Books - John Lloyd Stephens

Product Description:

This collection of readings, drawn from the writings and sermons of 25 classic and contemporary theologians and Bible teachers, focuses on the wonder of Christ's sacrifice.

In a culture where crosses have become little more than decorative accessories and jewelry, how easy it is for even the most well-intended Christian to rush from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday without thoughtfully contemplating the cross and all that it means. Yet we miss out on spiritual riches when we do.

So that we all may linger at the cross during the Lenten season-and stay near it the whole year through-editor Nancy Guthrie has compiled this special anthology. It draws from the works and sermons of classic theologians such as Luther, Edwards, Spurgeon, Ryle, and Augustine, and from leading contemporary communicators such as John Piper, R. C. Sproul, Francis Schaeffer, John MacArthur, Skip Ryan, and Joni Eareckson Tada to help readers enter into an experience of Christ's passion and anchor their hope in the power of his resurrection.

Each essay in this collection holds to a high view of Scripture and expounds on a particular aspect of the Easter story using the appropriate Scripture passage from the ESV Bible. These readings are sure to prepare people's hearts for a fresh experience of the cross each and every Easter season.

Customer Review: Live in Light of the Cross All Year Long:
As we approach Easter, Christians everywhere remember Christ's sufferings on the old, rugged cross and the triumph of his resurrection. Indeed, the symbol of the cross is one of the few near universal Christian symbols. Protestants, Catholics and those who view themselves as neither, still cling to the cross. The gospel depends on it, Jesus' earthly life is shaped by it, the Four Gospels almost speak of nothing else. Salvation depends on it, and sanctification is fed by it. And with Paul, we all should seek to boast in nothing but the cross or our Lord Jesus Christ.

For this reason I was thrilled at the opportunity to review a book like Nancy Guthrie's Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter (Crossway). I assumed it would be a good read since it is a compilation of several prominent church leaders, contemporary (Tim Keller, John Piper, Ligon Duncan, Phil Ryken and John MacArthur) and from years past (Augustine, Luther, Calvin, J.C. Ryle and Charles Spurgeon). Yet, the book excelled far beyond my expectations, high though they were.

Nancy Guthrie did a phenomenal editing job in piecing together various meditations on the Cross into a wonderfully unified book. And the selections she chose were truly the best of the best that these authors had to offer. Finding each of these was an amazing accomplishment in its own right.

Here's a small sampling of the topics covered in this small volume. Martin Luther challenges us to find a proper view of self in light of the Cross. Alistair Begg ponders the innocent Christ being crushed by God. C.J. Mahaney unpacks the weightiness of the cup that Jesus chose to drink completely for us. R. Kent Hughes shows the Biblical theological background to the symbolism inherent in Jesus' betrayal in the garden at Gethsemane. Spurgeon marvels that the Lord of the Universe allowed sinners to spit in his face, and he chillingly shows that we too have tragically spit in his face. J.C. Ryle wants us to find ourself in the Sufferings of Christ. Martyn Lloyd-Jones focuses on Christ's destruction of the Devil. John Calvin points out the connection between the Passover Lamb and Christ as shown in the blood and water flowing from his side. Jonathan Edwards shows Christ's sacrifice as not merely satisfying God's wrath, but accruing merit in that it was a sweet smelling, acceptable offering to God. Tim Keller explains how resurrection power should transform our lives.

In all of this, our focus should not be on the human authors Nancy compiles. Rather each are gifted with the ability and graced with the desire to show forth Christ in all His beauty and glory. And such a feast, an extended meditation on our Savior, Jesus Christ, is appropriate not merely for Easter and Passion Week, but all the year, and all the days of our life, long.

I encourage you to pick up a copy of this fantastic book, start it this Easter and let the message of the Cross grip your heart in the weeks following. This will surely be a devotional book I'll pick up again and again.

Customer Review: Inspiring and Accessible:
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross. It is a book to be savored, as it contains 25 short articles on many of the aspects of the Passion week written by some of the great pastor-theologians of the past and present. The luminous names like Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Edwards and Spurgeon are here and their contributions are powerful. But equally powerful are some of the modern figures like Kent Hughes on Gethsemane and Tim Keller on the resurrection. Especially touching is the essay from Joni Eareckson Tada on Sharing His Sufferings. This book would be especially moving if read during Holy Week. One could read Matthew 26-28 on Palm Sunday, then read Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross as follows: chapter 1 on Monday, chapter 2 on Tuesday and chapter 3 on Wednesday, followed by chapters 4-8 on Maundy Thursday, chapters 9-17 on Good Friday, chapters 18-20 on Saturday and chapters 21-25 on Easter Sunday. Reading in this way would track the content of the book as it correlates with the events of Holy Week.

Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross is a resource I expect to return to again and again.

Customer Review: Terrific Resource for Lent:
I know that Lent is not kept by most evangelicals, and that's okay. There's no Scripture passage forbidding it or advocating it, so whether one decides to prepare for Easter in this manner is left to one's conscience.

This season serves as a time of reflection upon the sufferings of Christ. It is a season of repentance, a time of dying to self that anticipates new life on the other side, just like the last days of winter anticipate the arrival of Spring.

During Lent, I try to temper my voracious appetite for reading by adding several devotional works to my reading schedule.

I am glad to see that Crossway has published several solid collections of devotional material in recent years. One of the recent publications, Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter, is edited by Nancy Guthrie and contains 25 sermon or book excerpts about the suffering and exaltation of Jesus Christ.

Guthrie's collection features recent writings from pastors and authors like Adrian Rogers, Joni Eareckson Tada, John Piper, and Tim Keller. But it also features several "classic" sermon excerpts from the past: Augustine, John Calvin, Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, and Jonathan Edwards.

I am looking forward to finishing this fine collection of meditations during Lent this year. So let me encourage you - whether or not you "give up something" - at least use these few weeks to prepare for Easter, giving thought to the price paid for your ransom and the extraordinary love of God manifested on Calvary. May Jesus keep you near his cross!

Customer Review: Great book for Easter...:
This book comes out well before Easter to make sure that you are able to buy it, study it and then teach its truths to others as Easter comes about. The book is laid out to have 25 short teachings and thoughts on the cross of Christ. It has most theologians that you can think of in the Reformed and Calvinistic circles and then also includes at least one I know that wasn't a Calvinist (Adrian Rogers). Most of the chapters are about 3 to 4 pages which include many different angles to look at the cross. The topics range from Christ's humility in Gethsemane, silence among his accusers, our sin putting him on the cross, propitiation, forsaken by God, etc. I am not going to list every theologian and every topic, but I will say that this book is a very good one to help someone as they study further on the cross of Christ. This book is a book of quotable thoughts for any pastor.

Some of my favorites were Martin Luther, C.J. Mahaney, Tim Keller, Adrian Rogers and Augustine. Martin Luther is first up in the book, and in my opinion, it didn't get any better than Luther. I really enjoyed his chapter and found myself continually reading because of his start of the understanding of the "True Contemplation of the Cross." Here is an excerpt from Luther's chapter:

Take this to heart and doubt not that you are the one who killed Christ. Your sins certainly did, and when you see the nails driven through his hands, be sure that you are pounding, and when the thorns pierce his brow, know that they are your evil thoughts. Consider that if one thorn pierced Christ you deserve one hundred thousand.

The whole value of the meditation of the suffering of Christ lies in this, that man should come to the knowledge of himself and sink and tremble. If you are so hardened that you do not tremble, then you have reason to tremble. Pray to God that he may soften your heart and make fruitful your meditation upon the suffering of Christ, for we ourselves are incapable of proper reflection unless God instills it.

But if one does meditate rightly on the suffering of Christ for a day, an hour, or even a quarter of an hour, this we may confidently say is better than a whole year of fasting, days of psalm singing, yes, than even one hundred masses, because this reflection changes the whole man and makes him new...

Martin Luther, p. 12 (taken from Martin Luther's Easter Book)

Although there were some that stood out, there were also some where I couldn't wait to read and they seemed to fall a little flat. Not only tha, there were some that were just plain bizarre where I will either need to study further or just glaze over for the sake of the other chapters. The odd ones were John MacArthur's take on Christ's forgiveness on the cross. He believes that Christ was only asking for the forgiveness of those who would end up believing in Him and not everyone that was at the cross crucifying him. I believe he ends up making his theology read into this part of Scripture a little too much. The other two that I will have to study a little further were J.I. Packer's on Christ descending to hell and also Joseph "Skip" Ryan's chapter on Christ being thirsty. He takes this to mean that Christ was spiritually thirsty and not physically. My first take is that he is trying to stretch this text further than it allows.

Even with these three, the other 22 chapters far outweigh them to keep me from recommending this book. I would recommend this to any who would like a good understanding of the cross from a wide set of generations, convictions and theologians. Just know, that it doesn't get better than Luther's chapter, but that doesn't mean the rest of the book gets "worse." Highly Recommended

Product Description:
Edgar Allan Poe called it “perhaps the most interesting travel book ever published.� Here, complete in one volume, is the classic real-life adventure—originally published across two volumes in 1841—that mesmerized readers with its evocative descriptions of journeys in Mesoamerica. With a wandering spirit mellowed by an analytic eye, American diplomat and writer JOHN LLOYD STEPHENS (1805–1852) introduced Westerners to the mysteries of the Yucatan in this contemporary bestseller, riveting armchair explorers with his lyrical account of visits to 44 Maya sites, including the then-unknown Chichen Itza and Uxmal. Complete with all the beautiful original illustrations by English artist and architect FREDERICK CATHERWOOD (1799–1854), this is essential reading for those fascinated by Mesoamerican culture as well as those under the thrall of an itch to see the world.



Customer Review: Indispensible and wonderful reading:
For anyone interested in Maya archaeology in general, and the Maya in Yucatan in particular, this book is a must-have. Stephens' writing is clear and often funny, though it's impossible not to shudder at the paternalistic attitudes he expresses toward the "natives" and his devil-may-care methods of ripping carvings out of the temples and palaces he explores.

I'm reading the book while preparing for a trip to visit Maya sites in the Yucatan; I will probably read it again when I'm back because it's that good.

A word on this edition: Cosimo Classics (never heard of 'em before now) should be showered with prizes for the quality of their publications if this is any indication of the series. Beautifully printed on really fine paper, with excellent reproduction of Catherwood's art.

Joshua Peterson's review suggests maps that are worth getting; he's right, a good map would help, and Stephens didn't include one. But another book that I find very useful is Fabio Bourbon's The Lost Cities of the Mayas (Abbeville Press, available here at Amazon). Bourbon retells Stephens and Catherwood's story, with Catherwood's art reproduced in color. The other useful aspect of Bourbon's book is that he organizes his text by site, giving each one its modern name. A great resource.











Customer Review: Doesnt Get Any Better:
I bought the first book on its own because i didnt know how i was gonna like it. Vol. one and two are an awesome read. Besides the ruins John does a great job painting a picture of how the Yucatan was leading up to the Caste War. Wish i would have read this book first before getting into them. It's really hard to put his books down once ya get hooked. One thing id suggest if your really into the Maya and or just love the Yucatan is buy a couple good maps of the peninsula like i did (from here at Amazon, look in my reviews to see the maps ive bought) and have them next to you so you can have a better idea just where they have been and where there headed next. I think it makes the book a hundered percent better and it slows you down so you can enjoy the book even longer. If you liked the Indiana Jones movies your gonna love this book. John is quite a character when he's not checking out the ruins and your sure to smile if not laugh.

Heres the two maps i have with me when this book is open: Laminated Yucatan Map by Borch, and Waterproof Yucatan Map by ITMB (International Travel Regional Maps: Yucatan)

Product Description:
An instant bestseller when first published in 1841, Stephens' work--along with Catherwood's drawings--continues to draw readers who want to see the ruins of Copan, Quirigua, Palenque, and Uxmal as they first saw them on muleback over 150 years ago. This new edition adds a selection of historical and modern photographs--most never before published. 80 illustrations. Line drawings.



Customer Review: An Enduring Tale:
John Lloyd Stephens recounting of his travels in Central America continues to fascinate -- even after 170 years. As one of the first modern explorers of the area and it's significant Mayan ruins, his stories provide an insightful and entertaining look into the tumultuous times of the mid 1800's in that locale. Catherwood's detailed illustrations give visual support to the magic and mystery of their discoveries. This book is a must for the affcionado of Central America, of Maya history or of valiant explorers who came not to conquer but to discover.

Customer Review: A bargain at any price:
In a short Life of only 47 years, John L. Stephens became THE true pioneer of Meso American Indian Studies. This selection represents a fine, low priced introduction to the great Pre-Columbian sites as they were in the "Pre-Discovery" times of the 1840's.
The Wonderful Illustrations of Frederick Catherwood alone are worth the small price of this book.
It is a must read for both every traveler "South of the Border" and every student of the Maya.

Customer Review: Thoroughly enjoying this book for the second time....:
I realize that not everyone shares my taste in literature, but if you are an armchair adventurer (or a real adventurer) with a refined sense of humor, I guarantee you will thoroughly enjoy this book, as well as Volume II. Many evenings, after a grueling day in the office, John L. Stephens transported me to another place and time with his excellent gift for writing, eye for detail and sense of humor that frequently had me waking my poor spouse with irrepressible laughter. As an author, explorer and humorist with the subtlest of wits, I place Stephens in the ranks with Mark Twain, and that is the ultimate compliment. Enjoy.

Customer Review: Good Read:
Havnt quite finished reading but this is an interesting journal of the events experienced, people encountered and travels of Mr. Stephens as he visits Central America.

Customer Review: A glimpse in Central American history:
I think this book is fascinating for two types of people:
- Those who are interested in the history of Central America, who will see in Stephens a witness of time
- Those very familiar with Central America's geography (specially Guatemala's), who will enjoy reading Stephens' descriptions of many places that (in their majority) still exist

In 1839, at 34, John L. Stephens was appointed as "United States Minister" - a sort of US envoy - for Central America (which at the time was still one country). Stephens was a serial traveler: 5 years ago, he had visited Eastern Europe (Greece, Turkey, Russia and Poland) and the Middle East (Egypt and Syria), and had already published a couple of books about these trips.

Stephens decided to combine his diplomatic duty with his interest in searching for Mayan ruins in the region. By October, he embarked with his friend Frederick Catherwood (another extensive traveller) in a trip that would take them to what was (already) a politically convulsed region.

At the time, Central America was filled with political turmoil. The largest state of the country, Guatemala, had basically fallen in the hands of Rafael Carrera, a non-educated peasant. Carrera refused to recognize the authority of Francisco Morazán who, based in San Salvador, was at least in theory, the President of the Central American confederation. Rumours, political intrigues and suspicions abounded at the time.

And so, in this setting, Stephens got into a boat, and after a few days in Belize, travelled (by boat again) to the Caribbean shore of Guatemala. He entered the country through Rio Dulce and touched land in a small village in the shores of the Izabal Lake.

Starting there, Stephens made a trip, generally by mule's back, that took him to Zacapa, Chiquimula, Copan (in Honduras), Esquipulas, Guastatoya, Guatemala City (already established by then where it is now), Antigua Guatemala, Escuintla, Iztapa (in the Pacific shores) and Amatitlán. He later took a boat and went to El Salvador, and then to Costa Rica, where he disembarked and returned to Guatemala by land.

Apparently, Stephens was one of the first "adventure tourists" of modern times. He ascended many volcanoes and spent a considerable time in Copan, cleaning up the forrest that was still covering the ruins and helping his friend Catherwood to draw reproductions of the ruins (these drawings are included in the book). In addition, and as part of his diplomatic duties, he met some of the leading political figures of the time, like Carrera himself.

Stephens not only did all the above, but ended up writing a very nice and enjoyable book that describes very well what he saw and thought at the time.

In short, this book is a rare jewel that allows the reader to better imagine how was life and nature in Central America in the middle of the XIX century.

(Note: the review above is based on Volume I - a book that curiously did not exist in Amazon's inventory at the time of my reading in 2005. Being respectful of my own past review, I havent' changed it. The next paragraphs though, are 2007 additions in which I comment on Volume 2)

If the reader enjoyed Vol 1, she/he will surely find Vol 2 a satisfying read. Vol 2 starts in Nicaragua, and continues in El Salvador, where Mr Stephens continues in his search of a Central American government. I will not delve into the details of all of Mr Stephens' adventures. Suffice it to say that he gets to meet the recently defeated Francisco Morazán, meets Rafael Carrera (again), travels through the Guatemalan western highlands, gets to know the story of the Los Altos state, crosses the border to Mexico, visits Palenque and Uxmal, finally returning to the US.

Its particularly interesting to read Stephens' account of Carrera and his young government. The fact that Carrera was even known at the time as the King of the Indians is an interesting point to notice -any reader knowledgeable with Guatemala's history and societal dynamics could extrapolate this to many events of the past 50 years.

Also interesting is Stephens' rebuttal of previous accounts regarding the difficulty of visiting ruins like the ones in Palenque. The more widely known stories at the time created the impression that visiting the ruins was full of dangers. Always the practical and matter-of-factly adventurer, Stephens bluntly says that they are (were) untrue, and that the greatest hardships he and Mr Catherwood endured were due to the unstable revolutionary state of the countries.

If the reader is interested or has knowledge of archaeology, he/she must also know that Vol 2 has plenty detailed descriptions and diagrams prepared by Mr Catherwood (who in my opinion was a very gifted artist, being able to draw the intrincated details of many Mayan ruins).

I strongly recommend Vol 2 to anyone interested in Central American history, archaeology, the mayans, or true old-fashioned adventure travel.

Product Description:
Have you ever wondered why most books of quotations are stuffed full of rather pedestrian quotes by people you've never heard of? It's a shame because a really good quotation book, one which gathered the truest and funniest insights of the best minds, and organised them into 250 subjects, from ambition to worry, (or from artichokes to woodpeckers), a book which offered you a useful take on almost every situation life throws at you (from the death of your child's hamster to the unified theory of everything), a sourcebook of wise one-loners, of knock-out jokes, of drole asides and heartfelt statements of truth and beauty, a practical handbook of interestingness , well, that would be worth having. And, guess what? Those thoughtful gentlemen at QI have come up with one. Five years of learning how to avoid the dull stuff have left the QI team in a uniquely good position to deliver this elusive holy grail: the big, useful, funny and really very good book of quotations.



Customer Review: "I don't even know what street Canada is on." --Al Capone:

I must have a dozen or so books of quotations. It's hard to say which one is better than another;one can always find something in any one of them.As far as these compilations go;this one is pretty good and not as expensive as most.It is well constructed with a hard cover,has 448 pages of quotations arranged under 400 subjects.With several quotations under each subject,you should find just the right one to suit your purpose or just your enjoyment.I know I did and here are just a few that took my fancy;

Blondes
"I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes,because I
know I'm not dumb and I'm also not blonde."--Dolly Parton

Books
"The reason why so few good books are written is that so few people
who can write know anything."--Mark Twain

Birds
"The mosquito is the State Bird of New Jersey." anomonous

Education
"My education was interrupted only by my schooling."--Winston
Churchill

Proverbs
"Almost every wise saying has an opposite one,no less wise,to balance
it."--George santayna

"I always love to quote Albert Einstein because nobody dares to
contradict him."--Studs Terkel

War
"No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.He won it by
making some dumb bastard die for his."--Gen. George Patton

"I don't know what weapons WWIII will be fought with,but WWIV will
be fought with sticks and stones."--Albert Einstein

Stupidity
"We are all born ignorant,but one must work hard to remain stupid."
--Benjamin Franklin

Product Description:
This acclaimed anthology takes the reader on a literary journey along the Jersey Shore from the tip of Sandy Hook to Cape May Point. More than 40 short stories, essays and poems capture this beloved stretch of sandy beaches, bays, boardwalks, and towns, along with documentary photographs and art. Contributors include nationally celebrated authors (John McPhee, Gay Talese, Robert Pinsky, among others) as well as talented writers whose work promises future acclaim. A great beach book in any season, this anthology will transport readers to the Jersey Shore wherever they may be.



Customer Review: Absolutely worth the price of admission!:
The sheer scope of this collection shows how impactful the landscape (and seascape) of the Jersey Shore has been. There isn't a bad story in this collection. They are evocative, exciting, emotional and just plain well-done.

Product Description:
'Keller's Adjustment' by Lawrence Block: Keller, everyone's favorite hit man, is back-dealing out philosophy and murder on a meandering road trip across America. 'The Ransome Women' by John Farris: A young and beautiful artist is flattered when her idol, the reclusive portraitist John Ransome offers her a modeling contract. Flattery turns to terror when she discovers the fate shared by Ransome's past subjects.



Customer Review: A Nice Thick Collection:
Most people will purchase Transgressions simply to read a novella by one of their favourite authors. I myself picked this up just for the Westlake novella inside. I don't think anyone, no matter which author motivated them to buy this, will put down this collection only satisfied by one story. Yes like any various author anthology the quality varies as do the stories fitting into your personal tastes, but I doubt there will be anyone that either doesn't find a new author to check out or at the very least is reminded of the talent of an author they've maybe only read one or two books of a long time ago in the past. Some novellas such as Walking Around Money can only be found in these pages and others such as The Things They Left Behind you may well have already read before (Just After Sunset).

Keller's Adjustment in my opinion is the best of the lot. I've read a few of Block's other books containing stamp collecting hit man Keller, and this is easily the best story. You don't need to have read any previous ones to follow or get the most out of Keller's Adjustment. It reads like a standalone novel with no plots of previous novels given away. Keller a man who used to have no problems getting on a plane in New York and flying anywhere in the US without any serious searching by security for weapons he would take with him to commit the crime or validating his fake ID has had his world suddenly change. The post September 11 2001 demand for the airlines and airports to wake up and take security seriously for domestic flights now means a lot of complications if there's someone that needs to be killed on the other side of the continent. On a road trip across America in a rental car to get to his next victim Keller starts talking to himself out loud, something he's never done before which consequently freaks him out. His target also lives in a high security gated retirement community causing quite the challenge for Keller as well as plenty of time to ponder if a post 9/11 world is really a world where you can have a satisfying career as a hit man.

Walking Around Money although not Westlake's best story or even best Dortmunder novel is an important find for any fan of the late grandmaster's work. You won't find Walking Around Money published anywhere else as it was written after Thieves' Dozen (Westlake's collection of the Dortmunder short stories) was published. In fact it is actually the third last Dortmunder adventure written before Westlake's death and takes place time wise between Watch Your Back and What's So Funny. Important for fans of the series as you find out if repulsive fencer of stolen items Arnie Albright sticks to his rehabilitation. In this adventure Andy Kelp and Dortmunder meet through a friend of a criminal friend an old man named Querk. Querk's angry and bored with his life as a forklift driver, working for a rural printing company who shattered his dreams of using his printing skills he learnt behind bars, which they told him are now obsolete in this computer designed modern world. Querk has plans for counterfeiting currency for a South American country during a night the plant is shut down, however he needs a couple of fellow criminals who don't live in his small town to help with the heavy work and to get it done in time. Like any Dortmunder novel, outside factors and Murphy's Law always play a part in a should be smooth caper not turning out quite that way.

Anne Perry's Hostages about a rural cottage holding a couple and their adult son at gunpoint is interesting, however the husband of the main character is such a racist, bully and just in general not bright or nice guy that you are actually hoping he will be killed and/or the objectives of the Protestant extreme group hoping to replace him as leader will actually come off.

Archibald Lawless, Anarchist at Large was a bit disappointing for me. I've read and enjoyed other Mosley stories and was enjoying this one to begin with about a young guy from the country who moves to New York and notices a weird advertisement for a job in a few different papers so decides to apply. He then meets a very strange man who gives him a list of people and tells him to go visit them and talk to them if he can. When one dies before his eyes he becomes a suspect. However then the story just got a little stupid.

The other stories Corn Maidern by Joyce Carol Oates, Resurrection man by Sharyn McCrumb, Merely Hate by Ed McBain, The Things They Left Behind by Stephen King, Ransome Women by John Farris or Forever by Jeffery Deaver were no stand outs to what those authors normally produce. However I did find McBain's intro to this collection to be a really interesting read.

Customer Review: Fun Anthology:
This anthology includes ten crime novellas.

EXCELLENT
Lawrence Block "Keller's Adjustment" -- Block is a master. In this one hitman Keller ponders his future after September 11. Great writing especially dialogue.

Sharyn McCrumb "Resurrection Man" -- This is less crime and more literary. It's about a black graverobber who works for a Georgia university before, during, and after the Civil War. Stars slow but great storytelling.

Anne Perry "Hostages" -- I usually get irritated with Perry because it often seems that she's being paid by the word. This one, however, surprised me. It's lean, mean, and compelling.

Donald Westlake "Walking Around Money" -- Westlake is another master who knows exactly what he's doing and how to do it.

GOOD
Ed McBain "Merely Hate" -- Good procedural with a few twists.

Walter Mosley "Archibald Lawless" -- Interesting if implausible piece about a naive New Orleans young man who gets involved with a larger-than-life personality after moving to New York City.

Stephen King "The Things They Left Behind" -- Per usual, King is repetitive and can't quite pull off a great concept. I kept wanting this September 11 piece to get better, but it never did.

Jeffery Deaver "Forever" -- Deaver just can't end a story. He's got to add twist after twist after twist until the story becomes this unsatisfying scifi thing. Still, Talbot is a great character.

FAIR --
John Farris "The Ransome Women" -- John Farris is one of the worst writers ever. He is just awful. However, he is so bad he sometimes becomes good. Shlocky, soap operish, melodramatic romance novel--you've got to read it to believe it. I was laughing out loud at some of the hackneyed lines and plot twists. I about died when a character and his doomed relative roasted marshmallows over the burning ashes of one of his paintings.

Joyce Carol Oates "The Corn Maiden" -- Oates is not a bad writer. But she's certainly not a good one either. The story was disturbing and really kind of gross. I don't know what it is about Oates, but I get the feeling that she's never lived but only written and read. If that makes any sense.

Customer Review: Forever by Jeffery Deaver:
Over approximately the last month, I've slowly made my way through Transgressions, the 2005 anthology of crime-fiction novellas edited by the late Ed McBain. As with most anthologies (especially those composed primarily of "big names"), the results have been of mixed quality. A few stand out among the rest -- among them The Ransome Women by John Farris and The Resurrection Man by Sharyn McCrumb -- but only one stood high enough to be recognized as definitely the best of the bunch: Forever by Jeffery Deaver, an author I'd not previously read.

In Forever, Deaver introduces police statistician Talbot Simms. Tal in a numbers whiz who is happy to remain at his desk, crunching arithmetic means and standard deviations. But when a couple of elderly suicides present themselves as statistical "outliers" (meaning the combination of events fall far outside the norm of mathematical likelihood), Tal declares them "2124" (suspicious) and inadvertently heads toward solving his first case as a "real" police detective.

Deaver skillfully portrays Tal Simms as a novice among veterans, concurrently showing the reader all the tiny details needed to follow procedure. But Tal slowly feels his way along, with the reluctant help of Detective Greg LaTour, who develops a grudging respect for the "Einstein" of his department. Both characters are fully three-dimensional, and I would welcome a series from Deaver featuring them. Forever also features some of the most original plotting and imagination this side of classic science fiction. Odd that I put off reading it for so long, primarily from not knowing his work, because Deaver's is the name I'll come away from Transgressions most praising.

Customer Review: A Reading Buffet:
Transgressions provides readers with the opportunity to sample ten different offerings from ten different authors. There is a gritty 87th Precinct novella from Ed Mcbain and a lyrical offering on a child abduction from Joyce Carol Oates. Steven King is well represented with a short but strangely moving tale of a 911 survivor haunted by his souveniers from his unlucky co-workers.

I enjoyed Transgressions for both its quality and variety. While no story in particular was a stand out, each provided a sample of the particular author's style. Like a buffet, a taste is really all you need to determine where (and whether) you will return for second and third helpings.

Customer Review: A smorgasbord of great reads!:
After the success of his novel BLACKBOARD JUNGLE, Evan Hunter (Ed McBain) turned to what were then referred to as "novelettes," his subject being the 87th Precinct detectives of Isola (think New York). As time passed, the 87th Precinct novelettes grew to full-length novels. Fifty years later, McBain persuaded nine other mystery, thriller, and horror writers to submit what are now called "novellas" of around a hundred pages each.

The result was one of my most enjoyable reads of 2006. I don't know why I don't read more anthologies. It was in an anthology that I first experienced Stuart Kaminsky, Sharyn McCrumb, and Lawrence Block.

Coincidentally, one of the best novellas in this anthology is one by Block. Block returns with his enigmatic hit man Keller in KELLER'S ADJUSTMENT. Block manages to make us feel empathy for the man. Although he has sex with a Phoenix real estate saleslady, Keller is essentially a lonely man. He needs somebody to talk to. He once had a dog, but a former girlfriend took it with him when she left; he went to a therapist, but the therapist turned into a snoop, and he had to dust him. Unwilling to take a chance on a living breathing entity, Keller buys a stuffed animal to talk to.

Jeffrey Deaver also responded to the call with FOREVER. In it he introduces Tal Simms, a mathematician/statistician working for Westbrook County Sheriff's Department. Simms is considered a "computer geek" by the rest of the detective squad, especially homicide detective Greg "Bear" LaTour. Simms and his eventual partner LaTour are confronted with several suspicious suicides. Older rich couples are killing themselves under dubious circumstances. In most respects, the underdog character Simms is every bit as likable as Lincoln Rhymes. I would definitely buy a full length novel featuring Simms.

A new discovery for me was John Farris. Farris's THE RANSOME WOMEN concerns a beautiful art appraiser named Echo Halloran who agrees to pose for the great artist John Leland Ransome. She's not only flattered, but as a budding artist herself, she wants to learn from him. Her boyfriend, police detective Peter O'Neil, is suspicious, and with good reason. I enjoyed this novella so much I ran right out and bought FURY, THE TERROR Farris's masterwork.

I have to admit that Ed McBain's own contribution, MERELY HATE, was my principal motivation for purchasing the anthology. I needed my 87th Precinct fix, and it's great as usual. It is post 9/11 in Isola, and the detectives are called to investigate the murder of a Muslim cab driver. Through these cab driver murders, McBain capsulizes the reason for the problems in the Mid East.

Other writers who contributed novellas were Donald Westlake, Anne Perry, Joyce Carol Oates, Walter Mosley, Sharyn McCrumb, and Stephen King. All of them were excellent.

Product Description:
This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's preservation reformatting program. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the text that can both be accessed online and used to create new print copies. This book and thousands of others can be found in the digital collections of the University of Michigan Library. The University Library also understands and values the utility of print, and makes reprints available through its Scholarly Publishing Office.



Customer Review: Great Book at Yesterdays Prices:
This is your big Chance! When was the last time in this new Millenium that you made a purchase at a price from the old Millenium?
Incidents of Travel in Yucatan Volume II by John L. Stephens is your greatest opportunity- a historic classic with those great Catherwood illustrations! This volume II edition, first published in 1963, is actually part of a 2 volume set by Dover. This is a stand alone bargain! The Volume I Dover edition is sadly out of print.
An amazing traveloge, this represents a sourcebook with one of the first rediscovers of the wonderful world of the Maya. Ride with the author as he goes on his mission of discovery through the deep Mexican jungle of the 1840's.
This Classic eventually launched a number of scientific expeditions to the "World of the Maya". Absolutely Marvelous!
The rest of the story, that is Volume 1 and 2, is also available for you at Amazon in the 2008 Cosimo Classics Edition

Customer Review: Great Book:
Well im hooked, im gonna order the rest Johns books about Central Mexico here this month sometime. Very well written, every page takes me back to my trip to the Yucatan. I own quite a few books about Mexico and the Maya and have to say this one is up there in the top five. John was quite a character by the sounds of it. Tryed to steal some skulls from a Mayan grave yard, having sex with a few of the indian women also if my interpretation was correct. Theres a slight hint of him doing that talking about how pretty some of the women were and the "mayors" asking him what he thought about the women as he entered the villages. As far as his excitement about first laying eyes on new ruins, took me back to Chichen Itza. Great Book. Wish i would have bought this book alot sooner, and i reget reading it after picking up a few books about the Caste War which Johns trips happened before the war. Great reading and great pictures. If you love Maya books you wont be upset with this one, i dont think fiction could have been better then his trip. Hope you enjoy it as much as i did.

Customer Review: INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN YUCATAN by John L. Stephens. A Very Good Read:
(It may be of interest to note that when Stephens was sent to Yucatan, Yucatan was not part of Mexico, and a Texas war ship -- Texas was not part of the United States -- lay off the coast, watching for an opportunity. President Buchanan, who sent Stephens as an agent, wasted valuable time speculating on the possibility of annexing additional territory to the South, for slaves and cotton and sisal, and ignoring the conditions that led inevitably to the Civil War.)

I'm an amateur Mayanist, with less than 20 books on the subject on my shelves. I love them all, because I love Yucatan. I carried this book with me through Yucatan when I lived there ten years ago, and derived great pleasure in following Stephens' walking tour through the country. It was fascinating to compare what he saw then, with what I saw, but as intriguing as that was, his company, his wonderfully American personality made the experience very intense indeed. He was an excellent travelling companion; articulate, expressive, freely displayiang his personality and his biases, but always with good nature. A true Yankee gentleman.

In buying (a new copy of) Volume 2, I'm able to re-live in my armchair not only what I remember, but to to re-kindle my enthusiasm for the country, its people and those absolutely astonishing monuments the Maya left behind.

So much to be learned: It's poignant indeed, to compare Cozumel as he saw it then, with what the Spanish Conquistadors wrote they saw when they landed; and to compare that with what see today. In fact, that's one of the pleasures of the book: he includes translations of pieces of Spanish material that's virtually unknown, today. But, seriously, some of the best travel writing you'll ever read, and enjoy. And the Catherwood engravings are marvellous! How they hauled that big, wooden camera machine and those glass plates across a country that then, was without roads, is a story in itself. Can you imagine needing half a dozen mules to pull a freight sled through a jungle just so you could get photographs? (Which you would then have to develop yourself, there, on the spot!)





Customer Review: Dover Edition Much Better:
The two volume Dover edition is much much better. This is watered down, and doesn't contain the important details that make it so interesting. It has very few of the illustrations found in the two volume set. This was a big let down. I bought this thinking it was similar to the Dover addition which a friend of mine owned.

Customer Review: Gutted by Ackerman:


Now here's a publishing phenomenon. Stephens publishes his first book on the Maya and it is hailed by Edgar Allen Poe, among others, as "perhaps the most interesting book of travel ever published". His second book on the Maya, the one for sale on this page, was called "better than its brother" by William Hickling Prescott. 153 years slip by, and a new edition of "Incidents of Travel in Yucatan" is published by none other than Smithsonian Books.

I made the mistake of assuming the new edition, coming from Smithsonian Books, would be of high quality. How wrong I was.

Mr. Ackerman, in his own words, has reduced the text of this classic "by two thirds, but aims to preserve the spirit and essence of the original work". That's right, this "editor" cuts out 67% of one of the greatest works of literature in history, and has the impudence and effrontery to say he aims to preserve the book's spirit and essence. Then, taking the concept of hubris to a new level, he puts his name on the cover under that of the author--as though he had actually added something.

He has added nothing, only subtracted. Besides the 67% of the text, he also removed the name of Frederick Catherwood, who did the marvelous drawings, from the cover.

In the introduction, there is not the slightest hint of shame for the gut job, which he describes: "I have eliminated Stephens' description of the journeys to and from the region...I have tightened Stephens' prose, eliminated the detailed measurements of buildings and mounds, and excised long historical digressions and anecdotes...I have not used ellipses to indicate compression..."

With all the eliminations and excisions and hackings, Ackerman elects to leave in place misspellings because they "reveal Stephens' character and time". Let me get this straight. Historical digressions and anecdotes, admired by the likes of Poe and Prescott, must be cut. But misspellings must be preserved to reveal character and time? What sort of a wacky caricature of a scholar did the Smithsonian Scholarly Book Fund give a grant to?

I have tried to fathom why a person with an interest in archaeology and history and literature would maim a book in this fashion, but I'm at a loss. One would expect this sort of thing if Spielberg were making a biopic about Stephens. Then, the cuts would be necessary to fit the story into a 90-minute slot while keeping enough space for a sassy love interest and a talking jaguar. But this is a fantastic book that eight generations of readers from around the world have loved in its entirety.

Where is the Dover edition?

Product Description:
Scientific knowledge has stripped Christianity of the mythical matrix in which the creeds were conceived. The historical study of the Bible and the quest for the historical Jesus have raised the future of the faith to crisis level. At its Once & Future Faith conference in March 2001, four world class thinkers - Don Cupitt, Karen Armstrong, John Shelby Spong, and Lloyd Geering - joined Robert Funk and the Fellows of the Jesus Seminar to sort through the issues and attempt to form an agenda for the reinvention of Christianity. Their suggestions - on questions such as life after death, the meaning of God, apocalypticism, and the significance of Jesus' death - fill the pages of this book.

Product Description:
Join the QI team for an off-road safari through a hundred of the most interesting members of the animal kingdom, armed with illuminating illustrations and diagrams by award-winning artist Ted Dewan. Meet the water bears that can live in suspension for hundreds of years, the parasite carried by your cat that makes men grumpy and women promiscuous, and the woodlouse that drinks through its bottom. Marvel at elephants that walk on tiptoe, pigs that shine in the dark, and woodpeckers that have ears on the end of their tongues. If you still think a pangolin is a musical instrument, that hyenas are dogs, or that sheep are pointless and stupid, "The Book of Animal Ignorance" has arrived just in time.



Customer Review: 'My ignorance of animals is legendary':
...to quote Alan Davies. After reading this, you'll feel the same way. Like The Book of General Ignorance, this book exists to burst whatever bubble of knowledge you think you know... Only with animals.

I love the QI series, and I felt a twinge docking this one star, but the reason is simple: two pages maximum for each of the animals spotlighted. And they are: aardvark, albatross, anglerfish, ant, armadillo, badger, bat, bear, beaver, bee, beetle, binturong, bison, box jellyfish, butterfly, cane toad, capercaillie, cat, catfish, cheetah, chimpanzee, cicada, comb jelly, coral, cow, crane, dog, dolphin, donkey, eagle, echidna, eel, elephant, ferret, flea, fly, fossa, fox, frog, giant tortoise, gibbon, giraffe, goat, goose, gorilla, hedgehog, hoatzin, horse, human, hummingbird, hyena, kangaroo, koala, komodo dragon, leech, lion, lizard, lobster, louse, mite, mole, monkey, moose, mouse, naked mole bat, octopus, owl, pangolin, parrot, pearl oyster, penguin, pig, pigeon, platypus, porcupine, quoll, rabbit, raccoon, rat, salamander, scorpion, sea cow, sea cucumber, seal, shark, sheep, snake, spider, starfish, tapir, tardigrade, termite, toad, tuatara, walrus, wasp, whale, woodlouse, woodpecker, and worm. Whew. All right, so not every animal featured is common enough to have acquired any knowledge about it, never mind being slammed as misinformed.

So, 203 pages (including tailpiece), plus Foreword by Stephen Fry, Forepaw by Alan Davies, Introduction by Johns Mitchinson & Lloyd. With illustrations by Ted Dewan. Some of what's in this book has already been covered by the TV programme. And, like the TV series, this book can be very cheeky. Like how about a diagram of scorpion foreplay? ...Actually, that sentence makes it sound dirtier than it is, but you get the idea. As its soubriquet proclaims, what's on these pages is 'Quite Interesting'. Like how well do spiders spin their webs in zero-gravity? While high on marijuana? While high on caffeine? What do moose have to do with Scandinavian auto manufacturers? What association do geese and barnacles have that led to the naming of the Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis) and the Goose Barnacle (Lepas anatifera)?

Read this to find the answers to these questions and loads of other questions no one but the QI team would ever pose.