90 Day Wonder - Darkness Remembered

Average customer rating:

"90 Day Wonder" is a terrific read and the stuff of which legendary movies are made!

Good story but somewhat disjointed

A story that needed to by told! Reviewer: Elaine Fuhr

A Riveting True Life Tale of World War II

Molly's Reviews

90 Day Wonder - Darkness Remembered
Leon Cooper
Manufacturer: 1st Books Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Military & Spies | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1410728757

Book Description

Leon Cooper was a young WWII US Navy Officer who was in a number of battles. The other conflict was between Cooper and his ship's Captain, a former enlisted man who had been awarded a battlefield commission. Captain Boda resented "gentlemen" officers like Cooper, commissioned after only 90 days' training. Besides, Cooper's standup nature riled Boda to the extent that he resolved to have him killed. Boda's sociopathic behavior, including his reckless commands, caused the death of many of Cooper's shipmates. Cooper was unsuccessful in reporting Boda to the Naval High Command, resulting in even more dire straits in his relations with Boda. Civilian Cooper promised his dying wife he would stop his neurotic quest for revenge. In a bizarre turn of events, Boda is punished, allowing Cooper to keep his promise to his wife. It is a riveting tale about the abuse of power, madness, murder,revenge, love and redemption.

Customer Reviews:

"90 Day Wonder" is a terrific read and the stuff of which legendary movies are made!.......2007-10-07

Based on author Leon Cooper's personal experiences as an American naval officer during World War II, "90 Day Wonder: Darkness Remembered" is a compelling military biography that flows with the engaging qualities of first rate story telling, all of which was written down with the assistance of successful screen and television writer Don Tait. The term '90 Day Wonder' referred to the speed with which First Lieutenants were being turned out as America plunged into war. Leon Cooper was Boat Group commander for his ship, leading Higgins Boats carrying assault troops in a number of invasions of Japanese-held islands and experienced first-hand many battle experiences where he was in mortal danger. But nothing was to prove so dangerous as his commanding officer Captain Boda -- a long-serving enlisted man with a battlefield commission who bitterly resented college graduates like Cooper who received their commission after only 90 days of training. Many confrontations between Cooper and Boda were to result in Boda's arbitrary punishment in all 'Captains Masts' cases. Boda's dislike of Cooper went so far as to Boda's ordering the unfortunate lieutenant and several of his shipmates to carry out a reckless command intended to kill them. Cooper avoided death, but several of his shipmates did not. Cooper went outside of the regular military chain of command to report Boda to the Naval High Command. Only the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima saved Cooper from almost certain death at the hands of his embittered commanding officer. "90 Day Wonder" continues Cooper's personal story after the war as Cooper's dying wife made him promise that he would leave vengeance against Boda to the Lord. It was a bizarre, unexpected and unlooked for development that would allow Cooper to even the score with Boda while keeping his promise to his wife. "90 Day Wonder" is a terrific read and the stuff of which legendary movies are made!

Good story but somewhat disjointed.......2006-02-26

This is a good story about a Navy junior commissioned officer who tangles with a superior officer who was promoted from the NCO ranks which was common in the early years of WWII. The biggest complaint is that there is sometimes a lack of a smooth transition between chapters.

A story that needed to by told! Reviewer: Elaine Fuhr.......2005-07-04

Genre: Non- Fiction/War

Title: 90 Day Wonder Darkness Remembered

Author: Leon Cooper and Don Tait

History books tell us about the world wars in a sterile, unemotional fashion. Movie after movie show the horrors of war, using incredible visual effects. They give us a view of what thousands of men and women lived through, fighting greed, fighting for freedom, family, friends and country. We read the books and watch the movies as outsiders. But to see action and feel the horror through the remembrances of a man deeply involved, is a truly unique experience. We get caught up in the special effects on the screen before us and perhaps feel the fear, but to get caught up in actual events through this man's story, brings us to the realization of what human beings are capable of doing to each other.

But as Leon Cooper and Don Tait reveal to us, there can also be a war within the war, a war of wills and power. Power held by a leader is not a skill everyone can handle and many may suffer due to a mislead individual who has control over other human's lives. This is the war that Leon Cooper fought and survived. In many cases, the threat from the war was easier to handle than the threat from a sociopath who controlled his life. Mr. Cooper describes his life both during the war, and after, though in his mind it truly could not end while the ship's commanding officer was still alive.

This well written book tells of Mr. Cooper's life from the beginning of his naval career to his life after the death of his beloved wife and the revenge that finally frees him of the fierce anger that kept his life in turmoil.

This is a story that needed to be told. Reviewer: Elaine Fuhr, Allbooks Reviews

A Riveting True Life Tale of World War II.......2005-05-01

90 DAY WONDER - DARKNESS REMEMBERED is a great book, a fabulous book, to be read, savored, and remembered. A captivating real life history lesson! The book is not just a story of World War II and how a young college graduate becomes an officer in the Navy after 90 days of training, but it is also a story about exactly what war and life was like during that era. Told in the covers of this book are multi-hued levels of experience to be analyzed and digested. The largest of these is the story of his superior officer who is a sadistic commander. He drives other officers and enlisted men unnecessarily and purposefully to their deaths.

Engineering student, Leon Cooper, is about to graduate from the University of Illinois when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor and the USA is pulled into the war against Japan, Germany, and their allies. Through the eyes of Leon Cooper we learn what it is like to make the transition from civilian life to officer and gentleman. Cooper is plunged into World War II with an important combat role to play. Leon Cooper leads us through the physical and mental reality of a nation at war. His individual story reveals what it was like to live and fight during that crucial time in our nation's history. In detail, this story conveys the reality of World War II aboard a cruise ship refitted for combat duty. The ship is able to transport 1000 fighting marines with a crew of 400 enlisted men and officers. Cooper's role is to man `Higgins Boats,' assault landing crafts during island invasions.

Leon Cooper leaves behind his successful college life, a promise of a good job, and a secure future for duty in the armed forces. He also leaves behind a woman he cares about. Leon chooses the Navy and his personal life, like the lives of millions of other men, is interrupted with a war that cannot be ignored. From private life, we follow the individual story of Cooper's introduction to Navy service and training. From there we relive his experiences as he faces the challenges presented to him. If the war is to be won, the young men of the country must sacrifice all personal ambition and possibly their lives for their country. Leon Cooper's story reveals that he gets more than he bargained for. He must serve under a sadistic commander whose behavior is more threatening than that of the Japanese. Commander Boda takes an instant dislike to Lieutenant Cooper and throughout the war repeatedly attempts to get him killed.

This unique account reveals more than the story of life aboard ship during combat. It tells the tale of a man's inhumanity to men. A group of soldiers aboard ship during combat are subjected to inhumane rules and punishment, making life all that more unbearable and dangerous. Through Cooper's eyes we follow his daily struggle to deal with death, turmoil, and survival while on board a sadistic commander's ship. We learn how Cooper copes, keeping his integrity and looking out for the lives of his fellow men.

The reader sees young Cooper enter the service with basic expectations and a healthy spirit. Through no fault of his own he is subjected to unnecessary torture by a twisted commander. Leon Cooper, a sensitive intelligent human being, returns home damaged by his military experiences. The story continues and we follow him into marriage, civilian life, and work. We watch him struggle as a scarred war veteran. Down deep we see the anger and how the bitter experiences distort his daily life. Death and torture remain in Leon's psyche and we see how it affects him. Conflict continues as he deals with his own personal hell.

As Cooper nears discharge from the Navy, he renews his relationship with the woman he loves and marries her. He gives her credit for loving and believing in him; thus, giving him the ability to move forward.

What is unique about this book is the story does not end with the culmination of the war nor with Leon Cooper's transition into civilian life. It continues to tell the outcome of one scarred veteran. The trauma dished out by the cruel Commander Boda is further exacerbated due to Cooper's inability to rid himself of his deep seated sense of injustice perpetrated by Boda. We learn that Cooper suffers from uncontrolled fits of anger from time to time and, like millions of soldiers before him, he is in need of helpful therapy. Worse, his uncontrolled anger affects his spouse and his own family life.

Ultimately Leon Cooper learns that his ex-commander has been promoted to Admiral. Driven by a sense of injustice, Cooper takes matters into his own hands and tries to execute Commander Boda. Yet that very act is intervened by the love of his life, his spouse, and an old friend. Further, no prosecution takes place because Commander Boda knows his own criminal past will be revealed if he does take action against his nemesis Cooper. Finally, Cooper gains life advantage through a series of twists of fate where he meets the son of Commander Boda and learns a powerful secret. How Cooper keeps a promise to his spouse to leave revenge to a higher power, yet still gain advantage over the evil Commander Boda, creates a unique ending to this powerful tale. Truth is indeed stronger and stranger than fiction. This is a fascinating story and it is one well worth reading.

Finding and having professional Hollywood writer, Don Tait, help with the editing and text results in a clear well-written narrative. Together Cooper and Tait have created a wonderful book.

I highly recommend this book for everyone able and willing to read a story about World War II and the history of this time.

Clint Eastwood, if you are out there and looking for a script for another compelling movie, this is it! 90 Day Wonder - Darkness Remembered is a heart-wrenching true story of one man's fight for survival through the days of World War II and how that man, on behalf of his family, copes with repatriation into normal civilian life. This war story reviews and explains again what men of that age had to endure for the benefit of The United States of America. Leon Cooper is a war hero and an eighty plus year old survivor, a man to be revered and congratulated for becoming an author and sharing his life story with us all.

Molly's Reviews.......2005-04-17

90-Day Wonder: Darkness Remembered is a riveting tale recounting abuse of power, at times acts of lunacy, carnage, retaliation, devotion and atonement. Central to the tale is the fact that there are times when ego maniac martinet tyrants are placed in command of men, that this miscalculation often leads to needless deaths and long-term, post-war psychological problems for the surviving subordinates is something the military has long denied and ignored.

Good book for the history buff and those who enjoy reading `war' stories. Not for everyone, racial epithets and expletives are used.

I am a Vietnam veteran's wife who found the read compelling, happy to recommend.

Reviewed by: molly martin

Book Description

Michel Foucault and Martin Heidegger are two of the most important intellectual figures of the twentieth century, and yet there are significant, largely unexplored questions about the relationship between their projects. Foucault and Heidegger stages a crucial critical encounter between these two thinkers; in doing so, it clarifies not only the complexities of the Heidegger-Foucault relationship, but also their relevance to questions about truth and nihilism, acquiescence and resistance, and technology and agency that are central to debates in contemporary thought.

These essays examine topics ranging from Heidegger's and Foucault's intellectual forebears to their respective understanding of the Enlightenment, modernity, and technology, to their conceptions of power and the political.

Contributors: Hubert L. Dreyfus, U of California, Berkeley; Stuart Elden, U of Warwick, UK; Béatrice Han, U of Essex, UK; Steven V. Hicks, CUNY; Ladelle McWhorter, U of Richmond; Jana Sawicki, Williams College; Michael Schwartz, Augusta State U; Charles E. Scott, Pennsylvania State U; William V. Spanos, Binghamton U; Leslie Paul Thiele, U of Florida; Rudi Visker, Institute of Philosophy, Belgium; Edith Wyschogrod, Rice U.

Alan Milchman is lecturer in political science and Alan Rosenberg is associate professor of philosophy, both at Queens College, City University of New York.

Average customer rating:

The title says it all

Helpful for anyone

Thoughtful support for all of us

What better time for "Healing Conversations?"

If you feel compassion for others - read this book!

Healing Conversations: What to Say When You Don't Know What to Say
Nance Guilmartin
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

We're often faced with uncomfortable situations where we're at a loss for words. A friend calls to tell you she's lost her job. A colleague's test results confirm it: he has cancer. The neighbors-who are like family-are moving. Your best friend's mother has Alzheimer's. Your spouse's father suddenly dies; she didn't get to say goodbye. Can you help? Should you help? What would be useful? What kinds of boundaries do we respect or lower? How do we pause to listen between the lines of silence to comfort someone who is afraid or in pain? Can we ask for what would comfort us when we are the one having a rough time? And are we able to receive it with grace?

Healing Conversations enables us to provide or ask for a new level of support when facing life's inevitable challenges, transitions, and losses-at work, at home, and in our community. It is a practical guide to help you step into someone else's shoes so that you can offer, ask for, or receive comfort. Reflections at the end of each chapter help you think more deeply about how to incorporate the principles of healing conversations and intentional kindness into your life.

Customer Reviews:

The title says it all.......2007-05-13

A must have. Helpful not only in what to say to others, but also therapeutic messages for the reader.

Helpful for anyone.......2006-07-29

As a therapist I've learned through long experience that often the most difficult but helpful thing I can offer others is the gift of listening with full attention. That's very difficult for us because our own emotions run away with us when we're with someone in pain. We get scared or angry and we want to make the problem go away--by offering advice or by changing the subject. Nance Guilmartin has put together a very useful guide for how to deal with our own fears and take "healing conversations" to a deeper level where we can actually help those in pain--by being there with them and, with their permission, doing what we can do to help. I especially like her very practical and down-to-earth advice: "Show up even if it's awkward." "Be there over the long haul." I highly recommend this book; everyone will need it more often than they realize, because the opportunities for healing conversations are there every day.

Thoughtful support for all of us.......2006-07-26

I gave Healing Conversations to a friend troubled that she didn't " know what to say" to her family about her grandchild's scary diagnosis. She graciously received it and was pleased she didn't need to read the entire book because her specific concern is covered in a few short sections. She makes a good point. Readers under stress can find examples of numerous topics handily addressed in brief chapters about ways to support others through tough times. Other readers, particularly clergy or family educators, who simply want to feel prepared for helping others through the vicissitudes of life, will find reading the whole book helpful. It is a teaching tool about attitude and attention that the author dedicates "to each of you who, in a moment of uncertainty, take the chance to offer or to ask for a healing conversation."

Because life is complicated, even we who are not therapists find ourelves serving hurting hearts occasionally. In our personal lives, or in the course of regular work, official job descriptions may not cover it, but stuff happens! Requesting or offering acknowledgment and support for rough, uncertain passages presents occasions when we or others ask, " Please help me find a new way to see things because right now I can't even think straight!"

Suitable ways to respond in person and in writing are the focus of Nance Guilmartin's easy-to-read compendium. She coaches lay readers about being present in caring, appropriate ways for those experiencing a range of major and minor hard challenges, transitions and altered identities.

Her "Getting started" introduction reviews, in cogent paragraphs principles (summarized here) for healing conversations:

* Listen - actively hearing with ears, eyes and heart, suspending internal conversations and the impulse to ask questions

* Pause - to reflect, tap into compassion, and tune in to the other person "like putting the clutch in when you are driving a car with a stick shift. It lets you slow down just enough to engage the gears before you speed up."

* Be a Friend Not a Hero - Helping others through a rough time is not the same as rescuing them or rushing them.

* Offer Comfort - People can care without agreeing, disagreeing, fixing or prescribing how others should feel. Comfort allows room to be who we are at the present time.

* Be In Touch with Your Own Feelings - "Helping others feel comforted in our presence has a lot to do with what's going on inside us. . . we are able to sit with our own discomfort long enough to be with theirs. We are able to offer compassion to them because we can also give it to ourselves."

* Be There Over the Long Haul - Adjustment takes time. Sometimes a friend, family member, a colleague or a neighbor needs us to be nothing more than a sounding board--over and over again.

* Show Up Even When It's Awkward - It's okay to feel uncomfortable and helpful to be honest about it. Being a caring presence, letting the person feel safe, is the important thing.

* Be a Helpful Resource - Sometimes the sensible thing to do is refer someone to a resource that might answer needs better than we can.

* Take the Initiative - Taking the time to put ourselves in others' shoes is a helpful first step in knowing what is needed.

* Be Compassionate - Even if we have similar experience, we can't really know how someone else feels, what causes them pain, or what will help them. We need to be patient. Remember to listen to others' stories before asking whether it would help to share yours.

Through brief, interesting anecdotes, she helps readers see how the "getting started" guidelines play out in real situations. She helps readers understand and appreciate healing communication (especially conscious listening, shared silence, rephrasing and reframing) that can lift spirits about such life changing situations as caregiving, end of life, trauma, divorce, embarrassment, attempted suicide, anger, frustration, job loss, physical and mental health changes, retirement, bankruptcy, relocating, and a variety of other personal and work-related matters.

With a useful table of contents and index, the messy, irrational emotional whirlpool of topics is arranged in simple, understandable short sections of true life experiences with helpful insights drawn from them. Comments and approaches are suggested. Being correct is not Guilmartin's point. Being receptive and connecting with others in useful ways is what she is teaching here. Example after example of practical application of personal, attentive empathy show ways to help individuals heal. She discusses spoken and unspoken, judgment-free communication to help individuals gain strength and perspective.

Some of the anecdotes and commentary give additional practical examples of how others have worked through bewilderment or healing or have conceptualized a situation in a beneficial way. A letter from a leader of a nonprofit notifying her group of her cancer and asking for needed help, a list of helpful suggestions and requests from the wife of a hospice resident to his visitors, and some near death experiences are some examples. A few of the stories are a little on the sappy side, but illustrate her subjects well and are all worth reading.

The general contents may be basic and obvious to those who read lots of books like this, but the memorable examples are enriching. Healing Conversations is both a motivational refresher and a handy resource to recommend for others dealing with all manner of personal discomfort. It is a valuable reminder that we all are more than our roles, we're fellow humans first.

What better time for "Healing Conversations?".......2005-09-12

At this time when thousands of people are responding to Hurricane
Katrina, "HEALING CONVERSATIONS" offers us invaluable suggestions and guidelines for how to
ask for, offer and, yes, especially, accept help during difficult, sometimes mind-numbing, circumstances. These
stories enable any one--whether you are a volunteer, teacher, doctor,
student, government leader, lay counselor, or even just a friend, family member or confidant--to be more at ease when
dealing with the unimaginably difficult situations BOTH survivors and
responders are encountering during this massive recovery effort. If there ever was a time when this book can speak volumes to all of us, this is it.

David W. Oberdorfer, M.D., F.A.C.S., M.F.A.
Emergency Room Physician & Immediate Past President, "Society for Humanism in Medicine"

If you feel compassion for others - read this book!.......2003-11-04

This book is a must read for anyone whose work centers around pastoral care and pastoral concerns. Often the most asked question is "what do I say when...." and this book gives you the answers through the telling of a story in such a way that one remembers what to say when. Not matter what faith community you are a part, this book belongs in your library and in your own home whether you do pastoral work or not. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Book Description

Written by the leading international expert on French wine, The Wines of Bordeaux is the authoritative guide to one of the most important and complex wine regions in the world. Sumptuously produced, with a wealth of color illustrations and stunning line drawings, this book covers all the vineyards of Bordeaux--from the largest and most famous châteaux to the smallest farmsteads.
Bordeaux is known for the quality, quantity, and variety of its wine. It produces twenty-five percent of the appellation contrôlée harvest in France--a great deal more than the Beaujolais, Burgundy, Alsace, Loire, or Rhône regions. It also produces all of the three main types of wine: red, dry white, and sweet white. Updating and augmenting Clive Coates's classic Grands Vins, this book shows that many of Bordeaux's wines are not only superlative but also affordable. Thirty-five years of traveling around the French vineyards has given Coates an encyclopedic knowledge of France and its wines. His love and respect for French wines is apparent as he imparts detailed information on the best vintages, tasting notes of the top wines, and up-to-the-minute advice for selecting best value wines. With clear wine descriptions that are accessible to both the uninitiated and the connoisseur, The Wines of Bordeaux increases the pleasure of traveling to this remarkable region and of selecting and enjoying its splendid wines.

Customer Reviews:

Almost complete Bordeaux reference........2007-01-27

Good presentation of Bordeaux producers and a great reference on leading producers.

Book Description

"The one book that will help you build the kind of lifelong bond between you and your dog that Ginny and I share."
--Philip Gonzalez and Ginny, authors of The Dog Who Rescues Cats

Your Dog's Life is a comprehensive guide to the joys and challenges of raising, training, and caring for your pet through every stage in his development: from introducing a new puppy into your home and surviving his adolescence to building a bond with an adult dog and getting the most from training such as housebreaking, crate training, exercising, and socialization; as well as vital information on grooming, general health, and canine medical needs. From the smiles and trails of puppyhood to the pleasures and concerns of having an older canine companion, Your Dog's Life is the essential guide for the pet owner.

"Your Dog's Life makes even the first-time dog owner feel like an expert on canine care and husbandry. With this book as a guide, you can give your dog the best life possible at every stage."
--D.V.M., Manhattan's Center for Veterinary Care and www.thepetchannel.com

Customer Reviews:

If you've got a puppy, you're gonna want this book........2004-08-15

Let me tell you, my little Sheltie was going all over the carpet and that is a big, big no no. I was at my wits end. I just loved her to death and it broke my heart, keeping her outside. Then a friend turned me onto this book and I went straight to page 50 and the "Let's Talk Housebreaking" Chapter. It worked. Now my baby staying inside with me where she belongs.

But don't get me wrong, this book is about so much more than housebreaking and puppy raising. There is good advice here for dogs and people of all ages. People and pups, they belong together and Ms. Gray has written a nice little book that helps them stay together.

Your Dog's Life: Raising, Training, and Caring for Your Pet from Puppyhood to Old Age.

Average customer rating:

Your Dog's Life: Raising, Training, and Caring for Your Pet from Puppyhood to Old Age.
Deborah Loven. Gray
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Average customer rating:

The best guide available.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Genealogy

Great Guide

updated tripe

I Needed a Complete Idiots Guide to Online Genealogy!

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Genealogy, 2nd Edition (Complete Idiot's Guide to)
CG, CGL, FASG, Christine Rose , and CG, Kay Germain Ingalls
Manufacturer: Alpha
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Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

This user-friendly volume offers readers an opportunity to understand the craft of genealogy, explore their roots, perform online research, and begin to discover their true identities. Includes new information on the release of the 1930 census, the pros and cons of online research, and creating family trees.

Download Description

You're no idiot, of course. You know your grandmother's maiden name and the story of how your great uncle decided to settle in Oklahoma. But when it comes fo digging up the rest of the facts and growing a family tree, you feel like you're looking at an impossible job. Stop trying to dig with your bare hands! The Complete Idiot's Guide to Genalogy provides you with the tools you need, from tracking down family records to locating long-lost relatives. Feel confident about interviewing family members, organizing photos, visiting courthouses to find information, and more!

Customer Reviews:

The best guide available........2007-03-27

These authors have the credentials to and have written a superb handbook, especially for the genealogy "newbies". Even the experienced family historian will here find MUCH help. Paul Drake JD

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Genealogy.......2007-03-23

As a newbie to genealogy, I find this to be a very helpful book. It points you in the directions that you should go and gives a lot of ideas that I would not have thought of.

Great Guide.......2007-01-14

This is a great book for beginners and experienced researchers. I recommend it to my students.
Maria (Ree) Hopper, CG

updated tripe.......2006-08-08

This edition of the book is more up-to-date, so it's actually useful somewhat. Mostly, though, it's a book written by experts for experts. There is little thought given to the practical application of genealogy -- making friends with newly found relatives, for example, and family reunions. There is no mention of the politics that go into genealogy. You can easily destroy your family by writing the wrong date for a marriage on your descendant chart, but the book totally omits important facts like that! It has a small chapter on DNA, which is nice, but it leaves out critical information on that topic, too. The "Idiot's" title of this book is misleading; the authors fail to think like a layman. Beware.

I Needed a Complete Idiots Guide to Online Genealogy!.......2006-08-03

Christine Rose's "The Complete Idiots's Guide to Online Genealogy" made me finally move from, "I am going to do a genealogic study of my father's family", to "I have been working on this project for two years, and am truly enjoying the experience".

The book is well organized, and easy to read and understand. I have in the past 5 years developed a memory problem that will not get better. I had become so afraid failure, I did not want to attempt learning something new again. I used "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Computers" years ago, and found it a great way to quickly ground myself in the basics. When I saw Ms. Rose's book, I knew it was my best opportunity.

I now have numerous books concerning genealogy, but "Idiot's" is dog earred and still the first book on the shelf. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to learn family history and genealogy and how to put together a family tree. Especially those who do not have the inside lingo.

Shari Peavy

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Your Family History

Average customer rating:

This Is How You Do It!

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Your Family History
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Book Description

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Your FamilyHistory is a fun, easy-to-follow guide giving basic instruction to researching your past and writing it down in a way that present and future generations will enjoy reading over and over. The book gives you advice on not only finding those long-lost aunts and uncles, but how to ask them just the right questions to get the really good stories out of them. Learn how to ask questions like a journalist, write like a novelist, and research like a genealogist.

Download Description

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Your Family History is a fun, easy-to-follow guide giving basic instruction to researching your past and writing it down in a way that present and future generations will enjoy reading over and over. The book gives you advice on not only finding those long-lost aunts and uncles, but how to ask them just the right questions to get the really good stories out of them. Learn how to ask questions like a journalist, write like a novelist, and research like a genealogist.

Customer Reviews:

This Is How You Do It!.......2005-02-10

Ms. Stephenson writes well in quite an array of fields (including fiction -- check out "Brave New Wanda"). "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Your Family History" is by far the best of the "The Complete Idiot's Guide..." series so far. She writes with genuine humor and insight. Whether you're planning on saving your genealogy for your grandchildren, or just hoping to learn out to talk to your parents better, this is the book for you. Very nicely done in every respect!

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Genealogy, Second Edition

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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Genealogy, Second Edition
Great for the classroom
Very good resource book

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Genealogy, Second Edition
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ASIN: 0028642678

Amazon.com

If you want to learn more about your family, now's the time to start. With the advent of the Internet, there's more information available than ever before, and it's easier to access now than in the good old days of musty libraries and records halls. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Genealogy by Rhonda McClure will have you wired and digging up dirt (or gold) in just an hour or two. Even the most ardent computer-hater will have to admit that the search is simpler, and McClure makes the case clearly. Her charming prose is well complemented by online images and hint boxes scattered liberally on each page. Specific sites are mentioned as well as general means of searching for family data, so even if one site disappears you can still get what you need. The book covers the basics of both gathering family data and online searches, so if you're not quite up to speed on one or the other, you can quickly figure it out. After you've browsed a bit and started collecting information, the later chapters help you to communicate with other researchers, mining government records, and even publishing your own results online. It's not hard to learn plenty about your family's history; whether you want to get in touch with your roots, glean medical information to improve your own health, or give your kids something to think about, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Genealogy is for you. --Rob Lightner

Customer Reviews:

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Genealogy, Second Edition.......2005-09-17

Very informative for the novice Genealogist. Helpful hints of where to look for information both online and in the library.

Great for the classroom.......2001-02-28

I have been using this book in a class I teach at the local Adult Education center. The class is 10 sessions of 3 hours each and the book provides a comprehensive overview on Genealogy on the internet. The author's information is well written and todate 75 students have enjoyed this book with me...

Very good resource book.......2000-10-25

Online Genealogy is a fun hobby that is increasing in popularity. It use to be a hassle trying to contact libraries and record halls by mail or telephone.

The "Idiot's Guide..." will show you everything you need to know to get started setting up your family tree. Make sure you have as much detail, about your history, available when you begin your search, to make things easier.

If you already belong to a genealogy club, this book might seem redundant. But it is a nice reference to have when you don't feel like searching your bookmarks for a specific page.

I bought this for my mother, and she found it very useful. Of course she still writes half of her bookmarks down on paper.

Average customer rating:
Complete Idiot's Guide To Genealogy
Christine; Ingalls, Kay Germain Rose
Manufacturer: Alpha Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K1QQFC

Average customer rating:
Complete Idiot's Guide to Genealogy (The Complete Idiot's Guide)
Kay Germain Ingalls Christine Rose
Manufacturer: Alpha
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O92WE4

Book Description

George Forsdike ran a nursery garden at Shrublands, Suffolk for nearly 50 years, specialising in chrysanthemums and other cut flowers that he sent to Covent Garden to sell. Shrublands changed from a country manor house to a health farm,where many famous people came to rest and recuperate. George tells of his life, working quietly on the four acres of his garden, together with his wife Claire.

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Cats And Chrysanthemums
George Forsdike
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MU4KKE

Amazon.com

If you've been paying attention, you've noticed by now that pain and suffering infiltrate nearly every part of life. Whether it's an executive nursing a quiet ulcer in the boardroom or a wailing child holding a skinned knee on the playground, this uniquely unpleasant signal must be important; if it weren't, we could more easily ignore it. Neurosurgeon Frank T. Vertosick Jr. explains the evolutionary, physiological, and psychological reasons for pain in Why We Hurt: The Natural History of Pain. Not a paean to despair, the book helps to ease suffering through understanding and learning just how far we've come in the short history of palliative practice. Vertosick's long experience working with sufferers of hideously intractable pain, and his own long battle with migraine, provides depth and illustrative stories that draw the reader into what might otherwise be dry medicalese.

It's heartening to see more surgeons like Dr. Vertosick coming to accept the often-strong psychological basis of pain and appropriate nonsurgical, nonpharmacologic treatments for it. Certainly, as in the case of the woman whose trigeminal nerve was eroded by a circulatory tangle, cutting and suturing have their appropriate place. And the author found several years ago that simple acetaminophen was all he needed to stave off his headaches. His gentle explanations and usually uplifting stories help us prepare for our own episodes of suffering. Though it might seem like small comfort, learning Why We Hurt can be as powerful as the strongest narcotic, with no side effects. --Rob Lightner

Book Description

A top neurosurgeon and acclaimed author's unique and highly readable study of the paradox of pain, with fascinating anecdotes on childbirth, migraines, cancer, and more.

Medical science has made brilliant discoveries over the last century but as any cancer patient can attest, it has yet to conquer, or even fully comprehend, pain. Beginning with his own battle against severe migraines, and citing numerous case studies of his patients, in Why We Hurt Dr. Frank Vertosick explains how pain evolved, and by highlighting the critical functions it serves, he helps us to understand its value. Well written, expertly researched, and movingly told, each chapter offers an amalgam of medicine, history, anthropology, drama, inspiration, and practical advice on a myriad of pain syndromes, from back pain to angina, arthritis to carpal tunnel syndrome. A skilled writer and compassionate physician, Vertosick believes knowledge is often the first, and best, analgesic, and in Why We Hurt, "he offers fascinating insight into the greatest mystery of all: what it means to be human" (The Seattle Times).

Customer Reviews:

A terrible instrument.......2002-03-23

C.S. Lewis said in his book, "The Problem of Pain": "Pain as God's megaphone is a terrible instrument." It gets our attention and warns us of danger. Unfortunately, some doctors don't listen to that same megaphone when treating their patients.

According to a recent "New York Times" article, "More than a third of seriously ill patients who requested that doctors ease their discomfort instead of prolonging their lives appear to have had their wishes overlooked, a new study [published in the "Journal of the American Geriatrics Society"] reports".

"Why We Hurt" claims that, "three of four cancer patients will die in poorly controlled pain, and the percentage climbs higher still for those succumbing to malignancies with a talent for invading bones and nerves, including cancers of the breast, prostate, rectum, pancreas, and cervix."

This must be disquieting information for people who are suffering from terminal illnesses like cancer or AIDS, especially since doctors already tend to undermedicate for pain---think of all of the criminal and civil lawsuits pending for over-prescription of OxyContin, and it is easy to understand why some doctors avoid the heavy-duty painkillers or their prolonged usage.

Dr. Vertosick has treated some nightmarish pain problems during his career as a neurosurgeon. This book contains many case histories of patients in agony, connected by the overarching theme of why it is necessary to feel pain. Each story explains why we are connected in such a hurtful way to our inner and outer worlds.

According to Dr. Vertosick, "when stripped of pain's discipline, we neglect our bodies until they become battered beyond recognition....The hands and feet of longtime diabetics and paralytics...become deformed and covered with pressure sores. Patients with trigeminal neuralgia who have their corneas rendered numb by alcohol nerve blocks will ultimately go blind from unchecked corneal scarring."

There is also the sad story of Jimmy, the boy who was born without the ability to feel pain.

"Why We Hurt" is a book that both teaches and fascinates. I learned that neurosurgery can help at least some people (including cancer patients) who suffer from intractable pain. There are only a couple of areas where I found Dr. Vertosick to be overly optimistic. One concerns the efficacy of back surgery. Read this book, and then read the prologue to Dr. Jerome Groopman's "Second Opinions" for an example of where back surgery (spinal fusion) worsened the patient's condition. My own neurologist has told me that 60% of patients who underwent back surgery felt that it didn't do any good.

The question of whether newborn babies feel pain is another gray area where this author tends toward optimism. He feels that they are not yet fully connected to sensations of pain. However, I've read research to the contrary: newborn infants who have been operated on without anesthesia not only feel pain, they remember it.

These two small quibbles aside, please read this book. You may someday have to make choices on pain control, and this is a good place to start learning what those choices may entail, and (if it's any comfort) why it is `natural,' i.e. in accordance with human evolution, that you feel the way you do.

A well-written, engaging treatment of an important subject.......2001-01-18

I bought this book without knowing much about it -- in the bookstore with my 8-year-old son, who suffers from migraines. We noticed it and, at his request, I began to read it to him -- then we had to buy it!

I was quite impressed by the quality of the writing -- it's a book for grownups, but the ideas were accessible to a sensitive child with an interest in the subject.

I certainly defer to other reviewers with medical knowledge about errors in the book, and I think much of his speculation about the potential evolutionary advantages of particular pains or genetic disorders is a little, well, speculative -- but we enjoyed reading and discussing them anyway.

The preponderance of happy ending case-stories -- though generally with a lot of suffering before the resolution -- bothered me a little in my own appreciation of the work, but I think it was for the best in my discussions with my son -- he was able to face the issues without being overwhelmed by tragedy (and there's tragedy enough along the way).

WOWZER!.......2000-11-23

This is the best book ever! It's funny, yet tragic, distant, yet so close. I would recommend this book to everyone, not just to sufferers of chronic pain, or people with medical careers. A MUST READ!

The Best Book!.......2000-10-01

This is the best book! I love'd it. It was tragic, yet funny, educational and inspirational. The Best, A read for All!

Typical.......2000-09-18

This is the standard medical community line on pain, which, sadly, only contributes to the growing problem of chronic pain. If you suffer from chronic pain, read The Mind Body Prescription by Dr. John Sarno for a better discussion of pain, and for a real solution.

Why We Hurt : The Natural History of Pain

Average customer rating:

Why We Hurt : The Natural History of Pain
Frank T., Jr. Vertosick
Manufacturer: Harcourt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJFUU2

Average customer rating:
Accounting Practices and Procedures Manual version 2000
Brady Kelley
Manufacturer: Natl Assn of Insurance
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0893826537

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