Read this book from cover to cover as an experienced archer and thought most of the information was superfluous. Authors tried to cover all aspects in a very brief amount of time and text. Methods are too standard stated in a matter-of-fact manner disregarding other theories, practices and methods. This book might be good for a boy scouts counselor but not a serious archer with goals of competition and proficiency. All illustrations are hand drawn leaving out critical detail.

I was very disapointed in this book. If you are interested in Traditional Archery (Longbows & Recurves with real wood arrows) stay away from this book. It is very dirogitory to the Native American and Primative sytles of archery. I give it 1 star only because the scale won't go lower!!

If you are interested in archery this is a great book for overall information. You will learn about the history and equipment. It walks you thru all the basics with a check list. You will learn step by step on how to shoot a bow right and what not to do. If you can not be personally intructed get this book.

I really enjoyed this book until I became sure who commited the crime. Unfortunately, this was half way through the book. I continued to read it, and continued to enjoy it until my prediction came true. How very disapointing. The dialog and the characters are very funny and engaging but the story that had promise, fissled. This book was an Edgar Award Winner which considering the forseeable ending, I found very surprising. I will definately read more books by Steven Womack and hope that the stories are as good as the rest of the book.

In DEAD FOLKS' BLUES, the protagonist is a newspaper reporter who is fired and becomes a private investigator. All fictional detectives have to have some type of other professional background, and this one for Harry James Denton seems to really work.

When an old-college fling comes to his office wanting him to get her doctor husband out of trouble, Denton is extatic to land his first case. Rachel pays him in advance, and he heads to her husband's hospital to do a little background checking. In the process, he is knock out while Conrad Fletcher is murdered. The story really takes off from there, as Harry soon finds out that there are a multitude of suspects. No matter where Harry turns, he runs into a dead end.

Steven Womack does an admirable job of mingling several different characters. They are all tied together quite nicely in a good, cohesive plot, chock full of witty dialogue and humorous situations.

DEAD FOLKS' BLUES is a fairly entertaining novel, and a good solid effort for the first novel in the series. Although the ending is somewhat predictable, there are enough twists and turns to keep the reader interested. This is pretty good thriller.

This was the first in the Harry James Denton series...and I devoured it in one afternoon. I had to have more! Went out and got as many of them as I could find...and read them all just as fast. Once I started reading, I couldn't put the books down. I was addicted...sigh.

What was cool is that I lived in Nashville at the time, and the setting was there. I learned more about the city through reading his books than I had in the entire time I'd been there.
What even made it better is that Harry lived pretty close to where I was living in real life! He even wrote about the very grocery store I went to every week...

The main character was endearing, yet rough-edged to say the least. I loved everything about the series. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up...I betcha get the next in the series, too...and the next, and the next.....

A writer with a different perspective falls into the same old plot devices. Too many cops willing to divulge information at the drop of a hat, a detective too willing to forgive a half naked woman who has just emptied a gun at him. Although witty,a story that carries little mystery or suspense, and too few believable situations.

I waited a long time for the paperback edition of the novel to reach the bookstore and Gar Anthony Haywood's Aaron Gunner series are definitely still at the top of my list. I enjoyed this story of Aaron Gunner trying to solve the mystery of a rap star who "supposedly" committed suicide. Did rapper Digga Jones, an up and coming rap star, who had everything going for him, fame and fortune commit suicide or did one of his fellow rappers, his manager or his record label executives do the deed? All these questions are answered and when you find out the truth, you may be surprised. Check out this novel as Mr. Haywood is definitely the real deal.

This is the first Aaron Gunner mystery I've read, but I will read the others! This intricate mystery involving several different cases is wrapped up in far fewer pages than the norm these days, and it was appreciated by this reader! Excellent plotting, spare writing: I recommend it highly!

Did I miss something? Heavy on the mood; plot was hard to follow; couldn't figure out why the characters did most of what they did. I wanted to like Blue, but I didn't understand him. At least Sam's story made some sense. Gilbert seemed much more like a poor plot device than a character. And I have no idea what happened at the end.

Henderson joins the ranks of Jim Grimsley, et al, who write in the self-conscious literary style of the immediate present tense; rather than showing the reader what happened, such writers show the reader what IS happening. In a sense this literary device makes reading Native like entering a dream, and at times what is happening is unclear, as dreams are vague and disquieting. But still, I grew to like Blue as he discovers himself and his relationship with Sam, though I was disturbed when Blue just leaves Sam to live or die without explanation--like dreams. --Ronald L. Donaghe, author of Common Sons

Henderson's writing is reminiscent of Faulkner. His story of Blue takes you completely into a journey where landscape, emotion, physicality and spirituality are woven together with an artistry that is both delicate and powerful in the same dimension. This is not a novel to think your way through. Rather it is a shamanic journey you must abandon yourself to.

I have been a faithful consumer of Lonely Planet products for the last five years. However, this collection does little more than offer superficial information on every country in Central Europe. If you want to go anywhere besides the capitals and most well-known tourist "traps", forget it. I was particularly dissapointed with the book's treatment of Germany and Switzerland. Very vague, very minimal. If you want to visit any of the countries in Central Europe, buy the Lonely Planet Guide to that country or look for a different publisher. Sorry guys, this one doesn't go in my travel bag.

This book is fantastic. I was amazed at how thorough a book could be. These authors also have a great sense of humor. Lonely is an oxymoron. This book is very comforting. I highly recommend this book.

Children make friends so easily and sometimes those friendships are the kind that last a lifetime.This story of a very special summer for four friends should be a must for first-to-second grade reading.

I have read and reread this book to our two oldest children, ages 5 and 6. They don't want me to read more than a chapter a night for fear we will finish too quickly. The story: Brother and sister (around 5 years?) meet new friends at their new home in the country and have a great summer together. I love this book because it is absolutely, delightfully innocent, and with just a touch of 5 to 6 year old humor to entertain even the sophiosticated kindergartner. If you buy this book, you will be the one asking the kids to choose it for bedtime reading.

If you are buying this book, more likely than not it is required reading for your women's literature class. To help guide you along (since this can be a hard read for some people)Here is a quick synopsis: * Betsy Thoughtless is coming of age. This means she is trying to be independent, but is also in the mist of the courting ritual. * She does not want to pick a suiter because she will no longer be able to play the field. * The man she should marry (Trustworthy) leaves her because he is told she has a bastard child (She really doesn't, she is just helping out another child). * She ends up marrying Mundane. He is a horrible husband. He dies (Trustworthy's wife also dies). * Betsy and Trustworthy end up getting married (as they should have). This book deals with the courtship ritual and how important it was to civilization and women at that time. Note toward the end that Besty had to marry mundane in order to grow up and be worthy of Trustworthy's had in marriage.

This book is troubling for me, but also very very compelling. Betsy Thoughtless comes from a tradition of naming characters for their personality, hence names like Sir Trusty, Sir Loveit, Mr. Goodman, Mr. Trueworth, etc. This kind of thing normally bothers me, but it really didn't this time. (As a sidenote, i think that's only a bothersome practice when used by authors that are not good at their trade, like William Hill Brown, and perfectly acceptable in the works of intelligent ones, like here or in Samuel Johnson.) What troubled me more was the repetition of character in Betsy -- it was very hard to sympathize with a woman who, though good at heart and the picture of moral perfection (as long as you keep her away from men), persisted in her thoughlessness for 500 pages and several lessons before even beginning to rethink her behavior. It might have been better if Haywood had cut out one or two of those attempts on Betsy's innocence and gone sooner for the maturation of the heroine, which is the main point of the novel.

Now, don't get me wrong, I think this is a very good book, and a necessity for students of the 18th century, or of literature at all. Looking back, how many books from the 18th and 19th centuries can you say followed a woman into a marriage? Betsy's union with Mr. Munden is depressing and enlightening. Once we see Betsy in the position of Wife, it's much easier to see why she would resist the institution with such vigor, though not why she had to play her suitors against one another. "[S]he could not quite assure herself, that a breach of [marriage] was to be justified by any provocations; nor whether the worst usage on the part of the husband could authorize resentment on that of a wife." Heavy words. And this is the kind of thinking that is rewarded at the end of the book. Women were truly their husbands' possessions, and nothing the man could do would justify even resentment from the wife. Makes a woman glad to be alive now...but anyway.

The story is entertaining and educational, and Betsy endearing, even if she is frustrating at times. I only wish now that I could find a book from this era that followed a woman into a HAPPY marriage in some detail. I wish that Betsy Thoughtless had done that, or finished up the story line of the wicked Miss Flora and Lady Mellasin. When you pursue a story for 634 pages, cheering for the happiness of the heroine, 4 pages of happiness at the end of the novel isn't quite a satisfactory payoff, although it is reassuring to have Betsy finally thoughtful, happy, and of true worth. This novel is definitely worth the effort.

This book was simply wonderful. It would appeal to anyone who enjoys the novels of Jane Austen as this book is also very clever and delightful. A rather obscure novel but definitely worth reading. A classic that I'm glad I discovered.

I purchased this book under the misapprehension that it might be similar to Jane Austen's work. Unfortunately, I was EXCESSIVELY mistaken! There was no depth of character or maturity found within this book. The sentence structure was often incomplete making it almost impossible to understand what the author was trying to express. The Characters had no soul. They were mindless caricatures fulfilling wanton lusts and desire without reason. Who but a madwoman would swoon at the sight of her intended conquest on the arm of another woman-then pull her own hair out and tear at her own face. You may enjoy such as this,but I do not! This one needs to be filed under "T" for Trashola!

Austen fans would be advised to read Haywood's History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, not Love in Excess, which is a much earlier "novel" following the fortunes of a male protagonist through a series of increasingly bizarre romantic twists and tangles. It's a fast read and quite enjoyable, but be prepared for some serious nuttiness.

If you like Jane Austen, you'll really like Love In Excess. It is both a humorous and exciting tale of loves lost, gained, regained, and unconsummated. The diversity of characters really makes this book intriguing. You never know who will do or say what , and if you think you do, you'll be wrong. What will be surprising to readers of Austen or Burney is the amount of control the female characters have over their own fate. In a Burney novel, for example, events tend to happen to the female characters rather than the character shaping the events. This isn't the case with Love In Excess. The women in this novel are very much active in their own circumstances, whether for good or ill. Love in Excess deserves your attention. In the first half of the eighteenth century the only novel to out sell it was Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, which suggests to me that scholars should give it more attention for its importance in the development of the English novel. Regardless, scholarly reader or escapist will enjoy this book.

If you follow the directions for loading the software "included" you will have problems. I hope the content is better.

1. The J2EE SDK is not included on the CD. The J2SE SDK is. Why?

2. The installation instructions are for three different OSs. They are jumbled, rather than covering one OS and going to the next. It's a mess.

3. Path length limitations for Windows 2000 are not addressed. Follow their directions for the JAVA_HOME path and you get nothing, unless you are very lucky. Granted the book is not about windows but the installation instructions should be correct and complete.

Maybe the content will get better but if you can't get there then what good is it. Just get a reference manual.

This book does not offer much more than the Sun J2EE Tutorial online does and that is free. I have worked through the first two weeks, and I have decided to shelve it. The book starts strong with the JNDI. There are plenty of code listings for you to type in and try with good explanations on naming, binding, and lookup. After this the book is nothing more than a rehash of the Sun Online tutorial with a different larger example application. The application is complete. You don't do anything but read about the design and pertinent Java technologies that are being used for that particular part of the application. Then you are given instructions on how to deploy the current working piece of the application on the J2EE RI, and run sample clients against it - chapter after chapter of the same thing. Though this type of learning by reading some one else code with explanations seems to be enjoyed by some. I side with Ivor Horton. Programming is not a spectator sport. You learn by doing. Having the reader build the application and participate in the process would have made for a better learning experience of a complex topic.

If you are new to J2EE, and if you are not always online, you should use this book to get the big picture of J2EE. Go through it, skip details you may not need, focus on understanding concepts, use the online-documentation later on during your coding. I was testing the examples with the J2EE RI, with BEA, and with JBOSS. Every platform has had its own problems, but at the end, the examples were running each time. During my career I was reading lots of docs, but this one is well-written, clear and concise, it covers the most important aspects, I think, and let you the freedom to skip, what you think you may not need the first time.

In The Air Plan That Defeated Hitler, Hansell describes the evolution of the strategic bombing campaign against Germany in WW II. Recounting from first-hand knowledge, Hansell begins his book with a brief exploration of the Army Air Corps as a "service looking for an independent mission", the strategic thought coming out of the Air Corps Tactical School, and the bomber versus fighter controversy. Once this ground work is laid, the author launches into an exploration of the various strategic bombing plans developed throughout the war against Germany. Starting with Air War Plans Division 1 (AWPD-1)and continuing through AWPD-42 and the Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO), the author does an excellent job of describing what was in each plan with special emphasis on targeting and priorities. The major thrust of his discussion lies in the contrast and comparison of target selection from plan to plan. With both AWPD plans, an "intermediate objective", though stated as essential to the accomplishment of each plan, was the destruction of the German Air Force. This reviewer was then left with the thought that truly the most important objective was destruction of the Luftwaffe although if the plan was written that way, it would detract from the strategic mindset of the planners. Despite all of the changes in targeting priorities from plan to plan, the author does not conduct a very complete analysis of why these changes took place. For the most part, he explains the what of each plan, but none of the why. Perhaps he has no personal knowledge of why the changes were made, however some in-depth research would offer the reader a more complete understanding. Also, this reviewer felt the author was too close to his subject to be objective and impartial; something like the parent who refuses to believe his baby may be ugly. One gets the feeling that the author's stance is that strategic bombing will work (the bomber will always get through), no matter what, regardless of the fact it had never been accomplished and was based wholly on theory. Simply because those at the Air Corps Tactical School propounded the virtues of strategic bombing doctrine did not necessarily mean it was correct. One gets the feeling that if only those who developed the CBO had followed both AWPD plans (which the author helped develop) then the war would have been shortened and lives saved, though Hansell presents no analysis to prove his point. Despite the lack of depth and blind adherence to strategic bombing doctrine, I did find the book useful for filling in some gaps of exactly what the different bombing plans contained. It was also interesting to see how plans changed depending on who was commanding and who was making the decisions. Lastly, the use of bombers for close air support, interdiction, and preparation of the battlefield for the D-Day invasion should not be viewed by Hansell as the misappropriation of air power and aircraft. It merely reflects the political and military priorities of the time.