy writing.  Uh, not in this one.  The only sexy scene is on page 138, and that's not very good either.

The best part of the book is that it proves she really does need to go back and learn the craft of writing because either she never learned it or she forgot what she learned


Great--if you are a rich capitalist
	Don't buy this book if you do not have to for a class. I did. As with most textbooks, it is a ripoff. Mankiw got a 1.4 million - MILLION - dollar advance for it. Who do you think pays that.
What kinds of things does this text teach? Well, it contends that unemployment insurance and labor unions cause unemployment, because people do not want to look for work when they can fall back on the governmnet. This is the biggest load of hooey in the world. I guess when you are a rich, tenured professor it is quaint to see those people lining up who just lost their jobs because business major read your book. And minimum wage? Kills off jobs.
Mr Makniw is now the chairman of the presidents council of economic advisors. What a job he has done. Worst jobs record since Hoover. Of course, if the capitalists honchos had their way, everyone else would be working for $2.75 an hour.
Read this book, but go to the grocery store first. On top of the $100-plus you pay for this book, punk down 75 cents for a box of salt. You're gonna need every grain


A bit misleading in the title..
	You think you are getting something to help assist you in linking yourself with the beyond, but you are in all actuality getting something that reads more like something being explained that the author doesnt really believe instead.  I love Konstatinos' other books, but this one left a bad taste in my mouth


An absolute abortion
	Dr. Freeman's justly esteemed "Lee's Lieutenants" -- a THREE VOLUME work -- still stands (despite the discovery of materials unavailable to Dr. Freeman when he first wrote in the 1930s and 40s) as the baseline for any study of the Army of Northern Virginia.  The cheap attempt by a modern publisher to squeeze a few cents out of the franchise, offered here, throws out TWO of every THREE words Dr. Freeman wrote to allow for a one-volume "abridgement" for those presumably too intimidated by the thought of reading three entire books.

The three-volume work, as Dr. Freeman wrote it, was reprinted fairly recently.  If that is no longer available on Amazon, any decent sized used book store will have it in stock.

WHATEVER you do, avoid this butchered, one volume version like the plague


Too full of jargon for me
	This is probably one of the hardest books I have ever read--with no background in either philosophy or cybernetics, much of what Hayles discusses is just plain incomprehensible.  I also found it difficult to accept the idea of humans already being  quot;post-human. quot;  If you are interested in deep philosophical writings on technology and the human condition, with links to literature, read this.  If you don't really care about the post-human, skip it


This book is just not accurate
	I have to agree with Stephen Haines. This guy drags in everything but the kitchen sink. He makes Boehme a Gnostic, the troubadors, the Knights Templar, William Blake, the Masons, Jung, and finally, any physicist worth his salt.

I mean, some of these folks might not have been orthodox in their Christian practice, but being heterodox does not make one a Gnostic.

How did he forget Meister Eckhart, and Sabbatai Tzvi? If he has Boehme as a Gnostic, then these also are Gnostic.

He never distinguishes between Gnosticism as a group of sects, and gnostic practice, which pervades Kabbalah, Sufism,etc.

This is just not a good book


Pretty poor effort
	I'm a long time fan of the Anna Pigeon mysteries, and have read all the others. Unfortunately, "Hard Truth" does not live up to the quality of Ms. Barr's earlier works. It feels very contrived. It also appears to take advantage of stereotypes against religious groups. This book just does not meet the expectations I've come to expect from the series.


Mixed feelings
	I've used the lonely planet guides on other trips before, and have always been very pleased, but this one left me with a different taste in my mouth.  LP was the only guide we purchased, based on our previous experiences with them, but we had the chance to peruse others in the B B's we stayed in throughout our trip.  Of all of them, I'd rate the LP as the 2nd best for our interests - as they say, individual experiences may vary!  Ireland has become a very expen$ive tourist destination, so upon reflection, we would have been happier with the Rough Guide.  LP has just tried to hard to cover all levels of expense in one guide, and has ended up short-changing all of them in the process.  I hate to say it, but I'd rather see them do one thing well than 3 things mediocre at best.  I'd still put it above most of the other guidebooks though.

Our first and foremost gripe is how out of date the price estimates on everything are.  I realize it was published two years ago, but we gradually learned to depend on everything costing about 20% more than LP listed.  That's quite a jump for 2 years, indicating to me either poor fact-checking for the 2003 edition, or some pretty crazy inflation and a need for another update.

Our second gripe was the local maps.  They failed to provide maps for a lot of the smaller cities, and only provided maps of the city-center areas in the larger ones.  Given the rarity of Irish street signage, those maps would have been a God-send for navigation in towns.  Also, and this may be a function of the 2003 printing, a lot of the towns in Ireland are instituting one-way patterns in their city-centers, and LP's maps rarely identified this.

A third, again related gripe is with the existance, or lack thereof, of the various restaurants, b b's, shops, etc. listed in the guide.  Probably 30% of the restaurants in the guide just aren't there any more.  I realize they must have been when it went to print, but that didn't help us any.

Our last gripe is the rather uneven coverage of large areas of the country.  Granted, it reflected perfectly the tourist patterns - heavy coverage of larger cities and popular tourist areas along the coasts, pretty awful coverage of less touristed interior areas.  Unfortunately, we didn't just want to go where all the other tourists go, so this left our noses still further out of joint.

Overall, I'd say if you want a guide that covers the sightes well, both LP and Rough Guide do that.  If you want to keep the expenditures down, Rough Guide does it much better.  If you want to go all out, um, there's probably a third option, but neither of these two will do it well.  If you want to be thrifty in some areas and splurge in others, then this guide is the closest you'll get to filling your schizophrenic needs in one place - although, in that case, I'd really recommend getting two guides, one for each end of the spectrum.

One last piece of advice - buy a heritage card when you get to your first castle/tomb/historic place!  If you plan on visiting more than one or two historic places, its 20e cost will be recouped within days with all the free admissions it will get you for the rest of the trip


blach
	This is a childrens book and it is supposed to teach a positive message. It should have been tiltled the "jewish Mother " tree or something. So the message was Use me and use me and use me some more and after I'm all used up, use me some more and I will be happy. Thats something we want to convey to children


One sided and out dated
	Much of this book is very one sided.  In particular the sections on the environment are distorted and now known to be incorrect.  The book would be much better if they had not shown their bias


Stick to what you know
	Ayelet Waldman is a graduate of Harvard Law School, so I assume she's an intelligent woman and a good lawyer. She should stick to what she knows. The fact that she's married to a famous author doesn't make her a writer. Her novel is poorly written, overly sentimental and, to put it bluntly, very dumb.
What's next? Padma Lakshmi writing a novel because she's married to Salman Rushdie?


What Forged a Nation
	I had read a book about the French and Indian war, one about the revolution and also the recent best seller,1776.  I found The War That Forged a Nation an excellant addition to my understanding of this important period in American history.  I would highly recommend it.  Very readable


Good book, bad reading
	Unfortunately some audio books are read in monotone-very dull indeed-but in this audio book the reader goes too far in the opposite direction by reading an adult book as if it's story time and she's a preschool teacher.

My daughters and I loved the main characters in audio books such as Bridget Jones Diary, The Nanny Diaries, and Sammy's Hill because the reader made us sympathize with them. We knew that whatever the characters did they did with sincerity and whatever happened to them could happen to anyone. Emily Gray, the reader of Can You Keep a Secret, made the main character sound witless and very, very phony. All of the other characters sounded one dimensional.

We listen to audio books on our frequent long car trips. Although we had nothing else to listen to at the time, we could only stand of this book before we had to turn it off. A few weeks later I randomly read a few chapters of Can You Keep a Secret in a bookstore and thought that it was amusing. Perhaps Emily Gray didn't find the book amusing, so she thought that she needed to go "over the top" to add humor. If so, it didn't work. She took a lighthearted, enjoyable book and turned it into the equivalent of listening to nails on a blackboard.


Don't buy this book. Check with the experts instead.
	If you look at the March 2004 issue of the International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts, you'll find a very negative review of this book. Given that the reviewer (Herbert Leon MacDonell, the Director of Laboratory of Forensic Science  Bloodstain Institute of Corning, New York) and all members of IABPA actively work in the field of forensics, I'd take their word for it. Here's an excerpt from the review, which can be found on the web at http://www.iabpa.org/March2004News.pdf

"Many fine books have been written on the general subject of forensic science but this is not one of them. It only takes reading the first page for the reader to discover that this book is not going to be a source of accurate forensic information."

The reviewer goes on to say:

"...the frightening aspect is that lay persons who purchase such garbage are unaware of how inaccurate the things they are reading really are. It is unfortunate that there are publishers out there who will print a manuscript without having some form of peer review to determine whether there are a few minor errors or is it so bad like this book, that they should trash it.


Puh-lease . . .  felt like was I reading an erotic novel
	First, I am a very open-minded person, raised by a hippy/Biker family.  I really expected to identify with this book.  While I appreciate the what Ina May's movement accomplished during its time, I felt like the book was almost a joke--verging more on detailing accounts of an occult community--A community of people living on old school buses in the woods, delivering each other's babies.

The language is terrible---everything is described as "psychedelic," etc--one woman even referred to her female parts using the big "p" word.  While they try to add a personal touch by including individual narrations, it sounds more like a compilation of uneducated people describing their birth stories the way they were pressured to believe---NOBODY mentions feeling pain during labor. Honestly, I feel that the pressure of the community was so intense they wouldn't have admitted to pain if they could.

Also, many of the accounts were extremely erotic---couple are encouraged to fondle one another during labor to keep connected and relaxed.  In some accounts, a couple would be making out, while a midwife would massage the birthing mother in her "laboring parts"--turning the woman on and keeping her relaxed.  Not my cup of tea.

I had so little respect for the lifestyle and the language of the people that I didn't get much out of the book


What happened to the good stuff??
	I am soooo tired of Danielle Steel's books. They have lost all of the originality with which she used to write. Every book now has the same story line just different names for the characters. BORING!  What happened to the good stuff - Thurston House, Ghost, Kaliedescope ........

I had stopped reading her books because I have been sick of the same old thing - I borrowed Miracle from a friend hoping it would indeed be a miracle and would be original Danielle Steel -I was completely wrong. I would guess her writing is suffering because she pumps out 2 to 3 books a year. Danielle if you are reading this (and I hope she is) PLEASE give us back something great to read - Quality instead of Quantity!  Until then I won't be buying or borrowing any more of her books.


One of the most deceptive books ever written
	There is no measure how harmful and disastrous this "sermon" has been to all who have read or heard it.  The teaching of hell or everlasting damnation (eternal torment) is a pagan teaching that has been graphed into the teachings of Christianity over 1800 years ago.  The first century church never believed in a "hell".  The theory of hell was brought in by converts to Christianity from  pagan religions of the world.  "Hell" was embraced by the political/religious leaders of the church because they saw the controlling and "converting" effect of the pagan doctrine and thus it was adopted as "orthodox" centuries after the resurrection of Christ.  Our English translations have all been used to continue this pagan teaching as fact, when it is actually fiction.  Mostly all English versions except the Concordant Literal New Testament and Young's Literal propagate this fallacy.

Do your homework.  Go to www dot what-the-hell-is-hell dot com and www dot bible-truths dot com and read up.  If you scoff then here is your challenge.  Do the research from a non-traditional, non-pagan perspective and you might find incredible things to praise God about.

Other HIGHLY recommended books are "The Inescapable Love of God" by Thomas Talbott (ISBN: 1581128312, not on Amazon, you must google it), "The Origin and History of the Doctrine of Endless Punishment" by Thomas Thayer, "The Bible Hell" by Dr. John Wesley Hanson.  Go to the sites given above and finally get a better view of what "hell" is and where it came from.  You will find answers to the many questions that arise from searching this out.

All those who scoff and stop up your ears and move on, to you I say that the real hell is the one that your doctrine creates in the minds and hearts of all who have been indoctrinated by it and your view of God that it creates.  THAT is hell indeed, and THAT is the ONLY hell that exists


Disappointing mystery thriller
	Sometimes I've enjoyed books by David Baldacci (WISH YOU WELL
and THE WINNER come to mind); others, such as THE LAST MAN
STANDING did little for me . . . add SPLIT SECOND, which I just
heard, to that latter list . . . it was a disappointing mystery thriller
about two disgraced Secret Service agents who come together to
solve two campaign-trail crimes . . . I cared little about any of the
characters, and there were far too many subplots floating around
for my taste . . . the ending also didn't do much for me, as it brought
too many separate threads together in too quick a fashion . . . lastly,
I did not particularly "buy" the man behind the crimes; he just wasn't
all that believable.