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1 comments about Bird Watching: On Playing & Coaching the Game I Love.

1. I think that this book is good for those who are fans of the Boston Celtics and that of the NBA. This book is a biography; it has a little bit of everything. With a foreword by Pat Riley (Head Coach of the Miami Heat) the book could not more complete.

   This book begins in a small town in Indiana. Larry Bird was a star basketball player for his high school and the rest of the state. Larry left high school to go to Indiana University on a full basketball scholarship and play for the one and only Bobby Knight. Larry was not on the campus very long before he became overwhelmed by the great amount of students. Larry would then leave the school and transfer to Indiana State University. After college Larry entered himself in to the NBA draft and was selected 6th overall by the Boston Celtics.

5 comments about Dark Wind.

1. After reading some of these reviews I wonder if the people writing them actually read the book or maybe they never experienced a lost love. It is clear the author has written a very gripping account of paradise found and lost. I give him credit for seeking it out and finding it which is something most people never do. I have just started sailing and this book has reminded me just how powerful and deadly a force nature can be, regardless of preparation and skill. It is a risk all people who venture out to sea take and it is no different than driving a car. It is a good thing if this book causes people to err on the side of caution.



2. I've read this book twice in the last two weeks, A very moving story of two people looking for adventure. After both previous marriges fall apart they set upon a journy that ultimately takes the life of one and leaves the other searching his soul for forgiveness. Some how it has left me feeling evey emotion that I think Mr Chaplin had wanted to achieve with the writing of this book. A great book! A real joy reading. I just wish it were possible to tell Mr. Chaplin himself.



3. I am the author of Dark Wind, Gordon Chaplin, and this is not a review. I'd like to correct your listing of my books, which begins with the out of print audiobook version of Dark Wind, instead of the in-print paperback edition. Would it be possible to list the paperback first? Thank you for your attention.
   Gordon Chaplin



4. If you want modern sailing, adventures, dilemmas, botched revenges, lies, exotic settings, anxious families back home and eventual disaster in one of the most beautiful and unspoiled places in the world, this is your book. Dark wind tells an average tale about contemporary sailors: middle-aged couple, bouncing out of failed marriages, decides to have the big trip before it's too late: Belize, Panama, back to the US by plane, when the family needs attention, and beyond. Twilights, sunsets, the weird floating society of a port full of foreigners and their boats. Lonesome beaches, mechanical mishaps, the purchase of an EPIRB system: no classic sailing story, here, in the manner of Patrick O'Brien, but autopilots, engines and tourism. People who argue, face hard times and may look selfish. No multi-talented sailor-hero around the world on sight, either. This book is a memoir, a real story about people who suffered while chasing their dreams, and it rings true, even if it's not, which is rather out of the point as far as I'm concerned. It also provides a charming route to follow in the future, autopilot and all. And it taught me something else: if the hurricane comes close, don't ever do what they did.



5. Some reviewers may not have liked Gordon personally (a bit self-absorbed, seems to bail on his daughters, runs off with his friend's wife...), but they shouldn't hold that against his tale. The story of his ill-fated trip is more of a memoir than an adventure. I'm not sure how a critic could say the story was not convincing -- it's real and very affecting. I don't want to give away the plot, but this is a wrenching tale. How many times have we thought, "If I'd only done x, y or z..." Gordon rakes himself over the coals over and over again, but nothing can bring back the past. I thought he was brave to write of his own personal suffering, even if you don't happen to side with him. I agree that the writing wasn't as good as the very best, but it was exciting and detailed and very solid. Okay, not literary, but respectable enough for its genre. Overall, if you like a bit of the personal mixed in with adventure, you will appreciate this book although remember it is difficult in parts because of the tragedy. Overall, it was an absorbing read.

5 comments about Andrew Jackson.

1. I have read several of this author's works, and have never been disappointed. It is easy to see why he has become an acknowledged expert on the "Age of Jackson." His writing is always very easy to digest, and his insights are illuminating. I highly recommend this book, and the audio version is equally enjoyable.



2. We had to read this book in my AP U.S. History class. It is good. My theory on the reason why Remini wrote this book was to explain why Jackson did the things he did like the duels and make up for them. I never realized how interesting the presidents were espically Jackson. Good book to read.



3. Few Americans have won the mythical status enjoyed by Andrew Jackson. Often portrayed, in his day and since, as the champion of the common man, Jackson came to Washington as an outsider, the first President born outside the thirteen original states, indeed the first president born neither in Virginia nor Massachusetts. Throughout Jackson historiography, Jackson via his policy of `rotation' in office has been accused of instituting the spoils system in American politics. This criticism highlights how Whig myths have come to permeate the historical writing on this subject.
   
   Starting with James Parton in 1860, anti-Jackson historians have followed this criticism, blaming Jackson for replacing a supposed merit system with a partisanship that corrupted the civil service for generations. Despite further research since Jackson's time, many historians have uncritically repeated these accusations without examining the actual record of appointments during the presidency unhappily described by some as "The Reign of Andrew Jackson".
   
   There have been essentially four cycles of studies into the life and Presidency of Andrew Jackson. The first cycle began soon after the death of Jackson with the "liberal patrician" or "Whig" school, who were generally unfavourable towards the policy of rotation. Most familiar is James Parton's classic The "Life of Andrew Jackson". So critical of rotation was Parton that he stated "this single feature of his administration would suffice to render it deplorable rather than admirable." Other members of the "Whig" school include Sumner, Schouler and Von Holst, all very critical of Jackson's policy of rotation. Parton's biography was the standard source on the Jacksonian era, until the second cycle represented by the Progressive Historians, such as John Spencer Bassett's "The Life of Andrew Jackson (1911), which cast Jackson in somewhat of a different light. Bassett reduces the amount of blame put on Jackson for rotation by suggesting that his democratic views made him oblivious to unintentional dangers from partisan appointments. However, the Progressives shared with the Whigs the view that Jackson had brought a spoils system to national politics and that its effects were negative.
   
   Historians in the third cycle of Jacksonian studies, of which Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.'s "The Age of Jackson" (1945) served as a pivotal work, shifted attention away from Jackson himself towards larger forces in his era. Historians of the third cycle, such as Hofstadter and Hammond, debated the effects of class and culture in determining party differences while showing little interest in evaluating Jackson's rotation policy, though tending to criticise it briefly. No biographies of Jackson discussed the policy of rotation in depth during the next thirty years.
   
   The appearance of Robert V. Remini's three-volume biography of Jackson marked the start of the fourth cycle of interpretation. Based on modern scholarship, Remini covers all aspects of Jackson's life and career, demonstrating his contribution to the great developments of nineteenth century America, particularly empire, freedom and democracy. By returning to first hand sources, Remini shows that the policy of rotation in office has been exaggerated and misunderstood. However, having set himself the remarkable task of producing a thorough study of the life and Presidency of Jackson, Remini did not have the scope for a detailed re-interpretation and re-evaluation of rotation. Since Remini's work there have been many scholarly works on Jackson, but none offer an in-depth reassessment of rotation as touched upon by Remini.
   
   Remini states that Jackson has received a disproportionate share of the blame for the spoils system and that there is a need to disprove the Whig myths, which have come to permeate the historical writings of historians over the generations. Remini was not the first to stress the need for such a revision; in fact a similar plea was expressed by J.R. Poinsett in the "Oration on the life and character of Andrew Jackson, delivered July 4, 1845" when he stated about Jackson, "His instinctive love of justice... gave a high tone to his government and exalted the honor of his country. His hatred of corruption rendered his administration pure.... I will content myself with expressing my belief that in future time the impartial historian will justify both his motives and his conduct on this trying occasion.
   
   Remini offers the reader a great insight into the pioneering mind of one of America's greatest Presidents.
   
   
   [The above Review is taken in part from 'Andrew Jackson's policy of 'Rotation in Office' by Alexander Rayden. © Copyright 2005 Alexander Rayden, All Rights Reserved].



4. Few American presidents could be said to have left such a distinctive mark on the office and the nation as Andrew Jackson. Even as Jackson's legend fades into the mists of the past, we owe it to ourselves to reach back and draw it up into the light of honor accorded such giants as Washington, Lincoln and FDR, because Jackson was a figure of equal stature. One way to accomplish this is to read Robert V. Remini's concise history entitled simply Andrew Jackson, a quick, yet surprisingly thorough chronicling of Jackson's many achievements as president, politician, general and pivotal figure in the establishment and settlement of the state of Tennessee.
   
   What makes Jackson so interesting is the way his checkered past shaped the trajectory of his Presidency. Decades before Lincoln, he was the first president to be born into rustic circumstances and rise above them to achieve greatness, but unlike Lincoln, his story is not that of a paragon of virtue overcoming adversity with folksy charm and wit. Jackson was a bully, an adulterer, a blowhard and a holder of grudges, character flaws that he eventually reshaped to his advantage, and to that of the nation's.
   
   Humiliated and wounded as a boy during the Revolution, Jackson carried a lethal grudge against the British that eventually got its airing during the War of 1812 when he commanded US forces in the Battle of New Orleans and won a lopsided victory that sent a stinging message to the rest of the world about the folly of underestimating America's determination to defend its sovereignty.
   
   It made him a hero and launched his political career, an enterprise that might have been merely interesting were it not for Jackson's staunch determination to take the smug creatures of privilege in Washington by the scruff of their collective neck and teach them a stern lesson about whose country it really was. By 1828 the nation was already in danger of being sold out to the highest bidder and Jackson rose to power on the promise of snatching Democracy from the jaws of Oligarchy. Remini's speculates that, in some measure, this came from Jackson's early experience after having been ripped off in a land deal by moneyed interests.
   
   In any case, Jackson was as good as his word, going after the all powerful National Bank with a vengeance, staring down the threat of secession on the part of South Carolina over a question of tariffs, and defeating formidable political foes with equal helpings of restraint and ferocity. Jackson helped found the state of Tennessee, was instrumental in the establishment of the Democratic Party, virtually invented modern campaigning, was the first president to wield the veto with brio, and elevated the office of the Presidency to its present formidable role. But Jackson's most lasting contribution was his faith in and reliance on the people, even after he'd been elected, a true Democrat of a type almost entirely missing today and one not likely to be resurrected any time soon.
   
   Remini is a comprehensive Jackson scholar, one whose works on the Hero of New Orleans number eleven. This book is more or less an abridged version of his longer work and represents a cherry picking of facts and reflections. Regrettably, the book favors facts over reflections which is unfortunate, because one would like to know more about Remini's interpretations of events. But if you want to pick up a basic understanding of Andrew Jackson and his importance to American history this book is a wonderful start.
   
   Jackson's parting words on leaving office were, "Remember, my fellow citizens, that eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing." What politician would ever say that today?
   
   That Jackson is increasingly forgotten when discussing the great Presidents of our history says something, too, about our ability to retain the blessing for future generations.



5. On a recent of list of great presidents in American history, Andrew Jackson was ranked near the top. Yet there is no Andrew Jackson Day. Most people would be hard pressed to name a single fact about "Old Hickory". Yet if he lived in the age of the cable news network, he may have been the most scandalous president ever. In this short but very well written biography, Robert Remini does a comendable job documenting the life of General Andrew Jackson.
   
   Jackson was raised in far from ideal conditions. When his parents died when he was young, he lived with several different relatives at varying times. After growing up in the Carolinas, he moved west to Tennesse where opportunity was available. In Tennesse, he became a very accomplished attorney which allowed him to accumulate wealth. It was in Tennesse that he met his wife Rachel who was in a failing marriage. For a time, Jackson actually lived under the same roof as Rachel and her then husband. When Rachel's first marriage became irreconcilable, she immediately married Jackson. Unfortunately, it was not until three years later that Rachel's first husband officially filed the divorce papers. This forced Andrew and Rachel to marry again to make the union legal.
   
   Jackson's early political career was not remarkable. He had less than fulfilling stints in the House and Senate before he achieved real glory in the military. Jackson is most noted for his conquests in the War of 1812 and battles with American Indians. Riding the wave of his military glory, he was elected president. In doing this he also helped to found the Democratic party. Jackson's accomplishemnts as president include his elimination of the National Bank, forcing the French to pay war reparations, and ending the spoils system that plagued the government. He was championed as a common man's president because of this Tennesse background and military service.
   
   The whole life of Andrew Jackson is not disclosed in this review, but this book is an excellent source to discover his life. Remini's writing is not bogged down in political lingo, but tells the story for those interested in reading about a great life. While a short read, it is thorough and highly enjoyable.

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4 comments about Beethoven Lives Upstairs: A Tale of Childhood and Genius (Classical Kids).

1. my children are 6 and 7. they love this touching story of beethoven. we have taken many a long car ride and this cd is always our companion. it would be a good idea to also get a background book of beethoven for your children as they may become so intested, as mine did, that they simply had to know more about him. i bought the teachers notes that go with this. i would have done better to get a more thorough book, but it has served us well. this cd is highly recommended



2. Beethoven Lives Upstairs CD is an intriguing imaginary story told by a child who lives in the apartment below the elderly, deaf Beethoven, whom the child believes to be a mad man. The story of Beethoven's life and his greatness as a musician, even after becoming deaf, is woven through a series of letters the child writes to a relative who teaches the appreciation of Beethoven and his music. It is a beautifully written story of the great and tragic composer's life, interwoven with marvelous renditions of his most beloved music. This is one of the Symphony of Stories for all ages collection of Classical Kids CD's from Children's Group. You and your children will want to own all of them and listen to them again and again!



3. Excellent story for the entire family to enjoy. Music and information is blended together to make the audio version of this story enjoyable for a wide range of ages. Great way to introduce kids to famous composers in a format that is interesting and fun. And, the listeners don't Have to sit still while the story is being read.



4. I started buying this series for my 6 year old one year ago. She received "Mr Bach comes to Call" for her seventh birthday. She has spent hours listening to it and then to other Bach CDs. The music is well selected and the historical content is described quite well. Her imagination has really been excited. As we live in Germany for the moment she has expressed a wish to visit Liepzig to see Bach's grave. We have four in this series now and think they are brilliant. All of us enjoy listening especially on long car journeys. Great entertainment with educational value.

1 comments about Dickie Bird: His Autobiography.

1. Having been a cricket fan since the black & white days, I found Dickie's story to be most sincere in its writings, which in essence is how Dickie Bird "ran" the games for which he was in charge. A most interesting read for the diehard cricket fan, though don't expect a masterpiece.

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