Well, this book, though wonderfully written, is very boring for most young people of today. Some in the older generation may enjoy how the old Mrs. Wang is able to do so much in her old age, but there's no action or adventure that the youth of today long to read about.

Well, we (our class) had to read this story in Literature. It was ok, but it wasn't one of my favorites.
Setting:
by the banks of the Yellow River in China in 1937 when the Japanese were attacking the Chinese.
Conflict:
1. Will Mrs. Wang succeed in saving her village from the river? (main conflict)
2. Will Mrs. Wang succeed in saving her loved one from the Japanese? (secondary conflict)
Rising Action:
While checking the level of water Mrs. Wang's grandson tells her the Japanese are invading China.
During the night, Japanese planes drop bombs on the village
Mrs. Wang makes sure that all of the people she loves are safely out of the village
She helps a man in trouble because his plane crashed.
The Chinese soldiers tell her that the Japanese have killed everyone in a neighboring village, including her brother and that the Japanese are on their way to her village
She sees the Japanese soldiers approaching
Climax:
Mrs. Wang opens the flood gates

Resolution: the flood water kills the Japanese soldiers and saves the people that Mrs. Wang loves.
Falling Action:
Mrs. Wang drowns in the river

Characters:
Mrs. Wang (main)

It was neat, because of the way the grandma was, she didn't believe in things unless she saw it. It was cool when she killed the whole army, but I would have been better if she would have been rewarded and live to tell her story. I think this is a good book on the way that old people are and how they think of present day stuff.

This novel is worse than the worst I read as a tad in Amazing Stories back in the 40's! No plot, paper (not even cardboard) characters,and impossible dialogue. I finished it just for the challange.Wolf in the Adirondacks.

It's not often that I run across a book so terrible that I can't finish it, but this was certainly one of them! The plot was given away almost from the beginning, and the characters were strictly two-dimensional. I found the dialouge irritating and the actions of the main characters unbelievable. I haven't read any other books by this author, and now I probably won't.

This book has more in common with John Carpenter's version of The Thing than it does with H.P. Lovecraft's classic mythos stories. Some strange creature zaps people with a hypnotic light and takes over their bodies, turning them into shape shifting things. The handful of survivors try to escape a world that is being rapidly invaded and changed. Action packed and fun on its own terms, nonetheless the novel suffers from a certain lack of depth.

Sorry, but this isn't much of a book. Only 160 pages without the index and other stuff in the back, mostly self-promotion by a few architects of their own projects -- ok, some nice hotels and good color pictures in the middle -- only a little technical information. Other books have much more content, or more pictures of a wider variety of hotels/resorts. Way too expensive for what you get.

Great Book, I am an architect new to hotel design and I found this book filled with lots of valuable information, especially in chapters 2 & 3 where they discuss some awesome projects. Nice photos and diagrams throughout the book.

Was highly disapointed after reading the recipes in Backpacker Magazine and then not finding them, nor similar items in the book. I was impressed with and interested in hardtack and corn dodgers, which neither one appears in the book. Also, a more complete title of the book includes "Gourmet Cuisine", had I known that at the time I probably would not have orderd it. I just want to get by with the basics and do not care about a five star meal. I eat to live , not live to eat. James

I found this book very good. One of the best recipes is the pizza. It may be hard to believe you can make GOOD pizza in the bush, but I have cooked it numerous times for my family, and they ask for it everytime we camp out. The dessert recipes have been good as well. This is a good book for someone like me that is just learning how to cook good food out of what you carry on your back.

This book was assigned to me as part of a college mechanical engineering course. This book was hard to follow and strayed from the course description. It contains aspects of electronics and mechanical design where the math problems are not fully explained and worked out and the machine descriptions are extremely brief. It is possible to get an education out this book, but a person would really have to strain. If you buy this book, I recommend that you get a generic study guide to accompany it.

This text provides a good, basic overview of methods for measuring several physical phenomena. The treatment of most of these is average. However, thermal measurement is given an improved, more thorough coverage. Personally, I have primarily used this text as a reference and guide for Chapter 3: Assessing and Presenting Experimental Data. I have found the sections on Error and, especially, Uncertainty to be very instructive and practical for use during college and post-graduation (as a mechanical engineer in research and development).

This book is not so much instructional as it is story telling. Many examples are constant references to other animals the author has (unrelated to the raising of peafowl). The information is also cut short as the author had only limited knowledge of a couple of the breeds. If you are looking for a book on Peafowl husbandry, this falls short. But it is pretty good for a 10 year old to get familiar with peafowl.

I enjoyed this book. It gives insight from raisers of peafowl, and I think that any information is welcome since books on peafowl are rare. This book is best intended for people not terribly familiar with peafowl, however, at times it seems more like a show-and-tell by the authors rather than a purely informational book. Still, I found it interesting and fun.

As a Psychologist, I believe mealtimes are sacred events. Family bonding takes place and culture is often passed to the next generation at this event. After reading this book, the author would have you believe all food in America is poisoned and will kill you. I agree with the first reviewer, save your money and don't buy the book.

The author supports his thesis with weak scientific arguments. I wish I had saved my money and not bought this book.

This book is definitely the most in depth book on environmental nutrition there is to date. It delves into the many issues relating to environmental nutrition including pesticides and other food contaminants, organic foods, sustainable agriculture, and the governmental surveillance of food and environmental toxins. It not only discusses food toxins, toxins in the U.S. food supply, and the impact of toxins on the body but also addresses current nutrition practices and their lack of connection with then environment. The book also discusses in depth the chemical structures of pesticides, food additives, and other substances and how the chemical structures relate to the compounds' reactions. Nevertheless, the book is written in such a way as to be understood by all. This is an excellent read for the layperson and scientist alike!

This book is the sequel to one called Cassandra's Deception and, while it might be helpful to have read that before this one, I had no trouble working out the plot of the earlier book. It's summarised several times before the half-way mark of Belle's Beau.

Belle and Cassandra are identical twins who were separated as infants (in what seems to be quite an incredible set of circumstances). Belle was brought up by her reclusive grandfather, and Cassandra by an aunt and uncle who live mainly in London. On meeting again, the twins performed a switch, which eventually resulted in Belle's being invited to London to be launched for a Season. And this is the story of this book.

At the same time as Belle arrives in London, Lord Ashton (*not* Lord Adam Ashton!), a viscount, arrives home from the wars determined to marry. He remembers a young lady whom he talked to while recuperating in Bath the previous year, and he wants to meet her again with a view to marrying her. Unfortunately for him, that was Cassandra. And when he sees Belle, of course he thinks that she is that lady...

So he pursues Belle in the belief that she's the one he spent hours with the previous year and should have proposed to. And the big misunderstanding of the story is based around the fact that, since Belle never refers to Bath and looks bemused when he mentions the city, Ashton must have meant nothing to her.

There is an unsatisfactory sub-plot based around Belle feeling that she never quite manages to match up to Cassandra, but this is never resolved; in fact, a pivotal scene is broken off part-way through and we are never shown the resolution.

And even when all the mistaken identity stuff is finally sorted out and it looks as if all is well, Buck throws another very silly spanner in the works. By that stage, I was rolling my eyes in disbelief.

The other question is: just which twin is Ashton in love with? Cassandra is the one he really knows, and for most of their courtship he thinks that Belle is Cassandra. They may both enjoy riding, but I never got the impression that they had much in common otherwise.

Irritating elements: Buck's continual use of 'misses' when 'young lady' would be the appropriate term, and her very, very repetitive prose, telling us again and again things we already know. She mentions something in narrative, then says it again, and then - in case we still haven't got the message - a character says it in dialogue. That just got tedious.

A one-time skim-read only.

wmr-uk

Belle'e Beau is a sequel to the equally dull Cassandra's deception. The main plot of both books is the mistaken identity that can take place with identical twins. Trouble ensues when our hero (Lord Ashdon) doesn't realize he is not courting the woman he met before going to fight Napoleon (Cassandra), but her twin sister (Belle). Half way through the book he decides to discuss old times and is miffed that Belle doesn't remember their past history. Why would he wait so long? I didn't buy it. Another subplot is the inferiority Belle feels in regards to Cassandra, but other than bringing it up every once in awhile, that plot line never goes anywhere.

Suitable for young readers.

This is the sequel to "Cassandra's Deception", the story of twins who, upon discovering each other's existence, switch places. In that book Cassandra finds love, in this one Miss Annabelle Weatherstone travels to London to enjoy the season that her twin has decided to forego in light of her recent engagement.

Adam Ashdon, conscious that he is the last of his line, has returned to London to find a bride before war breaks out again on the continent. On convalescent leave a year ago in Bath he met a young lady whose image has stayed before him in the intervening months. He intends to leave London for Bath to meet her again and further his suit. To his surprise, he finds her galloping her gelding across Hyde Park one morning. Delighted to renew the acquaintance, he begins to court her, much to her delight. He never imagines, of course, that it was her twin sister Cassandra he conversed with in Bath, and Belle, our heroine, never dreams that he does not know she has a twin.

Such is the big misunderstanding that drives the plot. As misunderstandings go, it is a realistic one, and is quite well handled by the author - there is never a point at which the characters appear stupid for not realising what is going on, but rather the misunderstanding continues because all parties believe the obvious rather than searching for explanations. One does wish that the hero would make more inquiries when he finds himself puzzled by Belle's seeming memory lapse of their time in Bath, but that he doesn't is quite understandable.

Ms Buck's style is clear and competent, though there are patches where the reader feels she is treading water to fill space. Belle's inferiority complex, which is based on her perception of her sister's perfection and her treatment by their aunt and uncle, is never resolved or even confronted, which is a disturbing factor in the book, realistic though it might be. Overall, Ms Buck has created a very young, very insecure heroine here, which is refreshing in light of all the feisty bluestockings Regency readers have had of late. Our hero is less well-developed - the plot causes him to disappear from the narrative for some pages, which hampers our understanding of his character.

"Belle's Beau" is very much a 3 star book - well worth reading if you like Ms Buck's work, but by no means her best effort. It is a lighter Regency, and a very good sequel to "Cassandra's Deception".

This is probably one of the most abysmally bad science fiction books I've ever read in my life.

I can't figure out if Caidin was trying to be nostalgic and write in a 1930's pulp-fiction style, or if he thought he was trying to update '30's style writing to the present day, but in either case, the book is an astonishing failure, like trying to build a nuclear reactor out of styrofoam, wood chips and Elmer's glue.

The book is quite frankly racist, to begin with. It's embarrassingly racist. No racial stereotype is left unmolested. You would think that someone at the publishing house would have spotted this gigantic faux pas, but apparently they were blithely blind to it. Secondly, the author is frighteningly enamoured of technology in general, and rhapsodizes for literally paragraph upon paragraph about things like polished mirrors, laser beams, and obscure parts and pieces of World War II aircraft. His techno-fetishism finally becomes hilarious. "Oh look, a bolt! Wonder how many pages he could write about it?"

Third, the plot is a huge mess with no point. Fourth, the characters have about as much depth as your average business card. Fifth, the book is sexist as well as racist.

But let me be positive. What good things can I find to say about this book?

Well, it's easy to read, except for the parts where Caidin starts going on and on about technical details of Messerschmitt ME 109 aircraft. And, um...it's funny, although inadvertently so. And the hardback copy I found, had a copy of Phil Nowlan's original 1933 "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" novelette bound in the back.

The sad thing was that Nowlan's novelette, which was originally offered as a prize for mailing in your cereal boxtops, was far more interesting at 31 pages than Caidin's entire novel. And since Nowlan's "Buck Rogers" is being sold here at Amazon without the dead weight of Caidin's book attached to it, you now have no reason to buy Martin Caidin's "Buck Rogers: A Life In The Future."

Thank whatever gods you believe in that this enormous mess of a book is out of print. And if you see it in a used book sale at a library, like I did, LEAVE IT THERE! I wish I had...

I am not sure of the caliber of Mr. Caidin's (the author) other works, but this one was a definite let down. He has taken one of the best loved space opera sagas and turned it into hectically paced, disjointed work with carbon copy characters and a theme that degrades all the principles that Buck Rogers stands for.

The story is based on the classic 1930s Space Opera about a man from the 20th century who pulls a Rip Van Winkle and winds up in the 25th century in the midst of a war between the East and the West. Mr. Caidin tries to put an updated spin on the story by creating a fantastic autobiographical representation of himself as the hero Anthony "Buck" Rogers. Buck exists as the epitome of all pilots, with training in every aircraft and a history with both the military and a civilian pilot. He is a veteran flyer working as an airline pilot who moonlights as an air show performer. He gets injured in 1996 and to save his life, scientists put him into stasis for 400 years. ..Unfortunately Buck seems to have as yet unseen abilities added to his resume as the book progresses but in such a way as to make them seem as afterthoughts. I have seen "made for TV" movie scripts that have more well defined plot and characters.

I am not being overly critical either. The book is a collection of disjointed scenes, with poorly devised transitions and weak, trite dialog. The pace of the "action" is so thinly described that it is not believable or even understood how the hero Buck, goes from a relative stranger in America of the 25th century, to a Brigadier in the military in a matter of months. The author "forgets" about character development as he proceeds through the novel and leaves many of the primary characters sitting at the roadside with little discussion as the book leaps and skips forward. Even more unbelievable is that Mr. Caidin has the motivations of the nations of Earth in the 25th century revolve around activities that took place in the 20th century and earlier. He includes no social development for the past 400 years from the time that Buck was born and lived to the time when he joins the remains of the American state in the 25th century. The appearance of alien life influencing earth is more believable than the actions of the countries involved in this future space war.

It would be acceptable if the book had a "campy" nostalgic feeling like the Dick Tracey or the Rocketeer movies. Unfortunately it tries to take its self too seriously and it comes off very heavy with a depressing message of hate and distrust.

The "Social Racism" wound into the plot about distrust of foreign powers based on activities from centuries ago make the book a target for ridicule and unless it is a vehicle for the authors plot development, .... It is this kind or continuation of hate that causes children today to be brought up to think of Blacks, Asians or even Women as second class citizens, or the Jews or Moslems as being universally evil.

The author details how the Chinese and Mongols returned to their Horde roots and conquered the world in the beginning of the 21st century and that the US and its allies have been fighting them ever since. It likens the modern Asian races as a bunch of saber rattling warlords that are less than a stones throw away from their horse riding ancestors.

Caidin labels the Japanese as a sneaky race that is willing to do anything to become a dominant force on Earth is underscored in the closing chapter of the book when Buck rationalizes his distrust of a Japanese ally by bringing up the Pearl Harbor attack as an example of the deviousness of the Japanese, 400 years after the event!! I would be like the English labeling the United States as terrorists because of the Boston Tea Party.

All in all, I think that Mr. Caidin took a good foundation and a creatively original plot and ruined it by his mishandled treatment of the material and his desire to make a racism fueled society of tomorrow. He had the chance to make a wonderful story and he failed at his attempt. I would not recommend this book to anyone with out the caveat that is might have been an exceptional book with a bit more effort.

When I first saw the title of this book, I thought 'No way! Someone has tried to recapture the Buck Roger's space opera epic.' then I saw the author and took interest. Mr. Caidin has done a great job at updating this tale. Agreed, it is not a major work in terms of the brilliant work he's done in the past, but it is still a wonderful read. If you are a techie that enjoys a formula space opera, then this is a good, and fun read. Nicely done.

I did not finish this book. I was disappointed by it. It was not well written, in my opinion. It seems as if ghosts in Bucks County tend to haunt mostly businesses that stand to benefit from being labeled as haunted. The author's claim that it was book that had to be written doesn't ring true since I think he has been involved with a series of similar ghost books based on other locations.

I live in Bucks County. I have read this book. It seems the author has foucus on his point: to tell ghost stories. However, he seems to focus on UPPER BUCKS COUNTY. I have found no LOCAL stories that I can relate to. Also, the book focuses on Bed and Breakfasts Inns, rather than ANY place. If you love a good creep, then this book is for you.

I liked it alot because of it's creepyness