Jackson Does A Good Job
919898
Some very nice music.  If you like AJ and you like gospel music, you won't be disappointed.
3155022
This is the best book I've ever read on Michael Jackson , and that's probably because it is so simple. No agendas, no fame to attain, just an obviously talented author who wanted to share her experience.  There may be portions that are hard to read or believe; I believe the whole thing. As I've written elsewhere, it is hard to know who Michael really truly is, and if you really want to know more about him, this is one of the books to read. Take it all in, don't get mad. It's part of knowing the truth.
3394861
Jackson does a fine job of telling a story where the reader is never quite sure where their own "unsettled" feeling about the story originates.  Is it Hill House itself - a house which on the surface is a sturdy, well built house designed to withstand anything the elements throws at it, but, yet, is somehow "all wrong"?  Is it the supernatural - does a ghost inhabit Hill House, where, according to Jackson, whatever walks there, walks alone?  Is it in the minds of the people staying at Hill House - whatever walks at Hill House may be entirely in the minds of the people staying there?

The reader is never quite sure and as the story unfolds, the hair on the back of your neck stands a little straighter with each turn of the page.  Jackson does an excellent job of getting the reader to frighten themselves using their own imagination.
2917059
Jackson's wonderful music is performed exquisitely. The singers are first rate. Chilcott's arrangement of the Pachelbel Canon is mediocre, Tavener's Song for Athene gets a good performance, and Pott's "When Favid Heard" is terrific. A good value. ~ R Moore
4456037
American Lion is a good read on Andrew Jackson from an overall perspective.  I found this book to be very similar to "The Life of Andrew Jackson" by Robert Remini but still enjoyed it all the same.  It is well written and has a good flow of events dealing with the events of Jackson's life and especially his time as President.  Sometimes the details of specific events seem to bog down the read but specific details do allow the reader a better understanding of the political and social structures of Jackson's time.  The author does a nice job of placing the mindset of Jackson and his contemporaries in context for his readers as it is often easy for us today to misjudge the actions of the past based on our own set of values and standards vs. theirs (not saying I agree with those values but we have to understand them to understand the past correctly).  Taken as a whole this work is nicely done and is certainly worth the time it takes to read to gain a better understanding of one of the key figures in American history and an important time in our nation's history.
3340966
Nice smoothed-out versions of Michael Jackson's numerous hit songs set to a bossa nova-styled set/beat. Don't be put off by the "Explicit" tags on the songs listed as there is nothing explicit about them at all and are just bossa nova styled covers of MJ's famous tunes. Great background music that streams by and then all of a sudden you recognize the familiar tunes.
3415213
If you think this book is about Michael Jackson, it is not. As it is titled appropriately. It does however give good insight into Michael's world. The author seems to connect with him and actually have a common bond. Throughout the book, she seems to understand him as she can relate with the fears she faces. Though they live in different worlds, they are very much alike. MJ fans should read this, even though they will be upset near the end. The author seems to make some quick judgments  about him, but I do find her observations honest and probably only natural. You would think that all her insight into this man would help her fall in line with and understand him better in the end but most those who were hurt by MJ were just too close to realize the bigger picture. A worthwhile read.
2304893
Enjoyed the book very much, Jackson is one of my favorite authors and doesn't disappoint,  Only negative was the family ghost that I felt was the weak link in the story.  Still very enjoyable.
855995
Very good story line involving modern day issues.  The author continues to weave Jackson's past into the present and does not make it boring or mundane.  Looking forward to more.
1522206
Good voices has something of the Jackson sound first song seems very slow no upbeat sound on a lot of the songs
3014074
Good story but nott as good as Detective Jackson books.
670331
The songs on this cd is mostly easy listening music. I love to listen to the slow ballads that Michael Jackson sings. You can hear how wonderful his voice really is. I listened to some of the reviews in the media on this cd and I was missed informed. The review said that this cd was horrible. This is why he didn't have the sales that he was looking for. But this is false. I enjoy this cd extremely and I have my twelve year old son listening to MJ's music and he enjoys this cd, also.
4525812
excellent!  the completion of Jackson's trilogy was just excellent.  for me the movies were better than the book.
1431457
After "Off The Wall", "Thriller" and "Bad", there weren't too many places for Michael Jackson to go. He had survived his 1993 criminal allegations, but his music was faltering. "HIStory" contains fifteen big hits on the first disc and fifteen other songs on the second. It could have barely survived with the latter disc as a new album. There are some upbeat funk-rock numbers like, "This Time Around", "D.S." and "2 Bad", but the rest seem to flounder. "Scream" (a duet with sister Janet) is an incomprehensive mess and "HIStory" is six and a half minutes of sound bytes! The ballads, "Stranger In Moscow", Earth Songs" (particularly pretty) and "Childhood" fare well enough, however. The trouble with this set is that the first CD seems to say, "This is what I gave you" and the second says, "This is what I got". The second CD is nearly biographical in its lyric and it's not pleasant. Ending with "Smile" is as pure narcissism as one can get. Sure Jackson had some bad breaks, but he sure had some damn fantastic ones too. Half of the songs on the new CD should have been shelved, but that wouldn't have bided well with sales. As honest as Michael Jackson might be, he is still selling Michael Jackson.
2586382
This book has it all, sex, drugs and rock and roll. Albeit we're talking illegal sex, we're still talking drugs and a huge name in music. It's a good read and my  understanding is that Jones worked with and for Jackson for 30 years and his co-writer Brown, knew some of the Jackson family which makes sense that Mr. Jones would want someone with at least a little knowledge to sort through the malarkey that is this Jackson guy. It seems that there were some intentional omissions out of sheer respect and I don't know if it were Jones or Brown who omitted those things, but I tip my cap to them for doing it and showing that this wasn't simply about painting Jackson to be a complete pyscho, freak that many believe he is. It was about telling a fair and accurate story from a guy who has been around this circus for 30 years.
4055094
I read each of the five books in the Detective Jackson series, enjoying all but this one. I found it a little too convoluted and winced at the typos and several odd expressions* that were hard to find in the first books. I am giving it a "2" but the entire series rates a "5" taken all together.

*A bank transfer of $7,000 that was called "huge," and "half-assed" was used twice inside a few pages to describe completely different things, suggesting that "Liars" never got a good critical eye.

Sellers is a very good writer and does a great job keeping the story moving -- except in this one. I agree with another comment that she seemed to have been writing on deadline and the plot wrap-up was hurried. She also was guilty of trying to mix the detectives' summaries of several developing investigations (actually the plot) with a reporter's separate investigation, with repeat visits to the same discoveries as they reviewed what they'd found -- over and over and over again.

One writing device she often resorts to I find very tiring. That's the use of questions asked by various characters (to each other and within their own minds) as a way of guiding or perhaps mis-guiding the reader. That's ok to an extent, but when several pages are filled that way you start to wonder whether you are just being taken on unnecessary plot detours.

One aspect I like a lot is that Ms Sellers is a reporter herself (or was), and the writing is succinct and flows. I can just see her pounding away to her own deadlines and ripping out one "take" after another, the way we did in the long-gone IBM Selectric days. She IS capable of doing this well, and I found her, as I have with Michael Connelly, to be an author whose books you want to read in near-endless succession.

Because of that I am looking forward to reading her next Detective Jackson release in a few days (Feb. 26, 2013) and will bide my time.  I see it's priced higher, but that's no biggy -- I was actually surprised that these earlier titles were so low as to suggest vanity publishing. That turned out to not be the case at all.
4229751
Jackson's Mixed Martial Arts: The Ground Game by Greg Jackson with Kelly Crigger is a worthy companion to their earlier book The Stand Up Game.

The first book gave me a great deal of insight into the devious and crafty mind of superstar MMA coach Greg Jackson who has risen to fame based on the success of his fighters Georges St-Pierre, Rashad Evans, Jon Jones, Nate Marquardt, Diego Sanchez, Keith Jardine et al.

The Ground Game provides a great deal of insight into the type of teaching that Jackson provides to his fighters. Throughout the book he emphasizes principles like seizing and maintaining the offensive initiative, using deception whenever possible, capitalizing on your opponent's mistakes, every move should have a back up plan, and think more than one move ahead.

The book is your usual lavishly illustrated Victory Belt production with tons of clear full-color photographs to explain every move -- most moves are captured from multiple angles. The sections are color coded for easy reference and well organized.

There are sections on The Full Guard, Inside the Full Guard, Guard Variations (Butterfly, Spider, Sit-Up, Downed, Half and Inside Half Guard), Side Mount, Head Control, Rear Mount, and Full Mount. Each chapter includes sub-sections on strikes, submissions, sweeps, escapes, passes and transitions. There is also an introductory chapter on nutrition for training by P.R. Cole, MS and RD Candidate at Columbia University.

While it was a very enjoyable read for me as a student of the game, The Ground Game is the kind of information-dense treasury that would most profitably be used by someone in training who could take a day or two to study each move described. In conjunction with The Stand Up Game it's a complete system for MMA fighting.

There's nothing particularly avant-garde in Jackson's books, instead it's a near perfect encapsulation of the current state of the art in MMA. There are a few fairly novel submissions described like the calf crusher, the brabo choke, the octopus foot lock, and the double-knit choke, but for the most part, Jackson sticks to the high percentage move we see successfully pulled off by his students at nearly every UFC.