This small book is well written and provides an excellent synopsis of the many dynamic processes which must be understood as they relate to the victory of the Allies in the battle of the Atlantic. The outcomes at Stalingrad and in the North Atlantic clearly established that the Axis powers in Europe would ultimately be defeated. The value of this book is that it penetrates beneath the sound and smoke of battle to explore some of the interactions at scientific, technical and strategic levels which contributed to victory. In doing so it provides the reader with an excellent summary of events and how critical their linkage was to the ultimate outcome.

For readers unfamiliar with the technology of midcentury direction finding to locate the source of radio emissions, the chapter on technology is quite good and is totally devoid of mathematics. It thus allows the reader to fully appreciate the process without experiencing the pain of the theory.

I found myself referring frequently to my old copy of The Pulse of Radar by Sir Robert Watson-Watt on many occasions as I read this book and the two volumes complement each other nicely. Watson-Watt is a far more entertaining writer but that does not detract from the value of this book in any way. It is another excellent publication from the Naval Institute Press.

Well, it's a little weird writing this review myself, but you out there have had 4 years to do it and have now missed the chance to be the first! Having had the past few years to reflect on the book, I am still pretty happy with it as a first effort. Despite the tongue in cheek approach there really is a bit to be learned from my book - even if it's just to marvel at how superstitious the old time sailors were. My aim is to do another book sometime soon and I hope readers will enjoy the second as much as they seemed to have enjoyed the first!

Historian William Breuer has produced a popular, anecdotal history of the PT Boat in WWII. It's a good, enjoyable read that gives the reader a broad overview of what the boats did and what kind of people manned them. If you are interested in PT Boats, this is an excellent place to start, but keep in mind you are skimming the surface.

Highly recommended as a companion book is Victor Chun's pictorial history of American PT Boats in WWII.

For more detailed PT stories, try Dick Keresey's "PT-105" or track down a copy of "At Close Quarters."

Beautiful visuals and a lucid, entertaining account of an amazing ecosystem make this a perfect gift for curious young minds.

Distant Water, by the author of Beautiful Swimmers, is, IMHO a better written and more complete picture of the lives and hazards faced by deep water fisherman. While The Perfect Storm was exhilerating, it concentrated on one event.

Distant Water is a fuller, more well-rounded picture of the everyday hazards faced by the people who feed us, doing one of the most dangerous jobs available in America.

I liked this book because it gave me pictures and descriptions of the equipment used deep under the sea. There are pictures of under sea animal life, too. There are also some scary stories of the early submersibles.

A total of 44 words are used to describe the dolphin and how it lives. The beautiful photographs make this a very appealing book for the early and emergent readers. There is a table of contents, glossary, bibliography, recommended web sites, and an index/word list.

Jeri Howard, private investigator is in Monterey for a restful vacation (or so she hopes)! But she immediately finds herself in the middle of several mysteries -- mutilated pelicans, mysterious accidents at a trendy restaurant and her own cousin accused of murder! This book keeps you interested and moves along at a good pace. Having visited the Monterey/Carmel area, I enjoyed the familiarity of sites mentioned. I am a new reader of female p.i stories but highly recommend this book to others who enjoy this type mystery. I'm glad there are several more Jeri Howard mysteries waiting to be read!!

I teach second grade and I used this book, THE EARTH IS MOSTLY OCEAN, during our unit on water and oceans. It is simple yet very comprehensive. It briefly covered all aspects of the curriculum. New vocabulary terms with picture clues are included at the end; great for discussion. I would highly recommend this book to primary teachers with curriculum units about the ocean and its inhabitants. It works as a great introduction to your lessons!

This is basically a book which examines Japan's rise to Empire, its motives for attacking the United States and starting the Pacific War, and the first six months of the course of the conflict.

The book's author is a reasonably prolific writer whose style is easy to read and unlike some popularisers he has a good grasp of his topic.

Japan's history is interesting as it opened up to the West and modernised at the time that the European Powers had carved up most of Asia and Africa as their private fiefdoms. The gospel of the time was a book written by Admiral Mahan called the Importance of Sea Power in History. Japan caught up in the fashions of the time decided to embark on the quest of Empire. They built a large army and navy to assist them. The basic problem was that to gain an empire they would have to divest someone else of it as most of the known world had been carved up.

Japan initially attacked China and Russia. By allying with Britain and fighting in the First World War it was able to gain a number of pacific Islands. During the 30's it embarked on a series of wars with China which gave it a huge amount of territory. The problem was that this antagonised the United States who imposed an oil embargo to try to stop the Chinese war. Japan was a country which was totally dependant on imported oil to supply its war machine. The embargo meant that it had about one years oil for its ships and about six months aviation fuel. Faced with either giving in or attacking, Japan decided on the later.

In reality this was a stupid decision. The Japanese by declaring war immediately started to have problems. It was reliant on imported raw materials for its industry and it imported food. The basis of its trade system was the use of foreign ships as well as its own. By declaring war Japan immediately lost the ability to use foreign ships. With its existing merchant marine Japan was barely able to transport essentials. In addition it had to conquer the oil rich areas of Indonesia within six months to be able to keep its economy going. It did not have enough Tankers to move the oil from the conquered regions if it was successful.

The reality of course was that Japan had stopped operating as a state in the early 1920's. Since that time authority had fragmented so that the decision to invade China rather than being the result of some considered policy was undertaken by army units which did not recognisee the central civil authority. Japan limped along with the real power being located in the various armed services but in reality even this power was fragmented.

The miracle was of course that in the first six months the Japanese were victorious everywhere. Of course after that they never won a battle.

This book is interesting as it explains the process. It is strongest in talking about the Japanese history and motives prior to the war. The coverage of the early campaigns is very readable but falls into some traps of previous histories.

For example the Japanese invasion of Malaya was against numerically superior forces. The numbers in favour of the defence was 5:2. For the British to lose required massive incompetence. In this campaign the British command effectively was hopeless dispersing its armies allowing them to be defeated in detail. Even at the point of surrender the Japanese had run out of ammunition and were about to withdraw. The author however accepts that there was some inevitability to what happened.

In much the same way, although he is critical of MacArhur in the Philippines, he again seems to accept the inevitability of Japanese victory. This is despite the fact that the American forces again were about twice that of the invading army, that the defending forces had tanks and aircraft and that the Japanese were poorly supplied.

Despite these minor criticisms the book is well researched and readable.