A Thousand Barrels A Second: The Coming Oil Break Point and the Challenges Facing an Energy Dependent World is one of those titles that pretty much says it all! ($27.95, McGraw Hill) The author, Peter Tertzakian, is the chief energy economist and director at ARC Financial Corporation, described as "one of the world’s leading energy investment firms." Let it be said that he has written a very entertaining and informative book about the history, present state, and possible future of oil. He takes the reader from the days of domesticating animals to do some of the heavy work, through wood, steam, coal, natural gas, nuclear, and oil. Over the four decades I have been a reviewer, I have read similar books, such as "The Population Bomb" that said we’d all be dead by 1970. My feeling, as I read this book was that, if Tertzakian is right, by 2030 things are going to get very nasty on planet Earth as the various world powers vie to get their hands on what oil is available. Fortunately, the good news is that "We’re not running out of oil, but the oil we need is getting harder to find." Another scenario includes the discovery of new fields of oil, new technologies to better use what oil exists, and new or better ways to generate the energy the world needs. Meanwhile, all the turmoil in the Middle East is going to increase competition for existing reserves between the industrialized West and the nations of India and China. This is an important book and one worth reading if you are to understand the great changes that will be required in the latter end of this century.

When The New York Times revealed a National Security Agency program to monitor the calls of potential terrorists outside of the United States who were talking to people inside who might be planning to kill a lot of Americans, the Democrat Party turned it into a "domestic" spying issue. It wasn’t and it isn’t. However, most Americans would be astonished to learn how much perfectly legal surveillance of their lives exists. A softcover edition of Robert O’Harrow, Jr’s book, No Place to Hide, has just been published ($15.00, Free Press) and readers will discover that virtually every aspect of their lives is being recorded and stored away for analysis. Multimillion-dollar businesses exist to do this and some elements of the government are outsourcing intelligence gathering to such "information" companies. New ways to monitor everything we do are being created and put forth for use. In the meantime, corporations routinely conduct surveillance on their employees for both legal and very good reasons. The author is a reporter for The Washington Post and when his book was published last year, it was widely acclaimed. Add my voice to those recommending it.

The parents of college students soon discover that their children are being taught by some of the most politically radical folks, but many do not know that some of those professors spent years on the FBI’s "Ten Most Wanted List", have been bombers, and devoted Communists. The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America by David Horowitz ($27.95, Regnery) is an astounding collection of people you would more likely expect to find in a prison or an insane asylum instead of on America’s campuses. One of my favorites is Paul Ehrlich, a professor at Stanford University who became famous for his 1968 book, "The Population Bomb." He predicted that, by the 1970s, famine would kill off millions and that England wouldn’t even exist beyond the year 2000. Another is Bill Ayers, a professor of early childhood education at the University of Chicago. Ayers, who along with his wife founded the Weather Underground in 1969 with the admonition to "Kill all the rich people." He brags of participating in a number of bombings. There’s hardly a major college or university that isn’t home to folks like this. It’s nice to see them exposed. The scary thing is that they can influence a whole new generation of young, impressionable people.

With the recent changes on the Supreme Court, interest has been evoked about its future. For those who take an interest in legal issues, Maureen Harrison and Steve Gilbert have edited two books, Landmark Decisions of the United States Supreme Court 2000-2005 and Sexual Harassment Decisions of the United States Supreme Court. Both are priced at $19.95 and available from Excellent Books, PO Box 131322, Carlsbad, CA 92013-1322. Written for the general reader, Volume #7 of the Decisions series explores cases involving violence against women, partial birth abortion, Internet pornography, private property rights, and the Ten Commandments, among others. The cases about sexual harassment address the problem of schoolroom predators, student-on-student sexual harassment, the sexually hostile workplace, and comparable issues. Like they say, ignorance of the law is no defense!

For those still exploring the world of Islam to better understand current events, I recommend The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims edited by Andrew G. Bostom, MD ($28.00, Prometheus Books). Published last October, it has taken this long for me to get through its nearly 760 pages, but what this massive collection reveals is the theology and philosophy behind the many Islamic attacks on America, culminating with 9-11 and part of many others around the world since the rise of the Islamic Revolution in the late 1970s. Simply stated, Islam always was a warrior cult built around Mohammed whose holy book, the Koran, is a virtual battle plan for world conquest. There is little about the essentials of Islam that is either peaceful or tolerant. This book is an achievement of scholarship.

I hadn’t given it much thought, but many of the television series that were popular in recent years have been about single people and how they preferred their single life to that of marriage. Shows that featured married couples often portrayed marriage as less than satisfying. When I read Unhooked generation: The Truth About Why We’re Still Single ($21.95, Hyperion) I gained an insight to the generation of those under forty who found it difficult to find a partner in life and why. Jillian Straus had spent eight years as a producer for The Oprah Winfrey Show who writes, "By the time I myself had turned thirty, I was realizing that I had spent hours on the phone with both my male and female friends all over the country discussing their relationship troubles." Finally, she decided to serious research the problem that Generation X encountered, concluding they were a further extension of the "Me Generation" for which the Boomers, now nearing retirement age, were noted. Other influences included a culture in which many more choices of all kinds exist, where divorce was more common and many were children of divorce, and how feminism may have opened new doors for women, but also caused confusion. Then there is the culture of celebrity that is all about luxury, youth, and the single life. Finally comes the penalty paid for putting off marriage, delaying until it may become less of an option.

Wild Women and Books is a fun softcover by Brenda Knight ($16.95, Conari, Newburyport, MA) that is a tribute to the many women writers who have entertained and inspired us over the years. From religious transcribers and political dissidents to erotic playwrights and romantic poets, they run the gamut and include names like Agatha Christie, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Simone de Beauvoir, Virginia Wolfe and J.K. Rowling. So many talented and influential writers, and this book is a delightful introduction and reintroduction to the best of them. Then there’s Imagining Ourselves: Global Voices from a New Generation of Women ($26.95 New World Library, Novato, CA), a book that grew out of a questionaire sent to women aged 20 to 40 around the world by Paula Goldman. The answers she received run the gamut from amusing to challenging and they have been gathered together in a book with a foreword by Isabel Allende. For anyone interested in women’s issue, it is a testament to the fact that the lives of women have changed and are changing all over the world. Illustrated with many eye-catching photos, it is published in association with the International Museum of Women and is filled with useful data as well as opinions.

History is well served in Eminent Lives: The President’s Edition ($39.95, Harper Audio, 11 CDs, 13 hours unabridged) that offers a portrait of George Washington by Paul Johnson, Thomas Jefferson as seen through the eyes respectively of Christopher Hitchens, and Ulysses S. Grant, and as profiled by Michael Korda. Three famous presidents and three famed, accomplished writers. I like to listen when I drive, so I can make the familiar trip while absorbing fresh insights about these undeniably great men. How fortunate our nation was to have them and how remarkable to be able to listen to the writings of superb minds exploring their lives.

Every month I receive books that do not fit neatly into any particular section, so let’s finish "My Picks" with So What Can I Eat? ($14.95, Wiley) by Elisa Zied, M.S., R.D. with Ruth Winter, M.S. I have known Ruth for a long time and she is one of the top medical and health writers in the nation. If she has teamed with Ms. Zied, you can bet this is a no-nonsense book that deals with facts, not fads. Ms. Zied is a registered dietitian who wants to help people discover how easy it is to enjoy healthy eating without feeling deprived. Based on the new Dietary Guidelines, this book helps you understand the guidelines and to make important lifestyle changes without necessarily giving up foods you have always enjoyed. I was very impressed by this book and I think you will be too. Health is important for our pets and if you have a dog in your family, I recommend you pick up a copy of Dogage: How to Keep Your Dog Youthful and Healthy by Dr. Dondi S. Dahlgaard, D.VM. ($14.00, Plume). It is a complete nose-to-tail dog care guide that is filled with interesting, valuable advice on everything from training, exercise, and grooming to caring for an aging dog. Among other things, you will learn how to read the labels on dog food!

A World of Memoirs

You can learn a lot about your own life by reading the memoirs of other lives. For some reason of late most of those I have received are by women, one is by a very famous man, and the other by one of the 14 million men who are widowed by the death of a beloved wife.

It sometimes seems like Goldie Hawn has always been a part of our lives since her early fame as the ditsy blonde on "Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In." Unlike many in the cast of that show, Goldie went onto to a tremendous career in movies from "Cactus Flower" to "The First Wives Club" and others. And she became a Hollywood success beyond just acting thanks to her smarts. Now her story is available in softcover in A Lotus Grows in the Mud ($14.00, Berkley reprint), written with journalist Wendy Holden. She shares her life in a candid, insightful, and unconventional memoir that takes the reader along from her early years, to memories of go-go dancing in the 1960s, her phenomenal success on television, and, of course, her relationship with long-time partner, actor Kurt Russell. It is hard to believe that she’s turned sixty and is a grandmother! If you’re fan—and who isn’t—you will enjoy her memoir. At the other end of the scale of pleasantness is the lawyer Gloria Allred who has gained fame with high-profile legal battles. Fight Back & Win: My Thirty-Year Fight Against Injustice—And How You Can Win Your Own Battles ($34.95, Regan Books, an imprint of HarperCollins) was written with Deborah Caulfield Rybak and it must be said Allred had her share of setbacks, teaching her how to go from victim to survivor. Forever ready to race in front of the television cameras, Allred is renowned for her boldness. The book is available as well on Harper Audio ($29.95, five CDs, six hours) and it is not for the feint of heart.

The Pig and I: How I Learned to Love Men (Almost) as Much as I Love My Pets by Rachel Toor ($14.00, Plume softcover) is written for every woman who has ever come home from a disastrous date or dayat the office to the unconditional love of a pet. Toor relates how she has fallen in love with a series of pets from a mouse, a rat, a dog, a cat, a horse, an ass, and a Vietnamese pot-bellied pig, as well as an equally eclectic string of men who often seem to reflect some of these animals. Want some fun? Read this book. Still Life with Chickens: Starting Over in a House by the Sea is a memoir by Catherine Goldhammer ($21.95, Hudson Street Press, New York) that is actually not due out until May. We meet the author at midlife, newly separate, and with downsized finances. Forced to make some extreme changes, including selling her house and uprooting herself and her nearly teenaged daughter to a more "rustic" New England setting, she begins again by purchasing six baby chickens. Hers is a lesson in hope and starting over with results that take her from chaos to a new found grace. In short, a very inspiring, beautifully told story.

Smashed: The Story of a Drunken Girlhood by Koren Zailckas ($14.00, Penguin) was an instant bestseller when it was first published and is now available in softcover. The author recounts her love affair with booze, her first taste of alcohol at age thirteen, and how she used booze through high school and college as a terrible crutch. This is a very compelling memoir and a warning to the many other young women whose adolescence is defined by alcoholism. Dana Buchman has written A Special Education: One Family’s Journey Through the Maze of Learning Disabilities ($21.95, Da Capo press). This memoir in particular will prove of value to every parent of a child who has been diagnosed with learning disabilities. In the author’s case, her daughter Charlotte was especially afflicted, well beyond dyslexia and other aspects. How this popular fashion designer battled to obtain an accurate diagnosis and the necessary support of specialists and educators is a very compelling story.

Michael Weinberger was enjoying a perfect, happily-ever-after love story with his wife and writing partner, Jakie, as they wrote situation comedy scripts for television shows that included "Happy Days", "Saved by the Bell" and "Three’s Company". Then Jakie died at age 46 from cancer, leaving him behind to raise four kids. To say he was distraught is putting it mildly. A Message from Jakie: A Spiritual Journey of Love, Death, and Hope ($15.95, Sentient Publications, Boulder, CO) shares how he made that journey with the estimated 14 million men who are likewise widowed. He tells of the grief and of his rebirth, how to triumph over tragedy, come to grips with the great mystery of death, and to celebrate life. It’s just out this month. We’ll finish with a book by a famous personality, Who’s Afraid of a Large Black Man: Race, Power, Fame, Identity, and Why Everyone Should Read My Book ($14.00, Riverhead Books, imprint of Penguin Putnam, softcover) by Charles Barkley. Famed for his NBA career in basketball, Barkley has gone on to be a television sports analyst and a frequent commentator on racial issues. This book is less a memoir than a series of interviews with people like Tiger Woods, Samuel L. Jackson, Morgan Freeman, and others who share their thoughts on the issues of our times.

Getting Down to Business

America is awash in books about entrepreneurship, management, and finance. And why not? We are a nation in which attaining financial success is, in many ways, our true religion.

Blog! How the Newest Media Revolution is Changing Politics, Business and Culture ($24.95, CDS Books) by David Kline and Dan Burstein is one of those books you will want to read to gain a better understanding of this relatively new phenomenon that is, indeed, changing how and what is communicated these days. Blogs, along with Internet sites, have changed our view of what the news media tells us, often rapidly uncovering inaccurate and even false information. The Fourth Estate no longer has a monopoly on what the truth is or is not. Blogs, too, affect the outcomes of elections and, for business they represent both a benefit and a danger. The blog that reveals the details of a potential merger or that openly criticize or gossip about a company’s management can prove to be a major problem. Blogs represent the ultimate in personal expression and the exercise of free speech. The book is enhanced by the views of some of today’s A-List bloggers who engaged in some very thought-provoking dialogues with the book’s authors.

We are also a nation in which changing jobs is not only commonplace, but frequently a decision that is forced upon us. An estimated twenty to forty million Americans change jobs every year! Let’s look at some books on this topic starting with Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters: 400 Unconventional Tips, Tricks, and Tactics for Landing Your Dream Job by Jay Conrad Levinson and David E. Perry ($16.95, Wiley). Published last October, this book combines the know-how of the author of a bestselling guerrilla marketing series and the managing director of Perry-Martel International, one of the most successful search firms in North America. Imagine getting the same information that his corporate clients pay thousands for? You can’t beat the price and you may well find just the information you need to move up the career ladder to better money. A more conventional approach can be found in The Job Search Solution, subtitled "The Ultimate System for Finding a Great Job Now!" Written by Tony Beshara ($16.95, Amacom), this large softcover is the work of a man who has been finding jobs for professionals for more than thirty years. He runs a very successful placement and recruiting firm, so the system he offers has been time-tested, yet simple and effective. He examines what 97% of American businesses are really looking for when hiring, what the true purpose of an interview is, and how to increase the chances of being asked back, and ultimately offered the job. And there is much more in this excellent book. Monster Careers: Networking ($15.00, Penguin Books softcover) is by Jeff Taylor, founder of the famed Monster.com website, with Doug Hardy. Whether you are a new graduate, thinking about changing your career, recently laid off, or an executive, you always need new job strategies to survive and thrive. Networking in this modern era requires new skills and knowledge, and this little book provides them.

Surely not everyone’s cup of tea, but corporate histories can tell us much about how new technologies and trends have transformed our lives to date. Engineering the World: Stories from the First 75 years of Texas Instruments by Caleb Pirtle III does that in what, trust me, is a very entertaining and interesting book. It’s hard to believe, but TI started back in 1930 with its predecessor, Geophysical Service Inc. The aim then was to innovate new ways to find oil and gas using seismic signal processing. In 1941, four GSI managers pooled their assets and credit to purchase the company. By 1942, when World War II was raging, they began making submarine detection equipment. In 1951, they changed the name of the company to Texas Instruments and in 1954 TI introduced the first silicon transistor, years ahead of the industry. In the years that followed, TI was pioneering much of the hardware that transformed how we live today. ($27.95, Southern Methodist University Press) The next time you hear people speak ill of this nation, remember that it is companies like Texas Instruments that helped defeat its enemies in former wars and helps today to protect us. It is made up of people who thrived on a corporate culture of creativity and mental toughness to compete in the world semiconductor market. And it is a company that never lost sight of high ethical standards and its civic responsibilities.

Total Workday Control Using Microsoft ™ Outlook: The Eight Best Practices of Task and E-Mail Management ($21.95, New Academy Publishers, San Ramon, CA) is big softcover by Michael Linenberger and it will prove very useful for anyone who is drowning in e-mail. A workplace efficiency expert, the author shares his techniques for getting control of e-mail and adding at least two more hours of real productivity to your workday. If this is a problem you’re encountering, an investment in this book may well restore your sanity. All of us spend our days in some form of negotiation, whether we know it or not. Now in softcover, you can read Herb Cohen’s Negotiate This! ($15.95, Warner Business Books). Cohen shares the techniques he has taught to thousands of people in all walks of life, teaching the reader valuable negotiating skills that will give you the edge when dealing with your boss, a client or customer, your landlord or neighbor, your spouse, children or anyone else in your life. Kelly Purdue made a big name for himself when he was selected by Donald Trump on "The Apprentice" television show. He credits his success to his U.S. military training and has now written a book, Take Command, ($24.95, Regnery Publishing) in which he and contributors such as Jim Kimsey, former Marine and founding CEO of AOL, along with Roger Staubach, Ross Perot, and other former military folks share their experience and knowledge. Perdue is taking that advice and launching a new business, hosting a new show on the Military Channel, and adding author to his list of accomplishments. Proof that you can learn to be a leader.

A wise man once taught me that, "Nothing happens in this world until someone sells something to someone else." Perhaps that’s why I found The 100 Greatest Sales Tips of All Time, edited by Leslie Pockell with Adrienne Avila ($10.00, Warner Books) so much fun to read. It’s a small book you can put in a purse or briefcase, but it is loaded with some wonderful advice. And, since much of what influences sales these days occurs during various events, The Event Marketing Handbook: Beyond Logistics and Planning ($22.95, Kaplan Publishing) will prove very useful for anyone who wants to learn how best to integrate events into the marketing mix, generating solid leads before, during and after an events, and leverage vender relationships to get the most out of your budget. Allison Saget has provided the key to how organizations can reach their sales goals and this book will prove very useful to those for whom events are a significant part of their marketing program. If you like to listen to good advice, there’s the Joe Girard Complete Audio Collection ($29.95, Harper Audio, 6 CDs) that includes "Can’t Lose Sales Tips, More Can’t Lose Sales Tips, How to Sell Anything to Anybody, How to Close Every Sale, and How to Sell Yourself." Girard has been called the world’s greatest salesman. Well, he sold me!

An excellent softcover is Running a 21^st Century Small Business: The Owner’s Guide to Starting and Growing Your Company ($14.95, Warner Business Books) by Randy W. Kirk. While the big corporations get the press, it is small businesses in America that are the economic engine. As appealing as starting a business and being your own boss can be, statistics show that 65% of small businesses fail within the first five years. This is because budding entrepreneurs simply lack the information they need to be successful. Until now! This book is a complete guide and has been around since 1993, going through revisions and updates. This new edition is a treasure of information you will need if starting your own business is your dream.

Finally, if you are the parent or are related to a young person about to leave a college or university and venture out into the word to find a job, you might give them a copy of Leaving Campus and Going to Work by T. Jason Smith ($18.95, Aspen Mountain Publishing, 5885 Cumming Highway, Suite 108, Sugar Hill, GA 30518). The transition from campus life to full-time work is a very important one in anyone and few are truly prepared for it. The author has been a human resources executive in several different industries. He has seen what attitudes and behaviors help a young person begin a successful work life and he has seen what doesn’t help. He has written an excellent book that can prove invaluable to the young person in your life.

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Children’s and Young Reader’s New Books

There are many things that children need. Once you get beyond clothes, food, and toys, there is perhaps the most important need and that is the stimulation of their growing minds, the satisfaction of their thirst for new knowledge. Television only requires that they sit passively and watch, but books involve a child or younger readers in ways that nothing else can or does. Here’s a look at some of the new books due out this spring.

National Geographic continues to turn out some of the best books for younger readers, particularly as regards history. Continuing their series for those 8 to 12 about warriors throughout history, How to Be a Revolutionary War Soldier by Thomas Ratliff and illustrated by John James ($14.95) reveals what it was like to take up arms for a new nation. It makes this aspect of our history come alive with an excellent text and ample, full color art. Moving forward, Margaret Whitman Blair tells the story of The Roaring 20s: The First Cross-Country Air Race for Women ($21.95, age 10 and older) when the nation was fascinated with daring pilots and even more so if they were women. This is a very interesting look back at some very extraordinary women who were defining new roles for their gender. The author captures the excitement of the time and the book features many photos that demonstrate how different the early planes were from modern times. Moving forward in time again there’s Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement ($18.95, age 10 and older) by Ann Bausum. An entire generation has grown up since those days in the 1960s when young white and black men and women literally risked their lives to right the wrongs of segregation and the Jim Crow restrictions that existed throughout the South and elsewhere in the nation. Today John Lewis is a member of Congress and Jim Zwerg looks back on that part of his life as the most exciting he has lived. These are just a few of the spring and summer books that bring history alive for younger readers.

Another favorite children’s book publisher of mine is Kane/Miller and they too have many new titles arriving this spring. Among the most amusing is Learning to Fly by Sebastian Meschenmoster ($8.95), the story of a wayward penguin who is found by the side of the road and convinces his rescuer he crashed while flying. Ideal to read to the very young and for all other ages (including my own!) we may know that penguins can’t fly, but this particular penguin doesn’t and this wonderful parable suggests that we can achieve a lot in life by just trying. For young readers aged 6 through 10, there’s a splendid book about birds, Sing, Nightingale, Sing! Bird watchers will love this one by Francoise de Guibert with illustrations by Chiaki Miyamoto ($13.95) and a CD of music by Daniel Goyone. It provides a wealth of information about plumage, biology, behavior and much more concerning some sixty different birds. Fly, Little Bird by Tina Burke ($14.95, ages 4-8) is a charming picture book about a little bird that has fallen out of its nest and is rescued by a little girl and her dog. When it recovers, it takes flight. This is how the very young learn that all creatures have a home of their own where they belong.

I would have sworn you could not make a lowly creature like a pill bug interesting, but Yukihisa Tokuda, with the illustrations by Kiyoshi Takahashi, does that in I’m a Pill Bug ($7.95, ages 3-7) that will appeal to the very young who are, of course, fascinated by bugs. For the future entomologist in your family, this is a fun book to be read by a parent or to explore on their own. Also for little ones learning the alphabet, there’s Could a Tyrannosaurus Play Table Tennis? ($8.95, ages 4-8). Andrew Plant is an art-loving zoologist and he has combined his talents to illustrate an entertaining book about dinosaurs from A to Z. To learn more about the new books from this publisher, visit www.kanemiller.com.

Not to be outdone, Kids Can Press has a slew of new books for the spring and the first one that caught my attention is a hilarious story, Stanley’s Wild Ride, by Linda Bailey and brilliantly illustrated by Bill Slavin ($14.95, ages 3 to 7). Stanley, a dog, knows he is not supposed to leave the yard, but he’s tired of it and, when he makes a break for it, he encourages five others to join him in what becomes a real romp in the world beyond the fence. When they end up on the steepest hill in town at night, Stanley discovers a skateboard and the five runaways find other transportation that take them on a wild ride back to the safety and comfort of their homes. When you get through with this new story, you will want to read Stanley’s Party by this talented duo. Once Upon a Dragon (Stranger Safety for Kids) by Jean E. Pendziwol and Martine Gourbault ($6.95, ages 3 to 7) puts its characters, a little girl and her dragon, into familiar fairytales in order to teach children to be careful about those around them. This duo also has a comparable book on water safety, A Treasure at Sea for Dragon and Me ($6.95). To introduce kids to crafts, this publisher has three new books, In-Jean-Unity by Ellen Warwick and Bernice Lum that demonstrates how girls can turn denim into high fashion ($12.95); Knotting by Judy Ann Sadler ($12.95) teaches either gender how to make their own basketball nets, guitar straps, sports bags, and many more interesting projects; and Horse Crafts by Linda Hendry ($12.95, ages 8 and up) has all kinds of things around the theme of horses from clipboards to bookends. These books are a great way to lure kids away from mindlessly watching television while learning useful skills. Finally, two books for the older, young readers are just terrific. Stanley Coren has written Why Do Dogs Have Wet Noses? This book ($12.95, ages 8 to 12) is ideal for any youngster whose family has a pet dog as it provides a wealth of knowledge in a very entertaining way. And, since I love classic poetry, I am a great fan of the series of graphic poetry published by Kids Can Press. The latest edition is Ernest L. Thayer’s Casey at the Bat ($16.95) that joins others that include "The Lady of Shalott" and "Jabberwocky". They are just so much fun to read out loud. For more information about the new books available, visit www.kidscanpress.com.

For the girls there’s American Girl and it has a variety of new books ranging from advice to activity books, plus some great fictions as well. For advice, there’s A Smart Girl’s Guide to Money: How to Make It, Save It, and Spend It ($9.95) that will prove very useful for any young women, ages 8 and up, in making informed decisions about their finances. Quite frankly, I wish I had had a book like this in my own youth. Filled with quizzes, tips, and quotes, it concludes with a list of 101 moneymaking ideas. This book is part of a series that includes "A Smart Girl’s Guide to Boys" and "A Girl’s Guide to Manners." Activities get a helping hand with Paper Fun: Projects to Fold, Bend, Cut and Curl ($17.95) that is a self-contained kit of thing like a ruler tape and a book of instructions on how to make many fun items. Tiny Treats ($9.95) is filled with tips and recipes for making great snacks for birthday parties or sleepovers. This is an invitation to the joys and pleasures of baking. For those 8 and up, there’s Minute Mysteries: Brainteasers, Puzzlers, and Stories to Solve ($5.95, by Jennifer Hirsch and Teri Witkowski, plus a gang of illustrators. Readers can test their sleuthing skills by solving 13 mysteries featuring American Girl’s historical characters. One of those characters is Josephina. Kathleen Ernst has written Secrets in the Hills ($6.95) in which Josephina explores the tales and legends about gold and silver buried in the hills around her rancho. When a mysterious stranger arrives one day, she begins to wonder about how true they are. Others in this mystery series include Peril at King’s Creek: A Felicity Mystery and The Stolen Sapphire: A Samantha Mystery. All are $6.95 and ideal for those ages 9 and up. You can visit www.americangirl.com for information about their many other fine books.

Next month, Anthony Horowitz will have the second novel in a series about a reluctant 14-year-old spy, Alex Rider, published. The series began with "Stormbreaker" that introduced the character. It proved so successful that it will be released as a major motion picture starring Alicia Silverstone, Ewan McGregor, and other big stars. We well could be seeing the beginning of another "Harry Potter" kind of phenomenon in the making for this talented, British writer. So keep an eye out for Ark Angel ($17.99, Philomel Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group). The new novel is a clever look at what happens when environmentalists become crazed by their cause to save the earth and become terrorists in the process. Saving the earth from them becomes Rider’s task.

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Novels, Novels, Novels!

One of the major new trends in the world of fiction is the way so many people have turned to companies like iUniverse, Xlibris, Trafford, PublishUSA, Authorhouse, and others to have their novels published, rather than go through the often depressing and drawn-out process of submitting them to mainline publishing houses. These self-published books are usually available from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, or from their publisher’s websites.

As a reviewer, I see a lot of these privately published efforts and to my delight one such novel arrived from my old friends, Toni and Jack Caithness. Jack is a retired United States Army Colonel and Toni was for many years, the executive vice president of the Florida Pest Management Association. Having moved to Carrollton, Texas, these days they live close to their grandchildren and, surprise, have written a novel of suspense called Revenge Denied: Someone Out There is a Murderer (iUniverse). It is a story of young women whose uncle had been murdered. She harbored bad memories of his abuse when she had been left by her father to live with him and her aunt after the death of her mother. Returning to where the murder occurred, she must cope with being on her own after college and with her distrust of men. Still, she wants to know who killed her uncle. From that beginning spins a tale of trust and distrust, a novel about the choices she makes, for good or ill, of the men that use her or who want to protect her. It is an entirely satisfying novel from start to finish as it explores the values that shape our lives.

Barbara Kennedy, the author of Second Chance Ranch, was a bit irked with me when I told her I receive so many self-published books I could not guarantee a review, but I am happy to report this behavioral therapist has put her experiences to good use in a novel ($12.25, Madison Avenue Publishers) that explores the question of what one does when the person around whom you’ve built your life just disappears? Dealing with the pain and overcoming it is the theme of this redemptive novel. Such stories can be therapeutic. A comparable novel in some ways is Miranda J. Carr’s Dysfunction & Heartaches: Book 1 ($16.95, amazon.com and $17.95 from bn.com), the first in a series of three books about a black woman who has had a pretty terrible childhood and has grown up having to deal with the demons of sexual, mental, and physical abuse. You can learn more about this compelling novel by visiting www.dysfunctionheartache.com. These novels explore the human heart and the latter reflects on the curative power of faith. David Tucholski has written The Good I Stand On ($15.95, iUniverse) about a young boy and the hardest summer of his life when a tragic event requires him to not only save his own life, but that of another. Set in a little town in Virginia, his innocence passes as he grapples with issues of truth and morality in a deeply moving story. The author is a very talented writer who deserves a wide audience.

Let’s welcome a new talent in Dan Robinson who has written Easy Prey ($11.95, Infinity Publishing), a love story between a western journalist and his Turkish-Iranian guide to Iran. This is an old-fashioned, fast-paced international thriller set in Iran, a nation that has the eyes of the world upon it as it moves toward the acquisition of a nuclear weapon. Thus, this book often seems ripped from the headlines of your daily newspaper, but it is both moving and exciting for the insights it provides to a part of the world known to the author as its main characters risk their lives in a high-stakes clandestine effort to document powerful secret weaponry. Closer to home there’s Alice in Corporate Wonderland: Down the Long Hallway by Dr. R.T. Talasek, PhD (Publish America, Baltimore, MD) Imagine if the famed Alice grew up and earned an Ivy League Masters of Business Administration? Alice, still wide-eyed and idealistic finds herself in a corporate world filled with many crazy characters. With a light touch, Alice concludes this new world is no less mad than Wonderland. "They are all quite mad," thinks Alice, "just not in the way I expected." Your expectations will be teased and entertained in this novel. To learn more, visit www.aliceincorporatewonderland.com.

The Demise of Luleta Jones by Mark Allen Boone ($15.95, Blacksmith Books, Lisle, IL, softcover) marks the debut of a new publishing house dedicated to high quality fiction and non-fiction that will provide relief from the "ghetto fiction" and "street literature" that has tended to dominate African American literature of late. Boone’s first novel was published in 1989 and he is the founder of the West Side Writer’s Guild, a forum for aspiring writers from Chicago’s West Side. On the surface, this new novel is a whodunit as an investigative reporter goes looking for the real story behind the death of a public school teacher from a newly gentrified neighborhood, but below the surface it is a look at "the consequences that gifted African Americans suffer when they violate their community’s narrow conventions." A visit to www.blacksmithbks.com will tell you more.

Among the hardcover novels that arrived is one with a mouth-watering title, Cherry Cheesecake Murder, by Joanne Fluke ($22.00, Kensington Publishing Corp), the latest in a series that include a "Sugar CookieMurder" and "Lemon Meringue Murder." Need it be said that the main sleuth is a Minnesota bakeshop owner, Hannah Swensen? In this new mystery, Hannah is pondering marriage proposals while fending off an entire town of people eager to give her advice. Lake Eden has been turned into a location for a Hollywood film and when a suicide scene turns lethal as a real gun is substituted for the prop one, the question is, of course, whodunit? Not only do you get a lively, fun story, but 14 recipes for treats to nibble on while Hannah figures out the mystery.

A whole bunch of softcover novels have arrived in recent weeks, so let’s take a look at them. From the New American Library there’s Overnight Sensation by Trish Cook ($9.99) is about a young girl, Trace, as she gets to know her long lost father, discovers love, and challenges her own notions of what is "cool" on and off the stage. She loves music, but hates attention. She is off to California to spend some time with her dad and to do some growing up. This is a kind of pop novel filled with references any MTV addict will instantly recognize and enjoy. The Instant When Everything is Perfect by Jessica Barksdale Inclan ($12.95) is about Mia Alden, a 42-year-old, married novelist and college professor who faces middle age with some fears and reservations. Then her mother is diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer and, as she sits bedside, she finds herself attracted to her mother’s surgeon. She has to sort out her loyalties and her life. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig ($14.00) who has turned her PhD in history into a clever, action-packed, love triangle that tells the story of Eloise Kelly, a smart, but slightly fumbling Harvard scholar who travels to London to finish her dissertation on the spies, the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian. She does this in part to escape her cheating ex-boyfriend. In the process, she discovers the secret history of the Pink Carnation, the most elusive spy of all time who single-handedly saved England from Napoleon’s invasion. Just who was he? Eloise’s investigation reveals a love story and a secret history that changed world events.

The year is 1941 and the setting is Malaysia which is still a British colony, but which is on the brink of conquest and occupation by the Japanese. The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw ($15.00, Riverhead Books). Fast backward sixty years to a man from a humble background who has risen to become a prosperous merchant and then a heroic figure to his people as a leader of resistance to the invaders. His life is explored from three entirely different perspectives that seek the truth about a crucial turning point in the history of a family and a nation. Not everything is as it seems and you will find yourself gripped by the ever-revealing truth. This is a major novel worth reading.

In another part of the world, England, Lynda La Plante, famed as the acclaimed author of the Prime Suspect series, returns to the world of the female homicide detective in Above Suspician ($14.00, Touchstone Books, a division of Simon & Schuster). Already a bestseller in England, it is set primarily in London with sections taking place in the U.S., beginning as a young detective is assigned to her first murder case, a horrific set of killings. This is one of those stories that is very hard to put down once you’ve begun. In another novel, murder is on the itinerary when Kate Boothe’s trip to Paris for a new client includes meeting a reporter investigating that client who is then murdered. He had hinted to her that the client, a powerful investment firm, was involved in some dangerous corrupt deals. Michelle Mitchell is back with Kate in a new novel, Our Girl in Washington, ($14.00, Plume) and you’re going to have to strap on the safety belt as she takes you on a mystery filled with fraud, blood, and lust. This one isn’t officially due out until May, so mark your calendar.

For some fun amidst the suspense, there’s On The Run by Lorena McCourtney ($12.99, Revell) whose character, Ivy Malone, already has many fans from previous novels. This time she is on a mini-Mafia hit list and takes off with a stray cat and God as her only companions. Just when she thinks she’s safe, two dead bodies turn up, discovered of course by Ivy. She will have to deal with a flock of emus, a survivalist outpost, and the game of paintball to solve this latest crime. Suffice it to say this is a very entertaining story that will please McCourtney’s readers and make new ones of those who give it a try. The American South has produced many of our finest novelists and this is the case of Charles Martin and his novel, When Crickets Cry, ($14.99, WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN). To be officially released next month, this novel may well follow the course of Martin’s previous novel, The Dead Don’t Dance, which is being turned into a Hallmark movie scheduled to air on CBS sometime this year. This, his third novel, is set in a sleepy Georgia town where seven-year-old Annie is trying to raise money for her own heart transplant. A sudden turn of events changes hers and others lives forever. I don’t want to give too much away except to say that Martin is clearly a novelist who is going to continue to make a name for himself and this is a novel worth adding to your reading list.

That’s it for March! Don’t forget to tell your friends about Bookviews.com and to visit our Featured Books section that is filled with interesting and unique books you may not hear about anywhere else! And do come back in April!

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