Book Description
Provides immediate help for anyone preparing a biomedical paper by givin specific advice on organizing the components of the paper, effective writing techniques, writing an effective results sections, documentation issues, sentence structure and much more. The new edition includes new examples from the current literature including many involving molecular biology, expanded exercises at the end of the book, revised explanations on linking key terms, transition clauses, uses of subheads, and emphases. If you plan to do any medical writing, read this book first and get an immediate advantage.
Customer Reviews:
A good overview about how to write in biomedical research.......2007-03-09
A good book for beginers, clear and easy to read.
good book for those writing their dissertation and other papers.......2007-01-04
we used this book as part of a class i was taking. i am so glad that the professor picked this one out!
the beginning of the book gives you the building blocks, and the later chapters help you put it all together. i realized that a lot of people who help you with proofreading don't really look for some of the organizational items that the author stresses.
i reccommend this book for any graduate student, as well as anyone else who is looking to improve their writing. it might also be a good tool for mentors to use to work with their students.
Great ! .......2006-08-21
My close friend who is one of the nicest person I ever met, recommended me this book. Upon opening the first chapter, I already know that this book is amazing. My writing improves a lot. If you are an international student like me, you might also have hard time on writing as well. I guaranteed that this book is really invaluable.
Very good book, examples used bit too technical.......2005-10-21
Very good book for beginners and experienced researchers! I haven't come across any other book that actually describes how you should write a biomedical paper. The only critique is that the examples used are too technical for non-biomedical researchers, this makes it hard to understand the examples. But even if you do not have a biomedical background you will learn a lot from this book.
Authoritative.......2003-11-12
Authoritative guide on how to write. I have never seen a more comprehensive book on how to write clearly and write well. I would give it 6 stars if I could. Even non-scientists should read this. (Having said that, though, scientists IN PARTICULAR should read this - hint, hint.)
Amazon.com
At the height of his career, Richard Pryor did something no other comedian had done up to that point: he took listeners deeply into his life, baring himself before audiences as he exposed his foibles and his follies, his tumultuous dealings with women and his misadventures with drugs. "People can't always handle it," he writes in Pryor Convictions. "But I knew that if you tell the truth, it's going to be funny." The pain and truth came from Pryor's earliest years--from his childhood in Peoria, Illinois, where he was raised in bars and whorehouses, and sexually assaulted by an older boy when he was just 6 years old. After a stint in the army, Pryor set out to become an entertainer and began making the slow climb from hole-in-the-wall nightclubs to stardom. Sometimes profane, but always funny, Pryor Convictions is a no-holds-barred autobiography told in Pryor's inimitable comic voice.
Book Description
Richard Pryor's life story is one of the most controversial and shocking of any performer in American history. Raised in the bars and whorehouses of Peoria, where he gained first-hand knowledge of racism and hypocrisy, he toiled for years as a bland Cosby clone before finding his true voice as one of America's most brilliant comedians — and one of its most profound, and profane, social critics. At the apex of his career — one of Hollywood's biggest stars, and one of the most influential black men in the world — it all came tumbling down in a maelstrom of drugs, multiple marriages, heart attacks, violence, and suicide attempts, finally ending in a notorious incident where he lit himself on fire while freebasing cocaine. Pryor Convictions tells the uncensored story of the man behind the myth. Written in Pryor's own words, this human and compelling account is like the man himself: raw, funny, fearless, and completely unforgettable.
Customer Reviews:
Adequete incite from a necessary comedian.......2007-09-05
The book is immediately interesting and arresting. However, Mr. Pryor goes through lulls of semi-coherent, discractive writing. Pryor is very open with the reader in this book, describing everything he went through in fascinating candor. That alone makes this a must buy. Rich talks about selling out to mainstream Hollywood throughout his career. He did most pictures, regardless of the often atrocious scripts, admittedly, just for the money. There are also many fascinating stories about his habitual drug use and addiction(s). But this fact and the obligatory stories and excuses that follow allow the reader to realize he was a wild, carefree human being. Who was, admittedly, lucky to live as long as he did, considering the aforementioned drug abbuse.
The book is 247 pages and 30-plus chapters which makes for a quick read. You won't be emphatically pleased that you purchased this book, but you won't be upset either.
I tried..........2007-03-27
I tried to give Pryor a chance and see what makes him do what he did. I'd read his daughter's book first and he sounded like a pretty violent and mentally challenged man. I figure there are three sides of the story, so I'll read the second side. This dude blew me. He joked about beating up women like it was justifiable, had no idea it was wrong, and continuously excused his own faults. When children do it, I can blow it off as just having to grow up and understand responsibility. But how can I respect a comedian who does so many things that aren't funny? I wasn't a fan of Pryor before I read his book and now I'm definitely sticking to that opinion. I did, however, enjoy his alter ego's anecdotes.
Masterful Memoir.......2004-04-25
Using excerpts from his "Mudbone" monologues to accentuate the events of his life, Pryor puts together a collection of memories that make PC a must-read. I can only think of a few other autobiographies that even come close.
World's Most Profane and Profound Autobiography.......2003-03-02
In chapter 20 of this book Richard Pryor offhandedly calls his comedy style "profane and profound" and inadvertently sums up his life and this book perfectly. This is at various times the most dirtyminded, hilarious, shocking, or downright disturbing autobiography you may ever read, but always with his great dark humor. With a bizarre and damaging childhood in Peoria, Richard Pryor was raised in his grandmother's place of business - which happened to be a whorehouse with all of its shady and unwholesome characters. A violent and painful childhood full of profanity and prejudice came out in Richard's comedy, which was truly groundbreaking in its shocking honesty. He lived a wild life in the spotlight, with addictions and a constant parade of rough women, including five wives that he divorced six times. The wives are hard to keep track of, but Richard is always brutally honest about his attitudes toward women even if it's rarely pretty. He also has a very refreshing outlook on racial matters, as the prejudice that was so damaging failed to ruin his respect for all people of any color. Most of the tail end of the book concerns his nearly born again soul searching about his infamous addictions and latest losing battle with multiple sclerosis. In addition to Richard's straightforward and unforgiving narratives, there are very frequent asides from one of his stage characters, Mudbone, who here is acting as his even more brutally honest alter ego. This gives the book an often jarring schizophrenic character, and surely reflects the true workings of Pryor's dark genius.
More Respect than "Pryor".......2002-09-05
This has to be one of the most honest and compelling autobiographies I ever read! I have an immense amount of respect for the intimate details that Rich felt comfortable with sharing with readers about his early life and personal problems. Though some parts dealt with painful issues, the comedic genius he is, he manages to have readers smiling through tears. I found it particularly painful to read his battle with MS, which I watched my mother suffer with, but again, the humor is always there. Richard Pryor is the epitomy of a survivor, not to mention one of the most talented comedians of our time. This was a very inspirational and enjoyable read and I recommend the purchase A.S.A.P.
Amazon.com
In 1984, Velma Barfield became the first woman since 1962 to be executed in the United States. Her crimes were unusual: Barfield was convicted of the 1978 arsenic poisoning of her fiancé, Stuart Taylor, and she admitted killing three other people with poison, including her own mother. But her path to execution was circuitous, involving appeal after appeal to various high courts, a grassroots movement to prevent her death, a jailhouse spiritual epiphany, and subsequent "recollections" of childhood abuse and torment that she claimed eventually led to her abuse of prescription tranquilizers, which in turn clouded her judgment and enabled her to perform murderous crimes. Death Sentence, however, is as much about the people she left behind as it is about her fate.
Jerry Bledsoe chooses Barfield's son, Ronnie Burke, as his protagonist. Burke is a greatly sympathetic character whose sense of horror and shame leaps from the pages. Burke watches his own life fall apart as his mother undergoes a transformation in prison, while he uses every last ounce of his strength to try to save her life. He feels duty bound to help her, but nearing the end of the appeals process, he begs her to just quit and accept her ultimate penalty. Yet at her funeral, divorced and in the beginning stages of alcoholism, he cries and begs her forgiveness, apologizing for not doing more to save her. Openly critical of the death penalty, Bledsoe focuses a surgically precise camera on the process of state-sponsored execution and its effects, and the result is a grim but gripping and suspenseful tale. --Tjames Madison
Book Description
Everybody knew Velma Barfield as the perfect wife and a loving grandmother. But there was something about her that nobody knew... Velma Barfield had a secret life, and a sick urge to kill.
"Fast-paced...breathes new life into the true crime genre."-- Raleigh News & Observer
"Taut and engrossing."-- Booklist"Get ready for the Velma Barfield story...complete with all the prescription drug overuse, the arsenic, the drunkenness, the spouse abuse--and the redemption. It's the equal of any suspense novel going."-- Times-News(Burlington, NC)
"Bledsoe has written a detailed account of Barfield's troubled life and motives...holds the reader's interest with a true story that reads like a novel."
-- Library Journal
"Undertakes to answer the questions about the justice system and the motives that drive women to kill."-- Washington Post Book World
"An important commentary of the standing of a nation's soul, with journalistic integrity and the resonance of a fine novel."-- Will Campbell
"The Master of true crime."-- Patricia Cornwell
Customer Reviews:
A Story That Will Haunt the Reader.......2007-06-06
Bledsoe is a true crime master who exemplifies the best of the genre. Original research, fluid storytelling and an eye for the telling detail. You can't do much better than this in the genre. But make no mistake, this is a sad, depressing story that you may wish you hadn't read. Whether you support the death penalty or not, it's hard to argue that death sentences weren't meant for multiple, intentional murderers like Velma Barfield. Barfield was clearly a drug addict with all the most unpleasant behaviors associated with addiction. When she was in a controlled, low-stress environment Barfield not only functioned, she flourished. When she was stressed or, less generously perhaps, not getting her way, look out. Velma had a nasty streak and didn't mind taking it out on 2 husbands, a fiancee, two elderly patients and her own mother. Not to mention an attempt on her daughter and son-in-law. The list of her crimes - murder, arson, DUI, theft, insurance fraud, forgery and others - is shocking.
It's also hard to reconcile with the image of the "death row grandmother", the born-again Christian who helped other prisoners. Except, of course, that prison is another controlled and (in Velma's case) a low-stress environment. One that kept the spotlight locked on Velma, a spotlight she loved. I felt compassion for Velma and her deprived childhood and troubled marriage but I'm still not convinced I buy her stories of being sexually abused by multiple relatives. Velma always seemed to deliver to the listener what they wanted to hear. Was this just another case of that? I honestly don't know. I do know that Velma was guilty of at least 6 murders and had she not gone to jail would have committed more.
Among the victims are Velma's children who showed a superhuman love and forgiveness for their mother. She lied to them, manipulated them, in one case poisoned them, used them, etc and they still loved her. I find it intriguing that Velma's spiraling out of control began not just with her husband joining the Jaycees and her hysterectomy but with her children entering their late teens. They were less dependent on her, less under her control. Sadly, Velma continued to manipulate them to the very end never fully taking responsibility for her crimes and thus leaving them feeling guilty that they "should have stopped her." Broken marriages, broken lives, they are Velma Barfield's last victims and Bledsoe tells their story with a compassion their mother was sadly incapable of.
I support the death penalty more than ever.......2002-09-18
I'm sorry, but I did not see Velma Barfield as a "sympathetic" character. 99% of us have had less than perfect childhoods, but we don't use prescription drugs to hide from the world or poison people we perceive as being in our way.
I don't care how "redeemed" a killer on death row becomes. It doesn't bring back the people they murdered. And I think it's ridiculous how convicted murderers can delay their punishment for years with appeals and stays, things that their victims never got.
No, the book did not make me "re-think" my pro-death penalty stance. If you play, you must pay,,,whether you're Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy...or a grandmother from North Carolina.
". . .It Hardly Behooves Us To Talk About The Rest Of Us!".......2002-06-20
I have this little sign that reads:
"There's so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us that it hardly behooves us to talk about the rest of us."
Once upon a time not so long ago, there was a time when a slim and healthy, young man who had grown up with both poverty and big dreams was just starting out in the entertainment business and causing the girls to scream and swoon.
About that same time, a young woman who had come from an abusive home was putting her heart into building a happy home for her husband and two small children.
As the years passed, the young entertainer became more and more popular--and so did the homemaker.I knew the story of Velma Barfield well, so I knew how the story was going to end--yet, the writer had a way of making me live each step with Velma and her family, just as if I didn't know the ending.
A friend went to see Titanic, and he told me that the movie was done so well that he never gave up hope that both Jack and Rose would survive, even though he knew that Jack wouldn't.
This is the way I felt while reading this book.
When a sympathetic character such as Velma Barfield ends up on death row, it makes a lot of people rethink their views on capital punishment, because it brings it so close to home.
The "bad" people aren't some sort of cardboard characters anymore. They're your sons, daughters, Mommies, Daddies, and grandparents. And that's when we come to realize, through the masterful telling of their stories through books such as this one, that there really ARE no totally "bad" people, placing value on the lives of ALL people involved!
Jerry Bledsoe does it again!.......2002-05-21
Another winner for Jerry Bledsoe. This man is an author extradordinaire! With highly acclaimed books like "Bitter Blood" and "Blood Games" under his belt, Bledsoe strikes another homerun with the story of Velma Barfield.
If you like true crime, buy this book, as well as Bledsoe's other books.... Before he wakes, Blood games (my personal favorite) and Bitter Blood (this book will blow your mind away!).
There are better true crime novels.......2002-03-21
My favorite read is true crime and it's a genre filled with a lot of trashy novels posing as non fiction. This is well written and factual but...it's boring. This book is all about a drug addicted mother who overdoses on a regular basis and poisons family and friends. Sound interesting? I thought so too but I ended up skimming through half the book. The story glosses over how Velma's children deal with their mother over the years until she was convicted. The daughter is not so forgiving and the author focuses on the son's staunch support of his mother. It's not hard to figure that the author's slant on the story came from the son but the book would have been much more interesting if the daughter had been as revealing....
Book Description
Drawing on their award-winning reporting for the Louisiana State Penitentiary's uncensored newsmagazine, The Angolite, Wilbert Rideau and Ron Wikberg present the stark reality of life behind bars and the human, political, and fiscal costs of our long-running war on crime.
Customer Reviews:
A Good Look Inside.......2000-06-15
While there are newer books on prison life, this is still one of the best. It gives a surprisingly balanced view of past and current treatment of prisoners and a good look at prisoners' lives from their own perspective.
A Good Look Inside.......2000-06-15
While there are newer books on prison life, this is still one of the best. It gives a surprisingly balanced view of past and current treatment of prisoners and a good look at prisoners' lives from their own perspective.
An aged and droll collection of complaints by prisoners.......1999-08-23
'Life Sentences' is collection of essays from as long ago as the 1950s.
The essays are written by inmates and have the angle that the prison system is evil and that they are good men wronged by the world.
They complain about capital punishment and not getting to have glass containers in their cells with the same level of indignation.
In one section a prisoner is reported by the book itself to have been seen 16 feet from a murder scene, told law enforcement officials facts about the murder he couldn't have known unless saw the crime happen and then he pleaded guilty in court. The authors then state "There appears to have been little real evidence Williams actually committed the murder". Get real.
If you want a book about prisons instead of complaints by prisoners done wrong try 'Men Behind Bars' by Wayne Wooden and Jay Parker.
The definitive work on the US Penal System........1998-10-10
This is a book every socially conscious American should read. A collection of works from the only uncensored prison newspaper in America, the award-winning "Angolite", this books encompasses everything from the mundane to the extraordinary, from the poignant to the horrifying realities of prison life. It covers both the fiscal concerns and the human issues involved in incarceration. I highly recommend it.
This is what life is really like behind bars!.......1997-11-20
Rideau and Wikberg discuss the ways the prison system reinforces violence as a coping mechanism. Factual accounts of inmates' experiences are recounted in detail as examples to the author's theory, and observations of prison psychiatrists are presented in support of the authors' view. Out of deprivation and hopelessness, most inmates will neglect to work on those issues that would enable their successful rehabilitation, and it is easy to see why, in light of the harshness of prison life. The ways in which the system has inadvertently rewarded violent behavior throughout history is also evident, in spite of the many reforms that have been enacted. The message that we still have a long way to go is quite clear, as there really is no reprieve from the harshness of prison life. Until we begin to understand the reasons prisoners resist rehabilitation, we cannot even begin to solve the crime problem in America.
Average customer rating:
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The Golden Formula: Discover How a Single Sentence Holds the Power to Transform Every Area of Your Life
Rochelle Pennington
Manufacturer: Pathways Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Self-Help
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Motivational
| Self-Help
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Personal Transformation
| Self-Help
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Ethics & Morality
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
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General
| Spirituality
| Religion & Spirituality
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Inspirational
| Spirituality
| Religion & Spirituality
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ASIN: 0974081000 |
Book Description
Use Divine principles to harvest more happiness, prosperity, and joy in your life. Learn how spiritual principles underlie all of life and are equations, formulas, and mathematical measurers of cause and effect. By considering the observations within these pages - gathered from clergy, teachers, historical leaders, motivational speakers, newspaper columnists, bestselling authors, and therapists from around the world - you will become aware of the importance of a golden formula and discover how you can apply its wisdom to your own life in order to fill it with the blessings of love, peace, and plenty.
By beginning from the inner places within your own heart, you can - and will - change your outer world and become rich in "all that really matters in the end." Each of us has equal access to the choices that set these powers into motion for our good.
The Golden Formula is an enlightening collection of inspiration quotations powerful true stories, and practical essays providing specific guidance for giving to others and achieving deeper meaning in one's own life as a result. Readers of all faiths and beliefs will embrace this basic, sound philosophy and the practical suggestions shared by which they can carry out this rich calling to create a better world around them."
Average customer rating:
- A Complex, Intelligent, Satisfying Legal Thriller!
- Ellis, from his first book to his latest is shaping into a tour de force author to be reckoned with
- Too Much Detail, Too Little Suspense
- What surprises?
- What an exciting read!
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Life Sentence
David Ellis
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
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General
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
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Legal
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
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Suspense
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
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General
| Mystery & Thrillers
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Similar Items:
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Line of Vision
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First Degree
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In Her Defense
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Open and Shut
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Bury the Lead (Today Show Book Club #24)
ASIN: 0425194809
Release Date: 2004-03-02 |
Amazon.com
An innocent man falsely accused of murder is a staple of suspense fiction. In Life Sentence, David Ellis provides a briefcase-full of fresh variations on this familiar theme, crafting a tale that delivers many delights and only a few disappointments. Like his first book, the Edgar-winning Line of Vision, this is a legal thriller, but the setting is refreshingly unusual: the narrator, Jon Soliday, is the chief legal aide to a powerful state senator in an unnamed city that's obviously Chicago. So there's plenty of bare-knuckle political intrigue even before Jon finds himself the main suspect in a murder.
Ellis's prose is sharp, clear, and intelligent, and his cast of characters is vividly varied. The complex plot setup is occasionally clumsy, with loose ends left lying around in the open for too long. But by the end, Ellis has gathered them all in masterfully, not once but several times, as we see the key facts of the case--several murders, a cryptic blackmail note, a long-ago party that ended in tragedy--through completely different lenses, each creating a fresh perspective that points to a completely different culprit. Right up to its socko surprise finish, Life Sentence is an intellectually and emotionally satisfying thrill ride from a promising young writer. --Nicholas H. Allison
Book Description
Jon Soliday is legal counsel to a powerful politician--his childhood best friend--who is running for governor. The two have shared political success and undying loyalty. But an anonymous letter hinting at blackmail and a colleague's mysterious death remind them of something else they have in common. A dark secret from the summer of 1979...murder.
Customer Reviews:
A Complex, Intelligent, Satisfying Legal Thriller!.......2007-06-19
In David Ellis' second legal thriller he once again delivers a very well-written, very intelligent legal thriller, with strong, well-developed characters and crisp, realistic dialog. The plot involves big-city politics woven into an intriguing, compelling murder mystery, and has many surprises that will keep you guessing until the very end. My one problem with Life Sentence, which prevents me from giving it a 5-star rating, is that Ellis tended to go on for too long a time before bringing the story to its, ultimately, very satisfying and surprising conclusion. In my opinion, Life Sentence would have been an even better book had Ellis followed the old adage, "less is more."
Ellis, from his first book to his latest is shaping into a tour de force author to be reckoned with.......2006-12-31
Ellis is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I have read all of his work now over the last half a year. A couple of thematic undertones seem to stand out when you read an Ellis book. Most prevalent to my way of thinking is a moody aura of inevitable dread that suffuses his pages like a fog. This isn't a dread of suspense, but instead a dread the reader will have watching the characters actions unfold in a painfully slow uncoiling that leads to a grand shocking end. From one book to the next Ellis gives us characters that are not ultra clean or smooth. For instance, in Life Sentence, we are given a character with a dark past that has tied him into a station in life that is an albatross even if he is a successful person. I certainly would not want to be Jon Soliday or be burdened with his history.
The book unfolds at first in a series of flash backs to Solidays youth. It builds the friendship between Soliday and a state senator running for a higher office. Thrown in is a mysterious murder, blackmail of two sorts, shady histories and Soliday working out his demons and coming to grips with himself as a person. I am not a fan of flash backs and in my opinion, they take away a lot of the first couple hundred pages. This is Ellis' second book I believe and I can see him playing with different narrative devices as he grows as an author. It just doesn't work as well as the rest of the book which unfolds in real time and keeps up the steady and quickening pace.
Ellis is an author that is difficult to immerse yourself in. His world is dark, lonely, and cannibalistic. His saving grace is that he is also one of the best writers working today and I look forwards to decades of more Ellis thriller/mysteries. I hope he never stops searching for new directions to pan out in. For instance, each of his books tackles new ground plot wise, even if his lead characters are often very similar. This is my least favorite Ellis book, yet it is still very enjoyable. Ellis is great, I can't say more than that.
Too Much Detail, Too Little Suspense.......2006-07-20
David Ellis grabbed me with his unique and compelling legal thriller debut, Line of Vision. After putting Line of Vision down, I ran out and purchased his other 3 books, all in paperback. Perhaps, I was a little hasty. While Life Sentence offers a fresh premise, I couldn't keep my eyelids open to get through all of the unbearable detail - from boring Election Laws to nauseating character descriptions - that fail to move the story forward. I trudged forward hoping the ending would provide a big payoff, and make the other 400 pages worth my time. No such luck. The contrived ending is neither plausible nor satisfying. Thumbs down for Ellis's second novel.
What surprises?.......2006-04-17
I read this book because of all the "glowing" reviews - most indicating that there were "intricate" plots and surprises. Very early into the book I determined who one of the characters really was and pretty much what the "secret" was. I continued to read BECAUSE I thought there was going to be some kind of terrific "turn of events". NOT - you could pretty much see where it was going from the "get go". I also found that there wasn't ONE person in this book that evoked any type of interest. The author did not go into anyone's character to the extent that one could conjure an ounce of sympathy - most especially the narrator - the "accused". Parts included i.e., the ex-wife made NO sense at all. I guess it was the author's way of giving the narrator some "character". And - the dogs? I guess some authors think that if they put an animal in the mix it might keep the interest of the reader - especially IF the reader is an animal lover - as I am. Didn't work this time folks. Very disappointed - wish I could get both my money and time back!!
What an exciting read!.......2005-04-14
As a law junkie, I love a good courtroom thriller! However, I am often disappointed by stories that are entirely too predictable. This was not one of them. David Ellis intertwines the past and present brilliantly, leading to a conclusion I never saw coming! This is possibly the best book I've read all year.
Customer Reviews:
Life Sentences is very safe and secure. .......2007-03-15
I hate to sound critical, but...Dr. Wiersbe is probably one of the top ten bible scholars in the world; he has 50 years of ministry experience and has written 150 books. I think this book is a little too "safe and secure" for such an author. It's a nice read but I would rather see him take a little risk and write about important issues going on in the church today. With all the problems, confusion and ignorance within the church I think something more substantive would have been better. I would encourage him to open up a little and share his views on the crucial issues of the day, and suggest solutions.
Life Sentences: Discover The Key Themes 63 of Bible Char.......2007-03-08
This is a different way to look at Biblical characters. It summs up the charater's life in a sentence. That sentence is from the Bible. In the back there is a reading chart for nine weeks of reading through that book.
Therefore it a great tool for the overview of the Bible.
Book Description
From the critically acclaimed author of the Today show pick The Breathtaker comes a chilling new tale of psychological suspense. Boston-basedscientist Daisy Hubbard is driven to find a cure for the rare genetic disease that claimed the life of her brother. But her progress is interrupted when she learns her unstable sister Anna has gone missing from her California home. Once there, the situation gets worse; she's informed by the LAPD that a known serial killer has confessed to Anna's murder and insists upon showing her his handiwork himself. But is Anna dead? Teaming up with detective Jack Makowski, Daisy follows the killer's twisted logic, while trying to unravel the past 10 months of her sister's troubled life. Now, Daisy realizes her sister has become a pawn in a game with much higher stakes and Daisy must summon all her resolve to stop the killer in his tracks, and to uncover his obsession with the disease she's been trying her entire life to cure.
Customer Reviews:
Blanchard is a terrific writer, BUT . . ........2007-07-27
Alice Blanchard is a terrific writer.
She can find and describe the concrete detail that will make a scene or person snap into 3-D life.
Her prose can tapdance around that of most mystery writers. It's like seeing a black-and-white movie suddenly come into color.
HOWEVER, her plots and her characters tend to be formulaic.
Small town, outrageous crimes, serial killer (Yawn) with obscure convoluted motives (what other kind would a serial killer have?), confused plucky hero/heroine desperately piecing clues together and racing toward a nail-biting chase scene.
All three of her mystery novels are exactly like this, with a dash of Gee Whiz technical razmatazz thrown in.
So the pleasure of her books lies mainly in the writing.
For this reason, her first two mysteries--Darkness Peering, and The Breathtaker--are better than this one, because the writing in those two sings.
Here, the writing is simply competent and utilitarian.
Pity.
And because of the flatness of the writing here, this book (Life Sentences) tends to be suffocating. Claustrophobic, unrelieved, dark, airless.
The only truly interesting character is Anne.
The villain (no names will be mentioned) is an afterthought, straight from B-movie (or C-movie) casting.
Read the first two.
I do hope Blanchard will give up serial killers.
By actual count, there are 4,798,365,281 serial killers in literature. There have been less than a thousand in history--even counting Stalin, Milosevic, and Bush.
Someone get this author an editor!.......2007-06-06
Cutting at least 100 pages could only have helped this book. There was an incredible amount of repetition as characters thought over (and over and over) the same events, in the same words. Blanchard repeatedly broke what little tensions she'd managed to build with rambling descriptions. I like a well-turned metaphor as much as the next voracious reader, but Blanchard used WAY too much padding. This has to be the sloooooowest suspense novel I've ever slogged through, in spite of having (and using) enough plot points for at least three (better) books.
Daisy was supposed to be so brilliant, but she most common responses when anyone spoke to her were "What?" or "Really?" and she proved remarkably slow on the uptake outside of the lab. She frequently spouted factoids that let Blanchard show off her research, but I caught a couple of inaccuracies in some of the simpler ones (like, "most caucasian babies are born with dark hair,") so I can't vouch for the more complex stuff. And you simply can't convince me that a top geneticist named "Daisy" wouldn't be going by "D. MiddleName Hubbard" by her second year in grad school. Freddy the Fuzz, I mean Jack, has a couple of believable moments, but you have to read pretty closely to find them.
Get it from the library if you feel compelled to read it.
Great Book.......2006-08-13
Great book. I loved it. Kept my attention, well written, good character development and not drug out in a tiresome redundant fashion as I find some other books to be.
Not to be missed .......2006-08-04
Life Sentences is a wonderfully eerie and utterly engrossing thriller about a Boston geneticist who drops everything, and travels across the country to investigate the disappearance of her schizophrenic sister. Alice Blanchard brings many skills to the table here--extensive research into gene therapy, a rich plot with compelling characters and beautiful narrative description. This is a great book-- not to be missed.
Mechanical, Contrived, and Predictable.......2006-07-13
I really liked Alice Blanchard's first book, "Darkness Peering." Her second, "Breathtaker," has flaws but is engrossing and interesting all the same. "Life Sentences," however, is a disappointment. Blanchard seems to have phoned this one in. It's rather as if Victor Frankenstein had built his skeleton and then couldn't be bothered to add flesh or muscle or to flip the switch on that life-giving gizmo.
Despite a couple of twists, the plot is predictable. The overall arc of the heroine's story is obvious from the very first page. There's nothing wrong with this approach in theory: you know where the story is going, so the fun comes in seeing how it gets there. In this sort of narrative, it's not the destination that matters; it's the journey.
But this premise works only if the journey is surprising and interesting. The trajectory of "Life Sentences," unfortunately, is just the opposite. There are no real surprises, even though some of the events are more than unbelievable (just wait till you get to the whole forest scene and its aftermath -- and its prologue, come to that.) The action moves implacably and implausibly to the expected final confrontation, which, when it comes, is an anti-climax with little emotional power; we've all seen similar scenes too many times before. The feel-good ending is a treacly fantasy, rather like an "awww" moment in a sitcom -- and just as real.
Character development is both erratic (Jack and Daisy) and cliched (the lecherous boss, the sexual abuser [who reads like one of those featureless composite characters in bad pop-psychology articles], the serial killer who seems to have come from Psychopath Central Casting, [and whose backstory accounts for his behavior far too neatly]). The science is interesting but too heavy-handed (it's not hard to understand; it's just presented in "now-it's-time-for-some-exposition" chunks.)
The basic idea is a good one: to explore important questions about genetics, destiny, and family. Based on Blanchard's skill in "Darkness Peering," I would have thought that she could have built this foundation into a complex, ambiguous, and suggestive novel. Alas, she hasn't; the book is ultimately too generic. The whole story feels mechanical and listless, with melodrama (the flood, the fire, the river) and quirkiness (Anna's silly language, the walk on the lakebed, the killer's father's job) substituting for genuine storytelling.
Book Description
Wouldn't you look forward to spending a few minutes with St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the best known and loved of all modern saints throughout the world? The life and message of this great saint and Doctor of the Church has blessed millions of Catholics around the globe. Her simple, direct, and sure way to holiness has helped many gain a better understanding of the spiritual life and a deeper union with Christ. This book has been designed to bring the inspiration of her words to you in a format that is as simple and direct as her own "little way".
This deluxe book contains a collection of hundreds of direct quotes and short sayings of Thérèse, carefully arranged by the major virtues of the Christian life. The quotes are arranged and classified by the virtues represented in the classic 15 decade Rosary. The Rosary mysteries provide us a mosaic of virtues for the spiritual life, a ladder for advancing in holiness and in the love of God.
Customer Reviews:
QUOTES FROM A GREAT SAINT.......2007-01-09
This hardcover, very thin, little book has a nice organizational plan. The wonderful and inspiring quotes from the writings of St. Thérèse of Lisieux are arranged according to the Virtues of the Holy Rosary and other spiritual virtues: Prayer, The Eucharist, The Church, The Bible, and The Saints. The quotations are taken from three sources, including The Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of Saint Thérèse edited by Mother Agnes of Jesus translated by Michael Day. This is a highly edited version of the original text, not the standard Clark translation preferred today. The biographical introduction to this tiny book has some surprising inaccuracies, and the frontispiece drawing doesn't resemble St. Thérèse at all.
A Guide to Love.......2004-02-21
I truly enjoy this book. In the introduction McClernon writes: "Taking time apart from busy lifestyles to spend a few minutes with a saint promises precisely the kind of nourishment . . souls need." From the back cover: "Arranged according to the mysteries of the Rosary and their companion virtues, this treasury of quotes from St. Therese of Lisieux offers inexhaustible wisdom, clarity, simlicity, hope, trust - above all, it incarnates the Love that lights the path of the 'Little Way' to Paradise." Simply this book has brought me closer to God, through St. Therese, by helping me to meditate through the rosary. At different times during the day I pray my way through a decade from which I emerge refreshed and conscious of the Lord's presence. The third Sorrowful Mystery, the crowning with thorns, for example, has about 30 quotes from Therese focusing on the virtue of courage - such as: "I am not going to worry, but I will always stretch out my suppliant arms towards You with great love. I cannot believe that You would abandon me", and "Let us struggle without respite. Let us go on, however much tired of the struggle. Where would our merit be if we fought only when we feel courageous?" I feel as though I am receiving spiritual guidance from Therese when I read these quotes and meditate on them, and the mystery, as I say a Hail Mary. The virtues help me integrate the mystery with my life giving me encouragement, direction and inspiration in my daily struggle to be part of the world but not of it. McClernon has also come out with a second volume that follows the same pattern with quotes from St. Francis De Sales which is also excellent. For some reason the second volume does not appear on Amazon yet but in the meantime you can find it the on publisher's site, www.ignatius.com, or at a Daughters of St. Paul bookstore. I sum, thank you Ignatius and Mr. McClernon and please keep these volumes coming!
Book Description
In this book, Lawrence Hatab provides an accessible and provocative exploration of one of the best-known and still most puzzling aspects of Nietzsche's thought: eternal recurrence, the claim that life endlessly repeats itself identically in every detail. Hatab argues that eternal recurrence can and should be read literally, in just the way Nietzsche described it in the texts. The book offers a readable treatment of most of the core topics in Nietzsche's philosophy, all discussed in the light of the consummating effect of eternal recurrence. Although Nietzsche called eternal recurrence his most fundamental idea, most interpreters have found it problematic or needful of redescription in other terms. For this reason, Hatab's book is an important and challenging contribution to Nietzsche scholarship.
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