Turbochargers HP49 (HP Books): Turbo Design, Sizing & Matching, Spark-Ignition & Diesel Engine Applications, Water Injection, Controls, Carburetion, Intercooling, ... Street & Race Cars, Boats, Motorc

Customer Reviews:

Old book but incredibly informative........2007-08-28

In the 3 hours I read this book I went from "what's a turbo" to a guy confident in adding a turbo to a car from scratch. It covers every aspect to adding a turbo to an engine. Everything you need to know is in this book EXCEPT for engine management tuning. That's a completely different subject that is way more complex than the turbo is.

If you want to know as much about turbo and adding a turbo to your car as the experts do then buy this book. It has all the info in there. Even the newer books add only slightly different information only in relation to newer turbo designs and specifications, the basics and understanding is exactly the same and will make you realize that undercharging a car that does not have one is really a lot easier than you thought it was.

Oldie but Goody.......2006-08-25

Hugh MacInnes was a first-rate automotive engineer and car guy who had "been there, done that" with turbochargers and turbo projects, and this book is packed with good stuff about all kinds of turbochargers and turbo engines. There is even interesting stuff in here about turbo aircraft, two-strokes, and much more. There is also some nice turbo history, and it is interesting to see the return in modern times of older ideas--like water-cooled turbos and ball-bearings. Anyone who is really interested in automotive technology will enjoy this book. Keep in mind, it was last updated a long time ago (late 80's?), so there is too much about carburetors and too little about elecronic fuel injection and engine managemant. But for real gearheads that won't matter: Have we lost all interest in steam locomotives because there are now diesels? I think not.

Excelent!!.......2005-08-27

Excelente book!! Very useful for that who have old turbocharged engines. Excelente print quality also.

Really Outdated.......2004-05-08

This book is okay to buy if you plan on turbo charging a old carburated car. No info on fuel injection,or computer control. Actually the information given in the book is primative and was written before the first car that had even the most simple fuel injection. I would reccomend instead of buying this book, buy 'Maximum Boost' by Corky Bell.

The Turbocharger Bible.......2003-08-20

Very informative, very clear. The author is an excellent teacher and educator on this subject. No rash statements, just good solid theory with examples of actual functioning units. This should (IMHO) be the first turbo book that everyone should read before any others...It actually helps the other turbo books to make more sense. The most thorough and well thought out examples of almost any combination and arrangement that can be thought of, including diesels and aviation applications. Buy it!

F.I.A.S.C.O.: Blood in the Water on Wall Street

Average customer rating:

This best part of this book is it's a loan to me
Here's why derivatives become more and more complex
Good, entertaining reading about derivatives
A lesson in 'let the buyer beware'
Buy Liar's Poker instead

F.I.A.S.C.O.: Blood in the Water on Wall Street
Frank Partnoy
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0393046222

Amazon.com

The game of Russian roulette is alive and well and living on Wall Street, where it's known as the derivatives market. In his aptly named book F.I.A.S.C.O., Frank Partnoy, a former derivatives trader at Morgan Stanley, exposes the seamier side of high-stakes finance. Derivatives are securities whose worth is determined by the value of other securities; according to Partnoy, however, the derivatives market is an elaborate illusion performed with smoke and mirrors. In fascinating, frightening detail Partnoy describes several of Morgan Stanley's slick deals that, in his eyes, are just this side of outright fraud. More than just dishonest, the bait-and-switch tactics Wall Street traders employ to rig the markets are downright dangerous, since the massive debt these deals conceal will inevitably come back to haunt the dealmakers.

F.I.A.S.C.O. could be subtitled Portrait of the Trader as a Young Man, for Frank Partnoy is indeed young, and his short tenure on Wall Street left him sadly disillusioned but much wiser. His book will leave you wiser, too--and probably very worried.

Book Description

The Orange County bankruptcy. The fall of Barings Bank. Shocking losses at Procter & Gamble, Dell Computer, and Gibson Greetings. The Mexican peso crisis. What did all these disasters have in common? A class of financial instruments known as derivatives -- the most dangerous (and profitable) products ever devised on Wall Street. In FIASCO, a former derivatives salesman takes readers onto the trading floor of a leading investment bank -- and in a tell-all, no-holds-barred expos, reveals for the first time the ugly truth about these complex financial products and the people who peddle them. Writing with the same eye for telling details as Michael Lewis in Liar's Poker, Frank Partnoy shows how the once genteel world of investment banking has now become a place where the rallying cry is "There's blood in the water. Let's go kill someone."

Partnoy was in his late twenties when he landed the job of his dreams -- a position in Morgan Stanley's Derivatives Products Group, the single most profitable division of the venerable investment bank. With vivid character sketches and a wealth of funny-yet-disturbing anecdotes, Partnoy takes us inside the culture of Morgan Stanley's derivatives group. Encouraged by upper management and egged on by gun-toting senior salesmen, derivatives had become a business-as-war, take-no-prisoners operation where people pored over Soldier of Fortune and gloated when they sold a product that "ripped off" a client's face.

As he leads us through the ups and downs of his fifteen months at Morgan Stanley, Partnoy explains in plain English what derivatives are -- and shows how he and the other "rocket scientists" at the bank custom-designed these arcane financial products to dodge government regulators, encourage foreign currency speculation by pension and mutual funds, disguise risky gambles with AAA Standard & Poor's ratings, and avoid capital gains taxes for weathy individuals. He also details, for the first time, the deal that earned Morgan Stanley the fattest fee in Wall Street history -- a $74.5 million profit for devising a derivative that wiped hundreds of millions in losses off a Japanese company's balance sheet. But dreaming up ever more complicated derivatives products -- Dollarized Yield Curve Notes, Constant Maturity Treasury Floaters, Trigger Notes, and Total Return Swaps, to name a few -- was never enough. For the bank to earn its fee, they had to be sold -- usually, as Partnoy notes, either to "cheaters" (fund managers who wanted riskier investments than their regulators or charters normally allowed) or to "widows and orphans" (unsophisticated fund managers who couldn't understand the risks in fine print).

Throughout the book, Partnoy gives us a trading-floor view of the disasters fueled by derivatives trading and provides the formula of greed, daring, and ingenuity that are the basic ingredients of all derivatives. Written with humor, insight, and a mounting sense of moral outrage, FIASCO is both a brilliant insider's account of investment banking today and a blistering indictment of the largely unregulated market in derivatives -- a book that everyone who has a pension plan or invests in mutual funds needs to read.

Customer Reviews:

This best part of this book is it's a loan to me.......2006-03-15

The copy I read was a loan from my colleague and that was the best part about it. I'm sure I wouldn't have bought this book myself.

Other than that, the only better part is in the description of how some Japanese companies used financial derivatives to inflate their revenue or to mask their losses. In light of the off-balance-sheet deals we have witnessed in several corporate scandals through late 1990s to early 2000s, the author surely shows what could have been under the rug.

The author might have been honest with what he had come across with his fixed income derivatives sales jobs in two Wall Street firms. Yet I sincerely doubt how wide and deep such exposure he could have on things going around that complex world from his narrow corner. It's like telling the stories of Detroit after having been a used car salesperson for two or three years.

Over the book, there are the author's opinions on how great the fixed income derivatives department is and how low the others, e.g., municipal bonds, are. Apparently those opinions are very subjective as I believe he didn't have sufficient knowledge on the other operations to base his opinions. At least, he didn't seem to have worked or learned about the works in those other areas.

Even in the author's own fixed income derivatives department, the reader cannot find much on works, say, product structuring or risk management, outside the sales team. Simply put, we understand that the firm puts together certain derivatives products and hold inventory of them until they're sold. What would the firm be if market conditions changed before its salespersons could dump the products to the seemingly ignorant customers?

Another drawback with this book is the author tends to argue that since there is huge money to be made with these financial transactions, the government would never be able to impose an effective regulation for the public good.

It may be natural for the author to argue on the regulation issues, based on the fact that he left Wall Street to pursue a legal career. The fallacy of that argument in the book is it fails to recognize two prerequisites of the issue: whether and what regulation can protect the public good.

Fair to say is regulations surely can increase employment for lawyers but not necessarily serve the public good.

Here's why derivatives become more and more complex.......2003-01-02

The book has the merit of going through the most complex derivatives and structured products explaining to a fair extent business motivations behind the deal, an information that is not only confidential, but that constitutes the bread and butter of investment banks.

I loved the book until I got to the last chapter. I would have rated this book ... if it wasn't for this last chapter that the author has added in more recent editions.

I would like to make two comments:
The book tends to explain the concept of present value in simple words, but still wants to go through the most complex derivatives. As a result, certain parts are boring to someone without the financial background, but I would doubt that anyone without the financial background would make it to the second chapter or even be attracted to the book.
My second criticism is regarding the last chapter, "Epilogue". This chapter ruins the book. The author develops an anti-derivatives theory that turns to be amusing. As everyone knows, a tool is neither good nor bad by itself. It is what one achieves with the tool that is good or bad. This principle is also valid for derivatives. It is useless, not to say irritating to go through a list of lawsuits and settlements. This is not proving any further that derivatives are bad or that investment banks are evil.

Good, entertaining reading about derivatives.......2002-03-01

Now that there is a proven market for recent financial history/humor books, after the stunning success of Liars Poker, Predator's Ball and Den of Theives, this book FIASCO is another one of these books that tries to emulate the financial stories from the 1980's.

To my knowledge it is the first book to take on the derivatves trading industry, which is extremely volatile and can be the most risky sector of the financial markets, if you choose to speculate in it. More importantly, there will eventually be a derivatives disaster outside of the Long-term Capital one that occurred a couple of years ago.

This book, as I read it, is highly sensationalist. I have worked in the financial service industry with institutions and chose to leave the industry about a year ago. Here are my thoughts on this book as it relates to the derivatives markets.

1. Mr. Partnoy gives a high level description of some of the transactions that he was involved in

2. He seems to be indicting the market in derivatives, which I disagree on since he is dealing with institutions, which already should have a fiduciary responsibility to their clients. If they are dumb and allow an investment bank to "rips their face off" as Partnoy claims then they shouldn't be 1) in those financial products or (2) doing business with them. It is their choice!

3. From the reading it seemed as though Partnoy doesn't understand his role in the machine known as Wall Street. He is a salesmen, pure and simple. He gets paid to ring the register, nothing more. Other people construct the deals and he is the marketer to clients. If he makes clients money they should come back more and more. Often times, there are MANY other factors that cause business to vary from firm to firm. LOTS of different agendas/goals in mind.

4. Some of his anecdotes, particularly those in which he discusses the atmosphere in an investment bank around bonus time (pg.40 - 42, 202 - 205), are pretty amusing and dead on accurate.

5. The author's descriptions of some of his deals are clearly told from a junior banker's perspective, but they do a good job of putting forth what was being done, how it was being done, what everyone's perceived incentives for the transaction were, the work required to get the deal done, what kind of money, and importantly what kind of fees were involved.

In conclusion, like all books written by former investment bankers the book contains liberally sprinkled anecdotes regarding job interviews from hell, the ridiculous daily escapades that can occur on a trading floor, strip clubs, the lack of personal lives, gambling trips and other stories which could easily have been pulled from the pages of Mr. Lewis's book or "Monkey Business" by Rolfe and Troob. Folks, not all folks on Wall Street are like that but a HUGE percentage are. Nothing wrong with that lifestyle but it is a choice everyone is free to make. Hope this helps everyone.

A lesson in 'let the buyer beware'.......2002-01-23

Partnoy takes the reader through many real-life examples of how greedy, ignorant people can be taken by clever salesmen. He demonstrates the stupid bravado of clients who, for fear of looking unsophisticated, continue to buy what they do not understand. Incredibly, these people are apparently in charge of many other people's fortunes, retirement incomes and lives and they generally behave as gamblers in a Las Vegas casino.

Buy Liar's Poker instead.......2001-10-09

Ok let me get this straight. Here is a guy that believes in the efficient market theory but was a salesman/trader. There are tons of conflicts in the book. Partnoy is obviously a professor now. He is practically begging for more regulation in investment banking and feels that financial reporters and professors are not only smarter but deserve more money compared to the investment bankers. He starts out at First Boston and is doing well financially. Then moves to Morgan Stanley and does complicated derivative deals and makes a ton of money. Now a professor and investment banking is pure evil (now that he made a ton of money). Another conflict is Partnoy said he quit Morgan Stanley but on page 277 he writes "...I am not referring what Morgan Stanley did to me." This is where he is talking about another Morgan Stanley employee being fired. I rate this book 2 stars because it was somewhat entertaining but think about this before you buy it. Do you really want to read a book by an author who believes in the efficient market theory but also worked as a salesman/trader? I only bought this book for $3.29 used on amazon.com. I definitely wouldn't recommend paying full price for it.

Average customer rating:

One of Patricia Reilly Giff's Best
A cover showing the towers of Brooklyn Bridge drew me back to the late 1890s . . .
A top pick.
A heckuva town

Water Street
Patricia Reilly Giff
Manufacturer: Wendy Lamb Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0385730683
Release Date: 2006-09-12

Book Description

Brooklyn, 1875: Bird Mallon lives on Water Street where you can see the huge towers of the bridge to Manhattan being built. Bird wants nothing more in life than to be brave enough to be a healer, like her mother, Nory, to help her sister Annie find love, and to convince her brother, Hughie, to stop fighting for money with his street gang. And of course, she wishes that a girl would move into the empty apartment upstairs so that she can have a new friend close by.

But Thomas Neary and his Pop move in upstairs. Thomas who writes about his life in his journal--his father who spends each night at the Tavern down the street, the mother he wishes he had, and the Mallon family downstairs that he desperately wants to be a part of. Thomas, who has a secret that only Bird suspects, and who turns out to be the best friend Bird could ever have.

Customer Reviews:

One of Patricia Reilly Giff's Best.......2007-02-10

This is a wonderfully told tale of two eighth graders coming of age with the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. A great read for young adults facing decisions about their futures. A MUST read for those who love Patricia Reilly Giff's craft and storytelling!

A cover showing the towers of Brooklyn Bridge drew me back to the late 1890s . . ........2007-02-06

Against a backdrop of the Irish potato famine which sent a stream of immigrants to the United States, the author has written an 'easy-reader' with bonus bits of history. The building of the Brooklyn Bridge is of particular interest; also the mid-wifery, 'healing' and living in what we would now call a tenement. Giff introduces readers to different ways of dealing with personal tragedy through the intertwined lives of those who came from rural Ireland to a hard urban setting.

Never tired of hearing about the building of the bridge, I wonder how many immigrants we have to thank for that amazing structure. The bridge was a beautiful answer to commerce. It still fills the eyes with Art today, and seems to have a soul that keeps giving hope. The book has more appeal for the fourth through sixth graders of today; readers who are the age of the teens in the story will be impatient with the slow pace. Thomas is passionate about his journal writing and has a close friendship with Bird, his neighbor. Thomas, whose father spends more time at the tavern than with his son, is fortunate in having neighbors who stretch many meals to include him. The two friends love books and are fortunate in having an understanding teaching nun. Bird's mother hopes that her daughter will continue her education & follow her as a healer.

There are many books written about immigrants and children's fiction is a medium in which it is difficult to be altogether convincing. Perhaps Giff tries a little too hard to knit the threads into a happy ending; perhaps this is the last book in this series. Reviewer mcHaiku hopes teachers will choose "Water Street" to read aloud. it could stimulate some provocative thoughts & discussion.

A top pick........2006-12-10

Patricia Reilly Giff's WATER STREET is set in 1875 Brooklyn: Bird Mallon wishes to be a healer like her mother, and longs for a friend to move in the empty apartment upstairs; but neither of her dreams seem to come true; especially when Thomas and his father move in. Fans of Giff's prior 'Nory Ryan's Song will welcome a new generation in Bird, daughter of Nory and Sean.

A heckuva town.......2006-10-02

For a woman who lives in Connecticut, Patricia Reilly Giff certainly seems to be single-handedly creating more quality New York historical fiction than most of the actual residents. I've always had a kind of touch and go relationship with Giff. On the one hand, she's a master of children's literature. When you want to talk about authors who will be remembered for generations and have long elaborate books written about their works, few are as clear a shoo-in as Ms. Giff. On the other hand, I've a low depressing-children's-book tolerance. I loved A House of Tailors, merrily traipsed through Pictures of Hollis Woods, and found myself knee-deep in rotten potatoes with Nory Ryan's Song. About there, however, I found I could not pick up Maggie's Door, no matter how good everyone said it was. Were it not for unforeseen circumstances I might never have found Water Street sitting merrily on my lap, waiting to be read. So read it I did, albeit with more than a little trepidation. Sporting what I consider to be the prettiest l'il ole cover ever given to a Patricia Reilly Giff book, "Water Street" has the power to win over even the thickest of critics (re: me). Engaging and true, this is a comforting return to familiar characters sans harrowing passages and the eating of limpets.

Nory Ryan immigrated from Ireland to America. This we know. Now, however, Nory's grown up to be a healer in Brooklyn and her daughter, Bird, is following in her footsteps. Thirteen-year-old Bird wants to learn to heal just like her mother does, but there are other things pecking at her attention. There's the slow building of the Brooklyn Bridge that some consider a bit of late 19th century folly. And there's that new boy, Thomas, who just moved in above Bird's apartment. Thomas is the only son of a drunken, if kindly, lout and he immediately gravitates to both Bird and her kin. As a result he's unofficially adopted by the family and is pulled into their problems. Bird, while visiting a harrowing bit of bloody healing, suddenly is re-examining her calling. More frightening still, her older brother Hughie is getting into bar fights and shaming the family. As Bird and Thomas begin to rely more and more on one another they grow, face difficulties head on, and embody 1875 Brooklyn at its best.

Some books feel like a pair of comfortable shoes you can just slip on. In contrast to some of Giff's more harrowing titles, "Water Street" just feels... good. Obviously there's a bit of violence, anguish, and pain here and there. This is old-timey Brooklyn, after all. But somehow in the midst of all this "Water Street" is never anything but a joy to read. The plots and problems of the characters tie together nicely (perhaps too nicely for some). There's an arc to the tale, and a wonderful solution to the mystery of Hughie's actions. And as always, Giff spots her text with tasty descriptive snippets like, "...and then there was a quick memory of that man standing at their door once, his face like an apple that had browned and lost its juice, complaining that they hadn't paid the bill on time".

As with any book that continues a character or family's tale, one has to figure out whether or not reading its predecessors is a necessary step in order to appreciate the current story. Consider Patricia Reilly Giff the queen of the stand-alone narrative. Though fans of the first two Nory Ryan books will get a little more out of "Water Street" than first time fans, reading the previous titles is definitely not a prerequisite. Would that other authors could say as much.

For all its comfort and delights, "Water Street", is probably not Giff's best work. It's admirable but not exceptional. Nonetheless, I've little doubt that for a certain segment of the greater child population out there, "Water Street" will become a favorite for years to come. Beautifully written and containing an inner dignity, this is one of more enjoyable children's books to hit the market in 2006.

Volkswagen Sport Tuning for Street and Competition: Getting the Best Performance from Your Water-Cooled Volkswagen (Engineering and Performance)

Average customer rating:

Pretty good starter book
VOLKSWAGEN SPORT TUNING FOR STREET AND COMPETITION
Excellent Handbook VW Fans
Excellent info on A1and A2 VW modifications
Help you avoid costly mistakes

Volkswagen Sport Tuning for Street and Competition: Getting the Best Performance from Your Water-Cooled Volkswagen (Engineering and Performance)
Per Schroeder
Manufacturer: Bentley Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Trucks & Vans | Automotive | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0837601614

Customer Reviews:

Pretty good starter book.......2003-06-12

This is not a book for illegal street racers where anything goes, it is specific to cars running in legitimate closed-course competition. I dinged this book a couple of stars, because it did not include anything about performance rallying, or GTI Cup preparation, areas I am most interested in. Racing technology moves so fast that a book like this is partially out of date before it is printed. The "hot tire" last week is only good for a course marker this week. That said, Volkswagen Sport Tuning for Street and Competition does take you through the right stuff, and does a good job for autocrossers, solo, and time-trialists. A current rule-book and Bentley Repair manual is enough information to get you on the track - it's worth the money as a single source of information and a philosophy for preparation.

I was involved with motor sports in the mid-seventies and ran out of money before I learned an important lesson - all the basic stuff has to be right before you start looking for performance modifications. I wish I had a book like this back then. No amount of chromed/polished/anodized bolt-on performance modifications will offset a worn-out motor, soft-motor-mounts, and a bad clutch. That kind of thing is basic to high performance driving. Of course when you're a kid, who can make you believe money spent on a new clutch is better than a 290degree unobtanium camshaft

Overall I felt Volkswagen Sport Tuning for Street and Competition was money well spent and I would buy the book again if I lost it.

VOLKSWAGEN SPORT TUNING FOR STREET AND COMPETITION.......2002-12-07

I AM VERY DISAPPOINTED ABOUT THIS BOOK, ITS ONLY A BUYER GUIDE, IT'S ONLY HAVE FIVE BOLT-ON PERFORMANCE TIPS, AND THAT TIPS CAN DO ANYBODY. I EXPECTED MORE, BUT IF YOU SEE THE REFERENCE ABOUT THE AUTOR NOW YOU KNOW WHY (NO OFFENSE).

Excellent Handbook VW Fans.......2002-01-17

I bought this book with the intention of gathering as much information as possible about tuning my Volkswagen. Since my purchase, this book has become my bible for tuning my vehicle. This was the perfect bridge to lead me into more detailed and complex procedures behind tuning my Volkswagen. The book focuses more on the A2 and A1 vehicles, which was a bit of a downer because I drive an A3, but there was still plenty of information presented for the inquiring reader. The book emphasizes racing, and it is also an excellent source for information concerning the various racing organizations and clubs and their respective rules. I recommend this book for anyone new to automotive tuning, or for someone who is new to the specific category of tuning Volkswagens.

Excellent info on A1and A2 VW modifications.......2001-10-28

I have two Jettas and one Golf and I found this book very well done, excellent information on what to do and not to do to your VW for street or track. Well written and excellent photos make this a good resource book for the VW enthusiast! This and your Robert Bentley manual will give valuable information on maintaining your VW.

Help you avoid costly mistakes.......2000-12-16

It's an excellent book for the novice A1/A2 autocrosser or street performance driver like myself. Explains how some modifications for the track would not be the best for the street. Great info about exhausts, suspension, and engine tuning, with lots of autocrossing stuff mixed in. One of the best books around.

Harvest of hearts;: Missionary experiences

Average customer rating:

Harvest of hearts;: Missionary experiences
John Ward Van de Water
Manufacturer: Zondervan Pub. House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

The Full Night Still in the Street Water: Poems (Western Literature Series)

Average customer rating:

This Is The Work of A New Poetry God

The Full Night Still in the Street Water: Poems (Western Literature Series)
Brian Young
Manufacturer: University of Nevada Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Brian Young is the creator of powerful, sometimes harsh poems that combine outrage with remarkable lyricism, brooding melancholy with rich, sensual, even playful language. Young's work is difficult, in the sense that it rejects reductive prettiness, and at times threatening and full of moral anger against whatever is toxic in our environment and our culture. Yet it is never less than compelling, even alluring, in the wealth of its imagery and the force of Young's authentic and original voice. This is poetry for a new millennium, poetry that dares to look at what is ugliest and most frightening in our contemporary world and still acknowledge the powerful consolations of language, of hope, of love.

Customer Reviews:

This Is The Work of A New Poetry God.......2003-06-22

Incredibly powerful poetry that shows the world for what it is: a magnificent nightmare of pain and joy, a brilliant collage of depravity and denial, of sadness and transcendence. Brian Young is an emerging genius. There is no other way to describe this idiosyncratic collection that will rip the spleen from your guts and shove it down your throat and still leave you feeling not pain, but wonder. When you finish reading this book you will feel you have been blessed. Read it! Read it! Read it!

Average customer rating:

Crystal Serves Up A Delicious Buffet
You can't help but identify with Water Street
Water Street Could Be Any Street...
Water Street Feels Like Home
More fun than UK basketball

Water Street
Crystal Wilkinson
Manufacturer: Toby Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1592640559

Book Description

Water Street examines the secret lives of neighbors and friends who live on Water Street in a small town in Kentucky. Love and truth and tragedy are revealed under Wilkinson's sure hand. This is a superb, cohesive work which marks Ms. Wilkinson's evolution as a gifted observer and writer.

Customer Reviews:

Crystal Serves Up A Delicious Buffet.......2007-07-18

These stories fill the senses like mouthfuls of home-cooked food, each just the right amount of swallow. Her characters are well-drawn and appear in the eye long after the last word is read, and the interweaving of the caharcters' lives send you back to other stories for a second read, a better understanding, that you didn't get the first time. Crystal has the ability to write a scene worthy of a camera, and she "nestles" us in her words, her Water Street.

You can't help but identify with Water Street.......2006-05-06

Water Street, Wilkinson's follow-up to Blackberries, Blackberries, once again sets the reader right in the middle of Kentucky culture. Focusing her short stories on fictional inhabitants of Water Street creates a novel-like feel in the character studies exploring the interconnectedness of the characters of Water Street. Wilkinson's stories examine human experience without being preachy. Wilkinson again demonstrates the challenges and joys of the human experience through her exquisite use of vernacular, description, setting and character.

Water Street Could Be Any Street..........2003-05-02

Crystal Wilkinson's Water Street is an engaging novel that
transports the reader to a middle-class neighborhood in small town Stanford, Kentucky, USA. The residents are hardworking, law-abiding citizens who go to work, church, pay their taxes, and raise their families to the best of their abilities. In the opening passages of the book, the author mentions that every person has two stories to tell: one story by day and the other by night which is kept near the heart for safekeeping. Wilkinson allows the reader to experience both stories through the carefully crafted monologues and short narratives.

The novel opens with the manic-depressant Yolanda in the midst of a meeting with her psychiatrist. In her session, the reader is casually introduced to a few Water Street residents: her best friend, Mona whom she idolizes; her brother, KiKi, her husband, Junior; and a host of other characters who influenced her in childhood and adulthood. The beauty of the novel is the reader will learn more about Mona, Kiki, Junior, Sandy, Maxine, et al in subsequent chapters via a series of soliquies or third person accounts. Through the selected medium, the reader observes how they tackle a host of issues such as interracial relationships, marital problems, quests for love, divorce, absentee parents, etc.

Because it is a small town and all the residents live on Water Street, the stories are interconnected and the same characters are often mentioned in one or more stories. So for example, we hear about Mona, the best friend from Yolanda; Mona, my little sister's best friend that I slept with from Kiki; Mona in her own eyes, etc. We get up close and personal viewpoints from mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, daughters, sons, neighbors and friends. One particular noteworthy item is that the author's skill in writing from the male perspective is equally compelling as from the female's. In "The Girl of My Dreams: Kiki", we find Kevin/Kiki calling off the wedding after the rehearsal dinner, but not for the reasons one may think because of the title of the story. We also experience other male viewpoints in the coming of age stories "Water Street, 1979: Junior", "Between Men", and a principled man in search of love in "An Ordinary Man: Reverend Townsend."

The dialogue is mature, the writing is great, and the stories are painfully honest. These are not eccentric or malevolent characters, in fact, they are so down-to-earth that they seem real, almost like ordinary folk instead of fictional protagonists. Just as with non-fictional beings, the harsh realities of life strikes Water Street as with any other street and the imperfections, vulnerabilities,pain, and joy of the characters are expertly revealed. Water Street's messages are universal and timeless: the same people with the same issues can be found in the inner cities as well as the rural landscapes in any decade. This is a great second novel by
Crystal Wilkinson; I must add her debut novel, Blackberries,
Blackberries to my list of books to check out this year.

Phyllis
APOOO BookClub

Water Street Feels Like Home.......2003-03-01

Water Street is a collection of short stories that revolve around small town life. The inhabitants of Water Street each have a tale and they share their experiences with us throughout this book. The characters are so lifelike and their experiences so real, you feel at home and as though you know each of them individually. Dealing with topics such as love and loss, the stories are full of emotions. They had me laughing one minute, crying the next. This book is a testament to small communities and the people that live within them. Crystal Wilkinson has done a superb job with this novel. I cannot wait to read more from this author.

Reviewed by Latoya Carter-Qawiyy
The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

More fun than UK basketball.......2002-11-26

I read "Water Street'' in one sitting. I couldn't put it down. The characters are warm, the writing is pitch-perfect and the stories flow like Jim Beam. Crystal Wilkinson is Alice Walker on Prozac.

A Shark Out of Water: A John Thatcher Mystery

Average customer rating:

Tedious tedious tedious
Another winner for Lathen
As terrific as always

A Shark Out of Water: A John Thatcher Mystery
Emma Lathen
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0312170181

Amazon.com

At first glance, a banker-as-private eye seems a less than scintillating choice for a mystery novel's hero, but it doesn't take long for Emma Lathen's protagonist, John Putnam Thatcher, to win the reader's heart and mind in Shark Out of Water. Putnam, a Wall Street banker, is in Gda&nacute;sk trolling for new investment opportunities when a whistle-blowing member of a European consortium turns up dead. In the course of solving the murder, Putnam also delivers a neat explanation of international finance, which is nearly as fascinating as the crime itself. Money, murder, and an exotic setting--Lathen delivers the goods with style and panache.

Book Description

The deal was murder

A megabucks investment opportunity draws financier/sleuth John Putnam Thatcher to the decaying Polish port if Gdansk, where a killing can be made if the busy canal there is rebuilt--long a dream of maverick Baltic business official Stefan Zabriski. But cutthroat politicking and partying among multinational shippers, bankers, and ecologists can be costly, and fatal, for Zabriski turns up dead after a serious champagne bash. Drawn into a sticky merger of power games, crooked commerce, and international intrigue, Thatcher must speculate on a deal more lethal that any he's ever seen on Wall Street.

Customer Reviews:

Tedious tedious tedious.......1999-07-29

There is so much boring detail that I could hardly finish this book. Ever since Lathen turned John Thatcher into a minor character in this series, the books have been dull.

Another winner for Lathen.......1998-04-03

The latest John Putnam Thatcher book continues the trend of focusing less on Thatcher and his fellow bank associates, and more on third party participants in the murder and mayhem going on around Thatcher. The European locale adds flavor to the plot; the internal politics of a unified western Europe organization makes for interesting reading. Readers know what to expect from Ms. Lathen, and will not be dissapointed. Hopefully the series will continue despite the death of one of the two co-authors using the Emma Lathen pseudonym.

As terrific as always.......1997-11-27

An environmental disaster has struck Germany^Rs Kiel Canal whena fogcauses numerous collisions and oil spills. Due to the accident and the high degree of shipping through the canal, the German government is thinking of taking out a loan to rebuild and widen the canal. The myriad of insurance claims that follow the aftermath and the potential German project are both being handled through the Baltic Area Development Association (BADA). Wall Street, ever interested in a good deal, dispatches John Putnam Thatcher to Gdansk, Poland to learn whether it pays to invest in the canal renovation deal.

However, the simple business transaction takes a nasty turn when a BADA official claims to have uncovered fraud within the organization. Immediately after the announcement, the official^Rs battered corpse is found and the murder of his lover shortly follows. The Polish police officer Oblonski turns to Thatcher to help him muddle through the world of international finance to uncover the identity of a fiscal murderer.

A SHARK OUT OF WATER is the twenty-third book in the Thatcher series and surprisingly with all of those novels, the current story is a refreshing tale. Thatcher is a great character and the story line is filled with self deprecating irony as Emma Lathen laughs at the slapstick efforts of governments and international corporations capitalization of the former Soviet Union. The who-done-it is well written, but it is the intricate glimpses into the wacky, weird, almost mystical, world of international finance that turns this into another great Thatcher novel. Harriet Klausner

Average customer rating:

Fascinating

How do you solve the mystery of a house when only you and your friend can see it?

56 Water Street
Melissa Strangway
Manufacturer: iUniverse-Indigo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Spine-Chilling Horror | Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0595424295

Book Description

Something's not right at number 56 Water Street. From the sidewalk in front of the abandoned house, ten-year-old best friends Derek and Ravine watch lights flicker on and off, again and again. When they race home to tell their parents, they're in for a shock: there is no house at 56 Water Street!

The house is invisible to everyone but Derek and Ravine, and the ghost haunting the old place wants to get their attention. Trapped for more than a hundred years, Isabel Roberts needs to solve the mystery of her younger sister's fate before she can truly rest in peace. And she's chosen Derek and Ravine to help her.

When the two friends summon the courage to venture inside the house, they're unprepared for what they find (after all, meeting a ghost face-to-face isn't exactly normal!) and the spine-tingling adventures in store for them. But Derek and Ravine are determined to help Isabel. If they don't, she could be a ghost forever!

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating.......2007-08-06

Found this book to be fascinating. I couldn't put the book down. The storyline was intriguing and kept me on the edge. Highly recommended. Looking forward to more "Derek and Ravine's" sequel.

How do you solve the mystery of a house when only you and your friend can see it?.......2007-08-04

56 Water Street is the story of two young friends, Derek and Ravine, who have long wondered about the old dilapidated house on the untended property across the street from their houses. In all their 10 years, they have never ventured to even set foot on the lawn, until one day they were intrigued by lights inside that kept switching off and on.

This book is obviously intended for juvenile readers but I thoroughly enjoyed it, even though I'm in my 50s.

The author has managed to create an intriguing plot and each chapter end with the reader eager to get on to the next. The story unfolds nicely and keeps the reader's interest as the two kids try to solve the mystery of this house and its resident ghost. They learn that the ghost needs their help, but it takes some clever digging on their part to figure out what the ghost needs, and how to help.

The story involves the very close relationship of Derek and Ravine and the strong bonds between them. Derek is a typical 10-year-old boy, but obviously much brighter than most. And his friend, Ravine, is even smarter than Derek and her sensitive understanding fits in well with her tomboyish outlook. Between the two kids, there is a formidable team who manage to get to the bottom of this mystery.

But this isn't just a ghost story; it's the story of friendship, of things lost and found, of sadness and happiness. It is extremely well-suited to juvenile readers.

For a first novel, Strangway has created excellent characters and has managed dialogue that sounds real and consistent with the characters. Her ability to tell her story and to drag her reader along from scene to scene is superb.

Juvenile fiction or not, I noticed the jacket says this is the first in a series of 'Derek & Ravine' stories -- I am looking forward to the next.

In the meantime, lots of my friends' kids are going to be receiving this book as a gift. And I'm pretty sure their parents will read it, too.

ASMIOV'S SCIENCE FICTION - Volume 3, number 6 - June 1979: The Thaw; Shop on Bedford Street; Storming the Bijou Mon Amour; Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot; Hitch on the Bull Run; A Thirst for Broken Water; Illusions; Scoop

Average customer rating:

ASMIOV'S SCIENCE FICTION - Volume 3, number 6 - June 1979: The Thaw; Shop on Bedford Street; Storming the Bijou Mon Amour; Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot; Hitch on the Bull Run; A Thirst for Broken Water; Illusions; Scoop
George H. (editor) (Tanith Lee; Martin Gardner; Michael Bishop; Grendel Briarton; Sharon Webb; Paul Novitski; Tony Sarowitz; Stanley Schmidt; Michael A. McCollum; Jo Clayton; Isaac Asimov; Jon L. Breen) Scithers
Manufacturer: Davis Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000IDS5PQ

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