Austin Reviews

The book may be good. I don't know but these people have obviously written their own testimonials. How do the readers happen to know how many have been sold etc.

My in-laws had been putting off estate planning, which would put the family business at jeopardy at their death. The first chapter gives examples of what happens without planning, and after reading it, they started the process of a living trust and most importantly finished it!
The book also showed my husband and I why we needed a living trust to protect our young son (so he would not inherit wealth, without strings, at a naive 18), and why my widowed sister needed a trust to protect her children receiving an inheritance if she died after remarriage -- without a trust her inheritance would go to husband #2, and not her children.
The book helps.

this book really stunk don't get it

Personally, I was disappointed by the fourth edition of this venerable text, for it has become increasingly mathematical and problem oriented. If you like sitting down and whiling away your afternoon with a problem set -- this is the text for you. But if instead you wish to study acoustics through a pedagogical method that is more verbal and graphical in nature -- better texts are available.

Indeed, in my opinion, prior editions (1950, 1962, 1981) of this same text are superior, particularly the second edition. Although these too have their share of integral calculus and complex algebra, the quantity is more appropriate for a discipline that is mostly science and engineering but with aspects of art to it as well.

Bear in mind that aside from a few specialized areas -- like ultrasonics and its use in medical imaging and non-destructive testing, or the use of digital processing in sound generation and vibration analysis -- little new has come about in the field of acoustics since World War II. Thus unlike with most fields of science, there is no necessity to have the most modern texts to gather a wholly modern understanding of the field (with a few minor exceptions).

Indeed, I recently examined almost every text relating to acoustics contained in the circumferential stacks of the Barker Engineering Library under the Great Dome of M.I.T. (and sadly, there aren't as many texts as one might hope). I was surprised both at the age of most volumes in the collection -- and the fact that most had not been checked out of the library in years.

Indeed, from the "Date Due" slips in the back, you could see the field was very popular in the 1960's and 1970's, but popularity seemed to wane in the early 1980's -- approximately contemporaneously, curiously, with the introduction of the digital CD format of audio recording.

By the mid-1990's, at M.I.T., at least, interest in acoustics among faculty and students seem to have declined precipitiously, if the popularity of library texts and the quantity of student theses published in the field is any indication.

Of all the general texts on acoustics that I examined -- to me, one clearly stood out above the others. It was published in 1957 by Harry F. Olsen, Ph.D., the lead acoustical scientist at the RCA Research Laboratories in Princeton, New Jersey. It is entitled, "Acoustical Engineering", although the text contains all the fundamental science as well. This volume was reprinted in 1991 and is currently available.

Olsen's work is surely a magnum opus, comprising 736 pages and 567 illustrations. It has its fair share of math, but the concepts are often additionally explained through well-crafted line drawings, showing, for example, wave forms drawn in progressive fashion in serial graphs, some of which are designed so that one can even mentally rotate the graphics to gather a three-dimensional perspective. Furthermore, the graphs are often supplemented by art showing equivalent mechanical and electrical analogs, to further assist in understanding.

Best of all, Olsen explains virtually everything acoustical you would ever want to know, from theories of acoustical wave propagation, to an enormous variety of loudspeaker designs, to the mathematical reasoning behind Johann Sebastian Bach's tempered tuning of musical instruments, an artistic practice that is almost universal today.

Thus if it is a text for a problem-oriented course in acoustics that one seeks -- the fourth edition of the "Fundamentals of Acoustics" is a fine text. However, if one wishes to have a ready reference that is extraordinarily comprehensive, or a pedagogical work that doesn't focus on mathematical derivations, better choices can surely be made.

This book provides a good introduction to the subject, but I would not consider it hard core by any means. Morse is hard core, Pierce a far second in dificulty. Blackstock's book is superior. Blackstock provides a physical explanation of the theory of sound, Kinsler relies a bit too much on simple equations and does not provide insight into what the math is telling you. A good entry level book to use as a reference, and self study.

If you are interested in a solid introduction to the science of sound, then this is your book. Kinsler and Frey is not an advanced text, nor a reference manual for research scientists. It is simply a classic introduction to the physical principles of acoustics geared toward upper level undergraduates or graduate students.

The actual documents of Vatican Council II are required reading for anyone who wants to know what the Catholic Church really teaches. This translation is suspect however. In paragraph 25 of the Dogmatic Constitution Of The Church, Lumen Gentium, the translation here is: "when he (the pope) proclaims by an absolute decision a doctrine .....". The Latin text has "definitivo actu" which is clearly translated (by anyone who knows even pig latin) "by a definitive act." This loose translation is highly significant for the document goes on to say that doctrines so defined, by a definitive act (definitivo actu), are "rightly said to be irreformable." This egregious error makes the whole translation highly suspect.
This error has been used by liberals who contend that the ordination of women to the prieshood is still open. IT IS NOT!
I recommend the Sixteen Documents of Vatican II by Pauline Books & Media, also available from Amazon.

Any student of modern Catholicism should have this book. What Vatican II did in its influence of present day Catholic perspectives and outlook is well-known. What is often forgotten is the documents outlining the future understanding of what the Roman Catholic Church is.

Catholics high school level and up should be introduced to this, particular those students concerned with understanding the official apologetic on tough issues. Protestants of all denominations will see how their own history has been intertwined with Roman Catholicism, and, from this volume, appreciate the similarities and differences. In fact, I bought my copy in a conservative Protestant bookstore, as the nearby Catholic store only sold gift books.

In this first volume, "The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents," you'll quickly see is not a teaching book like the new Catechism is intended. Instead, it is a collection of key papers, decrees and statements explaining Rome's view on issues as varied as the

* liturgy
* worship music
* requirements to receive communion
* ecumenism
* bishops
* training of priests
* nonChristian religions and the Catholic Church's relationship to them
* defining and explaining divine revelation
* lay people
* religious liberty
* missionaries

In many ways, this is far more substantive than the Catechism, in that it provides a more thorough Scriptural base in its reasoning. It is more of an anthology of legal decrees, and yet it accessible. It isn't in legalese, but it may refer to Articles and other documents unknown to some readers.

The introduction realizes the reader may not be a Vatican scholar, and a quick, but useful overview of biblical and extrabiblical abbreviations. Each section thereafter has an introduction to provide context behind the need for developing the given decree.

The appendix is strong, and will lead serious researchers to the precise document in question.

The book appears to be set in a 10 pt. Times, with just a quarter to half inch margin, and the volume itself is delivered with an awkward dimension. The book is thicker than it should be, and the solution would've been bigger pages, and thus, a thinner book instead of the current 1062 pages. There is a study edition which is said to accommodate these concerns.

I fully recommend "Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents (Vatican Collection, Volume 1)." It is just part of the beginning to understand the vastness of modern Catholic theology, but it is a highly readable book, and is officially recognized by Rome for its reliability.

Anthony Trendl

From some of the comments I have heard people make about what the Church teaches since Vatican II, I think quite a few people should get these documents and read them. From what I have heard, this is a good translation. Read it and see what the Church really teaches.

I went to hear the author plug the book at a local bookstore, left early, but bought the book because it was cheap and I was curious. It wasn't even worth the $7.50. The plot is unclear (tho it is basically a good one) because the author's style of narrative and dialogue is murky. Page-long paragraphs of dialogue without quote marks make it very tricky to follow what's being said by whom. The role of the characters in the plot is frequently vague. And a lot of the book is just corny. As an aside, as a sometimes reader of the author's op-ed columns, and having read his biography, I'm pretty sure he inflates his qualifications in the field of intelligence/foreign affairs.

Mr. Bay's foreign policy and intelligence expertise shines in this book. The story is quick and the topic makes it timely reading for anyone interested in current world events. The plot is "real world" in its complexity, but very interestingly ties together an engaging story. I highly recommend the book.

A fast-paced, well plotted, and hip treatment of a believable contemporary moral dilemma and how it is resolved.

Being a displaced Austininte, I looked forward to reading this book because of its locale. Unfortunately, the plot and characters were poorly developed, sentences were often clumsily constructed, and the Austin historical snippets were repetitive and not terribly interesting.

Guess I'll skip the next Zoe Barrow book, if there is one.

Jan Grape is best known for writing short stories and editing mystery anthologies. AUSTIN CITY BLUE is her first novel and hopefully, the beginning of a promising new series.

Zoe Barrow is a member of the Austin Police Department currently assigned to working desk duty at her local precinct. A few days ago she was attending a sports event at a local arena when she heard the call requesting police backup. Officer Barrow went to the scene and found two officers wounded at the hand of a single perpetrator. When the suspect starts to make a move she shoots him even though she is not aware of his identity. A few moments later she learns that he was Jesse Garcia the man responsible of putting her husband in a coma.

Zoe does not trust her feelings. She is not sure if she shot Garcia out of doing her duty or just plain revenge. It does not help that she is confined to office work and the people at Internal Affairs are getting on her case. She manages to get distracted from all that when Avery Peppard, a friend of her husband, comes to her asking for help. He believes his wife is having an affair with a cop and that they are plotting to kill him. She does not know what she can do for him so she helps him find Jason Foxx, a private detective, to help him. It is not until an informant with a connection to Peppard is found murdered in a motel room that Zoe decides to get involved.

Ms. Grape writes a good novel that is heavy in character development. Zoe is a conflicted woman who is torn between what she knows and what she believes. She loves he husband very much but he has been in a coma for a long time. She is attracted to Foxx but does not want to betray her husband. The story is fairly good with several red herrings placed throughout the novel. The author leaves the door open for another book and it will nice to learn more about the life of Zoe.

Jan Grape's first mystery novel Austin City Blue was nominated for best first novel (Bouchercon 2002). I bought it because I used to love the wonderful, friendly, book store she and her husband owned. I knew it would be well written (I have read several of her short stories) and took a chance. I was delighted to find that I loved the book. The characters are memorable, the writing is polished and the plot is engaging. I hope it is first in a series.

Cryptic, unnecessarily mysterious. This is the kind of work that turns people off from poetry. I tried to get something from the poems, but mainly I got a headache. There was one poem about Jesus I liked and that was it.

I think this is the product of MFA programs. The thinking is that if you don't have something to say, craft it as well as you can, and then it will look like you have something to say.

I've always wanted to write. I think of it as another outlet for my thoughts besides my mouth, as most everyone I know says I talk too much. Austin Hummell inspired me to write more and talk less. When I took his class at Northern Michigan U he was so fascinating that I wanted nothing more than to shut up and listen. I wanted his opinions about my writing, and this was even before I knew he was a published author. I recommend this collection of his thoughts to anyone who is looking for reality. Austin is REAL. You can be real too.

These poems have a great range for an initial collection. The dynamic between language, the world, and the imagination is original and moving. You should get this book so that you can say you heard of Austin Hummell before any of your friends did.

I'll begin by saying that whoever J.D.Austin is, i would guess that he or she has seen military service, and probably in the Navy, at that. About half of the important human characters in this book are Navy vets, and, to this Navy vet at least, they ring true -- written by someone who knows whereof they speak.

That aside, this is a cheerful romp through some of the same territory that my brother (David Weber)'s "Apocalypse Troll" covered a lot more seriously.

The storytelling is neatly divided between a current action story set on Earth and a series of flashbacks set on Planet Thradon, beginning two years ago as the latest in a series of wars between the planet's two largest nations has go badly indeed for the larger of the two.

To begin: General Ket Mhulhar has been on diplomatic duty, and consequently is not in her home country when the big coup goes down; as senior surviving military officer, she is suddenly Premier. But it's not safe for her to stay. The Space Force is going to send her away to a distant planet, which only one ship on the whole world can reach. Knowing she is safe, they can base a Resistance movement on that fact.

But, she has to be disguised surgically to match the inhabitants of her new foster world. Which is, of course, Earth. Working from pictures, the doctors do as well as they can.

Possibly too well.

As the one Thradonian who has actually *been* to Earth looks at the unconscious form lying on the table, he bemoans the fact that with those looks, keeping a low profile on Earth may be difficult -- "Terran males" he explains "go to sleep hoping they'll *dream* about girls who look like that!" On the other hand, he allows, she *is* headed for the one place on Earth where beauty and oddity hand-in-hand are taken for granted -- Los Angeles.

But it's too late to change -- into the ship and off she goes, arriving two years later on Earth, where she is taken under the wing of a retired couple. A retired couple whose son is a successful independent film writer/producer/director (think Tarentino, from the plot descriptions of his films). A film maker whose script girl has just quit.

And "Kathy" goes to work for Bobby, soon talking him into letting her try wearing the "Producer" hat on this film so that he can concentrate on directing. And she tries to decide just what she will do when the Bad Guys manage to follow her here.

Meanwhile, back on Thradon, the military of Dalyi, Ket's home nation, are organising a Resistance.

The two stories alternate neatly, the Thadon story skipping closer anf closer to Present Day, and Kathy and her Terran friends get ready for the Arrival...

Though much of the story is played lightly, there are darker underpinnings, and some fairly serious thoughts about war and peace and patriotism and chauvinism, not to mention the responsibilities of honor and friendship.

The characters, human and Thradonian alike, though mostly lightly sketched are still acceptably plausible -- one of them is a retired Master Chief Petty Officer who was a Seaman Apprentice aboard the Forrestal off the coast of Viet Nam the day a missile on deck cooked off and started one of the most terrifying fires ever to strike a ship that didn't eventually sink, and he *absolutely* reads like the real thing.

Both sides in the conflict on Thradon learn lessons that we haven't yet learnt fully and properly here on Earth, and it is obvious that its aftermath is going to poison Thradonian society and politics for a long time to come, even after the "Good Guys" win a (comparatively) near-bloodless victory.

But it all comes out in the end more or less for the best.

One Thing More Dept: If Austin writes any more books -- either sequels to this one or independent settings -- i hope he takes us back to "The Stupid Elf", one of the more amusing sleazy bars i've run across in fiction of film in a while. I'd like to know more about the "Elf" and Buzz, the unflappable ex-cop bartender.

On a distant planet, after a short brutal war, a woman general finds herself the ranking leader in the country. She has received orders to go into hiding and remain safe until it is the right time to strike back. Hiding goes against her nature, but the rest of the staff comply and have her surgically altered to be human and then ship her off to Earth.

Ket Mulhar lands in California where she is promptly picked up by an aging golf-loving couple and her new life as Kathy begins. The couple have a son who is in the movie business and Kathy is soon working for him and making him more successful.

Meanwhile, the resistance begins to form on her home planet and a war of rebellion begins. The aggressors want to know where Ket is and why she has not shown herself.

The rest of the book is a true delight. Action passes back and forth between planets. Kathy develops a new life, first as a script girl and then as a producer. But Kathy is very honest. She has told the couple who befriended her who she is. Bobby, their son, is also told. Bobby, his parents, and his friends are all veterans (WWII and Desert Storm).

Needless to say, everyone takes a real shine to Kathy and we get a story of Family and friends sticking together and doing everything they need to in order to protect their own.

With General Ket in charge, you expect a big smash explosive battle ending, but this book is more intelligent than that.

I will leave revelations of endings to the readers as friend and foe all come together in the Californian desert.

A wonderful read that is pretty much unlike anything else out there. A fine book.

I just finished reading Bobby's Girl and it was great. Fast paced and an easy read, it was difficult to put the book down once I picked it up. The main character, General Ket Mhulhar, is a strong and honor bound woman - who is incredibly loyal and loving to her friends, both old and new. Ket, or Kathy as she is known on Earth, leaves her war torn planet and ends up in on the set of a movie in Los Angeles.

The author has an eye for detail and makes you feel as if you are with the characters in any setting, whether its in a bar on Earth or war torn Thradon. As with Ket, all of the main characters in the book are, someway or another, loyal and honorable - whether they are Ket's boyfriend Bobby or the "bad guy" Celin Kwa.

This is a book that deals with action, love and war, but it is free of any violence and bloodshed that may be considered graphic and therefore I think this book is suitable for younger readers as well, not just adults.

A review by Lacy

This book was about a group of boys named Levi, Jupiter and Possum. This story takes place back when slavery was a big issue, when the North and South were battling against one another. They were living in the north with Miss Amelia because they didn't want to have any part of the slavery. Levi always writes to his brother Austin who he doesn't see that often.

In this book there isn't just one plot there is a series of things going on in a lot of the letter there is a different topic and new things going on. Like when they were scared the bully was going to throw his dog into the river from the cliff and then the author starting talking about Levi having to take dance classes. I think that the author could have explained some areas better and put more detail in to what he was explaining. Some of the conflicts are expressed pretty well but some others really need some work on. I couldn't really follow a lot of the book because it was a hard book to get into. The length of this book was pretty fair. It probably should have been longer and add some more detail in it. I was happy when I finished the book; I thought it would never end. It was just so boring. The vocabulary of this book was easy to understand. I didn't have any trouble reading words but some of the sentence was confusing.

I would highly recommend you not to read this book. It is really hard to get into. This book was a very slow pace book. If you like being confused then I recommend this book to you but for the people like me who don't like being confused don't read the book.

Dear Austin, Right now Im out looking for Darcy, Juipters sister,Yesterday Black Rustlers stole her! Me and Jup have set out to find Darcy. Please don't worry while im out there. A body couldn't get nothin much don to him the wild. Don't worry Austin. I'll be saving y'all some letters as im out. Don't when i'll be sendin' 'em to ya'. Till then just stay come. Is how Levi talks to Austin thorough out the whole thing, in letters. AS they set out they meet the famous "Moses," a.k.a Hariet Truman. A black slave leader, the slave train, and suspence, history, and all around tightnes! I HIGHLY SUGGEST THIS TO READERS HOW LOVE TO READ! (of course.) And people how love to read about the stuf I like to read about, like this story. So go out and buy it!

I used this book with my fifth grade class. The author's ability to blend history, humor, and heart gave me just the story I was looking for to use on my unit about slavery.It totally hooked my students and I had to read much more each day than I had planned on!(They didn't want me to put it down!)I was also glad that the author didn't shy away from the truth and though the ending was hard it gave us a very moving and accurate description of the horrors of slavery- as much as a ten year old need digest. I would highly recommend this to both students and teachers, alike. M. Stevens

I am not sure I can possibly convey the importance of this book and how urgently it needs to be read by almost anyone with an interest in the history of the last century. Actually, I would go further, and turn that last sentence on its ear. This is an indispensable book for those who have little knowledge of or interest in the 20th Century. People need to understand what went on in the Soviet Union between the years 1916 and 1989.

Growing up in the 60s and 70s, it was not at all uncommon, at least in Canada, for one's circle of friends to include Marxist-Leninists ' particularly once you got to University. I actually had a rather close friend who not only adopted this political philosophy, but also actively espoused the cause of Soviet Russia ' to the point of making excuses for Stalin. This made for extremely lively debates. In retrospect, knowing what we now know about communist Russia, I rather think my friend needed at the very least a good thrashing. For it was people like him, and the left-leaning western media, that gave succor to, and in a way legitimized, what we now know was one of the must shocking brutal, tyrannies ever to disgrace our planet.

The subject of the culpability of the western media, fellow travelers and communist sympathizers is covered by Richard Pipes, in 'Russia Under the Bolsheviks'. These people have, in a very real sense, blood on their hands, and I often tremble with rage when I recall the facile and damaging lies that they propagated. Under the noses of these gullible and willfully naïve 'liberal thinkers', 35 million people died, either as the result of political terror or deliberate starvation.

Alexander Yakovlev now reinforces the point with a harrowing, grim collection of essays, 'A Century of Violence in Soviet Russia.' Yakovlev was an advisor to Gorbachev and is now the head of a commission charged with analyzing and cataloging the horrors of Soviet Russia. In my review of Pipes' book (mentioned above), I had occasion to remark that in that book, Lenin came in for the thrashing that he so richly deserved. Lenin has had it easy. When the full horrors of the Stalinist period became known, Marxists and Socialists to a man rushed to point out that Stalin was an anomaly, that he and his regime had nothing to do with the gentle, humane, philosophical Lenin (and, in any event, 'one had to break eggs to make an omlette'). Some people still believe this. Do you? Well here is Yakovlev's trenchant, damning summing up:

'Exponent of mass terror, violence, the dictatorship of the proletariat, class struggle and other inhuman concepts. Organizer of fratricidal Russian civil war and concentration camps, including camps for children. Incessant in his demands for arrests and capital punishment by bullet or rope. Personally responsible for the deaths of millions of Russian citizens. By every norm of international law, posthumously indicted for crimes against humanity.'

Shockingly, Russians (as well and never-say-die communists throughout the world) continue to revere Lenin. This horrifies Yakovlev who notes that 'to this day the country proliferates with monuments to Lenin and streets names after him.' Worse than this, a shockingly large segment of Russian society today believes that Stalin is in need of rehabilitation, that he did nor good than bad for Russia. Stalin has become nothing more than a name to most people in the world. When Saddam Hussein was compared to Stalin, when it was noted that he had actually studied Stalin, this tended to make little impression - because most of the world has forgotten. Men like Conquest, Pipes, Figes and Yakovlev write so that we will NOT forget. Their books should be required reading, because men like Lenin and Stalin NEVER go away, they are always with us and we must be forever vigilant and on our guard that they do not take root again.

Am important book for Russians, and for all people who doubt the stark reality of the Bolshevik regime. Yakolev asserts at one point that the only true statement that came out of the Stalinist period was that there ws no change in the party from Lenin's time. Stalin, for Yakovlev, was the true student of Lenin, whoose brutality was shown from the very beginning. More, the entire system of Marxist-Leninism was flawed from the start, an untenable ideology doomed to failure. Coming from an insider, despite his ten years in the west as ambassador to Canada, and from the person who oversaw the rehabilitation of political victims under peristroika and after, these comments are damning indeed.

Yakovlev documents the atrocities--to the peasants, the church, the jews, ethnic groups, the inteligensia, to political dissidents, to prisoners of war and saddest of all to children and families of those considered dangerous to the regime. For Yakovlev Russia must purge itself of Bolshevism in order to once again move forward. At times an emotional journey, it nevertheless gives an accurate accounting. Well done.

This is one of the best and most important books ever written on the Soviet Union, which is exposed here as a genocidal totalitarian tyranny every bit as nefarious as Hitler's Third Reich. Yakovlev, once a prominent member of the Soviet elite and architect of "perestroika" who is now head of the Presidential Commission for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression, demolishes the revisionist history coming from Gregory L. Freeze, J. Arch Getty, Robert W. Thurston and others. He has been going through the archives and listening to the stories from terror victims for the last ten years. All this makes A Century of Violence in Soviet Russia the most damning indictment of Soviet Communism since Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's monumental work of history, The Gulag Archipelago.

Yakovlev confidently states with absolute certainty that the number of people murdered by the Soviet state for political reasons or who perished in camps/gulags or in genocidal state-enforced famines is around 30-35 million - with a total of 60 million dead if you include those who perished during the second world war, in which Stalin is partly responsible for being foolish enough to form a pact with Hitler and paranoid enough to butcher tens of thousands of his military elite, leaving his country open to attack. The litany of sadistic atrocities against the clergy is absolutely hair-raising: priests, monks and nuns being crucified in their own churches, thrown into cauldrons of boiling tar, scalped, strangled, given Communion with melted lead and other bestial horrors. In one incident, 47 clergymen were shot, axed to death, or drowned. Besides the clergy and military elite, other victims of Soviet Communism include: peasants (many millions), the intelligentsia, returning Soviet POW's, whole ethnic groups (Crimean Taters, Don Cossacks, Chechens, Volga Germans, Kalmyks, etc.), even so-called "Socially Dangerous Children."

Yakovlev also tackles one of the great myths about Soviet Communism: Good Lenin/Bad Stalin. Lenin was no big-hearted idealist concerned for humanity, but a fanatic and a cold-blooded murderer, willing to kill off millions of his fellow countrymen in the name of the "revolution." Yakovlev quotes the murderous orders Lenin issued: "impose mass terror immediately, shoot and deport hundreds of prostitutes who have been getting soldiers, former officers, and so on drunk. Not a minute's delay." "Hang (by all means hang, so people will see) no fewer than 100 known kulaks, fat cats, bloodsuckers." "launch merciless mass terror against kulaks, priests, and White Guards. Suspicious individuals to be locked up in concentration camp outside city." In 1919, Lenin ordered the Cheka (Bolshevik secret police) to execute those who did not show up for work on a particular religious holiday. As Yakovlev shows, Stalin simply picked up where Lenin left off.

I absolutely urge anyone interested in the history of the 20th century to read this book.

In addition to this I would recommend the following:

Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Million by Martin Amis
Lethal Politics: Soviet Genocide ands Mass Murder since 1917 by R. J. Rummel
Useful Idiots: How Liberals Got It Wrong in the Cold War and Still Blame America First by Mona Charen

I have not yet read her book, but I want to because I enjoy her weekly article in our paper. If you have dogmatic views and don't enjoy having your mind stretched DON'T read her because she presents her opinions in a nontraditional way that makes you think even if you don't agree with her. I manage a bookstore where we've had her come for a booksigning. She is a down-to-earth, unpretentious person just like her writing. We have sold lots of her book.

A well-written collection of columns that tell the tales of everday life as once-in-a-lifetime experiences. We are fortunate to have Ms. Austin put pen to paper and share her stories with us.

A great selection of her columns from the past 10 years, this book made me reflect on life and how we spend our time. Her honesty is refreshing - she is open about the questions we all have about our faith, and reminds us that we still have hope, no matter how idyll or bleak life may be.