Best Selling Books by John Schwartz

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In this second book about Maarten Maartens, His Best Short Stories, John Schwartz summarizes Maarten Maarten''s four volumes of short story collections, published between 1889 and 1912, using much of Maartens'' own writing to give today''s readers a chance to savor his exceptional writing skills. In 1914, Ezzard Nidden, a British critic, made the following remark: "Since Tolstoy died, only one great epic writer is left to us-Maarten Maartens." And critic Hoyt said that "Every thinker should have on his shelves Goethe, Schiller, Maartens." In his monumental "History of English Literature," Dr. Anton Lohr ranks Maartens among the highest: "His works stand alone in the English Literature of the day. But this great writer belongs to the literature of Europe."

Francine Boyers, a bright and beautiful young West Virginian with a mining engineering degree and an MBA, is hired by Jim O''Hara, CEO of OHARA Mining in New York. As the CEO''s personal assistant, she proves to be unusually quick on her feet, deft at fending off wolfish men, and rises through the ranks with astonishing speed, handling pollution issues with Congress, a protest at a mining conference in Paris, troubles with OHARA''s Caribbean gold and bauxite investments, and the rescue of miners in Sumatra. Her friend Nancy Smith sums up her preternatural talent for solving problems: "And you have that special gift of knowing what to do when nobody else does." She helps the company battle the Environmental Protection Agency, whose invasive regulations kill the coal miners'' jobs and gets caught in the middle of an internecine tug of war within the company between the CEO and Ted Holler, his environmentalist nemesis on the board. She ultimately finds herself enmeshed in a corporate conspiracy, with the continued existence of the company-and her own reputation-on the line, facing trade issues with China. Will she save the company, and find happiness?

A Deadly Memoir

This publication includes reports on ten caves in Reynolds County, Missouri and forty-two caves in Shannon County, Missouri. Maps and map plates are included for many of the caves. Numerous speleologists and spelunkers individually authored the reports.

Journey From The Beyond is a fascinating story incorporating life lessons handed down over several thousand years. It is a myth about creating one''s own destiny through visualization... living in the present moment... controlling emotions... eliminating grief and sadness. The main character Jahele''s narrative is a coming-of-age story. After his family is murdered he travels from his home in the Beyond, relating his experiences and the unusual encounters in an ancient world. The narrative pulls the reader through the pages. The epoch-spanning thriller will excite and satisfy readers, regardless of age.

After the death of his wife Emily, Steven decides to honor her by walking from their Oregon home to Jerusalem where she was born. His life was messy and so is his walk. The word messy not only reflects Steven''s lifestyle but this book''s structure. There is no linear progression. It does not follow the standard novel structure of plot crisis resolution. It is closer to an anthology in many ways, yet the result creates a novel.Steven trudges through an Indian Reservation where spiritual mushrooms create a visit with Lewis and Clark. At one point he enters a vaginal sperm race to trace life''s source of DNA. His memory is swamped with life lessons learned around the world. Having lived and worked in Asia for several decades his memory is flooded with Thai massages and Chairman Mao''s savagery. Sex with his wife and others frequents his mind along with his views on religion, politics, love, and hate. He is almost killed by a tornado while debating Christianity and Islam with a country pastor. While recovering in the hospital he recalls the lessons that were responsible for his successful yet messy life. The dominant theme is the joy he gained from life with Emily and the horror of watching her decline in the arms of Lou Gehrig (ALS).

How does a lifetime of self-centered delusion place roadblocks between a simple cook and the survival of a way of life? By what means may he overcome his self-imposed detachment and by embracing all of life, good and bad, prevent the fall of man into darkness?

The performance of several synthetic biomaterials and bovine articular cartilage were investigated in terms of their suitability for use as articulating surfaces in artificial joints. The Dual-Axis Wear Simulator (DAWS), a wear testing machine that simulates conditions in a synovial joint, was designed and fabricated to enable investigators to measure the wear of such materials in multi-directional sliding while immersed in a bovine serum lubricant solution. This machine was used initially to determine the wear mechanisms and wear amounts of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polyoxymethylene (POM), and the compliant elastomer Pellethane 2363-80A. It was found that the compliant material produced lower wear. Dynamic mechanical analysis was used to determine that bovine articular cartilage had a very significant amount of viscoelasticity to support static loads and damp impact loads. Furthermore, the use of a compliant counterface led to lower wear in the cartilage as compared to a rigid counterface. Pt-Zr quasicrystals were used as fillers in UHMWPE, and the wear, stiffness, and impact toughness of the filled polymer were shown to be comparable or better than those of UHMWPE that had been irradiation crosslinked. Crosslinked UHMWPE was investigated for its susceptibility to oxidative degradation and increased wear. It was found that thermal stabilization of the polymer could be eliminated if a mild amount crosslinking was used. Furthermore, there was no degradation in wear resistance of mildly crosslinked and non-stabilized UHMWPE even after accelerated aging. Based on the results of this work and lessons learned about compliance and wear resistance, blends were produced by using surface-activated UHMWPE particles as fillers in elastomeric PUR. The blends showed better wear resistance than UHMWPE, as well as increased stiffness and damping over PUR. The results of this work indicated that there is great potential for the development of new biomaterials and materials treatment methods to produce more durable articulating components in artificial joints.

Results of a study of coronary arteries of 206 patients (122 male, 84 female) dying in the Royal Adelaide Hospital, South Australia.

A selection of research papers, reviews, books and book chapters ... considered representative of the works by the author over the years 1958-1993.