Experience is a great teacher, but the emphasis is rarely on the student. I wonder what a great teacher would do in an empty classroom with no student! I feel like a student now. Perhaps I was going through one of the most defining life experiences as I wrote this book. This book was meant to be. It lets me be.

Tom Smith first wrote his guide for umpires and scorers in 1980. Since then, his indispensable guide has gone through six fully-revised editions. The 'new' Tom Smith is the first to be fully redesigned and updated for the 21st century. Its publication coincides with international recognition that there should be one universal standard for the training of umpires whatever country they operate in. The 'new' Tom Smith incorporates the full 2000 Code of the Laws of Cricket with subsequent amendments as ratified by the MCC and international and national cricket bodies. The freshly drawn diagrams are easy to follow and will be of value not only to umpires and scorers, but to all lovers of the game of cricket. As Richie Benaud, the great Australian cricketer and commentator, has said, he never goes without his copy of 'Tom Smith'. Nor should any spectator who wishes to feel fully qualified in discussing the application of the Laws of Cricket to the game. David Lloyd says, 'Tom Smith is just as valuable a piece of kit as Hawkeye, Snicko and Hotspot in the Sky Sports commentary box, its interpretation of the Laws of the game is the first thing we turn to regarding decisions. it's a "must-have" alongside the Laws of cricket.'

Contemned, is the story of a scorned woman named Genesis and her revelation after she missed the rapture. The revelation of true evil lying in wait to expose itself within each and every one left on earth. Genesis thought she was a Christian and knew she would be saved. She attended church every Sunday. She is a divorced mother of two kids, a teenage boy called BJ and an eight year old daughter called JoJo. Gen is a hard worker with an average social life. Upon her mothers request, she opened her home to her sister and her two younger children. She thought she was handling the stress just fine. She hadnt killed her ex-husband and his Bimbo Barbies and her estranged, man-hungry, unsocialable, not quite divorced yet sister who was driving her insane daily. She even sung in the choir at her church, but none of that mattered. She still missed the rapture. It was an average day. Genesis was looking forward to the night. She and her girlfriends were going to DJs Blue Note Caf to listen to the poetic sound of spoken words by the featured spoken word artists. It was the true blues scene, the bass player wearing his dark shades, the sax player, oh my God that man is hot, the drummer, and the artists expressing the inner feelings and thoughts she dare not say. Mix the element with a couple of glasses of White Zinfandel and maybe a shot of Patron or E&J, depending on the mood and it becomes chill time. It wasnt until the next morning when her son rushed into their home asking, screaming that she realizes something is terribly wrong. Why didnt God take us Mom, why? BJ kept repeating. The rapture had come and gone and questions are overwhelming her ability to think. What happens next is the only thought on Genesis mind. Her curiosity of why she was not taken haunted her soul. Her mother had been her link to heaven, and now her mother, JoJo and Bris kids were gone. Follow them through their struggle with self-identity and trials and tribulations to escape from a satanic world. The mark of the beast is all around them as they attempt to travel from Texas to Israel. How will they survive and will they make it?