Frank Sherry works very hard to cover the first 250 years of European exploration of the Pacific and its lands, particularly the struggle to control the spice trade, the continual wars and battles fought over its control, the search for alternate passages from European waters to the Pacific, and the hunt for the mythical southern continent, Terra Australis Incognita. Chronicling Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French, and English activities in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, it is ambitious and epic in scope.

Sherry paints a picture of continual hardship on the part of these sailors on voyages of exploration, trade, and warfare. Political infighting and miserly sovereigns delayed missions for years, or so underfunded them that they were doomed to failure thanks to decreipt ships, wormy food, or otherwise poor supplies. Leaders of expeditions were often chosen by the rulers of the various nations not because of sailing skill or some personal or professional trait that made them outstanding explorers, but because they were owed favors, were the darlings of various kings, or simply because they bought their way on. Time and again sailing expeditions broke down into infighting and sometimes outright mutiny when supplies ran low, there were disputes over leadership of a ship or expedition, when winds were poor, and/or when a mythical island failed to appear, either because it never existed in the first place or because the ships were woefully off course. Petty treachery and arrogance often poisoned relations with peaceful natives throughout the Pacific, resulting in suffering on both sides and inevitable European massacres of Polynesians, Melanesians, and Micronesians, or sometimes vice versa. Other times fairly peaceful European explorers and merchants were meant with extremely hostile natives and slaughtered, perhaps the legacy of previous visits, or in some cases due to local xenophobia and warlike ways. If one wanted to die old, exploring the Pacific was not recommended.

Sherry does a great job discussing the continual struggles to just get to the Pacific, of one nation trying to reach this world's largest ocean and its coasts and islands and avoid areas of Spanish, English, or other national domination. Much of these efforts relate to events and schemes in the Strait of Magellan and Tierra Del Fuego, and make for interesting though sometimes sad reading.

Much of the later parts of the book concern the struggle for finding and laying claim to the mythical southern continent, long thought to exist. It was almost painful to read about expeditons that either just missed Australia, or saw Australia and failed to realize it was the continent they were seeking. It appeared even when some did realize what it was, it wasn't the legendary paradise they hoped it would be.

My only real complaint about the book is that after a while reading about how so miserably so many explorers and expeditions turned about, about explorers languishing in port for years due to lack of funds, of ships stranded at sea with dwindling food and water thanks to lack of sufficient winds, of continual conflicts with islanders, it almost got depressing. One certainly can't acccuse Sherry of needlessly romanticizing the exploration of the Pacific. Perhaps it is just me though, but I found some of the continual hardship a bit tedious.

Still, this is a very good history book, one well worth buying.

Frank Sherry's account of the European exploration and mastering of the Pacific Ocean is an excellent and well written work of history that has somehow been overlooked. Lovers of great tales of exploration and nautical history should seek out a copy. It is WELL worth the effort.

Pacific Passions is a captivating story of the explorers who opened the Pacific Ocean to the western world. Frank Sherry paints a riveting experience as he puts the reader on the decks of Spanish, Portuguese, English, and Dutch ships on journeys to the Spice Islands, Australia, Tahiti, and countless other destinations. The author does a masterful job in recounting the human misery and self sacrifice associated with the age of exploration as well as the human triumph. By the last paragraph I was ready to set sail myself for my own adventure into the South Seas! I could not put the book down!

Rachel Carson, a scientist by trade, writes beautifully about the ocean in this book; it was worthy of the National Book Award, which it won in 1951. Carson takes the time to describe generally what was known about the sea at the time of her writing, and is prophetic in her comments about human impact to the world's oceans. While providing the reader with a general scientific discussion of the sea, she also gives us some magical moments: questions about the lost continent of Atlantis, mysteries about the nature of the deepest ocean bottoms, descriptions of lumninescent creatures surfacing in the remotest areas of open ocean. This book is simultaneously great science and great literature, and is essential reading for anyone interested in marine biology or geology, even decades since its original publication.

Wow!!! It is amazing that this book is over 50 years old. As a high school student, I had to read this book for Ecology. Rachel Carson's book is an eye-opener. It was some 50 years ago. And, it still is. "The Sea Around Us" is truly a classic. Carson gives us all an insight on what would happen if we mistreat the natural environment -- especially the oceans around us. Sadly, today, some of these prophecies are becoming a reality. I agree with a fellow reviewer. This book should be mandatory reading for all students. Maybe if more people read this book, we would all respect nature just a little better.

It is difficult to believe that this book is over 50 years old. The recommendations are still valid and elusive today. Only when the general public accepts the need to protect the environment will things change. That is why this book should be required reading for all students.

A great resources if you want to add a splash of water to your campaing or want to sail away from the adventure your DM wants to plunge you in.

Published under the open gaming license, this book fits in great with the WOTC rules for D20 3rd edition D&D. Giving you a couple of new races, that I would never use for a PC, but that can be very cool NPC's, both supporting and opposing the players.
The new feats and skills fit in great with the thema of the book.

The best part for me personaly is the chapter about ship construction and the chapter with the already designed ships. There is also a chapter concerned with moving and fighting ship based. The fighting part is realy detailed and nice, but I am afraid I will nearly never use it. That could just be personal, if you want to have ships fight, the rules do make sense and seem very balanced.

The only reason I did not rate this a 5 star book is the fact that it is in black&white. Besides that, the artwork is good quality and so is the binding of the book.

Calling it realistic may be a stretch since I'm no expert on wooden ships, but I would say that it's more realistic than any of the 3rd edition competitors I've seen.
This is mostly a book for lovers of "crunchy bits". It has lots of good rules for expanding your characters into aquatic adventures and a lot of rules for building your own ships. I think it may be the best D&D sailing supplement either, even knocking out the venerable Of Ships and the Sea.
If you've ever thought you'd like to try a Pirates or Treasure Island campaign, then this is the book for you. The only moderate disappointment is the lack of color illustrations, but the artwork is mostly very good and none of it is bad.

The Seafarer's Handbook is the third book of Fantasy Flight's Legends and Lairs Core Rulebooks (the other two are Mythic Races and Traps and Treachery). Like their first two books, this one is high quality construction with excellent writing and content. The graphics are good, not great, but they do adequately convey the ideas. The book integrates very well with the Player's Handbook and Dungeonmaster's Guide and expands on aquatic topics covered in those books. There are six chapters covering the following; 1) Seafaring Adventures, 2) Seafaring Campaigns, 3) Undersea Adventures, 4) Ship Construction, 5) Ship Designs, and 6) Ship Combat. This book clearly establishes Fantasy Flight as one of the top d20 material producers.

Chapters 1-3 provide extensive material to describe and design the world that borders on or is under the sea. Chapter 1 covers three aquatic races that could be encountered while travelling by ship. In addition, it describes the use of skills and feats while underwater and provides some new feats. Also, it provides lists and descriptions of new equipment, spells, and magic items with an aquatic focus. Lastly it expands on the underwater combat rules. Chapter 2 includes an extensive example of a coastal city, while Chapter 3 provides information about the underwater environment and a template to create aquatic versions of monsters.

The greatest value of the book starts in the final three chapters. The chapter on ship construction is very detailed without being overly burdensome. It provides enough flexibility to truly personalize your campaign, but, also provides basic examples of construction, propulsion, and weaponry. Chapter 5 contains 20 ship design ranging from the basic (non-fantasy, more historic) to exotic (submarines, marine propulsion) ships. The final chapter presents a new combat system for seagoing combat. In this case they have developed a system that is very flexible and provides a wide range of options without being cumbersome. It includes maneuvering, shipboard artillery, ramming, boarding, fire, and weather conditions. For each section, they provide a gameplay example of the concepts just presented.

In summary, the Seafarer's Handbook provides a wealth of information to expand on material just touched on by the Wizards of the Coast core rulebooks. It is a great value for the money.

Wonderfully and skillfully written account of a German sailor in WWII that also weaves parallels with Greek mythology to American classics. Sometimes lighhearted, sometimes bewildering imagery, but always an adventure that takes the hero to hell and back - several times. When one wonders if Teidemann ever makes it back, one realizes that the entire book is written in the first person and this somehow adds to the value of the story. A wonderful examination of the very worst in human nature and nature itself. You will never see seagulls quite the same after this.

One of the most entertaining books I have ever read,it displays a sense of humor and brutal realism seldom seen in today's historical novels. The characters are believable, and their simple honesty is refreshing in contrast to todays perfect characters that are a dime a dozen and very forgettable. Pick this one up if you are sick of the predictable and tiresome novels in which todays authors are mass producing with mind numbing regularity obviously using the same formula which enables them to mass produce the same stories under different titles.

Mr Ott takes you into the real world of the antics and lives of the German sailors on the smaller war ships of the era.[mine sweepers and subs] I find the ending somewhat disapointing because he really leaves it up to the reader to what happens to the hero??

I don't consider this a beginner's ("Basic") guide to meditation. Many of the topics seem more appropriate for experienced meditators: boredom, loss of self, Vipashyana meditation, etc.

The author does a fair job describing methods for beginning meditators, but explains almost nothing for those who feel they're ready for insight meditation, simply stating that the path is very lonely. Actually, I thought much of his advice was discouraging, given his emphasis on the negatives of meditating practice.

This "book" is actually a transcription of two seminars, and I didn't find the student question & answer segment at the end of each section to be very helpful. And, I was surprised at the lack of compassion Chogyam Trungpa showed to one student who felt threatened by his teachings on loss of self. He appeared to be mocking the student as he/she left the teaching.

I'll give this book another chance after a few more months of meditation, but I don't recommend it for idealistic beginners.

Another reviewer harshly criticized Chogyam Trungpa's lack of compassion with respect to the meditation practices and the non-dualism that they promote. While I would concur that the Rinpoche's style is very straightforward, I do not believe that is the result of a lack of compassion or any extra "harshness" on the his part.

His writings are direct, and concise. I find that his writing style very much belies his primary language and the translation is almost exact, phrase-for-phrase. This often leads to difficult reading because the subject-verb-object relationships and sentence structures do not map well between Tibetan and English. Additionally, he spends much time discussing the failures of language with respect to non-dualism. The use of any language to describe concepts inherently opposed by language leads to several tricky sections where I was forced to rigorousely parse each section in order to understand his point. The rewards of better understanding and a much diminished ego were well worth the effort.

All in all, this book is an excellent building block that doesn't treat meditation in the same feel-good, "New Age" style of so many other authors. It is definately built upon the underlying structures of Kagyu-style Buddhism. If Trungpa hurts your ego and makes "you" feel virtually non-existant... Well that's kind of the point of non-dualism in the first place.

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche does not engage in "idiot compassion." This book will not gratify any of the desires of your ego. Instead it has (as the foreward says) an "iron hook" of compassion, which will attempt to cut away your ego & expose you to the hard lonely reality of practice.

In his first exposition of the nature of meditation Rinpoche tells us to sit without pretensions, "like a disused coffee cup." He describes the feeling of spaciousness that comes from abandoning the ego as a reference point as "boring" & "suffocating." He does not give us any room to use meditation as an ego toy.

I recommend this book highly to anyone who is seriously interested in the hard, confusing road of spirituality. After many years of meditation, feeling very confident & special, reading "The Path is the Goal" and "Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism" was a kick to the gut.

When you're done having fun pretending to meditate, come to "The Path is the Goal" & be cut open by Chogyam Trungpa's absolute unwavering compassion.

Missing how-to information for certain projects pictured in the book , that lack instruction, are from the first (?) book : Seashore Style- Decorative Ideas Inspired by the Spirit of the Seashore. Rustic, beautiful, inspirational - however, to me, not always sensible or usable. Yet, if you have access to a beach, the fun you will have!

Sea Changes has some great ideas...add in the wonderful photography and seemingly you have a great book. My only complaint about this book (hence the four stars) is that some of the photographs in the book have no explination or directions to go with them. Take a look at the cover photo for example...the main reason I got the book was to duplicate the napkins with the shells hanging off them, but when I got the book and opened it to the page with that photo all the book said was "put together a lovely centerpiece with driftwood and a feather, along with a pillar candle decorated with shells" If you are heavily into crafts, sure you can figure out how to make the napkins on your own but that is pretty much the purpose of this book...to teach you. There are a few other scenarios like that...such as a bed canopy made to look like a beach hut a , but there are no directions only a small picture so you would have to know off hand what type of canopy fabric they are using, how is it being supported from the ceiling so on and so on. Also, be forewarned a lot of ideas in this book are very rustic. I can see why the writer and photographer have made it that way, to get back to the roots of seaside style, but just be warned that if you are looking for a "beautifully decorated beach house" then this book may not be for you unless you are thinking beautifully rustic. The main highlites in the book include a beautiful hand dyed blanket and pillows for a bed, a very unique outdoor arrangement made from canldes, shells, seaglass and driftwood, and a quite stunning mosiac table. Also noteworthy are the shell curtains and tablecloth which are very simple to make but yield great results. All in all a great book to get ideas from....but if you are looking for a decorating book you may want to look elsewhere. Like the authors previous book, this is a craft book. It doesent really show you where to put items and how to arrange them like a usual decorating book.

Received my copy today and am ready to start combing flea markets, antique, craft and hardware stores and all the local beaches!! Not a step by step "how to book" for all the great ideas, just most of the tough ones. Oh yes - did I mention terrific photos! A perfect book, full of things suited for our comfy California home with hardwood floors and denim sofas.

The audio version of this book is a good adventure, admittedly, but the original book is a wonderful picture book. It took 39 artists (IIRC) to make all the art in the book, and by consigning it to cassette tape it just loses half the point. While I would still recommend it based on plot, I was disappointed by it.

well done and written by a legend of the publishing worl

I loved this book! The C.T.'s (dolphins with three fingered fins and a crest on their heads) are really cool with communicating with the humans. The book is very interesting and it tells about a lot of different places in the ocean and parts that are dangerous and parts that are not dangerous. Also, it tells about a lot of animals in the ocean. When Betty Balentine talks about the ocean, she makes it sound like it's a magical world. Also, she makes it sound like you're ging into outer space! On a scale of 1-10, this book is an eleven!!!

I use this book as part of a children's program in Olympic National Park. It has several things going for it: the illustrations are beautiful; the rhyming is fun and engaging; each creature is introduced with an action; and it allows children and adults to readily relate through some universal concepts (like parent-child relationships, shelter, safety, playing, etc.). People from around the U.S. as well as from other continents enjoy and connect with this book. We talk about the animals in the story and discuss the meanings of any unfamiliar words during the program. Perhaps children reading this book outside of a ranger program would be inspired to find their meanings independently, and discover more about our dynamic oceans.

Sarah (9 yrs old): This book was a great book but it had some very hard words in it. Even for me as a 9-year-old, it had some words that I couldn't understand. Overall, though, it was a great book. Rebecca (6 yrs old): I like finding the numbers and it was a little hard for me as a 6-year-old. I like how the book rhymed.

A rhyming counting story that makes us want to sing. The pages are bursting with color, mommy sea creatures swimming with their babies. The book introduces all kinds of sea creatures: Whales, fish, otters, crabs, sharks, seahorses, jellyfish & more. Utterly enjoyable for me as well as my 3 year old.

Minnesota author Carl Brookins has set his second Michael Tanner sailing mystery in Northern Wisconsin. A SUPERIOR MYSTERY, takes place on Chequamegon Bay and in the communities of Bayfield, Washburn and Ashland.

The story follows public relations executive Michael Tanner and his wife Mary, who are hired to develop a marketing plan for a fictional Ashland, Wisconsin, company called Chequamegon Resource Recovery. The company is raising and selling old growth timber from the bottom of the bay. Divers find a skull among the sunken timber, and a visiting environmentalist is found dead in the company's warehouse. Questions are raised in the investigation which threatens the foundation of the firm.

While Tanner's wife does research in Washburn and Bayfield, to try to determine a name for the skull, Tanner discovers unexpected threats to both him and his wife, and secretive meetings of company executives in Ashland. Mystery and suspense, together with a strong sense of the Wisconsin locale combine to make A SUPERIOR MYSTERY a solid read.

Near Ashland, Wisconsin, Chequamegon Resource Recovery Company plans to salvage lumber that sunk to the bottom of Chequamegon Bay off Lake Superior in the 1890s. The firm offers a public relations job to Seattle based Michael Tanner claiming that their concept is economically sound in terms of profit and local jobs and ecologically superior to cutting down trees.

Michael wonders why a small Wisconsin firm would turn to Washington State for a minor leaguer like he knows he is. More surprising is how far his client dug into his life. They know his beloved Mary Whitney has ties to the area and needs a sailboat that they offer as part of the deal.

Life in the northern Midwest seems idyllic to Michael until the crew brings up the skeletal remains of a person starting with a detached skull. Soon it becomes obvious that the victim was shot in the back over a century ago. Though planning to stay out of the 1890s murder, Michael is forced to investigate to keep his beloved Mary and himself safe from a modern day felon.

The second Tanner ecological mystery (see the vividly descriptive INNER PASSAGES) is a superb who-done-it starring a delightfully reluctant hero. The story line is straightforward in terms of the modern day shenanigans though the use of flashbacks interspersed throughout the novel brings 1890s Wisconsin to life inside a murder subplot. Carl Brookins does not beat around the bush as he targets a college graduate save the environment audience with this well written, picturesque novel that lucidity uses a murder theme to render a strong ecological message.

Harriet Klausner

Carl Brookins has a history as a freelance photographer; mystery reviewer; Cable TV administrator; a Public Television program director; and a faculty member at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul. A Superior Mystery is a Michael Tanner follow-up to his first mystery, Inner Passages.

Michael Tanner us a successful public relations executive from Seattle. His second wife, Mary Whitney, is an heiress to an industrial empire. Both share a love of sailing. When Michael receives a call from a lumber recovery firm in Ashland, Wisconsin, he and Mary decide to go to hear their pitch and check out the area of Lake Superior as tourists and sailors. Mary's family has logging roots in Ashland, which seems to be more than a coincidence. But when Michael and Mary repeatedly find themselves targets of someone intent upon bodily harm, the plot heats up, particularly when they discover Mary's first husband may be behind some of the mischief:

"'I can think of a couple of reasons,' Mary paused and took a drink of beer while she organized her thoughts. 'He already knew a lot about how I think and he must have remembered that the Whitneys cleared some of this land. He could easily find out about you,' her hand reached out and tapped Tanner's, 'and the firm. Could he have concocted a scheme to take some kind of revenge on me? Or on both of us?' She looked at Tanner and he saw the concern in her eyes."

A Superior Mystery is a well written yarn containing some of the finer things one would associate with a mystery: deep water; storms; car crashes; sailing; and wealth. Michael Tanner and his wife Mary are interesting and wealthy characters who lead a life not unlike the Harts from Hart to Hart. They bring in just enough glamour to entice the reader. Add the mystery of sailing, and all sorts of fun near-misses jump out of this plot.

Carl Brookins knows his sailing, and he also is keenly aware of how to engage the reader. His knowledge of public relations and industry is also central to the flow of the plot, and he handles these things assiduously. A Superior Mystery contains more than just a simple murder...this tale goes back in history and uses the past to make sense of the present. A delightful read.

Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer
Midwest Book Review