Product Description

In this incisive and insightful book, Judge Andrew P. Napolitano peels back the legal veneer and shows how politicians, judges, prosecutors, and bureaucrats are trampling the U.S. Constitution in the name of law and order and fighting terrorism. Napolitano reveals how they:

• silence the First Amendment
• shoot holes in the Second
• break some laws to enforce others
• entrap citizens
• steal private property
• seize evidence without warrant
• imprison without charge
• kill without cause

Pundits on the right, left, and center have praised Constitutional Chaos for its penetrating examination of our rights and liberties in the post-9/11 world.

"Has the war on terrorism taken away some of your rights? In a non-ideological way, Judge Andrew P. Napolitano answers that crucial question. This book will open your eyes."-Bill O'Reilly

"This book is a wake-up call for all who value personal freedom and limited government."-Rush Limbaugh

"In all of the American media, Judge Napolitano is the most persistent, uncompromising guardian of both the letter and the spirit of the Constitution. . ."-Nat Hentoff

Judge Andrew P. Napolitano is Fox News Channel's senior judicial analyst, seen by millions on The Big Story with John Gibson, The O'Reilly Factor, Fox and Friends, and other shows. His articles and commentaries have been published in the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Newark Star Ledger, and other national publications.

Customer Reviews (68)

MUST READ
Judge Napolitano's book about how the government abuses its power is an absolute must read.You will never see the government in the same way again.Some of the things the government has done over the years are absolutely sickening, the Freedom movement is lucky to have Judge Napolitano in its corner.

Is our government out of control?
Judge Napolitano provides dozens of fact-filled stories showing how our government violates the law -- with virtual impunity.The details of the government's role in the massacre of helpless children held hostage in Waco, Texas is especially chilling.As unchecked government power expands, the rights of citizens are slipping away.

Napolitano's first hard hitting book
This was the first of Judge Andrew Napolitano's books on the usurpation of the Constitution.In this book he introduces us to his philosophy as it evolved from GOP conservatism to libertarian individualism while serving on the bench in New Jersey.The book is 198 pages long with a text of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights and a short index.The book in essence described the court rulings that have allowed the government to take on a "do as I say, not as I do" brand of police justice that has led to numerous charges of entrapment and abuse of Fourth Amendment rights.As with his later books, Napolitano spares neither party as he attacked Bush's war policy after 9/11 and Clinton's use of force at Waco, Miami and Ruby Ridge.The debate of whether government has overstep its bounds might be up in the air for some, but for me there is no question that the misreading of various clauses in the Constitution has given the gang in DC maximum power.

A five-star effort for the Judge's first book.

A stunner of a book
I have not finished it yet and I am ready to get the pitchforks and torches, figuratively.In recent years, the government has been shaking my belief in government and I have been reading the founding fathers who considered government a necessary evil that must necessarily be kept in check to avoid it becoming a tyrant.Well tyranny seems to be here. But now reading the cases in this book...shows me it has been even more corrupt in so many ways for a long time. I can see now how ordinary law-abiding citizens can be falsely imprisoned and targeted by any government body that has an ax to grind, or even accidentally because of where you are or what you do.God forbid, you look like a likely suspect because the conviction rate is extremely high and none of us believe that is an accident or good detective work.Some of it is because they don't follow the rules we are expected to follow.Do I think that allowing some innocent folks to be in jail to be sure you have all the bad guys is ok?..NO! Thank God neither does the Judge!I am so glad I read this and I will read more of his works now.This must read is a stunning eye opener.

Couldn't get through it
I really wanted to read about how we can get our judges to protect our Constitution.Unfortunately, after three chapters, I had to stop reading this one.They were all the same!Basically illustrations of how bad the judges were - how they were using the bench to their own ends rather than meting out justice.And they all got away with it!Really depressing! ... Read more

Product Description
While the Lord of the Nexus orders his servant Haplo and Bane, the human child, to further their master's work on Arianus, the resurrected assassin Hugh the Hand seeks to complete his mission. Reprint. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (24)

PS Incase you didn't know, Xar is an idiot
This book was wonderfully entertaining.But before I get into that...

Dear Xar,

I don't understand - you survived the Labyrinth, and you continue to go back in and do battle to save more of your race.You obviously are wise and insightful - when that Haplo character started being not entirely truthful with you, you were onto him from the start.But now when some creepy, red eyed Patryns who obviously aren't Patryns, come up to you and feed you lies, you're completely in the dark.Come on!You didn't survive so long just by letting your guard down around people who appear to kiss your ass.

All the best,
A random mensch


Okay and now unto the review.

This book is just fascinating.You've got several assassination plots going on, people coming back from the dead, and of course, serpents at every turn, spreading the chaos for which this book is named.My only complaint is I think Xar is too trusting of the serpents.Just because he wants to believe that these serpents are around to make his life easier, lessons from his past should have taught him better.No matter though - still an awesome book.

5 stars

Back On Arianus... Evil Slithers
In book five of The Death Gate Cycle series for the first time the reader peaks into all four worlds of a sundered world. The hatred within humans, elves, dwarves, Patryn and Sartan has fed the evil that has spread across the four worlds. There is war and malevolence everyone and, worse, for the first time it is free to spread its fangs with the barrier placed by the Sartan unwittingly gone. Evil can be defeated if the races can vanquish their fear and hatred, but old habits, time and the serpents are strong. The elves are divided, the human rulers maintain a dangerous game and the dwarves - lead by a bespectacled revolutionary leader with communalist slogans - have discovered aggression and resentment at the worst possible time. The Hand Of Chaos sheds light on the races past, origins and histories and wonders whether it is all too much for distrust to be surmounted.

Much of the action is back on the world of air Arianus, previously visited at the dawn of the series, given how for the first time in the cycle the book has not moved on to a new world. Chelestra, world of water, is the source of the unleashed hate, but the fomented doom is focused in the realms of sky.
Zifnab is back referencing ancient earth culture and now revealed as a powerful Sartan magus. Xar, the lord of the Patryn, is in Abarrach to learn necromancy and has dispatched Haplo to Arianus on a fool's errand that is meant to cost the latter man's life. Alfred is absent having offered no resistance to the missteps of his Sartan brethren. Hugh The Hand belongs to the Brotherhood and is a changed man. Prince Bane and his Mysteriarch mother are pivotal characters. Iridal does what no mother wants to do.

The Hand Of Chaos is the continuation of Serpent Mage (The Death Gate Cycle, Vol 4) and followed by the sixth book of the series of seven, Into the Labyrinth (Death Gate Cycle). The action is unremitting and the travellers faced with tension wherever they go. Yet, it is the treachery and odium that engulf the book. Everything rests on whether the species can rise above ancient enmities.

Great series
One of the great book series available. I am a DL fan, but this series is better and short and sweet with 7 books.All the books were good without other authors to ruin anything like in DL.

The Hand of Chaos - clever title now that I think about it....
The Hand of Chaos - Book Five of Seven in the Death Gate Cycle series. This book is another excellent addition to the series, and also necessary to read, no matter what other people say. It is very action packed, and brings back some of my favorite characters (Ex: Bane, Hugh the Hand (shocker...I know!)and Iridal). The book does have its shortcomings, but otherwise it is very good.

This installment starts off right where Serpent Mage ended, with Haplo trapped in the room and the water starting to flood the Sartan City. Haplo escapes (without magic) and heads through Death's Gate, but not before finding out that the evil dragon-snakes have also headed through. He heads to the Nexus, but is beaten there by the Dragon-Snakes, who have already found Xar and pledged their allegience to him. Xar says he is happy to have them on his side. Haplo comes and tries to convince Xar that they are evil, but Xar doesn't believe him. Haplo leaves for a walk as Bane (remember him from Dragon Wing?) walks in and begins chatting to his adopted "grandfather". Meanwhile, as Haplo accidentally meanders infront of the Final Gate, Zifnab comes. Zifnab, while rambling, tells Haplo that he is Sartan, and that his "wife" never died and is still in the Labyrinth, with his child. Haplo is startled by this news, but what is even more startling is that Bane overheard this all.He reports back to Xar, who tells Bane that he is sending him to Arianus with Haplo to continue stirring up unrest and to activate the Kicksey-Winsey. As soon as this task is accomplished, he is to kill Haplo. Bane agrees, and the both of them leave.

Thus the plot is set for The Hand of Chaos, along the way, Hugh the Hand comes back from the dead, We learn a LOT more about the Brotherhood of the Hand, and more about King Stephan's empire. This is a very good book, with only one major shortcoming, Alfred's disappearance. At the end of Serpent Mage, Alfred was being cast into the Labyrinth, yet in "Chaos", we have no news of what is going on with him. This is the only real shortcoming of the book, and it is an excellent, fast paced read. Pick up and read it now!

Totally not necessary
First, I will tell you how to get the most enjoyment out of this series.Start with going to the library and renting all of these books.Do not buy them as they are not worth it.Then read books 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7 without reading the footnotes or the appendixes.You have the option of reading books 2 and 5 if you are really enjoying the series, but they are only filler and do not even need to be skimmed.Finally, accept the fact that Weis and Hickman may only be one hit wonders and move on.

Second, I write reviews for those who seek good fantasy and not for the zealots who hang on every Weis and Hickman word.You would think from some of the reviews of this series that these books were greater than War and Peace and written by Bronte and Conrad.In reality, this series is not very good.I am not trying to trash Weis and Hickman, I found the Dragon Lance series to be extremely enjoyable and would give at least the first two series of that line four stars.This series deserves no more than 2 stars.The books are incomplete thoughts that may have been much better had the authors taken more time to flesh out the story.Beware of fantasy books that contain footnotes and appendixes.Usually, these are the telltale signs of poor writing.Having said that, I did manage to read most of these seven books and here are some thoughts.

Many reviewers have made a lot of the fact that Xar is actually tsar or czar.I fail to see the significance here.Xar is a ruler and a tsar is a ruler.So what?What I found to be much more interesting and ultimately distracting was the use, by the authors, of the word mensch.Mensch is a Hebrew word.It is not close to a Hebrew word, it is a Hebrew word.If you look it up, mensch means a person of integrity and honor.What are the authors trying to say here?That all people without ambition or power are full of integrity and honor.I read all seven books trying to understand the use of this word to no avail.

Not surprising considering the books are filled with errors and inconsistencies.Some of these errors and inconsistencies are no doubt addressed in the footnotes and appendixes, but it would take an additional seven books to address all the problems.I believe that most of these problems occurred because the authors did not take the time to complete their work. Perhaps they were pressured by their publisher.

Most of the characters are thinly veiled shadows of those characters from the Dragon Lance series.Only, these characters are not as interesting or as engaging.Part of the problem is that Weis and Hickman never determine where they want the story to go.They blur the line between good and evil, then they erase the line, then they re-draw the line in bold.In Dragon Lance, it was intriguing to see how the characters dealt with the discovery of the duality of their own nature.In this book it is just confusing. ... Read more

Product Description
Chaos exists in systems all around us. Even the simplest system can be subject to chaos, denying us accurate predictions of its behavior, and sometimes giving rise to astonishing structures of large-scale order. Here, Leonard Smith shows that we all have an intuitive understanding of chaotic systems. He uses accessible math and physics to explain Chaos Theory, and points to numerous examples in philosophy and literature that illuminate the problems. This book provides a complete understanding of chaotic dynamics, using examples from mathematics, physics, philosophy, and the real world, with an explanation of why chaos is important and how it differs from the idea of randomness. The author's real life applications include the weather forecast, a pendulum, a coin toss, mass transit, politics, and the role of chaos in gambling and the stock market. Chaos represents a prime opportunity for mathematical lay people to finally get a clear understanding of this fascinating concept. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Physics Introductions
I am a physicist with a PhD who likes reading almost anything on physics, astronomy, and mathematics.These "...very short introductions" are concise, entertaining, and for the most part instructive.I recommend these books to researchers in these fields as a good review and to those seeking a more detailed educational experience than most popularizations sans equations.

Unsuitable as an introduction to chaos
This book starts out promising but, as one goes along, it drifts farther and farther from what an introduction to chaos should be.

In particular, the book turns out to be largely a discussion of modeling and forecasting, with some emphasis on the relevant implications of chaos.Moreover, most of the examples and applications relate to weather and climate, which becomes boring after a while (especially considering the abundance of other options).Smith's bio reveals that this is exactly his specialty, so the book appears to be heavily shaped by his background and interests, rather than what's best for a general audience.As a result, many standard and important topics in chaos theory recieve little or no mention, and I think the book fails as a proper introduction to chaos.

A further problem is that much of Smith's discussion is muddled, especially in the later chapters.It's as though he wants to probe deeply, but can't take time to really spell things out, so he winds up being unclear.This lack of clarity is exacerbated by his bending over backwards to avoid writing out even the simplest equations, which is cumbersome and annoying, not to mention out of place given Smith's efforts to present some fairly sophisticated material.

Considering all of this, I can recommend the book only to people who are particularly interested in modeling, forecasting, and the relevant implications of chaos, especially as this relates to weather and climate.In this context, Smith's discussion of the differences between mathematical, physical, statistical, and philosophical perspectives is particularly insightful and useful.

However, I can't recommend the book for a general audience, and I would definitely recommend against it as a first book on chaos.It's simply too incomplete and unbalanced for that purpose.

Great, simple book
I like the book. It is really easy to read and includes so so much information.

A Great Introduction
A very readable introduction for anyone interested in nonlinear dynamics, time series, weather forecasting or climate modelling.

There are very few concise introductions to chaos and its applications, so this one is well worth reading.

Confusing and Humbling
I really struggled in trying to rate this book, as I really want to be fair and equitable in all my reviews.Perhaps it is a very good book and I have "short-changed" it, but I cannot really say because, after reading it, I feel just about as confused and bewildered regarding mathematical chaos as I did before I launched into it.Well, I do not suppose that reading it "hurt" me!But, in my humble opinion, this condensed, compressed "cutting edge" stuff is not for "beginners"!

It seems like I would have a "fighting chance" to readily comprehend the content of this little book, given that I am what many people would call a "well-read" and intelligent person (and I even have a graduate degree with a "minor" in multivariate statistics from a respected university).But no way!I was confused early on in trying to decipher this book on my own.I really needed a patient teacher to hold my hand.Maybe I am basically dense, stupid, below average in IQ, and/or just getting old -- who knows?But, while I endeavored to read this "very short introduction", I found myself thinking that, at least for the average person, it may be possible, but not probable, that they will grasp much of the content beyond perhaps a few vague intuitive notions.Otherwise, I learned a few new impressive words, what a "vole" is, a little about "Olbers' paradox", and that Edgar Allan Poe was seriously interested in cosmology (for example, see his essay entitled, "Eureka"). ... Read more

Product Description
The national bestseller that offers prescriptions for an economic world turned upside down. A New York Times bestseller for eleven months. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Recognizing that change is essential to success
Having read almost all of Peter's works, I find this to be one of his best. As we all navigate through challenging times globally now, his attacks on status quo serve as timely reminders of the need for constant improvement."

Feedback is always welcome

[...]

Thrive on Chaos or let the sharks eat you alive.
Although Peters first wrote this book nearly twenty years ago, many of his insights are now reaching Prime Time. Thriving on Chaos is obviously a classic, yet what surprised me the most is how Peters intuitively understands that some things never change. Business serves the customer (period).

Innovation, Flexibility, Productivity, Competitive Advantage, Supply-Chain Management, ... In the end, the ultimate master is the customer (at least in the free world). No one commands or forces the customer to buy a given product (or service), it's a free market. Consumers buy or don't buy based on perceived benefits. Products either meet customer demands or risk being ripped to shreds by the simple act of non-purchase.

As an example, I'm a vegetarian and am highly sensitive to food labels containing the words "Natural Flavors" which may contain meat and meat by-products. Therefore, I select those products not containing such mystery ingredients and punish those that use them (through non-purchase).

Much of what Peters talks about is taking shape today. Ivory-Tower management superstructures are all but a distant memory. Creativity, Innovation, and Empowerment are all the rage as developed countries are grasping for an edge in a world gone mad. Wholesale shifting of jobs overseas, corporate scandals, and increasing government regulation set employees and managers on edge. Prescription for change includes active customer participation in creating products and tapping into the creative potential of worker's minds.

Thriving on Chaos is sure to jumpstart your brain:

Peters says that "'If it aint broke, you just haven't looked hard enough' Fix it anyway." So true. Good enough is never good enough. Since the advent of the Net, customers are asserting control like never before. And, competitors are swarming like a pack of hungry sharks ready to tear off a piece of your market share.

To survive you need to learn to love change, and you need to learn how to Thrive on Chaos!

------------------
Michael Davis, Editor - Byvation

"Business Success through Innovation"

An Oldie but a Goodie
I just read this and two things stand out.First, there are some things that really never change, and as a result, Peters makes a huge impact here.

On the other hand, this was written before the net, much of the new automation inventions and much of the new technology as well.So, you just have to adjust his words to fit today's business environment.

Now, for the book.What he says is common sense to many workers and managers alike, but is looked at in horror by upper management and CEOs.So many CEOs believe that if they don't have total control over everything, then they're "out of control" and thus, running a bad organization.

NOT TRUE.As Peters indicates, if you hire competent people and give them the tools they need to do their work, you'll likely be pleasantly surprised with the quality of work that comes from them.In other words, drive down the decision making and create an autonomous environment for employees and your organizational flexibility increases, your profits will rise and with the right measures, you will succeed.

This is a kind-of-classic that all business leaders should at least have read.However, I think books such as Built To Last and First, Break All The Rules are more up to date and have since developed newer, more relevant theories that apply to all industries.

Probably great if you haven't read Passion for Excellence
Tom Peters, with Passion for Excellence, has been a great inspiration for me to start all kinds of innovations in customer service (quite some years later I still got positive responses out of the market) and my organizationback in the 80s. You could say he was my "guru".So, whenThriving on Chaos was published, I immediately purchased it and startreading it with high expectations. How unfortunate .... as I became quicklyvery disappointed (I was never able to finish it in total). It was too muchof the same as in Passion for Excellence. Just different words to many ofthe same topics. A professional writer who wants to get more money out ofyou while not providing you with more knowledge. I stopped buying morebooks from Tom Peters and was for some time very hesitant buying othermanagement books. Now, many years later, I sometimes go back to the bookwithout all these emotions I had when I bought it. I have to admit thereare many inspiring subjects in it, some of them better described than inPassion for Excellence. So my conclusion is that the book can be veryhelpful for people who need inspiration for change and innovation, eventhough it is already quite some years old and has nothing in it abouttodays subjects like the Web. But as I have started with Passion forExcellence, I will probably never be able to rate Thriving on Chaos as highas Passion for Excellence (five stars).

A fascinating book with Peters' exuberant, jazzy style!!
This book presents a strategy for meeting the uncertainty of the current competitive markets through creating customer responsiveness, pursuing fast-paced innovation, achieving flexibility by empowering people, learningto work in an environment of change, abandoning conventional wisdom, andthe reconceiving of organizational systems. This is a fascinating book thathas the distinct and unmistakable quality of Tom Peters' exuberant, jazzystyle. Reviewed by Gerry Stern, author ofStern's SourceFinder MasterDirectory to HR and Management Information and Stern's CyberSpaceSourceFinder. ... Read more

Product Description
Eliminate Chaos is a user-friendly system for organizing each room of the house, including the kitchen and pantry, closet, garage, home office, and childrens' rooms. The author’s ten-step system is presented in an easy-to-use, workbook-style layout. Full-color photos demonstrate the various stages of the organizing process, illustrating not just "before and after," but the realistic, messy, all-important steps in between. Leist’s method is based on the underlying principle that "it’s not about the stuff." She touches on the psychological reasons behind clutter and not letting go — such as procrastination, denial, thrift, and family history — but her underlying premise is that being organized is an on-going process, not a one-day event. By learning to sort, prioritize, and make fast, rational decisions about their household goods, readers become more efficient and functional not just at home, but in other areas of life as well. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (31)

All you need on organizing
I have been a professional organizing, home stager and senior move manager for over 5 years and think this book is the best one of all when it comes to cleaning out all your "stuff". I use the 10 steps in this book when teaching seminars on this subject. I especially like that this book is very simple and easy to follow for all personality types. The 10 steps are very practical and true and should always be followed in the same order listed. Laura also touches on the different psychological reasons why so many struggle with organization which is very important to understand. I highly recommend this book...just the information that you need without loosing your interest.
Adele Mahan, Fresh Start Transitions, LLC

Mess Solver!
Love this book!! It has helped me totally reorganize every room in my home. Not too long and boring, either. Gets right to the point and helps solve your messes.

Not very new, or helpful.
I'm sorry to say that this book didn't help me learn any new tricks for decluttering or organizing.And the pictures were not terribly helpful or even all that illuminating (do we need a photo of a tangle of hangers, or cords?).There were several disappointing parts of the book, which the review by Bill Reid covers well, so I'll focus on the one aspect that annoyed me most:
As an adult woman who does not get giddy at the thought of shopping or reward myself with shopping - and who sees shopping as part of the clutter/chaos problem (duh) - I found it really off-putting that Leist celebrates shopping as if we are all little shopaholic sheep with money to burn."Step 8: Shop! Congratulations, you've now made it to the fun part of downsizing--shopping!"
Seriously?I need things to *leave* my house, not come in, and isn't that the goal for 97% of us? Sure, she's making a case for buying the appropriate organizing tools after you've taken measurements and taken stock (what she calls "shopping with a purpose"), but she makes it sound like we're all salivating to run out to support the $10 billion organization business that's "offering thousands of solutions to serve just about any need..." and if you can't find it in a store, shop online!She never suggests people reconsider how they're using the "lots of organizing products they've purchased over the years but never used," or how to re-purpose some of your clutter.Every chapter includes her "woohoo! Time to go shopping, gals!" message.I really found it presumptuous.
She blames "retail therapy" (as a symptom of depression) as part of the problem, yet she suggests retail as therapy for having to organize.
So, hey, if you love to shop but need excuses for it, then shop for this book!But if you want really strong take-home ideas without being cajoled into spending more money and bringing in more stuff, try Getting Things Done by David Allen, or Peter Walsh's books.

Lots of Pictures
This is a beautiful book. It has lots of lovely pictures. However, it is more like reading a series of an organization TV show than it is like reading a book dedicated to organization. There are some good tips, but I find the book lacking. I would have liked to see more options and more variety. As it is, you are simply reading what one person did to organize a kitchen, a home office, a teenager's room, etc. No helpful input on dealing with organization for children, just the teen's room. The book does look nice, but the content is lacking a bit. The book takes you through the steps of organization in several different (but specific) scenarios. And like a TV Show on home organization, it includes the cost of the "example" room. It is entertaining, but not extremely helpful.

Finally an organization book I could not put down and when I did I actually got to work!
I could not put this book down once I started it.The 10 step approach is easy to follow -- I was guilty of jumping to step 8 shopping before it was time.The photos and suggestions on how to do it rather than just saying "clear out your cupboards" were great!I cannot wait until her Eliminate Paper Chaos book comes out.She covers all types of situations and issues.She gives me permission to get rid of stuff that I don't use or need.Practical storage solutions and ideas for all kinds of space and clutter problems.A must have book if you are a pack rat! After reading this book I went from room to room and closet to closet and tackled all my problem areas -- I love stress free, clutter free living! ... Read more

Product Description
Part two of the literary sci-fi thriller follows a boy and a girl who are caught in a warring town where thoughts can be heard — and secrets are never safe.

Reaching the end of their flight in THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO, Todd and Viola did not find healing and hope in Haven. They found instead their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss, waiting to welcome them to New Prentisstown. There they are forced into separate lives: Todd to prison, and Viola to a house of healing where her wounds are treated. Soon Viola is swept into the ruthless activities of the Answer, while Todd faces impossible choices when forced to join the mayor’s oppressive new regime. In alternating narratives the two struggle to reconcile their own dubious actions with their deepest beliefs. Torn by confusion and compromise, suspicion and betrayal, can their trust in each other possibly survive? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Perfect...almost
I don't think I could review this book without a spoiler, because the one thing about it I didn't like IS the spoiler--Viola.Unlike The Knife of Never Letting Go, this second story is half Viola's to tell (so obviously, she lived).I like Viola, I really do, but I just don't find her as interesting as Todd, or her voice as unique.Not that she isn't every bit as well-written, she's just not Todd.Having said that, readers of the first book who were put off by Todd's country dialect narration will probablly like this one better because of Viola.

Now on to the raving.

As much as I love Todd, in truth this book could not have been effectively told by one character.There is simply too much happening in too many diffrent places.Todd and Viola have been separated, Todd being held by the impressivly evil Mayor Printiss, and Viola by Mistress Coyle, a healer turned terrorist who will do anything to thwart the Mayor's control of New World.The kid's bond is tested through distance and murderous dictators, and all the while just remembering who they are and what's really important becomes harder and harder. The quote Ness uses at the beginning of the book sums it all up perfectly: "Battle not with monsters lest you become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss the abyss gazes into you."

Character developement in The Ask and the Answer is some of the best I've seen in teen fiction, particulary with Todd; he stops at some dark, bleak places on the road to premature manhood.Characters who lived to see this second book have bigger, more complex roles, and of course, there are newcomers to love and hate as well.For those of you like myself who wanted to see more of the Spackle in The Knife of Never Letting Go, your wish is granted here.

What I loved most in the first novel is the same thing I loved most in this one, maybe more in this one: It transports you completely to a different world, different people.Titles like sci-fi and dystopian and even YA fiction fall away after just a few pages and it becomes about STORY, pure and simple.And you couldn't ask for a better person to tell you a story than Patrick Ness.

Some answers, more questions...
(to avoid spoilers, you will want to finish THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO first. Just a warning.)

Patrick Ness is not about to let up on his readers after the race to safe Haven is over. He has many more suprises in store and new dimensions of his world to explore. Thus, THE ASK AND THE ANSWER is every bit as suprising and compelling as its predecessor, though it is a very different kind of book.

Once Todd and Viola reach Haven, they realize the battle against Prentisstown is over before it began, because the Mayor is there already and the city has surrendered. Todd promises he will do anything the Mayor (who now dubs himself 'President Prentiss') wants, so long as he saves Viola's life. He is interrogated and thrown into chains in the highest tower. Viola, just barely hanging on to life, is taken away...

If THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO was one huge, non-stop chase, then the ASK AND THE ANSWER is a quiet, tense, psychological waiting game, and you are waiting for the worst to happen. The one problem I had with this installment was the pacing. I didn't tear through it like I did with the first one. THE ASK AND THE ANSWER had some places where the action stagnates and leaves the reader waiting, and then in between the book speeds up with a sudden burst of excitement for a while. So, it can feel somewhat uneven, especially through the middle after the first 100 pages or so. However, suspense is in no short supply. At those times when the narrative goes full throttle, you will be on the edge of your seat, mouth hanging open in disbelief, just like watching your favorite action movie.

What Ness is doing is elaborately setting up the board for the conclusion of this and for the next book, MONSTERS OF MEN, and there are many figures and forces at play. All the prepartation sets a high bar for the final book. Watching it all unfold, you see that THE ASK AND THE ANSWER is far more complex than the first book.

The climax is relentless and heart-wrenching, and will simply leave you stunned. It is perfectly delivered and supremely satisfying, even more powerful than the climax of the first book. Ness sure knows how to end with an explosive bang. Another thrilling cliffhanger ending awaits at the end.

The slower, more deliberate nature of this book leaves plenty of room for reflection and for exploring serious themes and some dark corners of human nature. One overarching theme of this book is war - the harshness, the necessity, the fascination of it, and how integral it is to human existence. Ness handles the theme with grace and isn't one-sided about it. He also explores some heavy and dark subject matter. He will push his characters beyond their limits and show you what people are capable of, both for good and atrocity. Don't get the wrong impression; it isn't all about the horrible; it is also about the good in people and how average people can persevere through unbelievable circumstances and the resiliency of the human spirit.

I really appreciated seeing the characters, particularly Todd and Viola developed even more fully. In this book, Ness even writes from Viola's viewpoint for much of the novel. He manages to give Viola her own characteristic voice, like Todd. Although her voice is not as quirky as Todd's, it is true to Viola, and it is interesting to see from her perspective. The novel is strongly character-driven throughout, and while you may not always agree with the choices Todd and Viola make, you fully understand why they make them. They won't always succeed, but they remain sympathetic and most importantly, realistic. All the supporting characters here, in fact, are well-developed and not one-dimensional. Even President Prentiss is not the cookie-cutter "bad guy who must be stopped from taking over the world" - he is more sophisticated than that.

Can't wait for the final installment.

Amazing Book 2!!
"Your noise reveals you Todd Hewitt." A voice -- In the darkness. I blink open my eyes. Everything is shadows and blur and it feels like the world's spinning and my blood is too hot and my brain is clogged and I can't think and it's dark -- I blink again. Wait. No, WAIT -- Just now, just NOW we were in the square -- Just now SHE was in my arms."

As with Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, it will difficult to review this book without giving anything away. First, I don't want to spoil anything for people who haven't read The Knife of Never Letting Go. Because really....you NEED to read that book. And secondly, I don't wait to spoil anything from THIS book. So, basically this is going to be a non-review of a book that I LOVED.

What can I say then about The Ask and The Answer? The book begins almost immediately from the point that The Knife of Never Letting Go ended. Todd awakens to find that they have indeed made it to Haven, although it seems that the Army has made it there before him and Viola. Haven, now called New Prentisstown, is under the control of Mayor Prentiss. And Todd has no idea where Viola is or what happened to her.

In this book enemies become friends and friends become enemies. Although the pace of this book is not quite as neck-breaking as the first, it is equally gut-wrenching. Todd is forced to do things he would never have done before. And he loses himself because of it. The once-innocent Todd learns the ways of the "New" world. And shatters himself in the process. Things are not always black and white now. And the shades of gray can be very dangerous. But one thing we know about Todd....he's strong. And good. And nothing can possibly change that. Or can it??

I don't know if it's possible, but I would have to say this book is better than the first. I wasn't quite as dizzy reading it. But my heart-strings were pulled and manipulated just as much. I have a new character I love: "boycolt, boycolt".Once again, we are sucked completely into the lives of Todd and Viola. We see a glimpse into the psyche that is Mayor Prentiss and we see lots of darkness. We see what it is like for his son, Davy, growing up with such a man as a father. And we find a new enemy out there. So many questions as well. Is the Answer enemy or friend?? And what will happen when the settlers reach the New World?

I, for one, am having a hard time waiting for all the answers to come. Book 3, Monster of Men will not be available in the US until May. I'm already chomping at the bit to get it! (pun, definitely intended!) As far as I'm concerned, this is a Must Read Series for anyone that wants to be completely and totally drawn into a dystopian world. It almost physically HURTS to read it, the intensity is so high. But again, isn't that the sign of a fantastic book?? Most definitely given a 5 Star review!!

amazing series
I was blown away by book 1, and even if this wasn't that mind-blowing it was still a great book. The first was What, what, what!! And this one was more what, what, what?

Ness has this gift for total confusion. Who to trust, who to believe, I haev no idea. Everyone is telling things, everyone is lying. There is chaos walking the planet.

Todd has made it to Haven with the dying Viola, but there he is met by Mayor Prentiss and the army and Viola is taken away. He is put into jail, and later forced to work with the now President Prentiss's son, putting the alien Spackle to work. All this while Prentiss is being really nice to him, and telling him things so that he does not know what to believe any more.

There is Todd chapters and Viola chapters as she goes down another road and hears another versions of the same story. All while they just want to find each other again.

I still do not know what to believe. Why were all the women in Prentisstown killed? I know the President is poison, but still, what to believe?

The thing here is that things escalate, the president is yes a monster and whatever he seems to say he does not trust women. I mean they did kill all the women in their town. But then there is those that oppose him and they are not right either. The next book will be called Monsters of Men, and this is something that Viola and Todd says in book 1 or 2, war makes monsters out of men and that is so true in this book.

This is chilling Dystopian fiction that should be read. It will grab hold of you with a bunch of questions, and how that planet will get peace I do now know. The first book was about them on the run, things happening all the time. This book is more lies and propaganda, and trying to stay human when everything is chaos around you.

I am truly looking forward to book 3, not only cos this book ends with a major cliffhanger just like book 1 did.

Brilliant!
The continuation of Todd and Viola's fight for survival was not disappointing. This novel proves that you can write a sequel as good if not better than the first book.Todd's fight for survival and his adapting to work along side the same men he was running from is a telling tale of what we do to survive and fit in with others.Viola meanwhile is struggling to keep her promise to Todd even when she is unable to help him the way she would like.The ending had me reading for 3 hours straight.I simply could not put it down.This novel shows that even when things are at their darkest moments, love and friendship never die.You simply will not be disappointed in this second Chaos Walking series. ... Read more

Product Description
This comprehensive, practical guide identifies the telltale signs of addiction, offers suggestions for living alcohol- or drug-free, and teaches the skills necessary for healthy thinking and living. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Getting control of your life
Great book for those who want to work through emotional, addiction, and generally out of control behavior.

A Preachy Repackaging of 12 Step Recovery
As a director of an outpatient chemical dependency program, I came across this book in my professional life. While the book is well intentioned and covers a wide range of topics about addiction and recovery, I was ultimately quite disappointed in it's presentation. The content is clearly a repackaging of 12 Step (e.g.: Alcoholics Anonyomous) concepts such as acceptance of powerlessness, etc. While this is not by itself a bad thing, the author incessantly uses commanding language beginning with "We need to ..."that many readers, I anticipate, will experience as preaching and condescending. (Implicitly telling the reader: "You need to!") The author places a heavy emphasis on labeling ("alcoholic", "addict") and de-emphasizes a person's ability to be their own agent of change; both contrary to scientific principles about what is effectively in achieving change. Some chapters contain exercises that invite reader participation but the exercises are not well developed and seem secondary to the overall lecturing tone of the material. Those interested in 12 Step recovery might do better to go to the primary sources (AA, NA). Others might seek out material from sources such as Smart Recovery.

A must read for anyone who wants to stop using!
A great book for anyone who is struggling to stop using alcohol and/or drugs.If you want to stop and keep failing, read this book.It will give you the information you need to be successful.It hasthe answers to yourquestions.As someone who works with people who are early in recovery, Isee them struggle with the basics.This book gives you information youwon't get in a treatment center.I highly recommend it! ... Read more

Product Description
What happens when the old world order collapses and the Brave New World is unprepared to replace it as an ad medium, as a news source, as a political soapbox, a channel for new episodes of Lost? Welcome to The Chaos Scenario. It's here, and Bob Garfield saw it coming. In his roles as Advertising Age editor-at-large and as co-host of NPR's On the Media, Bob Garfield long ago connected dots that many in media and marketing refused even to acknowledge. In this fascinating, terrifying, instructive and often hilarious book, Garfield is not content to chronicle the ruinous disintegration of traditional media and marketing. Instead he travels to five continents for solutions. His journeys begin in a Denmark cow pasture and take him from Estonia to Australia, Israel to England, Montenegro to Brazil, Los Gatos, California, to Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. What he discovers is the answer for all institutions who wish to survive and thrive in a digitally connected, Post-Media Age. He calls this the art and science of Listenomics. You should listen, too. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Organizations: Pay Attention or Suffer the Consequences
Bob Garfield's unique perspective as someone outside of (and yet immersed in) the worlds of advertising, news, and public relations lends him the ability to be terribly insightful in his analysis. This book allows him to deconstruct the phenomenon of the current collapse of the traditional mass media structure and make well-informed predictions about what will come. Best of all he accomplishes this with hilarious and vivid writing making it fun to read.

If you're an "On the Media" junkie like me - it's a must-read.

A book about how to sell books.
The writing comes off like the assertions of someone holding court from a bar stool after a few beers. As H.L. Mencken once said, "it is the dull man who is always sure and the sure man who is always dull." Everybody who has a different opinion from the author is dismissed as clueless about the future speculations of which he is certain. In addition, he claims to have invented an approach to the marketplace called "Listenomics," which is nothing more than what every student of marketing 101 has known for years to be the essential first step in developing a marketing strategy. Starting with research ("listening) as to how people seek, evaluate and choose a product or service.

Appears not to have been copy-edited OR proofread
I reserved this book at the library because I heard an interview with Bob Garfield about it. I was particularly interested in his insight that what we're witnessing today is the end of the mass-market which has dominated media since literacy began rising in the 19th century. Sounds simple, I know, but it's a pretty profound insight and one that a lot of people haven't figured out. A nice factoid that captures the fracturing market: in the 1950s, the top-rated show on network television was "I Love Lucy," with better than 60 percent of homes tuning in, while in the 2000s, the top-rated show on network television was "American Idol," with about 14 percent of homes tuning in. As a writer of novels and news -- both genres that are emphatically NOT flourishing today -- I was very interested in Garfield's analysis and wanted to learn more about news and publishing. However, the book didn't have a lot more to say on those topics. And the frequent errors in the text, which appears not to have been copy-edited OR proofread -- was a real annoyance. Kudos to Garfield for bringing out the book himself when the usual suspects in publishing passed on his project, but thumbs down for failing to take the time or make the effort or spend the money -- whichever reason is the right one -- to produce a book free of the kind of errors I expect (and can forgive) of college freshman in their first comp course.

A Nice Primer on the Media Landscape
Bob Garfield is funny, has a breezy writing style, is a good storyteller, and is often self-deprecating and irreverent.I follow his work as co-host of NPR's On the Media and as a columnist at Advertising Age. This book is utterly reflective of Garfield's work.

Compiled over four years, the book reads like a collection of Garfield's engaging radio and print stories. No doubt the result of the book's genesis:to brand an evolving series of articles chronicling the ongoing disruption in the media industry.

NPR listeners will instantly recognize a familiar story formula for the book's chapters and segments.It makes it all inviting, friendly, and in the end, a fun read.

But, in total, it feels disjointed, and feature-story unsatisfying.

The Chaos Scenario is worth the read for its collection of media and brand stories or as an introduction to Web 2.0 culture.For anyone familiar with today's social media, there won't be anything new.

The crowdsourced-designed book cover tells us Garfield "connected the dots" on the disruption of the New Media Order long ago.We are promised the answer to institutional survival in our digitally connected world. A bit overstated.

Garfield delivers on the first point, giving us a smart primer on the evolution of the media landscape of recent years.He does it through loads of stories, many of them are now classic "power of the consumer voice" case studies.Garfield's research into them is evident so they don't feel like reformulated media coverage.

Garfield first guides us through a timeline of seminal events between 2005 and mid-2009 that nicely illustrate the evolving disruption in media.

But from there onward, I found myself having to work at connecting Garfield's dots.

His various chapters zoom in on the revenue models of post-advertising media, the dawn of the widget, the rise of crowdsourcing and influencers, and the flaws of consumer generated ads.You will find a discussion of Garfield's top ten word-of-mouth principles. One whole chapter is dedicated to the digital fall and rise of Comcast.

All interestingly told and engaging (in spite of the belabored Comcast material) but Garfield gets lower marks for pulling it all together, delivering any fresh insight or providing direction.

Unfortunately Garfield's solution - dubbed Listenomics - is dated for today's media, marketing and digital zeitgeist.It feels simplistic and shapeless.

Organizations are struggling with massive challenges brought on by digital disruption such as serious gaps in skills, culture, process, distribution, business and revenue models, compensation, policy and a host of others.

In the face of these, Garfield's simple command to "listen or perish" feels like a very weak prescription.

To read the final chapter, we are invited to connect to [...] to watch it unfold in blog form, although I'm not convinced that is happening, now six months out from publication. The web site seems pretty much a standard book marketing site in blog form.

The book tie-in campaign, 30 Days of Chaos is daily emails of chapter synopses and includes pointers to some rather good articles and blog posts from around the `Net.But the discussion questions are forgettable.Admittedly, I only got through Day 7 as I write this.

The problem here is Garfield and his publisher overstep their areas of expertise by trying to be facilitators of organizational dialogue.Unfortunately the result is they invite shapeless discussion.I found myself wishing they would have collaborated with an experienced trainer, facilitator, social media consultant or organizational development specialist.

Garfield's day job is to observe and report - and at that he does an admirable job in The Chaos Scenario. Had he stuck to reporting on media disruption and not promised a prescription, his book would be much more satisfying for its readers.

Who should read this book?

* Anyone who is curious about or just getting up to speed on the modern media landscape.
* Highly recommend for media educators for use at secondary or post-secondary levels as a modern media primer.
* Media specialists looking to bolster presentation material, or a client leave-behind.

A funny, scary, bracing read from our best media critic.
Bob Garfield, host of NPR's "On the Media" and longtime ad critic for Advertising Age, is the smartest, wittiest commentator on media and advertising in this country. His new book, "The Chaos Scenario," has as its epigraph a quote from Gen. Eric Shinseki: "If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevancy even less." That pretty much sums up the thesis of Garfield's book: the Internet has made traditional print and broadcast media increasingly irrelevant, and they are paying the price bigtime for not anticipating the changes. Of course, as Garfield points out, even cutting-edge outfits such as YouTube are hanging on by their fingernails because they haven't figured out how to earn more than a pittance from their posted videos that millions of people watch every day. With surgical precision, Garfield outlines the perils and opportunities of the Wired Age, profiling companies (Lego, Netflix) that have turned the new technologies to their advantage, as well as the many, many companies that have been undone by their own computers.

Garfield also includes some helpful chapters on the joys and pitfalls of the Internet for individual users, as well as a hilarious chapter titled "Comcast Must Die," detailing his web-based crusade against the smug corporate giant. "The Chaos Scenario" is a funny, scary, bracing read for anyone interested in the Internet, and what can do for (and to) people. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (29)

Narrative voice not up to scratch
This could have been a marvellous story--a bright Edwardian heroine having ripping adventures with her beloved cat by her side. Unfortunately, it's loaded with Americanisms. I longed to suspend my disbelief and escape into 1906 London, but I just couldn't. So frustrating! The author should have asked a Briton to read the manuscript before it was published. At the very least, it should have been given an editor who speaks UK English.

Theodosia Throckmorton for the win
I'm sure there are other fantasy titles that follow the "So and So and the Whatsit" model, and star a girl instead of a boy, but only the boys come to mind when I try to come up with them. That makes R.L. LaFevers' Theodosia Throckmorton and the Serpent of Chaos a pretty notable one. Theodosia Throckmorton, or Theo, lives an isolated life in the museum her parents run, trying to rid everything they bring back of the curses no one can see but her. There's a lot of pressure on her to begin with (I mean, her parents won't even wear gloves when they handle cursed items), but everything seems to get out of control when her mother returns from one of her many voyages to Egypt with the dangerous Heart of Egypt. Through a course of events, Theodosia finds herself in the impossible position of responsibility for returning the artifact to it's rightful place without letting her parents know what's going on. Except its rightful place is in Egypt. And what's hanging in the balance if Theo fails? Only the fate of her entire country.

Theodosia herself is clever, witty and fallible. The way she speaks isn't so believable for an 11 year old maybe, but that's part of the fun of her character and her story. Her gender is never the focus of the story, and that makes her a hero in the vein of Harry Potter, and a definite possibility for his fans. Her dark and dangerous world is described well enough to keep readers in the mood for mystery, without so much information that it's overwhelming.

Plus, LaFevers runs an excellent website (find it here: [...]), with interesting links, a blog with great advice for writers and blog written by Theodosia that makes up for the fact that her own isn't really suited for younger readers.

Also fun for adults
I absolutely hate that there is a Booklist quote on the back of these books that says "A sure bet for Harry Potter fans". This book is nothing like Harry Potter and I mean that as a compliment. Yes, I have read all the Potter books, and even like a couple. But Harry Potter books are not the standard by which all other books that mention the word "magic" should be measured. Especially books that have nothing to do with a Harry Potter like world.

Some other reviews mention Indiana Jones and I would agree with that more than a link to Potter. This book brought Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody to my mind.I can see where a young Amelia, given the chance, might have been very like Theodosia. Actually, that is why I gave this one a try, even though it is a children's book.I love stories about ancient Egypt and spunky heroines.

Theo does speak a bit odd at times in this first book, but I loved that she is smart, independent and really very disciplined in her studies. She has taught herself Greek, Egyptian Hieroglyphs and Latin,and studies ancient Egyptian history and lore to remove curses on the artifacts her mother brings home from her archeological digs in Egypt. She also has to deal with secret societies, one dastardly, one benevolent, quirky museum staff, distracted parents and a meddlesome Grandmother who wants to turn her into a "proper lady". Theo is very busy.

So, if you are looking for something like Harry Potter, look elsewhere. If you want to try a fun romp with an "odd duck" 11 year old in a museum surrounded by ancient Egyptian artifacts, some with nasty curses, give this a try. If you like it then read the second in the series, "Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris". Frankly, I found it even better than this one.

Fast-paced and Humorous
The year is 1906 and Theodosia Throckmorton is up to her ears in Egyptian curses in this fast-paced and humorous fantasy book for middle school readers. Theo's father is the Head Curator of the Museum of Legends and Antiquities in London and the eleven-year-old girl spends a lot of time there. Her mother is an archeologist and, as the story opens, she arrives from Egypt with crates of artifacts from the Valley of the Kings. Her most valuable find is a large jeweled scarab called the Heart of Egypt.

Even though Theo's parents and the two assistant curators work with ancient Egyptian pieces all the time, only Theo can feel the evil magic oozing out of them. Powerful curses arrive at the museum with every crate of antiquities. She has learned to cope with them from books about how to combat Egyptian magic. But her parents don't believe her when she tells them about the dreadful spells--they just think she has a vivid imagination.

Then, almost as soon as it arrives, the Heart of Egypt is stolen!

That very day a bigwig from the British Museum comes by asking to see it. Theo thinks that's too much of a coincidence and when he leaves, she follows him.

After some exciting twists and turns, she meets the head of a mysterious organization called the Brotherhood of the Chosen Keepers. He tells her that because her mother took the Heart of Egypt, a massive curse will be unleashed on all of England. He and the other members of the Brotherhood can't go directly after the artifact because they are well known to the thieves, so he asks her to recover it. But even if she could, how would it ever be returned to the tomb in Egypt?

Theo is a plucky and resourceful heroine and she tells her tale in a lively voice with many humorous asides. The spooky curses and nefarious doings that swirl around her make the story fun and exciting.

This is R. L. LaFevers first book about Theodosia. She's written two other Theodosia books, as well as other series. The marvelous cover is by Yoko Tanaka.

Fun and unique adventure...
Theodosia Throckmorton is not your average eleven-year-old girl. Gifted with intelligence well beyond her years, Theo practically lives at the Museum of Legends and Antiquities, run by her parents and used as the venue for displaying their archaeological discoveries. But what her parents don't realize - and what only Theodosia can see - are the ancient curses swirling around the finds that her parents bring back to London. Theo determines to educate herself about the ancient magic so she can neutralize the threats her parents unwittingly awaken when the artifacts are removed from their Egyptian tombs. It's a thankless job, since her parents - indeed, every adult she encounters - constantly make the mistake of underestimating her capabilities. When her mother returns from her latest expedition with the legendary Heart of Egypt - her most priceless (and dangerous) find yet - Theodosia is thrust into the middle of a web of international conspiracy, warring secret societies, and ancient curses bent on destroying England and unleashing worldwide chaos.

I've always loved stories involving Egypt and archaeological digs set during the first half of the 20th century - what can I say, blame Agatha Christie and Indiana Jones. Between Indy's adventures (and I'm recalling the Young Indiana Jones made-for-TV films) and Christie's Egyptian-set mysteries, tales about ancient discoveries have never failed to intrigue me. I decided to check out this series when I noticed a friend reading one of the books on GoodReads - with a delightfully named heroine, I knew I had to investigate the series. The Serpents of Chaos is a rollicking, fast-paced introduction to Theodosia's dangerous, magic-filled world. There's some merit to likening Theo to Harry Potter - both start out as eleven-year-olds with abilities no one in their families understand. However, Rowling does a better job of fleshing out Potter's universe in my view. LaFevers dives right into the action and doesn't let up until the final pages, which makes for a quick read. The pace is only occasionally slowed by a few rather longish descriptions of Egyptian magic or curse "antidotes." I would've liked a little more context to Theo's life, more of an introduction to her unique skill set and how she came to know so much about magic at such a young age.

Theo's voice is definitely the highlight of the novel. Impossibly worldly-wise, mature, and funny, Theodosia is an engaging heroine. LaFevers is careful to balance Theo's extraordinary knowledge with a relatable, heartfelt desire for her to be affirmed and valued by her parents. Theo's efforts to impress her parents and the scenes between her and her younger brother, Henry, were some of my favorite sections of the book. She's also a cat lover, which I deeply appreciated. I also loved how Theodosia manages to impress the clandestine organization tasked with protecting England. I can easily see Theo and company playing an important role in magical world events, perhaps leading up to the outbreak of World War I.This novel is sure to appeal to fans of Indiana Jones or the Mummy films, and to anyone who's ever been enthralled by a museum exhibit. I am curious to see how Theodosia juggles appearing to be an average girl with the responsibility of protecting the nation from dark magic threats. It should be a fun ride. ... Read more

Product Description
Book DescriptionPublished in 1995, the bestselling first edition of Trading Chaos provided readers with the most practical and comprehensive guide for applying chaos theory to the real world of trading and investing. But today, the markets are different than they were even a few years ago. So with fresh research in hand, coauthors Bill Williams and Justine Gregory-Williams have updated their profitable methods and provide new techniques to help you take profits from the markets.

Trading Chaos, Second Edition will not only show you how to anticipate, recognize, and react to impending bull and bear market conditions, it will also introduce you to the latest findings in physics and psychology as applied to various markets--stock, bond, futures, indexes, and many others.

The first portion of this book is devoted to understanding how the rewards you’ll acquire in trading and investing are determined by what is happening inside of you. By digging through some very interesting and deep psychological principles, you can become a profitable "trade/vestor"--using technical techniques for good short-term entries and exits, but also holding on to long-term investments when the opportunity presents itself. Trading Chaos, Second Edition will help you build a solid psychological foundation before you enter the markets.

After you’ve learned how to gain an inner analytic edge, the authors will show you how the application of self-knowledge will improve your bottom line. Through numerous charts, checklists, and examples, you’ll be introduced to proven techniques that can make the unpredictable understandable and make your journey into the markets more profitable. You’ll learn how to:

Sharpen entries and exits, and reduce whiplashes with the powerful "Alligator" indicator Get into a new trend very early with proper use of the "First Wise Man" Add on aggressively after your first entry using the "Second Wise Man" with the help of the Awesome Oscillator (AO) Make fractal breakout trades with the "Third Wise Man"--these almost guarantee profitable follow-through on a trade

In this early part of the twenty-first century, you have a choice to either be a part of the last generation of traders and investors using linear (ineffective) techniques or the first generation using effective nonlinear (chaotic) techniques. By reading the Second Edition of Trading Chaos, you’ll learn how you can take your trading skills to the next level and make steady profits in any marke ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

too philosophical to a trader like me
I've been trading for more than 5 years since my graduation from college. This book offers lots of questions for philosophical speculation. Indeed, it raises many doubts about our assumptions upon this reality we reside in physically, mentally, or spiritually. Nevertheless, I will not position this book as a guidebook or a know-how methodology for beginners. This book was written or structured with a strong philosophical implications. Some chapters are nothing more than anecdotes of successful traders which I personally don't find appealingly entertaining or useful to my personal account.

Bill Williams Is A Great Teacher
Williams has been educating traders for many years, and is an effective teacher.His approach of "want what the market wants" and "follow the path of least resistance", are simple but essential lessons.You will learn about these lessons and more in this terrific book, and if you are open minded enough you will be able to benefit from his deeper understanding of how markets and traders behave.

Some of Williams' ideas are "out of the box" for traditional practitioners: he recommends meditation tapes to his students, tapping into a holistic method, and thinking in terms of a more global and universal energy that affects the markets and each trader's mind via their thoughts.

If you like Williams' approach, you may also find Bennett McDowell's system useful.He was a student of Williams' way back when, and has since gone on to become one of the newer educators in the field.McDowell's book, "The ART of Trading"The ART of Trading: Combining the Science of Technical Analysis with the Art of Reality-Based Trading (Wiley Trading)has the same energy that Williams work does, plus it offers money management techniques that complete the success picture.

Williams doesn't lecture at the trade shows anymore, but his teachings can be effectively mastered by reading his books and visiting his website.Recommended reading.

Contradicts his own theory
When I first started reading this book I thought it was going to be great.He really sounds good talking about Zen and Chaos theory and non-linear vs linear - and I think he is right that the markets behave under these concepts.However, he doesn't really tell us how to apply any of this to trading.Read this book and then look at a chart.Can you trade better now knowing that you should be using a non-linear, chaos approach?No!Why?Because he doesn't tell us how to apply that theory to trading.He tells us to be one with the market and flow with it etc.That's fine and dandy - but how do we do that?

He tells us that ta and mechanical systems don't work, then he reveals the system he uses to trade by - a mechanical system!!!I was shocked to see that his system is just another dime a dozen 3 ma system.How is his system using non-linear chaos theory?How is his system flowing with the market and making you more "in tune" with the market?It's just another mechanical ta system!!!(kind of sad really)

This book started with great promise but ended up being a total disappointment.

Unique Among Trading Titles
This is the finest trading-related book ever published; if you are just starting to learn about trading and investing, please pick up a copy of Trading Chaos before you spend another dime on newsletters, software or 'hot tips.'

It's not about trading a system, it's about trading your mind .......

Bill and Justine did a great job
Bill and Justine are made me aware of what is driving the markets. Before I met them I was caught in a circle of winning and losing money in trading. The first edition opened my eyes, new trading dimensions got me out of the dream. The home study course showed me that It is possible to trade consistently, The personal workshop with Bill taught me more than enough of the inside of the markets to grasp the why and how. Eventually workshops by Justine in the middle of Chicago made me implement it all.

This new edition of Trading Chaos is refreshing. It's not about "the magic system", it's not about how to design the perfect system. No it's about real life and how the markets fit in. The perfection in the chaos, the perfect repetition of the small in to the bigger picture.

Don't buy this book if you want to know which market to trade and make money.Don't buy this book if you are looking for the magical tip.
Do buy the book if you want to learn what the market is driving and how you can profit.

Do buy this book if you are clueless (like I was) about your trading mistakes.
If you are serious go for the book, think of the implications and contact Bill and Justine to do a follow up. I did it 10 years ago and never had a moment of regret.
... Read more

Product Description
The biggest fantasy from L. E. Modesitt, Jr. to date, Colors of Chaos is the story of the White Chaos wizard Cerryl: his education in life and love, and his rise to power in the magicians guild of Fairhaven. This is the direct sequel to The White Order, which told of Cerryl's boyhood and youth, and takes place at the same time as the events in Modesitt's earlier novel, The Magic Engineer. Yet it stands alone, the longest Recluce novel, a portrayal of the growth and change of character and of the strengths and weaknesses of an age-old civilization held together by the power of magic.

Ceryl, now a full mage in The White Order, must prove himself indispensible to Jeslek, the High Wizard. Whether through assassination, effective gorvernance of occupied territory or the fearless and clever direction of troops in battle, Ceryl faces many harrowing obstacles, not the least of which is Anya, the plotting seductress who's the real power behind the scenes of the white wizards. With his wits, his integrity, and the support of his love, the Black healer Leyladin, he must survive long enough to claim his rightful spot within the ruling heirarchy of the White Order.

This is a must-read for followers of the Saga of Recluce, offering a unique, sympathetic point of view of the White Chaos wizards-the forces that throughout history have opposed the magicians of Recluce.

Colors of Chaos is the ninth book in the saga of Recluce.
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Customer Reviews (23)

Terrible typos
I love the writing in the book but the OCR translation of the scanned book leaves the same mistakes on almost every page. I felt like I was trudging through sludge in trying to read the content of the story. It makes me angry that I paid for this book. The lack of editing is egregeous.

Digital woes..
This isn't a review of the story itself.It's a warning for those downloading the digital version.It is evident that it was translated by an optical character recognition (OCR) program, and never even spell-checked afterwards!It is filled with broken words, wrong words, and sequences of letters and characters that are meaningless.At the price charged for a digital version, with no printing, warehousing, distribution and retail expenses, this is unacceptable, verging on the sinful.Caveat Emptor.

Kindle Version Review
This book is an excellent example of Kindle Gone Bad.Evidently this book was entered by someone who either has no English and is a bad typist or by my deceased grandmother over the ether.If the Kindle entry was edited at all it must have been by someone who has English as a 4th or 5th language.The story was great but hard to read with all the typos.Otherwise its about 3.5 stars.I love my Kindle and Modesitt is one of my favorite authors but this is ridiculous.

Not Free SF Reader
Cerryl, from The White Order, is all grown up here and in a position of power.In this book, we see a lot of the same important events of The Magic Engineer, but from the Chaos Side.

It seems that diplomacy is something that will be important in his future.Politics and taxes, all that sort of thing.

What is interesting is that despite the Black and White names, it is all just grey, depending on whose viewpoint is shown at the time.

Excellent
I've always been a fan of this series, but this may well be my favorite to date. The tie-in from the "other side of the fence" is very enlightening, and nicely written.

I found myself thinking, "Why don't Cerryl and Dorrin just get together and talk? They want the same thing...", as if these were two real people.

Any book that can make me forget I'm reading a book, is an excellent book indeed. ... Read more

Product Description
One of the most daunting challenges facing the new U.S. administration is health care reform. The size of the system, the number of stakeholders, and ever-rising costs make the problem seem almost intractable. But in Chaos and Organization in Health Care, two leading physicians offer an optimistic prognosis. In their frontline work as providers, Thomas Lee and James Mongan see the inefficiency, the missed opportunities, and the occasional harm that can result from the current system. The root cause of these problems, they argue, is chaos in the delivery of care. If the problem is chaos, the solution is organization, and in this timely and outspoken book, they offer a plan.

In many ways, this chaos is caused by something good: the dramatic progress in medical science—the explosion of medical knowledge and the exponential increase in treatment options. Imposed on a fragmented system of small practices and individual patients with multiple providers, progress results in chaos. Lee and Mongan argue that attacking this chaos is even more important than whether health care is managed by government or controlled by market forces.

Some providers are already tightly organized, adapting management principles from business and offering care that is by many measures safer, better, and less costly. Lee and Mongan propose multiple strategies that can be adopted nationwide, including electronic medical records and information systems for sharing knowledge; team-based care, with doctors and other providers working together; and disease-management programs to coordinate care for the sickest patients. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Organizing Medical Care Delivery
The authors describe a methodology to transition
from chaos to organization in the existing medical
delivery systems. The general practitioner is the
initial party in the system which evolves to the
full service clinic. I believe that the book
should have described the development of networks
of specialists which provide the complete diagnostic
profile for a patient.

Oftentimes, the general practitioner is limited to
the basic examination, bloodwork, urine, chest x-ray
and ultrasounds. The specialists do the complicated
diagnostics like MRIs, chronic pain management, surgery,
the musculoskeletal network, physical therapy
and nutrition management.

The authors believe that dramatic cost reduction can
come from strategic application of medical technologies,
automation, the evaluation of threats, deployment
of aggressive treatment regimens and collaborative
teamwork to avoid hospitalization at all costs.

The lowest real growth in health care expenditures
is in Germany, Italy and Austria. Good care is
defined as safe, effective, patient-centered,
equitable, timely and efficient.

The authors provide some high success stories
like the implementation of Gefitinih to thwart
non-small cell lung cancer in a real life story.
Overall, the work is a good starting point
for implementing improvements to the existing
health care systems.

A "must read" on health care!
Recommended by Henry J. Aaron of the Brookings Institution, this book by Thomas H. Lee, M.D. and James J. Mongan, M.D. compares the provision of health care from individual physician providers all the way to complex integrated systems such as Kaiser Permanente.The book is based on the extensive experience of the authors in this field, along with carefully researched references.It is the most important contribution I have found for understanding major issues which will need to be addressed in reconstructing our health care systems.The authors do not take a "one size fits all" stance, but they provide careful analysis of many levels of organization.

Health Reform Resource
This new book frames the healthcare reform debate in the light of real data and workable approaches. The authors make the case for integration of physicians into health networks as the best future for medical practice. Their focus is mostly on direct physician care and not the full spectrum of providers that will be needed to deliver basic care over the next decades, but the arguments and data they present are applicable to the whole system. If you want to be well informed about this critical issue, this book should be a key part of your education.

Good Discussion but Lacking in Details
There have been a great number of books analyzing health care over the past year and one suspects that this wave will continue. The book by Lee and Mongan entitled Chaos and Organization in Health Care (MIT Press, 2009) is one of the more recent. The premise of the book appears to be that the delivery of health care has problems because it is in an organizational state of chaos and if order is restored by the means proposed by the authors then all things will improve.

On page xi they specifically state that "the solution is organization" and it is from this assertion that they continue to build their argument. On page xiii they assert their proposal that a "tightly structured delivery organization" is the ideal and they proceed to use several examples throughout the book. Before continuing, I would introduce an interesting historical observation. When I spent time in and around Longwood Avenue, the Harvard Medical School area, in the 1960s, I could actually park my VW in the lot in front of one of the hospitals. By the late 1980s I had to use a multi-story garage, for what I thought was a great fee of $8. Last week I used the gigantic subterranean parking edifice for $30. The authors seem to recommend that the patients come to them, where they are collected as a group, but the vignette on parking just is the tip of the exclusion iceberg. It is quite difficult to get patients to trek to a single location for intermittent or routine care, they are all too often difficult to get to, especially for a patient who would then have to take great time from an already pressured schedule. The answer has been the single or multi-practitioner practice.

On p xii the authors speak of team based solutions to treating Diabetes. If one looks at Type 2 Diabetes, then in the overwhelming majority of cases it is s self inflicted disorder due to obesity and diet. The disease can be cured by just losing weight, and there should be actions taken to make that happen, otherwise a cost should be applied to the patient's life style choices. Assuming that nothing can be done with such a patient is just wrong and places the costs on the rest of us who comply.

On pp 39-40 the authors begin their analysis with the data from Medicare showing that patients see multiple physicians each year. They have a chart which shows that for Diabetes the Medicare patient sees 9 different physicians 3 of which are primary care and 6 of which are specialists. One will accept the data but one must question it. If the patient has Type 2 Diabetes, then we know that there are kidney, cardiac, neurological, ophthalmological, and possible endocrine issues, but if the average Medicare patient with type 2 Diabetes sees all of this every year then this is clearly an overload on any system. The authors put this data out there without adequately explaining it and allow it to speak for itself. It does not do so well.

On p 47 the authors have a table which shows the tests that Internists no longer routinely perform. Let me address a few. First, the treadmill stress test is better performed by a cardiologists just in case a patient does suffer an MI while be tested. The general internist is not prepared to handle this and the insurance could skyrocket if it were taken on, as well as the insurance company may not reimburse it. There are many reasons why not. Now for a liver biopsy. No Internist would take the risk of performing an invasive surgical procedure in their office unless there was no possible alternative. Slicing an artery in the liver is a substantial risk.

Part II starting on p 55 is where the authors begin their proposal for organization. Their overall proposal is in Chapter 6 for a Tightly Structured Health Care Delivery Organization, on p 97 and they use the VA as an example. The essence of the proposal is that one can create a dense and tightly integrated delivery system and that one gets the patients to come to that system and because of the efficiencies in this delivery mechanism the units costs and thus total costs are reduced. This is the classic centralized architecture approach introduced into production in the 1800s. Yet one questions whether that is the sole paradigm for the delivery of health care.

In Chapter 10 on p 175 the authors detail many of the reasons for lack of change. They focus on the provider and carefully list the key barriers to any form of evolution. On p 184 they present an interesting chart, charts of this type one can find in almost any environment, that one physician in the ER ordered 40% more CAT scans then the second highest ordering physician. Rather than bemoan that statistic one should try to understand why, the devil is in the details.

On p 205 the authors appear to support the bundling of payments, a plan which has worked its way into the current health care bills (2009). Bundling is a natural outgrowth of institutionalizing health care delivery. However if one can argue for the permanence of a distributed health care delivery system, which is in proximate contact with the patients, then bundling would be just another word for institutional control and the reduction of physician autonomy and patient choice. It is a sticky issue and the authors do not do credit to both sides.

On p 229 in the final chapter the authors stress that organization of providers is essential for change. They also seem to promote the single payer system approach on p 237.

The problem is that there is no financial or business analysis of the proposals. There are many generalizations and many anecdotes but frankly not a single analysis and what would be obtained by defined actions. I return to the metric we used before, namely that for any specific disease we have the total costs being:

Total Costs=Population X Incidence X Procedures per Patient X Costs per Procedure

Thus we can look at costs as driven by the four elements above. We see a growing population and thus no influence there. We can reduce incidence. Smoking has been reduced by taxing cigarettes and thus we have seen a reduction in male lung cancer incidence. Yet on the other hand we see a massive explosion in obesity and the resulting Type 2 Diabetes. A great deal can be done on incidence. On procedures; for acute coronary syndrome and the like we now have many procedures we can do today that we could not do 40 years ago and we have reduced mortality 50% as a result. Is that good, should we perform those procedures.

Then finally the costs per procedure. The last element is what the authors seem to be speaking to. What are they and how do their proposals reduce the costs and by how much. The devil is in the details, and more importantly in the numbers. It is with the numbers that the authors come up very short. The book is much too anecdotal and way too lacking in details.
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Product Description
Isaac Asimov's renowned Foundation Trilogy pioneered many of the familiar themes of modern science fiction and shaped many of its best writers. With the permission and blessing of the Asimov estate, the epic saga left unfinished by the Grand Master himself now continues with this second masterful volume.

With Hari Seldon on trial for treason, the Galactic Empire's long-anticipated migration to Star's End is about to begin. But the mission's brilliant robot leader, R. Daneel Olivaw, has discovered a potential enemy far deadlier--and closer--than he ever imagined. One of his own kind.

A freak accident erases the basic commandments in humaniform robot Lodovik Trema's positronic brain. Now Lodovic's service to humankind is no longer bound by destiny, but by will. To ensure his loyalty, Daneel has Lodovic secretly reprogrammed. But can he be trusted? Now, other robots are beginning to question their mission--and Daneel's strategy. And stirrings of rebellion, too, are infecting their human counterparts. Among them is a young woman with awesome psychic abilities, a reluctant leader with the power to join man and robot in a quest for common freedom.or mutual destruction.

The Foundation Saga Continues

Read Gregory Benford's Foundation's Fear, the first novel in this bold new series and Secret Foundation, the concluding volume from David Brin.Amazon.com Review
This is book number two in the new Second Foundation Trilogy being written by hard science fiction authors Gregory Benford, Greg Bear, and David Brin, otherwise known as the "Killer B's." In this book, Bear continues where Benford's Foundation's Fear left off, as the trial of legendary psychohistorian Hari Seldon is about to begin. Bear writes with a style uncannily similar to Foundation creator Isaac Asimov's, and he even manages to incorporate some of Asimov's own writing in the novel. Aside from thetrial, Bear also focuses on the nearly immortal robots that serve theFoundation, including R. Daneel Olivaw, who is set to guide one of theFoundation's first great undertakings. But Olivaw runs into trouble froman unexpected quarter, his best operative, Lodovik Trema, whose positronicbrain has been irrevocably altered in a strange accident that has given himfreedom from the supposedly immutable laws of robotics. --Craig Engler ... Read more

Customer Reviews (54)

Not Too Bad, But . . .
no, it's not Asimov:but Benford's first volume of the three ('Fear') was a first rate piece of writing, offering fascinating characters and possibilities that the other two others virtually ignored:at least Bear tries to do something with them in his 'Chaos' and spins a worthwhile story and creates a fascinating possibility with a new character:and then Brin threw it all away ('Triumph') in a nonsensical poorly constructed space opera, ignoring the other characters and creating very poor one dimensional ones of his own

5 stars for Benford

three stars for Bear

and a measly half a star for Brin

Bear writes an excellent addition to the flow of psychohistory
Eventhe master varied the pace, detail, and action from volume to volume in the original series. I find Bear's contribution fits very well into the original stream and I suspect Dr. Asimov would have enjoyed it immensely.

Review from a non-foundation fan
I have read the Asimov foundation series, but it was in my teenage years (a looong time ago) and I don't remember much from it.So I came with fairly new eyes to this book, judging it independently from the Asimov books.

I am giving it 3 stars, because it is a good classic sci-fi read, with a wonderful subtext about how thinking machines can become very similar to humans, but also incredibly alien, and vice-versa.I would give it 4 stars, but I think though that trying to fit into the foundation series hurts the non-initiated reader a little, i.e. you miss the little in-jokes and you don't understand the full meaning of all the events.

Hari Seldon on trial and rise of mentalics
Hari Seldon, originator of predictive psychohistory, is tried by the authorities on Trantor, capital world of the Galactic Empire, for his treasonable thesis that the Empire will soon fall and that measures must be taken to allow some subsequent restoration of order. At the same time the new breed of humans, mentalists, are springing into existence. One of them, Vara Liso, a deeply disturbed mind, joins the Imperial officers and start to help hunting others of her kind. But she also senses different mind patterns, robots that are she fear are taking control of humankind. R. Daneel Olivaw's plan, Hari Seldon's masterwork, is at stake if this woman can't be stopped. Is there still a chance to save psychohistory?

Of the three add-in books to the Foundation series, this is the most true to the Asimov who died 1992. Where the book 1 Foundation's Fear (1998 by Gregory Benford) -- full of sims and meme entities of neural mesh networks -- almost alienated readers from the to Asimovian universe, this second book (1997 by Greg Bear) manages miraculously to shock absorb the damages done. The last years of Hari Seldon, his agonizing trial, the power struggles behind the aristocrats and surprisingly the robot entanglement are masterfully knitted together. The mystery of the robots and their rebelling groups are revealed; one of the minor flaws of the book because Asimov was keen to keep robots strictly at the background so that reader was kept guessing their influence on the settlement of the Foundation. After this book, there won't be much of a mystery left about the robots. The trilogy ends at book 3, Foundation's Triumph (1999 by David Brin).

Three (3) stars. Foundation and Chaos goes back to the roots more in line with the universe Asimov made and the book has well rounded end where the Psychohistorians are exiled to the remote planet Terminus. The narrative smoothly flows between plot lines and words are bursting of good suspense; action is always there or just around the corner. The introduction of Lodovik Trema, which became almost human -- not subjected to the three laws of robotics -- is skillfully mastered. If the gaudy simulations introduced in book 1, Joan D'arc and Voltaire, were banished altogether from this book; if tiresome sounding mathists were called mathematicians and if the robots would have appeared less in the lead roles, the book would have been solid 5. Still twice as good as the book 1. A sturdy read in tradition to the Great Master.

One star is too much already
Not even close to the concept, the narrative, and the eloquence of the Master (Isaac Asimov). There is no mystery. What it is is a soap opera with pages upon pages of silly dialogue. If allowed, I suppose that Mr. Bear would throw in a few light-saber fights and describe them blow-by-blow, grunt-by-grunt. A silly, silly book, but to be fair, Benford's Foundation Fear is in the same league (and "Forward" and "Prelude" by the late Master are no gems either.)

The two most interesting characters are Tritch and Mors Planch. Tritch gets a few lines and Planch some more, but not enough.

Why can't Dan Simmons or Vernon Vinge be asked to write a sequel to "Foundation and Earth". Now there's a mystery worth pursuing and with them the Asimov Estate would do well to preserve and honor the spirit of the "Foundation" series.
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Product Description
In Steering through Chaos, Pastor Scott Wilson helps you, whether you are a fellow pastor or part of a church staff or leadership team, plan for change and develop a communication strategy that enlists support and builds momentum to lead individuals or entire congregations through the transition. Scott provides you as a leader the insight, inspiration, and courage you need to make the difficult choices that will keep your church moving forward.

The challenges of leadership often multiply during times of transition. Blending perceptive, visionary principles with a passion to please God, Scott Wilson examines how to effectively lead your church through the process of change. Transitions addressed include the building of new facilities, the changing of staff structure, the addition of new services, and the transition to becoming a multisite ministry, among others. Each chapter includes discussion questions, making this an ideal resource for you, your staff, and your leadership team to read together.

During the struggles of transition, doubts and fears will inevitably arise. At those moments, leaders need assurance that they have a real and authentic vision from God. Scott encourages you to follow the call and to lead with confidence, courage, and an unwavering commitment to push through the challenges that come with change.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (86)

Some Insight
Scott has good insight into organizational change and growing pains. This book is not from a servant leaders perspective. Save your money and get "Advanced Strategic Planning: A New Model for Church and Ministry Leaders" by Aubrey Malphurs!

The Author Provides Helpful, Practical and Godly Guidance
I was impressed with just about everything that Scott Wilson offers in this book. He comes across as a humble, Godly and spiritually mature pastor who cares deeply about local churches and their leaders. He offers practical guidance based on experience, his own mentors and Scripture.The foundation for almost all of his teaching consists of prayer, listening to God, Scripture, wise counsel and humility.

Wilson shares and emphasizes the challenges, difficulties and frustrations of leading through change and chaos.This is a good message to hear: it is going to be challenging.He provides wise counsel about approaching the trials of leadership and thanking God for his care and discipline.Wilson is encouraging throughout the book, and I appreciated that aspect along with his honesty and realism.

Wilson intersperses leadership accounts from other pastors throughout the book. I appreciated this diversity of perspectives.I think any readers will be able to take away some good leadership instructions from this book. Wilson shares some serious pitfalls to avoid and obstacles that must be overcome.He also reminds readers of the basics like good communication and having courage.

The only slight criticism of the book is that Wilson lays heavy emphasis on numbers of church attendees as the benchmark of success for leaders. I think this diminishes and minimizes the value of discipleship and the attributes of smaller churches that may be led to plant new churches rather than grow beyond a certain point.In other words, I don't think becoming a mega-church or multi-site church is the goal or should be the goal of all church leaders. This is sort of implied throughout the book by Wilson and by his citing of other pastors and his guest writers.

Overall, I heartily recommend this book for church leaders and really for any leaders of organizations looking for practical help and encouragement.

Should Be on Your "Must-Read" List
I am so tired of reading church growth books that have little substance!When I first picked up, Steering Through Chaos, by Scott Wilson, I prematurely counted this book among them.

In the forward, it describes the book as being about "...what it means to transition a church from Gutenberg to Google." I thought, "Oh great, another seeker-sensitive, water-it-down, compromise-so-they'll-come, waste-my-time leadership book." Boy was I wrong!

Steering Through Chaos is one of the best books I have ever read on the topic of leading your church for maximum eternal results. It will boost your faith, impart much wisdom, communicate useful knowledge, and all with such transparent honesty.

One of the biggest highlights of the book for me was when Scott Wilson said, "Your church will grow only to the level of your pain threshold." Wow! That statement revolutionized the way I think about ministry.

Wilson went on to explain that God had to raise his pain threshold in order for him to deal with change, make difficult choices, and to endure the pain and hard work of church growth. The book points out that there is pain in change, whether it is adding another service, changing staff, implementing new ministries, or raising money for a new facility. He goes on to say that we need to care more about God's calling than our comfort.

I have been thinking a lot about Wilson's "pain" statement. Although it is not a popular sermon topic, there is pain in the Christian walk. There is the pain of rejection when witnessing, the ache of forgiving someone who has wronged you, the throb of nailing your flesh to the cross and dying to self, the sting of persecution and scorn and the list goes on and on.

Even with our physical bodies, there is the pain of birthing new life, the pain of gaining new muscle, and the pain of hunger when trying to lose weight."No pain, no gain."

In the ministry there is much pain as well, but if at any time we make the inner vow that says, "I refuse to put myself through any more pain.I am not going to put myself out there anymore. I am not going to try anything new so I don't have to endure the pain of possible failure. I am not going to set myself or my family up for future hurts" we will stymie the growth of our church, but more importantly the growth of the Kingdom.

Steering Through Chaos should be on the "must read" list of any minister or leader in the church.

Impressive Read for Youth Pastors
Steering Through Chaos is Awesome. It will help you make positive change, cast vision, & build momentum withing your ministry. It is just as good for Youth Pastors as what it is for Senior Pastors.

Transition is Tough - this book will help!
I've been on staff at a couple of significantly transitioning churches before. Nobody can predict exactly what will happen, who will change, what type of leadership is needed to transition as gracefully as possible or the effects it will have on the entire church body.

Scott Wilson has essentially spent his entire life living and ministering through a transitioning church. His wisdom is beyond his years and practical ideas are easy to take and implement into your own context.

I now get to visit churches across the US to speak, and so many times I run into a church who is right in the middle of that phase that is almost paralyzing-nobody knows what to do next and fear takes over. I highly recommend Scott's book to any church (and get it as soon as you can!) ... Read more

Product Description
Merciless attacks by an invincible alien force have left the New Republic reeling. Dozens of worlds have succumbed to occupation or annihilation, and even the Jedi Knights have tasted defeat. In these darkest of times, the noble Chewbacca is laid to rest, having died as heroically as he lived--and a grief-stricken Han Solo is left to fit the pieces of his shattered soul back together before he loses everything: friends, family, and faith.

Refusing help from Leia or Luke, Han becomes the loner he once was, seeking to escape the pain of his partner's death in adventure . . . and revenge. When he learns that an old friend from his smuggling days is operating as a mercenary for the enemy, he sets out to expose the traitor. But Han's investigation uncovers an even greater evil: a sinister conspiracy aimed at the very heart of the New Republic's will and ability to fight--the Jedi.

Now Han must face down his inner demons and, with the help of a new and unexpected ally, honor Chewbacca's sacrifice in the only way that matters--by being worthy of it.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (95)

Han Solo is Back!
James Luceno is only getting his feet wet in the Star Wars universe, but the Robotech veteran gets things steaming right along after a slow first quarter.The dialogue at first is a little ponderous, with drawn-out statements that seem a little wrong, but it gets better.

The character of Han Solo is the key point of the book, which was great to see since he seemed to take a back seat to everyone else.Between the time that Chewie dies on Sernpidal (SPOILER!) and the end of this book, the reconciliation between Han and his son Anakin really hits a father.

I like the new copilot character that they've given to Han.He's a bit like Han with his sense of humor, and also a little like Lando, but with less of the smooth pretense.I hope he sticks around a while.

Luceno really gets down to the guts of Han Solo, and it is his insight which saves the Jedi from certain doom at the hands of an assassin.It's Han Solo at his gut-feeling best, and I couldn't reccomend this book more.

QUALITY PAPERBACKS
The seller of these Star Wars books was quick, reliable and sent out products of superior quality.

Like the series, don't like this author
The first three books in this series were compelling and well written.They introduced characters well and like any good space opera, was liberal with the action.

This book however fails to live up to that standard in my opinion.Firstly, it's focussing almost entirely on Han Solo, who I'm bored of.His constant winging about Chewbacca dying is tiresome and annoying and by the time you reach the end of the book you're not brimming over with sympathy but bubbling with frustration.Whoever said "older and wiser" never meant this to be applied to Han Solo obviously.He's written like he's still unmarried and in his 30's.It's unbelievable and insulting.

The writing style also annoys me.It's hard to get into the story because it's very disjointed and not written in a way that ties things together neatly.You're left with a feeling of "what?" whenever a new chapter begins.

I'm reading this only because I want to get past it to a book written by a better storyteller.It disheartens me that he has written The Unifying Force because as the last book in this series, I was hoping it would be good.Here's hoping he writes Jedi better than he does old smugglers.

Great Solo adventure
While Hero's Trial, the fourth book in the massive New Jedi Order series and the first in author James Luceno's Agents of Chaos duology doesn't have quite the same epic scope as previous NJO volumes (no planets die in this one), it is still a crucial volume in the series.

Essentially, Hero's Trial is a Han Solo adventure, which is fine considering that Han has been more or less MIA during the previous two NJO books, drowning his sorrows after the loss of Chewbacca in Vector Prime (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 1). It's good to see Solo back in action, and the mission he takes on - hunting down the Yuuzhan Vong's Peace Brigade agents - gives him the sense of purpose (not to mention vengeance) that he needs to get on with his life.

The book's other key development is the introduction of Yuuzhan Vong double agent Elan and her familiar Vergere, who will go on to be one of the most interesting, compelling, and yes disturbing characters the Star Wars Universe has ever seen. You'd never know it from this book, but the diminutive alien will set in motion events that will shape the galaxy for years to come.

Luceno does a great job with this book. It's exactly the kind of rollicking adventure you expect from a Han Solo tale, though the ever-present Yuuzhan Vong threat keeps the book from getting to lighthearted. Luceno has obviously done his homework, as events and characters from both Brian Daley and A. C. Crispin's previous Han Solo novels are referenced extensively in Hero's Trial. It's a bit light on Jedi action, but it does show that the events in the NJO series impact everyone - not just the Jedi.

If you've enjoyed the previous NJO books, this will be no exception. The best part is that the story is just getting warmed up!

Very average book in an otherwise good series
Hero's Trial is a mediocre book in what has otherwise been a decent series to date.The first three books (written by R.A. Salvatore and Michael Stackpole) were quite decent, which makes the shortcomings in Hero's Trial even more disappointing.

The book isn't horrible; it's just not fun to read.With the exception of Droma, a new buddy Luceno introduces for Han, nearly every character in the book is painfully boring.The Yuuzhan Vong, who were engaging in the first three books, became nothing more than the obligatory bad guys.Description of their biological technology became long passages of text which the reader couldn't care less about.This is quite different from the first three books, where the novel and menacing threat introduced by the Yuuzhan Vong is really what made the story work.

Following the same trend, Luceno's space battles are very dry.There is nothing in the way of tactics, skill, or strategy conveyed to the reader.There are lots of action words and quite a few adjectives, but in the end they add up to nothing.You could skip over the entire battle and not be worse off for it.

Lastly, Han was given a new sidekick to replace Chewbacca.Luceno tries to write some witty dialog between the two, attempting to deliver on some of the charm Han Solo displayed in the movies.Unfortunately, this too falls rather flat - and at times seems much more slapstick than it should.

As a stand alone book, it really isn't worth reading.As part of a larger storyline which to date has been good, it is tolerable. ... Read more

Product Description
When an exploration ship from Freehold discovered a planet with intelligent lifeforms—the first humans had ever encountered—it should have been the most important event in history. And it might be—for all the wrong reasons.

               Corporations on Freehold were eager to sell high-tech toys to the Ithkuil, as the inhabitants called themselves, which had the potential to disrupt their society. Then there was the U.N., which controlled the planet Earth. Earth and Freehold were not on good terms, to put it mildly, and the U.N. immediately sent its own ship to make contact with the Ithkuil. If the authoritarians from Earth started throwing their weight around, Freehold would have to push back, causing anything from a diplomatic incident to outright war. And then another ship arrived, full of idealistic do-gooders determined to keep the Ithkuil in their unspoiled state of nature . . .

               The whole thing was turning into a cross between a Marx Brothers farce and a Kafkaesque nightmare, with a potential for Greek tragedy. Contact with a more advanced civilization might pose a danger to the Ithkuil, but it definitely was becoming more dangerous to the human factions, and the situation was a powder keg just waiting for a spark to cause a very deadly explosion. . . . ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Basically a writer of morality tales, a camouflagued talent.
I read the book with satisfaction when it was first released, but did not jump to write a review.When thinking back over the author's portfolio, this is my main impression.His special talent is in telling stories which show that military tactics involve a loss, and that it takes particular moral and mental courage to decide and act, and to be responsible, when less than all is known or obvious -- he's got that narrative down to the fine level of a classical morality tale.He is so good at this aspect, but perhaps is not internally conscious of it.He is great in writing clear and positive morality tales around sudden challenges, in a wide imaginary range of fictional circumstances.I hope this helps and does not hamper his productivity with ongoing creative concepts.

A story line with many strong twists and turns
Michael Z. Williamson's CONTACT WITH CHAOS provides any military science fiction collection with a strong story revolving around the first aliens humans encounter and a mass of political interests surrounding it. Add the revelation that the aliens are not as simple as first expected and you have a story line with many strong twists and turns.

Really, really..Not Good
This is the sort of thing pre-pubescent boys might like but for anyone who as read any good science fiction it falls far short. Formulaic and appears to have been made up of novels from bette authors.

I expected more
What can I say?I love the author's other books.He is absolutely top notch.But here, I felt like I was constantly waiting for something to happen.Anything.*crickets* When something finally happened, it was all too brief.I liked the characters and the concept.I like the universe he has created, but I had to make myself finish this one.

Excellent continuation of an excellent series
I enjoyed Contact with Chaos very much. While set in the same universe as Freehold, The Weapon, and Better to beg Forgiveness, it is different from those books in that there is less violence and more of a world building view involving contact with a non-human sentient race.
The book is fun to read and very thought provoking.
I highly recommend it. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (37)

Average advice
For the new parent struggling with toddler issues that may not come as common sense for you. There were a few helpful hints in this book, but as a whole there are better suggestions out there in chat rooms or advice boards on the web. No one knows your kid like you. And as this book suggests, kissing your kid at the end of the night and walking away may not do it for you. I personally need to gate my little one in his room and hide in the basement until he passes out on the floor. The only thing this book has taught me is to curb my temper. The Chaos to Calm part of the title applied more to my nerves.

A great book
This is a great book. My three-year-old was refusing to sit in time out and I was getting frustrated trying to figure out what to do next.We had entire days that felt like one big power struggle - no fun for anyone.This book offers a few simple steps that have made me feel like a much more effective parent - less frustrated and with more energy for the fun side of parenting.

Wow, I wish I'd read this book two years ago...but better late than never
I'm embarrassed to think about how out of control my four and a half year old was by the time I came across a review of this book in the newspaper. The title of the article was something like, "What do you do when your child spits at you?" There was a time I would have laughed at this sort of thing, scoffing at any parent who would allow themselves to get to that point. But I had to admit that they were talking to me. And that wasn't the worst of it. At the worst point, I couldn't take my child to a class or a playgroup without some sort of embarrassing incident (I'm talking really embarrassing...him running away from me while laughing). I couldn't even take him to the grocery store! And to add insult to injury, he would go to preschool and act like a model student!!!

It wasn't always like that. Challenging behavior started around two and a half, and got progressively worse. I read a lot of books...books on temperament (okay, I have an active child), books on emotion coaching, books on positive discipline and redirection. I tried things like empathizing, giving choices, picking your battles, ignoring bad behavior so as not to reinforce it, etc. And occasionally I was able to finagle the result I wanted, but not in any predictable or sustainable way. It was clear to me that I did not have any control. Nice people would tell me, "It's just a phase, he'll grow out of it." No. This was not normal.I was on the road to adolescent hell.

It has been about a month since I ordered this book.As soon as I read it, I felt silly and relieved at the same time. This was nothing new...I used to train camp counselors to use very similar techniques when I was in college. Duh! How had I become so misguided in my parenting?

But no longer. Mama's in charge now. I have no problem saying it (not to him of course, I speak to him through action), but to myself. Do I respect his feelings? Of course. Do I want him to feel heard? Absolutely. Do I value his individuality? Without question. But he's four, and now I treat him as such. So THANKYOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to the women who have, in merely stating the obvious, helped restore peace and harmony to my home.

I read it. It worked. I bought three more for friends!
This book has helped greatly with our 4 year old son (our 2 year old is a bit young for the same dramatic results but we will use this approach with him too). Really, this is just good old common sense and a reality check for parents who have been sucked in to the popular, yet useless, forms of discipline that rule the day. The analysis of parenting types is very helpful and offers great insight as to why parenting certain ways is detrimental in the long run. We solved a major sleep problem in ONE NIGHT by using the advice on sleep problems in the book: That alone made the book worth buying!!! I have bought three copies as Christmas gifts for friends.

Finally advise that works
I have a child with ADHD and have read all the books and even ordered the Total Transformation as a desperate parent needing help.The one and only book or advise that has worked for us has been Beyond Time Out (From Chaos to Calm).My son's Psychologist had suggested that we read it, and our lives have improved tremendously.I read the book twice before implementing the techniques, but once we started, we stuck with it and it is like having a different child.From a child who would sleep in my bed and hit, kick, etc, to a child who now sleeps in his own bed without a fight and the tantrums/aggression has deminished to almost none at all. This book unlike all other books does not make excuses for ADHD, although I was.I have recommended this book to every person I know who is having difficulties with their child.My advise is to stick with the techniques in the book, it may take a few weeks, but you will see the results and be very happy with them and so will your child. ... Read more

Product Description
A string of smashing victories by the forces of the sinister aliens known as the Yuuzhan Vong has left New Republic resources and morale stretched to the breaking point. Leia Organa Solo, estranged from her husband, Han, oversees the evacuation of refugees on planets in the path of the merciless invaders. Luke Skywalker struggles to hold the fractious Jedi Knights together, even while one of them undertakes a bold but reckless undercover mission.

Manipulating their alliance with the amoral Hutts, the Yuuzhan Vong leave a cunning trail of vital information where New Republic agents are sure to find it--information the desperate defenders cannot afford to ignore: the location of the aliens' next target.

Then Han Solo stumbles into the dark heart of raging battle, thus beginning a furious race against time that will require every skill and trick in his arsenal to win...

... Read more

Customer Reviews (60)

Okay as a standalone...
As the Yuuzhan Vong conquer one star system after another, the Jedi struggle with the ethical dilemma this enemy presents. Should they join in the New Republic's all-out fight against the Vong, or should they hold themselves aloof and refuse to use the Force in battle? That conflict absorbs the still adolescent Solo children, who are more than capable of taking their places as Jedi warriors - but only if they can be convinced it's the right thing to do. Meanwhile, Han Solo's grief over Chewbacca's death has caused the ex-smuggler to return to his old ways and leave his family to roam the galaxy in search of adventure. Leia Organa Solo, former head of state for the New Republic and now its ambassador, heads for the Hapan home world to attempt enlisting that 63-planet empire and its powerful starfleet as another ally in the war against the Vong. Who are moving behind the scenes, in ways their targets don't yet suspect...for this galaxy's inhabitants are only just starting to learn about the Vong.

While it's all right as a standalone adventure, this book does not advance the series to which it belongs at all. Han stays angry and alienated, Leia stays frustrated, and the Solo youngsters stay puzzled from beginning to end. For any reader who picks up the Star Wars books because of the characters, that makes this one unlikely to satisfy. I wound up as frustrated as Leia by the time I'd finished it.

--Reviewed by Nina M. Osier, author of 2005 EPPIE winner REGS and the HIGH PLACES series

Worst Author Ever
This is the only book on which I have ever spent postage to return to the publisher requesting a refund because the writing was so horrible.I haven't yet received a refund, but at least the book no longer pollutes my shelf.

See for yourself... Here's a quote from page 2: "Dangerously close to the shield's shimmering perimeter, a thousands-strong mixed-species throng, massed behind stun fencing, pressed to be admitted."Is this for real?It's alliterative, rhyming prose with more consonants than a Czech phone book.Say the quote out loud to yourself, and then imagine trying to wade through 300 pages of this.I don't think I made it past one third of the book.This author writes as though he can never decide on which adjective or adverb to use, so he therefore browses through his thesaurus and packs every word he can find into a single sentence.Then he does this for every sentence on every page.To make reading even more difficult, it also seems that he invents his own words as labels for fictional scientific concepts which he hasn't first explained, and which aren't commonly established elsewhere in the sci-fi genre (i.e. He uses meaningless nonsense fluently).

It's a shame that they still allow him to write for this series, because otherwise, I enjoyed the Star Wars books on the whole, and would have liked to have known the sections of the story he covered.

3.5 stars - At least it puts Han Solo back in play
I'm not really sure why this book, which is the 5th volume in the massive New Jedi Order series and the closing volume of James Luceno's Agents of Chaos duology, was titled Jedi Eclipse, when the Jedi play such a minor role in this one. Even though another Jedi Knight dies in this book, the real star of this "series within a series" is Han Solo. Everyone else is just along for the ride.

While the Yuuzhan Vong invasion was still the focal point of the story, this book felt like one of the pre-NJO Star Wars novels where the characters go their separate ways only to have their adventures bring them all back together for a dramatic action sequence at the end of the book. Han spends much of the story helping his new partner Droma track down his missing kin, Leia travels to Hapes to elist the Consortium's aid in the conflict, and Jacen and Anakin Solo travel to the reactivated Centerpoint Station. In the end, all points lead to (I'm not saying where, as it is a major plot point).

I found it more than a little disturbing when I went back and reread these New Jedi Order novels in a post-9/11 world, as there are definite parallels between the Yuuzhan Vong's ideology and the fundamentalist Islam that has been the source of so much misery. The matter of refugees also brings to mind post-Katrina New Orleans; only in these novels the enemy actively torments the refugees.

Luceno definitely has an appreciation for the Star Wars characters, and seems quite knowledgeable about the vast Star Wars history. He also knows how to write a rollicking adventure story, which despite the grim overtones of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, Jedi Eclipse certainly was. I still prefer the NJO novels that focus on the larger conflict, but the Agents of Chaos series was an enjoyable side-story, and were particularly useful in that they pushed Han Solo back into action, which is not going to be good news for the Yuuzhan Vong!

Not much here unfortunately...........just filler.
Well, im back again.Sorry to keep ya waiting a bit longer than usual.I do however have an explanation.It is because this installment simply doesnt go anywhere.The pay off appears in the last 48 pages and that simply is not acceptable to me.There is no buildup, no suspense at all.I had a hard time wanting to continue the book.It sat on the shelf for days on end wanting to be read to the finish line but alas....................Hero's trial was fantastic.It had everything in it for me.All the ingredients were there.This one should go further since it is part 2 of the duology but it just doesnt.Ive enjoyed the last 4 books quite a bit, but this one is the worst of them so far in terms of keeping the interest goin.It is definitely NOT a page turner.It is however written very well.The characters are all represented well, with the exception of a few, like Luke and Mara who barely see any page time.The characterizations though are dead on good.The book also appeared rather fragmented with too much going on, too many subplots that were confusing to follow at all times.Of course read it, its Star Wars, but its overshadowed greatly by those that came before it.

#5
ive only read this far so far but will put out reviews as i read the rest of the series.this was an excellent book as was its [predecessor agents of chaos 1.mara may have found a cure to her ailment.but is it permanant?han goes back to his old scoundral like days.he still has his good side as he does great things for the war effort but in his own time hes become quire reckless.leia gets the blame for a lot of bs stuff going on in the world.she even has ppl fighting over her at one point.one of her old would be suitors no less.anakan gets a weopon of mass destruction working again but will he use it?the ever oppurtunistic lando even starts bringing in refugees.the republic tries to be friends with rhe hutts also.all trust seems to dissipate everywhere!even c3-p0 begins worrying about deactivation like an old person would dying.the vong make prisoners massage thier living ships heart so itll runbetter.the being turns a lot of ppl into veggies or corpses.however a jedi resists its tortures.the vong killed enough stuff now that the core worlds like where corascant is were looking like good targets.like i said,as i read more,ill report more.the 2nd best book so far! ... Read more

Product Description
According to Ervin Laszlo, we are at a critical juncture in history, a "decision-window" where we face the danger of global collapse--or the opportunity for global renewal. He presents a concise overview of the current crises we face (environmental, social, economic, and institutional), persuasively arguing that if something is not done quickly, we face disaster. We have the opportunity right now to head off trends that could lead to a critical tipping point. Laszlo's solution is a global consciousness shift that entails a new universal morality, a new ecological awareness, and a reverence and caring for the earth. Included here are concrete suggestions of what the reader can do to promote this shift in evolutionary consciousness. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Had already read book.Bought it for myself.
This is a must read for every citizen of the world.The point of change is here and Dr. Laszlo is an inspiration to us all.

Brilliant and Surprisingly Insightful
Laszlo is a brilliant physicist, who applies wave theory to better understand major shifts happening in the world.For those of us swamped with "daily news minutia," Dr. Laszlo expands the breadth of our perspective without getting lost in technical jargon.

What I found surprising, but amazingly insightful, was his gradual evolution into "expanded consciousness."We normally think of a physicist as dealing with physical aspects of existence, and not what feels like the "spiritual" domain.Yet, he links them in a way that's clear and supportable.And he illustrates how the changes that are now happening in the world follow the trends he sees.

The new book, "Sustainability:A Personal Journey to a Built Sustainable Community ... and An Amazing Picture of What Life Will Soon Be Like," fits with everything Laszlo explains and foresees ... then adds it's own aspects for translating trends cited by Laszlo and others into what each of us can do - food, clothing, shelter basics - to sustain ... to make it through what will be a difficult transition and enjoy an entirely new style of living ... "sustainable living" ... that will actually be better than anything we've experienced before.

Dr. Laszlo's book is a primer - a "must read" foundation for understanding the changes that are upon us.

right between the eyes
Want to grasp how we got to the point we are at today with the economy, global conflict, or just our what have you done for me in the past 30 minutes attitude?Read this book.

Optimism will result from your understanding where we are after reading the book, the breakdown that will propel us forward is upon us....thank god!!

Truth coming at us at lightning speed...
A book not as any other book, it reminds us that humanity faces a reckoning,we must acknowledge what is wrong and stop walking on the path of destruction or face destruction and be obliterated...

The time has come when we either make a BREAKTHROUGH or we simply BREAKDOWN...

Stone, Bronze, Iron and then what?
Laszlo claims we are just now moving beyond the Iron Age and what comes next is not clear.The worse things get, however, the more people will work for improvement.What we need is general agreement that all should live "in a way that allows all other people to live as well."Unbridled consumption is the way to global destruction.Like David Korten (The Great Turning), Laszlo optimistically looks to all those who meditate, eat wisely, recycle, etc. as the vanguard of the new age. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (7)

I am loving this series
It's one of the best of its kind out there.I think Liz and the gang are awesome and read the way you would imagine real people behaving in such circumstances as the characters in the Phoenix chronicle finds themself.I wish there were more light moments and downtime for the characters, but I suppose under the circumstances, you don't really get many time outs.I have to say this series is in no way predictable - I have no idea what is around the corner and Liz always suprise me.She is so fiesty and impulsive, making so many mistakes and taking responsibility for them.One thing I would like to see is Liz having a better handle her her powers.It was fine at the start when she was just thrust into it, but after 4 installments, she should read less clueless than this about what she is capable of.Still, I am enjoying this series and I look forward to the next installment.

Excellence once again
As always, Ms. Handeland comes through with a very entertaining series...I love the characters, not to mention the surprises.

INTERESTING URBAN FANTASY! CHAOS BITES by Lori Handleland
CHAOS BITES BY LORI HANDELAND is a interesting Urban Fantasy. It is set in the future. Is the fourth in the Phoenix Chronicles series. It can be read as a stand alone. The writer captures your interest from the beginning to the end. It has an absorbing plot with interesting characters. You have Liz, (a demon slayer, Phoneix, and the new leader of "The Light"). She is strong willed, beautiful, and trying to savethe world from Armageddon. This book has demon slayers, vampires, demons, a dead Navajo skinwalker (who Liz happened to love), fairies, an ex-lover who is another demon slayer, voodoo, powerful magic, danger at every turn,sex and power intertwined. Although, I would have liked a better ending to let the reader know some of what has happened to Sawyer the dead skinwalker, brought back to life by Liz, Jimmy, the ex-lover of Liz, who has disappeared, and the baby, Faith,(Sawyer's child), who someone or something is trying to kill and has now been kidnapped.If you enjoy fantasy, magic, danger, twists and turns you will enjoy this one. This book was received for review and details can be found at St.Martin's Paperbacks and My Book Addiction and More.

Latest Phoenix
Well, Lori Handeland just keeps me on the edge, guessing which way she'll go next.In the latest installment of the Phoenix Chronicles, our heroine is dealing with consequences... some of which are not of her own making.As well as all that apocalypse stuff! With the (wary) help of her old lover and some interference by her latest (dead) lover, Liz heads to New Orleans for some voodoo, magical messaging and good food.I am really unsure of where this story is going, but what a ride!The twists and turns kept me guessing and only one thing is certain: we're in for a strange and unique trip.Can't wait for the next book!

exhilarating urban fantasy
Her dead lover Navaho Skinwalker Sawyer, whom she killed, (see Apocalypse Happens) visits Liz Phoenix every time she dozes off.His nocturnal appearances gives her hope she may be able to raise him from the dead though she has no idea how to bring him back to her and his shapeshifting baby that she is raising and protecting from malevolent forces.

Liz turns to her acrimonious former lover Jimmy Sanducci to help her find a magical tome protected by spells and beasts who no one in their right mind would want to encounter or tangle with. Her job of keeping the baby safe makes their mission all the more difficult. Their trek is dangerous as there are many things out there that prefer the end of the world.

The latest Phoenix Chronicles (see Doomsday Can Wait and Any Given Doomsday) is an exhilarating urban fantasy as the prime triangle continues their escapades with Sawyer reaching out to his beloved from the grave.Fast-paced throughout, the aptly titled Chaos Bites is a great run through a gauntlet of death as apocalypse now continues to happen overwhelming the heroine who also has a baby to contend with (shades of Willow).The Handeland mythos is a creative and great place for readers to visit.

Harriet Klausner
... Read more