"Getting It Right", could not have been entitled getting it correct. But unlike many of Mr. Buckley's books this work is not exclusively for people who come under the moniker of Conservative. This is not to say that Mr. Buckley has abandoned those philosophies he has held for his lifetime, rather with this work he brings together a variety of groups that have at one time or another have been placed firmly on the, "Right", and shows just how disparate a given category can be.

This is a novel but it is historical fiction predicated upon actual meetings that the author was a party to, gatherings he attended, articles that were written about him and his magazine The National Review, and a variety of other published material from a wide spectrum of thought. And this is a book that goes beyond politics to philosophy, religion, the relevance of altruism, and many other issues.

Labels are easy to place but they suffer from the same shortcomings and hopeless inadequacies that any generalizations immediately suffer from the moment they are invoked. Where would you place categories of thought, or defined groups like the following, Libertarian, Conservative, The John Birch Society, Young Americans for Freedom, or those who are labeled Objectivists?

All words credited to Robert Welch in the book are his; the same is the case with another prominent figure in the book Ayn Rand. These two founders, respectively, of the John Birch Society and the philosophy of Objectivism should provide enough material on their own to cause endless hours of debate about the book. Ayn Rand is the author of the widely read and very influential works including, "Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, and The Virtue of Selfishness", amongst others.

To keep this time period from 1958 to 1966 at a constant boil Mr. Buckley brings two young people together. And these are not just any two youthful idealists, one is part of Ayn Rand's group and the other is..........well, you can imagine.

The book takes the reader from a young Mormon Missionary being shot as the Soviet Military attempts to stop persons from fleeing Hungry, through the Eisenhower years, and on to Kennedy's abbreviated presidency and the turmoil that President Johnson faces and proceeds to compound exponentially. And of course for added spice, "Tricky Dick", makes cameo appearances whenever the warring parties of, "The Right", need an additional bit of behind the scenes mischief. There are many other complex people that play appear from Alan Greenspan to Whittaker Chambers, and they, like the major characters ensure there is an angle for anyone who picks up the book to either champion or condemn, or attack for the pure love of debate.

I am a great admirer of Mr. Buckley for his works of fiction and non-fiction. His last 2 books have been either clearly disappointing, or confusing. This is not the case with, "Getting It Right". This is a wonderful read from a great writer and mind, and a book that will appeal to a much wider readership than those that think if Mr. Buckley has written it, then it is only for subscribers to, "The National Review".

This 15th installment in The New Jedi Order Series is excellent. Happily it is the first of a trilogy and fans will have the second installment in May, and the final installment in July. The entire NJO Series will end this coming November, and if this book is any indication of what is to follow over the next 9 months, there should be a spectacular final run of tales leading to the end.

This is a substantial book of over 400 pages, and it is not that length because of the font size. This is a sweeping story with at least 3 major plot lines and several other smaller issues that will likely develop as well. All involve the characters fans have come to enjoy and admire the most over the years. Sean Williams and Shane Dix wrote this installment and they should be commended for giving readers one tremendous ride. They have produced a book that is very balanced, it is not a book that is a completely introspective one about what the force is, nor is it another long battle plan that ends with one side winning or losing or merely great damage inflicted on one another. It includes a variety of issues; no one idea overwhelms the book.

What this writing pair has done so well is to bring all of Jacen's experiences and thought, his relationship with Vergere, Jaina's issues, and a new spin on the character of Tahiri together, as well as further developing other characters as well. A certain member of the Chiss continues to become a larger part of Jaina's life even when she is beating him silly while sparring together. Another familiar character may be on the path to becoming more than an acquaintance for Jacen as well. It appears that by the time this series ends, few of our heroes will be left alone and I hope that no more are lost as I feel enough damage has been done to the original players.

There are other names that are mentioned that may or may not become part of this story arc. Readers will have to reach back to several years ago, and dozens and dozens of previous books to remember the species of the Ssi-ruuk of Bakura. Refreshing your memory about what this race was about and how they operate will be beneficial prior to reading this book. The remnants of The Empire once again make an appearance but this one differs from any they have ever made in the past. And Grand Moff Palleon will play a role few will expect.

There are numerous mysteries that are only mentioned in passing and others that are placed before the reader as perhaps being part of the ultimate solution to this war that started some 15 books ago. The Galactic Alliance will not fight the Vong to the death, for to do so would make them as guilty of Genocide as the Vong are. A solution must be found, and may that answer be Zonama Sekot?

This is a phenomenal read and one of the better books that have been presented to Star Wars fans in quite some time.

The first of this two part series deserved the benefit of the doubt as the story is by definition left incomplete. The incomplete resolution of this second book makes the pair of books a low priority for any fan who enjoys reading these installments, for book #2 would be handicapped enough if it was not such a cliché, and did not use so much material fans have seen before. The solution to the problem is almost laughably poor.

Mr. Barclay is now completely fallen for his new love, Commander Deanna Troi has once again had her empathic powers damaged (sound familiar), and, you guessed it, a rip in space/time is the menace that once again gets recycled by authors who have no imagination for something new.

I will keep this brief as the book is not worthy of your time. The ending is one of the weakest I have read in any Trek adventure, and to make matters worse a great deal of the book is recycled from other stories you have either seen on television or possibly read before. Some have suggested that the movies could be judged by whether they were an even or odd number in the series. I think that perhaps how bad the cover art is may also be a way of judging these books. I know it goes against a long held and valued saying about how not to judge a book or anything else. But when the cover art is poor and not by a talented artist or a well-known one, perhaps the unwillingness to invest in the visual presentation should be a clue for what may lie within.

I have read both, "Gemworld Book #1 and #2", so while I will keep specific comments on the two installments separate, the overall impression comes from having read the entire two part tale. Spelling of the names of a primary character that appears not just in virtually every book, but every movie and virtually all of the television programming is a good indicator of how carelessly these two books were reviewed prior to publishing. Dr. Beverly Crusher becomes Dr. Crasher and then back to Crusher, and then Crasher again in the space of a few pages. The person responsible for verifying the most basic of facts of these books were accurate skipped the spelling portion of their job.

The planet of Gemworld is a unique place, the question of whether it is a naturally occurring organic planet or a construct is discussed throughout this first book, as are the variety of widely varying forms of life that have lived there for billions of years. You would expect that after all this time those that inhabit the planet would have evolved with some commonality yet they remain wildly different species while all being sentient and highly intelligent to varying degrees.

The most interesting part of book one is not the usual planet in distress storyline, but the appearance of Reginald Barclay the famous, hyper-nervous, always a bit of a bumbler that was the focus of many great episodes of the later seasons of The Next Generation. Mr. Barclay this time out not only develops an intense crush on the book's main character and inhabitant of the distressed planet; he also becomes one of the keys to resolving the planet's destruction that even baffles Data. As he has in the past Mr. Barclay finds himself the center of attention, and in this case authority, by being in what he would consider the wrong place at the wrong time.

This first book is the better of the two, and while not a 4 star read it exceeds a 3 star rating.

Author Stephen Coonts has written a dozen books with, "Liberty", the 8th that feature the character of Jake Grafton. The last book I read by Mr. Coonts was by no means exceptional, but this book is just poorly done. Whether misquoting one of the best-known figures of the 20th Century, Sir Winston Spencer Churchill, or just letting generalities slide by when detail is critical, this book is just badly executed. The plot winds around itself and actually shows some promise as you get past the first 90%, the problem, even then, is that the book still has not decided what story it is trying to tell.

One of the reasons is that the book is so opportunistic, cliché, and appears to have been rushed as it was inspired by events of September 11, 2001. This book is fiction, but fiction does not mean that any sense of balance should be tossed for dramatic effect. This book is littered with stereotypes of the worst sort, and absolute disrespect for non-Christian religions. The black hats this time are designated by the fantastically weak name of, "The Sword Of Islam", is that the best the author could invent for the opposition in this book? I was completely unimpressed and disappointed that these persons were repeatedly described as billions of ignorant, uneducated mud hut dwellers, and other names that are unprintable here, and should be beneath a writer of Mr. Coonts' track record. Islam is not the problem the World faces, certain individuals that distort Islam, just as others distort Christianity to justify the murder of people they do not like are the issue, not the religion that is mentioned.

Another theme the author tries to sell is the ends justify any means when dealing with terrorism, and he tries to buttress his case by comparing the issue of terrorism with the Civil War and the Civil Liberties that then President Abraham Lincoln suspended, and other constitutional laws he stepped through or around. The threat is not the same; this is an international not a national issue, so I find the author's reasoning/logic/story justification flawed, and very weak.

Anyone who has read a handful of books in this genre is well acquainted with certain acronyms, FBI, CIA, and yes Mr. Coonts the NSA. The writer mentioned the NSA repeatedly throughout the book, so why does he need to tell readers on page 414 of 420 pages that NSA means National Security Agency? Give your readers a bit more credit.

The ending of the book is as unsatisfying as it is contrived and familiar. There were at least three good books that are hiding in this mélange of almosts and false starts. But when collected under one title they are unworthy of your time.

This is the eighth time that Mr. McManus has put together a collection of his humorous experiences from childhood, through his early days as a manipulator of truth at a public relations agency, and of course more recent forays as the intrepid guide and indomitable leader of a variety of outings. This is the fourth collection of his stories that I have read, and I believe that leaves me with 8 to still enjoy. One of the remaining books is done with his sister who is generally known in these books as the, "Troll", and that volume is to have dozens of variations for recipes on, "whatchucalit stew".

It would be unfair to say that there is no familiarity in these stories as I read the 4th collection. There is a great difference between familiarity and repetition, and the author is not guilty of the latter. What is becoming familiar are the friends of his childhood through to the present day with names that would make Dickens proud were he alive and writing in 20th Century Idaho. These characters are based upon real people that he has mercifully disguised, as how many people would want the moniker Rancid Crabtree, with all the attendant implications?

These stories are innocent, honest, and without anything that would keep them on a coffee table for any member of household to read. Even his first kiss in the back of a friend's car, that is a stretch to call a kiss, would be comfortable in a G rated Disney film. His stories may primarily take place in his, "Gothic Idaho", and other states in the West and Pacific Northwest, but they translate to everyone's childhood to some degree, and are pure reading enjoyment, completely without pretense or prevarication.

For Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark, and Ilan Ramon.

I read this book as a layperson not as an engineer, or someone who has an encyclopedic knowledge that an amateur can gain when an interest becomes a serious hobby, or a consuming subject for study. I was going to suggest there were only two ways to read this book but I finished the volume early Saturday morning several hours prior to the loss of the Columbia Shuttle and the 7 men and women she carried.

If this book contains errors about the size of a tank, or the function of a part, that is inexcusable. This book contains written endorsements from more than one Apollo Astronaut, and it would seem that if there is information that is going to be offered as fact it should be correct.

The book is a treasure to anyone who lived and experienced parts of the wonder that was The Apollo Program. This does not excuse the errors if they exist, but it is not reason enough to condemn the value of the book, or ridicule it as a picture book for children.

What quickly became apparent after the tragedy yesterday is how far out of touch the public has become with the men and women who perform these missions, gather knowledge, and do so in situations that contain a level of risk that few people would ever contemplate much less take. The Apollo astronauts, the Gemini astronauts, and the Mercury astronauts were men that we all knew by name. Movies have been made about the original Mercury 7, more recently a film about the miraculous team effort that snatched the crew of Apollo 13 from what should have been certain death was brought to the screen by Ron Howard and a host of wonderful actors including Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise, Bill Paxton, and Ed Harris to name only a few.

The Apollo Program was unprecedented, 400,000 people were required to put the program and vehicles together to place men on the Moon. But when the program was ended no money was budgeted to even save all the working documents it took to create Apollo. If we wanted to recreate Apollo the absurd situation is that we would have to do research and development all over again because the records were not properly archived. One of the greatest achievements of humans, and so much of the work is gone.

On January 27, 1967, Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffee, and Ed White died without leaving the ground, when the capsule of Apollo I burned them to death in a pure oxygen atmosphere which a short circuit ignited.

On January 28, 1986 the 7 Challenger astronauts died less than 75 seconds after launch. Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe were those persons willing to push the boundries of human exploration on that tragic day.
And then yesterday, 9 hours after January 2002 had ended, the men and women at the beginning of these comments lost their lives for reasons as yet unknown.

The Challenger 7 were eulogized by countless people, but on the day of their deaths one of the most eloquent speakers ever concluded his remarks as follows; The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honoured us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God. President Ronald Reagan

Robert M. Thorson has written a fascinating book that might, on first glance, appear to be on a topic that is little more than a charming adornment of days gone by. "Stone By Stone", with its idyllic cover photo of a mist shrouded field with a stone fence in the foreground is indeed about these fences that are so prominent in New England. The photo on the cover was taken on Block Island but almost the entire book focuses on what is traditionally thought of as New England beginning with the earliest settlements until the present.

The book is not one that can be placed in a single genre, it is a history book, a geology book, and one that is also filled with the social structure of the earliest New England pioneers. These walls cannot be explained and understood without some knowledge of the people who created them, why they were built, and even where the materials came from. Even the diversity of the walls is remarkable, yet even this becomes understandable after the lessons the author shares with readers about the geology that produced the stones, and by extension the walls that were created.

These structures that started as no more than piles for what was a nuisance to farmers, over time, become complex ecosystems for the life they attaches to them, lives amongst and under the walls, and even for those species that use them as blinds to hunt from. During the Revolutionary War they were even used as defensive structures for the Minutemen to fire from when fighting the soldiers of England.

If you are from New England or have visited and enjoyed the area this book will likely be of great interest to you. I have spent my life in New England so I found the book fascinating. However if you have never stepped foot in the area and know it only from the prints of Currier and Ives, artists like Andrew Wyeth and Eric Sloane, or from the pens of authors like Robert Frost and Henry David Thoreau, the book will bring a great deal of enjoyment and knowledge.

Book #2 of, "The Maximum Warp", pair manages to pull together the weaker first book and make the pair a worthwhile Trek adventure. One of the keys to the success of a plot whose ending is not completely unfamiliar is the interaction between Mr. Spock and Data, two of my favorite characters from different incarnations of Enterprise ships. I also have always enjoyed the unique relationship bridge that was created when Captain Picard and Captain Kirk met, and the ongoing development of shared experiences with Mr. Spock and Captain Picard.

Whether you agree that this 2 book tale is enjoyable will largely depend on how much familiarity you are willing to accept. The end is filled with phrases like, 10 dimensional type IV civilizations, base matter energy is inescapable, and the theory of oscillating universes. What made this jargon work for me was that it was information and theory that was primarily explored by Data and Mr. Spock, with Data exceeding Mr. Spock's ability for reasons that were interesting. It was a different spin on why Data is different, and not just for the obvious reasons.

I gave book #1 3 stars, and I have given this book 4. Together they are somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars, and again, how much of the material reminds you of another Trek episode may decide how much you like these books and how you would rate them. Many of the sub-plots of the book were hastily brought to conclusion, and many were very questionable as to why they were needed at all, but as the author introduced them in book #1 he had no choice but to either conclude them or leave them unfinished. The book closed with a great quote from Albert Einstein, People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.

This is not a set I would start out with, but if you plan to work your way through the dozens of books in the Trek anthology, you will come across these eventually, and like others I have read they do recall and refer to other adventures of crews in the past.

If, 'The Dante Club", is an indication of what readers may expect from future works by Mr. Matthew Pearl, a great new novelist has arrived. Mr. Pearl has not just taken a great setting and a great tale, but he has added notable historical figures as well as one of the most noted pieces of literature ever written, and molded them in to a wonderful mystery on the streets of Boston in 1865. He also has not hesitated to take venerable institutions to task, regardless of their presumed august positions when they stoop to hypocrisy or other unsavory acts.

The work of Dante was virtually unknown in this period of Boston's history except by the very few and equally few well educated. It was considered modern, controversial, and an affront to the classics that were taught at institutions like Harvard University. And then there is The Dante club whose members include Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and James Russell Lowell who are in the process of bringing out the first English translation of Dante's work for American readers. Powerful forces such as Harvard, amongst others, are against it, nevertheless the group proceeds week by week and level by level through the world of Dante as they prepare their publication. The process is closely guarded with their publisher knowing the full contents of their progress and other confidants having only the knowledge that their work proceeds.

But prior to publication meticulous Dantean murders occur, but knowledge of the translation is not well known, it is not even complete, and yet the murders are carried out with an exactitude that only a scholar of Dante's work would have access to. And just as Dante fits his punishments to a crime of specificity, this murderer too follows the famous work in the most exacting detail.

These are the circumstances that author Matthew Pearl arranges in his debut work, "The Dante Club", and the tour he takes readers upon is literate, well-constructed and erudite. The author was honored in 1998 when he was awarded The Dante Prize for his scholarly work by The Dante Club of America. This is a novelist that has the credentials to effectively combine his formal education in Dante with great skill as a writer of fiction.

There are many new authors that debut every year. There are far fewer who will return a second time, or even if they do will have their subsequent work noticed. I believe Matthew Pearl will be the exception. He is no one trick wonder, and no sophomore jinx awaits him either. He is very bright, as his accomplishments at Harvard and Yale have demonstrated, and he is most capable with a pen as, "The Dante Club" has shown.

Read this young man's first work, you will have the experience of excellent writing, a wonderful use of your reading time, and the pleasure of having discovered this young author on his first venture in to the eye of the public.