I've read, A Brown Water Sailor in the Delta several times. You see, I was there in 1967 and 1968 myself. Mr. Sheppard did a supurb job depicting the life of PBR sailors and the hardships they endured while patroling the rivers and canals of Viet Nam's Mekong Delta. Don Sheppard is not only a fine author but a Warrior in the truest meaning of the word. If you havn't read this one, you really should; it is great reading.

Recommended reading for those looking for the truth regarding the undercover war between the East and West from WW2. Hostages, terror attacks, invasions, and counter insurgancy by Delta Force, SAS, and Spetsnaz are covered in fine detail; the overzealous tactics by the Reagan administration (involvement in Grenada, Contas, Vietnam, Iran/Iraq war, Angola), in achieving their selfish goals still leaves a sour taste in this reviewers mouth; yet again this book proves that the USA's world babysitter mentality, has caused more misery in the world than has stopped. An eye-opener, although with end of Cold War- rather dated commentary today.

With over 50 projects from Faux Finishes to sure sellers at boutiques and craft fairs-this book is a standout for painters or weekend crafters! Lots of info, great photos and techniques and simple, easy to follow instructions. Patterns in a pull out envelope inside rear cover. A bargain at this price!

Water. Water. Water... It's everywhere in this book. If you don't marvel at it don't buy the book. If you have ever lost yourself watching a flowing river bend around a newly fallen tree or taken a pre dawn boat ride just to hear the sounds of an uninterrupted river, or bay, or slough... you'll appreciate the book. Sally Sturgeon (the talking fish) and her cast of cohorts live fantasy lives in the real life backdrop of the Northern California Delta. The book is a collection of 13 short stories, observations, musings... along with 18 stunning water colors depicting life on the Delta (mostly through a fish eye lens). This book is meant to be read outdoors, in a lawn chair, by your favorite body of water - so you can occasionally put the book down & enjoy the view.

You will be astounded by Norman Mauskopf's beautiful images of the mississippi delta in his book "A Time Not Here." The images follow the local people of the region through the most important aspects of their lives; mostly surrounding religion and their extreme faith. Mauskopf followed the mississippi delta natives through church services, musical performances, weddings and funerals. These spectacular images are also accompanied by beautiful landscapes of the delta and a few intimate portraits of some residents there. The photographs are accompanied by a fabulous essay written by Randall Kenan. Through the outstanding images and essay, you will feel a conection with the people that Mauskoph photographs... he is able to capture their spirit as well as the spirit of the land and their home. He enables you to empathize with them in their happiness and in their pain. As a photographer myself, i was immediately influenced by the gorgeous work that i found in this book.

This book is a compilation of works that Colonel Waterhouse did as a combat artist prior to his becoming the resident artist for the Marine Corps during the Vietnam conflict. His new works include sketches that were not in the first two sketch books, and are some that Vietnam veterans will want to see. The aritst is accomplished in any medium, and has has a portfolio that includes works before World War II. In addition to this book, he produced another book called "Marines and Others," that shows his work in every medium known to the artist. To say he is the BEST, is not enough. He is the only artist that paints, draws and sketches the way he does.

David Elliott's magnum opus, "The Vietnamese War: Revolution and Social Change in the Mekong Delta 1930 - 1975," is quite simply the best book there is about the Vietnam War. It is also one of the longest, at 1547 pages, which may limit its appeal to non-specialists.

The principal strenths of this work are two:

1) Where most scholars of the Vietnam War have focused their efforts mainly on American sources, Elliott draws the majority of his evidence from Vietnamese who fought for the Viet Minh or the NLF. In particular, he uses 415 in-depth interviews of prisoners and defectors conducted as part of a major RAND project during the war (Elliott himself worked on this project). He also relies on about 100 Vietnamese-language post-war histories. Together with a judicious selection of English-language works and some US government data, the Vietnamese sources provide an evidentiary base that overlaps very little with existing studies in English.

2) Although he does not ignore the larger strategic currents of the war, Elliott focuses like a laser beam on the local revolutionary processes of a single Vietnamese province. Although he carefully synthesizes his evidence into an overall narrative, Elliott allows the full complexity of events to shine through at every turn, often in the first-person recollections of the revolutionaries themselves.

My reservations about the book mainly concern the theoretical context in which it is situated. Elliott's intended audience appears to be a narrow group of Southeast Asia and Vietnam War specialists. He shows little concern with the far more interesting and recent generalist literature about civil war processes by e.g., Elizabeth Wood, Stathis Kalyvas, or Roger Petersen. Debates about, e.g., whether or not the Vietnam War "could have been won" are extremely stale, and a scholar of Elliott's magnitude shouldn't be wasting his time on them.

This is not a book for the casual reader, and it is not a book for someone whose main concern is about what Americans did in the Vietnam War. However, for anyone who takes a serious scholarly interest 20th century Vietnamese history or the systematic study of political violence and civil war, Elliott's book is indispensable.

The only reason this book is not getting 5 stars is or the fact that a lot of the missions and scenarios he talks about leaves you asking more questions and for more details. For obvious reasons, he cannot divulge in the stories too far so the 4 star rating is more the fault of his apparent circumstance of not being able to tell us the whole story. The book is educational in the sense that you get an insiders account of what it takes to be in Delta Force. A shocking relevation for some will be the authors appearance during his time in service (especially training). He is not the Rambo looking type, but actually quite the opposite. He wears glasses and looks like he weighs a buck twenty soaking wet. The impression that this leaves is that training and being one of these elite warriors is more about strength of character and willpower than muscle or brawn. Mr. Haney leaves a lasting impression that these people are not the thrill seeking yahoos you see in movies, but intelligent, hard-working, dedicated and very professional in their work. It's a great book!

A very informative behind the scenes look at America's secret counterterrorist unit. From selective training to actual combat ops.....Eric Haney describes in colorful detail the process of putting an "operator" in the field....and the unique challenges facing each and everyone of them in their struggles to accomplish their mission with minimal loss of life.

When I spotted this book in the "New Releases" section of Amazon recently.....it looked to be every bit of a fascinating read. I wasn't disappointed. Although current and ex-military people like myself might relate to this book a wee bit more than others, everyone will find this book to be very intriguing and definitely worth the time and effort spent reading it.

We can all take comfort knowing these guys are out there each and every day protecting our most vital interests around the globe. Kudos Eric Haney.......the world is a much safer place to live thanks to Delta Force !!!

J.B. Kruz
KruzKontrol

Reading Inside Delta Force is a highly personal experience. Most readers speaking out here come away with awe for the men of Delta Force and a personal sense of gratitude for Eric Haney's character and integrity which is revealed on every page. One reader even called Haney "the living embodiment of the Sam Damon leader" -- Sam Damon being one of the most selfless, honorable, capable and courageous military characters in fiction. That's as high a compliment as compliments get, really. The only criticism leveled against this book is how carefully Haney walks the line to protect operational security. You see this several times in these reviews -- military folks or wannabes wishing for more detail, more secrets, more things they haven't seen published before in Commander Charlie Beckwith's book or the now out of print fiction books done by one of Delta's old squadron commanders. For this reason, the last reviewer's comment about forgotten pledges puzzle me. Every insider reading this book knows the truth: that the book is as careful and thoughtful and faithful to country and comrades as the man who wrote it. (And he did write it himself, as is rarely the case for military memoirs. His eloquence on CNN, Fox, and CBS during the Sniper case proved how articulate he is.) I wonder if perhaps some folks out there believe that only officers are entitled to write books? Or conversely, that NCOs can't be articluate? I think this book is almost a Zen thing: What you find in Inside Delta Force is what you bring to it. There's committment and insight and courage in this book, and in the man who wrote it. That, dear readers, is what causes so many of us to come away from this book with hope instead of despair.

This is one of my favorite books. Though Crichton does not bore his readers with too much description, he provides memorable scenes and multifaceted characters to interest and stimulate. Readers are captured on the first few pages by suspenseful deaths, then introduced to the large and controversial world of cloning and programming nature. The plot line takes shape as we follow archaeologist Alan Grant and his biologist coworker Ellie Sattler on their advisory visit to Jurassic Park, an amusement park whose attractions are cloned dinosaurs living in rough recreations of their former habitats. The project was founded and carried out by an elderly, rich dinosaur enthusiast named John Hammond.

I enjoyed the thought provoking philosophies of the character Ian Malcolm about science and the dangers of trying to recreate and control dangerous animals that we know nothing about. I would reccomend this book to people who are interested in life science, technology, or science fiction.

Hello my friends! How are you doing? I have a question for you. Have you ever wished dinosaurs were alive? In this book your wish comes true. InGen has started an extremely special park in Isla Nublar wich is20000 miles west of Costa Rica. By extracting DNA from mosquitoes caught in amber they have brought back to life the dinosaurs. Dr.Hammond (president of InGen) has hired Alan Grant and Dr.Elli (2 paleontologists) and the scientist Dr.Ian Malcolm to go and look at the park before it's open to public. He hopes they decide to endorse the park. But when they get there things go wrong, terribly wrong.

This book is filled with imagination and suspense. It will have you in the edge of your seat. Director Steven Spielberg made this book into a movie. This book is about how dangerous is for us, humans, to play with nature. If I could describe this book in 5 words they would be: Imaginative, suspenseful, amazing, intriguing, and clever. The author held my attention by showing me in detail each and every page of the book. This book was written by author Michael Crichton who also wrote its sequel: Jurassic Park: The Lost World. This book has different prices in different places but it is worth every penny, nickel, dime or quarter. And even if you don't want to read the book you can still go watch the movie. This book was fictious. The characters of this book are: Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Elli, Dr.Hammond, Dr.Ian Malcolm, Lex and Tim, and Dr.Hammond's lawyer. This book has a lot of action too. I give it five hearts, I recommend this book to teens, adults, seniors, and to anyone who likes to read amazing books. Although you could just watch the movie. The End and Thank You.

I have read many of Michael Crichton's books (The Great Train Robbery, The Andromeda Strain, Sphere, Airframe, Jurrassic Park, The Lost World, Timeline, and his newest book Prey) and I think that this book is my favorite of all of them. It is a fast-paced thriller that is extremely hard to put down and is by far better than the movie. It also helps explain things that the movie left out.

The book takes place on an island off the coast of Coasta Rica where a venture capitalist named John Hammond has set up a safari type tour of genetically enginered prehistoric dinosaurs, all of which are enclosed in their own sections to protect the visitors. Six people visit the island and are asked to evaluate it in the issue of safty. Several events take place that all come together and all of the parks systems go offline, allowing the dinosaurs to roam free. Now the people have to work for their lives and find a way to call for someone to get them off the island--alive.

This book is probably my favorite book of all time and definitly Michael Crichton's best work ever. I would highly reccommend it to anyone who is able to read.

I am ashamed to admit it, but, yes, I have been reading for over 25 years and this is the very first time that I have ever read Jane Austen. None of her novels were required in high school, no literature class that I took in college used any as a text, and I had never thought to pursue her for sheer entertainment. It is quite sad, actually, for I find Austen much more accessible than some of the classic that I did have to wade through, including Wuthering Heights and The Scarlet Letter. Austen has recently seen a resurgence in popularity, likely due to the recent BBC and Hollywood adaptations of her books, including the Emma Thompson vehicle Sense and Sensibility.

Pride and Prejudice was Austen's second novel, following the success of Sense and Sensibility. Its original title was--and I'm not making this up a la Dave Barry--First Impressions. To my taste, this would have been a much more apt title, but it had been used by another author before Austen could get this book in print. The story is about the five Bennet sisters, who, while not orphaned or penniless, have few choices as to husbands because their father's estate is entailed on a male heir, and they have no brother. The father seems to have resigned them to their fate, but their mother wastes no opportunity to arrange a good match for her daughters. The two oldest--Jane and Elizabeth--are level-headed and quite understand the position that they are in, but the youngest three are flirtatious and giddy, a bad combination in winning society's eye. Disasters ensue when eligible bachelors Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy come to town, as well as the officers of the ---shire regiment.

The reason First Impressions would have been a better title is that each character--not just the main two, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy--is constantly assuming things about other characters based on their initial reception of them. Mr. Darcy, in the country, is too proud to dance with any of the young women because of his mistaken impression that they are all declasse; Elizabeth forms her prejudices about Mr. Darcy because of her first meeting with him and this dance snub. The townsfolk think the best of Mr. Wickham because his first impression on everyone is quite favorable. And on and on and on.

Very interesting, but it goes on forever, as the characters can never be quite direct given the mores of the time. That does not mean that they can not be insulting, as a particularly vicious exchange between Lady Catherine and Elizabeth shows. I'm glad that I have now broken my Austen fast, but I think that I can wait awhile before digesting any more.

I have always loved the style and social politics of the Regency period (the time of Jane Austen.) But when I read "Sense and Sensibility" in 7th grade I found the first few chapters lifeless, dull and hard to read. Two years later I was encouraged by a friend to give "Pride and Prejudice" a try. I did and have since become a complete Janeite. I am now able to peruse joyfully through "Sense and Sensibility" with a new understanding and appreciation of Jane Austen. The reason? "Pride and Prejudice" is fresh, witty and is a great introduction to Jane Austen's writing style without the formality of some of her other novels (unlike S&S and Persuasion Austen does not give us a 10 page history of each family and their fortune.) If you have never read Jane Austen or have read her other novels and found them boring, read Pride and Prejudice. The characters, and the situations Austen presents to them, are hysterical and reveal a lot about Regency society and morality. This book perfectly compliments a great writer like Jane Austen and is essential to every reader's library. The Penguin Edition of the book is stellar and I personally recommend it not only for the in-depth and indispensable footnotes, but also for the cover that is non-suggestive of any of the characters' appearances. In summary "Pride and Prejudice" is a great book for beginner Austen readers and seasoned fans, and Penguin Classics is a great edition for fully enjoying and understanding the book.

It doesn't get better than Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Whether you're the hopeless romantic or you just love the classics, you're going to love this book. Though I am only sixteen, I consider myself to be moderately well-read. I love reading, and, when I am between books, my life feels desolate and empty. One day, while in the most barren pit of ennui, I picked up Pride and Prejudice at my mother's recommendation. I do not ordinarily like my mother's taste in reading; her favorite books tend to be very dull, but so deep was my boredom that I succumbed to her suggestion. I wasn't displeased with what I found. I fell in love with the book at the first sentence. I brought my beloved book to the dinner table, to my classes and late into the night. I love everything about it. I love the characters; especially Elizabeth Bennet! I love the Victorian vernavular which works so well for this particular novel. I love the scintillating plot and the suspense created by knowing that Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy should be together but their pride and prejudice (hence the title) are temporarily keeping them apart. The language that the novel is written in might be a little more difficult to read than contemporary literature, but once one gets accustomed to it, it makes the novel even more pleasurable. I cannot imagine Elizabeth or Darcy or Bingley or any of the other characters speaking any less eloquently; it would ruin the whole experience! The flowery language completes the whole effect of reading a Jane Austen novel. If a disgruntled female reader put down Pride and Prejudice, pick it back up! I strongly suggest it because it may prove to be tedious at first but if read again, it would probably read more easily. I can offer no suggestions to the male reader, however, because generally this book, in ever essence, is a female novel. I am not saying that men would definetly not enjoy it; I'm simply saying that I have yet to meet any male who has not addressed this book in a very vehement manner. I simply love this book in its entirety, and I know it won't be too long before I pick it up again. Jane Austen surely knew what she was doing when she wrote this one! Her Pride and Prejudice will always have an honored spot on my bookshelf.