Books by Jack Phillips Lowe

Are you thinking of joining the ever growing group of individuals who love to smoke fine cigars? Or, are you already an avid cigar smoker looking to learn more about the hobby you've grown to love? Whether you're new to the wonderful world of cigar smoking, or a seasoned professional, The Ultimate Cigar Book by Richard Hacker offers you a wealth of knowledge on cigars that any cigar smoker can appreciate.

In The Ultimate Cigar Book, Hacker researches and reviews all sorts of non-Havana cigars, by describing production outside of Cuba. If you're an American looking for a practical book on cigars, the non-Cuban approach Hacker uses is sure to prove useful. As all good American cigar smokers know, it's hard to come across a cuban cigar that isn't illegal to have. Real hard. In fact, it's impossible with U.S. laws.

Not only will you find numerous reviews of fine cigars from all over the world inside The Ultimate Cigar Book, but also Hacker doesn't shy away from including reviews of some of the cheaper, factory made cigars, such as the Phillies.

Along with reviews, Hacker will turn you into a cigar expert, teaching you how cigars are made and what to look for when choosing the right cigar for you or a friend. Although Hacker does make some ill-advised generalization about the makeup of a cigar, like stating that a lighter shade wrapper will indicate a milder tasting cigar, for the most part Hacker is dead on.

Whether you're a seasoned pro or just a beginner, I suggest you check out The Ultimate Cigar Book. Before you start dumping money into this expensive hobby, you should definitely consult this book.

As one of the few cigar books out there, I give this book a 9/10 rating.

As a reader of many books I always like reading a book where I start to get a feel for a character really fast. In this book I was captured by the dilemma of one character as she waits to see her doctor to tell him that they want to stop fertility treatments to try and manufacture a baby through modern medicine, and also the dilemma of the young lass she meets who is there to get a referral to a doctor that can help her get an abortion.

One young lady has finally given up on trying to get pregnant and has to sit by another girl who is pregnant justify to her why she is booking in to have a procedure to have her baby removed.
This story had deep emotional reasons why I wanted to read it from the first time I heard about it and went to her website to find out more. I once went to a church with a lady who I came to know who was barren and could not conceive. I saw her cry many tears and I witnessed how awkward she looked on mother's day and she was left out. I am always sad on father's day as I have a son I can't see and I remember putting my arm around her that day and sharing why I am sad on those days too. I always liked this lady in my church and I liked how her eyes could fill up with tears, with sweet honest tears but I did not know how to speak to her about her deep pain. So you imagine my interest when I saw this book, as a way to read about her pain and learn more about what these wonderful barren women go though.

I remember the story in the Bible of that lady that was weeping in the temple wanting a child and yet she was barren. She promised the Father(God) that she would dedicate her son to full time ministry if she could just conceive. Well God did a miracle and opened her womb and a child was born that became a famous prophet who anointed and put into power the first two kings of Israel. In the gospels John the Baptists mother was also a barren woman having a baby due to a miracle and once again a powerful prophet was raised by a faithful mother whose pain had drawn her close to the Father.

I read Joys novel, a novel I might add was written by a lady who is still barren herself who has had to fight all the pain and struggles of her character and I saw myself weeping many times and my heart going out to all those women. Her character was a young woman full of love and not too pushy as a Christian and she became a very loyal and precious friend of the young lass who had an abortion.

As a writer myself who has written two unpublished novels that one day I threw out, I am always so proud of a self published author. As a writer I watch another writer carve out a plot, I watch the characters come to life and then sometimes I am fortunate to see the characters driving the story forward to places the writer might not have plotted. Faced with a character that was a barren women and going through the struggles the character went through trying to reconcile her loving God with the fact she was an incomplete women in the worlds eyes, I was well aware that this character took joy to places where her manuscript if it was being written in pen and paper would be smeared with tears and running ink. My first novel had me in many of my characters and some of my scenes were simply typed through tears misting my vision.

I heard once that if you're crying when you write a scene it's a good bet that your readers will be crying too. That was useful advice and as I re-worked some scenes over ten years in my first novel I made sure I dug deeper and reached deeper into my pain and painted my canvass with real pain and emotion. I can state very confidently that this book would have been very painful for the author to write and many dark places with much crying would have been visited.

The second major character had a bit of emotional history with me and once again it drew me to the book. One time when I was married when I was young my wife's pretty young friend got pregnant due to a mistake with a boyfriend. The boyfriend did the manly thing and said it's up to her but basically was hinting that he would be happy to pay for the abortion. Our friend broke up with him due to his attitude. I was a Christian and not at all for an abortion as I considered it murder in my self righteous Christian attitude. I asked my friend if she would see a pro life person I knew from a church I used to go to. She agreed and met the person and still came back saying that this child would spoil her college plans and her life. I loved this best friend of my wife and she loved me.

I spoke to my wife at the time and I was in tears. I just couldn't help my friend. Then I came up with an idea. I asked my wife if we might have one more go with her friend. She invited her friend over and I asked her friend if she could have the baby and myself and Sharryn would adopt the child and parent the child till she had finished college and done everything and had found a man that would accept her as a single parent and then she could have her child back. To me it was a perfect solution and my wife's friend was touched as I cried in my delivery of the idea.

But no. That would not do and we watched our friend go and have that abortion.

I broke up with my wife and lost my wife and also her best friend and I never knew the fallout of that abortion and that is why Stacie in this novel was such an attractive character for me to read. I cried Stacie's tears and seemed to really feel her pain and caught myself wishing I knew where this friend of my wife still lived so I could give her this book.

There are some wonderful other characters in this book and the author is no way an amateur that you might expect with a self published author. I know that every time this book is being read people are healing, finding God, getting answers and being educated. If Joy did nothing else in this world she has done something monumental in publishing this book for all those hurting women in the world.

I am pro life folks but guys many girls simply don't have friends that would adopt their child and we live in a society that says it's a simple procedure. My heart goes out for all the girls like my wife's friend that I loved who have never been told that God loves them, understood their decision and that their innocent baby lives in heaven waiting them to come into his everlasting kingdom.

For a person that knows little about the Christian faith this is a good look at what a good Christian should be like replete with her own flaws and struggles. In the book two good books are mentioned for people that would like to check out the Christian faith and for people who are not Christians I would make note of them as they are also both two very excellent books by well known Christian authors.

In my time there are not many books where I will buy ten books and give them out as gifts, but this book is one that I consider a life gift to the right person. This is a book you'll read, you'll cry enjoy and then you'll give away and buy another copy for yourself.

You can tell Joy has her heart in the right place and cares more about her message and not money as when you go your website you can read roughly 190 pages off your screen and read it for free. It's funny Jesus taught, freely you have received freely give and so few people give something away for free. So feel free to read it online and then find yourself wanting to buy two or three copies as a nice heart-warming gift to some precious women that you know.

May Joy be blessed, and may you be blessed as you read the book for free or in your own book that you ordered online.

Her books website is http://www.raindancebook.com

Happy reading

Love Matthew Payne

PS Her two characters will live with me forever as friends and I know my ten books will be used by me to bring quite a few ladies to tears and healing.

A Thanksgiving Miracle
by Wells Earl Draughon
ISBN-10: 0595366910
Review by Heather Froeschl

Ruth put her daughter up for adoption some 18 years ago. Living on her own after running away from home, Ruth found herself pregnant thanks to a night of naiveté and what she felt was obligatory sex. She was in no condition to raise a child, being only a child herself really. She named the baby Heather, and handed her over to be adopted. Ever since, she'd ached to know where her little girl was.

Hiring a private investigator was the first step. And he'd found her. Or at least, he'd found her adoptive family. Heather had recently run away. Once again, an 18-year-old girl was out on the road. Ruth just knew that Heather was going to end up exactly like she did...lost, confused, and pregnant. Feeling that she knew where Heather might have gone, Ruth sets out to rescue her daughter. Tracing the same path she'd taken as a runaway, Ruth revisits the highway exit ramps of Rte. 80 across Pennsylvania, facing the shadows of memories of her own experiences. The nights sleeping in the bushes on the hard ground, the days spent keeping ahead of the creeps and the cops. Will Ruth be able to catch up with Heather before it is too late? Is Heather truly following in her mother's footsteps along the highway and into hiding in New York City?

This trip and the memories trigger emotional reactions in Ruth that she cannot hide from her husband. Jack knows nothing of Heather and the truth will set him on a path of distrust, despair and mourning for what he thinks is his marriage lost. Ruth confides in her cleaning lady, a young girl of 18 herself, that she is desperate to find her runaway daughter before anything terrible happens to her. Kim has her own troubles, being pregnant and unmarried, and she and Ruth form a bond over their shared pain.

Do Thanksgiving miracles really happen? Will Ruth find her lost daughter, and if she does, will Heather hate her for giving her up? Will Kim keep her baby or will she make a different choice that may haunt her for life? Will Jack find a way to forgive Ruth for hiding such a huge part of her life, and is it possible for him to find his trust for her again? Will the private investigator track down Heather before her adoptive family does?

Wells Earl Draughon offers a "Thanksgiving Miracle" that will touch the hearts of readers everywhere. His writing is fresh and modern, yet the values he touches on are as traditional as turkey in November. Draughon's characters are deep and distraught, leading the reader to care for them, cry with them, and hope to celebrate the holiday with them. This is a thought provoking novel that will inspire the giving of thanks for things we often take for granted...a sense of self, love and support, and family. An excellent story to read at any time of the year, "Thanksgiving Miracle" is a well written look at life, pure and complicated.

American Medicine MisManaged Care


by Carter V. Multz


Infinity Publishing (2005)


ISBN 0741425157


Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (1/07)

Dr. Carter V. Multz recalls three surgeries on a bleeding ulcer and how the last two could have been prevented with proper treatment. The original surgery and biopsy showed that bacteria caused the ulcer. Treating Dr. Multz with an antibiotic would have prevented future difficulties. His cardiologist adjusted his medication but the order was missed. "No harm ensued," but these incidents show the need for better communication between patients and their physicians.

"Big Business has taken over American Medicine. Doctors have been driven out of business, hospitals closed, and access to patients has been limited. Corporations are out to make money and care little for the patient. Doctors now respond to insurance companies not the patient. Insurance costs are out of control. Patients cannot afford insurance and yet cannot afford to be without it. The pharmaceutical industry must also accept their share of responsibility in the quagmire of American Medicine.

Dr. Multz suggests that citizens and medical professional should be involved in decisions about healthcare, especially those that restrict or ration any element of care. What are we willing to pay for as a group? Such as, what forms of cosmetic surgery should we, as a group, be willing to pay for? Citizens should be involved in pricing and availability. A commission should be formed in a capacity of advisory and review.

Dr. Carter V. Multz calls on his vast experience to suggest improvement in the American Medical system. He speaks his opinions plainly and simply enough that even I could understand them. I think he has several wise proposals. The cover of this book is well done, a flag and a broken symbol of the AMA, what could speak louder to the condition of our medical system. I highly recommend "American Medicine MisManaged Care" for all concerned with the state of medical care in the United States.

Subtitle: How to Be a Long-Term Winner in a Short-Term World

If you want to be "superior investor" or "long-term winner," be a "partaker," not an "outsmarter."

That's the author's key message, and nobody with any sense would argue with it.

The problem is comes from how to define those terms. So many investors are highly intelligent that they think they can or should be able to "out-smart" the market. Glassman doesn't address any of the emotional/psychological aspects of this behavior, and falls prey to it himself.

"Outsmarters" are the vast majority of mutual fund and pension managers and investors, day traders, and all the rest of people who think they can achieve superior returns through finding great stocks, buying them cheap, and eventually reselling them for a huge profit.

So Glassman devotes chapters advising readers to stay away from such outsmarter type techniques as buying on margin, options, selling stocks short, and all trading (to minimize broker fees and taxes) or market timing.

However, one chapter advises readers to keep a "wish list" of companies whose stock you want to own but which are too expensive, and the price at which you would buy them. Sooner or later the market or that particular company's stock price will go down and may reach your wished for price. Then buy it.

But what is that but a form of market timing? An intelligent example of market timing, but market timing nonetheless. And while you're at it, if your broker allows you, why not sell puts on that company's stock price? That way you'll make money even if the stock price doesn't reach your wished for price. If it does, you'll buy it at that price, and still put some extra moola into your pocket. Sure, you have to have enough cash in your account to buy the stock at that price, but that's also true of Glassman's advice.

Glassman explains the value of keeping expenses low, which is great advice, especially concerning mutual funds (most people don't realize they're paying high management fees, and that greatly reduces their long-term returns). However, he also advises you to start a separate, "fun and games" account of no more than 10% of your total portfolio, if you can't stay away from buying stocks on stock tips. This is a concession to people's emotional vulnerability, but wasting 10% of your total investment funds will reduce your long-term returns by much more than mutual fund management fees.

I do understand that some people insist on gambling in the stock market as a form of entertainment, so why not advise them to use only money in their entertainment budget? Want to buy some call options? Give up dining out for the next two months. Want to buy that junior gold exploration company? Cancel your cable or satellite TV subscription. Want to buy the latest high-tech IPO? Use your summer cruise money.

Glassman does advise readers to instead be a "partaker," -- that is, find good businesses and share in the long term success.

My argument with the author here is not in the basic idea -- I applaud it -- just in the specific application of his advice.

He constantly tells readers to look for good businesses, study them and then invest in them for the long term. My own concession to the foibles of people is my belief that most people don't have the time or skills or business savvy to do this research or to correctly evaluate the future prospects of the businesses they research, and therefore won't do it.

And I believe that for many people, this is a wise course of action. They should spend their spare time either making more money through a part time job or business, exercising (the longer you live, the longer your investments can compound), or simply enjoying life with their families.

Yet these people need to invest their money also.

But of course, Glassman is aware that Burton Malkiel already wrote the book (A RANDOM WALK DOWN WALL STREET) advising investors to simply put their investment money into a broad S&P index fund and be done with it.

But Modern Portfolio Theory also says that a portfolio of 30 individual and diversified stocks pretty much tracks the entire market just as an index fund does, so Glassman adds his own perspective by giving lots of advise on choosing the 30 best stocks you can. (And he mentions a recent study that shows that since stock market volatility has increased recently, you now need to own 50 individual and diversified stocks.)

Yet according to Modern Portfolio Theory, it's only important that your 30 (or 50) stocks be well diversified across industry sectors. Efforts to find and choose good companies (which Glassman devotes this book to) don't add value -- which supports my contention that much stock market research is a waste of time better spent making money other ways). That's because all stocks are fairly valued by the market and move up and down at random only as new information happens -- which is inherently unpredictable.

Yet there is one way, which I support and which Glassman does devote a chapter to, of selecting good companies and "partaking" in their business success -- buying companies that pay dividends.

His chapter on dividends is titled, "Give Dividends the Respect They Deserve" and concludes that a good portfolio contains many dividend-paying stocks, but should not be entirely made up of dividend-paying stocks.

Why not? I would argue that if a company doesn't pay dividends to its shareholders those shareholders are NOT "partaking" in the business.

Yes, they plan to make a profit when they eventually selling the stock. (Glassman gives lip service to author Philip Fisher and investor Warren Buffett's advice to hold on to good stocks "forever," yet continually praises rises in stock prices -- which are meaningless to the non-selling shareholder).

But until stock owners sell the stock, they get no cash return from the business. They may consider themselves a "partner" in the business, but businesses that don't pay their "partners" a generous dividends are treating their shareholders as "red-haired step-partners."

There's a lot of good advice in this book. It's too bad Glassman doesn't take his model to its logical limits.

I submit to you that paying ANY attention to a stock's price (after you've bought it) is clearly and insidiously a trap for "out-smarters."

Buy companies with a history of rewarding their "partaker" shareholders with quarterly dividend checks and don't ever sell them.

Harry Potter and the wizard world.

I am a Harry Potter, a.k.a., JK's star, fan! Now that I have that out of the way, I need
to share some perspectives of the movies and the books and some puzzles of my own.

I have read books that query Rowling's ideas and characters and actions and consequences.
I will throw this mini tome into that ring.

HP fans know about Mr. Potter and his relatives, friends, and involuntary enemies.

We know that from day one, Mr. Potter has had to battle bullies and skeptics and
"The forces of evil?!" I say evil cause nowhere that I am reading do I find out,
other than verbal proclamations from Him himself and others that he is the best, what "He whose name must not be mentioned"..we have an ego thing about who is the best wizard. I have a feeling that if it were not in a book, that Mr. Potter would GLADLY say "Mr. V, I do not
give one whit about being a great anything! That response would not satisfy the
ego starved Mr. V.

Putting that hypothesis aside, my problem is one that rains on the parade REGARDLESS the fact that I have read all the books, seen the movies and I LIKE THEM ALL! [I like many things
I do not understand.]

I am by occupation, a real estate broker, business consultant, world traveler and hopefully,
also obvious, a free-lance writer. I like to pick some stuff apart that glows illogic.

Mr. Potter is not having these situations exclusively at local pubs, in the dark deep woods
or at home–though we Potter fans know that some of them in fact, do occur at these
venues.

Mr. Potter is a young man and appropriately, a STUDENT. He is not attending
a school exclusively for young men, or for imminent actors or for Brits. He is attending
a school for wizards. That in itself LEADS to a puzzlement.

While Mr. Potter has few innate skills, [the few he does, granted, are rather spectacular]
he is in a learning mode some of the time and in a "Do it now or lose your ass" situation-
one after the other.

OF course, we know that in battles of every type, the most educated do not always win.
[A real battle in the sands of the middle east is testament to that!] However, it seems very odd to me that, while it may take some of the suspense out of the books and movies, that the faculty seem a bit pre-occupied and thus, unable to assist Mr. Potter in his quests to both discover himself AND solve his sequential predicaments.

We have a school of highly skilled wizards who are teachers and some returning students
who have had a chance to explore their wizard abilities too.

I UNFAIRLY expect the school of Wizardy at Hogwarts, to have a faculty that can do their
own research and have done background checks on their own faculty. This seems to have been lacking since one held V in his head and the other began chirping on Potter from day one.

While Rowling has creatures deluxe in her literature and cinema, it seems they are simply
acknowledged by the faculty and not challenged. To have the headmaster say in
book [and movie] #1, something like "There exists in these halls, something horrible that if you came upon it, would provide you a horrible death." Is that supposed to stop curious
kids from exploring? It is going to do the opposite; just as the faculty cautions and verbal
limitations about the forest just beyond the school!

"V's" group make up the dark side; but, excuse me, To what end? Do the members of Rowling's Dark side hope to take over the school? The world? What? The North End of England
or Scotland?

Then, we have the head master's point program. Very cute up to a point. Those how have the most points in their genre, win. I agree. But while Potter's group hope to Win, and become the leading "House" for the next semester, what is the faculty and senior students doing to discover why "V" and his chums are doing nasty deeds? Does "V" want to take over the school?
The world? Seems in fact, that the world of non-wizards are known as Muggles and "V"
disdains them, so that "Rule the world" is out AS FAR AS THE READERS KNOW IT.
[I agree in many battles, a victor will claim no interest in his actual target to mislead the
other side and keep the target, thus, un-protected or only slightly protected. But to
keep from going too far afield, let's presume "V" does not want to take over the Muggle world.
Is this then, "Simply" a battle over who is the best wizard? Can't be that simple.

Good people will always back off if the "Dark side" mainly likes to randomly kill and
harass "Just to show they are they guys with the biggest sticks" if by backing off, the
bad guys will reduce their menace. As philosophers have said for eons, "Let's see what they do before we charge in." I think "V"s objectives are either non-existent beyond ego demands
or they are purposly hidden from all but "Non-V" fans

Rowling has done a masterful job of keeping kids and many adults, in suspense as she
weaves her own steps to her preferred conclusion. She has not done such a masterful
job, however, of using logic to get there. [Meaning, teachers unable to see what the
students must see to save their respective buns. Should there not have been more than one battle of good teacher vs bad teacher or good teacher vs "V" subscriber?]

Thus, the term, Science Fiction. Maybe Hogwarts has an extension class for Muggles named "Try to figure this out."

Author Sanaya Roman is the channel for what she describes as a "source of wisdom" called Orin. The information in Living with Joy: Keys to Personal Power and Spiritual Transformation (H.J. Kramer) comes from Orin through Roman. And whether you are a person who believes in channeling or not, this book is a must-read for those who desire a life more to their liking with less pain and more bliss.

Living with Joy is the first book of three in the popular Earth Life Series. As such, it contains a full background on how Roman became a channel and her first experiences with the spiritual light being/wisdom/guide called Orin. It also explains in Orin's words, who he is—"I am Master Life"—as well as what he is creating—"I am developing a philosophy and helping plant a new mass thoughtform on earth, one that will help people find their power, reach their hearts and create more happiness and peace in their lives."

You are asked to suspend your disbelief as Orin leads the reader through a step-by-step process for living a more expanded and consciously aware life that includes answers to finding your life's purpose, knowing what is right for you, understanding the bigger picture or 'gift' in every situation, achieving clarity, balance, security, and stability, and remaining open to all the good in your life so you can receive even more.

There's a 'Playsheet' at the end of each chapter that contains a few questions and exercises geared to help implement any change you'd like to make in your life.

I found this book, and the entire Earth Life Series, to be powerfully transformative. Written simply and lovingly, these teachings ring as true today as they did at publication in 1986. These are the same truths every master from every era taught, updated for our modern time. They deal specifically with all the everyday thoughts and circumstances we face now.

I've reread these books on and off throughout the years and am always pleasantly surprised by how many "new" insights I gain with each read. The information was always there, but not absorbed until I was ready to receive it. Orin does instruct the reader to keep what is true for them and let go of the rest. This seems to happen naturally.

I especially like the empowering, positive Orin quotes sprinkled throughout the text. I often randomly open the book and read these quotes as a sort of "thought for the day." They are usually very relevant to what is happening in my life at the time.

The way I decide if a book was worth the read is if I found it helpful, empowering, and thought-provoking, and if it promotes a loving, compassionate feeling about living life as a human being. Living with Joy does it all and more. I highly recommend it as a book to read and reread. It gets a solid 5-star rating.

Copyright 2007 – Mary M. Bauer. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Cop Out: How a Former Police Officer became a Fugitive for over 20 years - Living in the Woods and Other Locations While Evading Law Enforcement and Eventually Surrendered to God and Authorities


by Robert Davis


iUniverse (2007)


ISBN 9780595425433


Reviewed by Richard R. Blake for Reader Views (2/07)

"Cop Out" is the story of Robert L. Davis. Abandoned by his father, Robert lived with his maternal grandmother and eight siblings in Hollygrove, a ghetto area of New Orleans. By the time of his high school graduation Robert had become proficient in stealing and stripping cars and was becoming entrenched in a life of crime. Two young neighbors, New Orleans police officers, influenced Robert to become a recruit for the police academy.

Corruption within the police department and the example of "bad" cops on the force gave Robert a false sense of his core values and an incident arose that caused him to be examined by the department of internal affairs. He was later arrested. While out on bail, unable to face the possibility of a 30-year sentence to Angola Prison, Robert fled.

His story of evading authorities, as a fugitive, is one of survival. He lived for months at a time in wooded areas and in National Forests. This first-person, fast-paced narrative takes Robert from New Orleans to Canada, from coast to coast.

His reflections and stories tell of significant influences of some of the people he met in bus stations, railroad yards, homeless shelters, church missions, and day job centers.

I appreciated Robert's open, frank, approach in relating his feelings. He has made himself vulnerable. His story is one that will create questions and cause you to seek answers. His journals are filled with a pattern of family, friends, acquaintances, and girlfriends challenging his atheism as he challenged their Christian message. The book is thought provoking for Christian and non-Christian alike.

The central truth of the book is this: the miracle of the redemptive reality of God is that the worst and the most despicable offender can never exhaust the depths of His love. As Robert experienced the miracle of God's redemptive love, after over twenty years of flight, he surrendered, first to God and then to the authorities.

This is a remarkable story of transformation. An angry atheistic criminal was recreated to become a man with "a compassion for the poor, love to those in need, patience to the foolish, and laughter with the innocent."

"Cop Out" is a must read book for anyone considering or involved in the area of criminal justice, faith based ministries, parole officers, gang members, and juvenile offenders. Challenging, life-changing, inspirational.

What lessons should investors learn from Enron?

This book is a fascinating account of the how Enron went from transporting natural gas through its pipelines to the foremost commodity (gas, electricity, metals, paper pulp, water, broadband . . . you name it -- even derivatives based on the weather) trading company on the planet to the best known example of corporate malfeasance.

First, in a business sense, Enron fell into what Dr. Jeremy J Siegel in THE FUTURE FOR INVESTORS calls the "Growth Trap." When the company believed that buying a company or other asset would give it a strategic advantage, price was no object.

In 1985 InterNorth paid $70 per share for Houston Natural Gas (HNG) when its market price was only $$46.88. That's the beginning of Enron. A short time later, it paid a hefty price to buy out two "greenmail" investors trying to take it over.

It bought the Portland General electric company to learn how how to run an electric utility and laid fiber optics networks when there was not enough demand.

After their success in trading gas, they thought they could make money from anything . . . so they could afford to pay any cost of entry, because they'd learn how to make it up from future revenues.

When you're making an investment, you're putting up money now in hopes of receiving even more money in the future. Too often, investors will overpay for a stock because they believe that the company has terrific growth prospects.

Secondly, when it began trading natural gas, Enron began a "mark to market" form of accounting. That means that at the end of the day they added up their net losses and profits. This is normal for financial trading firms such as mutual funds.

However, Enron's traders were not buying and selling stocks, bonds and options that have a clearcut market value. They were arranging deals to supply gas here, electricity there . . . for years to come.

Marking these deals to market meant that cash they hoped to receive from customers over the next year or two or ten, was put down as today's profit.

Little or no cash received -- yet on the books a big profit.

And this is what investors do when they check stock prices every day and figure out what their portfolio is "worth." Thinking about the day to day fluctuations takes your mind away from what's important: making more money in your career or business, and buying investments that pay you income over the long term.

In your personal finances, you instinctively know that you can't go to the mall today and spend the dividends or interest you will receive next year. (Yes, in a way you can, by borrowing the money from Visa and planning to repay them later . . . but Visa will charge you a hefty rate of interest for doing that.)

Yet so many people feel "rich" with money they can't spend, just because the market price of their stocks has risen.

Enron's mark to market accounting gave its employees a short-term mentality that in the mid-term proved destroyed its ability to survive into the long-term.

Thirdly, understand that a company's net revenues may be a deceptive number, so keep an eye on its cash flow instead.

This book makes a brave attempt to explain the many off the books limited partnerships Enron created to his its huge debts. I'm an accounting major, but corporate "financial engineering" didn't exist when I was in college, and I found the author's explanations difficult to follow and even more difficult to grasp the real meaning of.

I'm not reassured that professional stock analysts (almost all of whom continued to recommend Enron until it declared bankruptcy) and auditors called in after Enron's downfall also found these limited partnerships difficult to comprehend.

I do understand, however, that if a corporation has a substantial stake in a limited partnership, yet accounting rules do not require it to be on the corporation's balance sheet, there's a lot of room for abuse. Even when these are done with integrity, without the conflict of interest inherent in Enron's, they're manipulating net earnings.

The author therefore advises investors to follow a company's trail of cash. That would be: net sales minus accounts receivable plus interest or dividends received minus cash expenses (ignore depreciation and amortization) minus taxes paid minus dividends paid should equal the increase in company's cash or equivalent investments.

If there's a big gap, that's a red flag. Where is the missing cash? In an off the books entity?

And is there a big gap between that and reported net earnings (that's not explained by depreciation and amortization)?

Of course, not many nonaccountants are going to take a balance sheet and properly analyze it. And I'm not even sure this formula would have worked for Enron, since they were booking deals for future payments as today's "sales," just because the deals were made today.

The best way I know of to check whether a company is properly managing cash flow is . . . find out what's their dividend yield.

A company paying dividends may not be 100% honest, but at least they're in good enough shape to share some of the loot with their stockholders. They're managing the cash flow well enough for that.

This book documents the rise (and fall) of Enron's stock price, but never once mentions the company paying a dividend. No doubt the company's executives felt they could better direct the use of their retained earnings better than mere common investors.

Since they made tens of millions of dollars from selling Enron stocks, what did they care about the fools who held on to it?

Lastly, don't depend on any one stock to make your retirement. No matter how successful a company seems (FORTUNE named Enron as the most innovative company in America every year 1996-2001. Shortly before Enron's collapse, they named the company as one of ten stocks to last the next 10 years. Jeffrey Skilling -- is he still in jail, I wonder? -- was named as top CEO), you can't know its future with certainty.

Even if you work there -- many Enron employees lost their retirement funds because they had no idea what the top executives were hiding from them. Heck, even the very top executives claimed they didn't know about the limited partnerships.

So no matter how good a stock's story or who recommends it to you, you are taking a bigger risk than you realize when you buy the stock of one company.

If you must, choose one that pays dividends. That doesn't guarantee the company will survive, but it gives you better odds.

Anne Bonney: My Pirate Story


by Jeffery S. Williams with Katherine Williams


iUniverse (2006)


ISBN 9780595373048


Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (12/06)

Anne Bonney was born out of wedlock in 1700 to Peg Brannan, a maid, and her employer William McCormac. She lived with her mother and her Uncle Edward. He was kind to her and she loved him. When the schoolmaster thrashed her for beating up the school bully, she learned the hard way that "silence in violence and violence in silence. It left my enemies adrift with uncertainty." Her unswerving defiance unnerved the schoolmaster. Anne had learned a life lesson, "most people do not have the stomach for direct confrontation."

At ten years of age Anne and her mother and father left Ireland for the Carolinas. She cherished the sea. She'd found her destiny, on a ship.

Anne came to despise her father. She saw him as a brutal master to the slaves and yet spineless. Her father picked suitors for her but she would have none of them. When James Bonney asked her to marry him she agreed despite her father's objections. Her father knew that Bonney was a penniless indentured servant out to get the family's money. Her father disowned her.

James was working for the government accusing men of being pirates. Anne had respect for most of the pirates and despised her husband for betraying them. When Anne set eyes on Calico Jack Rackham he lingered in her mind. She felt he was a man she could respect.

Anne took to wearing James' clothing and secretly visited the taverns which the pirates frequented. When the opportunity arose Anne joined Rackham on his ship. By day she dressed as a male pirate and by night she lay in his bed. When a shipmate attacked her she killed him. She now had the respect of the crew but they still believed she was male. But their respect didn't stop her from being arrested for piracy.

Jeffery S. Williams is a talented writer; his perspective on Anne Bonney's story is fascinating. He captures the feminine viewpoint perfectly. The plot flows smoothly, yet has twists and turns that I wasn't expecting. I eagerly turned the pages reading this book in one setting. I had to see what adventure Anne would face next. The cover is beautifully done. The ship with the beautiful sunset sets the tone of the story. This story contains fiction and nonfiction, action, adventure and romance. I love the ending. I highly recommend "Anne Bonney: My Pirate Story" to those who enjoy historical fiction and nonfiction.

Reading is almost becoming a lost art. Between the video games, children's DVDs and the endless variety of shows that are geared towards children it's hard to imagine a time when a child would actually sit down and read a book for enjoyment. It's kind of a shame, really, because when you read you can be anyone or anywhere you want. There are some children, however that love to read, and they say that this stems from them being read to at a young age, plus having access to some material that they would actually enjoy reading.

I can remember, as a child, when we would have the childrens book of the month club in our school. Ever month we would go home with an order form that would be chock full of the latest and greatest books for children. When that order came in we would absolutely devour those books. It was always an exciting time. I feel sorry for children that do not have that same love for books as I did when I was a youngster. Fortunately some people are not allowing that to happen to their child, or grandchild.

There are plenty of services out there that now offer a book of the month club that is specifically geared toward the younger reader. If you have young children or perhaps know someone that does they can really benefit from having such a subscription. Giving the gift of reading is a very precious thing, and when you watch a child grow up loving books it adds so much more to their lives than when they only have the video games and TV to fill the quiet moments.