5 comments about Black Wave: A FamilyÆs Adventure at Sea and the Disaster That Saved Them.

1. If you're looking for the perfect summer read, you won't do much better than this tale of a successful San Diego real estate developer who lives out a lifelong dream by taking his perfect SoCal family of six on a sailing trip around the world, which turns into a nightmare when they run aground on a Pacific reef 350 miles due west of Tahiti, costing him his leg in the process. This first-person diary account reveals the Silverwood family dynamic on board their beloved Emerald Jane, warts and all, from John's own battles with alcoholism to Jean's control issues to the various adjustments of the kids--16-year-old Ben's longing for his friends back home and eventual emergence as a hero, 13-year-old Amelia's blossoming into a self-confident artist, 9-year-old Jack's fascination with ocean life and 5-year-old Camille's angelic innocence. There is something here that anyone with a family can relate to about escaping the rat race of modern life and taking to the high seas, anchoring in exotic ports from Bora Bora and Raiatea to Grenada and the Galapagos, crossing the Equator, sailing through the Panama Canal, being chased by pirates and surviving hurricanes with waves several stories high. The first 150 pages, narrated by Jean, describe the family's day-to-day duties, home-schooling the kids and how each one adapted to the journey, as she keeps coming back to the narrative's singular event--the wreck of the Emerald Jane on a reef in the middle of the night and the boat's giant mast pinning John's leg underneath. It's an amazing tale, with the last quarter including John's ruminations, which have him questioning his judgment and dealing with his own guilt by channeling an accident that took place 150 years ago on the very same reef that ripped apart his own sailboat. The Julia Ann, a vessel on its way from Australia to San Francisco in 1855, carrying coals from Newcastle in New South Wales, along with a group of Mormon missionaries bound for Utah, suffered a similar fate as the Emerald Jane. The story is a tribute to the family's gung-ho spirit of living to the fullest, and dealing with the consequences...as a family. "If real life catches you by the heel sometimes, it is worth it," John concludes. "Life is short anyway, so it may as well be beautiful." Not just a travelogue or a primer on sailing around the world, Black Wave is the story of a family that circled the ocean, only to find what they were looking for was right in front of them all along.



2. This is a book written from the heart, an experience of adventure, a passage through troughs and crests in a thing called life. A powerful story of how ones dreams and perseverance can manifest through hard work, faith moved into action. How the ending of the story is joy, thankfulness and peace in the midst of controversy and storm.A renewed relationship with their creator,family,friends and marriage!
   I never forget the day I was running on Sunday and spoke to a family member. An emergency signal had been sent out, we chuckled it was probably Jack pretending to be a pirate. Only Sunday evening I was speaking to the French physicians regarding the condition of John and Jean and consoling their older son Ben. Calling the family in the states to interpret the French language, making arrangements for the transition of John to a San Diego Hospital. This is a true, thrilling story of adventure which leaves you reading through the night as you cannot put the book down or me, well, deciding to read one chapter at a time savoring another well written book.
   Jeanne Stryker, MD



3. Jean Silverwood narrates a heartbreaking account of the family catamaran
   running aground and being torn to pieces on an invisible coral reef in the South Pacific, shattering not only their beloved boat, but many of the dreams that went with it.
   
   She also details the battles her husband had with alcohol and her own doubts about the trip itself.
   
   But, in the end, their courage and humanity shine through: they survive to return home, her husband undergoes more surgery on his leg and they survive the Great Firestorm of 2007 in San Diego.
   
   I can't think of a more moving account of how an average American family coped with catastrophe and disaster at sea.
   
   The ocean can be harsh and unforgiving of mistakes, but she also helps you find yourself and reservoirs of courage you never knew you had, in moments of peril.



4. A magnificently written tale. I got it in the mail after work, and had finished reading it by bedtime. You know that all the family members survived, so it's not any mystery that keeps you turning the pages. It's lots of things. A very accurate description of each moment that engage all your senses. Insightful descriptions of each "character", mostly done by describing their actions. Adventuresome little "marine biologist" Jack is my favorite. All the different ways each of them enjoy living on Earth, as well as how they deal with life. Straightforward and honest. Exciting - besides the final crash, there's storms and pirates and lots of sea creatures. Along the way it was humorous: "If we were going to die, we were going to die with our flip-flops on." (Not meant as a humorous statement, given the coral and the will to DO something, but humorous in spite of all that.) And educational, learning about what it's actually like to 'sail around the world' and learning about another ship that crashed on the same coral reef in the 1800's. It not only got my adrenaline going, but restored my spirits and my faith in human nature.



5. Amazing story of survival. If you ever dream of taking your family out of the monotony of everyday life and wish to see them learn and grow in new ways - get this book. Drama and suspense - I couldn't put it down. Would make a great movie!

5 comments about James Herriot's Cat Stories.

1. We loved this book so much, we named our two cats Olly and Ginny. 'Nuff said.



2. When I sent away for this book I had no idea that it would be so beautifully illustrated in full colour. It is a real little treasure of cat stories told in a way that only James Herriott can. I loved it.



3. James Herriot writes of his veterinary experiences as no one else could. Full of humor,sometimes sadness but always spellbinding and interesting. I could not put this book down.



4. Look you haven't heard a story read until you've heard it read by Christopher Timothy!!!! This guy could make a phone book interesting to hear read! These stories are great! They'll have you laughing and crying! So becareful if you listen in your car ;0) I was driving my 18 wheeler down a rural road in Luisiana getting all teary eyed! Scary thought, right?



5. Goes quickly, but he writes well and if you're a cat owner, you'll really develop a rapport with the cat stories in here. Not just for "cat ladies" - my husband picked it up and couldn't put it down.

5 comments about Life Is So Good.

1. I like the memoir because George Dawson never gave up his dream to read and write. George was born in the late 1800's. His parents were not slaves, but his grandparents were once slaves. George was raised in Texas. His family was poor, and he never attended school. Georges started working at a very young age, drawing water from the well each morning for the house. George worked alongside his father in the fields. The work was hard, so was their life. They had to watch what they said and went in fear of the K.K.K. Twelve year old George went to work, and stayed with a white family to help out at home. His cousins came to live with his family because their parents died, so George was needed at home. George left home at twenty-one and worked in Tennessee building levees. It was two years before he returned back home.
   
   Life is So Good is a story about George Dawson's dreams of receiving mail, learning to read and write at the age of ninety-eight, and his work ethic. I can relate to George's hard work and his work ethic. I beleive in hard work and doing it right the first time.
   
   This book is sad and tells of struggles he had to go through. It is not easy reading at first because the chapters jumped around. But overall, it is a good book to read.



2. Richard Glaubman's "Life Is So Good" is a real comeuppance for anyone whose outlook towards life runs along the lines of "I wish I had done X, but I'm too old to start now." Here's a man, George Dawson, who learned how to read at age 98. As a USA Today review aptly summarizes, "Dawson has become a literary hero, a testament to the power of perseverance." First-time author Glaubman expertly fleshes out Larry Bingham's award-winning 1998 Fort Worth Star-Telegram short story.
   
   Dawson's tales of life in the Jim Crow-era South, his unquenchable work ethic, and his travels throughout North America make for compelling reading. Here is a man who was never given a shot to read when he was younger - economic circumstances forced him into full-time manual labor at a very early age. Despite significant hardship, his optimism and sense of self-worth never waver. The title really sums it up well here. Glaubman's final words from Dawson are "Life is so good and it gets better every day."
   
   As other reviewers have noted, Chapter 1 of this book could stand alone as among the best short stories you'll ever read.



3. Even though this book was published six years ago, the message of "Life is so good" is timeless. It is a window into a world that we are all a part of, but some of us rarely see. Truly memorable! Dawson sees literacy as an incredible gift and he in turn gives the reader numerous ones in return.



4. This book enlightened me and really got to me, much more than I expected. I was delighted to read about the life of a 102-year old african american man from the south, as I am a 30-something white woman from MT. He has a lot to teach us, and a lot to remind us of and has a way of doing so that makes us thankful for what we have. George Dawson is a gem and I am pleased that someone took the time to put his story on paper. What a great book!



5. I guess some of the most important things I feel I've learned from this book is: don't dwell, take pride in your work, and focus on the power of beauty. This man (as thousands and thousands of others) had to endure more mental abuse in his life so far, then a million men, but was able and lucky enough to swim to top of that putrid pond of a life he was given and see the good in it, as fleeting as that was. I was thinking of this book as a mirror and what message I saw in it, that would be "Have a Lion's Heart" .

5 comments about Mornings On Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life, and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt.

1. The two readers for this meticulously researched biography of Theodore Roosevelt add appeal, especially when reading the parts with the southern lady or Irish accents. Well done!



2. This book is an excellent history material. For those who are studying or are just interested in American history, this a great secondary source that brings Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. to life. The style Mr. David McCullough uses is very easy to understand, and it is also very descriptive in nature which makes readers feel they were present at the scene. The only weakness is that the book limits T.R.'s life to a 19 year period, which happens before his greatest achievements. Basically, the author leaves you wanting more...
   Great choice of biography, great author, and accessable price!
   F.C, GA



3. David McCullough's writing is superb. I have to admit I liked Thedore Roosevelt better as a person in Theodore Rex. His personal correspondence in this book reveals too much about his apparent enjoyment in killing animals for my taste. IMO his image as a conservationist is tarnished by the joy he took in killing. I was especially offended by his shooting the neighbor's dog when riding his horse. If I had lived back then and he shot my dog, I can safely say it would have been the last dog he ever shot and his departure from life would have been made slow and painful...
   
   But that dislike of his joy of killing aside, he and his family were extraordinary. One cannot change history, so I go with the flow to learn more about it and the people in it...



4. I was really expecting more TR info in this book... a little more than I needed to know about his family and acquaintances and not enough about the man himself.



5. David McCullough makes Teddy Roosevelt a very dull character and this book is very slow. I stopped reading half was through.
   
   I am a big fan of David's but this book is a stinker.

5 comments about Awakening Heart: My Continuing Journey to Love.

1. I so loved Embraced by the light that I sought out other books by Betty J Eadie. This book gives the message of hope and love, but not like her first book. Still worth reading if you are a fan of Embraced.



2. The beginning of the book reiterates some of the content of Eadie's first book, "Embraced by The Light." She continues to discuss how her near death vision affected her life. "Often our dreams are full of symbolism, but they are our own symbols, some so uniquely our own that only the dreamer has the key to them," Eadie says. And as dreams are for the dreamer, visions are for the envisioned. She says it best herself, " All of my interests had changed, and I was painfully aware that my life before had been very shallow. I had a new interest now, an unquenchable thirst for greater spiritual knowledge, but I didn't know where to find it. Old friends stopped coming by; the things we had shared before--gossip sessions, parties, shopping, and, of course, the afternoon soaps--no longer held any interest for me. I had never felt more alone in my entire life." Eadie relates how before she had kept her room off limits to her children so that she could keep it clean and keep her treasures without fear of the children breaking them. The children would stand in the doorway gazing into the forbidden room. Now she invites the children in where the room is a family sanctuary. She said her ego had played a larger part in the way she was raising her children and she needed to undo the damage she had done. She did not know what to do with the knowledge she had been given and felt lost and alone. She painted the walls of the house bright colors. She lost her hearing in one ear and became depressed and experienced anxiety attacks and agoraphobia but eventually became interested in serving others and in researching herbs. She experienced visits of angels with lights and singing. She experienced incidents in which she was not kind to people and was puzzled since she thought she would not behave in such a way after her near-death experience. She heard voices telling her to pray and decided that it was for herself and perceived God as a father figure. She was separated from parents and spent her childhood in boarding schools and said she did not experience unconditional love. Eadie began to experience enhanced ability to read other people and describes it as cellular memory. She awakened to her Native American ancestry. She experienced praying what she calls the mother's prayer she had seen during her near death experience and described as beacons of light reaching into heaven. She experienced other times when family needs were radical and says that prayer is the greatest gift we have for any situation. She became angry with God when her father, husband and son were all afflicted at the same time as if God had been responsible. She attended a hypnotherapy session with a friend and decided it was her calling. She received certification and set up her own clinic and gave presentations about her near death experience. The most touching part of the book is the dream she had concerning her father's death. A person's consciousness that causes them to dream scenes of the future is indeed phenomenal. Eadie relates the details of how she wrote the first book Embraced by The Light and the phobias she had to overcome in speaking and presenting her vision to audiences. She speaks often of the ripple effect which is the fact that everything we do has some effect on many people. She speaks about unconditional love in this way: "It doesn't matter whether we wear a cross around our necks or make the sign of the cross or light candles. Whatever manner in which we choose to communicate with God is not important; these are the mechanical touchstones that we use in our faith... But what is more important than anything else, ever, is simply that we make that communication with God from the very depths of our heart and, when we share it with another person, that we do so with the purity of spirit of unconditional love." She stresses the importance of being non-judgmental, no matter how diverse a person may seem. "We may see people facing one challenge on top of another and wonder whether they can take one more thing," she states. "Their growth is enhanced by their willingness to take what appear to be negative events and turn them into something very positive. These individuals continue to grow and expand at a tremendous rate, unlike others whose lives just drift along. We can learn from them, and we can grow by sharing our love in support of them... Through my own journeys I have learned that it often seems easier not to move on; even the muck and mire in which we are stuck often seems less fearful and challenging than the unknown path ahead... I have learned always to look for the next door. ...There is no reason to want to stop developing spiritually, because the wonders through each door are more beautiful than the ones before. Our journeys are their own rewards."
   Trish New, author of The Thrill of Hope and South State Street Journal.



3. I loved Betty Eadie's first book. It was excellent. But this book was uncomfortable for me as a Christian. It seemed she was getting into areas that were unbiblical. I know she is a Christian, but she is mixing new age with her Christianity. I feel that if you are a Christian, you may want to skip this book. It is not as good as her Embraced by the Light. I finally threw the book away when it conflicted SO MUCH with the Bible. I couldn't take any more. Book 1, Embraced by the Light is pretty good. Read and get the good and spit out the bones.



4. For the person/s worried that the bible and Christianity are diminished in this book, its message goes well beyond the bible and religions. Love embraces all religions yet exceeds all of them in its magnificent majesty. That universality and common humanity are the very fabric of what Eadie is discussing. Namaste...



5. In my opinion this book does not offer much new spiritually after the author's first book "Embraced by the Light", but rather it gives some insight into her publishing the book.

5 comments about Professor and The Madman, The.

1. It is an understatement to say that the main character of this book had an unfortunate life. Driven by madness, this man lost his career as a surgeon after committing murder. The story could have ended there, but Dr. W.C. Minor ended up making a major contribution to the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Although the story of Minor is sad, in a way this contribution offers some redemption. A story about the creation of a dictionary could very easily become dull and that was my expectation, but the author, Simon Winchester, brought the subject to life through the characters he writes about. His descriptions of the actual process of constructing the dictionary were weak, but fortunately this was not the main point of the story and so did not detract from it. Winchester has a talent for bringing this type of story to life as he demonstrated in The Map That Changed The World, a story about geologist William Smith. I am confident enough now in Winchester's ability that I look forward to reading his other book about the OED, The Meaning Of Everything. Overall, I enjoyed The Professor And The Madman and would recommend it to those readers who have a fondness for the English language.



2. Perhaps no where is that more in evidence, than in this story, the story of a man, Dr. Minor, confined to an insane asylum, becoming one of the leading contributors to the Oxford English Dictionary.
   
   His story, the story of Dr. Murray, editor of the OED, how they got together and how the dictionary was compiled and edited makes for fascinating, marvelous reading. An intriguing, fascinating story well told, well written. Surprises, twists and concerns every few pages.
   
   The book does deserve criticism for its sometimes long and laborous detail about putting the dictionary together, but as a story, the story of the two men, Murray and Minor, it is a worthwhile and fascinating read.
   
   Winchester tells the story well, with an eye for detail, then and now, and with an empathetic if not sympathetic perspective for the humanity and the odd twists and turns involved. Good read. Buy it. Read it.



3. This book was simply marvelous, if you are into the story of the origins of the Oxford English Dictionary, this is a book that captures the makings and includes the story of two gentlemen who's lives inevitably come together in bizzare but wonderful order of circumstances, if you Love words and their origins, you will be astounded by this book!



4. Simon Winchester has come up with a nifty little tale of the making of the OED. It's a fun little gem from history, and worth the read. My only complaints are: the book would have been more interesting if he had included some pictures, and the tale itself is pretty small. The publisher makes up for this by using large type, double spaced, with wide paragraph separation. But it's still a footnote in history, and you can't hide that fact.



5. There is a certain "Did you know..." factor about the "new" genre of creative nonfiction: we read it for both the informative componenet, and the fact that quite a bit of history is, well, interesting. Did you know, for example, that the main contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary was insane?
   
   Dr. W.C. Minor was an American soldier in the Civil War, who later moved to England, where he wound up shooting a man. He was placed in an asylum (not the greatest of places in those days), where he was given a few more perks than the other inmates, simply because he was non-violent (despite the reason for his incarceration) and intelligent. One day, he happened to come across an advertisement: Professor James Murray, along with an elite group of gentlemen, was creating the single-greatest compilation of the English language ever conceived. Minor, with nothing but time on his hands, decided to pitch in. Over ten-thousand words later, Minor was the single-greatest contributor to the single-greatest dictionary ever created.
   
   It is a compelling, surprising story, told in Winchester's usual novel-meets-nonfiction style. While I enjoy a good piece of creative nonfiction, I find myself time and time again returning to Winchester's work not necessarily because of the topic, but because I enjoy his style so much. (It just so happens he chooses interesting topics to write upon.) The "P.S." section of this book, as with the others, doesn't offer too much, though there is an intriguing little section: Winchester's favorite words from the OED. Still, you'll purchase "The Professor and the Madman" for the story itself--and it's a doozy. True, too. Funny, how facts can sometimes be more interesting--and harder to believe--than fiction.

5 comments about Sky of Stone.

1. Sky of Stone, by Homer "Sonny" Hickam, is the sequel to his famous memoir, Rocket Boys, (October Sky). The story takes place in 1961, a year after his graduation from high school. Sonny, now eighteen, has just finished his first year of college at VPI, and is hoping to spend his summer with his mother in Myrtle Beach, lying on the beach, watching the girls go by, and dreaming about building rockets with Wernher Von Braun, the world famous rocket engineer. Out of the blue, his mother calls and says that he can't go to South Carolina; he to go back to Coalwood, West Virginia, the place he thought he was free from, to keep his father company. Sonny, shocked out of his socks, at first argues, but he eventually gives up knowing that he would not want to get on his mom's bad side. So, he heads up to Coalwood, filled with confusion pounding at his head. His father is a pretty stubborn man who can hold is own. Why would he need his company?
   Within the first few days of being in Coalwood, Sonny wrecks his father's car. In order to pay his father back for repairing the damages, Sonny has to do the one thing that he never dreamed he would do in this or any other life time: he joins the UMWA (United Mine Workers of America), which is the union for the Coalwood miners. He becomes a "track-laying man," one of the hardest jobs in the mining business. His father, completely enraged with this, as well as having the pressure of the Tuck Dillon case on his mind, threatens to cut off Sonny's college fund if Sonny doesn't stop working in the mines. Yet, Sonny, who is actually beginning to enjoy the hard work of being a miner, refuses.
   As the story goes on, Sonny slowly begins to find more and more information about the Tuck Dillon accident, and starts to wonder if his father might have actually killed Tuck. Sonny also has many other adventures during this experience of being a miner. He makes many new friends, some of whom give him very important advice and teach him life lessons; he meets a girl engineer who is older than he, and he starts to have feelings for. He also participates in a heated track-laying race with the other mining group.
   Sky of Stone, like Rocket Boys, is a beautifully well-written memoir, filled with such amazing images, you feel as though you are reading a novel. The fact that this is a true story about one man's experience is astonishing. Along with it being about Homer's life, it deals with the hardships of growing up, changing from a teenager into a young man, trying to find your place in the world, while dealing with reality and the new feeling of independence. Each page you read takes you further into this adventure, making you fall in love even more with the book. You feel as though you are with Sonny every step of the way, learning more and more from this new experience. Personally, having read October Sky, I love both books and think that Homer Hickam is great author. It is a wonderful book, for anyone, as it reflects on life and the many lessons it teaches us, "I knew then, as I faced the sky, that Coalwood would go on. Its buildings might be torn down, its mine closed, its people might even die, but Coalwood would persevere. There was something about this place that maybe, as the Reverend Richard maintained, God just liked. Coalwood had nothing to fear and I guessed I didn't, either. When I needed it, the old place of my boyhood would yet be there waiting for me with all its wisdom and purpose, if not in stone and wood and iron, then still in my memory and my heart. I closed my eyes and felt the rain against my face, and smelled the smoke of the defeated fire, and thought of Coalwood. Coalwood, as it was, and shall be. Coalwood my home. Coalwood forever." (354). As I got to the end of the book I felt as though I was looking back on memory, in awe and filled with respect. In conclusion, I think this is great book, and I highly recommend it to anyone.



2. A wonderful book that was not only an engaging story, but offered a glimpse into the life of West Virginia coal miners. Following on the heels of the "Rocket Boys" ( the book that inspired the movie "October Sky"), this book carries on the story of Rocket Boy and author Homer Hickam. You won't be sorry you read this book.



3. I read October Sky a week ago and then grabbed this one. I haven't read The Coalwood Way but after starting Sky of Stone, don't think it's necessary. This book continues where October Sky left off, and in many ways people are introduced in this book that were never mentioned in the first book. In manyways this book seems to be derived from all the notes taken out of the first book. Sonny's father's character comes to light in this book and we see the continued tension between father and son, and the son's reluctant growth into adulthood when he accepts (or is forced into) adult decisions for the first time.
   
   Homer is a year out of college and he's slowly learning that many of the naive things he experienced in boyhood are coming back to haunt him. Where we all read about the fame and success of the six Rocket Boys, we now find that they are scattered across the country in college. With Homer, the grades in the first year weren't anything out of this world, or anything indicative of an aspiring rocket scientist. Without reading October Sky this book may appear to be a mystery, and I recommend reading October Sky first before attempting this one.
   
   It is unfair to compare one book to the other, although I am doing it right now. What the first book was in childish charm, this one is with mature awakening. The writing style is still superb, the narrative flowing. The built-up to the plot, however, takes longer. The rocket scientist is no longer a rocket scientist in this book, and we find Homer Jr more of his father's son as a summer miner, exactly what he never wanted to be while in high school.
   
   There is much more sadness in this book. The focus is on the death of a miner at the mine that Sonny's father manages. This book is more of a country suspense than it is a happy-go-lucky story like October Sky is. I think that this change in tone was necessary because the first book was full of optimistic, youthful naivete.
   
   The problem with sequels and trilogies is that to understand the whole picture, all books must be read. I have now read two of the three and don't plan on reading the second book.



4. Just a great part 3 continuation of "The Rocket Boys", AKA: "October Sky". I could hardly put it down. I really enjoyed this book, too.



5. If you have read Rocket Boys, it's imperative you continue with Coalwood Ways and Sky of the Stone. All are wonderful reads with great life lessons. Sky of the Stone was my favorite of the three but they build on each other. I look forward to reading Red Helmet in February!

5 comments about I Thought My Father Was God: And Other True Tales from NPR's National Story Project.

1. This book gathers some of the funniest stories I've ever read, which is saying a lot since they were written by laymen, not professionals. The funny stories were laugh-out-loud funny. The heartwarming stories were touching without being corny. All were provocative because they were authentically relayed by real people. The cynic who said s/he already read these in a "Chicken Soup" book obviously didn't read this collection. I defy anyone to read the story "Rascal" without having a vivid image of the day, laughing out loud from the belly, and being satisfied at the story of someone getting what he deserved! I have read this out aloud many times it's so funny AND rightous.
   
   the grass-roots nature of how the stories were collected adds to the mystique that a call on the radio lead to such a great great book. Don't be overwhelmed by the size: pick and choose which stories you read (like I favored comedy over heart-warming).



2. I love the stories in this book. I love how they are written by "real" people, not professional writers. I love how they are true, and how every one, no matter how short, makes you feel or learn something strong and beautiful.
   After reading each story, though, you will struggle with trying to decide if you should pause and feel the new emotion each one gave you, or if you should quickly flip through the next page, asking for more. I'm a greedy reader and I usually did the latter while reading this. But for the second read, I will force myself to reflect.



3. I had heard about this book from a friend. I not only enjoyed reading it, as I did so it gave me a greater appreaciation for my own father. As my father laid dying, my brother and I took turns reading selected stories to him. It gave us a chance to tell him how much we (now as adults) appreaciated his years of parenting. I highly recommend it.



4. The sheer variety of life experiences gives the reader a new perspective on their own lives, seeing how sometimes simple events can have a profound effect upon oneself or others. Helps you realize today's "disaster" may be the event that leads to tomorrow's SUNSHINE. Covering the USA, I ran into a story from a nearby town in which a dear friend of mine was mentioned by first name only, but instantly recognizable because of her loving kindness toward a family member of the storyteller. Adults (young and old) can pick up valuable "life lessons" without the preaching that usually accompanys them.



5. Heard I THOUGHT MY FATHER WAS GOD, edited and read by
   Paul Auster . . . this is a collection of stories that came as a result
   of a call to listeners of National Public Radio's WEEKEND ALL
   THINGS CONSIDERED . . . more than 4,000 were submitted.
   
   I couldn't really tell whether they were fact or fiction; it really
   didn't matter . . . after taking me a while to warm up to them,
   I quickly became interested in what others had to say about such
   subjects as Animals, Families, War, Love, and Dreams.
   
   Some stories were mundane, but many others were quite
   moving . . . in particular, I was touched by the one involving a
   small boy's realization that his mother has pawned her wedding ring
   so that she can buy him a school uniform.
   
   As the author notes: [I was most interested in] stories that defied
   our expectations about the world, anecdotes that revealed the mysterious
   and unknowable forces at work in our lives, in our family histories, in
   our minds and bodies, in our souls. . . . I was hoping to put together . . . a
   museum of American reality."
   
   He has succeeded . . . my only criticism has to do with the
   narration . . . Auster handled the stories from male readers just
   fine . . . I would have preferred a member of the opposite for
   stories from female readers.

1 comments about Frank Lloyd Wright: The Mike Wallace Interviews.

1. His views on life were timeless, what a better way to get to know Frank L. Wright as a man than hearing his own words. The interview covered many topics, media(they did not even have a word for it), sex, politics, etc. Frank Lloyd Wright favored 'bottom-up, non-artificial' approach to life and his philosophy reflected in all of his work.

5 comments about Flyboys: A True Story of Courage.

1. This book had promise of telling a story that needed to be told of Japanese atrocities during WW2. However, the author was not focused in his efforts electing instead to tell the story of airpower in the military and trying to justif the actions of the Japanese by telling of what the Japanese held as US atrocities. In fact he himself indicates thet he might have crossed the line when he stopped just short of calling one naval aviator he interviewed a babykiller as a result of a mission he had flown. Interspersed within these pages was an effort to tell in very graphic detail the story of the death of several US Naval Aviators. Overall a poor experience and would cause me to stop and think before I read another one of his books



2. This book really surprised me. It was the first one I read by this author (and I will now certainly read Flags of Our Fathers), and I thought it would be a super-patriotic book about how brave the American airmen were and how awful the Japanese were to them. What really surprised me is that Bradley gives such a balanced view of the two sides in the war, and, while not favoring the Japanese in any way, helped me as a reader to understand the war from their perspective. It also pointed out how horrific and dehumanizing war is to soldiers on both sides who are fighting each other, and how they come to cease to view the enemy as human beings. I certainly came away from the book heartbroken over what happened to the American flyboys and how much their families suffered their loss. I also came away from the book convinced that one should be very wary when a government demonizes people on the other side of a conflict, and how important it is never to forget that all people are human beings with the same needs for love, family, security.



3. The author begins the book trashing America for its Indian policies in the 19th Century, but ignores how Indians brutalized each other when their Asian ancestors migrated to the Americas, and later. The issue is tangential to Japanese atrocities to American prisoners of war. Its an excuse to kick America.
   
   Leave this bilge at the college where you teach.



4. A book that goes into great detail about the Japanese-Korean_Chinese relationship before and during the war as well as the American_Japanese Relationship is the book 'Flyboys: A True Story of Courage ' . Yes the description says its about American Pilots, and yes it is. BUT the first 1/3 to half of the book intimately describes the Japanese-Korean_Chinese relationship and how the Japanese went from *stone age to massive war machine in only a few decades, It also explains the Japanese mentality back then and how they became like that and WHY. This is not just a book about some American Pilots. It is a (sometimes gruesome)detailed look into the origins of the pacific war and more important the Why's ...
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   A book that goes into great detail about the Japanese-Korean_Chinese relationship before and during the war as well as the American_Japanese Relationship is the book 'Flyboys: A True Story of Courage ' . Yes the description says its about American Pilots, and yes it is. BUT the first 1/3 to half of the book intimately describes the Japanese-Korean_Chinese relationship and how the Japanese went from *stone age to massive war machine in only a few decades, It also explains the Japanese mentality back then and how they became like that and WHY. This is not just a book about some American Pilots. It is a (sometimes gruesome)detailed look into the origins of the pacific war and more important the Why's ...
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5. This book should be used to teach an American reader the Japanese perspective before and during WWII. Bradley delves deep into historical Japanese views of America (many critics often confuse these views with the views of the author). Bradley cites specific American events the Japanese used and taught to justify their American hate, their militiary dedication, and their own manifest destiny. If you like to read history rarely taught in your everyday classroom, don't miss this one.