I am reviewing the novel A Tap On The Window by Linwood Barclay which is a very good thriller which I bought from a local supermarket. I think Linwood is one of the best thriller writers currently writing and I did quite enjoy reading this book which has only just been published in Britain. The book is around 500 pages so is a decent length. The plot concerns a father whose sone jumped off a roof after taking bad recreational drugs and had been missing for some time. The father is determined to find out who is responsible for selling him the dodgy drugs. He is at a traffic lights in the rain and a young lady who knew his son is desperate for a lift and also another rather dodgy motorist has made her a bit fearful for her safety so he agrees to give her a lift. In his search to find the dubious drug dealer he agrees to buy that lady and her friend some drugs each and also he ends up taking some. The drug is what I think is called MDMA although in the book they use the proper name. Anyway both of the die as a result and he is fearful of ending up on multiple murder charges. The only solution is for him to get to the bottom of what is going on. The story is set in Toronto which is Linwood's home in Canada. Apparently he used to be a columnist for the Toronto Star. He has written quite a few thrillers and does seem quite consistent. The novel also has quite a happy ending & I would recommend it.

The book I read to research this post was Pottery On The Wheel by Steve McDonald which is a very good book which I bought from kindle. This is a how to guide to doing pottery on a potter's wheel and also things like glazing, firing in a kiln and also there are quite a few projects where you are guided step by step. The type of potter's wheel you should use is just a 1/4 horsepower one for small items, a 1/2 horsepower one for intermediate items like vases and if you are doing 4 foot vases a 1 hp or 1 1/2 horsepower wheel. When you finish you will normally glaze it and then fire it in a kiln. The kiln will usually work by using special cones that disintegrate at a set temperature and in the process activate a liver that turns off the kiln. In this process the temperature is the important thing not the length of time it is heated for. Some people make pottery that isn't fired in a kiln but none the less goes pretty hard as it dries out. You also need tools and alot of these you can make yourself if you can't find a pottery tool supplier. For example a piece of piano wire can be used to cut the clay and for shaping it on the wheel a piece of shaped segment of an old broken cd can be used. When using the wheel the clay must be kept wet and a sponge can be used to help with this. Of course water has to be added as well. I very much enjoyed this book and didn't want this book to end but as it was it was quite a short book of about 80 pages.

The book I've read to research this post was Tracing Your Ancestors by D M Field which is an excellent book which I bought from a second hand book store. In tracing your family tree it's worth checking if someone has already done a local history in your area or done a family history either in your family or a related family. It's surprising how many of these have been done and also how many exist in manuscript form and hardly anyone knows about them. It will save you loads of work. If your family is Irish you may find there was a fire at the records office in Dublin in 1922 which had various records stored more census records. You also may find your family has a coat of arms you never know. This is normally passed on via the eldest son in each generation. Another thing is family history where you read about the life in the towns and the careers your relatives worked in etc. In some ways this is better than simple family trees. Other things worth checking are wills, trade records, parish records, birth and death records and military records. This was a really enjoyable book that is only around 60 pages but is very informative.

The book I read to research this post was Strategy & Marketing A Case Approach by Kenneth Simmonds which is an excellent book which I bought from a car boot sale. I struck lucky with this book because I bought it for just 50 p at the car boot sale in question & the same chap had lots of books on business all for the same price so I did buy 4 all together. If you see this book and it is reasonably priced I would suggest buying it as it is interesting even though it was published in 1988 & a lot of the information about the business climate has probably changed since. This book teaches marketing by example in the form of a case by case approach of quite a lot of companies. There is a company that has 85 % of the filtration business sewn up and they find that in terms of performance and price they are the best. There filters last for 6 years which is better than any of their competitors although some customers resent their success and go with a competitor anyway. They also find that some of their competitors concentrate on small niches in the market where they can out perform them. Another company has a major share of the plastic bathroom market and find that the stainless steel market price wise is narrowing the gap on price. Many people like the kind of novelty bathrooms with things like unusually shaped baths which they excel at. Many people also upgrade their bathroom to include a shower or bidet which they need to focus more on. At the time this book was written copper baths were being edged out due to their excessive price. This book is around 240 pages so isn't that long but is an interesting read.