Product Description
John Denver’s poignant lyrics of the birth of a dolphin are both a lullaby and a paean to "dolphin kind," as adapted in this gorgeous picture book. Denver embraces the unique, almost mystical quality of a baby dolphin as "giving hope to life as all we must." Hardback edition includes the musical score and a CD of John Denver singing this beautiful song. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Great for school libraries too!
As a school librarian, I have used this with kindergarten classes, special education students, and an autistic class.The soothing music and beautiful pictures of the dolphins and other sea life held the children's attention.Not often do classes clap in appreciation for a book at its conclusion!

Ancient Rhymes - Just beautiful
This book and CD are absolutely beautiful. I recently gave it to my godson at his christening - I also sang the song during the ceremony. The pictures are so inspired and match John Denver's words just perfectly. Thank you for gifting us with such a treasure, I'm going to have to order another one for my book shelf too.

Beautiful pictures to go with beautiful words
I love this book. I bought it for my daughter's first Christmas because it reminded me a lot of my pregnancy and birth of her.She is now one and not that interested in reading it yet, but I'm sure she will grow into it.

John Denver's Ancient Rhymes:A Dolphin Lullaby(John Denver Series)by Christopher Canyon
It is a wonderful book and the illustrations are great.We had Christopher Canyon at our school.It also has a CD with it and it is great also.

Deftly adapted and beautifully illustrated
Deftly adapted and beautifully illustrated by Christopher Canyon, Ancient Rhymes: A Dolphin's Lullaby showcases singer/songwriter John Denver's song "Ancient Rhymes" which he composed in 1991 after the experience of swimming with dolphins. Also available in a hardcover edition (158469064X, $19.95) which includes an accompanying CD and Score, Ancient Rhymes: A Dolphin's Lullaby is confidently recommended to the attention of school and community librarians, and anyone of any age who admires John Denver's music or who has ever wanted to swim with the dolphins themselves!

... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

not as good as the "White Mountains"
I sought this out because of the great admiration I have for Christopher's Tripod Trilogy.In fact, I'll pick up a book of his whenever I come across one.

Unlike "No Blade of Grass" (written for adults), "The Lotus Caves" is pitched to the same age range as the Tripod Trilogy.

It also features the disciplined style you saw there, but the story is not nearly as good.This is likely because "The White Mountains" hooks you early with the bizarre mystery of the capping and the Tripods, whereas in this one, the mystery takes a lot longer to get off the ground (i.e., p. 74-5).

Then there is the fact that the story doesn't really lend itself richly to allegorical interpretations, as the Tripods trilogy did, or at least "The White Mountains" did.Unless the moonbase is a metaphor for conventional society and the Plant a metaphor for what it's like to free yourself with drugs?I don't know.It was written in 1969.

What is Freedom?
This story of two boys having an adventure on the lunar surface is a first-rate piece of science fiction.Like L'Engle's "Wrinkle in Time," though ostensibly for younger readers, Mr. Christopher's work is much deeper than it otherwise appears and can be profitably read by both children and adults.It is the rare and talented author who can pull that off successfully.The touchstone of fine science fiction, in any genre, is whether the story ages gracefully--hard to define, but you know it when you see it.Originality is also essential, nothing says cheesy quite like the umpteenth Star Wars ripoff; I am your father!Save understandably mistaken speculation on the future of Pan-Am and global telecommunications, Kubrick's 2001 could be released today over 30 years later and still seem fresh--both because it was original and because it was absolutely faithful to the world it purported to represent.So too is Lotus Caves, in fact, I'm hard-pressed to think of an analogous story--though perhaps there is a flavor of Forbidden Planet in the idea of unlimited available resources.

Lotus Caves presents the genie who can grant your wishes--whether the genie is an alien or advanced technology, the question remains as to whether we require adversity and hardship in order to thrive and experience true happiness.The story presents overlapping themes in this direction and the strength of the writing is evident in the degree to which the various characters' experiences reinforce each other.

Science-fiction is an excellent storytelling medium because the author can set up a world ready made for his plot.Here we have two young boys growing up in a lunar settlement--bored and looking for new experiences and adventure while at the same time pushing the limits of their freedom and the rules of the society in which they live.What they find is going to teach them something about having what you wish for.

What is even better is that you can give this great little book to a young reader and not worry about the profane dialogue and R-rated material that seems to infest more recent works.

The beginning of great Science Fiction
I remember checking this book out from the public library oh so long ago when I was a child.I loved this book and all of John Christopher's books when I first read them as a pre-teen and re-read them again and again as I was growing up.John Christopher's books are what made me a Science Fiction fan.I love stories of people living on other worlds or on this one altered a bit by some circumstance or another.This book and all of John Christopher's will make you look at the world and question the norm.Is freedom really freedom or is just a nice captivity?

I'm trying to gather all of his books so that my children can read them now...not so easy a task.If only I'd known then how difficult it would be to put all these pieces of literature together some day.After reading them so many times you feel that they will always be at your fingertips when you want to read them again.But sadly, some of them are rare and impossible to find.

Wow!
Well, I liked the idea of how they lived up on the moon, and how they lived. It was neatly written and everything was good. But I didn't understand one part. I can't say it, but it didn't make sence. Still, thisis a good book, and if you can find a copy, see if you can read it!

Under the surface...
Life on the moon is boring. People live in a constant, artificial environment called the Bubble, where nothing can afford to be wasted. Marty was born on the moon, and he had never been to Earth. He makes friends witha misfit called Steve. They steal a crawler and go joyriding outside theBubble.

When the crawler crashes through the moon's surface they find avery strange world indeed...

This is an interesting book about life inthe future, but it wasn't as action packed as the Tripods Trilogy. Maybebecause there aren't as many characters, or there isn't as much varietywith location.

The book waspublished the same year Neil Armstrongbecame the first person to set foot on the moon. The Lotus Caves is setnearly 100 years after that event.

It's an interesting idea that verdantbeauty could exist beneath something so arid and featureless. But recentlyscientists discovered water beneath the moon's surface, so maybe JohnChristopher wasn't so wide of the mark with this story. ... Read more

Product Description
One of a series of top-quality fiction for schools. Orphaned by a car crash, Neil finds himself facing an even greater crisis as a deadly virus sweeps the country, eventually leaving only him and two girls alive in London. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Would you be a hero?
Neil Miller is a teenager much like any other. He has a reasonably loving family, and while they are not rich, they are also not poor.Then one day the Millers set out on a short trip down the motorway to visit Neil's grandparents in the small village of Winchelsea.Suddenly a lorry jack-knifes across the road and the Miller's car smashes full-pelt into it.Everyone, except Neil, is killed.Neil goes to live with his grandparents in Winchelsea.He starts school again in the nearby town of Rye.He and his grandfather return to the Miller's house to collect a few essentials and mementoes, then leave never to return again.Life seems to go on for Neil but really he lives in a numb, empty world.He cannot make new friends at school.He does his schoolwork as a distraction, to fill up the time, rather than out of interest.If anything Neil becomes more cynical about life and people, though perhaps more realistic. Then one day on the news Neil hears about the Calcutta Plague.It strikes the elderly, seeming to make them even older overnight.Quickly the disease spreads to other places and alarmingly begins to infect younger and younger people.Surely Neil and his grandparents will be safe in England, in little Winchelsea?But swiftly, mercilessly the plague rushes closer and closer.Who will survive and how many?Is the end of civilization near?

The theme of apocalypse and survival is common in science fiction and this novel could have been just one more, a basically run-of-the-mill story.Christopher, however, turns the standard formula on its head.His tale is not one of heroism and endurance against all odds; rather, it is a catalog of not-coping, bad-luck and misadventure.In real disasters there are certainly those who shine as examples to us of the heights the human spirit can reach to, but how would most of us ordinary people react?Christopher thinks not well.Even Neil, the main character of the story, is able to go on because he has already been numbed by personal tragedy.The events of the cataclysm drift by him as a fog of meaningless happenings.Certainly Neil is upset by further deaths, but not really upset, as we might realistically expect.Interestingly the reader does not dislike Neil for his callousness.Instead we understand him and sympathize.

Christopher's succeeds in creating memorable characters and Clive, for one example, stands out as an amiably eccentric, but strangely threatening individual.Clive is slightly mad and Christopher has captured this illness and irrationality well.Neil, however, is the only character who develops as he gradually thaws from his numbness.

The story proceeds at an interesting pace and as soon as the details of one circumstance have been adequately explored we move on to a new occurrence or new character. This means that the story is to a certain extent episodic and that some of the characters remain cameos.Each episode receives at least two chapters though, so we do not feel that any incident is treated trivially.

As we have noted above apocalyptic plots are common in science fiction and indeed can be traced back as for as Mary Shelley's (1826), where civilization is also whipped out by a plague.We are also reminded of Richard Jefferies' (1885) with the vegetation covering the remains of lost culture.H. G. Wells' (1898) with its maladaptive Preacher and Engineer episodes can also be quoted.Robert O'Brien's (1976) is an example of a good, contemporaneous teen-novel with a similar theme, although in that book the disaster is nuclear holocaust.

All in all is not a bad effort and will certainly entertain the intended audience (who may not have read the many look alike works).Christopher's extended exploration of the psychology of disaster (maladaptation and anti-heroism) make his book different from the rest.

Recommended
Very enjoyable, engrossing, quick read. Perhaps the only criticism I can think of is that it was too short... I didn't want it to end yet. Even at that, it was a complete story that didn't feel rushed. I certainly didn't mind that it was written for a young adult audience... and perhaps the only recognizable indication that it was written for that audience is the length of the novel. Both the characters and the whole story felt very well developed. Highly recommended for fans of the PA genre.

masterpiece of young adult fiction
It's too bad that fiction written for young adults is also written off by literary critics - if not, I couldn't imagine a work deserving higher praise than Christopher's "Empty World," which accomplishes the near-impossible task of rejuvenating the stale genres of coming-of-age novel, apocalyptic novel, and survival novel, all wrapped up into a touching, insightful, and compelling story.

The power of Christopher's fiction relies largely on a simple device: his heroes are never the biggest, strongest, or even smartest in their environments.They are usually quiet, unassuming, and have the great misfortune to be witnesses and unwilling participants in Events (often catastrophic).In the most heartbreaking scene in "Empty World," the hero finds another boy his age who has just committed suicide, only to realize that that boy was otherwise more intelligent and more capable of survival than he.With these kinds of realizations generating the plot, you can see that this is no ordinary teen fiction.

In "Empty World", the hero is emotionally dead long before a devastating virus sweeps the planet clean - and he begins to come alive (metaphorically) only after the rest of the world dies off (literally).His quest to find survivors turns into a near-parody of Sartre's "Huis Clos," as they struggle with their ability - or inability - to live together at all.

It's an amazing work from start to finish, full of beautifully painted atmosphere, well-drawn characters, leisurely pacing, and a helluva emotional wallop.Such a pity that the book is so difficult to find anymore.:-/

Great Book
Read this first as a 14 year old and at that age it made a real impression on me, more so than the classics you get fed at that age. I was reminded of this great book a while ago when I moved to Dulwich (the setting of the family home for the lead character)
Just having turned 30 and with a stressful job in the city I felt the need to be 14 again for an evening. I went in search of a copy yet was disappointed to find the book out of print and not in any library close-by. The copies available from booksellers came at a price but I parted with my hard earned cash and once again enjoyed Empty World. I wouldhighlight the parallels between adolescence / turning 30 /standing looking out on the threshold of responsibility, feeling lonely and vulnerable but there are people who could do a much better job then me. To sum-up, well, its a great book.
I will be lending my copy to mates if I see them getting wound too tight, but only if they can promise not to bend the page edges...

Scary, but possible
Young Neil Miller is orphaned following a car accident of which he is the sole survivour. He goes to live with his grandparents and whilst there, civilisation is almost entirely wiped out by a plaguee of pregoria. This is a disease which causes premature ageing in younger people. Neil must learn to survive alone and meets two girls in London and the fact that 'three is a crowd' makes for an interesting conclusion... ... Read more

Product Description
By car, mini-van, pickup and motorcycle, members of a family take beautiful, nostalgic country roads to a family reunion. Up, down and around the hills of West Virginia, they all head for a hoedown, hayride, and good food at Grandma and Grandpa's place in the country! Illustrator Christopher Canyon brilliantly adapts John Denver's famous song for children of all ages. It's all about country, it's all about music, and it's all about family. (The hardback edition comes with a CD of John Denver singing Take Me Home, Country Roads! This is the third title in Dawn Publications' John Denver & Kids Book Series.) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

great illustrations!
Reviewed by Max Aures (age 4) and Mom for Reader Views (09/10)

"John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads" is an illustrated version of Denver's popular song.

Max:

"I like this song! {sings}`Country roads, take me home to the place, I belong.West Virginia, mountain mama, take me home...'The pictures in the book were really cool. They look different than other books that we read.There are a lot of things in them too!My favorite picture was the one with the train."

Parent's comments:

I have decided there is nothing cuter than seeing my 4-year-old walk around the house randomly starting to sing "Take Me Home, Country Roads."The song is definitely stuck in his head after reading this book.The illustrations in "John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads" are absolutely wonderful and so much fun to look at.What a great way to introduce the music of John Denver to a child!

Take Me Home, Country Roads
Have purchased a copy for self & others for gifts..So, we must like it alot!

Perfect Gift
We had a family reunion in West Virginia and this was the perfect gift to give the families that had children! Colorful pictures and a great song!

Country Roads book/audio
The quilted pictures are wonderful and the drive beautiful.However, the music is not the original recording.

TAKE ME HOME,COUNTRY ROADS BOOK
This is a great book based on the John Denver song of the same title.Has full color pictures and is a great tributeto West Virginia. A great addition to any John Denver collection and a great book for children. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an incredible story. The author, a failed, alcoholic Wall Street trader, had retreated to a monastery. It, too, was failing. Then, one fateful day, Brother Ty decided to let God be his broker--and not only saved the monastery but discovered the 7 1/2 Laws of Spiritual and Financial Growth. Brother Ty's remarkable success has been studied at the nation's leading business schools and scrutinized by Wall Street's greatest minds, but until now the secret to his 7 1/2 Laws of Spiritual and Financial Growth have been available only to a select few:

• 87 percent of America's billionaires

• 28 recent Academy Award winners

• Over half the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize

• No members of the U.S. Congress

Now, for the first time, Brother Ty reveals the secrets he has gleaned from the ancient texts of the monks, and tells how you can get God to be your broker. God Is My Broker is the first truly great self-help business novel. Open this book and open your heart. It will change your life.Amazon.com Review
The whole point of a monastic existence is to put aside worldly things. Brother Ty, the narrator of God Is My Broker, has put them aside with a vengeance, and his task is all the more impressive when you consider just how many he used to possess. "I had traded the life of a Wall Street trader," he tells us, "for the contemplative life, my briefcase for a rosary, the roar of the trading floor for Gregorian chant." Hunkered down in a rural monastery, he seems finally to have escaped the iniquities of Mammon, along with rush-hour traffic and a major drinking problem.

A vow of poverty, however, isn't what it used to be. The monastery of Cana is falling to pieces. And Cana Nouveau--the wine the brothers have always produced to sustain themselves--has hit a new, undrinkable low. As the desperate abbot looks to Deepak Chopra and Anthony Robbins for advice, Brother Ty begins to get financial tips from the Supreme Insider: "That day God had revealed Himself to be our broker." Sometimes, of course, the Lord speaks in mysterious ways. Even a stray line from the Song of Solomon may encourage the narrator to take a flier on Apple Computer stock: "Comfort me with apples. It sounded like a 'buy' recommendation to me." By heeding his divine broker at every turn, however, Brother Ty manages to transform the monastery into a financial powerhouse. His story amounts to the funniest bit of ecclesiastical satire since J. F. Powers's Morte D'Urban. What's more, the authors send up the entire self-help industry with hilarious expertise, concluding God Is My Broker with what even Deepak Chopra would recognize as a home truth: "The only way to get rich from get-richbooks is to write one." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (58)

Chris Buckley has Done it Again
Christopher Buckley is, perhaps, the first American writer to skewer every aspect of society. His political satires remind me very much of John Mortimer (Paradise Postponed, etc.). And like Mortimer, he shows no mercy to any aspect, party, or philosophy relating to politics. Although this book does not center on politics, it takes the truth of human nature, stretches it just a bit and we get on-point satire. I'm at the age when all my favorite authors are dying. Christopher Buckley gives me hope that there will be books worth reading in the coming years.

Hilarious satire on self-help literature and gurus - no stock/investment tips
This book is easy and fun to read, but it did create kinda of psychological discomfort and defense within while I was reading it, because I am a devoted fan of self-help literatures for the past ten years - from James Allen and Napoleon Hill to New Age writers and to Covey and Tony Robbins, you name it...

It's not fun to see my fond beliefs ridiculed chapter after chapert in a spoof. But as I overcame my psychological resistance and started to see things from Buckleys' perspective, I began to question my "age-old" beliefs and the effectiveness of self-help books.

It's hilarious to read some reviews here that the reviewer had mistakened this title as a business or nonfiction book. If you sample any of the 7 and half laws in the book, you would instantly laugh out loud and realize what the book is about.

Highly recommend this title to those who believe in and read tons of self-help literatures like myself. Allow me to summarize the book with its 7th law - "The only way to get rich from a self-help book is to write one." I hope you borrow/buy this book and read it with an open mind!

God is My Broker
This is a very funny story, easy to read, and leaves me feeling good.I was anxious to get back to it to see what would happen next.A lot of fun!

spiriual comedy
This short book was an incredible surprise. It is a true story of the age old tale that money does indeed corrupt. The delightfully funny and so believable telling of life inside a monastery was in itself appealing. The characters described and droll humor in the face of disaaster made for a wonderful light read. I'm not sure about the lessons to be learned at the end of the chapters. I almost thought that they took away from the story rather than completing it. Thought provoking fun. Eleanore Alter

Perfect Satire
I love Christopher Buckley so I started the book with high expectations and was not disappointed.A Wall-Street type goes to a monastery and gets a "stock tip from God" that saves the day.The book is really a send-up of self-help gurus but Buckley manages to poke fun at Catholics, the Papal Bureaucracy, Wall Street, self-help workshops, etc. etc. Plan to laugh a lot! ... Read more

Product Description
At first the virus wiping out grass and crops is of little concern to John Custance. It has decimated Asia, causing mass starvation and riots, but Europe is safe and a counter-virus is expected any day. Except, it turns out, the governments have been lying to their people. When the deadly disease hits Britain they are left alone, and society starts to descend into barbarism. As John and his family try to make it across country to the safety of his brother?s farm in a hidden valley, their humanity is tested to its very limits. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Gripping
I read this one at school many years ago, and found it a rather gripping read, and quite violent for a book in a childrens library. I would dearly love to read it again and see if it has stood the test of time!

When there is nothing to eat but each other...
John Christopher (real name Samuel Yowd) writes some pretty gripping science fiction novels about alien invasions (The Tripod trilogy) catastrophic shifts in the earth's weather (The Long Winter) and terrifying tales of the savagery that humans revert to when civilization breaks down (A Wrinkle In The Skin)-- potent stuff indeed. His books share with JG BALLARD a fascination for post-apocalyptic settings but are also psychological character studies about how people change to fit their environments. This book is perhaps Christopher at his starkest and most frightening. A man simply tries to take his family safely out of London to his brother's farm in the North after a genetically engineered bio-weapon gets out of control and wipes out the world's food supply, causing anarchy and chaos to erupt all over the globe.

I love it when the world gets it!
This isn't the latest book I've read but it is probably the best book I have read in a long time. It's a basic end of the world story. Some disease attacks plants of the grass family, eventually spreading across the whole world wiping out a pretty hefty portion of the world's food supply. So with no wheat and no rice things get a little tense, especially when all the livestock starve to death. And so it goes. All of it. And, like all such stories, there is a band of survivors seeking salvation; in this case a brother's natural fortress of a valley farm.

The action isn't particularly quick but I was on the edge of my seat pretty much the whole way through the book. It's not that it is suspenseful (I had figured the general shape of the story early on), it's how so normally some people approach this incredible disaster. Don't get me wrong, Christopher isn't a stilted writer and there are plenty of characters who act just like you would expect people to act in a whole-world-goes-belly-up situation. This story is about what happens when a bunch of people start thinking for themselves calmly and rationally about the titanic heap of crap they are in rather than wait for a festering mob of self-interested politicians to tell them what to do and that everything will be just fine. Then, these people start to act. They start tossing away social 'norms' like smelly old shoes as the situation worsens and brutality means survival. The protagonists don't actually become brutes themselves. They just figure out which brutal actions mean the difference between their next meal and going hungry. That's what kept me on the edge of my seat. The incredible tension that built up within and between characters as they consciously crawled down off the lofty moral peak of Western Civilisation into something less than barbarism, more or less intellectually intact. Christopher's writing delivers this tension right into your core.

Unlike my reviews, Christopher's descriptions aren't peppered with colourful simile and metaphor. They are crystal clear so that you really get the sense of the atmosphere. However, probably because he was writing in 1956, some events are kind of softened with contemporary euphemisms which kind of jolts the reader a little for their incongruity. But, it doesn't detract so much from the book as a whole and it's probably a better book for not having absolutely every detail of those events described with the same clarity as a grassless landscape. I enjoyed this book and will probably read it again.

The Death Of Grass
This is one of the few books that having read at school I have returned to read numerous times. It is a fiction about a world surving, or not, against a virus which attacks all grasses. The determination by the party of people we follow while reading the book is ruthless, yet understandable.The book really draws you in and is difficult to put down. There have been times when I have been able to liken this novel to real life, for example when the United Kingdom faced Foot and Mouth recently, and when we had the Petrol Crisis. At times like this I think back to the book and wonder, could it turn out like that? Anyone who has read the book will agree, lets hope not.

Death of Grass, a good read :)
Well, This book is one of a few books that you can't put down, it moves well, never stalls and should be put on to a reading list for schools. ... Read more

Product Description
Written by a team of Johns Hopkins practitioners, this accessible guide addresses everything about diabetes that patients need to know for good control and good health. The book offers detailed discussions of managing the disease with blood glucose monitoring, diet, exercise, and medications. 34 illustrations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Hopkins Guide to Diabetes: For Today & Tomorrow
This book was given to me by a dear physician friend and was the perfect gift to start understanding the "curse of Diabetes" in our family. I in return also had given this book to other friends that I consider could benefit of it; to learn and understand more about Diabetes, it's diagnosis, control, care to live with it, and their imminent complications when we do not follow our doctor's recommendations. This is a very thorough and easy to understand book that should be in the hand of anyone already diagnosed or when Diabetes runs in the family

Highly recommended for newly diagnosed diabetics (like myself)
This is the first book about diabetes that I read, after being diagnosed with the condition myself.It was a useful, tough-love experience.The authors discussed all of my excuses for not doing the right thing by my pancreas, and talked to me gently but firmly about monitoring my glucose levels, exercise, and nutritional therapy.A long chapter is devoted to the link between depression and diabetes, and the emotions that a patient plays through when first diagnosed.I didn't even think about the psychological effects when my various friends were diagnosed with the disease--one of them has had diabetes for over 20 years and is now giving herself insulin shots.

Sorry, Jan, CJ, Dennis, and Cathy.I had to learn the hard way about dealing with the psychological aspects of a diagnosis of diabetes.This book helped me through the various stages--I didn't stay in denial very long (evidently some diabetics pass away before admitting that they have the disease and need to treat it), but the authors did talk me out of blaming my grandmother (deceased these twenty years) for `bringing' diabetes into the family.

Incidentally, the chapter on "The Genetics of Diabetes" is fascinating.Type II diabetes (the kind you usually get when you're old and fat) is actually "much more strongly determined by genetics than is Type I."(Thanks, Grandma).

This guide was first published in 1997, before the glucose level for diagnosing diabetes was dropped from 125 mg/dl to 100 mg/dl, but the authors were already using 115 mg/dl as the criterion in their own practices.They hint that a new diagnostic specification is coming, then get on with the book.Both Type I and Type II diabetes are fully examined, along with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (which has a whole chapter to itself).

The causes of diabetes, its symptoms, and the goals of treatment are explained in very clear language--you might not like what you're reading (diabetes is for life), but you'll be able to understand it.If the book makes you too cranky, be sure to check out the part about what happened to diabetics before insulin was discovered and extracted from pancreatic beta cells.The hardest chapters for me to read were the ones on diabetic complications, e.g. "Diabetic Eye Disease," and "Hardening of the Arteries."

The information on "Living with Diabetes," "Families Who Live with Diabetes," and those dealing with health care professionals, the U.S. Health Care System (or lack of one), and "Employment and Diabetes" will probably prove to be the most useful in the long run, but I recommend reading the whole book. If nothing else, I came out of it with a whole new (and much improved) attitude about monitoring my glucose level.

Facing Your Fears
_Fear is sometimes a positive force.In moderation, it can motivate people.Realistic fear of complications can strengthen your resolve to take the best possible care of yourself...The key to making your fears work for you..is to keep reminding yourself of the positive.The power to control blood sugars...improves everyday_.(p217)

Two months ago, I was diagnosed with diabetes. Since then, THE JOHNS HOPKINS GUIDE TO DIABETES has been my handbook and I feel fortunate that Christopher D. Saudek, M.D. and his staff have developed such a valuable tool.It is extremely easy to use, yet covers completely the topics associated with successful living with diabetes.

The Preface states, _This book grew out of our experiences in caring for people with diabetes, particularly at the self-managment program of the Johns Hopkins Diabetes Center.Much that we discuss in this book is drawn from the material used in our teaching sessions -- and indeed, from the material taught by diabetes educators throughout the country_.

I appreciate the self-management program promoted in this text._A central theme of this book is that [I] can live a long and healthy life with diabetes, but it is a dangerous disease to ignore_. (p4)I learned that the diagnosis of diabetes is objective and ammoral, based solely on the level of glucose in the blood.Knowing that it really does not matter how my blood glucose levels got to be the way they were helped me to accept that something needed to be done to control them.I was able to adjust to daily life with diabetes, learning that I can in fact cope with it.

Understanding Diabetes is the first part of this book and the first part of successfully controlling this disease.The bulk of this book is in the next part, Controlling Diabetes.Their approach to goal setting is representative of this book's healthy attitude:

_We are talking about redefining the quality of life.We admit to looking through rose-colored glasses, downplaying the things you can't do or eat that you used to love.There's no denying that some things ought to be avoided some of life's patterns ought to be adjusted.But none of this has to impair your quality of life.You have the choice.You define quality.You set the goals._ (p36)

If you are interested in controlling your blood glucose levels, this text can show you how.

There is a strong spiritual component that comes into play when changing behaviors.The task of accepting the realities of diabetes; turning from destructive behaviours and turning to life-affirming behaviours is at the crux of repentance.Moving from denial to acceptance requires an element of faith.Faith in the diagnosis, faith in the cure, and faith in ourselves that we are able to take up the task day after day with a fresh re-commitment. My experience with diabetes has strenghtened my own spiritual confidence.The hard won changes to my glucose levels has given me confidence that I will be able to control other parts of my life.

PEACE

Important information - helpfully organized
If diabetes has entered your life because of your own health or the health of a loved one you need to get a lot of information in order to control the disease as best as you can.This book is a GREAT place to start.

The book provides a good overview of what diabetes really is and why it is so destructive.But MUCH MORE important is the help it gives us in understanding how the disease impacts the way one lives.If the diabetes is responded to constructively the situation can be improved.Depending on the severity of the condition it can be improved a little bit to, in a mild case, something like normality.Most are somewhere in the middle.

The danger is to ignore the condition.This book can help make clear all the good things that can come from responding positively to the condition and gives helpful information on how to do that.And you can find specific information very quickly because the book is so thoughtfully organized.

All eye disorders and health issues are covered here
An excellent basic reference and a recommended pick for both public and school libraries, the large print edition of Dr. Christopher Saudek, et.al.'s Guide To Diabetes assures that audiences who need it will be able to read it. From handling psychological problems to dealing with daily maintenance routines, this is packed with practical information. The large print edition of Dr. Cassel's will reach a wide audience and will prove a listing contribution to libraries. All eye disorders and health issues are covered here, with treatment options and symptoms thoroughly surveyed in an easy-to-understand manner. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
This unique "autobiography" of John Muir is told in his own words, brimming with his spirit and his adventures. The text was selected and retold by naturalist Joseph Cornell, author of Sharing Nature with Children, who is well known for his inspiring nature games. The result is a book with an aliveness, a presence of goodness, adventure, enthusiasm, and sensitive love of each animal and plant that will give young adults an experience of a true hero. It is a book that expands your sense of hope, adventure, and awareness. Adults will be just as fond of this book as young readers. Cornell includes numerous "explore more" activities that help the reader to understand and appreciate Muir's many wonderful qualities. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A revealing presentation of John Muir's personality
John Muir: My Life With Nature is one of the best introductory biographies into the life of this great and influential American naturalist available to young readers today. Told in his own words, the text was compiled and aptly presented by naturalist Joseph Cornell who does full and complete justice in presenting the reader with an accurate and revealing presentation of John Muir's personality, life, thought, and accomplishment. Although designed specifically for young readers, John Muir: My Life With Nature will also be appreciated by adults with an interest in this unique and impressive man and his contributions to public awareness of the need for conservation and wildlife preservation. ... Read more

Product Description
Since its initial publication in 1970, Design Methods has been considered the seminal work on design methodology. Written by one of the founders of the design methods movement, it has been highly praised in international journals and has been translated into Japanese, Romanian, Polish, Russian, and Spanish. As Jones states in the preface: "Alongside the old idea of design as the drawing of objects that are then to be built or manufactured there are many new ideas of what it is, all very different:

• designing as the process of devising not individual products but whole systems or environments such as airports, transportation, hypermarkets, educational curricula, broadcasting schedules, welfare schemes, banking systems, computer networks;
• design as participation, the involvement of the public in the decision-making process;
• design as creativity, which is supposed to be potentially present in everyone;
• design as an educational discipline that unites arts and science and perhaps can go further than either;
• and now the idea of designing Without a Product, as a process or way of living in itself."

Customer Reviews (2)

Classic design guide
Every designer should have a copy of this book.

slightly dated now - but still the classic guide to design process.

My copy keeps getting stolen - going to have to buy a new copy.

Great recipe book for designing in teams; a classic.
Design Methods: seeds of human futuresBy John Chris Jones 1970,1980,1992

Architects, confronted in the 1950s and 1960s with design effortsinvolving many designers and many stakeholders, were forced tostudytheir methods to make them more open to scrutiny and input at all stages.By the time "Design Methods" was published in 1970, architects, engineers, and industrial designers had begun to raisetheirperspective to include a much larger picture, ranging from thedesigner'sinternal processes all the way to planetary conditions. As a society, wewere re-designing design.Many of the designmethods which Jones presentsin his "recipe book" grew from thisdesign group work.Eventoday, best practice for design teams islargely developed from methodsdescribed almost thirty years ago inthis book.

From theIntroduction:

"Jones first became involved with design methods whileworking as anindustrial designer for a manufacturer of large electricalproductsin Britain in the 1950s.He was frustrated with thesuperficialityof industrial design at the time and had become involvedwithergonomics. When the results of his ergonomic studies of user behavior were not utilized by the firm's designers, Jones set about studying the design process being used by the engineers.To hissurprise,and to theirs, Jones' analysis showed that the engineershad no way ofincorporating rationally arrived at data early on inthe design processwhen it was most needed.Jones then set to workredesigning theengineer's design process itself so that intuitionand rationality couldco-exist, rather than one excluding the other."

This cooperation ofmultiple faculties seems to be a consistentthread throughout hiswork.

"Design Methods" is divided into two parts.

Part onegives a brief history of design, argues that new methodsare needed fortoday's more complex realities, breaks down thedesign process into threestages, and shows us how to choose adesign method for each stage.The1992 edition has added severalprefaces which are well worth reading. Theyhelp explain how to usethe book.

Part two consists of descriptiveoutlines, or recipes, for 35 designmethods. These methods include:logical, data gathering, innovative,taxonomic, and evaluative procedures.Reading part one gives you agrasp of the book. After that, the methods inpart two are best readsingly or a few at a time, as you would any recipebook.

* * * * *

Jones breaks design down into three stages: 1) Divergence, 2) Transformation, and 3) Convergence.

The divergencestage is ".. extending the boundary of a designsituation .. to havea large enough, and fruitful enough, searchspace... The objectives, andthe problem boundary, are unstable andtentative.Evaluation is deferred.Every effort is made to escapeold assumptions, and absorb new data."

The territory of the problem is tested to discover limits, consequences, and paradoxes.The questions are:What is valuable? Whatis feasible?What is dangerous? Where are the dependencies betweenelements?What are the penalties for getting it wrong? Are the rightquestions being asked?

The transformation stage requires a shift ofgears.The territoryof the problem has been mapped.Operative wordshere are:eliminate,combine,simplify,transform, modify.

"This is the stage when objectives, brief, and problem boundaries are fixed, when critical variables are identified, when constraintsarerecognized, when opportunites are taken and when judgements aremade. [Itis] pattern-making, fun, flashes of insight, changes ofset...Pattern-making .. is the creative act of turning a complicatedprobleminto a simple one by .. deciding what to emphasize and whattooverlook."

At the last stage, convergence, "the problem hasbeen defined, thevariables have been identified and the objectives havebeen agreed.The designer's aim ...[is to] reduce the secondaryuncertaintiesprogressively until only one of many possible alternativedesigns isleft... Persistence and rigidity of mind is a virtue:flexibilty andvagueness are to be shunned."

Convergence can bedone, as a programmer would say, from the topdown or from the bottom up;or architecturally speaking, from theoutside inward or inside outward.Often the best approach is to doboth at once, and resolve differences asthe two processes meet.

* * * * *

Design today is anincreasingly social art, involving multipledesigners, and multiplestakeholders as client/sponsor, suppliers,manufacturers, distributors,consumer/customer, and citizen groupsand government agencies concernedwith a shared environment, all getinto the act.Individual designgeniuses now must learn tocommunicate and negotiate effectively tosucceed in the currententerprise environment.

Advances in thecapabilites of engineers and engineering tools mustbe matched withadvances in techniques for resolving a broader rangeof issues anddemands, and more effective communication skills anddesign transformationskills among designers and design managers.

Computers will drive therole of humans in design to the earlierstages - divergence andtransformation - of the design process whereflexibility, intuition, andsoft-focus attention are required.Knowledge base systems will take overthe convergence stage, kickingthe problem back to us only when discoveredcontradictions forcere-evalution of design goals.The iteration ofcomplete designsfrom a given design problem definition will become fasteras ourknowledge base improves and as computer power increases.As thespeed of iteration increases, a threshold will be passed wherequalitativechanges in both design and designing will result.

"DesignMethods" is a seminal book which was widely credited withstimulatingfresh approaches to design thinking. It will continue tobe recognised asa classic work, and a useful text kept handy byevery drawing table, CADsystem, and engineering manager's desk. ... Read more

Product Description
In the conclusion to the trilogy set in post-apocalyptic England, Luke returns a triumphant Prince from his expedition in the North, although he loses the three things he cares about most. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

The sword of the spirits
the book is in quite good condition. It also arrived on time. I do recommend this seller.

Incredible
The first time I read The Sword of the Spirits trilogy, I was maybe twelve.But it left a strong impression on me and I reread the series every couple of years.

Luke is a flawed character.He is unable to express his feelings to those he cares about, so he comes across as aloof and uncaring.For him, though, actions speak louder than words and loyalty and honor matter more than anything else.His devotion to Hans is a key example, even when that devotion can cost him personally and politically (i.e. when he elevates Hans to captain).At the same time, anyone who betrays his loyalty drives him to seek revenge, no matter the consequences.There are both Macbeth and Hamlet qualities about him.

I appreciate the stark language of the series, and how each one builds substantially off the one before it.Whoever was the editor did an excellent job, as these books contain little fat.Overall, I think this trilogy is a masterpiece and I would like to see it reprinted in the US.It stands head and shoulders above the Tripod trilogy.

Dystopia
The Sword of the Spirits trilogy is definitely one of the most downer dystopia series ever written, especially for a young adult audience. The main character Luke has got to get an award for one of the most flawed protagonists of all time. The blood and death flows almost nonstop after the initial part of the book. A technological society was nearly brought to ruin and now only marginally survives, a superstitious husk of the humanity that once was.

Many people criticize the series for the infuriatingly pig-headed ending of it all. I think that's really one of the major points of the book. To think that so many people were killed, so many relationships were destroyed, and so many hopes shattered just so Luke could come to power -- and then he completely squanders it with his paranoia, his pride and his stubbornness in a final book that has got to be one of the most depressing tomes of all time. To think that everything that has been suffered is for naught is infuriating. We like to think (and many novelists do, as well) that suffering and strife will always bring some sort of redemption or good end, but this often simply is not the case. It's like Hamlet but with absolutely none of the nobility, purpose and honor. That's clear the author's point -- see the huge Hamlet reference in the final book.

This is the sort of series you want to shred after you finish reading it because it's just so anger-inducing.Not a classic, but it gets 5 stars for the impressions it's left on me.

A weak ending to a series that deserved better
First of all, the last sentence of the book alone drops this book's rating from 3 stars to 2. A downer of an ending is one thing, even a positive for this genre--but a self-important downer of an ending is simply annoying.

That said, the trilogy as a whole is pretty decent, just don't expect any literary masterpieces, particularly in this volume. The plot device stolen directly from Hamlet is pure cliche, and the author seems to forget how to write an even semi-convincing female character. The ending seems to show promise, getting the reader to start thinking about issues of the allure of wealth and international trade (very salient 30 years later), but the last sentence destroys any good will built up by that point. It's fine for the narrator to be down on life, but moping? It's out of character, and jarring enough to remind the reader of the (many) other flaws in the book.

hidden gem
This last book is the crown jewel in a trlogy that is a hidden gem for pre-teens. Containing that English play within a play (or book in this case) the story hooks the reader with adventure and ends in a Shakespherian twist. ... Read more

Product Description
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free.This is an OCR edition with typos.Excerpt from book:ruddenly and entirely disappeared. His heart throbbed with emotion. Was it a meteor ? Was it an optical illusion, or was it a light from the land ? As he stood trembling in his excitement, the light again beamed forth, distinct and indisputable. lie immediately called to his side Pedro Gutierrez, one of the most distinguished gentlemen of his companions. He also saw the light. They then called a third, Rodrigo Sanchez, who had been sent on the expedition as the representative and reporter of tLeir Majesties. But the light had again disappeared. Soon, however, it was again manifest, and Sanchez also saw it. Still it might be a meteor. They could not declare it to be a torch on the land. In the journal it is stated that," It appeared like a candle that went up and down ; and Don Christopher did not doubt that it was true light, and that it was on land. And so it proved, as it came from people passing with lights from one cottage to another."These gleams were so transient that not much importance was attached to them by the ship's company, though Columbus seemed to be sanguine in the conviction that it was light from the shore. The little fleet pressed on for four hours, when at two o'clock in the morning the land was first seen from the Pinta by a seaman, by the name of Rodrigo de Triana. A gun from the Plata announced the joyful news that land was discovered. Very soon the outline of the land, dark, but clearly defined, was visible from all the ships. The prom ised pension of ten thousand maravedis, to the man who should first see land, was adjudged to Columbus, though many thought it justly belonged to Rodrigo de Triana. Navarette does not seem disposed to admit that the land was discovered by Columbus. He writes:" The Admiral says that this island, Guanahani or San Sa... ... Read more

Product Description
Born in the blazing crucible of war, but sworn to fight for peace, the mysterious obsidian aviator known only by the codename Captain Midnight flies again! An ace pilot, super secret agent, and astounding scientific genius, the heroic Captain Midnight ruled the radio airwaves and starred in comic books, film serials, and a classic television series. Now, when we need him most, he has returned, along with his legendary Secret Squadron, to battle spies, saboteurs, and the mercenary armies of the evil warmonger Ivan Shark and his delectably deadly daughter, Fury. Featuring New York Times bestselling aviation novelist John J. Nance, the Captain Midnight Chronicles boasts a squadron of talented contributors, including Stephen Mertz, Robert T. Jeschonek, Mark Justice, Chuck Dixon, Robert Greenberger, Trina Robbins, Tim Lasiuta, Win Scott Eckert, Howard Hopkins, and Christopher Mills. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Impressive
As one of the authors in the collection, I was pleased to be part of the project.I cannot rank my story, but as many reviewers have noted, there is not a turkey in the bunch and each gives a reading adventure most enjoyable.

My fellow authors include Stephen Mertz, Robert T. Jeschonek, Mark Justice, Chuck Dixon, Robert Greenberger, Trina Robbins, Win Scott Eckert, Howard Hopkins and editor Christopher Mills. Vatche Mavlian proivdes some kickass illustrations.

Is this the Captain Midnight from TV, the Radio, or pages from the Fawcett comic book?

Nope.

We are Moonstone, and we wanted to update the character while preserving the essence of the man of mystery.We succeeded.

Give this great collection a readover with fresh eyes.You will love it.

Thoroughly entertaining anthology
First off, I should offer a disclaimer: I've sadly never listened to the original Captain Midnight radio show, though I intend to rectify that in the future. Thus, I am probably coming at this from a different perspective (one I don't claim to be more valid) than some of the reviewers who have criticized the anthology for drawing from various different versions of the character rather than the original show. That being said, this Captain Midnight novice enjoyed the anthology in question a good deal. While the stories in some respects have different tones (Chuck Dixon's "Captain Midnight Meets Airboy" seeming, to me at least, somewhat darker than most of the other tales, for instance), I found them as entertaining as those in the other anthologies I've read from Moonstone. The illustrations were all well-done, as well, and P.C. Hamerlinck's piece at the end offered insight into just where some of the elements in the stories herein originated. If I have one real issue with the book, it is that certain technical issues appear to have resulted in a number of odd characters appearing in Win Scott Eckert's otherwise excellent story "Captain Midnight at Ultima Thule" in place of hyphens and quote marks. Still, it is a minor complaint, and these things do happen from time to time. It doesn't detract from my enjoyment of another fine effort by Moonstone Books.

COOL NEW APPROACH . . .
The stories in this great collection take Captain Midnight in a facinating new direction.This is Captain Midnight not as old fashioned pulp, but as revitalized pulp for a new generation of readers.

Win Scott Eckert's story along with that of editor Christopher Mills are standout efforts, but there isn't a dud in the bunch.

More please!

Grab your Decoder Rings!
I admit it.... I'm a fan boy of the worse caliber, especially of the pulp era and radio show era heroes. Which means I inevitably buy a lot of... well... crap.

I'm happy to report that the *Captain Midnight Chronicles* isn't remotely part of the manure-heaped masses. I *devoured* this book in the course of a couple of days, lamented that I couldn't get a model of a twin-engined anphibian, a toy of a Nightfire or a red scarf, and then accused my mate of working for the Shark because she wouldn't make one for me...

Um... can we forget that last little part?

(The rumors of a Glider-Chute accident later in the week were false. I was... err... checking the gutters like any 40+ year old man would be...)

There's one initial warning though. If you open the volume expecting to find one slavishly singular version of Albright and his crew as opposed to another, you might be a bit disappointed. You see, The stories use an amalgamated version of Captain Midnight and his Secret Squadron - a "sum of the parts" so to speak - and incorporate elements from all various media incarnations, including the original Moore/Burtt radio scripts, the movie and television serials from Columbia and Screen Gems (partial aired as Jet Jackson, the name changed because of a rights dispute with The Wander Company), the Dell and Fawcett comic books, and the Chicago Sun comic strip.

That's 20 years of history and stories, and a lot of incarnations, but the writers take pains to keep constancy with the help of Christopher Mills. Every time Red hits the pages (bad guys?) you'll see the things you liked about him, regardless of the source.

Now, I'm not saying the the volume is perfect. Like any publication there usually a glitch or two the slips through. As an anthology, there are different writing styles and very rarely will a reader not bump into a story that doesn't quite "jibe" with him. I also found that, for example "Black Dragon" and "At Ultima Thule," had some issues technically that could have made the stories a bit easier to read. Having not read other Moonstone volumes (although several have not been added to my Wish List :) ), I can't say if this is something in the company or this specific collection. I would encourage a little more care in the the technical editing of future "episodes."

I found that, with the exception of the editing issues, the stories were highly enjoyable and extremely faithful to the body of Captain Midnight work *as a whole.* It was a well rounded and thoughtful collection of stories, much like the original audio plays, but not limited to them. Were the physics exact... well, I'm not a pilot, retired or otherwise. But I am a long time fan of the pulp radio drama heroes and I don't see a thing wrong with the book.

MY advice to newcomers, detractors, and fans of Captain Midnight, for what it's worth (besides not trusting reviews that take a solely negative views and then pitch another product. 8D )... check it out and read with an open mind and a light heart...

... You'll be glad you did.

Oh... one last thing. How many boxtops for my Code-O-Graph again?

Fake
I know all the Captain Midnight radio and television episodes found and issued to date, and have the novelized radio adventures as well.There are also reprints of WWII comic strips that are pretty fair stories, plus old comic books that aren't.The latter, issued by Fawcett Publications, turned Captain Midnight into a caricature who glided through the air with a silly, flying squirrel-like "gliderchute," but those comics aren't worth considering except as collectibles based on scarcity.

For months, I had looked forward to these "Captain Midnight Chronicles" with eager anticipation.But what an awful disappointment!What resulted, instead, is a phony hack collection at the comic knockoff level.This literary bomb is drastically below the writing skills, creativity and integrity of Captain Midnight's original authors, Rob Burtt and Wil Moore, who were also retired military pilots and who did enormous research in crafting their tales."Chronicles," on the other hand, presents such inanities as an actual gremlin (from another world), an actual witch, and Atlantis in Antarctica -- not to mention changing Steele into a woman and Fury into a platinum blonde (along with erotic innuendos in relation to Midnight); plus drawing from a sorry T.V. show that even the sponsor became so embarrassed about as to require a name change for the show from "Captain Midnight" to "Jet Jackson;" and many episodes were even fully dubbed, accordingly, with dialogue and everything.A couple of the many shameful examples about the T.V. program were changing master-tech Ikky into a bumbling nerd, and even having the Captain make a 2-way radio out of a spoon!

Oh, well.For those who want the real deal, and want to enjoy why and how the genuine saga sparked millions of young and adult fans, then pick up Stephen Kallis' "Radio's Captain Midnight - The Wartime Biography" and George Garabedian's C.M. record with Sheba and Shark episodes.Or read one of the novelizations on the used circuit, such as "Joyce of the Secret Squadron."Then hope for Kallis' rumored postwar biography, which would doubtless recap how Burtt and Moore kept doing it, and rekindle an authentic direction for future, quality Captain Midnight stories regardless of time frames and technologies.

... Read more

Product Description
Glean from the knowledge, wit and wisdom of Dr. Christopher as he shares the ancient knowledge of herbal healing. Each CD expounds healing and nourishing specific areas of the body with herbs and natural healing techniques. Formerly the New Herb Lectures. ... Read more

Product Description
In the divided England of the distant future, a recently-orphaned boy flees the sprawling area known as the Conurb for the serene world of the County where the people seem to live a simpler existence. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Good Story - So Where's The Sequel
The Guardians is a good story, but ends too abruptly.You would think another book would be written to follow Rob's continuing adventures back in the Concurbs, and his role in an eventual revolution that would destroy the Guardians.

What can you say.

not up to The Tripods, but still quite satisfactory
I have never been a fan of "young adult sci fi" as an independent genre, but, having been introduced to Christoper's legendary "Tripods" trilogy (from which even the 2005 movie version of "War of the Worlds" borrowed liberally) as a young boy, I figured I'd read "The Guardians" when I stumbled across it on a library table and had two hours to kill.

Despite what many here have said, I would without compunction characterize "The Guardians" as a fast-paced adventure story. It details the adventures of one Rob Randall, a boy raised in a not-too-distant England, which has been subdivided into "the Conurb"--where Rob grew up, devolved into a bread-and-circuses-type situation where the masses can only be kept at bay through government-sponsored violence--and "the County"--where wealthy families and their live-in staffs luxuriate in nineteenth-century torpor. Afer Rob's father dies, he is spirited off to a rigorous boarding school where he runs afoul of the military-style discipline and is impelled to flight by his classmates' sadism. Rob succeeds in escaping under the legendary, underwhelming "fence" that divides the Conurb from the County. After injuring his foot and finding himself quite helpless, Rob is befriended by Mike, a well-to-do country boy who discovers Rob while out riding his horse one day. Mike's mother--discovering food missing from the kitchen and extracting the truth from a recently-fallen-ill Mike--rescues Rob and quickly incorporates him into the family. Rob and Mike are fast friends and are both quite happy until, one day, a wealthy visitor sees through Rob's thin veneer of "I'm Mike's cousin from Nepal"--backed up by Rob's having read a book or two about Nepalese customs, fauna, tourist attractions, etc.--and is about to deliver him to the authorities. We ultimately learn that, while Mike's father was long ago biotechnologically "subdued" (reminiscent of the "capping" in the Tripods trilogy), Mike is quite a rebel himself, "escaping" the superficial happiness of the County for the challenge of the Conurb. At the end of the story, a trepidation-filled Rob slips back under the fence to hunt for Mike, who provided Rob a forwarding address. The story wraps up rather too quickly, and I personally would have enjoyed following Rob's life story for at least a bit longer, yet Christopher does an admirable job of painting the essential elements of an imperfect future world and exploring the tormented psyche of a nice boy inextricably caught in that unforgiving world.

The Guardians
I read this book as a part of a study to do with books. This book deals with a lot of moral issues including thoughts on social control. In the book, John Christopher describes the place as being totally different but actually were under the same group of people who wanted to make England a better place. he shows the different ways of control and how people will go to certain extents to stage a rebellion!! This book is one of the best I have read and makes it a fantastic book for teens!!

Contented Slaves
This is an interesting story about freedom, and in particular, our ability to make choices that could affect the rest of our lives.

Rob Randall lives in the Conurb - an overcrowded urban maze, where reading and thinking for yourself is unpopular, and life revolves around sport, holovision, and riots. When Rob's father is electrocuted, he is sent to a boarding school where life becomes a nightmare of over-zealous discipline and torment.

Rob hears about the Barrier, which divides the Conurb from the rural, open spaces known as the County. Rob runs away from the boarding school and crosses the Barrier, hoping for a better life. On the surface, life in the County seems perfect. But Rob soon learned that appearances are very deceptive...

Although "The Guardians" is not as fast-moving as the "Tripods Trilogy", it's an interesting book nevertheless. Some of the things John Christopher writes about in his imaginary future are rather close to the bone. In the culture I live in, sport is treated with much more reverence than literature and the arts. There are signs that people devote less time to reading, as it's much easier to slump in front of the screen, watching sentimental drivel. More than ever, our lives are controlled by the media and a growing lack of privacy.

The two worlds John Christopher writes about here are deceptively utopian, but are in fact places where people are ruled by a cynical elite. Books like "The Guardians" remind us that the freedom we have is something we must never take for granted.

Very intresting
The Guardians Book review.

This book is about a boy called Robin Randall who is has not settled into a boarding school called Barnes Boarding school and gets teased like a normal new boy would be. He decidesto escape into the country where his mother was born. It was a harddecision to make and Rob shows his courage by crossing. It was a hardchoice due to the County and Conurb were enemies. It was set in 2053 in thefuture.

This book I think is not well paced, as to much thingshappen in one chapter, especially in the 10th chapter as to many thingshappen as Robs true identify is spotted by Sir.Percy. I also do not likethe story line, as it is very untrue but then again some readers find thatgood.

It is also a bit confusing so therefore you could get lost andconfused. It is one of those books which start of boring then get excitingfor the last 5 chapters and it finishes with you wondering what wouldhappen next. That is why I thought it would be a good idea for the authorto do another book following on as it does not finish well wondering wellMike meet Rob or not.

I recommend this book to people that likeadventures and can get really into a book.

I give it 8/10. ... Read more

Product Description
This biography views Bunyan's works in the context of the social, political and religious context of the times, concentrating on his humble origins, the revolution of the 1640s and his experience in the Parliamentary army and the trouble of censorship and persecution. Christopher Hill won the W.H.Smith Literary Award and became interested in Bunyan after giving a lecture on him in 1978, as part of Bedford's celebration of the tercentenary of the publication of "The Pilgrim's Progress". Hill is a respected historian, having written over 20 books on the 17th Century. ... Read more

Product Description
In scope and in vision Dawson's conception of history ranks with the work of men like Spengler, Northrop, and Toynbee. This classic Dawson work is a conspectus of his thought on universal history in all its depth and range. Containing thirty-one essays selected from his writings it gives a clear and fascinating picture of his achievement in helping to widen our perspective of world history and in identifying the central determinative importance of religion for the formation of Culture. For breadth of knowledge and lucidity of style [Dawson] has few rivals.... -New York Times Book Review Dynainics of WorldHistory is extraordinarily valuable, because it is much more than a Christopher Dawson compendium, or than an introduction to Dawson. It is a very carefully collected and edited quilt of Dawson's most important writings: a multicolored quilt, rather than a collection of disparate ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Impeccable
Christopher Dawson is little known and under-appreciated in Anglophone Catholic milieux when compared with Gilbert Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc, both of whom preceded him by about a generation.In the mind of this reviewer, Dawson is much more worthy of being read, mostly due to his writings being much more well-researched than those of his predecessors.

Dawson, like Weber before him, takes an interest in the religious influences on the development of Western society and Western culture.But the main interest in Dawson's work is his reviving and updating of Christian historiography, of how the ancient cultures and civilisations evolved to hand down what would be the basis for the Christian world.

"Dynamics of World History" is an excellent snapshot of Dawson's pattern of thought and an invaluable contribution to the library of a serious Roman Catholic student of history who searches for cues as to how to interpret the significance of historical events as well as what to make of particular sociological and historical phenomena:for example, are we to be romantic nostalgics for the ambiance of row-house industrial London, or should we be aghast in horror?

Also of note about these essays:Dawson was extremely prescient in observing, in the first half of the twentieth century, that the "prestige of marriage" was the only thing keeping Occidental fertility rates high and in predicting that once this prestige was lost, Europeans would find themselves replaced by peoples with less sophisticated socioeconomic structures.Jean Raspail would observe just that phenomenon in 1973 in The Camp of the Saints and nowadays, few would question that it is a reality.But let it not be forgotten who suggested it first.

History for Intelligent People
This book was bought with little previous knowledge of Dawson, and only a general idea of the subjects he discusses; but having read this book, and also now his (shorter) more strictly historical work "The Making of Europe", I know it was exactly what I needed. In fact, I feel that divine Providence was at work in my encountering this book. Thanks to Dawson, my understanding of the meaning (rather than only the bare facts) of our era of civilisation in Western Europe has been deepened. I feel I have a better grasp of the overall shape of our history, where we've come from and (therefore) where we're going. Dawson, I feel, writes with a combination of profound wisdom and sharp analysis; he is excellent on both the broader picture (more important) and the historical/sociological details and nuances (also important). Dynamics of World History is therefore historiography of the highest order. But more than this, his writings have a kind of prophetic urgency, which even after sixty or seventy years still seems to retain its power. Some people, I think, have objected to this aspect of his work- the "voice in the desert", if you like- claiming it represents too narrow and dogmatic (too "Christian") a perspective in a pluralistic postmodern age. But I believe it is this that gives his writing its tremendous force and also bestows a remarkable unity of purpose on all his work, which covers a great variety of topics and subtopics. Dawson made no secret of his religious convictions- but just as he himself says of Toucqueville, "he succeeds not despite them, but because of them."

Depth analysis of western History of facts linked to history ofwestern Thought
While I was reading the Introduction and the first chapters I realised the depth and strenghness of Dawson's stream of thought.

His conclusions, in front of those of the widespread common thinking, are sharp and have a paradoxical revolutionary point of wiew dealing with Rationalism and Cartesianism, performing a genuism Catholic thinking that collects the best tradition of English Tractarians.

I very recommend the reading of "Dynamics" to those interested in understanding the chain of historic events leading to nowadays state of affairs.

Essential reading for an understanding of western culture
This book was quite a surprise.While so many people focus on purely materialist causes for the rise of western culture, this collection of twentieth-century essays by Christopher Dawson emphasizes spiritual roots.These essays are well-written and if anything have become even more relevant with the passing of time.Though many people probably won't agree with all of his conclusions, it seems to me that a reading of Dawson's work is essential to understanding western culture.

A 'must read' for anyone interested in Catholic history.
This book is awesome!Dawson was a professor of Roman Catholic Studies at Harvard University, but don't let that scare you away thinking it will be hard to read.It is written in language that us lay people can understand and relate to in a very deep and meaningful way.Dawson is Catholic and the book will give you an incredible historical perspective through Catholicism, however it really addresses all world religions and their role in human history and culture.Religion, Dawson believed, is the great creative force in any culture, and the loss of society's historic religion therefore portends a process of social dissolution.For this reason, Dawson concluded that Western society must find a way to revitalize its spiritual life if it is to avoid irreversible decay.Progress, the real religion of modernity, is insufficient to sustain cultural health.And an ahistorical, secularized (Americanized) Christianity is an oxymoron, a pseudo-religion only nominally related to the historic religion of the West.Dawson maintains that the hope of the present age lay in the reconciliation of the religious tradition of Christianity with the intellectual tradition of humanism and the new knowledge about man and nature provided by modern science.This book shows that though such a task may be difficult, it is not impossible.If you're an active, faith loving, curious, sacramental Catholic this book will bring you to a whole new level of knowledge about your religion.This is one of those, `changed my life', kind of books in the best kind of way. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Magnificent Purchase
this book was sold to me as a second hand book, where it was marked as in good condition. when i received the book it was more like a new book which was never used.

EVEN HALF A HALOCAUST IS A BAD THING
I AGREE WITH MR K M QUIGG (SEE HIS REVIEW FOR THIS BOOK: 1 STAR, JULY 18,2008) THIS BOOK MAY WELL HAVE HALF TRUTHS.100 MILLIONS KILLED AND ENSLAVED?DOUBTFUL, IT WAS MORE LIKELY IT WAS ONLY 50 MILLION.WHAT COULD THE AUTHOR HAVE BEEN THINKING?

Avid Reader
I am pleased with this purchase which arrived in very good condition. I would recommend this seller to anyone.

A Must Read!!
This is a well written book. If the reader is thirsty for knowledge of self then this book will find its way to your hands. Only a FREE and curious mind will seek the information that Dr. Clarke has examined in this book. Good luck!

Dr. Clarke has done it again
This is a very good book although I'm not done with it yet I like Dr. Clarke's work ... Read more

Product Description
There is no monograph on Hans Hartung currently available inEnglish. The centenary of his birth is a good opportunity to repair this neglect, as well as the occasion to explore over sixty years of a creation too frequently limited to the 1950s. To survey this huge work, the book offers ten perspectives of leading art historians, curators and international artists. Each one accurately presents a new point of view that contributes to the understanding of Hartung’s work from both an inside and a historical angle.Richly documented and highly knowledgeable, this book introduces the countless challenges involved in this work and is essential for understanding the history of modern art. ... Read more