Stephen Dunn has a beautiful voice that is in no way preachy or condescending to the reader. His poems are easy on the eyes and healing for the heart. S. Rea

Stephen Dunn is genious and I feel this is his best work yet, I have read this book at least twelve times, and I have't owned it that long.

Stephen Dunn is a wonderful writer whose work has evolved over the years from terribly funny to terribly poignant. He is also one of the nicest men you'll ever meet. If you've never read him and wonder what you'd think, find a copy of this book in the library and read the first poem, "The Guardian Angel," which is my personal favorite of all his works. If you like it as much as I did, you'll buy the book.

William R. Dunn, with a slightly cliched but quite capable and at times understated style, tells his own story. It is about a person who engaged in more adventures than most of us could conceive. He rounded up and broke wild horses in the 1930's in the American West, fought with a Canadian highland regiment in France, became the first American ace with the RAF Eagle Squadron, helped force the German's back to Germany with the USAAF 9th Air Force, continued with Chenault and Chiang in China and, to cap his long career, contributed with the US Air Force in Viet Nam.

In his childhood, the author set a goal to be a flyer. He never wavered in its pursuit until he achieved the goal and then never stopped flying until first the Air Force asked him to retire and then death finally revoked his pilot's license.

His perseverance was evident by the fact that after marrying a Canadian girl in 1943 he only visited her and his son on two brief occaisions until he finished in China in 1947. Of course, she did the right thing. He also didn't quit when the Air Force retired his lt. colonel rank after the war and he re-enlisted as a technical seargeant. The bureaucrats involved with his loss of rank should have been court marshalled by the way.

An interesting footnote is that he was proud of his marksmanship with weapons. He shot down two German bombers with a puny Lewis Gun as an infantryman. He was a relatively prolific scorer compared with his peers as a fighter pilot in Hurricanes and Spitfires. Then, after an accident when attempting to take off with a Thunderbolt he mentioned that he wasn't seriously hurt and in passing that it only cost him the sight in one eye. While it wasn't clear when his vision became monocular, he did fly the next day. My point is that he never shot down another airplane in his long subsequent career after this incident despite some opportunities. Though Bill never commented on it in the book, I wonder if his sight was a factor.

An exhilarating book of courage, passion, and determination, Fighter Pilot; The First American Ace of World War Two by William R. Dunn, is the biography of a Midwestern boy and his journey to become the first American Ace of World War Two. Starting as a young child listening to his relatives tall tales of aerial combat during World War One, the young William Dunn yearns for the rush and excitement of combat over the front lines. This young man showed an uncanny devotion to aviation, and even when he was forcefully retired from his rank of Lt. Colonel at the end of World War Two, he re-enlisted in the USAF as a Tech Sgt. This is the type of book that you are unable to set down. Once the reader has started to read into the life of this amazing man, you feel like you were right there flying top cover for this Hurricane, Spitfire, Thunderbolt, and Mustang pilot. His highly detailed accounts of his aerial victory's and of the aircraft he flew and flew against is truly a work of pure genius. Setting the rumors to fact based on personal experiences, he eliminates many discrepancies about World War Two aerial combat. His accounts of daily life in Eagle Squadron No. 71, comprised of all American volunteers flying for the Royal Air Force, tell of the struggles these men faced. The stories also tell of the happy times, of nights at the USO, having a lively night at the local bar, or just sharing letters from home, makes you feel for those men. The different tales from three different armed forces, gives the reader a sense of how well coordinated, from a tactical aspect, the allied war effort really was. A good show to Mr. William R. Dunn for his great book. It is truly and aviation classic.

I first became interested in Bill's story while I was doing research for a painting I was preparing for an American Society of Aviation Artists annual seminar. We talked many times on the phone when I needed some detail or other for the painting, and he offered to send me a copy of his book. When I started to read it, I couln't put it down. He even autographed it for me and is now one of my treasured possesions. Since the seminar was in the same town he lived, I invited him to the show to see the painting I had done of the Hurricane he flew in No.71 Sguadron of the Eagle Squadron RAF. It was a very emotional for both of us, especially when he turned to me and said,"that's just the way it was".He really was America's First Ace of WW2.

Why would a man assemble a group of modern-day, self-made Freaks and tour the world, making people faint and throw up? Written by the group founder/leader, Freak Like Me covers Rose's childhood in Phonenix, getting teased for being cross-eyed and always being tied up while playing cowboys and Indians. Years later, working as an exterminator, Rose hands in his bug sprayer and heads to Europe, picking up the fine art of street performing along the way. Freak Like Me covers the birth of the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow in 1991, and follows it through various incarnations up to the tour with Nine Inch Nails in 1994. The book has tons of pictures and descriptons of plenty of things you shouldn't do at home: as Rose intones in his show "go over to your friend's house to practice until you get really good." A bit Rose-centric at times, this is nevertheless an excellent look at the post-modern sideshow.

Is lifting cement blocks with your nipples something you might find interesting? This book is SICK. This book is disgusting, horrifying and GROSS. AND MOST OF ALL IT'S AWESOME. The oddities in this book are to be cherished by the few who can appreciate there demented artistic qualities.

I first became aware of Jim Rose on the "Humbug" episode of The X-Files. From then I was hooked. I scrounged around for all the info I could find on the man and his Circus. Through The Jim Rose Circus website, I found out about Freak Like Me. I ordered the book within days--and regretted nothing when I began reading it.

Freak Like Me is written in the candid, humorous tone that reflects Rose's performing demeanor. His book is open and honest without being graphically nasty. Yes, he is "graphic" in explaining what manipulations he and his roustabouts perform, but not unduly so. He takes his reader along for the ride, and what you encounter, you encounter. Rose makes no apologies. But he also doesn't gross you out just for gross-out's sake.

I was not disappointed by Freak Like Me in the least. Actually, I was pleasantly surprised to find Jim Rose to be a compassionate (and passionate) performer--which was surprising not because I didn't think he would be, but because I had hoped he would be and didn't want to be disappointed!

Jim Rose is a fascinating individual and a man dedicated to his art. And though some may not think of having one's face stuck in glass while someone else stands on your head as "art," Jim Rose's memoir shows that life and art are what you make of it. You say tomato, he'll hammer a nail up his nose.

Thanks for the opportunity to write about this wonderful book!

Seventy-six years ago Seymour Dunn prescribed an orthodox swing with clubhead, hands and swing centre co-planar throughout. It preceded Hogan's concept of a sheet of glass as swing plane and advocates that the ideal swing has hands, clubhead and sternum on that plane (hence co-planar) during backswing, downswing and follow-through. The logic of this view is similar to a vertical swing; e.g. picking up a putter or hammer over your head, and driving it into the ground. The most effective displacements with most power fed to the hammer head or clubhead has the action which has the head, hands and swing centre on the same plane. If this is intuitively obvious then it is less obvious that the same relationship should prevail in the full swing as it is an action in 3D, not 2D, yet the mechanics are identical. The co-planar concept was derailed in 1975 with the publication in Intern. J. Sport. Biomech. entitled '3D kinetics and kinematics of the golf swing' which attempted to debunk the planar notion. However a more recent study entitled 'Centrifugal force and the planar golf swing', which appeared in Science & Golf II showed that good to better players do generate a clubhead displacement in 3D which is planar. The author showed that, using 3D motion analysis software which allows the swing plane to be rotated, that a planar configuration is the norm although you may need to hunt to find it. The basic perspective is looking down the target line but you may need to stand a yard or two off that line to see 'planarity'. It appears that Dunn's model may stand the test of time as recent investigations by the author of 'Centrifugal force...' suggest that Dunn's model does prescribe optimal mechanics. Furthermore his model is a prescription for a now defunct swing called the St Andrews swing which arguable obtained greatest clubhead speed and swing efficiency for energy spent. Dunn's model therefore can be argued to be a static snapshot of the perfect swing.

I've read multiple books on swing theory, including Hogan, Nicklaus, Leadbetter, which have all contributed to my understanding of the golf swing. I recently rediscovered Seymour Dunn's "Golf Fundamentals" which had been sitting on my bookshelf for the last 15 years. It was a revelation of sorts. His fundamentals have been discussed in one way or another in more modern works on golf, however his analysis of swing center radius, swing plane, swinging parallel to the line of play as well as his interpretation of keeping the clubhead square to the line of playing are as clearly described and easily internalized for those who have some experience swinging the club as any book that I have come across on the subject of golf. It is truly a testament on how most "modern" books have just reinvented the wheel on golf theory.

This book is the most amazing book on golf I have ever read. It is complete with photographs and analysis. The golf swing has never been presented in such a clear manner. The fundamentals listed are easy to understand and easy to follow. I am so ammazed that such a complete book on golf was written so long ago. I think this book can help golfers of all ages and handicaps. I loaned my copy to a friend and now I am trying to find another copy for my files. It is a must read!

Having already purchased a few of his prints, my wife and I were looking forward to this book. Although I was somewhat disappointed with the lack of descriptive text (on both Thorpe and his works), I did enjoy seeing quite of few of his earlier works for the first time. If you purchase this book as a conversation piece or coffee table adornment, you should be fully satisfied. If you're looking for more insights into the artist and his work, you may be a bit disappointed.

After a recent trip to the UK, I have seen Thorpe's work gain much attention in the past few months right here in the US. His prints are both captivating and original. I was pleased with the insight From the Heart offers on Thorpe's background and mission as an artist. Thorpe's commentary is witty, personal, endearing, and never pretentious. The art work captured in this collection is vibrant and beautifully arranged--I highly recommend it.

I have been looking forward to this book since I first saw Mr. Thorpe's work many months ago. I certainly was not disappointed with the artwork selected and the descriptions throughout the book. I certainly would have enjoyed more of an insight into Mr. Thorpe himself, but he can save that for the next one or his biography.

Last month I had the pleasure to meet and speak with Mr. Thorpe at a show in Sausalito, CA. Everything that he is and he believes comes through in his work and on the pages of this beautiful book. This book captures what he believes and what he is. Well done!

It should have been clear to me from the other reviews, but I was somewhat disappointed at the beginning-level orientation of this book, and the overall sparseness of material. It is well-written, has a few wonderful Olympic anecdotes and some terrific Nagano pictures, but is clearly written for a young reader who is a complete novice in hockey. It's too young for my 12-year-old daughter (and me), in that there is just not enough content to make it hold our interest, even though we are die-hard women's hockey fans in this household. A keeper if one must have everything written about women's hockey, and a good book if it's for a new player or younger girl interested in ice hockey. I do wonder how many readers there are who BOTH need such a basic introduction to hockey AND will appreciate the Olympic info. Maybe this book was trying to do too much.

Tricia and Katie have written this based more towards the beginner type player. There are many great tips on both playing and equipment. Each player (Tricia and Katie) shares her thoughts throughout the book on various subjects such as the way they play and approach the game and the type of equipment preferred. Perhaps the best feature in the book, in my opinion, is the references to their fellow Olympic teammates and the insert pictures. That alone made the book worthwhile to me. :-) Overall, the book is well worth the asking price. You can't go wrong with something written by TWO gold medalists! :-)

I'd recommend this book to all beginners and general fans of Team USA.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Since I already knew a lot of the basic hockey information from playing, my favorite parts were when Katie and Tricia told about their first hand experiances growing up as female hockey players, and winning Olymipic gold! Although I didn't need the info on the basics of hockey, they were writen in a very easy to understand way. If you want to learn how to play, definatly read that part of the book. I found this to be a very inspiring book. The pictures were great, and they showed how amazing it is to be a part of a team, something they focused on in their book. I hope anyone who sees this book buys it right away and reads it.

This book has been written as a management book; the book is about a concept that has been worked out quite thouroughly and is illustrated by a number of good examples. Because i was quite familiar with the concepts, i could easily understand the content of this book; however i think that managers who are not too familiar with concepts like this will feel it hard to really use the material in their real life practice. They will probably understand that they have to start moving, but will have to read the examples probably twice to really understand the steps to undertake. The book gives good insight in the global steps to undertake, but could have been worked out in more detail to really deliver a management agenda.

Overall i am quite satisfied with this book and would recommend this book to others, especially managers in brick and mortar companies.

As a facilitator of client account management programmes that include a range of learning modules, I found "How to Win Customers in the Digital World" a significantly useful book. The majority of the discussed techniques are familiar; however, the real value of the book is the way that those techniques are made accessible to the user. The majority of books of this nature never take theory through to practical use ... but this book certainly does. Real, understandable, accessible customer situations are worked through in a a manner that the reader can absorb and apply for their own organisation.

I don't write a lot of book reviews, not because I don't read a lot of books but because so few of them are worth reviewing. This week I'm going to make an exception since this is a very good book. The book is called "How to Win Customers in the Digital World", subtitled "Total Action or Fatal Inaction". The title and subtitle have been flipped since I saw the book in draft form a year or so ago. The authors are Al Dunn and his partner Peter Vervest. Al is based in London, and has spent most of his working life advising European telecommunications suppliers and carriers as well as other apparently slow-moving organisations on how to improve their customer service. As you can imagine, this is a difficult and thankless task. But he and Peter Vervest, plug away, spending a lot of time with companies like Finland's Nokia and Dutch and German and Swiss PTTs on change management and customer relations. (PTT is a peculiarly European acronym for "Post, Telephone and Telegraph", which indicates the term's long history. Despite being overtaken by technology and other events, it is still used to describe the major European telecommunications companies, many of which are still government owned or which behave as if they are). Al has been talking about the importance of the customer ever since I have known him, which is the best part of twenty years. Just about every organisation says that its customers are important, but a surprisingly small amount actually believe it, and even fewer adopt a customer focus as the cornerstone of their business philosophy. Common sense tells us that the customer is paramount, because they are after all the people who buy our products. But it is not just the computer industry that very often pays more attention to its products than to the people who buy them. We see it everywhere in business, and in life, and suppliers have to be constantly reminded that they are in business only because people want what they sell, are prepared to pay for it, and are happy to remain loyal if the service is good enough. This has always been true, and it always will be true. But now, with the growth of the Internet and electronic commerce, business practices are changing very quickly, and the nature of the relationship between supplier and customer is evolving accordingly. In the digital world the skills involved in attracting and retaining customers are different enough to warrant comment, hence the book. The authors make a major distinction between "total action" - which is roughly defined as "squeezing out" every activity that is not specifically important to the customer - and "fatal inaction" - intense activities that have no relationship to an organisation's performance with that customer. "These departments develop around themselves highly complex and rigid processes and systems. In due course they begin to perceive themselves as businesses in their own right, an error today's 'business unit focus simply magnifies. "Such organisations often become dysfunctional. Their people, usually intelligent and competent, have become trapped in corporate autism, a serious handicap inherited from task-oriented production-line forbears. They become inward-facing internal markets for themselves, with rules and behavioural standards that are far too rigid for the digital business world." Sound familiar? The object becomes the process itself, rather than the end result of that process. Now, the Internet has vastly altered these processes and their capabilities for redefining customer interaction. "Digital technology, as best exemplified by the Internet, allows us to easily bring together vast amounts of related information. This information can be located anywhere in the world, but it can be presented with amazing clarity and relevance to provide links to all the sources from which the information has come. This fundamentally changes business. "This gives the customer the ability to transparently look into an organisation's operations, and make decisions with much more information and much more quickly than was previously the case. This, and the vastly improved access of the Internet, makes it much easier for customers to change their supplier. And that is death in the digital age." I recommend this book to you. "How to Win Customers in the Digital World" will remind you of the most important people in your life and how to deal with them

I bought this for my fiance for V-Day. We've had a lot of fun reading it together. It isn't a kinky idea book...it is a bit deaper than that, but if you are close with your partner, it can bring you closer...and it's got some interesting things to learn too!

I bought this for my husband for Valentine's Day to try something different. I had heard about Kama Sutra from others, but didn't really know what to expect.
The book isn't very long, but contains a lot of interesting ideas and basic Kama Sutra history. If you are really in tune with your partner and are open to new things and new ideas, it's a great book. If you're just looking for kinky new sexual position, it probably won't help you out much. Kama Sutra is a large percent based on ideas and mindsets.
We have and continue to enjoy the book a lot.

Once again Manuela Dunn Mascetti strikes the right note - in this case an erotic note - just wonderful - unbeatable.

This book, while challenging, may be too easy for those past 7th grade, yet to hard for those below fifth. also, the layout is extremely confusing

I agree with the first reviewer! The problems are fun to read and think about. Unlike many problem books that state problems in a long-winded and confusing style, this book contains a series of interesting puzzles that are presented in a nice brief, easy to read format. The drawings are cute as well! It was this book, and others like it, that helped spark my interest in mathematics and problem solving from a young age. Now I use puzzles of this type for my own students! They make nice extra credit problems on exams! :-)

I actually have the 1st edition hardbound book that is copyrighted in 1964. It is also 217 pages and must be identical to the new editions.

This book is filled with puzzles that were chosen for "originality, elegance of solution, and imaginative appeal." "The book singles out problem themes and solutions calling for ingenuity rather than perseverance."

The book is arranged according to the types of problems. Here's how the chapters are broken up: 1)Algebraic Amusements, 2)Geometric Exercises, 3)Solving in Integers, 4)Problems in Logic and Deduction, 5)Probability Posers, 6)Insight Puzzles, 7)Assorted Number Theory Problems.

The problems vary from simple to difficult. Overall, there's a good selection of mathematical brain-teasers.

Daisy Dalrymple is on the way to Scotland for another article in her stately home series. She encounters a tiresome acquaintance from school and her equally unpleasant relatives. They are all on their way north to convince their grandfather and his twin brother(who is also on the train) to change their wills in favor of one or another of them. Alec's daughter Belinda has run away from home and is stowing away on the same train. Fortunately, she finds Daisy who buys her a ticket. Belinda befriends Uncle Albert and his protegee, Dr. Jagai. The elderly man is murdered and Bel finds the body. The train is full of suspects. Alec is called in to solve the crime.

This is a good addition to the series. Most of the suspects are pretty unlikable and snobbish. This makes Daisy, Alec, and Co. all the more likable. I admit that the mystery was easy to solve, but as usual with Dunn's books, the process is thoroughly enjoyable.

Set in 1923 England, this series follows the adventures of the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple, a young woman who has defied convention by choosing to make her own living (as a journalist) rather than let her aristocratic family support her. Her friendship with Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard, a widower, has progressed to the point that Daisy has been to his home to meet his disapproving mother and his doting young daughter, Belinda.

In this, the fourth of the series (preceded by "Requiem for a Mezzo" and followed by "Damsel in Distress"), we find Daisy taking the London-to-Edinburgh express, where she runs into an old school friend and her contentious family, all squabbling over the distribution of an impending inheritance. On top of that, Daisy must contend with Belinda, who has stowed away on the train after a fight with her grandmother. When Belinda discovers one of the cantankerous family members dead in his compartment, Daisy has her hands full watching over the young girl and trying to solve a murder.

One of the things I love about this series is the way Dunn avoids the traps that plague so many series writers. In particular, the "set up" of each mystery, and how Daisy AND Alec get involved, feels very genuine, not contrived at all. I dread mysteries where the heroine and the cop keep bumping into each other through a series of unlikely coincidences. Having Daisy call Alec and asking him to get involved is practical and realistic.

I also enjoy that Daisy is interested in solving the mysteries without being a nosy busybody; she simply finds herself in the middle of it all. She relies on Alec (rather than thinking she can handle things herself). He trusts her input (rather than dismissing her ideas).

I'm a fan of the entire series, and this one has a solid plot that keeps you guessing.

This was the first of the series that I had read -- and I didn't feel that somehow I'm missed out on the character development. Admittedly, the plot is a bit creaky for 2002 -- but it certainly harkens back to the golden heyday of mysteries in 1923, the time in which the story is set. It was a fun read. So much so that I'm going to get all the others, too. I'm just sorry I didn't discover Daisy Dalrymple sooner.