Watt describes himself as a "kind of a Muslim" (paraphrase) but he is actually an Anglican priest! He writes a history of Islam in the belief that God(Allah) made Islam triumph. So every now and then rational discourse just vanishes. It is also of the "X in year Y" style. Dull but not without some worthwhile information.

Dr. Watt undoubtedly knows his subject! He writes with a very thorough background of years of extensive study. In this book of just 150 pages, he does a good job of adequately covering a very extensive history of one of the world's great religions.
However, I don't think what the author set out to do can really be adequately accomplished in such a brief book. There are places in which he gives only quick, general mention of the important events in Islamic History. Dr. Watt does the best that a scholar can do with a "short" history of a religion, however, some readers will want more meat.

Volume I: Pike exhaustively recounts his daily activities on board. In almost no instance except for the frigid winter is there much drama or dialogue between he and his men. Even when he reaches what he thinks is the source of the Mississippi, he is actually mistaken, though "correct" as far as the assumptions of the day. Toward the head of the river, it is difficult to assess where Pike even is without the notes (which in themselves almost swallow the book, but of sheer necessity to the reading). We reach the headwaters of the river and return to St Louis without much fanfare or dialogue, save that Pike spoke with the English fur traders near the source and explained America's new ownership of the territory (one of his objectives).

Volume II: In this volume Pike is no better. There is an extremely boring journey across Kansas and into Colorado, and he the real drama sets in. Pike and his men are without winter clothing and now in the Colorado Rockies. The frostbite on some of his men forces them to stay behind, unable to continue. This occurs day after day, week after week, until the expedition reaches what is believed to be the source of the Arkansas River. Otherwise the volume meekly runs through Pike's capture by Spanish authorities and his return to the U.S. via Spanish escort. This last is a daily log of conversations with French or Spanish military figures, and of little interest in general.

This review refers to Volume One.I really had to struggle to get through this book. The historical documentation/notation was overwhelmingly exhausting, boring and tedious.Simply put,too much! As far as the actual journal itself is concerned, to quote Pike in his letter of July 2, 1806 to General Wilkinson, "The journal in itself will have little to strike the imagination, being a dull detail of our daily march." I agree. This is in no way to be demeaning of Pike's exploration efforts and the hardships he and his men suffered to get to the source of the Mississippi River. Pike had monumental responsibilities to accomplish. He was to find the headwaters of the Mississippi, bring peace between various Indian tribes, select future sites for government forts and trading posts, and to confer with the British establishments in the recently expanded territory of the United States.There were some highlights of the book however, one being the chapter "Correspondence and Conferences", which show Pike's letters to various individuals, and his speeches to certain Indian tribes. Also, the chapter on ethnography details the cultural aspects of the different Mississippi Indian tribes, which I found interesting. I hope Volume 2 (explorations into the
American West) will have more flavor.

Lots of anecdotal information attempting to tie in the so-called 'New Economy' with historical trends. It doesn't quite convince. A lot of theory, as if meant for an academic audience. I don't see a lot of real world application here. I doubt the authors have experience running a successful real-world business.

I am a seasoned marketing VP for a high tech company. While I would in no way characterize this as a comprehensive marketing manual for high tech marketers, I did find it very useful from one perspective: it provides a simple overview of what it takes for a company to succeed in the technology space including a very succinct and readable overview of many different value-generating business models. It then relates these business models to appropriate marketing tactics. I gleaned some "nuggets" that will help my company become a more successful enterprise. For this reason alone, the book was well worth the price. It is just over 200 pages and can be read in one sitting.

While the first few chapters seemed to hold my interest, I found myself rather annoyed with most of the book. Harrison Montgomery made me angry with his pestering questions. Charlotte was a great character, and wondering who was picking off the travelers one by one was at first a good mystery, but lacked thrill and suspense after Mr. Montgomery seemed to figure it out halfway through the book. I enjoy Regency Romances, but this one I did not.

Miss Charlotte Pelham needs to earn some money quickly so that she can afford to send her younger brother, Jonathan, to university. And when she reads a newspaper advertisement for an opening as a guide for a walking tour across northern England, she eagerly applies. Charlotte, who is a seasoned trekker, believes that she is truly qualified for the job. However, she also realises that no one will hire a woman for such a job. So that when she applies for the job, she presents herself as 'Charles Pelham.' It is Charlotte's devout hope that she will be able to placate the participants of the walking tour into accepting her as a substitute for her absent 'brother.' And since she has also persuaded her brother Jonathan, as well as his best friend, Peter, to be assistant tour guides, Charlotte is fairly sanguine that she will be able to pull things off. However her enterprise starts off badly when the landlord at the very inn that the tour is supposed to start from refuses to allow Charlotte to stay without her brother 'Charles.'

Enter the mysterious Mr. Harrison Montgomery, who smoothes Charlotte's way with the landlord, but who expects Charlotte to include him in her walking group in return. And while Charlotte is grateful to Mr. Montgomery for his aid, his dismissive attitude towards her because of her gender, and the manner in which he forces her to include him in the tour, really grates. She has to keep reminding herself that it is this first walking tour that she is leading that is important, and not the very irritating but vastly attractive Mr. Montgomery. And if she intends for this trek to be a success, she will need to pay attention to everyone in the group, and not just the one person who sends her pulses racing, and whose behavior is mysterious and highly suspicious. Why, for example, is he so interested in Jonathan and Peter? And then a series of minor accidents begin to dog the group. With air positively foggy with mystery, Charlotte begins to wonder if this group is just ill-fated, or if something more sinister is going on, and if the mysterious and infuriating Mr. Montgomery is behind it all?

"Mr. Montgomery's Quest" is a really fun read. And I was truly tempted by Martha Kirkland's vivid descriptions of the Cumbria landscape and the Yorkshire moors -- I practically wanted to start out on an English walking tour at once! I liked the character of Charlotte Pelham immensely. Here was certainly a heroine that was not in the usual mode. What a refreshing breath of fresh air Charlotte, with her frank, humourous and intelligent ways, was! It took me a while to warm up to Harrison Montgomery, however. Though this was no fault of his (or the authour's). Being of Indian descent myself, I didn't exactly enjoy the sweeping generalisations he made when comparing Charlotte to the women he had known in India. It was only when I recollected that he probably only had traffic with courtesans (and probably not the cream of the crop either) that I forgave all and settled down to enjoying the rest of the novel. Fortunately, Ms Kirkland rehabilitates Montgomery a quarter way through the book, by making him realise early on that he has been doing Charlotte, and most women, a disservice, by dismissing their abilities. A very nice touch that. And the final chapter of the novel, when Charlotte and Montgomery finally declare themselves to each other, was probably one of the most unique and romanctic declarations I have ever read.

"Mr. Montgomery's Quest" is a nice mixture of romance and mystery. And was a completely enjoyable book.

this book is providing unneccesary info about islam that is false and very unacceptable.. especially page 17 when he writes
"The modern Westerner has no difficulty in showing how Muhammad may have been mistaken." it is
biased
and totally not reflecting history but showing a great deal of propaganda..

If you're looking to gain an understanding of the life of Muhammad, grab this book. Watt presents a prose description of Muhammad's life, backed by sound and comprehensive study. It is actually enjoyable reading, almost like a story, yet completely historically accurate. (Or as much as we can be.) Watt does not make either extreme mistake of simply accepting the traditions of the Hadith or the Qur'an as absolute truth; or of looking only at Western denigrations of Islam. Rather, he appears to recognize historical truths in the Qur'anic traditions, and in Western and Eastern scholarship. If you've been trying to learn about Islam and have spent time looking over the Qur'an, this is *the* book to turn to get that background on Muhammad and "flesh" him out. Watt shows a human, beyond the traditions and myths, that changed his world, and then the rest of the planet.

Hand a second grader a pen and tell them to write down their favorite and least favorite players and teams and you'd probably get a more insightful writing on hockey than this book. For some reason, somebody actually published this book but if you figure USA Today employs Montgomery as their hockey column writer, that says a lot: Mickey Mouse publication equals Mickey Mouse writer. This book is incredibly simplistic, poorly written, and based solely on his personal likes and dislikes in the NHL with little regard to actual factual evidence or insight. Anyone can write down all of the NHL players and say stuff like "I hate this guy." or "This guy is awesome". That is pretty much what this book is...DON'T bother with it. Also, Montgomery's heavy Red Wings bias keeps popping up throughout the book. You mind as well title this "How a Heavily Biased Red Wings Fan With No Actual Background As A NHL Player or Coach Sees the NHL, Written on A Second Grade Level." That's just the thing....Montgomery has NO background as an actual former player or insider in the NHL...he is simply another hockey fan who must have known the right people. He is basically a "parrot" writer...almost everything in this book comes from what someone else said or wrote previous to him and he basically repeats it. There is absolutley nothing in this book you haven't heard before besides his ridiculous potshots at players he personally dislikes.

Don't bother with the book...you could get more interesting commentary on the NHL from the 8 year old down the street playing street hockey.

I have never seen a more comprehensive collection of hockey data. This book is great. Written in a humorous and entertaining fashion, it never fails to please the reader. A must have for any hockey fan!

This book is awful! No matter how many times I read through it I couldnt understand it. It kept jumping from one thing to the other and made utterly no sense. I used all 138 pages to wipe my butt! Eat that R. A. Montgomery!!

The flower tattoo was a symbol of evil;when you read into action you want out of this gang of thugs almost immediately.
That's when the action really begins,there are myriad decisions that will be made,nothing is better than nailing the hoodlum gang members,there's a whole host of ways in taking them down.
"GOOD LUCK FRIENDS"

If you are a woman looking for a practical guide to help you be an effective supervisor/manager in today's work world, look someplace else. This book once again puts women in the position of being a victim. Montgomery writes about ways to compensate because we are women, which is to make us victims or to say we are otherwise handicapped and need special considerations. We aren't. And we don't. I was disappointed in Montgomery's book. There are some traits women have accepted as fact down through the years that are not inherent, just learned behavior. I was hoping Montgomery's book would identify some of those traits and talk about how to overcome them, not justify their continued use. I will not recommend this book to anyone. Which is sad because I want to support the efforts any woman makes to get a handle on this issue.

I've been in management for 7 years. This is the first book I've found that offered practical information -- not just surface rhetoric -- about how to manage as a woman. Montgomery doesn't try to fit all women into one box, but instead suggests how to peel off the layers of a situation to get to the real problem. As a woman manager, I'm still in the minority at my office. This book made me feel more empowered. I find myself referring to this book frequently before I react to a situation. I've learned to be more open in managing, and patient in dealing with the daily pressures of a manager. I'd recommend this book to both my female and male colleagues.

I think that this would be a better book if it were in English because most people who speak Spanish speak English as a second language so this book would sell more copies