Book Description
A beautiful, successful and privileged seventeen-year-old, Carlana Stone Lawson had it all: she was a gymnast, cheerleader and president of her class. In a moment of bad judgment, she got into a car with some friends in Dallas, Texas, after a night of drinking. A terrible accident occurred, and everyone walked away unscathed except for Carlana, who never walked again.

This is Carlana's story of how she dealt with and overcame adversity. In the telling of it, she also shows how adversity can be successfully conquered in many areas, including divorce, loss of job and livelihood, survival of abuse, losing a loved one, devastating midlife crisis and battling breast cancer.

Today, Carlana, though wheelchair-bound, skydives, skis, and at thirty-four, has married the man of her dreams. This book will make you weep, laugh and, above all, inspire you. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Great Book
I ordered this book, for I seen it in a plane and pilot magazine.The author of this book, who is disabled, is not only a disabled young woman, but she is a pilot too.I thought it was awesome that someone had went beyond the odds for herself and never stopped believing in herself. Great book.

Standstill
This book is a hard to read book.I just haven't been able to get through it and I am not sure I will.I do admire Carlana for all she has been through with greatness.

Biography / Self-help
I'm a recent college grad, and believe that I am going through the stage called the "Quarterlife Crisis." I'm trying to find myself, and make sense of what is happening with me, and around me during these first few years of my twenties. I saw this book while I was vacationing in Anchorage, Alaska, and I flipped through it because the title of the book caught my eye. This book is not only about Carlana's struggle with her disability, but I especially like the self-help exercises that she included after each chapter. They make you examine your life, and realize that you cannot stop living no matter how tough life can be. Although this book has some grammatical errors and omitted words, Carlana's overall message ishelping me to understand that I need to keep going, and to accept the challenges that life brings.

amazing and inspiring story
At 17, Carlana Stone was an active gymnast, cheerleader, and social leader at her school. One night of bad judgement changed everything when she drove home with drunken friends. They got in a car accident and she was paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of her life.

With incredible honesty and candor, Carlana tells us the story of how she never gave up on herself and realized her dreams - even using her disability to make those dreams come true. Carlana truly gives hope and inspiration to everyone - and especially women - that we do not have to be victims and that we can make our lives what we want them to be.

Inspiring Story..One which EVERYONE should read!
What an incredible story! Carlana makes you realize that life throws its punches, but you can definitely make positive choices that will make you happy in life. And now, her newest accomplishment of being the FIRST AMERICAN PARAPLEGIC WOMAN to FLY SOLO exemplifies her determination and gusto for life. Her story alone is motivational, but the lessons and suggestions with each chapter make it a cut above the rest! Kudos to this amazing woman.. ... Read more

Book Description
In his fourth poetry collection John Edward Lawson combines his previously displayed penchant for both horrifying subject matter and literary sensibilities. Ranging from the humorous to the surreal, the profane to the deeply personal, The Troublesome Amputee will remove parts of you that you didn't even know you had. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Opened my eyes to poetry's possibilities
Poetry is subjective. It is probably the most subjective form of creative expression. It is nearly impossible to predict what poem an individual will appreciate, even if you know their past likes, just because poetry affects each person in a particular way. In any other form of writing, there are rules to be followed, even if they are just the basic rules of grammar and punctuation. Only in poetry is the author allowed -- nay, encouraged -- to throw all perceived rules out the window for the sake of art.

The only artists with perhaps more freedom are those who work with abstract ideas -- the product of a poet at least has to be readable to someone who speaks the language, even if the words aren't necessarily familiar. An odd subculture has developed of horror writers who are also poets. Who knows why these delvers in the depths of the soul choose to express themselves in verse as well as prose, but the horror community fully supports their efforts. There has even been a Bram Stoker Award for poetry since 2000, and even though many of the same names recur each year, there are always enough collections produced to fill out the nominations.

Dark poetry's practitioners are some of the more respected names in the field, so don't think these are just fly-by-nighters trying to foist their high-school musings on an unsuspecting public. Including The Troublesome Amputee author John Edward Lawson, some names horror fans will surely recognize are Tom Piccirilli, Charlee Jacob, and Michael A. Arnzen (who wrote the introduction to the present collection) -- Stokers winners all for at least one volume of poetry (in addition to their novels)!

John Edward Lawson is an author, editor, and publisher. As editor-in-chief of Raw Dog Screaming Press, he has been responsible for not only bringing terrific new voices like Matthew Warner and Ronald Damien Malfi much-deserved attention, but also is a forerunner of the bizarro movement. More importantly to this review, however, Lawson is also a poet with four collections to his name. As Michael Arnzen states in his introduction, the poems here are for the most part about loss, and the book is divided into three sections, each titled with a different aspect of limb loss: (1) Apotemnophilia (desired amputation in order to overachieve despite the handicap), (2) Acrotomophilia (or "stump fetish"), and (3) Disarticulation (amputation via the joint instead of cut bone). The metaphor is not so hard to grasp. The first section contains primarily the horrific pieces, the second section's contents are primarily the funnier ones, and the more political works are in the third.

All poetry tries to reflect areas of human experience, dark poetry just limits itself to life's more unpleasant aspects. Among the many subjects covered in The Troublesome Amputee are abortion ("Visiting the AbortAretum"), online snuff films ("No Protection, or: Trojan Strikes Again"), culture misappropriation ("Full of Flava"), grief ("Casket Climber"), and even fad diets ("Infomercial"). But through all the troubling descriptions, Lawson keeps a sharp sense of humor, which makes the often depressing subject matter easier to handle (and sometimes even pleasant). For example, in "Jung's Diet," Lawson describes a group of doctors' interest attaching electrodes to a woman's ovaries so they can see "the dreams of human eggs." After a short description of the results, however, he ends with, "It wasn't long before the scientists decided to detach those electrodes" -- understatement at its best. Following "Jung's Diet" are a series of limericks with their own sort of appeal that Edward Lear never even considered.

Other highlights are "Hairy Trigger," which follows the circular thinking of an almost-troublemaker, and "Marvels of Horror," which turns Lawson's skewed vision on the much darker side of comic book heroes. "Plunder Revisited" shows off some pirate wordplay. "Lovable Lamb Chop the Mutilator vs. Super Virgin Dragon Girls" is a wonderful exercise in absurdity (with just a pinch of scatology). But nothing compares with the rampage of the "homeless zombie tongues" in "Will Work for Food," a surprisingly rereadable bit that just may be the best example of Lawson's peculiar vision.

Arnzen's introduction helped me out a lot with The Troublesome Amputee. Understanding the underlying theme makes a poem more readily accessible to the inexperienced poetry reader (like me). After all, this isn't anything like the poetry we studied in school, so it requires a different mindset to get around. The title work, "The Troublesome Amputee," is a highly visual (and relatively long, giving us an opportunity to really get into the topic) disturbance -- a narrative verse of a daily struggle that occurs in a familiar setting and yet is like nothing you would ever want to experience.

The result of all this is that I believe I am now a Lawson convert. The Troublesome Amputee has opened my eyes to new possibilites in poetry, and I am eager to seek out more of his work. Lawson has a way of getting under my skin with his words, making them memorable long after the pages have closed. That said, I wouldn't recommend reading many of the poems in one sitting; there are so many ideas and images that come so quickly that I needed time in between readings to process things properly. Too much is bound lead to some sort of mental or emotional overload.

A Bizarro Genius
I never considered myself a fan of poetry until my clammy hands groped the pages of John Edward Lawson's collection, The Troublesome Amputee.His voice is unique, unlike anything or anyone.Lawson has a vast comprehension of humanity, an understanding of its morbid normality, which can be found within the bizarre, the humorous and the pleasingly cloaked political poems composed here.He is honest in his words, unafraid to scream the unspeakable, beautifully crafting in intricate detail that which some would and should and will call a bizarro genius. ... Read more

Book Description
John Bauer's original and evocative illustrations bring these classic Swedish folk tales to life.

This collection includes: "When Mother Troll Took in the King's Washing"by Helena Nyblom; "The Magician's Cape by Anna Wahlenberg" by Elsa Beskow; "The Seven Wishes" by Alfred Smedberg; "The Ring"by Helena Nyblom; "Stalo and Kauras" by P. A. Lindholm; and "The Maiden in the Castle of Rosy Clouds" by Harald Ostenson.

Those who love Swedish folk tales won't want to miss this beautifully illustrated book of timeless stories. (Ages 7-10) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Swedish Folk Tales
My 9 yr old son loves the stories in this book.He is very interested in dwarves, fairies and the like, so this book is perfect for finding out more about them.I would highly recommend this book.

outstanding: very readable; beautifully written and illustrated
This book far exceeded my expectations.The illustrations are not just beautiful, imaginative, and magically evocative; they are plentiful, too, with one on nearly every other page.The tales are well constructed and wonderfully readable in this translation.I assume they are 19th century art tales, but they are in the folk tradition and they keep to a standard stable of fantastic creatures (usually trolls, sometimes also tomtes or gnomes or elves).I would have liked a bit more bibliographic and biographical information on the writers (not just on the remarkable John Bauer), but this is a quibble that maybe a future printing can fix (along with the occasional typo).

Quibbles aside, I recommend this collection most highly.I read it out loud to an almost-four year old daughter and a five-and-a-half year old son and they love it.Princesses, trolls, brave and clever peasants making their way in the big world: what more could one wish for?

In short, the stories are a good length for reading aloud, the pictures are plentiful, and altogether this is a truly enjoyable book.I don't write many reviews, but I had to sing the praises of this gem.

Excellent!
The illustrations and the stories are a wonderful combination, and they converge to make this book truly a "must have".In fact, I ordered one copy for my daughters to share at Christmas, and then after seeing it, I ordered 2 more copies so that they could each have one of their own to keep.It's that good!I prefer these tales over the Grimm's fairy tales (though those are very good) but there is something simply spellbinding about these.And John Bauer's illustrations -- what can I say?Pure magic.I have since looked for more folk tales from this area of the world, and for more works llustrated by Bauer, but really there is nothing like this book out there.If your child loves to hear a good tale you can't go wrong with this book.Buy it, and I guarantee that you won't regret it.

Fantasy, Whimsey & Pathos
Fantasy, whimsey & pathos- all the ingredients to wonderful tales for young and old are here in full measure.John Bauer's illustrations were for me a previously unknown treasure.They capture the beauty and grotesque elements of legend and folklore with the playfulness of a Dulac or Rackham.If only Bauer had lived, what more wonders could he have created?Some of the finest Swedish authors are included in this collection as well, including the superlative Elsa Beskow.Share this collection with a child as well as yourself.

A wonderful treasure - so glad it's back in print!
John Bauer's wondrous magical illustrations are matched by the marvelous tales in this book. "The King's Choice" and "The Queen" are especially lovely. Our family's copy from the 1970s is nearly in tatters, it has been so loved. I know what our children will be getting for Christmas this year! ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description
"Poor John!" she was murmuring. "I am sure it was the wearing cark of money troubles that killed him. Still, he is in heaven now. But the clergyman said in his sermon that heaven was only a pretty fairy tale." She wept anew. ... Read more

Book Description
Through years of teaching experience, John S. Lawson and John Erjavec have learned that it doesn't take much theoretical background before engineers can learn practical methods of data collections, analysis, and interpretation that will be useful in real life and on the job. With this premise in mind, the authors wrote ENGINEERING AND INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS, which includes the basic topics of engineering statistics but puts less emphasis on the theoretical concepts and elementary topics usually found in an introductory statistics book.Instead, the authors put more emphasis on techniques that will be useful for engineers. With fewer details of traditional probability and inference and more emphasis on the topics useful to engineers, the book is flexible for instructors and interesting for students. ... Read more

Book Description
The hymns of Charles Wesley (17071788) have given voice to the worship of generations of believers in all Christian traditions. Wesley is without a doubt one of the best known Christian songwriters of all time. As an Evangelical believer, his songs are absolutely saturated with biblical theology, references, and allusions. Sadly many modern worshippers miss the depths of Wesley's hymns because they fail to catch the many echoes of Scripture contained in them. In this classic study, John Lawson providesan entry and introduction to Christian doctrine through Wesley's hymns. The book is organized around fiftythree short chapters on theological doctrines such as God the Sovereign Creator, Revelation, the Divine Son, Christ our High Priest, the Holy Spirit, grace, and holiness. Each brief chapter provides a succinct introduction to Wesley's thinking on the topic followed by a few hymns that focus on that same topic. The hymns are annotated with many biblical references to help readers uncover the Scriptural thinking behind the songs. Wesley was committed to seeing his hymns as a means of teaching Christian truths and in this book John Lawson helps a new generation appreciate the rich conncetions between worship and theology. ... Read more