What is the human heart like? Theologians and philosophers have attempted to address this question, not just in the abstract, but concretely in personal, as well as social and political, dimensions. Patrick Downey explores the biblical writings of Genesis and the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah, the Greek tragedies, Plato, Aristotle, and political philosophers--such as Rousseau, Hobbes, Nietzsche and Rene Girard--to seek answers to this profound question. Recognizing our resistance to know the truth about our own hearts, Downey calls his readers to join with these thinkers in the search for truth and serious self-reflection. Not for the faint of heart, this book courageously addresses the most foundational question of our existence as individuals in community. What is the nature of the human heart and can we, will we, know it?

OIL 101 is a straightforward guide to oil and an essential read for anyone coming to grips with where oil prices, the economy and society are headed.

In OIL 101, Downey provides the facts one needs to understand oil, from its history and chemistry, to refining, finished products, storage, transportation, alternatives, and how prices are determined every day in global wholesale oil markets and how those markets are connected to prices at the pump.

Through a combination of brains, cunning and daring Legs Diamond became one of the top gangsters in the East, but because of his stubbornness, treachery and poor decision making he lost it all; his friends, his money and finally his life. Legs Diamond is the most comprehensive biography yet written on New York's most famous Prohibition era gangster. The book covers Legs' youth in Philadelphia, his ascension through the New York underworld, which resulted in his becoming an international celebrity, and his inevitable demise in a cheap rooming house. Along the way, the many myths and untruths that have been written about Diamond over the years are corrected. Detailed in the book are: - Full accounts of all four attempts on his life. - The war between Diamond and his one time protege Dutch Schultz, which resulted in the almost assassination of Legs' brother Eddie. -The famous Hotsy-Totsy murder case. - Diamond's ill-fated trip to Europe to purchase drugs. -His bid to monopolize bootlegging in New York's Greene County. -The death of his brother Eddie. -New information on Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll and his possible partnership with Diamond. -Jack's final night. -The origin of the nick name Legs. -His relationship with Ziegfeld showgirl Kiki Roberts And much more.

Jonathan Fox is an engineering graduate student returning to a summer internship in the telecommunications industry. He has been given a copy of a Confidential letter written by an Air Force colonel on Guam that suggests a wiretap scam of significant proportion has been set up on a fiber-optic undersea cable network. One of the wiretap locations is on Andersen Air Force Base, on Guam, with other locations in California, Japan, and Hawaii. National security may be at risk, aside from theft -of-service. Jonathan s task is to determine how the wiretap scam was established, by whom, and for what purpose. He is assigned to work inside the company s cable station on Guam, ostensibly to fine-tune cable equipment, but quietly snoops on the technicians, a task he finds necessary but distasteful. On his second day on Guam he is invited out to Andersen, where he finds the colonel who authored the Confidential letter to his company has been murdered. As Jonathan pursues his investigation he finds the wiretap arrangement has been established for a very intriguing purpose. The action in Pacific Wiretap creates a scene of adventure, crime, and daring that spans the Pacific Ocean itself.