For those who want to understand the ecosystem of the Gulf of Maine and the interelationships of the sea, tides, gulf stream, the shore, the birds, the fish, whales, and how they have and will change through time...this is for you. Brilliant satellite photographs and clear explanations of "how it all works".

The illustrations, maps and photographs alone make it a worthy coffee table book, but the depth and breadth of scientific information will keep one fascinated for months or more.

As a person who grew up in Tampa, and is very aware of Ybor City, I think this book is great. Mormino and Pozzetta outdid themselves on this book. There is so much detail in this book, it feels like you are walking the old brick streets in Ybor. Hopefullly more teachers will have their class read this as it pertains to a great piece of America's history.

In the past, I have had the great opportunity to have Gary Mormino as my history teacher at the University of South Florida. He was, to say the least, a grand teacher. His skill exhibited in the class, to say the least, come alive in this book. This is a great book and a great read - find it and read it.

This is a great look inside the workings of a "big gun" battleship during World War II. While only one chapter is dedicated to the Battle of Surigao Strait, Howard Sauer speaks from his experience as an officer in the gunnery department. He includes a map of the action, with postitions of combatants noted, in addition to firing tracks. His detailed look at life aboard the USS Maryland is helped with pictures, diagrams, and maps. The book is a valuable resource for anyone wanting to know about life aboard a battleship during war. Another feature of this book is the directory of all United States battleships.

I've read this book from front to back numerous times and each time I pick more and more visual out of its pages. Howard spent a great deal of time gathering and putting all of this together. Thank you Howard for your effort!

It's a neat bit of history, told well for kids in a bite-size package. It takes one of those obscure facts that we all have rattling around in our heads from High school ("Yeah. Gulf stream.... warm water...") and fleshes it out into a nifty little story with excellent illustrations.

My second grader could read it (though I think she missed some of the historical context).

This is an important subject that is only mysterious because people think it's boring or too hard to understand. Deborah Heiligman changes that with a very interesting story that will have your second-grader knowing more than even a lot of scientists.

Dr. Arnold is a professor of mine at Loyola University Chicago, and he gave me this book to read in order to give me a quick and up to date overview of Gulf Lowland Archaeology. I found it easy to read and very enojoyable. So enjoyable in fact that I'm now working on a project with him. If you think you have any interest in the field, READ THIS BOOK!

I have the honor to be a student of Dr. Stark at Arizona State University. I highly recommend this book because she is an expert in her field and her passion for Mesoamerican civilizations is obvious in her teachings.

The Naval Historical Center in Washington has once again "crossed the T" by publishing a colossal illustrated history of the U. S. Navy and its involvement in the war in Southeast Asia. After a brief recap on how the United States became embroiled in this area of the world, this book traces in a concise, lively narrative, the U. S. Navy's activities in and over the two Vietnams, Laos and Cambodia. The Navy story is supported by more than 500, repeat 500, exceptional photographs, The hundreds of thousands of Navy men and women who served in Southeast Asia can rightly be mighty proud of the service they performed in this dirty, deadly, frustrating war. As shown in "By Sea, Air and Land," the Navy, contrary to the belief of some, was not confined to sleek men-o-war, cruising miles off shore in the South China Sea, lobbing an occasional shell toward the mainland and then taking a break for a visit to the ship's canteen and a first run movie. On the contrary, the Navy, during the Vietnam Era was at the height of its operational versatility: Carrier air strikes, amphibious and naval gunfire support operations, riverine and coastal warfare, counterinsurgency and civic action, and the advisory effort. All contributing greatly to the massive American effort in the Nam. Thousands of Marines, and I 'm one of them, can attest that, when the fecal material struck the ventilation apparatus, the Navy was there in the form of a Corpsman, a naval gunfire support officer, or often, a pilot making a hot run on an enemy strong point. And there were the Navy Chaplins, the "sky pilots," ministering to the spritual needs of their camouflaged flocks. The ministering did not take place only in lulls between firefights, as attested to by the Medal of Honor awarded Chaplin Vincent R. Capodanno, who, already painfully wounded, was finally killed while administering first aid to the wounded and last rites to the dying in a 1968 battle. Ask the Army members of the Mobile Riverine Force in the Mekong Delta who was responsible for transporting them and their artillery and providing direct gunfire support in the sharp, vicious fire fights along hundreds of miles of the Mekong, Dai, Ham Luong, Co Chien and Bassac Rivers, and in the forbidding Rung Sat Swamp -- the answer begins with U.S.N. Close to 7,000 Navy personnel became casualties during the war in Southeast Asia, 14 won the Medal of Honor. You don't get the MOH at the ship's store, you get it the old fashioned way, you earn it. "By Land, Air, and Sea" is a gold mine for students of military history or anyone who served in or was associated with the Navy in Southeast Asia. Every American naval operation conducted in the 25-year American effort to aid the Republic of Vietnam is represented in this massive, 410 page tribute to a first class fighting service. This book is definitely not a grand discourse on national strategy. The reader is transported, by photographs, into rice paddy fire fights, into a forward gun tub on a high speed river patrol boat, and into the cockpit of an A--4C Skyhawk as it makes its run on a target in North Vietnam. Once you own it, you'll discover that you've got a 410 page 11" X 8 1/2" photo album that you will be proud to put on your coffee table. It's just the right size to carry to a sea service reunion, too.

I need information on this ship. I would like to get a cruise book. Any info please mail me. kitzz2000_1999@yahoo.com

If your trying to find out what is on the end of your line... I would suggest this book. It has good illustrations of many fish and a few other interesting facts about them. It also covers the whole gulf area rather than selecting a state or two. The only draw back is it doesn't include great detail on how to catch each particular fish.

This book is an excellent reference guide for identifing gulf and bay fishes, and contains very little "how-to" information. Fish are separated into families. Each fish has a detailed color illustration, common name(s), and scientific name, plus a short description of each of the following categories: physical description, range, habitat, typical sizes, food value, game quality, typical tackle and bait, and a very short description of typical fishing methods. 185 fish are pictured in all, including sharks, stingrays, baitfish, and a number of other fish that may be encountered even though they are not normally thought of as sportfish.

Recently, I had the honor of meeting David at a Book Signing of Vietnam Era helicopter Pilots. David is as delightful and faithful man as his writing. Prior to meeting him, I had purchased his book and read it advidly. He writes a completely different Vietnam Novel whereby he mixes his faith experience and combat experience with a moving story of the devotion that people can have towards each other in the world of combat. While this is fiction, I have spoken with him at great length and know his work reflects his own faith journey and personal morays. Keeping the action moving, David manages to also convey more important things than a simple "shoot em up" novel would attempt. I highly recommend this to people who are interested how men of faith struggled in the "apparently Godless" world of war. This is anovel that you can feel very comfortable in allowing your children to read.

Bruce E. Carlson M. Div. author of "Red Bird Down."

This is fantastic little pocket carryall book for cycling San Juan, Gulf and Vancouver Islands. Small, 3-D maps, elevation gain, mileage. They just dont make them anymore,

I could not find it to buy in USA since they are out of print, so I checked out of Library. Now I have found it on-line...

"The One That Got Away" once again tells the amazing story of the SAS patrol Bravo Two Zero, and it is a chilling read. However it suffers slightly from the fact that Ryan makes McNab out to be the main one at fault for the failed mission, and emphasises his own heroics. This maybe true, but it may be some time before the real truth comes out about the mission without someone trying to sensationalise their role. Despite this Ryan keeps you on the edge of your seat, and his personal journey across the desert escaping from the Iraqi forces is something that few could dream of experiencing. This book shows the high level of training that the SAS undertake, and the high risk operations that they go on. This is war in its reality, not the war where soldiers sleep in their 11x11 tents and have cooked meals every night as well as running water. These men are true soldiers, and Ryan has portrayed this very well.

I first heard about Andy McNab's "Bravo Two Zero" in 1994 from a soldier in the British Army. He told me it was an excellent true story about the S.A.S. in the Gulf War. I read it and was amazed by Andy McNab's tale of fighting behind enemy lines during the Gulf War. Quite awhile later, I discovered CHRIS RYANS's book "The One That Got Away". I rushed to buy Chris Ryan's book, since I was now hooked on true tales of the S.A.S., about the Gulf War, and of the British Army in general. I was impressed by Chris Ryan's side the story - it was fascinating, honest, and matter-of-fact. HOWEVER, Chris Ryan does not have the story-telling talent and the quick wit of Andy McNab. I found Andy McNab to be a talented writer with an amazing ability to recall the past with astounding clarity and detail. Chris Ryan's story is no less valid than that of Andy Mcnab's, but his style of writing is not as gripping or compelling

I have read two books by Andy McNabb, the patrol leader in this book, one of which, Bravo Two Zero, was about the same action. I also served 10 years in the US Army Special Forces as a communications specialist. I enjoyed both books. I saw no serious conflict of information between the two accounts what happened during this patrol.

One person said Ryan was blaming everyone but himself. Baloney! He did blame himself for not tying Vince to him so he couldn't fall behind and get lost! That's just one thing that disturbed him. Secondly, how could he assume responsiblity for poor or complete lack of intelligence on the enemy, the weather and the terrain? How could he be responsible for being given the wrong radio frequencies and the wrong effective range of the emergency radios? These things are what caused the patrol to suffer such problems. Poor planning was the problem and all Ryan is guilty of is pointing it out so hopefully it won't happen to his buddies. I did not read one word against McNabb in this book. The worst Ryan said about McNabb was tht he seemed to have a problem socializing with the members of the regiment afterwards and especially with Ryan. This is an incredible story about survival and evasion behind enemy lines by three, then two, and finally just one very lonely brave soldier.

General Chuck Horner, with the writing help of Tom Clancy, crafted a wonderful book that tells the story of how to organize, equip, deploy and employ massive yet diverse airpower during the Gulf War in 1990-1991.

There are three parts and fifteen chapters in this book. The first third focuses on the past (1960-1989) for Chuck Horner and America's Air Force before Desert Shield. The focus is on the unique climate amongst pilots, especially fighter pilots (Horner's primary skill set) and the entire aviation community. The emphasis Horner places on teamwork is striking, and shows the importance of every airman who contributes to launching and aircraft and its payload down the runway and into the skies. This part of the book also describes the strategic vision of Air Force leaders in the 1970's as they sought to apply the lessons learned from the Vietnam War, and reemerge from the post war malaise as a coherent fighting organization.

Throughout the first part are snapshots of what Horner was trying to create in the chaos that followed the Presidential decision to reinforce Saudi Arabia to deter further Iraqi aggression and finally expel Iraq from Kuwait. Horner, who became Commander in Chief, Central Command (Forward) CINCCENTFWD noted that everywhere he initially went, the staffs' "efforts lacked order and focus...missing essential details such as basing logistics and sortie rates." Horner's essential task was to understand the intent of General Schwarzkopf and the National Command Authority, and to focus the effort of the CENTCOM team to deploy and employ forces in a logical way that would accomplish the national strategic goals. In short, Horner had to translate strategic guidance into operational constructs that would provide specific guidance for tactical commanders while simultaneously forcing them to address and crack the individual nuts.

The second part of the book focuses on the CENTCOMFWD role in building and fighting the "halt phase" of the Gulf War. Everything from the tyranny of time, to building a coalition with forces of dissimilar training and equipment is covered. Of greatest interest, though, is the building of the plan for executing the war against Iraqi forces. The original genesis of the plan as a result of CENTCOM's Internal Look exercise and Gen Horner's discussion of airpower with Gen Schwarzkopf are covered. How to integrate Marine Corps air assets is covered. The transfer of the CHECKMATE plan to CENTCOM was problematic due to the clash of personalities, but ultimately worked. The influence of Clausewitz is everywhere evident in the planning phase-how to measure the will of the enemy, the simple things are hard, etc. Finally, the translation of all this down to sortie rates and targeting processes is covered in great detail, suggesting that General Horner was one tired man by the end of Desert Storm.

The last part of the book details the actions during the attack phase, "Desert Storm." Every detail from bridge busting, and artillery and tank killing, to SCUD chasing and sustaining sortie rates is covered. The assessment piece of the targeting cycle is criticized, but air based assessment is never as accurate as ground based assessment (but ground assessment is much riskier-everything has its tradeoffs). The integration of tactical air control parties with flanking units is discussed in detail. Lastly psychological operations are discussed, and Gen Horner candidly admits that it is very difficult to measure the effectiveness of operations aimed at psychologically disabling the enemy.

General Horner's bottom line, perhaps, is that "the impact of airpower on the enemy was underestimated, and the ability of airpower to destroy a deployed enemy was overestimated." If you want to understand how a modern air campaign is embedded into an overall campaign plan, Every Man a Tiger is a must read.

Mr. Clancy, once again, authors a "must read" about one of America's greatest military commanders. In this book, Clancy collaborates with retired Air Force General Chuck Horner for an "inside look" at U.S./Allied air operations in the Persian Gulf War. As a result of the Goldwater-Nichols Defense Reorganization Act of 1986, during the Gulf War, General Horner was entrusted with new military authorities. The "Turf Warfare" between the American armed services that took place during the Vietnam War was no longer existant, and given military objectives with strings from the political leaders withdrawn, the General was charged with directing ALL American and Allied air assests during the DESERT SHIELD-turn-DESERT STORM period. This in an up-close look at General Horner, his indoctrination, development, and ultimate leadership in the arena of American Airpower. "Every Man A Tiger" tells the story of General Horner's relationships with the other military and political leaders, and how his heretofore career enabled him to be effective in the Middle East. As a combat fighter pilot, Chuck Horner learned the lessons of Vietnam, and helped re-structure the United States Air Force that was ill-prepared for that conflict because of the preponderance of the Strategic Air Command. For the person seeking to increase their knowledge of American Air Superiority and Aerospace history, Horner's story is "not to be missed." I would highly recommend this book for any individual interested in General History, Military History or Biography, or any other individual interested in this pinnacle point in American history and the United Nations.

This is on the U.S Air Force's list of recommended reading for a reaon. If you have an interest in what the USAF is and how it does what it does, this book is a must.