Although some of Bob's stories are distinctly lighthearted, much of his writing is infused with issues of violence and the darker nature of mankind as he experienced them in war and civil strife in many parts of the world. And there is an underlying, basically unspoken message in his writings. Bob considers it a universal truth that one must examine every contour, every edge, every excrescence of the horrors of darkness and conflict. Only then, he believes, will it be possible to truly appreciate enlightenment and compassion. Book Reviews 5 Stars -- Perceptive tales of the quixotic third world, no matter the setting. True to real life, the gods ordained few blissful endings in this compendium of stories centered on the quixotic third world. Some of the stories indeed have no ending at all, but leave the reader in agonized suspense. Acrophobes will shiver at the prospect of the narrator stranded on a high rock in "The Top" as night falls in the desert and the cold air settles in. Claustrophobes will wince at the underwater access to "The Cave" beneath a limestone karst in Laos. The description of the Commandant at Kisangani in what was then Zaire is typical of officious persons of power who abound abroad. The Commandant was "subject to no laws except the 'law' possessed by automatic weapons casually wielded by personal guards His French, though passable, was really a m?lange of a Franco-Belge patois and Lingala, the prevailing language of the Congolese military throughout Zair