Serling's book seems to be written mostly from interviews conducted during various TWA employee reunions. He calls it an "informal history", but it's more of a gossip fest. Don't plan on using this book for a term paper. However, anyone interested in TWA or Howard Hughes will find a wealth of anecdotal insights from within the operation, as recalled by people who were there. It is fun, although at times, labored reading.

In Howard Hughes' Airline, Serling captures the enduring spirit of Trans World Airlines. This book, resulting from numerous employee interviews, is able to give the reader excellent insight into why TWA is so special after 75 years in the air. From the eccentricities of Howard Robard Hughes to the genius of Jack Frye, this inside look at the world's greatest airline is sure to interest anyone from the casual historian to the aviation buff.

I purchased this book for my husband and at first I was shcoked to see the original price for this book was ($$$), well, this is very hard to find and my husband is really enjoying this. For someone who is or was a TWA employee, if you are one of the loyal ones, interested in the history of TWA you will enjoy this book.

Turning simple problem into nightmare. How difficult can an elasticity problem be in engineering? But these guys just have a way to make 1+1=2 looks like the most mysterious problem mankind has ever come across. No wonder everyone hates engineering and physics nowadays.

Though I'm a engineer in practice I bought this book out of personal interest to further my knowlegde. When I first opened the book I was a taken aback by the amount of mathematics used. Having a good knowledge of the classical theory of elasticity and some non-linear theory is simply not enough to begin with this book. Know your mathemactics! (differential geometry,etc.) Appart form the starting difficulies the book has very much to offer and is well written. I especially liked the "exotic" topics like relativistic elasticity and bifurcation theory of beams and plates. This book is very different compared to the books I used to read on elasticity but I still enjoy it.

Sb. said this book turns 1+1=2 into a nightmare, however I can't agree.
First, this book is not written for engineers. For engineers, there are a dozen of good elasticity books, eg. the classics Fung's "Foundation of solid mechanics". This is not the right book for engineers.
This book deals elasticity within the context of manifold. For these of you who really want to know what a tensor really is, what the real meaning of these 1+1=2, for example C=F'F, in the general settings, this is the right one.
As it is said, knowing elasticity, finite deformation theory, nonelasticity is still not enough to open this book. All you need to know is a lot of differential geometry and tensor calculus. This book also try to build up these notions. Good concurrent books to help you understand are "tensor calculus on manifold" by Bishop et. al, and "the geometry of physics" by Frankel.
Overall, this is a book very hard to penetrate, and only intended for the advanced level. You won't expect to learn any elasticity from this book if you are new to elasticity. I recommend you to return back to this classic when you think you are ready, you will find a whole new world.

The main character in this book is Robbie. Robbie is on a baseball team. At a game a friend doesn't know how to swing. Also,in the story Robbie's cousin went on vacation so Robbie's team is going to need a girl, and she is pretty good. I recommend this book for kids 10, 11, and even 12 years old. This book is pretty good and exciting.

My son, aged 9 -10, and I read all of the Scrapper books and are dying for Mr. Hughes to write more of them. They combine real kids with real personalities and problems, with exciting play by play baseball scenes. These are "feel good" books, perhaps not great literature, but in the end the children overcome their issues and contribute to the team. They are engaging reading.

What a great book for all the kids out there, boys AND girls, that like to play baseball! We coach three Little League Baseball teams right now (ages 6-7, 8, and 10) and have recommended this series to all of our teams as a great summer reading program. The books are written for ages 8-12, but younger children with a pretty good understanding of baseball will enjoy reading the book with an adult. My 6 and 7 year old boys loved this book and are eager to read the next book (they are not big reading fans, so I was happy to support the reading habit by getting the entire series for them).

This is the first book in the Scrappers Series by Dean Hughes. As a general note on the series, each of the Scrappers books covers a different position on the team with tips at the back of the book on playing the position, some advice from the coach and trivia trading cards dedicated to the learning more about the game.

Play Ball (Vol. 1) is about two players who fail to make the deadline for the summer baseball league and have only two hours to find enough players to form a new team. When Robbie only finds eleven players, not meeting the required twelve player minimum, he creates an "imaginary cousin". This lie causes problems for Robbie before they even play their first game. Another problem for Robbie is that one of the players recruited is a girl who competes with him for his shortstop position causing rivalry between team members and subsequently a loss in an important game.

By the end of the book, the players(and the readers) have learned valuable lessons in honesty, consequences, team spirit and team work, and good sportsmanship!

Again, I think this is a great book for young baseball fans! It makes for a great summer reading program and keeps the attention of the young readers. Look for Home Run Hero (Vol. #2) by Dean Hughes also available now.

This book is about sensory modalities, like a bat's sonar, which humans do not have. Ever since I read Nagel's What is it like to be a Bat as a wee lad, I have wondered that very thing. So you would think I would have loved this book. You might think so, but you woul be wrong.

Though I am very interested in the subject this review covers (hence the 2-stars) I could not finish the book because of the chatty, faux-chummy style. I compleatly support the idea that science writing does not have to be dry and jargon-heavy but there is no need for a forced imitation of an informal discusion.

I may skim though the rest, but every time I open the book I want to send the author Strunk and White.

Good reading for those who loves animals,navigation,sensing,
biology,physics or nature.

how do bats find their way in the dark? how do fish and birds experience or sense the world around them? echolocation, bioelectricity and internal navigation systems are some of the sensory cabilities discussed in this interesting book

If you are looking for a studious history of foul language, this book might be for you. Everything in author Hughes' book is well documented and footnoted. In my research for my own book, CUSS CONTROL (Three Rivers Press, April 2000), I purchased the 1993 edition of this book. It contained some valuable information, but I found it difficult to read. The author was, and perhaps still is, a professor in South Africa, and his writing style is intellectual and formal. His intention and his audience are different from mine, so a comparison is not really fair. However, unless you are looking for a comprehensive and esoteric study of the use of profanity through the ages, I suggest you page through the book before making a purchase.

When i read the book i couldn't put the book down, it was so good i recomend it to anyone.

This is an excellent history of the rich lexicon of the true English language. Shows how various traditions such as verbal baiting (flyting), 'blasphemies', and 'profanities' developed in in the tapestry of English ... and interesting in that it describes only a few hundred years ago or less the "four letter words" were just everyday language whereas blasphemy was regarded as beyond the pale. Interesting topsy-turvy compared to today's use!

Learn where common or archiac expressions developed etc. Marvel at the rich linguistic traditions of working class English and the broad variation that Australian swearing can give to a single word.

Although some reviews have said this is "academic" in tone (meaning well researched and footnoted I suppose) and it is indeed rigorous, it is a VERY LIVELY read which any moderately literate person can get excellent enjoyment from.

It may be that one book, alone, can't cover this topic. If there is one that can do the job, I haven't found it yet. Nash and Hughes offer some excellent information and provide many photos of well-designed water features for the yard. In addition to those, I was also looking for more step-by-step illustrations of pond and waterfall setups but this book was a little skimpy there The section on plant selection they've provided is very useful, however.

Helen Nash has written extensively for many years about water gardening in all its aspects. She has developed a vast following and has gained well-deserved notariety. I own quite a few of her books including this one. As in all her other books, she is very thorough in helping beginners grasp the essense of what it takes to make their water garden succeed. If anyone simply reads and heeds what Nash says, they can't fail. My only disappointment is the lack of color photography. There are some very good photos in it, but I still think there should be more. This is the only reason I gave it four stars instead of five. A lot of people purchase this type of book not only for instruction and understanding, they also buy it for inspiration and fresh ideas. The only way to do this is to SEE many examples. I hope someday Helen will compile a beautiful book of photography that will be a true inspiration and foundation for present and future water gardeners. In the meantime, for those of you who want to build a beautiful water garden and need ideas, get in touch with your local garden club to see if there is a water gardening club nearby. In metropolitan areas there is usually a large group of people who are members of a water gardening community. They hold open house once a year so you can go to many homes and see their water gardens. Also, the Internet has many resources available.

WE CHECKED THIS BOOK OUT OF OUR LOCAL LIBRARY AFTER REVIEWING SEVERAL BOOKS. ALSO CHECKED AT BARNES AND NOBLE FOR COMPARISIONS AND FOUND THE SUNSET GARDEN POOLS FOUNTAINS AND WATERFALLS TO BE GOOD ALSO. THE INFO. CONTAINED DESIGN, INSTALLATION AND PUMP INFO. THE PICTURES ARE IN COLOR AND VERY PRACTICAL--NOT SOMETHING UNACHIEVEABLE. WE WILL USE IT AS ONE OF OUR GUIDES IN BUILDING A WATERFALL.

The first in what I can only hope will be an annually released collection of articles culled from various food magazines, newsletters, newspapers and web sites.

The book is set up in five sections: Stocking the Larder, Home Cooking, Someone's in the Kitchen, Dining Around and Personal Tastes. This works nicely as you get various views and ideas regarding similar topics. You also get the various topics listed as sections: a full section of articles on choosing foods, one on cooking at home, etc.

There are articles by such food luminaries as Ruth Reichl, Calvin Trillin, Phyllis Richman, John Thorpe, and Micheal Ruhlman among others.

The book serves as a good introduction for those interested in food and like topics. If you like the article "Natural Born Keller" by Michael Ruhlman, you'll probably enjoy his full length book "The Soul of a Chef." Enjoying Anthony Bourdain's humorous excerpt from his "Kitchen Confidential" will suggest you go find a copy of that to get the rest of his story. I enjoyed John Thorpe's article enough to visit his website, and plan on purchasing at least one of his 3 or 4 books of article collections.

The other above mentioned food luminaries have full length books, or collections, in print that you can decide to try or plan on avoiding based on the 5 to 10 page selections by Ms. Hughes.

The other introduction you are given is to the various magazines that are out there: Gourmet, Wine Spectator, etc. are represented here. Again, by reading articles that are representative of these magazines, you get a feel for your tastes in writing.

If you have any interest in food, restaurants, chefs, etc., you need to check this book out.

If you're like me, you have stashed away in every conceivable corner, closet, and bathroom enough cooking and food magazines to stock a public library in Lubbock, Texas.

And in that pile of pulp is the article on the foraging of truffles that you were meaning to read, the pullout explaining the proper way to stuff a Christmas goose, and the latest column from the ever laconic curmudgeon Jeffery Steingarten. The only problem is you can't remember exactly where. So it's either flipping through enough pages to turn thumb turns black with ink or picking up BEST FOOD WRITING 2000.

All the articles you remembered reminding yourself to read (and plenty others of equal quality) are all there. Let's hope they keep this up every year; my apartment is closing in on me.

Beyond the dark river was a fine book. The story line was fabulous and the characters were very interesting. I think the whole book was good and what happened was well explained but what I did not get is the way she just let Daughter of she who came after and Benjamin go off to there own places at the end.She said that they would meet again, but what happens next? Laura

When all the children of his village are sick, Jonathan embarks on a dangerous journey to a Native American healer. Instead he finds the healer's grand-daughter, who is being trained as a healer, also. She agrees to come with him to the dangerous city where Jonathan almost gets burned alive by the mis-shapen people who still live there. A powerful story of a coming of age of two young lovers.

A quick read from a soldier of the Hungarian revolutionaries who overthrew the Russian backed Communist government in 1956. Tamas talks about his personal experiences in the war, but does not really tell us why he fights. He should have elaborated on his family's internal exile and the dislike of the Russians and their Hungarian stooges. If you expect to understand the Hungarian Revolution, read elsewhere. This is a good and quick read about the personal experiences of a soldier in the Hungarian Revolution. Tamas was lucky to get out of Hungary alive after the Revolution stalled.

This is the story of a 15 year old boy who finds himself in the middle of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Originally written in French, this translation tells the story and passion of a nation breaking free of many years of oppression.

It is basically a war story and I did some research after the fact to understand some of the places and leaders mentioned in the book--but basically an exciting book that is hard to put down.

This was a really good book of Monica Hughes, though I have to admit, I enjoy her sci-fi ones more. This book will capture your imagination, and have you looking wearily at dollhouses every time you pass one. It has that affect on you. Always make a dollhouse with love. Or pay.

Monica Hughes is a good writer. I thought the book was outstanding. I really enjoyed the parts when the lightning made the dollhouse look like a castle. My favourite character was Marg, and Peggy was very stuck up and snobbish. It was just an enjoyable book.