In little more than a hundred pages, Rall dissects and analyzes the recent war on terrorism in Afghanistan and shows why it may never be won. Eye-opening, frightening, and dispiriting. I do have some minor quibbles with it, though-- there is some repetition between the graphic novel and the written portion, and his characterization of the Afghanis themselves is sometomes contradictory. Still, this is essential reading. I've always hated the phrase, "If you read only one book this year, make it this one," but in this case, it holds true.

First-hand reporting on the feelings of the various combatants in Afghanistan. Thoroughly enjoyable. Not for those who believe the U.S. is always saintly in foreign policy.

An amazingly concise and chillingly realistic account of a crazy situation brought on paper in a powerful way.
What words and photos don't always express, Rall transfer in cartoons. You'll feel like freezing on the outskirts of Mazar E-Sharif and chased by bandits ...
If you think "Maus : A Survivor's Tale : My Father Bleeds History and Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman, is well done, rush for that one too.
If you didn't read any of them - go for both. Even faster !

Where were YOU on the morning of September 11th, 2001? I was at work when Howard Stern reported that a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center Towers. Having been born and raised in The Bronx before moving to Rochester, N.Y., my workday immediately ended as I focused my full attention on Howard's show; He became my only link to the city I loved and would always call home. Later on came the TV reports and the images that will never leave my mind, but for those first few hours, I sat listening in shock as the man who makes me laugh every workday became my only connection to family, friends, and loved ones who were suddenly living in a war-zone.

9-11: Emergency Relief is a benefit book that is filled with true stories from September 11th. They range from touching, to infuriating, to thought-provoking, and the list of creators reads like a who's who of Indy Comics: James Kochalka, Will Eisner, Tony Millionaire, Harvey Pekar, Tom Hart, Joyce Brabner, Ted Rall, and literally DOZENS of others. Besides being entertaining, and raising money for the Red Cross, the book fulfills another important purpose: It stands as a reminder of a day we must NEVER forget. God Bless America!

Easily the best of the comics industry's myriad responses to the tragedy of September 11th, this book gets down into the nitty-gritty of human experiences and reactions to tragedy. No superheroes. No larger-than-life expostulation. Just real people - talented artists - telling amazing stories. Higlights include Gregory Benton's "Treasure," an untitled Hutch Owen story by Tom Hart that manages to toe the fine line between rage and sentiment and "Citadel Of The Night" by K. Thor Jensen and Chris Knowle. Honestly, though, the book is so full of great material that nobody should be without it.

After the September 11th terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and in the skies over Pennsylvania, some 50 graphic novelists and cartoonist ranging from such legendary names as Will Eisner and Harvey Pekar, to newer talents such as Frank Cho and James Kochalka, came together in a very special project as a way of expressing their grief, patriotism, and support of the American people in the face of naked, lethal, ideologically driven aggression. The result is 9-11: Emergency Relief, a powerful graphic novel. The proceeds will go to benefit the American Red Cross. Simply put, every school and every community library in the country should acquire a copy of 9-11: Emergency Relief for the edification of their students and their patrons.

This is a fabulous work. The book is large every page is like 2 pages of a regular size book. Great photos on all of the major breeds. The history section in the front is very informative. I read it cover to cover over time and this is the book I refer to when I want to show a breed to a friend.

This is a very beautiful book with lovely photos of horses. You can learn soo much from this book and about all different types of horses. This book also tells about horse sports and how they started to give you more of an understanding. Great for horse lovers.

As an illustrator, I have to say that if you're looking for a good photo reference for horses this is perhaps the BEST guide you could ever ask for. The breed section alone is well worth the investment, and the photographs provided are just exquisite.
Once again DK publishing has come through with a gorgeous guide book, and I for one am tremendously grateful they did.

Liberty, Justice, and F'rall is a fun historical novel about the dog heroes of the Republic of Texas. Liberty is the soft-spoken golden retriever/narrator owned by Sam Houston; Justice is a handsome, black labrador who faithfully attends Jim Bowie; and F'rall is their mutt of a pup. Liberty gives a dog's eye view of life with Sam Houston, from the time she was given to Sam by President Andrew Jackson, through the war with Mexico. I read parts of this book aloud to third, fourth, and fifth graders during their library storytime. My Texas accent finally came in handy! The waiting list for this book is longer than the number of weeks left in school, so I will be buying two additional copies. It's a fun, energetic look at the war for Texas independence, which, by the way, took only 18 minutes to vanquish Santa Anna's army.

If you want your children to get into history this is a good start.

The author is familiar with all the aspects of the fall of the Alamo and puts the story from the view of the dogs (named Liberty, Justice and Furall) that were owned by the main characters of the hitorical incident.

The characters are easy and fun to follow for every adult that may read this wonderful and heartwarming story to their children. There is no political overtone, only a pivital hitorical event told from a different aspect.

This book has been chosen by the Daughter's of the Texas Revolution to be sold AT the Alamo book shop!

I heartily recommend Dr. Karen Ralls' "The Templars and the Grail: Knights of the Quest". This book works on two levels: one, it offers something for all stripes of Templar afficionado - those who insist on verifiable references, as well as those who entertain the legendary flights of fancy; and two, the author takes great care to identify that which is factual and that which is speculative, without taking sides. Dr. Ralls' writing style is easy to follow, not bogged down in minutiae that might confound newcomers to the topic - yet it should not be confused in any sense with "Templars for Dummies". This is a carefully researched, well thought-out, balanced look at the facts and speculations that permeate the Templars and their legacy. Already scheduled for its second printing after a first release of just a little over a month ago, this one is flying off the shelves! Order it now - it's a must-have for Templar enthusiasts.

Having read books by various authors about the enigmatic Knights Templar and the ever mysterious Grail, each asserting a different spin of the so-called "facts" or proposing a particular pet theory, I was thrilled to get my hands on one book that not only provides carefully documented yet easy to read facts, but also shows us (to quote from the author)"how to distinguish between fact, sensationalism, and honest, informed speculation. This book aims to make the acedemic material accessible, as well as to take a fresh, up-to-date look at a selection of theories." Dr. Ralls' unique interdisciplinary approach makes for an informative and enlightning read about a historical era shrouded in legend, mystery and international intrigue. I found the extensive Bibliography very helpful, in addition to the Chronology of Events during the time of the Templars! I was also impressed by the heartfelt "tribute" to the Templar Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, at the end of the Introduction, as well as the unusual information about the Black Madonna, the Jolly Roger pirate flag symbolism, and the mysterious beginnings of the Order. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

I'm the webmaster for the WWII destroyer escort USS Wintle ... I've purchased every DE book I can get my hands on to help me make my web page better. Unfortunately, there aren’t really that many good books on DE's. The few that are out there fall into two or three basic categories, those that are technical and meant mostly for WWII enthusiasts that are excited about the equipment (like model builders), and those that are “action” oriented. Since my web site was really geared to celebrate the regular people who were the crew members of a ship that “merely” did its duty escorting convoys and hunting subs, neither of these type of books typically has the depth of experience necessary to tell that type of story. After a lot of digging I did find a few “memoirs” from sailors, but inevitable they had flaws. They were not professionally published, so they were weak on proofing and editing. They tended to be spiral-bound. And if they had pictures or illustrations they were amateurish. Finally, they were often written by sailors that didn’t have access to the bridge. The authors seldom really understood the “big picture” or had researched the specifics of what their ships part was in the grand scheme of things.

When I found this book, Men of Poseidon, I was pretty impressed. The binding is professional, as are the pictures and the layout. There are no weird grammatical errors or spelling problems. The research is impeccable. Throughout, the author refers to specific log entries that he himself had made in the official ships log, which he requested from the US Navy in order to write this book. That brings up an important point. Since the author was an officer on the USS Rall, he was able to get the big picture and understand the real behind the scenes missions. He not only explains what happens on a day to day basis, but addresses why it happened. I learned a great deal from this book that no film or military history book will ever convey. In fact I learned so much that I couldn’t resist emailing the publisher to try to contact Mr. Graves himself, to see if he could help resolve some questions I had run into researching “my” DE, the USS Wintle. Imagine my surprise when he wrote me back and gave me wonderfully detailed information to help me in my work. A DE officer with an amazing memory is a tremendous resource. And he turned out to be a really nice guy.

The most important thing about the book is that the author, Richard Graves, is a very good writer. I was never confused, since the book takes the time to explain everything, yet I was never bored, since he kept things moving. That’s a very hard balance to achieve. The book does not skimp on scope either. It starts in the time leading up to the war, so you can appreciate the anti-war sentiment that was real, and the ambivalence that many people had about it, and continues on to the ships 50-year reunion.

When I categorized DE books, I didn’t put Men of Poseidon in the “action” category, because it doesn’t read that way. It’s not written to culminate in an exciting battle. However, it’s definitely more than a memoir. The USS Rall saw real action. The punishment it took at the hands of a concentrated 8-aircraft Japanese Kamikaze attack was substantial and deadly. I’m sure Mr. Graves could have chosen to write an action book about the episode. But instead he wrote a very personal memoir. It’s not about drama, it’s not about action or inflated speeches. It’s not about firepower, speed and camouflage schemes of a particular ship class. This book really is the story of the sailors of the USS Rall -- regular men in extraordinary circumstances, forced into heroism to serve their country and oppose imperialism. It’s a good book, a fun read, and an inspiring real-life, real-world memoir. It’s one of those book that, after you finish reading it, makes you feel like you just had the most amazing dinner conversation with a great story-teller. In other words, I highly recommend it.

I have been teaching personal computer basics since 1983 (since 1981 if you include mainframe days!). I have written my own training manuals to cover this topic, but when I found the first edition of this book (this is the second), I started using it for all my classes. I'm very excited that the book was finally updated and look forward to seeing the 3rd edition (which I recently ordered). Most beginning computer books are actually very technical (for the person who wants to be an expert), with very little practical hands-on material for the layman who wants to just learn the basics. This is the best there is for the average want-to-be computer user.

In WWII the US subjected around 60,000 US servicemen to chemical warfare experiments. The objectives of these experiments was two-fold: improve protection and defense against enemy CW, and comprehend the requirements necessary for an Allied CW retaliation.

BG Alden Waitt stated in WWII that what the US lacked was something authoratative on CW. These field trials led to the two part report "Tachnical Aspects of Chemical Warfare in the Field" (TACWIF, 1946), and the experience that may have been necessary in response to an Axis CW offensive.

Unfortunately, these 60,000 servicement were exposed to chemicals that are now known carcinogens at a time when such latent effects were not appreciated. That, on top of the intense security surrounding CW research has resulted in a large body of veterans that had suffered health consiquences without compensation or assistance.

Veteran's at Risk is a technical report on what those health consiquences are by reviewing the toxicology and medical knowledge on Mustard Gas and Lewisite. It also reviews the technical literature resulting from the WWII field trials and experiments. In the end, the NAS concluded that there was cause to believe that veterns had been adversely affected, and that all documentation from these experiments should be made publically available to assist these veterans.

The authors do an excellent job of covering the pathology of Mustard Gas and Lewisite. The details of WWII field trials and experiments are also still useful today in comprehending the disposition of vesicant casualties. This book is required reading for anyone anticipating treating vesicant casualties.

The only faults to the book that I could discern was poor military posology. The authors did not always calculate dosage correctly, and could have revealed more on unit cancer risk for these vesicants. These faults do not by any means take away from the importance of the book - this is just a word of caution on blindly accepting all the figures reported.

The work of Ted Rall has a polarizing effect, I think. Either you laugh uproariously yet ruefully and say, "Rock on, my man! Power to the people!" or you clench your teeth in rage and growl out, "America--love it or leave it, you pinko punk!" Pretty much, if you voted for Reagan or either Bush, then you'll tend to the latter reaction.

Mr. Rall evidently stews in perpetual bitterness over the myriad injustices of contemporary American society. In no particular order, he appears to loathe and despise his father, bosses, lawyers, corporations, Republicans, fellow cartoonists, his father, Hollywood, the school system, and also his father--pretty much all of the accepted and customary targets of the left. He has virtually no trust in any major institution and gleefully skewers them without mercy. Of course, given the domestic track records of recent Republican administrations and the squalid, greed-infested, and sorry state of corporate governance these days, he's perfectly justified in his hatred.

Despite the overtones of rage, most of the collected strips are extremely funny, and his style is distinct and unique. Some of the strips have appeared previously in alternative weeklies, but others are drawn from his work for other publications.

Avoid this is you're an overly sensitive and humorless adherent of the right wing; otherwise, pick it up for both the laughs and the provocative challenge to your world view.

This is great book to acquainted with the humor of Ted Rall. It consists of a collection of comic strips that Ted Rall picked as his favorite from the last five years. The book includes ones that were and weren't published. Most of the strips have an explanation of why Ted thinks it is worth being included in this collection, or the what point the strip was trying to convey. I don't know what else to write about without giving anything away, so I will just say that this is worth every penny that Amazon[.com] is asking for and you must buy this.

I learned more about politics, history and social issues from reading Rall's cartoons than from newspapers or history books. His take on the hot issues of our times cut thru the spin and baloney like a hot knife thru butter. Go for it if you are tired of listening to talking heads and spinmeisters!

I used this as a textbook for an udergraduate pharmacology class. While it is a very comperhensive book, and covers probably all you'd ever want to know and then some, about many drugs, it might just provide too much information for an introductory pharmacology class. Its not as if its hard to understand-I felt that the writing was clear enough, its just that there is so much information, its hard to pick out the important bits. I remember that in our class, we'd have random quizes where we'd get lists of about twelve drugs and we'd have to summarize their actions. Now if you used Goodman and Gilman and you made flashcards, you'd probably have way more information than what the professor expected on the quiz, and then if you did happen to remember some random facts that were mentioned in G&G you might not get credit becasue the facts were so obscure even the professor didn't remember them. I'd have preferred a textbook that outlined very briefly the system that the drugs were affecting, a concise picture of how they act, and then maybe one or two examples. This book just takes it too far. There are like twenty drugs explained in excrusiating detail in each section that you forget what the class of drugs as a whole is supposed to do. Take home message: a great reference book, but its just too dense to be used as a text book. I still use it though, from time to time, when I am checking out info on drugs my family, friends, or I am planning to take.

"Goldman & Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics" is one brain toasting book. It reminds me of the "Principles of Pharmacology: Basic Concepts & Clinical Applications" (edited by Paul Munson). Of course, either of these two books can serve as a reference tool; and although the latter maintains a price advantage, 'Goldman & Gilman's' is more ubiquitous.
It is rich, versatile, and presents well laid-out voluminous chapters. Anyone who reads this book will appreciate how it tackled General Therapeutics, Biochemistry, and Molecular Biology.

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This pharmacology book is solely responsible for my honors grades in pharmacology and on the national boards.

All topics are covered comprehensively, with far greater clinical application than most pharmacology texts.

The chapter organization makes sense, and it is well indexed. This was one of the few med school books I kept and used for years after leaving clinical medicine to go into research.

I used the book for researching medications for family and myself - information on side effects and interactions was very good.

There are almost no illustrations, and few charts, so it's not easy reading, but it is definitely worthwhile.

-An MD- class of '84