I have to say I was disappointed with this book. I can't believe that Tracy Porter can live in a house decorated like hers with three small children. She must be living in a fantasy world just as she aspires to. I actually did read through the whole book and found nothing unusual or creative in Tracy's tips section or in the "make it section". In fact, maybe I should write a book. It seems anybody can.

My affair with this book is love-hate.

I never heard of Tracy Porter or her 'style' until the publisher sent me a beautifully designed shopping bag filled with catalogs showcasing her retail items and the gift of a personal teapot cum cup & saucer -- very clever.

The items from her retail line are much cleaner and more mainstream than the pictures in this book which purports to be from her home.

What Tracy does is give the reader permission to take things out of the 'keeping for good' closet and use them everyday. That's good.

What she also does, and I'm sick to death of it, is use items that have seen better days. If I see one more piece of distressed furniture or one more chipped painted chandelier I'm going to scream.

People -- reupholster your furniture! If something's ripped, fix it. Unless your furniture sports real antique fabrics or finishes or is showing true wear and tear from daily use, repair it. Enough I say!

Tracy bravely uses color in her home. I do think there's too much of a mish-mash in many of the rooms, but that's my personal taste and not necessarily bad.

The other problem I have with this book is this home supposedly has three small (under 4 years old) boys living in it. Yet, there is pin a cushion on chair seat (a delight to the eye), a faux leopard throw hanging off a chest (on top of which sit four painted glasses and a matching glass martini shaker), lampshades with antique buttons hot-glued around the rim, and a dresser top filled with a letter opener, very, very small porcelain dolls, perfume bottles, and hat pins, to name a few.

I hope as soon as the photographer left Tracy ran through the house clearing off all these potential accidents waiting to happen.

There is a very short project section which gives instructions on how to make some of the items shown in the book. If you're a fan of decorating books, magazines, or shows you've seen them all before.

What I did appreciate is the resource directory at the back of the book. In alphabetical order it lists many of the places you can buy nice home design items. Where there is a web site available, it is included, so you're not forced to call.

What a beautiful book this is. The photography is wonderful and the thoughts are inspiring. It touches the heart of those who love old things. It brings a touch of romance into our lives. This is a perfect book with great ideas that can help you to create a lovely home. Ms. Porter said, "surrounding yourself with loveliness." Now that is truly a gentle thought to behold.

My copy is packed with essential information on purchase and body restoration. I have bought and restored two MGBs using this guide and in both cases got slightly better than I was expecting. Can't speak the the later issue entitled 'MGB Restoration Manual' but have been assured by others that it contains more or less the same information. It is an *essential* resource for anyone contemplating buying an MGB.

While it has some photos and covers some topics that the standard repair manual does not (such as cutting out rusty body parts and replacing them), it lacks information you need to trouble shoot. If you want to work with what you have this is not the book for you. If you want to buy new or used parts and stick them on, this book is for you.

I don't agree with Robert C Taylor at all! The Restoration manual is exactly what it claims to be- A RESTORATION GUIDE! If you are looking for step-by-step body-work help, look elsewhere. This book assumes you've done the dent-removal & painting and are ready to re-assemble. We've got several MG's and are currently restoring a '68. There's no substitute for having a picture or diagram to guide you & this book is loaded with both. I only wish we had got this book 2 MG's ago! Don't attempt a re-build without it!

When I read the NYTimes review of this book I bought it with anxious anticipation. After all, years ago I had absolutely loved Rene Dubos' "The Mirage of Health". However, this book was like wading through knee deep mud. So much for the book reviews in the papers. I know it is a gargantuan task, but someone needs to write a really interesting, flowing, readable book (or a series of books) about this fascinating subject. I also realize that much about this subject is unknown or speculation, but still...

This is the second review of three I have done of socio-medical histories written of edited by Roy Porter (you can read the others on my reivew page). I read and compared this to The "Cambridge Illustrated History: Medicine", and "Gout, the Patrician Maladay". I thought this was the best approach as people might be like me, looking for a reference work to buy and trying to toss up between which one to get and what the advantages and disadvantages of one over another.

In terms of content I think this is the more comprehensive of the two general reference works. It is over twice the length of Cambridge (over 800 pages in this one compared to not quite 400). It also doesn't have pages taken up with illustrations as Cambridge does. That is probably the thing I like least about this book, there are only three small sections in the middle with some black and white pictures reproduced - I think on comparison I do prefer the slightly more expensive version of having pictures on the pages I am reading for this kind of reference work.

The book is divided into 22 chapters which follow the rise of Western medicine more or less chronologically. There are also chapters included on Chinese and Indian Medicine, but expect the emphasis to be European in both history and development. Each chapter is divided into specific topics which are discussed a structure I quite enjoyed as it broke up the text and made it more readable.

I looked up some specific subjects to compare this with the Cambrige work and in each case (among them Purperal fever, Galen, Resurrectionists) this book had far more detailed and comprehensive explanations, often citing broad statistics. However writing the a social and medical history of mankind is difficult to do full justice even in 800-some pages. It does give a slightly provide more detail but I wasn't really sure that the slightly greater detail was that much of an advantage to make up for the loss of illustration. In the end this is still only slightly more detail on broad trends rather than in-depth discussion. He does cover some people and subjects not dealt with in "Cambridge" including people like Dr James Barry, the first female surgeon (although she was masquerading as a man at the time) - but of course the space available doesn't allow Porter to discuss any of her other significant work as, in terms of forwarding the field of medicine, she was not earth-shattering.

Porter has a very good-natured and readable style of writing though and I really enjoyed it. He breaks this chapters up into short sections and interspeses them with rather nice jokes for instance on page 129 he writes of 'Trotula'said to be a female of 12th century medical school in Salerno but says " 'Dame Trot' was more likely a male writing in drag."

So while I very much enjoyed the book and would certainly have no qualms in recommending it to read at all, I do hold some reservations about it - but strictly in comparison with what else is available.

This book delievers what it was written to deliever. It wasn't meant to be a brain candy, witty, clever, majestic, novel that makes the common person rush out to apply to medical school. It is going to seem "boring" if you don't want to LEARN about THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE. An excellent book preceding this to read would be "Guns, Germs, and Steel," by Jared Diamond to put things in a solid historical reality. This book is five stars, but be ready to engage yourself with the text, buy a highlighter if it helps you concentrate, go back to college, pretend you need to get an A in the History of Western Medicine, because you will have an A+ perspective on medicine if you keep the correct perspective regarding this book.

Michael Porter is Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and a leading authority on competition and strategic management; Hirotaka Takeuchi is Professor and Dean of the new Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy at Hitotsubashi University in Japan; and Mariko Sakakibara is Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"This book aims first and foremost to offer a theory that can explain and interpret Japan's postware economic trajectory." This 'theory' follows a mostly academical and economical research method. In Chapter 1 the authors first discuss Japan's economical history, whereby the authors use extensive graphs, figures and tables to prove their point: "Japan's actual competitive performance, then, has been mixed for decades." Expanding on their discussion on the economical history, the authors challenge the Japanese government model. "At the core of the Japanese government model is a particular conception of the process of economic development and the bases of competitiveness. It embodies an implicit aversion to certain forms of competition and an effort to channel competition in various ways." This model goes back to the early post-World War II period, when "the nation was in shambles". There is an 12 developmental policies list which form the building blocks of the Japanese governmental model. The authors discuss the impact of these policies on Japan's successes and failures.

In Chapter 3, the authors discuss Japan's unique management model. "The model stresses attributes such as teamwork, a long time horizon, and dedication to continuous quality improvement, all of which remain important Japanese strengths. But it has also encouraged conformity and a conception of competition that is dangerously incomplete." Again, the authors introduce a list of policies which are typical for the Japanese corporate model. The authors' biggest complaint is that most Japanese companies do not have a strategy, they tend to compete on operational effectiveness. (For more see Porter's 1996-article 'What is Strategy?')

In Chapter 4 the authors try to explain Japanese competitiveness. This model for competitiveness follows the universal model: "vigorous competition in a supportive business environment, free of government direction, is the only path to economic vitality." Most of this chapter is directly taken from Porter's 1990-book 'The Competitive Advantage of Nations', discussing various industries (both successful and unsuccessful).

In Chapter 5, 6, and 7 the authors aim to come up with an answer to move Japan forward. The authors discuss the requirements for both government and companies. "What is needed is nothing short of a new economic strategy, one that builds on the true bases of Japan's past success, recognizes the differences between the country's rebuilding challenges and its present circumstances, and addresses the realities of modern global competition." So can Japan compete? The authors believe it can. "Japan has a history of competing successfully at the highest level and rapidly advancing national productivity, when competition was allowed to proceed unfettered. ... Japan can compete. To do so, however, it will require the systematic changes in both business and government we have described. ... As it has shown in earlier periods of transition, if mind-sets change, Japan has the capacty to move rapidly."

Yes, I do understand the disappointment of some of the other readers. In line with Michael Porter's 'The Competitive Advantage of Nations' (1990) this book is more about governmental issues than the activities within companies as in Porter's bestsellers 'Competitive Strategy' (1980) and 'Competitive Advantage' (1985). In their search for their answer to the title-question (Can Japan Compete?) the authors use an mostly academical and economical approach, which can be daunting to some readers. The book is mostly aimed at Japanese multinationals, economists, and governmental officials, and includes some strong critical comments toward their policies.

I work for a Japanese company that is mentioned in this book and the book is a dead on diagnosis of how Japanese companies are managed. For anyone familiar with the current Japanese economy (which is in a huge depression) there are some major problems with how the Japanese economy operates. There is nothing inherently genius about the solution that Porter offers, which is simply a call for a true free market system in Japan; free of tariffs, trade barriers, cartels, and collusion. However, if you work for a Japanese company I strongly suggest buying this book to understand why your company is managed the way it is.

...

Michael Porter become the celebrity in the field of business strategy with his two books, ¡®Competitive Advantage¡¯, ¡®Competitive Strategy¡¯. Takeuchi and Sakakibara secured their name in organizational learning school with their book, ¡®The Knowledge-Creating Company.¡¯ With this book, ¡®the word, ¡®knowledge creation¡¯ has been widely circulated within business schools.
This book poses the question, ¡®Why does Japan stumble?¡¯ it¡¯s the single most popular subject in Japanese studies. Numerous books come to mind on that issue. The approach this book takes is, nonetheless, unique. While others have tackled it in the view of macroeconomics or political economy, authors of this book take the view of microeconomics, or more precisely business strategy. They argue that more-than-decade-long deflation and liquidity trap are not the fundamental problem, but just symptoms. The underlying problem must be hunted for elsewhere: the eroded competitive advantage of Japanese companies. There has been warning signs since 1980s well before bubble bursting:
1.Since 1980s, no new internationally competitive industry has emerged.
2.The profitability, or capital productivity has long been low. Export share has been achieved and maintained partly by sacrificing returns to capital.
3.Japan¡¯s share of world exports peaked in 1986 (10%). But it has fallen since then to below 8%.
Bubble and subsequent financial meltdown certainly is serious trouble. But above reveals much deeper crisis: the loss of competitiveness.
Michael Porter maintains that firms initially gain competitive advantage by altering the basis of competition. They won not just by recognizing new market, or technologies but by moving aggressively to exploit the,. A firm¡¯s local rivalry in home nation plays a critical role in shaping manager¡¯s perceptions about the opportunities that can be exploited. Firms that survive vigorous local competition are often more efficient and innovative. In the 1970s and 80s, Japan set the world standard for operational effectiveness, that is, for improving quality and lowering cost: TQM, JIT system, lean production, cycle time reduction. Japanese companies pushed the productivity frontier well beyond the capabilities of many Western companies. Japanese companies¡¯ competitive advantage was obtained through cut-throat local competition. But starting in the mid- and late 1980s, the gap between Japanese and Western companies began to narrow through so-called restructuring or reengineering. Now Japan¡¯s source of competitiveness has been eroded away. As a result, international competition has ever more vigorously intensified not in the behalf of Japan. Worse, what drove Japan to be competitive now serve as drag on it. Fierce local rivalry degrade into competitive convergence. It means that all the competitors in an industry compete on the same dimension. As rivals imitate one another¡¯s improvements in quality, cycle time, or supplier partnerships, competition becomes a series of unwinnable races down identical paths. This occurs because Japanese firms believe that by mimicking competitors¡¯ technologies and products, they can avoid being in a weak positioning in the market. Because, as a result of mutual benchmarking, Japanese companies cannot but think of competition only in terms of operational effectiveness for their product lineup converges, the have made it almost impossible to be enduringly successful. The more benchmarking, the more they look alike. To avoid such a stalemate, they try to diversify product lineup. But it inflames only to another round of convergence. This kind of local rivalry has finally led to excess costs to over-differentiation for products as well as their components. Such costs have become too high, thus leading to a considerable waste of resources. When they set the best practices, such a cost could be dissipated at the expense of Western competitor¡¯s market share. But now such an advantage rarely exists, if any. Competitive convergence leads to the lack of focus. The lack of focus results in no obvious competitive advantage for they are over-diversified. Authors recommend to compete on strategy: Operational effectiveness is just one of two ways a company pursues superior performance. The other is through strategy, or competing on the basis of a unique positioning involving a distinctive product of service offering. The essence of strategy is to perform differently from rivals. It¡¯s choosing not to do something. They succumb to the temptation to chase easy growth by adding popular features and taking on product lines or services that do not fit their strategy. Or they target new customers to whom the company offers noting unique. But attempting to compete in several ways at once creates confusion and undermines organizational motivation and focus. Profits fall, so more revenue is seen as the answer. In sum, authors argues that the problem of Japan is more in mind-set than in unchangeable circumstances in Japan.

This book misrepresents empirical science in order to defend creationist ideology.

Fundamentalist evangelical protestant Christians are likely to enjoy reading this book. Readers who wish to understand empirical science and its limits are much less likely to find it helpful.

It is the work of a philosopher who builds his logical castle down from the sky, then tries to use it as a fulcrum to move the earth. This approach is not useful as a critique of the philosophy of science.

The knowledge that is obtained through empirical scientific research is firmer, humbler in nature, and more like a rock than that which stands upon the interpretation of sacred texts, whether those sacred texts be from Torah, Isaiah, Daniel, gospel, epistle, revelation, classical Greek philosopher, stoic Roman emperor or Manichaean convert.

Philosophy is a very useful study. But one must always be open and clear about the underpinnings of one's philosophy, and there are much better approaches than Moreland's available for understanding the successful philosophy of science. These include the works of Thomas Kuhn, Karl Popper, Ernst Meyr, Fred Wilson, and most especially Richard Feynman.

J.P. Moreland, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology, Biola Univsersity, does a great service to the Christian (and non-Christian) scholarly community in laying out the foundational issues in the philosophy of science and how they relate to Christian theology.

The work covers the definition, methodology, scope, and presuppositions of scientific investigation as well as a thorough examination of the "realism"/"anti-realism" debate within the philosophy of science. Lastly, Moreland gives a thorough treatment of "The Status of Scientific Creationism."

This book is intellectually rigorous. It is serves as a thorough introduction that is particularly encouraging to the Christian academic community. If you are either a student or a professor, you will come away much more educated.

The book also contains an excellent bibliography for those who are interested in further study.

Moreland is a bona-fide Christian scholar--not someone who is carelessly defending creationism. Rather, he writes from the perspective of a thoughtful philosopher.

Cinematic. That's what Darwin Porter's novels are. BLOOD MOON was an IMAX spectacle about the preternatural power of male beauty. Red-hot icons, a breathless climax, and erotica akin to Anaïs Nin on Viagra with a bump of meth. Now, in his most recent book, MIDNIGHT IN SAVANNAH, we're lured into a deco picture palace where menacing images flicker on a silver screen. A flattering nod to John Berendt's "non-fiction novel" about Savannah, Porter's new thriller still has its own deliciously wicked story to tell, picking up where MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL left off. And it has everything going for it: Mendacity, greed, betrayal, whoring, debauchery, and murder--the world as a film noir cul-de-sac.

MIDNIGHT IN SAVANNAH jumps into high gear when movie producer Jerry Wheeler (looking like "an aged Tab Hunter") dispatches screenwriter Phil Heather ("a dead-ringer for Montgomery Clift") to the historic port city for pre-production and casting because his investors want "to capitalize off some of the fame of the place and [Berendt's] book." Ironically, it's a remake of BUTTERFLIES IN HEAT--Porter's cutting-edge novel made into a film over twenty years ago. But lust quickly entangles them with sexual predators more carnal, glamorous, and relentless than they'd ever imagined and a vortex of intrigue with a maw full of mayhem. Whatever you do, don't let anyone tell you how it ends.

Porter's utterly irresistible new novel targets the strange, male fascination with hustlers, or at least the mythology of male hookers. And manages in MIDNIGHT to bring together, like some outrageous karmic homecoming, three of fiction's most unforgettable: Numie Chase, Danny Hansford, and Jeff Broyhill.

BUTTERFLIES IN HEAT is the story of Numie Chase--a young drifter depending on his genitals to grab a life, a noir "anti-hero" taking up where MIDNIGHT COWBOY left off. Porter's adoring prose was a major factor in the novel's international success, prompting Tennessee Williams to say, "I'd walk the waterfront for Numie any day." But this "NewMe" stud quickly finds himself trapped under the blood-red sun of the Florida Keys between six powerful, desiring lovers--male and female. (Credit Porter's keen observation, his novels are pansexual--not gay, straight, or bi--because real sexuality is fluid across an erotic spectrum of desire.) And in MIDNIGHT IN SAVANNAH, the search is on once again to cast the part of BUTTERFLIES' devastating sex machine.

Hauntingly, a body worshipped by its conquests as "a walking streak of sex" lies rotting in Savannah's Bonaventure Cemetery. It's Danny Lewis Hansford--the moody, bad-ass gigolo allegedly murdered by antique dealer Jim Williams in Berendt's MIDNIGHT. His reputation for taking both men and women over the edge was so tempting that, to this day, many of Savannah's locals resent Williams for having shot the 21-year-old hustler before they could sample his wares.

But centerstage in Porter's MIDNIGHT is Jeff Broyhill--an 18-year-old Adonis who fancies himself Danny's bigger, better, and more talented re-enfleshment, even down to taking his name. Men and women seem to always hit on Jeff after glimpsing the outline in his crotch. He's sure about his cash value and intends now to do whatever he has to do to grab a big-time life with a rich, glamorous, and famous future.

Porter's work is characterized by an articulate obsession with the almost supernatural power of physical beauty. In MIDNIGHT, he picks up the thread in his dramatic examination of that phenomenon's darker side started years ago in BUTTERFLIES. In so many ways, his latest work is BLOOD MOON's bizarre, edgy underbelly. For instance, BLOOD MOON's Buck Brooke III not only enraptured with his beauty, but knew how to capitalize on opportunities that rare gift afforded him for power and command of others. MIDNIGHT's Jeff Broyhill, in contrast, is an ambitious, but weak-willed, young beauty plunged by fate into dead-end intrigue he either can't, or doesn't want, to understand. And he's coaxed into his nightmare of corruption by femmes fatales you'll just have to see for yourself.

Redolent of the genre's mood, Porter disturbs by showing corruption has no respect for gender or much of anything else. In MIDNIGHT, both Lavender Morgan ("at 72, the world's oldest courtesan") and Tipper Zelda ("an obese, fading chanteuse taunted as 'the black widow'") purchase lust from sexually-conflicted youngmen with drop-dead faces, chiseled-bodies, and genetically-gifted crotches. These women once relied on their physicality to steal the hearts and fortunes of the world's richest and most powerful men. Now, as they slide closer every day to joining Danny Hansford's corpse, these once-beautiful women must depend, in a perverse twist of fate, on sexual outlaws for le petit mort. And to survive, the hustlers must idle their personal dreams while struggling to cajole what they need from a sexual liaison they detest. Mendacity reigns. Perversity in extremis. Physical beauty as living hell. CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF's Big Daddy must be spinning in his grave right now.

Clearly, MIDNIGHT IN SAVANNAH isn't for the prudish or faint-hearted. But it's just the kind of published entertainment for the 21st-century sensibility we've come to expect from Georgia Literary Association. And perhaps it's what we should finally expect from an author who's rubbed elbows with the likes of Joan Crawford, Tallulah Bankhead, and Truman Capote. And once had Tennessee Williams for a neighbor and fondly calls Anaïs Nin "a good friend."

Make no mistake, the heartthrob Jeff Broyhill nabs a spot as one of the hottest male icons in fiction today. The only thing hotter is playing Carly Simon's "You Won't Forget Me" from her CD, FILM NOIR, while you read about Jeff's Hollywood dreams and his pornographic photoshoot at the hands of Savannah's Truman Capote clone, Gin Tucker (page 205). So, do what you gotta do [to get the money], and buy a copy of MIDNIGHT IN SAVANNAH. You'll stay up all night...

Long, slow dissolve as we fade to black.

This novel manages--all at the same time--to be both satirical, campy, and melancholy, with psychologically accurate portrayals of eccentrics living in The South's most decadent city. It's a tour de force by Darwin Porter, one of the most entertaining writers in America today. It's sometimes interpreted as a spoof on the bestselling "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" that put Savannah on the tourist charts of the world. But believe me, it goes way, way beyond anything ever conceived by John Berendt.

In Porter's book, you'll find all the elements of big BIG drama: Greed, corruption, sexual tension (The South and Porter's books always have plenty of that), BETRAYAL, and murder, all of it set against a backdrop of Spanish moss, Southern decadence, and barely suppressed psychoses. Sometimes, it's devastating, to the point where it seems to blister the paint off the walls--but as Carson McCullers once said, "I always return to The South to renew my sense of horror."

Overall, it has provided me with three or four nights of highly pleasurable entertainment, and I am grateful to the author who created it. It's a fabulous read.

Over the past few years, I have become addicted to the novels of Darwin Porter. These have included BLOOD MOON and RAZZLE-DAZZLE. In both cases, I read them twice. To begin with, I'm entertained. For a man who grew up during the Television Age, my attention span for reading is not that great. But I stayed up until I'd finished every delectable page of Mr. Porter's latest novel. Set in Savannah at the end of the 20th century, it is more than a mere stepchild to the world-famous work of nonfiction, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Whereas that book was "closeted," MIDNIGHT IN SAVANNAH deliciously describes the lives of six residents, both male and female, who have taken up residence in this decadent Southern city, which is so unlike the rest of Georgia.

Although from the beginning, some of the characters seemed doomed, we enjoy the fictional ride to its bloody conclusion. Although a drama, there is fantastic humor here in both the depiction of Southern gay life, and in aging Southern Belles of any gender. Instead of Tennessee Williams' wilting moth, Blanche Du Bois, we get the lusty Lavender Morgan, the most recent in a string of the world's great courtesans. We are treated to the likes of Tango, the beautiful black drag queen who's ready to reign as Empress of Savannah, dethroning The Lady Chablis. And we are presented with some lusty young men, ranging from the sexy, and usually oversexed, screenwriter Phil Heather to the handsome cop from Marien, Georgia, Brian Sheehan, with whom Phil falls in love.

Jason McReaves has something every man and woman wants a part of, and his wife, Lula Carson, is the most evocative portrait of a Carson McCullers clone I've ever read. The rest of the cast of characters, from Norma Dixie, who claims she was the maid to Mae West, to Gin Tucker, a Truman Capote clone, bring today's South brutally alive in the seething tale of corruption and greed.

Steamy Savannah was never steamier than the way it appears in this novel.

My wife and I have been great fans of Frommer's books on our travels. However, we found the Spain Frommer's guide only average. While the book was excellent in terms of highlighting what to see and do, it was way off base when it came not only to restaurant recommendations, but also in terms of the existence of actual restaurants. Many of the restaurants didn't even exist, or had different names altogether. I can understand if this were an old edition. However, we used the 2002 edition, and it wasn't up to usual Frommer standards.

We also used Frommer's for Portugal. That was a bigger disappointment as the ratings of things to do and places to see were way off from what they really were.

I prefer the Frommer Guides to most others, and this is no exception. While a bit short in background, it provided a lot of useful, practical information for my recent trip to Northern Spain. As with most standard guides, however, it falls short in breadth of coverage, emphasizing the well-known sites and omitting lots of fascinating smaller towns and areas. But then, that's why I travel, to discover the real country, not the postcard one. If you're going with a group, or sticking mostly to the main roads, this is a good book to bring.

My wife and I have recently returned from a six-week trip to Spain. Thanks to Frommer's guide, we had the most memorable trip of our lives. The book is helpful, opinionated, personalized, like a good friend talking to you and leading you out of the traps and into the oasis. We were directed to friendly people, affordable meals, great beds, and lovely moments that will live long in our memory. We have used Frommer's guides to America before but never one to a country in Europe. From now on, we're dedicated fans. We won't leave home without it!

I'm generally rather non-critical of romance novels - I read them for lighthearted fun, as long as I'm entertained I'm happy. But this book just drags on and on and on... I wound up wanting to yell at both main characters - get over it all ready! The author seems to have tried for a psychological story line, exploring emotional hang ups the characters didn't even know they had. But the therapy sessions are unbelievable. The mental explorations are tedious. Very disappointing.

Her Only Chance starts out with promise but fizzles by the 3rd chapter. Kellan Chance and Jamie Winslow are former sweethearts and were once engaged to be married. After leaving him at the altar once and walking out on him for the second time, Jamie must find closure with Kellan to get her license to practice psychology. I found the two characters analyzed each other far too much and I started to feel like I was reading a psychology manual instead of a romance. I also found the heroine to be irritating and selfish and the hero was not as strong as I thought he would have been. I was disappointed by this book since the first book in the series was so good.

This book was great!!! This is actually #2 in a 3 book series...Men of Chance. Be sure to check out Pure Chance by Julie Elizabeth Leto and Chance Encounters by Jill Shalvis. These Chance Brothers will give you the warm and fuzzies all over. This one did get into the psychological area a bit much at times but some of it was important to the story line. The characters really did care for each other and Ms. Porter portrayed that time and time again...(thank you Ü)! A fabulous read--you won't be disappointed!

I recently returned from a 3 month tour of Europe and took this book with me. While it did have a number of major European cities in it the actual information about them was definetly lacking. I found my self usually better off with out a book at all as opposed to only having this one. Several other travelers we met felt the same way and some were lucky enough to have Lonely Planet guides. For the money spent I'll stick to them or Rick Steves in the future. i.e. This book would take you to the train station/ subway but then fall short on what the heck to do to get a ticket!!! Which is important information stranded in 20 different stations/ subways a month each with different customs. Frommer's did do an excellent job of pointing out all of the gay and lesbian districs and bars in each city and the gay friendly hotels and shops... but they also have a strickly gay guide to Europe as well. The amount of space used for this information could have been better allocated for more pertinent information. I'll have to give a thumbs down on this book. Take something else with you or take nothing at all.

Frommer's does a good job with the general hints on travelling cheaper, but unless you plan on visiting only the major cities and capitals only, look for another book. There are 24 major cities and surrounding areas covered from Ireland to Budapest, but that's not many cities in comparison with all of Europe. I only will have a short time in Europe and that means that I will only be able to visit two of the cities listed and have to use another book for everything in between. Lonely Planet is much more inclusive and definitely covers the lower price scale.

Just returned from a 2 month trip using the 2002 guide. I found the recommendations for the restaurants to be excellent. After realizing that the Frommer's writers and I had the same tastes, I made it a point of seeking out all of their 'starred' recommendations for restaurants. The sightseeing descriptions and recommendations were also quite good. The hotel recommendations were not as good. A few of the hotels we stayed in that were not 'starred' or listed as a 'Find' were not as comfortable as hotels in other books.

We traveled with this Frommer's, Rick Steves, Lonely Planet and Rough Guides through France, Belguim, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Italy. We liked Rick Steves' recommendations for lodging, Frommer's for restaurants and both for sightseeing. Lonely Planet and Rough Guides were not used if in a Frommer's city. If in a Rick Steve's city (but not Frommer's) we used Lonely Planet for restaurant recommendations (not as good a Frommer's but better than Rick Steves).

Background: Two travelers, professional, early 30s with enough money to stay out of the hostels, but did not want to blow the bank of 5 star lodging. Rick Steve's packing philosophy. Both traveler's love to eat!!

Likening this book to the Hornblower series is an understandable (though untrue) bit of publisher's hype (that's why I bought it) but another reviewer said "it was more akin to the Aubrey/Maturin series". Hate to think anyone still struggling with the end of that series would buy it on that basis. Yes, they both feature sailing ships but that's about all. The book is poorly plotted, has no believable characters, seems rife with anacronisms, and provides none of the period texture which is key to good historical fiction. The book reads like the author wrote 5 seperate drafts, then accidently dropped them all on the floor and never quite got the pages sorted again.

This is one of those novels you save for when you are stuck for a long period of time in an airport, or at home on a rainy evening with nothing much on TV. While not great literature, it is an interesting tale. The events might seem unlikely in modern terms, but this was in 1761 when people in far-off colonies did not always follow the back-home rules.

Captain Adam Horne receives secret orders to kidnap a prisoner from England's own military forces. The details of the plot have been used before, i.e., he recruits inmates from the prison in Bombay, takes them to a secret base for training, and lets the convicts redeem themselves by carrying out a highly dangerous mission (does this sound like "the Dirty Dozen"). Captain Horne is in the Bombay Marines, an independent naval force of the East India Company which owes its loyalty to the company first and to England second (this was the company largely responsible for the American Revolution by putting the company's interests ahead of everything else).

The details of the plot are interesting and, perhaps, reflect the conditions of that time period, e.g., dangerous weather, a high death rate in overseas service, harsh discipline (the captain's word was law and people could be executed with no recourse to appeals), etc. This was during one of the many wars between England and France. The Bombay Marines fought the French, somewhat independently of the British Army and Navy, to give the East India Company domination and control of trade with India. It was all about money. The author provides a small map, and a short afterward with a few comments on the history of the time period.

If you take this book at face value it is a delightful read. While no masterpiece it was entertaining. I had no problem following the plot or the story line. So quit-cha-belly-aching!