Street

Charles Willeford apparently wrote these two memoirs relatively late in life, but he tells the stories as he experienced them at the time rather than through the filter of his mature personality. In his own modest, plainspoken style, you get to know the interior world of Mr. Willeford, first as a young orphan, and later as a young recruit in the Air Corps. Willeford had a rough life, but--and this might be a surprise to those who only know Willeford through his pulp fiction--he didn't allow his difficult childhood or military experience to make him coarse and cynical. For all the darkness of his novels, he appears to have been a sensitive, optimistic, and humane person, whose dark humor was a means of coping with life's disappointments.

I hope that Willeford's books someday fall into the hands of a competent publisher. Disc-Us Books did an incredibly shoddy job preparing the book for publication. Not only are there many typos and dropped or repeated lines of text, but they even misspelled "memoir" on the spine of the book. Perhaps they've caught the error and fixed it, but my copy says "memior"!

Willeford is one of the best writers America has produced.

The Great Depression is a time and a place that is foreign to most living Americans. GD USA is a country where nearly everyone is living in dire poverty, and the country itself is on the brink of collapse. Willeford, one of the most underappreciated writers of the 20th century, captures this odd world perfectly as he chronicles his picaresque travels through an economically devastated America.

The second memoir takes place in the U.S. Army off in the exotic Philippines during peacetime--years before the Japanese came, and 30 years after an insurrection that was put down in brutal fashion by American soldiers. Willeford leads you into an exotic world of malfunctioning aeroplanes and imperial slouching by indolent imperial soldier-airmen using pitch-perfect prose.

Buy this one, and try out "The Woman Chaser" too.

Suzanne Smith deserves tremendous credit for transforming her love of Detroit, her home; her love of Motown, the soul music of her generation; and her love of historical analysis, the career she has chosen, into a remarkably readable and indeed breathtaking review of a city, a time, and a musical genre that is too often neglected. Sure, the most celebrated heirs of the Motown legend, the Jackson family, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, achieved fame and fortune. But Barry Gordy's Motown -- the Motown of European-Americans like Suzanne Smith, and the Motown of all of Detoit's people of color, needs to be remembered often and with affection. That Suzanne Smith can tell the story of Detroit in the turbulent 1960s with such style and grace, is a testament to her skill as an analyst of culture and her skill as one of the next generation of honored historians. Presently at George Mason University in Virginia, look for Professor Smith to soon teach from a tenured chair in Ann Arbor, Michigan; New Haven, Connecticut; or Cambridge, Massachusetts.

This is Motor City history from the inside outward, and if you know the REAl city, from the Graystone Ballroom to the Chit Chat Club to WJLB and the City Wide Dry Cleaners, then you KNOW what I'm gettin into. A beautiful job of history that moves like the music of Hitsville, U.S.A. did. You go, girl!

An incisive combination of music journalism and pathbreaking social history about the city, people and circumstances that gave rise to, participated in, supported,and finally watched the physical exit from the Motor City in the early '70s of Motown Records. A vivid and unforgettable study of the roots of an important facet of American cultural history. Excellent.

Wow this is the best new author I have read in a long time. I read the entire book in one sitting because I could not put it down. The characters were so realistic and I felt like I could relate to each of them in one way or another. I recommend Dancing in the Streets of Brooklyn to anyone looking for an exciting novel to read over the holidays.

"Dancing in the Streets of Brooklyn" is a warm, beautiful story with authentic characters that have remained in my memory. Lurie avoids melodrama to tell Judy's story with sincerity and compassion. The author's roots in Bay Ridge give the book an authenticity that's refreshing. Not your typical wartime book, "Dancing" shows that while the years were difficult, they were innocent as well. Readers easily feel Judy's joys and sorrows as she comes to terms with the secrets of her past.

A wonderful story for all ages to read. This is one of those that you don't want to put down. It brings you into the life of the characters. The writer has the capability to bring the reader to a place that you have never been. Written during the close of WWII the story shares the economical and emotional crisis that families endured. It also shares quite a bit about the Norwegian traditions. Fantastic! Thanks for the experience that it brought me.

"Decoding Wall Street" is perfect for the person who knows just enough to be dangerous and would prefer to be knowledgeable. In one sitting people simply can't absorb much more in terms of digesting Wall Street and all of its terms. The secret is to learn about the markets and build upon that information. With "Decoding Wall Street" the investor has an entertaining and informative book that teaches and explains.

While this book is certainly of value to the do-it-your-selfer, the person who relies on professional help will find it invaluable. The next time you speak with your investment advisor representatve or financial planner, your glazed over eyes and blank stare will be replaced by knowing smile and a sharp wit. There is no substitute for understanding the concepts and the terms of the markets. This book does it.

I bought this book at the same time I ordered "Rule the Freakin' Markets" last week, and they're both very useful in understanding this crazy beast called The Street. I found this one a little more helpful for someone like me--a journalist who has to write about the markets periodically but really isn't a very savvy investment type. This book is also quite funny and I found myself reading parts of it aloud to my wife. Highly recommended.

The book is both entertaining and educational, light-hearted and informative. It's the perfect book for people like me who know a little bit about investing and Wall Street, who have an IRA and 401(k), but need to learn more in order to do it right and feel more confident about our decisions!

This book utilizes a delicate balance of all the characters involved in this story. The story is intricately woven to keep the readers interest. I highly recommend this book to anyone who questions their role or purpose on this earth. This book will quickly put your views or concerns in perspective.I will leave you with this; "The true measure of a man is how well he handles adversity"

I read this book in 2 days. It is very fast paced and moving. I would reccomend this book to anyone, and look forward to Cliff's next book. He is a great story teller! Desperation is a very fitting title, and something I think we all can relate to on some level, either through personal experience or knowledge of someone else's desperation. We could all learn a little from the characters in this book.

The author keeps the pages turning - it's a great survival story - I read it in one sitting. The character, Billy Barth, is downright scary.

Margaret Thatcher is an incredible person and her tale of her time as prime minister is fascinating. She kept detailed notes throughout her premiership and can recall the events that informed her decision making in great detail.

Whatever your opinions on her politics, she definitely knew where she wanted to take Britain and how to get there (if only more leaders were willing to stand up for their beliefs regardless of political correctness) and it's well worth the time it takes to read.

This first volume of memoirs by Margaret Thatcher frankly recalls the former British prime minister's dealings with U.S. presidents, the Falkland War, and her election victories in 1979, 1983 and 1987. She also details the back-stabbing and eye-gouging that the British call politics. It may be a little less corrupt than politics in some other countries I could name, but it sure ain't an arena for the feint of heart. There were never any gray areas with Thatcher. The British either worshipped the ground she walked on, or detested her every word. There was nothing in the middle, because Thatcher was not given to taken the middle course. 'There's nothing I like more than a lively discussion' she would say. What she meant, of course, was that she loved a damn good arguement! This first part of her autobiography is as outspoken as she was. She pulls no punches, and her unequivocal opinions about world events she participated in and world leaders she encountered leave you wondering how she survived eleven years as Britain's Prime Minister. But would we expect anything else from Thatcher as she explains and defends her controversial policies, which caused the dismemberment of socialism and Britain's resurgence as a world power after many years of liberal misrule.

These remarkable insights provide a first hand account of what it was like to be a Britich Prime Minister. Wets (i.e. wimps) are not tolerated. These tapes and the companion ones, The Path to Power, are essential leadership training in perseverance, decisiveness, political bargaining and priority setting. The account of the Falklands armada is quite splendid. All aspiring executives and politicians can gain tremendous ideas from these tapes and the companion books. Even those with more left wing leanings will respect Lady Thatcher who reports on tricky subordinates, loyal supporters and above all her close relationship with husband. These tapes deserve a much broader audience and greater marketing.

As I've mentioned before, one of the things that makes Iain Banks so great is his refusal to repeat himself, all of his novels, SF or not (and this one is not), are different animals, tackling different subjects in various ways. Yet all of them are clearly written by the same person. This is one of his less brutal novels, describing the rise and fall of a extremely popular fictional rock band as seen through the eyes of their bass player and principle song writer. And while there are the typical things that you'd seen on the usual rock biopics, the drugs and sex and drinking, Banks doesn't focus on those all that much and looks at the price of fame, at the interaction between the band members, and takes some well-deserved stabs at the music industry while he's at it. The book is told in the first person by Daniel Weir (or "Weird") and while he's a bit mopey he has a keen sense of humor and his observations of the madness going on around him (even as he willingly throws himself into the madness) are perceptive and the situations the characters find themselves in are often bizarre but strangely funny and oddly realistic. Banks also makes a good decision to continue to follow Daniel after the band inevitably breaks up, interspersing his recollections of the band years with his life living in Scotland (he does an excellent job of portraying the city and people, giving the place a distinctive flair, his gift with the accents is well done, although that coupled with the local slang can make some conversations a bit hard to follow or understand . . .) and the people he meets, many of whom don't realize that he has more money than he can figure out what to do with and he's trying to decide what the heck to do with his life in general. All of this actually does lead somewhere and Banks gets credit for giving the reader a definite ending while leaving it open at the same time so that we never know for sure how it goes . . . double credit goes to not making it some kind of sappy, "It's a Wonderful Life" sort of ending either. In the end, the characters, major and minor, all come across as real people and Daniel feels like an oddball friend who has been telling you the story of his life while you sit there. Possessed of a humanity Banks' book sometimes lack, this remains one of his most charming novels.

Having recently read Espedair Street and seen Almost Famous (directed by Cameron Crowe) in the movies, it's kinda logical to compare those two pieces. As a start I gotta say first, that I liked both handiworks and it's tough to tell if one was better than the other.

Both works accompany a rock band on their way to famedom. And in both works the author picks one leading character to tell the story from his viewpoint. While Crowe uses the young reporter William Miller as an outside observer, who acts basically as the band's mascot, Iain Banks features Daniel Weir as the band's base player and genius mind behind their songs. The stories unfolding are quite amusing, and the band members and all the different egos involved are displayed quite honestly, giving diversified insights to the life of a rock band behind the curtains. Yeah, it's all glimmer and glamour, but the people behind are no gods (though they might wanna believe they are), but they are ppl like you and me with positive and negative traits alike.

But while Crowe's message ends here, Banks goes a bit further, as he creates a second plot around Daniel Weir after the band has split up. While Danny recalls his bands' story, his current life as the queer hermit residing in his remote church runs parallel and is described in quite colorful details, featuring just another group of freaky people and very comic-style situations, with some of them resulting from his former life as a rock star, and some just odd emanations of the weirdness of daily life.

But just when you start wondering if all this is leading somewhere at all, and whether Danny Weir, who has already left behind his life as a rock star, will also give up for good, a last twist in the plot changes everything, and Banks opens a final chapter which brings all story plots together, blending them nicely into each other.

With this novel Iain Banks just proves once again his special touch to describe the magic of life in all its variations, and his touch for the magic of words used to describe the events unfolding around his leading character. No event is weird enough not to be plausible, and Banks lets us believe that everything can be possible: You just gotta look and watch: Not only with your eyes, but also with your heart and imagination.

This book opens quite well and finishes in spectacular fashion. I have read it several times. Unfortunately, however, I continue to loan my copy to friends who lose or destroy it (hence I have bought at least 4 copies to date). Nevertheless, all were money well spent.

The character development of Daniel Wier throughout the book is not quite as well done as Banks managed to do with the hero of the Crow Road. However, he still manages to come to life. The tall, ugly, maladroite superstar who has the midas touch with all that it entails is a lot more real than some of the other characters Banks has developed in his books.

The atmosphere of the book is enthrawling. The contrast between the faux (or should that be fou) church where Wier now spends his days, and the tropical islands, recording studios, mansions, etc that were his playground, contributes to the characters sense of loss.

The humour of the book is its main asset. Chasing drunken hounds around a false alter, cocaine conversations, champagne hedgehogs, etc. Brilliant!!!!!!!!!

I just loved Mr. Lux's book about Wall Street and how it takes advantage of people without their knowing. Now, I know why I won't invest in mutual funds again!! The book will be of great help throughout my life. Thank you Ted!!!

Mr. Lux exposes the little talked about secret wall street doesn't want you to know about. This book could save you thousands of dollars in hidden costs your mutual fund company is taking from you. ...

The book by Ted Lux is an insightful journey into the industry of investing. In his book,the author outlines ways to manage your own portfolio without spending a great deal of time and avoiding the expense and bias of the middle man-your local stock broker or mutual fund company. With more and more funds now charging loads to purchase their fund,this book is quite timely. I urge those who have an interest in saving money and investing to read this book. You will be glad you did.

After watching a presentation by Detective Walton, I bought his book, "First Response Guide to Street Drugs".

This book has opened my eyes as to what signs, symptoms and paraphernalia to look for when dealing with students in my school.

The poster is an awesome addition to the book because it shows actual photographs of the drugs and the paraphernalia. I totally recommend this book to anyone who has kids in their life.

First Response Guide to Street Drugs has been awarded the National Parenting Center's prestigious SEAL OF APPROVAL after the results of an extensive evaluation process found it to be among the best products available for parents and those who work with young people. The Parenting Center issued the following review of First Response Guide to Street Drugs:

Good resource for anyone who works with or around children. A detective put this handbook and poster together to help inform us about the most popular drugs "out there". It also tells us about the effects of these drugs and key facts about them. This can be an extremely useful tool because its size and layout make it easy to reference quickly.

Parents found the drug paraphernalia section important because it told them things to be on the lookout for. Also identified are the physiological effects that parents can look for. The included poster gives very helpful visual appearances of many
of the most common drugs.

The review is available online at [URL]. For more information on First Response Guide to Street Drugs, call toll-free: [phone number].

If you're a parent, teacher, school nurse, guidance counselor or someone who works with young people you need First Response Guide to Street Drugs! Detective Steve Walton has jammed 24 years of hard-earned street drug knowledge into this easy-to-understand guide. First Response Guide to Street Drugs helps you spot signs and symptoms of drug use in young people, recognize drug paraphernalia, interpret drug jargon, identify illict drugs like Ecstasy, Methamphetamine, GHB and others and gives you straightforward information on the devastating effects of drug use that you can share with your kids to help prevent potentially deadly experimentation.

In today's ever-changing and increasingly dangerous drug culture, young people from all socio-economic backgrounds can be susceptible to the lure of drug use. First Response Guide to Street Drugs will be your primary informational source to help you keep them safe. What this book teaches you could save a child's life.

There are several different re-tellings of the famous unpublished case for which "the world was not yet ready". I thought the lack of Watson would affect these books, but it dosen't! Filled with mystery, intriuge, and suspense. Read it whether you like Holmes or not.

The Thoenes stay remarkably true to Doyle's style of writing and give us a closer look at some of the great detective's assistants. Perhaps I can best describe it by giving you this bit: "From where he swam, the boy could not see the men on the deck, but he could hear their conversation. 'Very nice of you to save the boy, Holmes,' Van Rorin said, ' but who'll save you?' 'Jump!' Peachy sobbed, worried for the life of his friend. 'No, Carnehan,' Holmes called from the deck, 'I would surely drown.' 'Quiet!' Van Rorin shouted......'Now it's time to dispose of you, Holmes.'Peachy heard a shot and sunk his head below the surface. I can't believe it, he thought. Holmes is dead."

THESE ARE GREAT BOOKS. I GOT THE WHOLE SET FOR MY BIRTHDAY AND READ THEM ALL. MY FAVORITE IS THUNDERING UNDERGROUND. I AM DOING REPORTS FOR SCHOOL ON ALL OF THEM. I ALSO REALLY LIKE LAST CHANCE DETECTIVES WHICH THEY WRITE. I HOPE THEY WRITRE MORE.