The inside story of one of the country's most secretive and misruled statehouses by a former New York State senator;. "Democracy takes decades to take root and flourish. New York is learning that it takes just three men in a room to maim and seriously harm a vigorous and representative system of government."-from Three Men in a Room It might be a scene from a movie: three powerful and secretive men sit in a private corner of an exclusive New York club, imperiously making decisions that affect the lives of millions of people. But the scene takes place in Albany, New York, and the exclusive members are the governor, the senate majority leader, and the speaker of the assembly of the New York State legislature. Three Men in a Room is an insider's exposé of how one of the country's largest and most powerful governments-with the fourth-largest budget, behind only the federal government's, California's, and Texas's-has become a model of corrupt, inefficient, and undemocratic governance. Seymour Lachman ran the New York City Board of Education, taught political science, and was then elected to New York's legislature. What he found when he arrived in the halls of the state senate was a Potemkin village of government where legislators vote on bills they haven't read during legislative sessions they haven't attended. After four terms, Lachman left his safe seat in disgust, and has now written this sharp, mordant, and impassioned call for reform. Although Lachman's story takes place in one of the country's most progressive states, the problems described in this book are rampant in statehouses throughout the country.

Three Men on the Bummel is the sequel to Three Men in a Boat, which Jerome K. Jerome originally wrote as a travel guide. As the humorous anecdotes took over the story, it eventually turned into a masterpiece of comedy. This novel reprises the same three characters as they explore the Black Forest in Germany.

Three men set out on the adventure of a lifetime when they decided to raft down the Amazon from its source high in the Andes to its mouth on the Atlantic coast of South America. The journey from source to sea had only ever been completed by three people before them, all of them assisted by first-class training, state of the art equipment and six figure budgets. Ben Kozel from Australia, Colin Angus from Canada and Scott Borthwick from South Africa-all in their mid-twenties-were attempting the epic journey with fourteen thousand Australian dollars between them, some second-hand camping gear, a couple of weeks training in white water rafting and large dose of blind optimism. Six months and 7,000 kilometres later, they arrived at the Atlantic Ocean, having survived some of the planet's most dangerous white water, wild storms, disgusting tropical diseases, several hundred species of venomous insects and reptiles, not to mention being pursued and shot at by guerrillas from Peru's murderous Shining Path rebel movement and mistaken by paramilitary police for drug smugglers. Three Men in a Raft is both a travel book and an adventure story, laced with humour, danger and vivid description. Like a strange hybrid of Survivor and Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Raft is unlikely, endearing and enthralling.

George, J., Harris and Montmorency, the dog, are the best of friends. Armed with interesting anecdotes, their quirky personalities and a boat, the three men and the dog decide to go on a boat trip across River Thames. But they discover that their fancy ideas of a boat trip, which includes visits to many famous riverside towns of England in the 19th-century, are very different from the reality! Jerome K Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat is a comic tale of friendship, misadventure and fun. It is a delightful story for all ages and seasons. Hidden within the seemingly funny incidents and comments are the writer’s opinions on the foibles in England’s history and society. The book offers a refreshing look at the various places, people and mannerisms in the country.