No movie I have seen about the Vietnam war comes close to the action, drama and emotion contained in this book. I was on edge the entire time I was reading it to the point I was dreaming about it at night.

I soaked up every detail of the battle set-up, the day-to-day struggle in the field, and the bureaucracy, frustration and hypocrisy the soldiers had to deal with by being involved in a non-declared war. The guts and courage the soldiers (on both sides) displayed in some of the battles described in this book is almost impossible for me to comprehend. All of the action, machismo and old-fashioned fighting is dampened by the descriptions of gore, waste of life and guilt the author so eloquently shares with the reader.

I am fortunate to have never had to see or experience the events described in this book. I am also fortunate to have had the pleasure to meet the author. We are all fortunate that he has taken the time to record his experiences and share the romance and horror of U.S. Operations in Cambodia.

This account of ground and air operations in Cambodia is riveting. I flew over 300 missions in Vietnam as an A-4 attack pilot and as a forward air controller in an O-1 Bird Dog. Paul Morgan did a masterful job of portraying the relationship between ground and air operations. His grasp of the action from the pilot's viewpoint is flawless.
I've had enough "grunt" training to appreciate his vivid account of the ground action. The action seemed so real that at times I felt my heart rate increasing, seemed bone tired at 0300 or could feel the perspiration in my eyes!
Most veterans will also relate to his respect and sympathy for the enemy combatants he faced.
This book should be required reading for the Army's Ranger school and for all forward air controllers!

Paul Morgan is the military story teller par excellence. In "The Parrot's Beak" he elicits the full gamut of emotions encountered by the warrior involved in the war that crossed the many borders of Vietnam. There is the feeling of duty, daring, elation and even despondency. We also see all the faces of the true warrior as the soldier on a mission, as a prisoner and as the enemy. He even gives us an insight into another type of warrior, the patrol dog. This part of the story is touching and unique. He was there and it shows in his vivid descriptions and accurate portrayal of military tactics. We get to see the irreverence bred in all wars with ill defined purposes. This is a must read book told by someone who saw the war "as it was".

Great book. Well-written, humorous, well-plotted. I look forward to more books in what could be a well-done series. I'm a big fan of John Morgan Wilson's Justice series and while this is not as dark as those can be, it is well worth the read.

Blue Moon is one of those rare pieces I read in one sitting. The authors craft a story with good pace (the celluloid runs through your mind during the car chase to the Golden Gate Bridge) Having been interested in the Duchin story for years, the authors play with Peter Duchin's personal history and use it to wonderful effect. Just as Philip Damon prefers of his music, the book "swings".

Society bandleader Peter Duchin and Edgar Award winning author John Morgan Wilson team up and give us a smoothly written little mystery in "Blue Moon."

Set in the San Francisco of 1963, they blend history with fiction in an action packed noirish plot.

Celebrities and pop icons of the day from Joe DiMaggio to Andy Warhol---Jackie Kennedy to Jack Kerouac---Truman Capote to Willie Mays pop up along with a major part for Herb Caen.

It has the feel of Archy McNally meeting up with The Thin Man---snappy dialogue, complex plot, lotsa characters with agendas, many cocktails, dead bodies and an alto sax playing San Francisco Inspector who sits in with the protagonist's (Philip Damon) band.

It is an excellent amateur sleuth whodunit peopled with intriguing characters. The atmosphere of sixties San Francisco is truly captured.

There are many laughs along the way. "Blue Moon" is big fun.

I truly enjoyed this book. Ms. Morgan brought out all aspects of a relationship in this book. Sometimes, the Christian/Inspirational fiction books are stiff and lack a depth to the characters. I was happy to see that this book didn't.

Abby comes to Culdee Creek to be a housekeeper to Conor MacKay and to give lessons to his daughter Beth. This experiences teaches both of them the value of friendship, a kind word, trust and love. There were times the writing brought tears to my eyes because of the vividness of the descriptions.

A wonderful book, and I will be sure to find book 2.

I've been a fan of Ms. Morgan's for many years. I loved all her futuristic and fantasy novels. It was a wonderful surprise to find out that she wrote Christian romance novels too and I didn't hesitate in buying this book.

I've never been more pleased. She writes with her heart and I believe its because she's been through the grief and is narrating from experience. I cried along with the heroine and cheered with her when she finally overcame her sorrow. I'd give this book to someone who has lost a loved one and is in need of inspiration and God's love.

I haven't read any of Kathleen Morgan's previous books, but she has brought inspirational fiction a gift. The reference to intimacy (physical, emotional and spiritual) is realistic and powerful, although not graphic. Imagination has it's own rewards. The story line is great! The characters seem alive! Keep writing inspirational fiction, Kathleen!

I love this deck. I've put away the patriarchcal-oriented decks and have started using this one instead. The artwork has extremly vibrant colors; and I liked the tribal- style paintings. Because the archetypes are not oriented towards dualism, I find that the readings are very positive and healthy for the psyche.
The book is a must-buy, since there is no booklet enclosed, and the ordering info. does not make that clear. I don't think the author intended to "male bash", but rather to make readers aware of the nature of dualism, patriarchy, and HOW INGRAINED these are in our culture, and how we accept those viewpoints without being aware of them. This deck communicates the sheer JOY AND POWER of woman-hood, and I would not describe it as being oriented only for lesbians. I think it depicts something that women today need to reclaim: women coming together in celebration and ritual.
I would howevere, have liked to have seen a card for a male/female couple for the lovers which equalled the intensity and beauty of the two female lovers.
If I were to give a tarot deck as a gift, this would be the one I would chose.

I have used this deck for over 12 years now (I actually have a pen and ink deck--not colored), and although it DEFINITELY takes some time to get to "know" and work with the energies and symobology, it is well worth it. My experiences working with this deck- for myself and others--have been unerringly accurate, and I truly appreciate the subtlties that the round deck presents in interpretation. I have found it difficult, if not simply impractical, to try and read men with the deck--its just not meant for them and that's fine with me!! I certainly can, but generally do not like to do this. The imagery is global and inclusive, and the symbology is strikingly accurate at the deeper levels. This is my primary deck for workings and readings, and highly recommended for any open to the radical feminism and sheer power of it!! Definitely get the "Wild Witches..." book to go with it.

As a femminist, Dianic, Witch, I find this deck tremendously beautiful and empowering!

I reccomend this deck to all Womyn, even though it does have a definete Lesbian slant to it. The mere fact of it being an all-female deck is fabulous! Hmmm...wonder if they have something comparable for Men.

I think this deck could be used very easily for meditation and spellwork as well divination.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who plans to complete graduate work in English. During my undergraduate career, I learned nothing about theory, and therefore found myself oblivious to the subject when I attended a different school for graduate work, where such a background was required of undergraduates. This book is a comprehensive guide to the application of theory (e.g. psychoanalytic, marxist, feminist, structuralism, etc.) to literary works. The book thoroughly introduces each theory, along with its various subtheories, and provides examples on how to apply each theory to literary works. It also includes the do's and don'ts of work in the area. Literary theory can be quite exhaustive. This is the perfect place to start and you will find that it is a book you will refer to again and again.

a great introduction that leads up to present day. using five of the greatest works of literature as examples, the text fully explains and demonstates who each movement and theory operates and can be effectively implimented. highly recommmended.

I used this text to teach introductory literary criticism to my high school seniors for over six years. The examples in the text are excellent, and the characteristics of each approach are clearly established. It is my first choice as a teaching tool, and I think it would be equally effective for a college student working independently. I give it my highest rating.

INDIGO MOON, by newcomer Lori Morgan, is a thrill-a-minute read that will keep your attention hostage until the last page and have you begging for more. Grab this book and be prepared to want to read it again and again. I know I will. This one's a keeper.

I found this book very refreshing. Both the heroine and the hero were very strong characters and I enjoyed seeing their relationship develop. I eagerly look forward to other books from Lori Morgan in the future.

I just finished "Indigo Moon" and loved it. I won't go ahead and give a synopsis of the story because you can read the other reviews for that. I just wanted to commend Lori Morgan for her writing. There is not one extra word in the book. Usually I find myself skimming over pages when I read, but I read every word in Indigo Moon because it was vital to the story. The hero/heroine didn't think things out and "reflect" ad nauseum - and, they were refreshingly strong as individuals.

Loved the book, Lori, can't wait for your next one!!

I liked the conceptual portion at the beginning of the book. The idea of incorporating unstructured data with a data warehouse is something I've done in the past, and he makes a nice case for having both. The rest of the book is of questionable value.

There are many data warehouseing or web books that provide better overviews of protocols and standards, which take up space that could be put to more practical use explaining how to build systems rather than labeling parts.

The other big problem is that a lot of the book is dedicated to product information. It mentions products that vanished around the time the book was published (Junglee, for example). The information on companies providing data extraction, parsing and online information products and services is hopelessly out of date. So is information on metadata standards, which changed drastically from 1998 to now.

Those of us that build Data Warehouses and Business Intelligence systems for a living have, for too long, focused on the analysis of internal corporate performance indicators, and short-changed the integration of external information that provides the context that leads to knowledge. Yes, we can report units sold, costs and profits, perhaps even ROI; but we have not done all that we can do to describe the relationship between these things and the theatre in which we operate: the stock market, interest rates, monetary exchange rates, the weather, political events, disasters, changing laws and regulations, new competitors appearing and old competitors dying off, etc., etc.

In short, we've been pretty good at answering "what" is happening within our organizations, but not so good at answering "why".

How best to remedy this? Richard Hackathorn does the industry a huge service by describing, in the most pragmatic way, why it is a good idea to take the acquisition and integration of external information with our operational business data very seriously, and he provides a number of pragmatic techniques for exploiting the expanding resources available on the Internet for precisely this purpose.

This is really quite exciting stuff - and my company, along with (I suspect) many others, has actually evolved its business model in order to more fully embrace the potential of some of the ideas expressed within this excellent book; I'm not sure that a more positive endorsement is possible.

Jim Stagnitto, VP & CTO, Questral, Inc.

Dr. Hackathorn's compendium of data farming theory, techniques, and resources is about the most useful guide you can find for understanding the mining possibilities of the sprawling Internet. Not too technical first half is readable, and the second half is a treasure-trove of tools and resources.

The author introduces the idea of developing a kinesthetic connection with the audience by using opportunities for making intellectual, emotional, and even physical contact. The book provides specific strategies to help presenters prepare, rehearse, and master the art of giving speeches that challenge thinking and spark action. STERN'S MANAGEMENT REVIEW finds this a stimulating, insightful and valuable work.

Finally, a truly great book concerning the art/craft of public speaking. If you heard advice like "picture the audience in their underwear", then you owe it to yourself to read "Working the Room". In this insightful and eminently useful text, Nick Morgan explodes the myths of bad speech-making and crafts a better mousetrap.

Morgan's central theme is that the the only reason to give a speeach is to "change the world". According to the author, a speech is not a collection of information rather it is a forum to showcase the unique passion of the speaker to sway hearts and minds in the audience. Morgan takes the reader through a thorough process of crafting a speech, rehearsing it, and rendering it to an audience in an entirely new and effective way. I guarantee that you will never think of giving a presentation the same way again. Hint: It has nothing to do with the quality of your PowerPoint.

Morgan's style is first rate. Filled with useful insights and stories, the book is lazer precise, witty, and absolutely right on time. No fuzzy thinking here. Just solid advice from a unique perspective. It's also an excellent length. It isn't too short and at the end, like many great reads, it leaves you wanting more!

If you are a person who presents on a regular basis or even if you are a neophyte looking to hone your speaking skills, there is only one book to buy and that's "Working the Room."

I tend to hate business related books. They are usually boring and trite. Someone whom I respect and who had hired Nick Morgan gave me this book. To my surprise, I found it insightful, easy to read and very thought provoking. I am about to buy it for two friends who need it and who I hope will find it as useful as I did.

The author has boiled down the concept of QOS-quality an abstract term into Performance optimization and resource allocation.The book provides a very good insight into traffic engineering and MPLS.Its the best book for QOS i have come across.The fish problem in traffic engineering is probably the best example i have come across.Overall its an excellent text.

I feel that this book provides excellent coverage of all of the important, implementable, models for providing service differentiation in the Internet. While it doesn't precisely tell me how to implement QoS, it does provide excellent reference points against which to measure effectiveness of an implementation in providing useful QoS. I find that I am using this book a lot in my work and expect that this will continue to be the case for a while.

If you want to get to know IP/MPLS QoS, this book will get you there very quickly. Although less than 250 pages, this book surprisingly covers almost all of the important topics in IP/MPLS QoS. Also an excellent reference book to have on your bookshelf.

This guidebook provides some great background history and color to New Orleans. Great restaurant recommendations with quality information. The maps, however, were a bit lacking.

This is one of the better guides. I like they way they are set up, chapters covering one subject, (ex: accomodations) then an alphabetized list and map of all the sites. I use this book a lot when I need to look up an address or phone number.

It could have more, but works perfectly well as it is.

This isn't one of those exhaustive travel books that tells you everything there is to know about a place. Instead, the authors selectively present everything you actually need to know. The dining section was particularly helpful. It wasn't an exhaustive list of restaurants, but it did give you a choice of a few places in each category. The authors were also good about pointing out where the locals go and warning you about the places that are for tourists only. Even better, they distinguish between the tourist places that are all hype and those that are still worth seeing. The maps were helpful, and the book is small enough to fit into a purse or pocket. You will eat well and have a great time in New Orleans with nothing but this book to guide you.