Japanese Books

The historical information in this book came as quite a surprise to me, even though I consider myself fairly knowledgeable on the subject. The work put into this book is quite extensive and it is well worth reading. I highly recommend it.

For over forty years, I've been reading about the end of World War II and Japan. Were the Japanese ready to surrender? Were the atomic bombs dropped to intimidate the Soviet Union? Was racism the real motive?

Richard Frank's DOWNFALL: THE END OF THE IMPERIAL JAPANESE EMPIRE, is the best book on this subject I've ever read. Frank takes us back to 1945, and shows what the United States knew then, and how they knew it. Based on the information they had available at the time, the U.S. and British leaders had no reason to believe that the effective leaders of Japan were going to surrender any time soon, or that any alternative course they chose would lead to fewer deaths. Further, he shows that these judgments were correct: there is still no evidence that the effective rulers of Japan would have surrendered in 1945, and all the alternatives to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have definitely led to hundreds of thousands MORE DEATHS of civilians and soldiers.

I regard the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as atrocities and crimes, but the whole of the war was a succession of atrocities and crimes, the greatest bloodbath in history. Frank shows, convincingly, that the use of atomic weapons was the least evil among the choices Harry S Truman faced.

I was moved to reread this fine book by Richard Frank by the allegation by Presidential candidate Senator Barak Obama's former preacher and confidant Jeremiah Wright's that one of America's supposed "sins" that he was cursing it for was the use of the Atomic Bombs on Japan at the end of the Second World War. I was in High School during the Vietnam War period and I recall my teachers telling us that that use of the Bomb was unnecessary and was carried out merely to scare the Communist Soviets and didn't matter anyway since the Japanese were supposedly viewed as "racially inferior". We were taught that the United State government is inherently dishonest, so any such decision to use the bomb must have had "tainted" motiviations. Such cynicism is potentially destructive, as Frank shows in his book.
Attitudes like these have unfortunately become common in the United States over the years, and as Frank points out, are based on ignorance and self-righteousness. President Truman's aide, Admiral Leahy claimed after the war that the use of the bomb was "unnecessary" (Frank points out that there is no record of his opposition at the time the decision was made). This is, of course, true. The Japanese would have eventually surrendered even without the use of the bomb. The question, though, remains "at what cost"? There are two possible scenarios, (1) American and Allied forces invade the Japanes Home Islands in order to force a decision, or (2) no invasion is mounted, but a tight blockade and heavy air bombing keep up the pressure.
Frank shows that although a two-phase invasion was planned, Operation Olympic in Kyushu, followed by Operation Coronet on Honshu near Tokyo, as time passed, American interception and decryption of Japanese messages showed that powerful forces were being brought up to the planned invasion zones along with thousands of aircraft designed for Kamikaze attacks. The civilian population was also being trained to carry out suicide attacks (the government's slogan was "100 Million Die Together"). As a result, American enthusiasm for the invasion scheme waned and, instead, a plan to destroy Japan's railroad system to prevent the distribution of food was developed, which, along with the naval blockade, would bring starvation to the population, forcing the Japanese government to eventually capitulate. The question remained "how long would it take to reach this situation"? Frank points out that over 100,000 Chinese were dying every month during the war, in addition to large numbers of Allied prisoners and forced Asian laborers in southeast Asia. If the war dragged on longer, hundreds of thousands of these people would have died. Had the blockade "succeeded" in bring famine in addition to plague and civil disorder to Japan, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Japanese would have died.
Frank also points out that something like 350,000 Japanese died in the Soviet campaign to conquer Manchuria, many of them civilians. In addition there were still large Japanese forces in China , the Dutch East Indies (today's Indonesia) and southeast Asia. Without the shock of a surrender brought about by the use of the Atomic bombs it is conceivable that these forces would have continued to fight on (the Japanese Army in China had a history of subordination). There was also a Soviet plan to invade the Japanese home island of Hokkaido. One can only specularte on how many deaths would this have caused, in addition to the possibility that the USSR would have set up a "Japanese Peoples' Republic" in their zone, just like they did in Korea, for which the world is still paying to this day. It is odd that those who show "compassion" for the Japanese people in saying that the bomb shouldn't have been used, seem to lack the same compassion for the oppressed thousands who were dying every day in the Japanese-occupied territories.
Frank also shows that the popular "deus-ex-machina" scenario that supposedly the Japanese government had really made a decision to surrender and were in contact with the USSR government is false. It is true that there were contacts with the Soviets, but they were on a low diplomatic level, and no decision to surrender had been made before the first use of the bomb. In addition, no contacts were made during the three days that passed before the use of the second bomb. It turns out that some Japanese leaders thought the bomb was merely a one-shot affair which the Americans couldn't repeat. Frank shows clearly that America's leaders had no choice but to make the decision they did and that this decision saved untold number of lives, both Allied and Japanese. Anybody who saw the horrific casualties at places like Iwo Jima and Okinawa in addition to the mass suicides of Japanese civilians at Saipana and Okinawa would reach the same conclusion.
Richard Frank is performing an invaluable service in destroying the "politically correct" myths demagogues like Wright are propagating and showing that a clear, open mind leads one to the truth.

Frank has done an excellent job of dispassionately presenting the facts about the endgame of the Pacific War. I appreciate that Frank laid out the evidence and left it to the reader to judge where it pointed.

What is clear from the evidence is that neither the Japanese nor American leadership had adequate information to judge the other's intentions during 1945. In fact, there is some evidence that the Japaneese High Command was being mislead by underlings regarding the state of American morale. Thus the War Council believed that they were just one decisive battle away from being able to negotiate with the Americans for softer terms than Unconditional Surrender. On the other hand, American intelligence community were not adept enough to draw out from the vast array of intercepted cable traffic a clear picture. Thus they did not provide Truman information that was 'actionable'.

As for the bomb, the preponderance of evidence amassed by Frank points to the conclusion that once the decision to build the atomic bomb was made, the Manhattan project took on its own momentum and thus made the bombs use inevitable.

All-in-all a terrific book. Since I finished it on September 30th, it makes it onto my Summer Reading Favorites of 2007 :-)

Richard Frank conclusively shatters a number of myths about the end of the Pacific side of World War II.

First, Japan was NOT ready to accept unconditional surrender, even with the caveat of the preservation of the Japanese throne, until after both bombs were dropped. Frank uses extensive declassified transcripts of Ultra (military) and Magic (diplomatic) U.S. codebreaking to get members of the Japanese war cabinet's own words, or lack thereof, on this issue. Within that is the fact that Japan's attempt to use Russia as an intermediary-ally in negotiations was totally out of tune with reality, so much out of tune that Tokyo actually expected Moscow to honor the full one year's "down time" after abrogating the two countries' neutrality agreement.

Second, the Japanese Army was ramping UP the plans for Keisu-Go, the all-out defense of the Japanese homeland, after the spring firebombings of Tokyo and elsewhere. Top Army brass considered that the U.S. might well try blockade, and thought it had enough kamikazes, midget submarines, etc., to make the U.S pay enough a price for even the blockade that it would settle for a negotiated peace. Again, Frank looks in-depth at Magic and Ultra transcripts to show how much support there was for this.

Third, Frank demonstrates that U.S. casualty fears of an invasion of Kyushu were well-warranted and may even have been understated in some cases.

The determination of the Japanese Empire to resist was well-known by American troops in the Pacific who had seen the Japanese, on average, take 97 percent casualties in many of their defensive actions. A militaristic government was ready to exploit this to the death.

The atomic bomb was therefore used for reasons of the highest seriousness. It was NOT dropped on Hiroshima as a demonstration for Stalin. And, speaking of demonstrations, the fact that it took two atomic bombs on Japan to get it to surrender puts the lie to the idea that a "demonstration" bomb would have been enough to get the Japanese to a non-negotiated surrender with them attempting to hold on to territory.

Lets cut to the chase: if you are a history buff, or if you enjoy the history of WW II, buy this book. It is worth your time and money.

That said, let me warn you, the book is written in a rather odd manner. The author has apparently interviewed survivors and taken those notes and written this book. Somehow, the end result comes across at times like a compilation of notes, disjointed, jumping from subject to subject ... offering the reader bits of information. It also seems that some of the subject matter is too detailed, whereas other subjects are only lightly touched on.

In my opinion, the author should have broken the book into two books ... one about the Houston and one about the challeging experiences of her crew, after the Houston's sinking.

I am glad I read this work, as I did learn quite a bit ... hope you enjoy.

An amazing and thorough story of a sometimes forgotten part of WWII. Carefully researched with written and spoken words from victims and survivors. I hope he is preparing another book to accompany this and Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors.

I dont like to write long reviews. This book is a great story about men surviving thru a time of horror and a the fellowship they had with each other. A good read with a good story. Pick it up if you like war stories.

Author James Hornfischer definitely knows how to write books, and on the writing, research, and presentation this book would be normally rated by me at five stars plus. Unfortunately, the book is over 500 pages long including useful notes and appendices, whereas the Houston slides beneath the waves on page 145. In short, this book is mostly about the survivors and their experience in Japanese captivity -- a very worthwile story, but not one having to do with the Houston. The buyer needs to beware of this, and if one's interest only extends to the saga of the Houston itself, page 145 is the end of the book.

That being said, the Houston's saga is thrilling as a sacrificial lamb on the altar of Allied cooperation and inter-Allied command. As Hornfischer points out with devastating clarity, cooperative commands like that of the ABDA didn't work -- they just got everyone killed. The Dutch leadership was ineffective, and often at odds with the American. This is a good lesson for those who are in favor of United Nations control of international peace-keeping forces that tend to be helpless when confronted by a resolute enemy.

The politics are fascinating particularly since the Dutch empire was indefensible, and one wonders if sacrificing good American ships and men was worth attempting to shore up another European nation's imperialism in the name of solidarity. Both men and ships would have been much more useful if they had been saved for the Solomons campaign later in the year, particularly since there is no evidence that they slowed the Japanese conquest of Southeast Asia by a single day. The Battle of Sunda Strait took place because the Perth and Houston blundered into the Japanese invasion force, which continued on schedule despite receiving a minor scare. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that the Houston and her men were wasted. One also wonders how high Captain Rooks would have rised in World War II had he not been written off with his ship.

The book also discloses the lack of effective training in the American Navy at the time, particularly with respect to fighting at night. Although Rooks went further than almost all other captains during this period, her ship remained below the standards for the Japanese in combat efficiency. This is not meant to denigrate the American sailors and officers, but training at the time avoided dangerous exercises that might cause casualties in order to placate an uninformed public and their muckraking politicians searching for headlines (and indeed, that continues to the present day). Instead of following the German dictum that "sweat saves blood", American forces at the time trained leisurely to avoid that sweat and paid later in higher casualties.

A very minor criticism -- I would have enjoyed reading about Admiral Hart's subsequent career and life as one of the major players putting the Houston into the situation she found herself in 1942.

Regarding the second two-thirds of the book, the litany of Japanese atrocities is important, but almost tiresome. The author does extremely well in holding the reader's interest and dispelling myths about prisoner life (as compared with that presented by Hollywood).

Even more compelling are the actions by both the US and Japanese governments after the war. Houston survivors received nothing from the Japanese, and an insulting $2.50 per day from the US (only because they were maltreated -- otherwise it would have been $1.50 per day). As everyone knows, the government that paid the greatest reparations after the war was the US (for holding persons of Japanese ancestry in detention camps and the Marshall Plan). The Soviet Union acquired great swaths of territory (1/3 of Poland, for example) in Europe as well as acquiring Sakalin and the Kuriles, but that was agreed at Yalta to remake the map rather than as war reparations. Even worse is that American citizens were/are prohibited from seeking damages from the Japanese by our State Department, even for their time as slave laborers. As always, American servicemen were ridden hard and put away wet by our government. Where was the Marshall Plan to repay the Houston survivors for their sacrifices? Ah, but I digress.....

Anyway, this is a very fine work, but the reader should know what it really covers before deciding on a purchase.

If you like books on ww2 or simply a novel that will keep you up all night.Read Ship of ghost's and The last stand of the tin can sailor's.I am a voracious reader especially of military book's and James d.Hornfischer I wish would write a novel every month I would buy it!Seriously I cannot recommend this author more highly!

EDIT: Apparently Amazon won't let me paste URLs, so you'll have to Google the site names separately. I'll mark them with (www). Sorry about that!

The Genki course is a great textbook, and obviously a lot of time and effort went into putting it together. Since this book tries to do a little of everything, it understandably can't be content-rich in any one category; therefore, I highly recommend looking for supplementary materials to better flesh out your Japanese proficiency. Happily, a lot of online resources are available for free, and I'll try to list them below. My review is from the perspective of a native English speaker who is currently living and working in Japan.

Grammar: In each lesson, you get several new sentence patterns or grammatical points to try out, as well as notes on why and how to use them as well as pictures, diagrams, examples, etc. to get the point across. I found this section to be very clear and easy to understand.
How to make it better: One of my favorite sites is (www) Tae Kim's guide to Japanese grammar, which I did alongside the Genki lessons. You can also check out Jay Rubin's Making Sense of Japanese.

Dialogues: The dialogues are kind of stilted and unnatural-sounding (try reading the English translations out loud and you'll see what I mean) and is IMHO the book's weakest point. This is made even more pronounced since the characters all address each other in polite form (desu, -san, etc) even though they're supposed to be close friends or even couples. But the bottom line is that they demonstrate the grammatical teaching point within a "realistic" context, so I guess I can't complain too much.
How to make it better: There's really no substitute for listening to native Japanese speakers. Watch a lot of Japanese shows without subtitles and try to just listen to their pronunciation and intonation, and when applicable, when they use the grammar points you learned. If you like manga, you can also look for children's series and make a project out of translating them (I chose Gakuen Senki Muryou). Especially try to observe the differences in speech between peers, friends, superiors, and customers. This is a pretty big deal in Japan, and using the wrong form to the wrong person can be pretty embarrassing. Believe me, I found out the hard way...

Vocabulary and Kanji: Each lesson comes with about 50-60 vocabulary words and 10 kanji (except for the first two lessons, which cover hiragana and katakana instead). The vocab is broken up into several categories (places, food, things to buy, verbs, etc.) which are then plugged into the sentence patterns provided in the grammar sections. The kanji section in the back provides you with a standard dictionary entry (with stroke order, on'yomi and kun'yomi, English definition, and a few example words).
How to make it better: There are a lot of fun ways of doing this one. (www) Yookoso has a great daily mailing list that will send you a new kanji character a day. (You can even set the JLPT level, if that's what you're studying for.) You can also check out the various quizzes and activities on (www) Charles Kelly's Japanese study materials site. If you don't mind spending a little extra money, I highly recommend Basic Kanji Book, Vol. 1, which is what I've been using. I also highly recommend (www) Jim Breen's online Japanese Dictionary to look up any words instead of a paper dictionary. Unfortunately, there's no shortcut to learning vocab and kanji. You just have to keep practicing over and over and over until you've memorized them, and then after that keep practicing to stay in shape. I HIGHLY recommend making your own drill cards instead of buying pre-made ones because the process of writing the characters onto the cards will also help you to memorize them. (Not to mention it's cheaper!)

Exercises: This is my absolute favorite part of Genki. The exercises are usually very fun and cute, very repetitive (which, when learning a language, is a good thing) without feeling like a chore. The only thing I regret is that these exercises aren't as much fun to do if you're studying by yourself (like how I did) than if you were in a classroom. If you have a friend who can practice with you, it'd be even more fun. If that friend is also a native speaker who can correct your mistakes, then even better. At the back of the book are even more exercises, mostly to practice reading and writing.
How to make it better: You can go to Charles Kelly's site for more quizzes, or buy Genki's accompanying workbook and CD to practice with them. Also check out (www) Renshuu for a lot of practice exams (even includes Genki lesson material!) If you're studying for the JLPT, I recommend checking out Unicom's series of JLPT guide books (I bought The Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 4) which has a lot of practice questions.

I feel that the best thing this book provides is a solid foundation for good Japanese studying habits. Japanese can be an extremely overwhelming language to master if you don't have a good guide to show you what to learn, how to learn it, and how you can absorb information from other sources. Even though Genki is far from a comprehensive guide to Japanese, I feel that it's a great way to kick things off for beginners, and teaches you HOW to study the language.

If you're interested in buying the accompanying Genki materials: the workbook is great because it has a lot of exercises to do on your own (ideal for those trying to self-study). If you get the workbook, be sure to get the CD so you can do the listening comp sections, but if you're only using the textbook then DO NOT BUY THE CD. It's NOT worth the money just to hear the dialogue and vocab pronunciations.

My college teacher uses this book and she is one who expects you to do alot on your own, that being said this isn't the book for self teaching. Its great for classroom instruction with the aid of the workbook, as long as lectures are provided to help put in the missing pieces of japanese grammar that genki misses. Overall, its a good book but only recommended for those in college or high school.

This book came highly recommended by two Japanese tutors who have been living and studying in Japan for years. It is a great starter book and from what I understand, there is a series of books that follow for more advanced studying. A must have for anyone interested in learning Japanese.

The CD goes along with the book and gives you different voices on how to say it correctly. Recomend buying it with the book.

Definitely get the Workbook that goes with it! It greatly expands on the course book.

If I were to choose one thing I liked best about this book, I would probably choose the way that Ogiwara takes a bucket of fantasy tropes (magical swords, Chosen One types, Light and Darkness, etc.) and dumps it upside down. At first glance it seems like a rather cliché story, but read it and you will discover something strikingly original and beautiful.
Or I might choose the fact that this book struck me in the same way Ratha's Creature did. Original, interesting, a roller coaster of action without a visible path. I read something and thought "Oh! This will happen!" Of course, "this" did /not/ happen. Which was amazing.

The book starts out a bit slow, and the dialogue seems a bit forced. But once the plot picks up, everything else soars up into an amazingly colorful, intricate pattern that isn't really a pattern at all. The writing--not just the translator's writing--is vivid, filled with strong imagery and emotion, and the characters are all very strong and unique. I truly enjoyed this book and hope that the sequels are published, and soon.

This book has some awesome and brilliant moments, classic moments of heroism and romance but I felt that the flow of the book was disturbed by its translation into english. I sensed the greatness but the prose did not convey it.

It's worth a read nonetheless just don't expect to enjoy a reread. Once you're done, you will probably put it down and relive the great moments in your head rather than in the prose itself. This book makes me wish I could read japanese.

This has been my favorite book since I first read it in the seventh grade. I couldn't find it until recently when Viz republished it. I love this book more now than I did then. It is a great story for any age. Thirteen or twenty.

In the land of Toyoashihara, the forces of the God of Light and the Goddess of Darkness have been at war for generations. Saya, a fifteen-year-old girl who worships the God of Light, is suddenly pulled into the conflict when she discovers that she is the reincarnation of the Water Maiden, the priestess of the people of Darkness. Saya must come to terms with her heritage and choose which side of the war she will support, for she is the priestess of the Dragon Sword, a terrible weapon that can destroy the gods themselves. Can Saya choose between the Light, which she has been raised to love, and the Darkness, which is her true family, or is she doomed to kill herself like every Water Maiden before her?

Dragon Sword and Wind Child has all the makings of epic fantasy: an exciting battle between Light and Darkness, a Chosen One, a fantastic land, and a young protagonist who is pulled straight into the center of the conflict and barely knows what she's getting in to. The problem is that after a wonderful opening hook, the story just limps along for about fifty pages. After lollygagging along, the author suddenly throws in cross-dressing, possible incest, and an extremely exciting scene that gets the reader interested again. So now the reader is saying, "Ooh, ooh, what's going to happen next?" and devouring the following sections...in which a great deal of nothing happens. Even the battle scenes are un-epic. They end in the middle or are omitted altogether in favor of overly flowery descriptions of the surrounding landscape (although the translator may be partially at fault, since Dragon Sword and Wind Child is a Viz publication and they aren't known for their stunningly faithful translations). Even the ending is a letdown because a. I saw it coming about 50 pages in and b. the author suddenly decides that the story isn't strange enough so she throws in time-traveling. Um...what?

I don't know how the translation is, since I haven't read the book in Japanese (and have no intention of doing so, since I didn't enjoy it in English). However, I can tell you that someone decided it would be cool if they didn't translate all the words...and didn't put the non-translated ones in the glossary. Thus, if you don't speak Japanese and are wondering what "sakaki branches" are, you're basically doomed. (For the record, "sakaki" is a type of evergreen.)

The characters are bland and fairly clichéd. For example, there's a couple of characters who you can tell from the moment they're introduced are going to bite it and ninety pages later...oh, surprise! They're dead! Saya is not only fairly dull, she's also blindingly Mary Sue. She has not just one guy fall in love with her, but three, two of which are immortal and oh-so-hot. (The author spends a great deal of time describing just how hot they are, so the reader doesn't assume that non-hot guys are falling in love with Saya.) What are the chances? She's also stunningly beautiful and completely useless. Princess Teruhi and Prince Tsukishiro, the immortal leaders of the army of Light, could have been interesting characters if Ms. Ogiwara had concentrated more on developing their personalities and less on describing their clothes and how smashingly beautiful they are. As is, Teruhi just seems petty and jealous of Saya's incredible beauty (which is apparently even greater than her own), while Tsukishiro is there simply to go gaga over Saya and look pretty.

The narration is extremely uneven, often spending two or three pages describing a building, field, or forest. That's great for the first couple of chapters, but when the battle scenes arrive, the author seems more concerned with describing the landscapes and Saya's clothes than the actual battle. When she finally does realize that she needs to write a battle scene, she just stops it in the middle and everything goes back to normal even though a whole bunch of people were just slaughtered.

While it has a promising premise, the story never delivers. However, it was Ms. Ogiwara's first book, so there is a chance that the later ones are better. That said, I was fairly disappointed and wouldn't recommend the book to anyone except fans of Japanese popular literature who have nothing better to read.

Dragon Sword and Wind Child is one of my favorite novels. What's to like? Saya is a village girl in Toyoashihara (sort of a mystical/magical Japan), a land split by the war between the Gods that created the land: The God of Light and the Goddess of Darkness (and Death). Saya has been raised to love the Light and is shocked when strange people start proclaiming that she is one of the Goddess of Darkness's people, reborn again and again to wage her battle against the children of the Light. This revelation is complicated when Prince Tsukishiro, one half of the children of the Light, comes to Saya's village, trying to woo her to the side of the Light by enlisting her as a handmaiden in his palace.

You've heard this story before, right? Honestly, I normally hate this sort of plot set up and the reluctant heroine type. However, Saya is unique to me because her reactions are understandable and even relatable; you see how she subtlely changes and how she makes her decisions and her mental conflicts. As for the plot? Not all is as it seems. Once Saya comes to the palace, she doesn't particularly fit in the whole court atmosphere and furthermore warrior Princess Teruhi is determined to catch Saya collaborating with the Darkness. Prince Tsukishiro isn't much of a help, as it seems this situation has all been played out before in Saya's previous lives (that she has no memory of), and he's still in love with Saya's last incarnation, who killed herself in the palace pond. And the Palace of Light has many sinister secrets... (The novel continues for much longer, not only through Saya's revelations, her final choice in alliances, but also to the final conclusion to the war that has engulfed the land for as long as it as existed.)

Another interesting part of this book is that it's not your usual elves, fairies, etc. Noriko Ogiwara, influenced by Western writers, used Japanese mythology to create this world. The implications of this are just obvious by the summary of the book above. This isn't Good vs. Evil, Dark v. Light of your normal fantasy epic. The issues the characters have to deal with in this book are immortality, mortality, reincarnation along with loyalty and empathy. Are we cursed to repeat the same mistakes over and over through our lifetimes? Does immortality create an lack of empathy? What is sacrificed during war, what is gained, and is it worth it?

I had worn out checking out the library copy all the time, so I was thrilled this classic finally has gone back into print. The deft translation by Cathy Hirano is still intact, except that mentions to Saya's stone has been changed to "magatama". I somewhat miss the old cover, but some interesting drawings have been added to the chapter title pages. I have heard that there are two more books in the series (about what I don't know, as the book pretty much covers all the bases and closes all plotlines), and I'm hoping the other two will finally be translated for English audiences. And I lied earlier. This is pretty much my favorite book (Tied with Dark Lord of Derkhom by Diana Wynne Jones). And I cry and laugh every time I read it.

SPOILERS
The insertion of Chihaya completely changes the landscape of the book. And amazingly, it doesn't feel random and unwarranted. Like Chihaya's the other main character, he's just been missing. The romance parts of the book are perhaps its weakest point, but understandable, and really do drive the plot.

This is a detailed book. Almost too detailed. As a Professor of International Business in Tokyo's Sophia University the author is in a prime position to detail the woes of the Japanese financial system. And maybe that's where the problem with this book lies. He is a professor and not a writer. His insistence on using the expression "Big Bang" started to become a little annoying.

His main emphasis is to point the finger at the Ministry of Finance, the government department which is supposed monitor the economy, regulate the banks and other duties as well. But the Bank of Japan, Tokyo University, private banks, gangsters, construction companies and everyone else are included where necessary.

But the main problem with the book is that it is fairly technical and dry. As I am not an economics student, I had trouble understanding a lot of the financial terms and expressions used through out the book. There is little in the way of explanations or a glossary or index for the average reader to use.

For the parts that I could follow, it paints a dire picture of the continuing Japanese economic malaise. Even though the book is a few years old now, the indications presented in the book and the remedies are still valid today because reform in Japan is a slow moving beast.

Prof. Hayes is a well-known Tokyo-based commentator and financial expert. He is especially well-known for his straight talkimg, without being beholden to ideology, vested interests or other unseen affiliations that so often cloud the analysis and the work of others in business, finance and economics. He is very effective in dismissing the cultural argument as a reason for Japan's economic misery. That indeed is a fundamental point: financial disasters (though perhaps of smaller proportions) have happened before in other countries, and the causes were not cultural then... The book should be titled slightly differently, as those that expect detailed coverage of the big Bang reforms may be disappointed - but then again, those reforms can be listed up pretty quickly by anyone doing a 15 minute search on the internet. Hayes' value added is in the incisive analysis. That the book is highly readable and indeed very entertaining goes without saying for this author.

I have to rate it highly. It was a good, well written book looking at the aftermath of the Bubble and the proposed Big Bang reforms. Unlike earlier books written when Japan was outperforming all its competitors, it did not stand in shock, awe and wonder at Japan Inc but instead painted its strengths and many weaknesses. Although controversial, none of the many facts it outlines can be seriously queried.
Because the Japanese game, as Gillian Tett's book, PM Koizumi's reform plans and Carlos Ghosn's epxerience, has, in many ways moved on, this book is probably now most useful as a historical summary of what drove Japan into its current round of reforms.

When I saw that the Yomiuri had rubbished this book I knew it had to be good. I have previously used their feelance reviewer Scott Gordon as a counter barometer and he has yet to fail me. Gordon accuses Hayes of being a Japan basher (the old refrain on anyone who doesn't use Bridgestone's faulty tyres of Mitsubishi's faulty cars). The fact is that Japan's bust was the biggest in financial history, Japan's financial institutions are primitive and there is nothing magical in anything of that. Pathetic hacks like Gordon who hide behind the cultural argument - Japan's culture is different and therefore we should not use normal international metrics to judge her - have had their day. Japan tries to compete internationally. Hayes shows the myriad of handicaps she labors under - and he did this before the lateest scandals cropped up. Given what he has said in his book, the Mitsubishi and Bridgestone sagas are entirely predictable - as are the tirades of Gordon and other sad souls. A good, inforamtive and well written book.

I agree with the positive reviews of the previous posters. This book is incisive, penatrating, well written and Prof. Hayes has a solid grasp on his topic and has made it accessible to non-bankers and non-finance experts. But it should be pointed out that this book is NOT about the Big Bang. All you'll get about that in this book are phrases like "The Big bang will..." or "The Big Bang should..." or "The Big Bang ought to..." and mostly just in passing . Despite the fact that this book was published in 2000 its information seems to be current as of the third quarter of 1998. What this book does do and does very well is explain just how the Japanese economy got into the mess it is in and he answers the question of just how the world's largest banks and insurance companies managed to lose $700 billion by investing in real estate. And he lays the blame clearly at the feet of the Ministry of Finance's largely incompetant mandarins and the directors of Japan's banks who thought they could dominate global finance using the same tactics Toyota and Sony used to dominate the automobile and consumer electronics industries.

Samurai! is the gripping war memoir of Japanese fighter ace Saburo Sakai, who has been credited with downing sixty-four Allied planes. His story is especially rare and valuable given the appalling rate of attrition of Japanese pilots during the war. In his own group of twenty-five pilots that graduated flight school together in 1937, he was the only one that remained alive at war's end.

Sakai is critical of Japan's pilot training because its standards were too high in the 1930s and produced only about a hundred pilots per year, not nearly enough to go to war with the United States. He points out that once the war started with the U.S., training standards were lowered, and many of the pilots who made it through during the war were far below the quality of most who washed out during his own training.

It is instructive to read Sakai's reaction when his group reaches Luzon for the initial attacks on the Philippines after Pearl Harbor and sees "some sixty enemy bombers and fighters neatly parked along the airfield runways." This negligence on the part of U.S. command in the Philippines has never been satisfactorily explained.

Another particular incident that made an impression on me was the "Danse Macabre" of Sakai and his comrades where they taunted Allies on the ground by performing loops above Port Moresby in May, 1942, much to the chagrin of Sakai's superiors. That sort of showboating runs contrary to the stereotype of WWII Japanese that I grew up with in the United States, exemplified by Bridge on the River Kwai and Tora! Tora! Tora!. Of course, once Allied pilots' skills, experience and quality of aircraft caught up with the Japanese, there was no longer any opportunity for showing off.

This is the autobiography of Japan's greatest ace pilot to survive WWII. Saburo Sakai became a hero in his homeland and his account of his place in the Pacific War is even-handed and illuminating. In the early days of the war, victory seems to come relatively easy to him and the other pilots in his fighter group due to their superior training and the excellence of the Mitsubishi Zero fighter. As the war wears on, however, and the United States becomes more fully engaged on its Western front, the tide turns and the situation becomes increasingly desperate for Sakai and his compatriots, until the inevitable crushing defeat. Sakai, along with his co-authors Martin Caidin and Fred Saito, presents exciting accounts of air battles and Saito's harrowing experience piloting his aircraft back to base after sustaining injuries that should have killed him. As good as this stuff is, I was glad that the home front wasn't neglected in his narrative. In addition to being a great air warrior, he also lived a wonderful love story with his future wife.

This is the auto biography of one of the greatest Japanese airplane aces, Saburo Sakai. The story is really well written, on the ground style, and especially gives you the perspective of the war seen from "the other side". We have been educated to read History from the winner perspective, and in this view all the Japanese are horrible monsters without any humanity... this beautiful book will change your mind and teach you that war is the most horrible things in this world, that human beings suffer and feel the same feelings, and that there are no "right" wars. Wars is ALWAYS bad...

Samurai! documents the wartime exploits of Saburo Sakai, the greatest Japanese fighter pilot to survive World War 11, in which he was credited with downing 64 enemy aircraft. Sakai, who died in September 2000 of a heart attack became a legend in his own lifetime. This book explains why.
Samurai! takes us from early victories over the Chinese airforce to the later dogfights with the Dutch, the Australians and, finally, the unstoppable Americans. Sakai, in describing his journey from a rookie pilot to the final surrender, also chronicles the rise and fall of the Japanese Imperial Naval Air Force as seen from one of the most spectacular cogs in its vast apparatus.
Saka, who was never decorated for his actions, was a truly amazing fighter who was held in adulation by his mechanics and wingmen. Indeed, of all Japan's aces, Saburo Sakai was the only one who never lost a wingman in combat. This is an astounding record for a man who engaged in over two hundred aerial melees. But then again, Saburo Sakai's story is an astounding one.
His retreat from Guadalcanal is evidence enough of that. Having suffered paralyzing wounds in his left leg and left arm and having being permanently blinded in his left eye and temporarily blinded in his right eye, with jagged pieces of metal in his back and chest and with the heavy fragments of two 5-caliber machinegun bullets imbedded in his skull, he managed to fly his crippled Zero all the way back to New Guinea. That is the stuff of Hollywood legends.
So too is his dogfight against 15 Hellcats over Iwo Jima. Although he only had sight in one eye, Sakai managed to out manouver the Hellcat fighters and land safely back on the besieged island. His escape from Iwo Jima is also the stuff of Hollywood legends.
Hollywood bases its stories on legendary warriors. And Sakai and his comrades quickly became legends as their honed skills and Mitsubishi Zeros allowed them to cut a swathe through their Chinese, Dutch and Australian enemies. Sakai's accounts of those earlier battles are like reading th accounts of Cochise, Crazy Horse or Geronimo. Sakai and the other Japanese warriors of the air went out and did what they felt they had to do. Their Zeros were as precious to them as the finest steeds were to the warriors of old. They were the cream of the crop.
Unfortunately for them, their numbers were whittled down as the war dragged on. Midway accounted for over 300 of Japan's best pilots.The Americans, meanwhile, came relentlessly at them with their Wildcat and Hellcat fighters, which were purposely designed to outpace the Zero. Time and again, Sakai stresses that it was only the Americans' lack of combat experience that saved him.
They didn't save the others. As the war dragged on, the standard of the average Japanese pilot plummeted.
This book is not a glorification If this book glorifies anything, it is the futility and blaspehemy of war. Sakai describes how business went on as usuall in China even in the middle of combat zones. He describes watching Australian pilots being eaten by sharks. His account of how his superior skills saved him at Iwo Jima reflect the skills he noted in the Dutch and Chinese pilots of the earlier chapters. The Japanese, who had been the confident hunters I nthe earlier chapters, were now the prey. Usually, they were sitting ducks, powerless to do anything but volunteer for a kamikaze mission or to train the young novices who made the bult of the kamikazes.
Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, another top air ace who was later shot out of the air in an unarmed transport plane, was one of these. Sakai describes him as bing "unpredictable in the air, a genius, a poet who seemed to make his fighter respond obediently to his gentle, sure touch at the controls." Sakai constantly uses similar imagery to decribe his love for the Zero. This book has been reissued on countless occasions. Read it and find out why.

This book shows that combat warriors on both sides have the same thoughts and concerns. They worry about their families and complain about their leadership.

I bought the Classics of Naval Literature volume after reading a library copy. That's how much the book impressed me. The top-surviving Zero naval ace of WWII, Sakai had realistic and controversial opinions of Japan's role in the war. He did much to build postwar friendships with the United States, even at risk to his own life.

Little did I realize when I bought the book that I would someday meet him. I visited him in his Tokyo home and hosted his visit to Naval Air Facility Atsugi. My book is now autographed.

Superb! An excellent story based on reality. You feel like if Dr. Sharma was at your side telling. Thinking....

I was born in Burma (post independence era) of Indian Descendants. I would love to read this book but at the same time I am concern that I might get too sad for it would remind me about the Japanese Occupation era in Burma that costed my grandfather's life (for no good reason). May be I will read it someday when I can handle the pain a little better.

This book caught my attention as one of the very few books written on the traumatic events in India/Burma/Pakistan during the post ww ii era. I did not expect a lot from the faded cover and even the beginning - a somewhat prosaic/english-composition like narrative that moved but was not particularly great language wise. But the characters developed as i went along, and the writer has an amazing knack of weaving together their story, although it goes down stereotyped lanes sometimes. The essence of this book is the basic message of tolerance and simplicity of narrative on a difficult/complex subject. That in itself keeps one absorbed in it until the very last page.

Prem Sharma's story had me mesmerized from the first paragragh. I felt as though I was sitting with him as he told the story of Devi Lal and his family. Prem Sharma is a modern day freedom fighter, using his intellect and the written word instead of the fists and lathis of his youth. The effect of Gandhi's teaching is evident throughout the story. Can't wait for the sequel!

It all started when I was assigned to write a Senior paper on the little known country of Burma. In search of literature, art, history and economics I found Mandalay's Child and Dr. Prem Sharma. This book is an amazing piece which inspired a theme that I worked through my paper: suffering and hope.

In November of 2000, I had to pleasure of meeting Dr. Prem Sharma when he was in my area and visited my class at school. He talked to us about having respect for all people and their personal/religous beliefs and how important it was to realize that fighting does not help situations. Dr. Sharma, who lived in Burma during World War II, was forced to leave with his family because of the Japanense threat to the Burmese people. He moved with his family to India, but here found himself amongst the battle between the Hindus and the Muslims for Pakistan and India.

This book is truly a magnificent piece of work and something that all people, whether interested in Burma or not, should read. It gives insight into the lives of the Burmese people, the struggle for their freedom through war, and things that Dr. Sharma has witnessed in his life since the piece is partially biographical. The story is composed in a way so that the reader truly becomes attached to the family in the story. The power that this novel has over the reader is amazing -- you will shed some tears at least twice!

Dr. Sharma was a wonderful man to meet in person. He appeared very open to comments and questions about his novel and his homeland of Burma. As I correspond with him in Wisconsin through letters, I find that he is one of the most amazing people I have met in my life because of his talent and what he has been through.

As I anxiously await the publication of Dr. Sharma's other parts to the trilogy I urge everyone to pick up this novel and read it for a true experience of Burma and wonderful writing!

A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar is basically intended for 1st and 2nd year students and teachers of Japanese for whom the grammatical explanations from textbooks were not good enough. One common complaint of language textbooks is that they tend to be exhaustive in drilling a small amount of grammar. This approach seems to be favored by foreign language departments at universities, but has the inherent flaw that it withholds some of the most interesting grammar until the second or third semester, thus leaving beginning students crippled when they want to say certain things.

What this book does have:
Comprehensive dictionary of "grammatical words." This includes, but is not limited to: particles, qualifiers, special noun/particle constructions, verbs that give other words a different meaning when used in a certain pattern, and verb endings. The reason I love this book is that it's actually readable, and is not necessarily just a reference. Look up some obscure usage of "o," and you may find yourself reading about the various nuances of using the "o ~ ni naru" construction or learn a new word in "owaru". There are more than 500 pages devoted to this sort of thing, and each entry comes with clear, and detailed explanations, as well as 1-4 (avg. 2) pages of examples and further elaboration. Particles with multiple meanings are given multiple entries to give each usage ample space to be explained.

There are also about 100 pages of basic grammar contained in the introduction and the appendicies. This includes basic sentence construction (incl. detail about word order tendencies, the parts of a Japanese sentence, pronouns, polite speech and a variety of other subjects) and ensures that the reader will have not just a basic, but a solid fundamental understanding of Japanese grammar. Additionally, there are appendices for how to use certain words that take irregular particles, counters and how to generally predict the irregular forms that a given counter takes, which I found helpful. Each Japanese word in this book is written in romaji, but is also accompanied with its corresponding Kanji, which is also nice.

What this book is not:
This book is not a short overview of grammar, but nor is it a complete instructional method in itself. It's intended for people who are already learning to speak Japanese either in a college course, from self study or whatever method, but want more detail about grammar.

One thing that disappointed me was that I thought I'd find verb conjugation charts with explanations on how to use each conjugation. Most textbooks tend to only teach grammar little by little, and even then all the usages may not be listed, so finding everything in the same place would be a plus. This book lists many verb endings alphabetically, including many of the derived ones like "~nakereba naranai" which means "have to/must (+ verb)" but is derived from the "if (I) don't ~" construction; however, skimming through 500 pages of alphabetical entries which may or may not be verb endings is not what I'd call a convenient verb conjugation chart.

I'd like to mark a point off for being a grammar book without a convenient explanation of verb conjugation, but I know of no other book that has such comprehensive examples and explanations on the other topics all in one place. Definitely a must buy for every student of the language.

A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar is wonderfully thorough introduction to the language for students who want to go beyond the bare-bones explication of most textbooks. Each item is discussed in depth, and with dozens of example sentences the book continually reminds the reader that grammar occurs most significantly in natural human communication, rather than dry grammar dictionaries. The easy-to-use index makes lookup of particular words or usage quick and painless.

Nathan Dummitt author of Chinese Through Tone & Color

I've used a number of books to learn Japanese over the years, and this was not the first or the last, but I immediately recognized it as the most important as a learning tool and as a reference for beginners. It gives the reader a clear and concise tour through the fundamentals. It doesn't teach you "street" Japanese, but that's better learned on the street - not from a book. It would be best coupled with spoken Japanese lessons from a native speaker or Pimsleur audio (get the CD and make MP3s). Also, you don't need to learn how to read/write Japanese kana or kanji to use this book.

What it won't give you is a gentle cumulative approach to vocabulary, instead it just tosses you in the deep end. If you are serious about learning a language, that's OK - you plan to eventually learn all of the words anyway, so what matter the order in which you learn them? It's also NOT a good book for the tourist who wants a crash introductory course.

The best part? You get through this and then you can buy the Intermediate edition and continue toward fluency. Learn one word a day and you'll be fluent before you know it!

It is more than 1 year since the last review for this book was written here, but reading through all the reviews there seems almost only to be positive comments about this book (the few negative comments there are, are rather unimportant things). BUT this book, used wrongly, may very well teach you Japanese that has never been heard from a native speaker's mouth.

The information provided in the book is overwhelming and the explanations are almost too good to be true. However, depending on what you are trying to learn from the book, in may get you in big trouble.
I am currently living in Japan and trying to pick up the language, and one thing I have come to understand is that there is not only one Japanese language ... but several. There is spoken langauge (actually there are 2 spoken languages, formal and informal), there is written language in books etc., there is news paper language, there is subtitle language (this is a fancy one!) and there are probably many more.
This is not a unique feature to the Japanese language, that is not the point I am trying to make, but especially the difference between spoken language and written language in general is so destinctive, that you must be very well aware of it.

Now, what has all this to do with the book that this review is about? A whole lot!
One evening when I sat at the dinner table studying my host brother (I live with a host family) came down from his room, saw me and placed himself on the chair besides me. He asked me what I was doing, and I of course answered `studying Japanese`. I was reading some random entry from "A dictionary of basic Japanese grammar" and when I showed it to him he started laughing and asked me why I was studying weird stuff like that.
Of course I had no idea what he was talking about, so he explained me that what I was studying was not useful at all. He had only read it once in a book but never heard it in a conversation (he is 30 and native Japanese). After consulting my hostdad he agreed as well, the stuff I was reading was useless and waste of time to study.

That little incident made me start asking my Japanese friends about stuff I had learnt from this book, and a lot of the entries they told, they never used in normal conversation.
When purchasing this book and starting to use it as a study aid or grammar reference, you should definitely have some native speaker to ask, whether what you are studying is useful at all, because the authors of this book completely fail to provide any information on where you will find the grammar you are studying. Some of the grammatical expressions in book, you will never hear in a conversation and others are restricted to movie subtitles. So if you use this book without being critical you will end up with an understandable and grammatically correct but extremely odd Japanese.

As I said earlier the Japanese used in subtitles is a category itself. "Subtitle Japanese" is a paradise for people who has used "A dictionary of basic Japanese grammar", but you will never hear it in daily life conversations.
So please be careful to use this great but dangerous book!

There is a bit of a myth about Japanese grammar--that it is too complicated, too alien for the non-native speaker to ever really master. This is a myth that many Japanese perpetuate themselves, seen in unflattering characterizations of non-native speakers, or in the (unhelpful) praise lavished upon anyone who can speak Japanese to any degree, no matter how ungrammatical it may be. This is a myth that is also unfortunately and unintentionally perpetuated by guides like Jorden's "Japanese the Spoken Language" that do the learner a disservice by explaining grammatical points in a language better suited for a linguist than a language learner. For people like you and me, who want to surpass these low expectations and confusing explanations and start on the road to true fluency, "A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar" is an essential companion.

Let's face it--from the perspective of a native English speaker, mastering Japanese grammar is difficult. Very difficult. Don't trust anyone who says otherwise! Much is made of the difficult writing system, but mastering grammar is perhaps even more difficult and essential to smooth communication. Sure, learning the difference between "wa" and "ga" is not as sexy as learning how to write "love" or "raccoon dog" in kanji, but it's many times more useful on a daily basis. By providing easy-to-understand explanations as well as examples of both good and bad usage, the student is given a better understanding of basic (but still difficult-to-master) grammatical points. This dictionary does an especially good job of contrasting similar constructs that give beginning-to-intermediate (and even many advanced) students trouble (wa/ga, aida/uchi, ageru/kureru, hazu/beki, ni/de etc.)

Although I don't think it's possible to gain complete comfort and mastery of Japanese without living in Japan, or at the very least, interacting with Japanese people on a regular basis, this book is the perfect guide for explaining the nuances that a beginner might not notice, and an intermediate student might be aware of but not fully understand. This includes the deceptive "similar constructs" I mentioned before, words that are not easy to translate into English (sekkaku, darou come to mind), and other issues such as auxiliary verbs and onomatopoetic "sound words". Whether you're learning Japanese in school, living abroad in Japan, or even just studying on your own, "A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar" is an indispensable companion for your studies.

One last comment--there are a few reviews that have comments along the lines of "yes, but the Japanese don't really talk like this" to which I say, "You're missing the point." That's a bit like arguing against learning multiplication tables because in the "real world" there are calculators. Sure it would be nice to go directly from "Please give me that pen" to "Hey man, can ya grab that pen over there for me?" but language learning isn't that easy. If you understand the fundamentals of grammar, you will understand Japanese of all formalities, dialects, and other variations and transmutations. It is much easier to learn the shortcuts once you have a strong foundation because you are in a position to understand the nuances and principles involved. In other words, you know and understand what exactly is being "shortcutted". If you only learn the shortcuts, you will have a hard time generalizing your knowledge for usage out of a narrow, specific context. Worse, you might not even realize that you are even making a grammatical or etiquette mistake by misapplying knowledge from one context to another. The worst thing a language learner can do is to try to take shortcuts to "speed up" his or her progress without taking the time to build up a steady base. This dictionary provides that strong foundation that is needed for the serious Japanese language learner.

I've always enjoy Og Mandino's self-development books, both his nonfiction and fiction. The Twelfth Angel is trademark Og Mandino - it is a powerful self-development lesson taught through emotion and by example. It's a story of hope for the future, even when the future appears hopeless.

In my opinion, you don't just read an Og Mandino fiction book, you "feel" an Og Mandino book and The Twelfth Angel is no exception. He is one of my favorite self-development writers, so this review may be a bit partial.

Have you ever been through such a powerful life changing and emotionally devastating experience that you instinctively know life will never be the same again? You begin to realize that you are at an emotional fork in the road, you're either going to learn from the experience or end up wallowing in it. That's exactly what happens to the main character John Harding in The Twelfth Angel - his life is facing that powerful and often frightening life-changing fork in the road.

After the tragic loss of his wife and child in an accident, John Harding believes he is faced with the choices of either to go on living or to end it all. When it seems the bleakest, a friend comes to him asking for help. He's asked to help coach a boys little league baseball team. And slowly but surely John's life has hope and purpose once again.

We can learn so much from children. They have such an unstoppable optimism and enthusiasm. And in The Twelfth Angel, this is just what John needs in his life. This book is also about never, ever giving up. John begins to mentor Timothy Noble who is not the athletic type yet becomes one of the most important players on "The Angels" baseball team. Timothy teaches everyone about the power of possibility and persistence.

What can this well written story teach us? It teaches that life is full of purpose and wonder. You were placed on this earth to make a difference and it's up to you to find that purpose. As John discovered, with purpose you have the willpower to keep going even when the going looks impossible and hopeless.

This book is about courage, belief, hope, persistence and the power of purpose - that's how I'd summarize this powerful little story.

The Twelfth Angel is an easy read and in fact you can probably read it in a couple of days. Be prepared to read with your mind and emotions. Give yourself some quiet time to absorb the self-discovery lessons and feel the emotions these lessons can invoke.

If you decide to read The Twelfth Angel, please read with an open mind and heart because then you'll truly appreciate Og Mandino's wise lessons about the wonder of living a meaningful life.

This book just makes you want to count your blessings! I absolutely loved it!

I've read every book that Mandino has written. This was the first book that got me hooked on this author. He is a great story teller and a great motivational/inspirational writer! This is a must read for anyone over the age of 12. If all little league coaches read this book, there would be less problems with out of control coaches. This is not about baseball but about how to deal with life and how to treat people.

I have read everyone of Og Mandinos Books and all I can say is that he writes with brilliance, clarity, enthusiasm, and spirit. You can never go wrong with any of his books. He points out the path to success and motivates the spirit within to achieve all that we as human beings are capable. He helped me to tap into my innate genuis and create a life of prosperity and creativity. If you havent raed his books, start now and your journey of the spirit will begin. He was a born writer and even after his passing continues to have a great influence on many people old and young. He truly lived a purposeful and divine life. Go buy all his books and enjoy the growth and enlightenment. After that Buy my Book " Your daily Walk with the Great Minds of the Past and Present". Enjoy and rememeber you are capable of great things in your life.

The Twelfth Angel, by Og Mandigo, is truly an inspiring and heartfelt story. This story left such an unforgettable impact on me that I know I'm likely to ponder it for years. Everyone should absolutely read this book, especially those in need of inspiration and hope. This book leaves you with tears, with hope you never knew you had, and with the wanting to never give up.

I don't want to give away too much, but this book is about a young, diligent, succesful, loving man who moves back to his small hometown of Boland, NH, with his wife Sally and their young boy Rick. When tradegy strikes, John has to struggle to cope. His life is shattered and he ultimately looks to suicide as an answer. Fortunately, his old friend, Bill helps him out of the gutter, which is where his life now lies, by asking him to help coach the boys little league. Uncertain, John finally accepts.

The day of tryouts John notices a boy who is smaller than any of the other kids, whose baseball hat and clothes look about two sizes too big on him. This little boy isn't very good at baseball, but he kept on trying, the whole time with determination and a big smile on his face. Although some of the older and better kids laughed and smirked at his constant mistakes and misses, this little boy was never put down and never stopped. And to John's surprise, this boy was amazingly the splitting image of his boy Rick! At first John had even thought he could have been Rick. This little boy, Timothy Noble, was by far the worst player of all the kids who tried out, and who had managed, almost as if by destiny, to end up on John's baseball team, receiving a jersey with number twelve on it.

Early on in the baseball season, John noticed that there was something very genuine and original about Timothy. What John and Timothy both don't know, is that their relationship will become very close, as they both need each other more than they can imagine.

I absolutely loved this heartfelt story. I even had tears gushing down my cheeks as I neared the end of the book. I think that this book is truly inspiring and comforting. I loved how caring and concerned John was of Timothy, and I especially loved little Timothy Noble and how happy he was. I was truly touched by this story and will always cherish everything I learned from this book. The lesson I think that Mandi