Book Description
When Holly Nichols sets her wedding date, trendy L.A. party–planner Madeline Bean decides to throw her top assistant the hippest and most lavish bridal shower on the planet. The guests embark on a "destination" party to a fabulous and exclusive spa/resort in Hawaii. The salt–rubs! The paraffin pedicures! The dead body in the mud bath! Ew.
It doesn't help matters when Holly confesses to Maddie that she can't really go through with the upcoming wedding after all. In her effort to smooth the matrimonial path for her dear friend, Madeline must track down the mystery man Holly may have married ten years earlier and never actually got around to divorcing. How hard can that be?
Well, with the elusive gentleman in question running from a gang of rare vegetable smugglers, the bridal shower guests imbibing in one "Bridesmaid Mojito" too many, the current fiancé developing an allergy to scandal, and a murderer on the loose, it looks like anything but clear sailing down the aisle for one of Mad Bean's best employees.
Customer Reviews:
Very clever read.......2007-01-19
Jerrilyn Farmer continues to develop the complexity and depth of Madeline Bean and her cohorts in this book. She demonstrates extensive knowledge of every aspect of her characters - over-the-top party planning, catering (great recipe!) and the intricacies of murder mystery. Well-developed plot with great twists and turns. I can't wait for the next book.
Aloha!.......2006-05-31
Sometimes a book just works, and this is one of them. I can't put my finger on a particular element that dazzled me, but it was simply well-crafted. The characters clearly served narrative purposes, but not annoyingly so. The subject of the mystery wasn't of great interest to me, but Farmer still made it work. And the ending, where all of the characters were gathered in one place and they all went off into the sunset with their own happy endings? Well, yes, that was a bit contrived, but it actually worked for me and gave me that satisfied feeling as I closed the book. My only question, and perhaps it will be answered more explicity as I read the others in the series, (this is my first Jerrilyn Farmer book, but I plan to read more) is when is Wes going to find a nice guy and pair off?
Not Up To Par.......2005-12-27
I really enjoy this series, but this installment wasn't as good as usual.
First off, there were way too many characters, which made things get confusing -- especially in the case of Holly's sisters. None of them added anything to the story, but the author seemed determined to not let them just fade into the background by giving them a line here or a word there. It would've been better to just not even have had them in the book. Then you add in all the Hawaiian characters and it was hard to keep track of so many people.
One of the things I enjoy most about this series is the entire cast -- Maddie, Wes and Holly. So it was disappointing to see Maddie go off on her own to solve this case that involved Holly without any assistance at all from her and Wes.
I also hate the "round up everyone mentioned in the book and stick 'em in the same place" kind of endings. Not only was everyone in the book at the final location, but suddenly you have all these characters back home who'd been mentioned showing up too. It was overkill. And it was an especially annoying way to end the book since we don't know how the current story ended. Does Holly get back together with Marvin? Does she stay in Hawaii or return to LA? I would've been more interested in finding that out and dealing with everyone else back in LA in the next installment.
Parts of the book read like a history lesson on Hawaii, but nevertheless, if you're a Maddie Bean fan, you'll enjoy spending a few hours with the gang.
Hawaii, Food, and Murder.......2005-10-10
Holly is getting married in two weeks. Madeline and Wes decide to take Holly, her sisters, and her best friend on a surprise bachelorette party to Hawaii. Wes and Madeline have never been able to be guests at one of their parties. Now they are!
Holly confides in Madeline that she received a threatening e-mail demanding the whereabouts of her husband. Apparently Holly married her prom date in high school. But the details are a bit hazy. She hasn't seem him for years and has no idea where he might be.
When they arrive in Hawaii, they expect to have fun before going back home to deal with this problem. Wrong. There's a man waiting in Holly's room when they arrive. He runs out. Later this man ends up dead.
Madeline sets out to figure out what is going on. How is this man connected to Holly? Where is her husband? Can she do this without anyone else getting hurt and finish before they have to leave the big island?
I always enjoy books in this series. Since this one was set in Hawaii, a place I've never visited, I found it to be even more interesting. The exotic place, the great food, and wonderful people really added to the mystery.
I wish I could book an event with Mad Bean! I highly recommend this book and the whole series. Give it a try, I doubt you'll be disappointed.
Too much Hawaii, not enough mystery.......2005-06-14
I have enjoyed all of the books in this series, but "Flaming Luau" was a disappointment. It started out with a great premise - a trip to an exotic locale, a mystery husband - but then it just fizzled. The elements of the mystery did not tie together well, and there were just too many sidelines. The plot reminded me of a hyperactive child, bouncing from one thought to another but not making connections between them.
Perhaps the book was just too overloaded with characters and it was difficult to concentrate on what was happening to each one of them. And, in my opinion, there was just too much information about Hawaii. It was a distraction, rather than an addition.
It's still a fairly fun read, which is why I gave it three stars. However, my advice is to borrow it from a friend, the library, or wait for the paperback.
Book Description
Traveler, debt-dodger, itinerant critic, and writer of history books nobody buys, Orion Treet is astonished when he’s invited to accompany a top-secret mission to observe and document an extraterrestrial colony on a newly discovered planet. But when Treet and his companions reach the paradise planet they have been promised, they find themselves enmeshed in an ancient and deadly conflict between two highly evolved civilizations. Can the free and perfect world of Fierra escape annihilation? Treet, with a handful of rebels, stands alone against the evil might of Dome, as events move inexorably towards a world-shaking climax.
Customer Reviews:
Highly entertaining.......2006-12-21
I read these books more than 20 years ago, and decided to re-read them again recently. Originally two separate books, I was pleased to see them bundled into a single package here. As another reviewer has stated, and I quite concur, the first book leaves far too much unresolved, and the second book really cannot stand alone. It simply can't be read as anything other than one lengthy saga rather than two stand-alone books.
Elsewhere, Lawhead has been categorized as being in the "Christian fiction" genre but I must take strenuous issue with this. It pigeon-holes his work far too much and sends a message to non-christian readers that they needn't bother picking up this fine author's novels unless they share his faith. This would be a true shame. Lawhead's books are not at all typical of so-called christian fiction which is almost always written for a distinctly evangelical audience and culture. In contrast, although Lawhead's novels always contain a certain amount of spiritual subject matter such as the existence of evil and suffering, the existence of God and truth, and similar topics, they are neither preachy nor overbearing, and the material isn't really presented in a way that I would even consider to be indicative of organized religion. It's actually often presented in a much more mystical fashion that some Christians may even find mildly objectionable because it ocassionally mixes elements of paganism and Christianity.
Regardless, most Christian readers will find Lawhead's books enjoyable because the author's worldview will be largely consistent with their own and he tells a great story without resorting to profanity, gratuitous sex, and other salacious props (in that regard, he is similar to John Grisham). Non-christian readers: don't make the mistake of dismissing this and other Lawhead novels as suitable only for the shelves of the local Bible book store. It is a wonderful read regardless of your spiritual views and I seriously doubt any readers will walk away feeling preached to at any level...any more than readers would likely feel preached to by John Grisham's "The Testament."
To my knowledge, this is Stephen Lawhead's only foray into the sci-fi genre, and he does an admirable job. For those unfamiliar with Lawhead, he shines the brightest in Celtic historical novels, and I believe some of his best work is in the 5-book "Pendragon Cycle," a multi-generational saga that follows Merlin, King Arthur, and others from the famous "Knights of the Roundtable" lore. But, enough of advertisements for his other books.
In the 2-part "Empyrion" saga, we follow the adventures of Orion Treat, a sort of Joe Average from sometime in earth's non-specified future. Treat is offered 8 million dollars for reasons he cannot quite contemplate to journey to a distant planet where a manned exploratory vessel has found a planet that may support life. The vessel's crew sends several cryptic, partially intelligable messages back to earth, but then communications cease entirely. Treat's task, along with 3 fellow travellers, is to venture to the planet, find out what became of the explorers and their vessel, and report back.
--- Warning: partial plot spoilers here. Skip ahead if desired ---
To get to the distant planet, Treat's ship must pass through a wormhole, compressing a journey that would normally take years to just 10 months. However, upon arriving, the travelers eventually realize that they have travelled not just many lightyears from home, but also thousands of years into the future. They arrive at the planet not as it was when the first messages were sent back, but as it exists after hundreds of generations of people have lived and died since the first group of marooned humans arrived and began populating the place - almost like a cosmic Noah's ark. Like the first group of explorers, Treat and his companions find they've bought a one-way ticket. There is no way to get a message back to earth, and no way to return.
The novel takes us to two distinct civilizations of humans on the planet - those who chose to dwell beneath a gigantic dome in a rigid caste-like system, and those who split off to live outside the dome across an impassible desert in an Eden-like utopia. The novel chronicles the state of the decaying dome-dwellers' civilization, contrasted with the purity and ascendency of the utopian culture built by those outside the dome (the Fierri). An inevitable battle erupts as the two cultures that had remained separate for dozens of centuries poise to intersect once again, with Treat and his companions battling to prevent the repeat of a nuclear holocaust from the planet's distant past.
--- Plot spoilers over ---
It's a wonderful story that I thoroughly enjoyed, pitting the age-old ingredients of good against evil, while giving us numerous glimpses of what the world could be like if man would consistently choose good rather than evil.
My only critique is that some of the battle scenes are drawn out a little too long and this caused the story to bog down in places. Overall, the books come to a fine and highly satisfying conclusion. However, hard-core sci-fi fans who are looking for lots of cutting-edge science won't find it here. It's really a story of good and evil that simply uses science fantasy to carry us into a solar system thousands of years in the future where the age-old tale of hate and fear versus love and courage can carry itself out on a virgin planet. It's a story that could have just as easily been set thousands of years in the past as thousands of years in the future.
A superior story told well.......2006-07-31
Empyrion is an epic science fiction story by Christian writer Stephen Lawhead. Originally two books, The Search for Fierra and The Siege of Dome, the first book ends with too much unresolved and the second cannot stand on its own. The two books of this volume are in fact one story.
All too often Christian fiction is second-rate fiction but this is not the case with Stephen Lawhead and Empyrion. This story is excellent science fiction. However, Empyrion is not just the story of four travelers to an Earth colony in the Epsilon Eridani system; it is the spiritual journey that explores the eternal battle between good and evil.
While Empyrion investigates religious themes, it is not overtly Christian. Another reviewer stated that the story is rich with Allegory. I agree. Dome represents evil, an authoritarian society of demon worship and hate. Fierra, is a utopian paradise, a city populated by people who have either fled Dome or were thrown out. After years of wandering, they have come to know and love the Eternal Father. Even the air of Empyrion and Dome become allegories for purity and death.
The best fiction writers present their stories through setting, action, thoughts, and description. Many Science Fiction stories suffer from lengthy paragraphs of telling. While Empyrion does have some telling, it is blessed with ample setting details that allow you to visualize the alien environment, the bleakness of dome and beauty of Fierra.
As a Christian and a lifetime reader of Science Fiction, I recommend Empyrion to fans of the genre. Don't let the spirituality or length of the novel deter you from sharing the adventure.
Kyle Pratt
Most remarkable book I have read.......2006-06-04
Empyrion is a remarkable book. It will appeal to anyone searching for a great science fiction novel, a book with spiritual revelations, a story of the struggle between great evil and good, or someone just looking for a good read. No one aspect of the book is overbearing, and it is neither preachy nor heavy-handed on the science fiction front, making it a story that can be loved by just about anyone, at any time in their lives.
The story follows four travelers sent to check up on a four year old, other-worldly colony, set up by the powerful corporation Cynetics. On their arrival, they find two cities, and no sign of the original colony. One of the cities, Dome, is mostly corrupt, and vile. The other is serene, and peaceful. The presence of the travelers rekindles an ancient feud between these two civilizations, and sets in motion events that signal the coming of potentially horrible events. The leaders of Dome, some searching for complete power, and others fighting to keep Empyrion from spiraling into chaos, wage a war of information, secrecy, and propaganda, which teeters on the edge of full-scale destruction.
This story, like many of Lawhead's other books, has a slow beginning. The characters take shape gradually, and the plot initially moves at nearly a snails pace. Lawhead spends most of the early pages of the book describing the world of his characters. That done, though, the plot starts rolling. Because of the effort Lawhead takes in preparing the reader, you can't help but be totally engaged as events unroll. Simply put, you won't be able to put the book down. What Empyrion occasionally loses in pace, it gains in beautiful detail of the characters and surroundings. Through these descriptions, Lawhead makes the world of Empyrion real; you feel immersed in it. He brings to life the grandeur of Fierra, and the desolation of the great desert. The characters are complex, multi-dimensional individuals. They seem real, making it easy to connect with them. You can feel Tvrdy's desperation as he struggles, with his back to the wall, against an insurmountable enemy. It is these feelings that drive you forward to find out what happens next.
There are multiple plots, some beautifully subtle, that intersect and eventually weave together seemlessly as the end approaches. There is a psychological tieing together as well, giving the whole story an overarching feeling of the great and fierce battle between good and evil. Empyrion can be taken and looked at from so many angles and appreciated on so many levels that it makes it appealing to a wide range of people. Whatever way you want to look at the story, even if you just want a good read, you will not be disappointed. I was quite saddened when I reached the end of Empyrion, not because of what did or did not happen, but because it was over.
One of the best!.......2005-06-12
Let me begin by saying that I am a long-time reader of Lawhead. I read "The Search for Fierra" and "The Siege of Dome" as separate books around Christmas of 1987. I recently read these books again. While it can be said that Empyrion is an epic novel with sophisticated characters and gripping story lines, this is not what makes the book so unique. Empyrion is much more than simply a story. It is a journey into the very heart of our deepest spiritual longings for the Infinite; it is a philosophical exploration of our most troublesome questions about evil and suffering; and it is a deep expression of our inner-most desire for the only One who can sustain us in the midst of our frail humanity. The battle between good and evil is not entirely resolved by the end of the book; but this is likely because the battle is never truly resolved anyway. Indeed, the battle will remain ongoing until God Himself resolves the conflict in His own time.
A sweeping masterpiece in my opinion.......2004-02-18
Not only of good Space Opera, but of Sci-Fi/High Tech, clearly worth joining the ranks of "Foundation", "Childhood's End", "Virtual Light", "Neuromancer", "Snow Crash", and "Darkeye: Cyber Hunter". All deal with what would appear to be very real worlds of our future and, therefore, should be part of every true collector's library.
Average customer rating:
- Classic Sci-Fi adventure for teens and adults
- He's done it again
- Boring, Preachy, drawn out.. but very easy reading!
- Lawhead sci-fi, different and great
- Not for the simple minded
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Search for Fierra, The (EMPYRION)
Stephen R. Lawhead
Manufacturer: Zondervan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0310205093 |
Book Description
Orion Treet, an itinerant and often-unemployed writer, is abducted at gunpoint. Then he is offered eight million dollars and the adventure of a lifetime. The mission? To observe and chronicle the growth of a new extraterrestrial colony: Empyrion. Arriving on the planet Fierra, Treet discovers a civilization in decline, fragmented by millennia of mistrust and hatred. To survive, he and his odd assortment of companions must unscramble the mysteries around them . . . before time runs out for the settlement. The Empyrion novels are among Lawhead’s most captivating accomplishments of storytelling and adventure -- the best there is in science fiction. The Search for Fierra won the Campus Life Editor’s Choice Award. Look for Empyrion II: The Siege of Dome, at your local bookstore.
Customer Reviews:
Classic Sci-Fi adventure for teens and adults.......2005-12-20
This is book 1 of 2 in the Empyrion series, a delightful "classic" sci-fi adventure for teens and adults (not for children). Four earthlings (Treet, Yarden, Crocker, and Pizzle) are sent through a wormhole to check on the first colony built outside of our solar system. But the wormhole sends them 3000 years into the future and they find that there are two settlements on the planet Empyrion. Landing at one of the settlements, "Dome", they are captured and the adventure begins in earnest.
Orion Treet (primary character) finds that Dome "has evolved into an extremely stratified, regimented, organized, and highly repressive society" that employs 'reorientation', torture, and drugs to keep its population in line. They also worship an evil psychic force by blood sacrifices and orgies.
A group of rebels helps the four travelers escape and sends them to find the "Fieri" people to request aid in overthrowing the sadistic dictator in charge. After a long and nearly deadly journey, the four travelers are rescued by the Fieri. But the Fieri refuse to help Dome and Treet decides to return to Dome to see what he can do on his own.
I love that Lawhead references "Dune" by Frank Herbert in his story. The books in this series have been dear to me for 20 years now, and I re-read them every few years. I find the pace of storytelling to be lively and the narrative to be cinematically descriptive.
He's done it again.......2003-05-26
My first encounter with Lawhead was the brilliant "Song of Albion" trilogy, which is fantasy. I fell in love with his style of writing with its poetic descriptive and yet driving technique. His fantasy is well-woven and fleshed out. Page-turners.
And his science fiction is no different. Once again, the books begin slightly boring and have a few moments within them that are a little bit too lengthy for me--but the reasoning in those passages I feel could not really have been omitted from the books. They are brilliant and take science fiction to a whole new level. Instead of simply being a quest, these books are a commentary. They show the developement of religion, civilization and it's downfall in a world far from us, and somehow strike a familier chord.
Definately up there on the favorites list!
Boring, Preachy, drawn out.. but very easy reading!.......2003-01-06
A co-worker said this was his favorite science fiction book, so I thought I would give it a shot. Too say the least, I was very disappointed.
Why I didn't like it:
I have no problems reading books with alternative motives, just as long as they aren't so blatant, from page one 'The Search for Fierra' starts out with a bible verse, and from that point on it very metaphorically and not so metaphorically preachy. The story is simple, and most importantly never seems to ever go anywhere. Additionally, Lawhead tries to continually overwhelm you with generic descriptions using very simple (and overly clean cut) adjectives of ever little minute detail of the book boring the reader without ever really conveying anything and living little for the imagination.
What thing I can say in the affirmative is that it is extremely easy to read. So easy that if you are a fast reader that you could easily read this it an evening as what little real dialogue there is never gets too complex. The words used are also simple enough that a sixth or seventh grader would have no problem reading it.
A last word, this book should not even been released without its 2nd part, as the book really does go NO WHERE in 436 pages and ends with a "now it begins" where all the while you have been wading through the pages waiting for something to actually get interesting. If better written, all could have been conveyed in 130 pages and part of the second book. Though this turned me off so much, that I will not seek out the second one in the series. I have read some of the works of wordy Russian writers like Tolstoy's `War and Peace', and I found that they kept my attention and interest longer, and were much better written. My questions are, what was with the sixty-seven chapters, each only about 8 or 9 pages long, and does this book really even qualify as science fiction or as a quite simply Christian Fiction?
I have read worse..
Christopher
Lawhead sci-fi, different and great.......2002-10-09
I am a Lawhead fan from way back... I enjoy his fantasy stuff tremendously. But, my first love is sci-fi. So when I found out that Lawhead had written these books, I jumped at the chance to read them. I was not disappointed. They are not as "brainy" as the Dune books (which are by far the greatest sci-fi ever written) but this series hold it's own. Lawhead has the ability to describe places and people so that you know them without ever seeing and meeting them. It is a gift. This comes thru in these books very well. These books (like most of Lawhead) speak to a deeper truth for those who long for that as well. I highly recommend them.
Not for the simple minded.......2002-08-23
Firstly, I should say that the omnibus version, containing both books, is available. It is humongous, but you can get it and save some cash. These books have a lot of depth to them and aren't the average sci-fi "lets see how many futuristic ways we can kill people" approach. Lawhead's character's are developed over time. Sometimes they will surprise you. The standard first chapter synopis of main characters is absent. You have to follow the development of the individuals throughout the books. Lawhead writes with a different sense of pace and buildup than you may be used to from his other series. I read this series as a kid and have always liked it for its uniqueness. The books create a believable world and a complex society while leaving the thinking reader plenty of mysterious clues and hints to ponder. Lots of fun elements of political science, anthropology and sociology undergird this first book,which takes place mostly in Dome. Don't expect everything to be spelled out right away, and don't expect wholesale slaughter and gigantic battle scenes. The great sci-fi epics like "Dune", and "Lord of the Rings" succeed because they give a reader a sense of reality. Events seem like real history. The "Dome" books don't reach the level of Herbert or Tolkien; few if any books do. However, they have an element of this same reality that allow the reader to become immersed and enter a new world and, after all, isnt that the point of sci-fi?
Average customer rating:
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Empyrion: The Search for Fierra
Stephen R. Lawhead
Manufacturer: Crossway Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Lawhead, Stephen | ( L ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0891073582 |
Average customer rating:
- escapist sci-fi that is engaging and entertaining
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Empyrion I: The Search for Fierra
Steve Lawhead
Manufacturer: Crossway Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0891077510 |
Customer Reviews:
escapist sci-fi that is engaging and entertaining.......2000-04-01
Stephen R. Lawhead has contributed many novels to the "fantasy" genre, but this Empyrion duology of which "The Search of Fierra" is the first novel, is hard sci-fi. An entertaining story of a futuristic, Huxleyian society on another planet and the rebellion that its citizens stage, Lawhead creates interesting characters and interesting situations that propel this story beyond the "formulaic" or "simplistic" space operas which dominate much of the sci-fi market.
Average customer rating:
- Remarkable true story of persistent courage
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Journey to Freedom and Beyond
Robert M. Slane
Manufacturer: Trafford Publishing
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 141201672X
Release Date: 2006-08-01 |
Book Description
A true-life story of combat during World War II. In the book the author describes the action that leads up to the loss of his combat crew when their aircraft is downed by German forces. Events after he crash-lands his aircraft provide a narrative history that leads the reader into the emotional life of a prisoner of war.
The reader is taken through a progressive series of events as the author adjusts to a life that is a composite mixture of boredom, fear and danger. With escape uppermost in his mind he is made increasingly aware of the risks and retribution following a failed escape attempt.
He was in that same Stalag Luft III prison camp when British Prisoners in the adjacent North Compound made their escape through a tunnel. When captured, fifty of these prisoners were shot to death. The directive to murder the prisoners came directly from Hitler.
Solitary confinement for an escape attempt followed by a "forced" winter march as Stalag Luft III is evacuated, provides further insight into the dangers and hardships faced by the prisoners as their captors move the prisoners from one area to another in an attempt to avoid liberation by Allied military forces.
As the war continues the Red Cross food supplies are depleted and starvation becomes a reality. Dysentery and vermin are prevalent in the prison Stalag located at Nuremberg where thousands of allied prisoners have been relocated.
The author describes in vivid detail the chaos and fear created as bombs fall on targets located adjacent to the prison compounds.
Seeking to make his way to friendly territory the author continues his quest for freedom with multiple escapes during a second forced march from Nuremberg to Moosberg, Germany.
The author is greeted with a shocking scene of horror when captured after several days of freedom and returned to an "Oflag" where British ground-officer survivors of the battles of Dunkerque, Crete, Dieppe are imprisoned by the Germans.
The day of liberation finally arrives, but the story does not end with the events of that joyous day.
Adventure and tragedy continue after the war as the author flies combat during the Korean conflict and later provides a stirring, emotional account of a B-47 accident.
After his combat tour in Vietnam and retirement from the military the author and his wife revisit areas in England and France where some of the wartime events took place. Of special significance was a visit to his gunner's grave in France.
Customer Reviews:
Remarkable true story of persistent courage.......2007-03-16
Robert Slane's expierences will captivate the reader. The author unassumingly tells of his three plane crash survivals and almost two years of captivity as a POW in Germany. His story reveals the potential of human strength and empathy even while enduring inhumane afflictions of war.
Book Description
One of the bloddiest battles in the history of American prisons occurred at Alcatraz in May 1946, when prisoners staged a breakout, obtaining guns from the gun gallery and taking nine guards hostage. The escape attempt was the cumination of months of methodical planning. But, when a last-minute glitch foiled their escape, inmates shot the hostages in effort to leave no witnesses. Before order was restored, thousands of rounds were fired by federal prison personnel and a detachment of the U.S. Marines. Among the guards who survived the shooting was Ernie Lageson, Sr. the author's father. Now in Battle at Alcatrz, author Ernie Lageson Jr. passes on his father's story. Meticulously researched, this compelling story offers an insider's perspective on both the notorious riot and life inside the most infamous prison in America. Eight pages of photos.
Customer Reviews:
The Battle of Alcatraz is a Great Book!.......2006-06-16
Ernest Lageson has written an outstanding and fast paced book on what many consider as the most daring escape ever from Alcatraz. Ernest has also written a sequel that I'm about half way through and it is great! Lageson's book is an excellent account of the 1946 Battle of Alcatraz. I highly recommend this book as a companion to the books written by Don Denevi and Phillip Bergen titled Alcatraz '46, and also Alcatraz a Definitive History of the Prison Years by Michael Esslinger. All of these books provide great accounts of this escape attempt. Lageson's father was one of the guards held hostage by the escaping prisoners. He offers readers a blow by blow skillful account of the events and a lot of information that had been told to him by his father.
A small but important criticism about the book, fictional conversations were written by the author with the purpose to give the reader a story realism of the escape. I didn't like this side of the book. I thought it projected too of what the prisoners `might have' said or thought and I would much prefer to have read a straight accounting of the escape without the artistic license. My favorite book on the escape is Alcatraz '46, and this is a close second. You MUST find a copy of Ernest's book titled Alcatraz Justice. I met Mr. Lageson on the The Rock last year and purchased these books while visiting. He is really insightful about the escape and one I think you will enjoy.
Despite my small criticism, I am still giving his book 5-Stars. I think it is a good book and worth reading. I also recommend reading the other books I mentioned. I am a UCLA graduate student and have been reading on Alcatraz as part of my study work. I'm reviewing several Alcatraz books that I've read and hope to assist others with common reading interests. Please see my other reviews on Alcatraz.
Excellent Book.......2003-08-10
Visited The Rock this July, bought this book at the bookstore, This book was a great book made me feel like i was actully there. The auther Tells a great story. Suggest to everyone
Riveting, Interesting, and Readable.......2002-11-10
Author Ernest Lageson provides us with an account of the 1946 attempted breakout at Alcatraz prison during which time his father was a guard at the institution. He provides the reader with the details of a well-planned attempt by inmates to vacate "The Rock". The best laid plans go sour for the strangest reasons, and this plan went awry because a guard decided to keep a key to the recreation yard in his pocket because he was to reuse it shortly instead of returning it where it belonged. The inmates were unable to locate the key and their plot was foiled. The author provides us with details of the personalities of the inmates involved and their frustration when things began to go wrong. Author Lageson was a schoolboy at the time, and he expresses his agony in not knowing whether his father was alive or not. Conflict between Warden James Johnston and his associate, Edward Miller, in resolving the takeover is gone into detail with Warden Johnston appearing as confused as to what to do to rescue the guards in the cell block and quash the uprising. According to the author, Johnston had his facts wrong, also, when providing details to the press. Having just visited Alcatraz last week I wanted to read this book and was able to visualize the inside of the prison. I found this book very interesting to read. I can't imagine a reviewer who found it to be boring. I would highly recommend the book to you.
Meticulously researched, Thoroughly readable.......2002-01-29
Ernie Lageson, is the son of one of the prison guards injured in the failed escape attempt about which this book is written. There are many versions of stories told about Alcatraz the details of which vary by accounting. Being a stickler for correct facts I appreciate the attention to accurate detail paid by the author when writing this book. He not only tells the story with precise accuracy he does so as a skilled story teller weaving a web and drawing you in. If you only read one book about this particular uprising, make sure you chose this one. You won't find an accounting more thoroughly researched nor more intelligently written.
"Fact and feeling that takes us in to the heart of The Rock".......2001-04-23
This book was a terriffic read, concise and very well written. I was waiting for my plane in the O'Hare airport and had bought it for my dad in San Fransisco. I was 9 years old at the time and I read the whole book on the way home. I could not put it down. The bond that the author creates with the reader is magical. You find yourself in the cell where the hostages were kept. You hear yourself screaming at others to find the key. How the plan could break down at the last was incredible. If you enjoy history, then this book is for you. If you cannot see the historical importance and literary genius in this piece, then maybe you should blow your mind on cable television.
Product Description
History of the Island, biographies of the famous prisoners and the escape attempts. Lots of black and white photos of the prison and prisoners.
Book Description
This is a book about escapes and escape attempts. But the men and women in these pages are not escaping from the cramped cells and barred windows of a prison; they are fleeing from the demands of everyday life, from the suffocating pressure of routine and ritual, from the despair of the breakfast table and the office. Their search is for meaning, novelty, progress, and sense of identity. br br Some create escapes which take a dramatic route away from mundane reality. They frantically travel the world in search of a free territory in which to find themselves, obsessively commit themselves to the search for pleasure, savagely resort to violence to demonstrate their transcendence of ordinary life and its arrangements. This book describes their temporary triumphs, their eventual failures. br br The real heroes of these pages are not criminals, outsiders, revolutionaries or cultural critics. They are rather the millions of men and women in our society who continually search for some escape from reality in their everyday lives and find it in such diverse areas as hobbies, vacations, psychotherapy, art, music, games, fantasy, romantic love, sex, gambling, and mass culture. br br b /b b i Escape Attempts /i /b chronicles the multitude of free spaces which we construct as refuges from the daily routine, about the amazing variety of devices we employ in order to persuade ourselves and others that we are truly individual, that we are capable of creating distance between ourselves and the world. It is also about the precariousness of these escape attempts, the danger that they will drift into obsessions and madness, become undermined by self-consciousness, or lose their potency by being rendered banal or commercially co-opted. The book is a warning about society's strengths--but at the same time a homage to the self, a celebration of the daily struggle to rise above social destiny.
Product Description
This 43 page book contains a history of Alcatraz, a daily routine of work and counts, some history of the most famous convicts and stories of each of the 14 escape attempts.
Average customer rating:
- escape Attempt Review
- escape Attempt Review
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Escape Attempt (Macmillan's Best of Soviet Science Fiction)
Boris Strugatsky
Manufacturer: MacMillan Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0026152509 |
Customer Reviews:
escape Attempt Review.......2001-07-08
Summary: Two young guys (linguist and pilot) are planning to go for a hunt to an Exotic Planet until a stranger in whit pants and cap shows up and asks them for a favor: Fly him to an uninhibited planet anywhere in the Universe. That sounds like a swell plan to spend a vocation until the arrive to the planet and find it in the middle of Dark Age. They fill an obligation to interfere...but should they?
Personal Thoughts: the story is intriguing, the characters ar well developed and as always in Strugatskys' books there is a certain philosophical twist with some thoughts about social structure and marality of the individual. However the ending confused me quite a bit. i just finished the book and didn't have time to think about it but it does leave you a little bit puzzled. Over all an excellent read.
escape Attempt Review.......2001-07-08
Summary: Two young guys (linguist and pilot) are planning to go for a hunt to an Exotic Planet until a stranger in whit pants and cap shows up and asks them for a favor: Fly him to an uninhibited planet anywhere in the Universe. That sounds like a swell plan to spend a vocation until the arrive to the planet and find it in the middle of Dark Age. They fill an obligation to interfere...but should they?
Personal Thoughts: the story is intriguing, the characters ar well developed and as always in Strugatskys' books there is a certain philosophical twist with some thoughts about social structure and marality of the individual. However the ending confused me quite a bit. i just finished the book and didn't have time to think about it but it does leave you a little bit puzzled. Over all an excellent read.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent, revelatory study of Germany and the Soviet Union.......2004-08-16
This exceptionally useful book contains some remarkable revelations. Stalin had warned in 1931, "We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this lag in ten years. Either we do it, or they will crush us." Astonishingly, the Soviet people had reached this goal: between 1928 and 1937, industrial production had increased each year by 16.5%. The historian Lord Bullock, not the friendliest witness, wrote, "the achievement of the Russian people on the economic front, under the Soviet system and Stalin's leadership, was remarkable." (Alan Bullock, Hitler and Stalin: parallel lives, Fontana, 2nd edition, 1998, page 843.)
The Soviet people transformed their country from the backward semi-colonial land of the tsars to the second industrial, scientific and military power in the world. There was no unemployment, and the people had free education, free housing, free welfare and free health care: children were given free vitamins.
But capitalist forces, internal and external, fought to prevent these working class achievements. The Soviet Union had to fight a war of self-defense against internal fascism, supported from outside. The recently opened Russian archives show that during the 1930s approximately 300,000 people were killed in this war. This figure is far lower than the numbers publicised by, for example, Robert Conquest, the anti-Soviet propagandist and sometime speechwriter for Margaret Thatcher.
Richard Evans, Professor of Modern History at Cambridge University, explains how Conquest reached his exaggerated figures: "Robert Conquest's The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror Famine (New York, 1986) argues that the `dekulakization' of the early 1930s led to the deaths of 6,500,000 people. But this estimate is arrived at by extremely dubious methods, ranging from reliance on hearsay evidence through double counting to the consistent employment of the highest possible figures in estimates made by other historians."
Almost all subsequent writers and propagandists on the subject have relied on Conquest's hugely inflated estimates. For example, Charles Maier, an American historian, stated that Stalin was responsible for more deaths than Hitler. But, as Evans observed, Maier could only reach this conclusion by accepting "Conquest's implausible and inflated estimates without question, while omitting deaths caused by Nazi aggression in the East (which also, apart from military and exterminatory action, led to famines and deportations). The number of deaths caused by Nazism's eastward drive may itself have been as many as 20 million." In fact, to reach his judgement of comparative responsibility, Maier simply omitted all the 50 million people killed in the world war that Hitler started. Unfortunately, Evans' important conclusions have not received the attention that they deserve, probably because they challenge the consensus, not just because Evans hid them in lengthy footnotes!
After the war, the Soviet Union, led by Stalin, made an extraordinary recovery from unparalleled devastation. In August 1945, General Eisenhower had flown from Berlin to Moscow and "did not see a single house standing intact from the Russian-Polish border to Moscow. Not one." Yet the Soviet people rebuilt their industry and agriculture. They built the Soviet Union's own atomic bomb (successfully deterring any US nuclear attack), launched the world's first satellite, the Sputnik, and sent the first man into space, Yuri Gagarin.
An excellent introduction to the Historikerstreit.......1999-06-02
Richard Evans offers the student of modern German history an excellent review of the so-called Historikerstreit, which took place amongst academics in the mid to late 1980s. He outlines the basic arguments of those "neoconservative" historians who attempted to relativize the crimes of the Nazi regime. Evans focuses primarily on Ernst Nolte and Andreas Hillgruber, both of whom claimed that Nazi atrocities were justifiable responses to impending violence on the part of the Soviet Union. These historians also asserted that the Holocaust was not fundamentally different from Stalin's murder of Soviet citizens in the Gulags or from the massacre of Armenians in 1915 by the Turks. Evans clearly sides with the majority of historians when he argues that these attempts at relativizing Nazi crimes are irresponsible. Overall, this book is quite useful to the serious student who wants a quick review of a heated historiographical debate in modern German history.
Customer Reviews:
Very funny, very true to the old times Its a good Read.......1999-09-01
This is one of those gems, or Diamonds in the rough that comes along once in a very long while. It should stand the test of time and become a classic in its own right.
A pure joy for the reader.......1999-08-09
About the author:
Dave Whiteman was born in 1954 in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. He still lives in a small town in that valley raising his children. Dave is a single parent who originally wrote these stories so that his three sons would know of a special place, with special people, during a magical time, long, long ago. His children are his biggest fans and describe their Dad and his book with their quote "Never judge a book by its Author!" Dave's parents worked in the sawmills and feed-stores of yesteryear, and through example, taught their kids a very strong work ethic and unique outlook on life. They raised themselves and their five rambunctious, hell bent for leather, and just plain strange children, out in the country. Dave thinks it was the town's idea that his family live out in the country as he believes the town wasn't ready for his renegade siblings or their adventures. After reading these stories, you will tend to agree.
About the book:
These are the tales of Dave's adventurous, yet accident filled, youth set in a mostly rural environment. These stories will make you laugh until you cry, scratch your head in total puzzlement, just plain cry and then laugh some more, all the while bringing back many memories of your own childhood, or thankful that these weren't your childhood memories. Some of his laughter and pain, may be your own gain. His body of work has been compared to a cross between Patrick McManus and Garrison Keillor. His body has been compared to a cross between Fabio and Woody Allen. His mind has been compared to a cross between Shakespeare and biscuits & gravy. His stories are a down home account of the last forty years in this changing world. They remind us of some of the simpler times of days gone by. The stories are all true and as he says, "There are plenty of court records, witnesses, physical and emotional scars to prove all of them!"
The book contains 65 chapters and these are a few of the many subjects and exploits within:
How Nutria came to Oregon - Little Connestogas or Spaceships? What mice and the Boot Scoot Boogie have in common, What the police did with the dead deer riding Dave's bicycle, Skinny-dipping with monsters, What love and moonstruck watermelon have in common, Elvis and the bloated cow, Raiding apple orchards at midnight, Why streaking and strolling are not conducive, Crawling naked into a nutria den, Why sometimes FIRE! Just happens, What NOT to do when FIRE! Just happens, Fighting Dust Spitting Cobras on a Christmas Tree farm, What 007, Calvin Klein, J.Edgar Hoover, and the Beatles had to do with bean picking, Hitchhiking do's and don'ts, The dangers of troutsicles, Why cats, pistachio's and bicycles can't be trusted, The downside to converting a chicken coop into a sauna, (Believe it or not, there is an upside) Surviving your siblings in the country, Seeking fame and fortune in Alaska, Porcupines in my pants, And many, many more.
Book Description
Beer is just a beverage, but wine is an experience. There?s an aura of romance, a hint of the sublime, to bringing a bottle up from your own cellar, carefully drawing out the cork, pouring the wine into a goblet, and taking the first delectable sip.
Now Jeff Cox, author of From Vines to Wines (89,000 copies in print) and a connoisseur well respected in wine circles, shows you how easy it is to have a wine cellar of your own.
But Cellaring Wine is not a home-building project book. In some cases, the would-be wine collector doesn?t have to do much building at all. Rather, Cellaring Wine teaches anyone who loves wine how to create a working system of selecting wines that will age well, know how to lay them down properly, and recognize when they have matured to their full glory and are ready to be savored.
Cox pinpoints the optimum conditions of temperature, light, and humidity for a wine cellar. He walks you through possible locations for your wine cellar ? whether in the basement, an old root cellar, the back of your garage, or even a closet or room in your house ? and what each location requires. He explains when you?ll need a climate-control device (and how much they cost). And he discusses the pros and cons of buying a freestanding unit that is much like a refrigerator.
Then Cox tackles the question that most troubles wine lovers: Which wines will improve with age, and which won?t? This chapter alone is worth the price of the book, since nothing is more disappointing to a wine lover than waiting years to open a bottle of wine only to discover that it was at its peak when it was laid down.
Cox shows you how to keep accurate records so you know at a glance ? without having to hunt through the wine racks ? what you have, where it?s located, and how much to buy so the cellar doesn?t become depleted. And he gives you a crash course in appreciating the fragrance and flavor of a fine wine.Perhaps best of all, Cox gets readers excited about the possibilities of having their own wine cellar. After all, a cellar is not just a storage room, it?s a university where good young wines become great.
Customer Reviews:
Cellaring and much more...........2007-10-07
The title of this book is a little misleading, the book does cover selecting, building, and managing wine. However, this information only acocunts for about 1/4 of the book. The rest of the book talks about wine in general. The cellaring chapters were very detailed and answered all of my questions. The other 3/4 of the book was interesting and covered your basic intro to wine information. If you want to know more about wine, or are looking for a complete guide on different ways to cellar wine, then this book is for you.
Exactly what it says..........2006-08-23
Jeff Cox has written a wonderful guide for cellaring wine which is nearly complete in all its details. More importantly, he has managed to write it in a way that is highly readable.
More [and less] than the title implies.......2005-10-27
This is a beautiful and well written book, unfortunately the title is a bit misleading. It not only discusses selecting, building and managing your wine collection, but also spends a great deal of time [most of the book actually] on such things as the aroma wheel, picking your wines, etc. If you're already an enthusiast looking for a 'how to' book, you might want to look elsewhere.
For the serious wine collector.......2003-11-14
Cellaring Wine: Managing Your Wine Collection...To Perfection by Jeff Cox (Contributing Editor to"The Wine News" and Senior editor of"Global Vintage Quarterly") is a practical and authoritative "how-to" guidebook for the serious wine collector who cares about storing premium wines under the best possible conditions. Individual chapters deftly address the basics of how wine ages; selecting vintages of wine to store; how to construct and equip a wine cellar; record keeping; evaluating fine wines, and more. A thoughtful, easy-to-follow, and explicit guide Cellaring Wine is confidently recommended for dedicated and aspiring wine connoisseurs.
cellaring wine is indeed good.......2003-10-08
OK, it's refreshing to take the seriousness out of wine and show everybody that it's for their occasion. Putting all seriousness aside, though, wine is serious. If your willing to go out and buy and then read a book about it, then it's serious. Now this doesn't mean you should be afraid, it simply means wine is something worth experiencing and your more than eager. go for it, read this book, and more importantly drink the wine. If you, like me, are already past GO then don't slow down for this book. Read this book without expectations of rising to connoisership and read it before your glass gets half full.
Books:
- The Ishbane Conspiracy
- The Judas Goat
- The Laughing Policeman
- The Marshal and the Murderer
- The Private Life of the Cat Who ...: Tales of Koko and Yum Yum (from the Journals of James Mackintosh Qwilleran)
- The Shifting Tide: A William Monk Novel (William Monk Novels)
- The Skull Beneath the Skin
- The Twelfth Card (A Lincoln Rhyme Novel)
- The Venus Throw: A Mystery of Ancient Rome (Novels of Ancient Rome)
- Tombstone Courage: A Joanna Brady Mystery
Books Index
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