Partner

Harlan Ellison can weave an amazing world around the reader and this collection does it in spades.I have a copy so read the spine is almost gone but I love it. The cartoons are a real hoot as well. A true joy to read again and again

What could be better than Harlan Ellison writing his sometimes dark, sometimes funny but always engaging work? Only Harlan Ellison working with other authors, equally gifted but perhaps with different takes on the world, society and fiction. Instead of nullifying each other's thoughts, the result is a fantastic synergy which takes you on a wild ride from cover to cover. The story introductions by themselves could have been published as a standalone work as they give an insight to Ellison's work, his work with other and the creative mind that has kept us all making room on our bookshelves and merrily tracking down ever more of Mr. Ellison's writings

This book, while based on incidents now over two decades old, is an interesting look into the oft-secret world of high-power, blue-chip law firms. Each chapter comprises a case study of a selected firm and its relationship to a corporation through a precis of a particular case. Various kinds of law, from takeovers, to trusts and estates, to litigation, and more, give the book a rounded view. Along with The Paper Chase and L-100, a must read for any prospective law student.

This was James Stewart's first book which portended the talent that would give us "Den of Thieves" and "Blood Sport," among others. Mr. Stewart is a great story teller - he can make a seemingly mundane subject into a real page-turner. The Partners offers fascinating insight into the rarified world of white-shoe New York law firms. Especially interesting is the story of Cravath, Swain and Moore - where attorneys work 10 years without a day of vacation and one attorney gets passed over for partnership because he rode a motorcycle to work. Yikes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I haven't yet read the new James Stewart book about 9/11 but all of the others are very interesting, fair balanced accounts of the chosen subject matter. Highly recommended.

My doctor is an amazing person - not just a great doctor. We spend quite a bit of time talking about life, not just doing the clinical stuff. He recommended "The Tennis Partner" to me and I put it off for about a year before I dove into it. It's absolutely amazing. The depth of the writing is superb and the story captivates you from beginning to end.

I highly recommend this real-life account of a physician hisvery moving story of a medical student caught in the black hole ofdrug addiction. I had erroneously picked up this book thinking it wasa fiction novel with some connection to tennis(which I am a big fanof). But when I began reading it I turned over the cover and did seethat is was a memoir. But much to my amazement, Verghese's book readslike a good novel .. and a well-paced, gripping page turner. Despitebeing a doctor, this is not a dry or unemotional work either. Readerswill be drawn into Verghese's life and find themselves experiencingthe same feelings (hope, denial, despair) when it comes to hisrelationship with former tennis pro and now med student"David."

A true testimonial for "The TennisPartner" is that I have passed it along to several other peopleand they have had the same strong (and positive) reaction to it. Theyhave since even recommended the book to others. While this memoirdoes have a good deal of content related to tennis (this is whatinitially brings Verghese and David together) that will enhance thereading experience for fans of the sport, my non-tennis orientedfriends were not turned off by it. Being a fairly avid reader, thishas been one of the best books I have read in the past severalyears. An unforgettable read.

I just finished a cathartic 15 minute shed of tears. The Tennis Partner took over my life for nearly two full days. I was unable to put it down and afraid to read on at the same time. I was moved by the friendship that blossomed from one main commonality, a love for the game. Dr. Verghese's observations about life, his analogies between tennis and medicine spoke volumes to me. I am neither a tennis player nor a physician, but as a compassionate and feeling person I related to the story and I have been changed. It took tremendous courage for Dr. Verghese to write David's story and to express how it made him feel as a physician, a man, a tennis player, a father and most of all as a friend. As an Arizonan I have a love and a deep respect for the desert. This book may help others to appreciate and fear the desert for its natural beauty and its well-kept secrets. If for no other reason, read the book to grow and challenge yourself. Dr. Verghese's writing style is thoughtful and his sentences are astutely and carefully crafted to say more than you can imagine. You must read every word to hear the whole story. You will be grateful.

There are other good books out there for couples dealing with the afteraffects of childhood sexual abuse, but I recommend reading this book first. It's a quick read and packed full of information. The author gives a quick overview of what lies ahead for the couple, what to expect and how to handle the survivor's changing behavior, the importance of us as partners to look inside ourselves for our own issues and areas for improvement, skills for good communication, suggestions on resolving conflict, coping and overcoming difficult situations, etc. Also good for a survivor to read. It helped my partner and I understand each other more clearly. It gave me hope to "hang in there" with my partner and know that with time, and both of us working together, we have a good future ahead of us free from the afteraffects of past abuse. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

The first and best book I found to help guide me through my wifes journey from abuse victim to survivor. Frank, honest & brief, Mr. Graber unviels many of the mysteries that partners of abuse survivors experience. This book helped me determine my role in this journey. I read this book many times, and reread specific sections when faced with things I did not understand. While this book is not in any way spiritually based, I must say God Bless Mr. Graber.

This is a fantastic book for couples where one has been through abuse. I rate this book very high. Easy to read and to understand. Excellent resource.
Also let me recommend for those abused: Nightmares Echo, Beauty For Ashes and Lost Boy.

Instead of being "relieved" at being told the consequences of suffering a partner's infidelity are "normal," you should be outraged at being misled.

What Dr. Spring describes as "normal" is traumatic stress. And as a matter of hard, cold fact, a substantial proportion of victims of infidelity continue to suffer PTSD symptoms--emotional numbness, autonomic hyperarousal, nightmares and other sleep disturbances, consequent disruption of social functioning, and more -- for years.

Unfortunately, the ignorance of so many marriage counselors about mental disorders, what with their myths of "systems" issues (which have no scientific basis), leads them to deal fairly poorly with PTSD.

Telling you that your post-traumatic symptoms are "normal" strikes me as the crassest sort of pandering.

I am also just outraged at asking a patient to take responsibility for his or her "part" in suffering trauma, and even apologizing to the perpetrator for that. Do we ask other sufferers of PTSD--rape victims, serious car crash survivors, child abuse survivors, soldiers, victims of violent crime--to take responsibility for their part in being the victims of trauma? Can you imagine someone saying, "My therapist helped me realize that I was not an innocent victim--I played a part in getting raped. I have learned that if I dress differently and don't go certain places, I will be less likely to bring this down on myself again. I realized I must apologize to my rapist for tempting him." Of course not. Why, then, do so many people applaud the precise analogy in this book? I can imagine that, like the Stockholm Syndrome, this technique of believing in an illusory contribution has some value as a coping mechanism, but I cannot imagine it serving long-term mental health.

This book is mythmaking of the most pernicious sort.

I am, BTW, a well-regarded scholar--not pop icon--on the history and ethics of mental health care, an experienced psychotherapist, and an expert on health care policy who consults with and writes for some of the most important figures in the field. I know whereof I speak.

If you have recently discovered your spouse's affair, or if you suspect your spouse is having an affair, this is a good book to read. It does not attack either party's position, but explains the emotions both the betrayed spouse and the wayward spouse are going through. When I discovered my husband's affair, I did not know anyone who had gone through this and survived, so I felt very alone. After reading the book, I was relieved to find that my thoughts and feelings were very normal. Unfortunately, so was his behavior! That was the hardest part to take, but it was very necessary for me to understand his side as well.

What I did not like about this book was that it left things open-ended for me. It didn't really seem to get past the "Do I stay or do I go?" stage. Obviously, if I left it would mean starting over. There was a brief section about rebuilding trust, but it really didn't give me enough information about moving on WITH my husband.

This book is really for "beginners" in life after an affair. I would follow it up with "Surviving an Affair" by Drs. Harley and Chalmers. If you are already past the discovery stage, I would skip "After the Affair" altogether. I don't think you would find anything you don't already know.

What I never thought would happen, happened. I discovered my spouse was having an affair. It ended immediately. For my spouse, deep regret, shame, remorse, and humiliation set in. For me, anger, grief, disbelief, and an 'avalanche of losses', including the sweet memories of our marriage ceremony......gone.

We went through what I call 'post-affair hell' for some time. Five months into recovery and working with a wonderful marriage therapist, I came upon this book. We began reading it ever so slowly, one chapter at a time on weekend mornings. (We even bought a huge cushy chair-and-a-half with lots of pillows to sit and read together, cuddle, talk, connect, recover and heal in.)

This book made so much sense to us. It shed light on the truth of what happened and why. The affair was put in it's place......a big fat mistake. It became increasingly clear to my spouse what non-substance that illicit 'love' was based on. When you don't even know each other, it's basically a lot of hormones and self-suggestion.

"After the Affair" helped bring back into focus what true lasting love is, the gift of a lifetime, and the importance of work and commitment in order to maintain it. We are still recovering, but are so glad to have survived this crisis and kept our family together.

Women - even intelligent women - waste YEARS of their lives looking for some dope to marry them despite all the scientific research that: 1) Half of all marriages end in divorce (would you invest even part of your savings in a business that had a 50% chance of going belly up? So why invest your entire life in an institution with the same failure rate?). 2) Marriages that survive make the participants only 1% happier (after the first two years)than those who never marry. 3) Marriages that survive and are "happy" are actually "parallel marriages" where the individuals may live together but actually have separate, parallel lives and interests - they are more like friends and roomates rather than the romantically unrealistic situations pictured in movies and books. 4) Study after study confirms the fact that the happiest men and women are those with careers, hobbies, and activities that are personally intriguing and absorbing. If you are super intelligent, marriage will become boring very quickly. If you are lacking in intelligence, you will drive your husband crazy seeking emotional fulfillment to complete your life that no human being could possibly give you on a sustained basis. 5) Romantic feelings are temporary chemical states which could be compared to hallucinatory/subjective distortions of reality and the actual value of an individual. The body chemical oxytocin makes you fall in love and when it peters out (usually after 6 months to three years), your eye starts to stray in the attempt to get that high again. Because the chemical has worn off, you no longer think Mr. Wonderful is so wonderful. What a letdown when we come out of the daze and see how average our mates really are. We fall in love with people we think are extraordinary. In truth, most men and woman are very ordinary and average. Only temporary insanity brought on by hormones makes us think otherwise. If you really want to be happy live a life full of activity, and enough hard work to make you enjoy and appreciate the times of leisure. Too much work or the wrong kind of work will kill you. Too much leisure will bore you. Find the balance. This book teaches you how to get married. The bigger question is why you should bother.

Finding the Love of your Life is filling with many good ideas. My wife and I read this book while we were still dating, and it helped us deal with issues that might have become conflicts in our marriage. Dr. Warren's years of experience gives him insight that would take the average person years of hard lessons to obtain.

This book helped us to deal with issues such as communication, arguments, money, and sex before they became a problem. Is my marriage perfect? No , but we are very happy and because we dealt with many issues before marriage the transition from single to married has not been hard.

Furthermore, Dr. Warren point out the relationships need to be thought out, and the love is more than just a feeling. This book will help others to evaluate their relationships and determine whether they should continue with them or not.

I highly recommend this book.

My wife and I used this book extensively while we were dating. She had found it years before and introduced me to it. The questions and exercises helped us to get beyond our puppy love and to evaluate the potential of our lives together. This book is essential for all who are dating, and I would say it could be useful for a lot of married people, too. We give it to our single friends.

This is one of a series of books which features Dr.Alex Delaware, a young, handsome and wealthy psychologist. At a rather ritzy party, he meets Sharon, an incredibly beautiful psychologist with whom he had a fling some years previously.Drawn to her despite many misgivings, he is caught up in a web of lies, deceit and intrigue which culminates in several gruesome murders.The plot involves a now deceased, but sinister mega-millionaire who is a direct copy of Howard Hughes, complete with dirty beard, long fingernails and all of his unattractive anal retention habits. The story becomes more and more involved, using identical twin sisters, mentally retarded carers and a Svengali-like therapist who controls Sharon.At times I was saying"hurry up and get on with it" but, in all, an entertaining read.

I have read all of the Alex Delaware books by J. Kellerman to date, and am eagerly awaiting his next, but "Silent Partner" is the first one I read, and it was such good reading, it made me want more of this interesting character! I have since read all his fiction novels, and love them all, but still think "Silent Partner" the best. So many odd twists and turns, not even the best arm chair detective can anticipate the plot. It held my attention from first word to the last, and I hated to see it end. It was the book that hooked me on Jonathan Kellerman novels. You find yourself wishing that you knew Alex Delaware as a real person. But it is the mystery that captivates and keeps us interested.

This book was my introduction to Dr. Alex Delaware and to Jonathan Kellerman's books. That was so many years ago but it is still the best of his works to date, in my opinion. I have since read every book ever written by Jonathan Kellerman and most of the ones written by his wife, Faye Kellerman, but this remains my favorite. I am still waiting for him to top it. I do enjoy his Alex Delaware novels over the ones he has written with someone else as the main character. All of his mysteries are interesting, but for some reason, I tend to be able to "bond" more with Alex Delaware, he seems more "real" to me. "Butcher's Theater" was very good also, but having the locale in Israel sort of messed that one up for me, though it is an excellent story/mystery, and I loved the characters in it, but they seemed more suited to Faye Kellerman's books, being all Jewish. I just didn't like the foreign locale. So far, though, "Silent Partner" is the winner for best mystery and story, as well as for the most surprises in a novel! C'mon Jonathan, let's see you top this one!

I was hoping for a book that would provide specific advice on how to pick quality clothes that work for my body type (tall & thin). This book wasn't very helpful. It was full of fluff that got in the way of reading the parts of the book that were somewhat helpful. For example, much of the book is filled with trivia and history of different types of clothes. Another example of fluff was the tips on what types of music to listen to while wearing the clothes (no I'm not kidding). I don't give a damn about the history of Chinos and I don't think other men care either. The helpful information in this book could have filled a book one quarter of the books size. And in all honesty, even the helpful stuff wasn't that helpful.

If you are young and gay or just young then this book may be of some use as you cruise the shopping malls. If on the other hand you are a little older, gay or straight, shy away from J Crew and Abercrombie, cringe at khakis, wonder at those who show their t-shirt peeking up from under their polo shirt and have given up wearing ball caps in public and are ready to upgrade your image then Alan Flusser's THE ART OF PERMANENT FASHION would be a better buy.

Chic Simple is a book of glossy pictures and bad text. The writing is poor in both substance and in its unreadable graphics. The text full of senselessly varying fonts and styles. There is good information squeezed in tiny print in the back of the book, but that is obtainable from any of the clothing books out there already. If you like gazing at men's clothing, though, it's a nice book to thumb through for a few minutes. It will provide you with some nice visual examples of how to put together outfits. However, a good salesman could do the same. I don't understand the rave reviews given to this book. It's not bad but it's not great either. If you're looking for real understanding of clothing beyond pictures, go elsewhere.

I've burned through most of Grisham's past books, devouring every word with rabid intensity... I was fully expecting this one to be another fast-paced rollercoaster ride through the inside world of lawyers and courtrooms. I knew after the first chapter that this was not the Grisham we all know and love.

_The Partner_ has to rate as the worst Grisham book I have read, although it was still better than a great deal of the literary torture I've found myself subjected to. It might actually be a decent read if you go into it expecting to kill some time instead of _A Time to Kill_. Not only was the plot was predictable almost to the point of being insulting, but the main character was smugly unlikeable and more than a little annoying. By the last third of the book, I was hoping something would go wrong for seemingly invincible Patrick. I'd grown to dislike him so much that the ending (if one can call it that, seems like the word "ending" implies some finality) gave me a sick little thrill.

All in all, the book seemed terribly contrived. It read like a draft for a movie script and left the distinct impression that Grisham plans a sequel. Sure, I'll read it if there is one (I'm still a Grisham fan, albeit a sorely disappointed one) but I won't be looking forward to it as I have his other novels. And if there's a movie, I'll see it on cable if I see it at all!

What an utter disappointment! I have read a few of Grisham's books, usually quite good. Unfortunately this is incredibly poor. Weak, unlikable characters. Shallow uninteresting story. Hands down the worst ending of any book I have read. Look at other Grisham books or move onto Crichton or Dan Brown for a better thriller.

This book gets off to a fabulous start. We meet Patrick Lanigan, a southern attorney who ripped off his corrupt law partners for [a large sum of money]and escaped the country, started a new life and found true love. After year's of being tracked, he is caught, tortured and returned to America to face justice (in many forms).

The story of his original escape (including committing murder...or did he?) is fascinating, and the book hums along for a long time. His secrets are slowly revealed, and we grow in sympathy for him as we grow in our dislike for his opponents.

Grisham keeps things moving along nicely, and the first 75% of the book zooms by enjoyably. But towards the end, we realize Lanigan has planned things SO carefully that virtually all suspense is drained. We sense how things are going to turn out, and all we get to do then is watch our expectations play out quite predictably. Much like Grishams THE RUNAWAY JURY, Grisham drains too much suspense from the proceedings by stacking the deck so highly in favor of the hero. And there really isn't a true climax for that reason, so we don't get to expel any pent up tension, and the book leaves us with a dissatisfied feeling.

I still recommend it, though. It's short enough that we don't actually feel "cheated" by the less than thrilling conclusion, we just wish it could have been more. The characters are still enjoyable, and we get to genuinely like some of the players, especially Lanigan and his attorney (and old friend), Sandy. Don't expect this book to be the "be all and end all" and you'll be fine. It's also easy reading and pretty clean (except for some extramarital shennanigans by Patrick's wife), and might make a nice book for a youth (15 or so) looking to make a foray into adult popular fiction.

I was fully prepared to dislike this book. To begin with, it was a gift, not something I would have chosen. I'm not a big Tom Clancy fan. I don't have anything against him, I just haven't read any of his books. The thing is, I still haven't read any of Clancy's books. Although POINT OF IMPACT has Clancy's name all over it, it was actually written by Steve Perry, someone I had never heard of.

Then there was the prologue, which contains some very hokey and contrived dialogue. By the time I got through the first few pages my eyes were rolling. Given the larger-than-life action and comic book characterization typical of this type of book, combined with what I had seen so far, I figured I was in for a real stinker.

But, to my surprise, POINT OF IMPACT turned out to be pretty good. Not a literary masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but entertaining and quite readable. The prologue was just a setup. To be sure, you still get the over-the-top plot, but that goes with the genre. Beyond that, there actually was some character development. Not so much for the Net Force "good guys" (I assume they're already familiar from previous books in the series) as for the "bad guy" drug maker and his sidekick. These two become somewhat familiar and interesting as the story progresses.

I enjoyed POINT OF IMPACT and I hadn't expected to. It wasn't clever or memorable in any particular way. There isn't any real depth. Still, it didn't bore me and the writing was competent. For a light read, you could do a lot worse. Fans of this genre won't be disappointed.

The large purple pill slides easily down the man's throat. Within minutes his skin tingles, his eyes sharpen, and his muscles bulge. This new designer drug gives its users the strength of superman and the brains of Einstein, if only the user doesn't go crazy first.

Net Force's job is to find out who is manufacturing this drug and stop him before the drug kills more people.

Should the pharmaceutical companies or the military find the person first the results could be disastrous!

This is the fifth book in the Tom Clancy created Net Force series. It's a fast paced, action packed novel that's easy to read and will keep you interested from start to finish. While these novels don't have the highly developed characters, and immense detail of Clancy's earlier works they are still very entertaining.

A myth, or a story that is considered factually untrue, but nonetheless important because it provides insight into a culture's history, values and belief system, is a very vital method that express things that might not be true, but that everybody needs to know.
In Point of Impact, Mr. Piecznik, the writer of the novel, uses the myth of Thor the Greek God to express feelings of power, and strength. Take this passage, for example. "Seventeen times he had swung Thor's magic hammer, and not once a bad trip." If the reader were not familiar with Greek Mythology, he/she would probably be confused by that passage. Obviously, the character mentioned here is not actually swinging Thor's hammer. The hammer is a symbol of power and absolutely corrupting strength that fills him when he uses a drug. Therefore, the myth element plays a very key role in this novel. Thor's hammer is also a symbol. It symbolizes the feeling, as well as the figure of authority that inspires this character while he is under the influence. That is another point. If fear were a literary device, it would also play a key role in this novel. The only reason that the character is able to assume this authoritative position is because any one that would happen across him would be petrified. Just think about it, a man, not exceptionally tall, maybe 5'8", carrying a mail truck on his shoulders. It would allow him to essentially take over.
Pegasus, Thor, and Zeus are all myths. But without them, our society would have no cultural, international, or creative values.