Osprey books are, by their very nature, a compromise between the wide scope of their subjects and the detail they attempt to bring to uniforms and appearance of their subjects. They often serve as a very good introduction to a military subject and provide insight otherwise unavailable to an interested reader. Readers who know Osprey understand and accept this compromise -- especially in a 64-page volume.

"The Old Contemptibles" (TOC), however, accomplishes neither a broad overview nor pointed detail. It addresses the British Expeditionary Force (BEF)of 1914 and it precedent years beginning in 1902. Its scope is so broad that it only mentions the highlights of the 1902 Army and it reforms, the overseas Army, the home based reserves, and the planning for and creation of the BEF.

The BEF's actions in France and Belgium are essentially addressed in a one-line chronological list of actions. Several examples of brigade level actions follow, but they are placed in almost no context. The BEF Order of Battle is not mentioned and there is no feeling of the committment and grinding destruction of what may have been Britian's finest fighting force. The author often mentions the quality of the BEF and does provide some background in the genisis of that quality, but its base in the regimental system in scarcely addressed.

The uniform plates are adequate. Again, they cover 12 years of evolution and the entire globe in geography and barely scratch the surface. Once more, context is nearly absent.

I conclude that the scope of the volume was simply too wide for the standard Osprey approach. The subject would have been much better served as two or even three volumes. With the exception of the color plates and several excellent B&W photographs, I cannot recommend TOC as an introduction to the BEF. The text certainly does not meet any reasonable standard.

From the point of view of a modeler, this book is a great source on all details about the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) in WWI. It has plenty of (black and white) photos as well as the usual Osprey center color plates, with complete explanations at the end. For historians, it's a bit too thin, but for modelers it comes out great.

You could add Osprey's "MONS 1914" for a more complete view of the BEF.

When I accepted an admission offer from Stanford, I wanted to learn all I could about the environment into which I would be entering. Having read the book, I developed expectations about the culture of Stanford, expectations which, upon arriving on the Stanford campus, I found to be errant.

This book is quite a disappointment. Suffering both from poor editing and omission of crucial facts, the contents do not flow smoothly. The text is presented in a somewhat offensively over-refined and pretentious manner, the kind one finds in art museum catalogs or as introductions to Penguin Classics. The reader gains little sense of the beauty of the campus, as only a few of the photographs depict the excellent landscaping, the detail of Quad buildings, or the quality of materials and construction of the buildings. The foothills of the Stanford campus, and the trails leading up to the Dish aren't even included -- an omission that reflects poorly on the editors. Equally poor editorial judgment can be found in the photograph of the Hoover Tower appearing in one of the chapters -- this famous landmark is shown in its early construction, as an unsightly steel frame amid a dirt field.

To the credit of the authors, they give an engaing account of the history of the variously defined Stanford master plans, and of the culture which gave rise to the different stages of the campus' expansion.

In general, the reader's labors are not rewarded with fresh perspectives, or a sense of the spirit that habituates Stanford. If one toured the Stanford campus before reading the book, one might wonder what drove the editors to present such an excellent environment so vapidly.

I would rate this book between six and seven. This was a good book if you like books where people focus on doing stuff at the last minute. The part of the book I liked the most was Jury helping his family save their farm. I liked the book overall but I didn't like the way the book shifts from Jury doing school projects to him getting money as a reward for his science project. To me the book skipped around a lot. I didn't feel that the book had a lot of details surrounding all the characters. Another book I would compare to this one is "Red Terror". In that book the main characters (a little girl the same age as Jury), gets money and helps her family. She buys her mom's necklace back from their neighbor that belonged to her grandmother at one time. The necklace was given to her mother by her mother and her mom sold it for money to buy alcohol because she was an alcoholic. The girl also helps her mom recover. Both kids in the books helped their families to recover from problems. I liked this book because kids were doing something to save belongings of their families. I think this shows how strong kids and families can be. It was a good book to teach some lifelong lessons.

This work was not completely awful. It was, however, overly focused on one lesser aspect of the life of an otherwise fascinating American character. Though this is what the author apparently set out to accomplish, it doesn't make for the most thrilling read.

When this book was available at every bookstore for a few bucks, it was worth a read... but for a super-thin book (a glorified pamphlet, really) that is full of factual errors, it's simply absurd to see it selling for over a hundred dollars. Sure, its out of print. If you're a book collector with too much money, maybe that would make it worth the price... but thats really the only thing going for it. Wait for a reprint, or better yet, buy a different book that has a higher quantity and quality of information.

I have attended two investment seminars by Garth Turner, and found him to be articulate, witty and entertaining as a former politician can often be.
But on the negative side, he is often factually challenged, and promotes a "strategy" which is high risk and is reminiscent of a snake oil salesman. Buyer beware.
According to the gospel of Garth, he informs us of how the world will unfold beyond 1997: more taxes, pension tension, intergenerational warfare, plunging values for residential real estate, surging corporate profits, soaring stock markets, and a massive inflow into mutual funds.
Today, these predictions lie in ruins. The October 2000 budget reduced taxes by $100 billion over 5 years. Turner says the Canada Pension Plan is teetering on the brink of insolvency, and will collapse by the year 2010. In fact, the chief actuary for the CPP reported the CPP is sustainable to the year 2060.
Corporate profits have slumped in recent years, and the stock market has been badly mauled. The Toronto market plunged 50% between September 1, 2000 and October 9, 2002 and the S & P 500 suffered a similar decrease. NASDAQ? Well, it fell off nearly 80% from peak to trough. By contrast, residential real estate has been a strong performer the past few years, exactly the opposite of what Turner has said.
Turner's strategy is that baby boomers have no choice but to borrow against their home equity (which is earning them nothing), and buy stocks and mutual funds which will provide annual returns of 12%-15%. The past 5 years have exposed the foolishness of this strategy, and thousands of people who acted on his advice are now paying a heavy price for it. But Turner even suggests that Gordon Pape and the late Andy Sarlos were giving Canadians alarming advice by urging caution with respect to Turner's strategies. In hindsight, they were right and Turner is wrong.
Garth Turner served as Minister of National Revenue in the short-lived Kim Campbell government of 1993, a year in which Canada suffered its worst ever fiscal deficit of $42 billion. Enough said.

It seems like Hard Core Logo is an example of a book that was not quiet as good as the film that was made out of it. Perhaps I expected too much upon seeing the excellent film first, but I can't help but be disappointed with the book. It's novel in verse format is clever, although skimpy. I feel that Turner had a great story to tell, but left out all the best parts. The characters are underdeveloped and the whole story feels empty and unfulfilling. It is a very short book (it took me about three times as long to watch the movie than read the book), and while this is not necessarily a bad thing, I felt that there had to be more in this book to make it work. A great idea, a great basis for a movie, this book is a bit too hollow to be thoroughly enjoyed. Check out American Whisky bar instead, it's way better and a great book in itself.

This book is important to Canada because it represents an authentic view of small-town life in the pre-WW1 era. The novel focuses on Canada's economic and political link with England and religious issues. It also features 2 romances, the highlight of the novel.

Unfortunately, this novel is neither 'lively' (as one early review stated) nor engaging by today's standards. Duncan's contrived view of the Murchisons and their world is difficult because one is constatly reminded that one is reading a novel. Duncan's characters act and do, they do not feel, think, or emote. The characters, plot, and setting are all contrivances that convey a subtly ironic, political message.

In sum, I doubt very many people would be will to read this book for enjoyment nowadays, although it is still of Canadian historical importance.

This book is basically unreadable. Impenetrable metaphysical terminology is used in dense, convoluted sentences to convey abstruse theories of meaning (at least I think that's what it is) in such a way as to be completely and utterly opaque. Half the time I didn't know what the guy was talking about, and I have a degree in this stuff and belong to Mensa. If you're interested in Turner, you'd do better to look elsewhere.

Some good reproductions though, and if you're just interested in the pictures, the price is right. Hence the two stars; the text would be zero, since it's useless.

This book is a history of the Knights of Columbus in Kentucky. It contains the history of the State Council and of each individual council. It is not a general history of the Knights of Columbus.