This review concerns the revised 1970 edition. When a new hydrofoil is set to begin taking passengers between Bayport and Cape Cutlass, its owner, fearing sabotage from angry boat owners, asks Frank and Joe to come along on its maiden voyage. Arriving in Cape Cutlass, Frank and Joe also, try to help their father with his case concerning a gang that has been stealing boating supplies. I hate reviewing books like this one because there really isn't much to say. The book was neither excellent nor bad; just average. The mystery isn't one of the better ones; however , it is not boring either. I don't think that most fans of the series would rank this book as one of their favourites, but I don't believe that many fans would be disappointed with the book either.

Dear Mr. Dixon,
Hi, I'm a big, big fan of yours. I just absolutely loved your Flying Express book. It was great when Frank was pushed overboard and had to hang over the the blades for thirty seconds when his hands were really wet. Whew! It was a surprise when you found out Big Malarky, who seemed like a good man (But really wasn't) turned out to be behind the whole scam. I liked how Chet was turning into an Astrologer every time he met the Hardy Boys. I also liked how Zig who was the gangleader, liked Astrology, just like Chet. My favorite part was when the Hardy's found they're boat and Skee didn't know it belonged to them and let them test drive it but he ended up being arrested on the dock. I just wanted to congratulate you on this book and hope you keep on writing more fantastic books.
Your fan,
(***)

This review concerns the original 1941 edition. Mr. Hardy asks Frank and Joe to help him stop a group of foreign spies that are trying to upset the U.S. government and to locate the spies secret camp. I'd more accurately give the book 3 1/2 stars instead of a 4 star rating. The plot of the book was pretty good and there was a fair bit of action. I only found three things really wrong with the book : 1.other regular characters, like Chet, Mr. Hardy, etc., weren't included in most of the book, 2.the end of the book was a bit disappointing, as the spies were rounded-up with little incident, and 3.the author doesn't appear to have been that familiar with the characters in the series because he called Mrs. Hardy Mildred, instead of Laura and he replaced Chief Collig with a Chief Finch. Otherwise, the book was quite enjoyable and I think that most Hardy Boys fans would like reading it.

Managers and IT Staff who have not performed Network Resource Planning analysis themselves will learn a great deal from the book. Network IT staff who have experience in capacity planning will be able to adjust and/or validate their approaches by studying the authors' approach.

The examples in the book are interesting for two reasons. They elucidate the authors'methodology and they provide some basis from which to compare the NRP maturity level of one's own IT organization.

In terms of details, the authors provide useful insights into the various kinds of network delay, approaches to utilization baselining, the strenghts and weaknesses of categories of modeling tools, and a view of the limitations of the state of the art of NRP. Recommended!

Clewett et al do a great job of demystifying the current art of network planning. As with any technical challenge, the sound approach is to decompose the problem space to manageable pieces, and Clewett's valuable experience shines through in their approach to this methodology.

Their timing has been ideal-- Reference volumes like this coincide with IT industry demand trends, and are a must reading or desk reference for engineers, managers and IT planners who are involved in deploying these hot products. Over time, material like this will help defray the high cost of IT delivery by applying well-accepted and proven methodologies in network planning.

One caveat: Practical experience tells us that heavy analysis can produce 99% accurate results yet take an unacceptably long time to produce. As Clewett et al point out, the key is to balance a costly analytical approach with practical judgement calls and systematic *educated guesses* in order to reach decisions quickly enough to make a difference.

I would look for sequels that deal with the rest of the lifecycle in this business!

According to the Gartner Group, "By 2000, no network design process will be successful without the characterization of applications - a process that will consume 30% of the overall budget." Network Resource Planning is the process of preparing a wide area network to meet the needs of new applications like groupware, messaging, ERP. It can also help identify bottlenecks, single points of failure, and network growth requirements. It can even tell you where you are spending too much on bandwidth that is unneeded. This book is easy to understand if you know anything at all about networks, and the case studies alone are worth the price of the book. People should read it, and then ask themselves if their network is going to be ready for prime time?

I read a book called the Twisted Claw. It's a fery good book. Frank and Joe Hardy help their dad track down a gang of smugglers,and discover a secret island kingdom.This book was great,lots of mystery.

This review concerns the revised 1969 edition. Frank and Joe help their father with his case concerning the thefts of pieces from a pirate treasure that had been on display in various museums. The investigation leads Frank and Joe to a mysterious ship called The Black Parrot. This is a very good book; although, I preferred the original edition. I thought that the best part of both books was when Frank and Joe disguise themselves and sail aboard The Black Parrot. Unfortunately, in the revised edition it lasts for only about 25 pages, while in the original version, that part lasted for a number of chapters. The revised edition is an exciting book and I think that most fans of the series would enjoy it.

This review concerns the original 1939 edition. Frank and Joe help their father track down a gang of smugglers and discover a secret island kingdom. This book was great; lots of mystery, lots of action, lots of suspence. The first 15 chapters are good, but the final 10 are excellent. At that point, Frank and Joe are hired on as crew members aboard the smuggler's ship. This book was very exciting; a must-read for all Hardy Boys fans.

More BS from a true red commie. One fails to mention the 1950 conference in Moscow with Stalin, Mao, and Uncle Ho where they plotted the war. This imbessile's lies are completely refuted by Vietnam: The Necessary War. This book is selective history. Not all factors that lead into and event are represented, only hogwash from a nostalgic hippie. He is the part of the same group of people that distorted the infamous napalm burned girl picture. That girl was hit by napalm from an aircraft piloted by a South Vietnamese pilot in where also a few ARVN soldiers were killed. But for some reason nuts like this guy called it American barbarism. His ilk also left out the caption the South Vietnamese photgrapher wrote on the bottom of the picture.

"This never would have happened if the Communists stayed in the North."

As a Vietnamese living in America, I have always been puzzled by different historical accounts of what went on during the Vietnam war. One account was what I learnt while growing up there. Another account was the Vietnam that many Americans know from the media. This book explained some of those differences well. The two Viet Nam (North and South), the gulf of Ton Kin incidence, the liberal press, antiwar activists spitting on returning GI, and the emotionally afflicting POW/MIA myth were the few fabrications concocted by various imperialistic American administrations. With the help of the jingoistic corporate press, they brainwashed the ill informed American public to garner support for the genocidal war in southeast Asia. Four million Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians died from the "good intentions" of the United States.
Americans may have a free press. But are Americans free from the bias, prejudice, and bigotry of men who decide "all the news that's fit to print" and what is fit for us to read? Read the book and make up thy own mind.

This book provides a gripping examination of how the Right has redefined "Vietnam" (a war, not a country). Franklin reviews the horrors inflicted by the United States on the people of Vietnam, and shows how our culture has made us the victims. He shows how the famous photo of the Saigon Chief of Police executing an enemy prisoner has been reversed in movies showing Americans POWs in cages with the gun to their heads. He reminds those who would blame the anti-war movement for our failure, that every President from Truman to Nixon ran as a peace candidate, knowing the American public would never support the war. He discusses the first American anti-Vietnam-war protests, in 1945. Franklin himself was fired from a tenured position at Stanford for his stand against the University's involvement in making napalm, a truly horrific weapon which has only been used against people of color. He reveals that Nixon's need to prolong the war and declare victory by focusing on the Americans unaccounted for (extremely few though they were) led to the creation of the post-war POW/MIA myth. This myth, never substantiated, has justified our refusal to pay Vietnam the reparations we promised in the Paris Peace Treaty and our longstanding lack of diplimatic relations with the country. This book explains the war and its cultural fallout better than anything I've read. Reading this book made me truly alarmed for the lack of democracy in the United States.

This volume had a poor cover art and horrible internal artwork. However - the story was like no other - very good plot for the most part. It reminds me of a Star Trek episode that Trekies may recall in the original 1960's series involving "L'Andrew". The villagers in that show and in this book are all acting "wierd" and there exists a strange presence in the air. I never liked the swift paced higher volumes as well as the lower volumes - and this book written 30 years earlier may have become much better. The brothers travel to England - become involved in the pusuit of witches and is the only volume of it's kind. The criminals remain undisclosed until the very end - something I rather liked. A definate worth read. RATED C+

Mr. Hardy asks Frank and Joe to go to England to help an old friend when his witch museum is robbed. This book has a very intriguing mystery; it's exciting and it grabs your attention right away. The book features witches, curses, a strange disappearance and an old castle. Frank and Joe travel to London, Stonehenge, Ireland and the Isle of Man, but the book never sounds like a tour guide, as in many of the other high volumes when Frank and Joe travel. This is one of the few higher hardcover editions with which the reader won't be disappointed.

I don't remember all that happend because I read this book a long time ago. All I remember is the exciting parts. When in the fog a wierd cult was looking like they were worshiping the moon. And also the part when the boat was suddenly starting to sink and didn't know why; 'till later. Also the part when they were questioning a man when suddenly an arrow strucked the table that they were sitting in. It was most interesting when they explained the way the cults on the island was arranged. There were only two witch cults on the island called the white witches and the black witches. Of course the white were the good ones. ...

Personally I found this book tiresome, repetitious, self-righteous, incoherent, and boring. What worked well for me in Ice Shirt didn't work at all for me here.

I recommend this book for people who are interested in experimental literature for its own sake, who find their entertainment value in reading as an abstract intellectual exercise.

If you like the inchoate disconnect of cyberpunk you'll like this, and it's very good for what it is. Just don't expect to be engaged, entertained, informed, or enlightened.

Unlike so many historical fictions that flood the marketplace, Vollmann's *The Rifles* strives for something unique, combining first person narrative, historical reflection and a fictional combination of the two which delves into the meaning of history and the attempt to render it to the present day reader. I found this book rich in poetic imagery and personal philosophy, at times dense, at others, whimsical. Overall, however, I enjoyed Vollmann's view on the desire of John Franklin to find a Northwest passage paralelled with Vollmann's own 'fictional' desire for a woman of the Inuit group. The two begin to merge as history merges with the present and we find ourselves lost in Vollmann's frantic mind searching for truth and perhaps a way out of his own obsessive drives. There is much more to say about this book, in fact I wrote a master's thesis on it, but I leave it for others to decide. I just wait to see where he goes from here.

Although though it may be hard to begin Vollmann's "7 Dreams" series because each book in the series is so massive, it is certainly worth the time. Not only is Vollman attempting to create, with some fiction, the entire history of North America, each volume he writes is a totally new undertaking. New people, names,histories, and unique grammar reflective to the period. A truly talented author who has thoroughly researched his subjects and makes you feel that you are right in the middle of the action in the snow and ice, Vollman is writing the series out of the time seqences in which the history appears, but since each is complete in itself, that does not matter. I look forward to his next "dream."

A wrist rolls the ruby red liquid of the fermented grape, and then pauses, and the glass is watched. For wine does not indiscriminately settle in a glass like lesser liquids. It falls in lines, and by these lines the spirit is partially judged, its legs are appraised.

I have read enough of Ms. Beryl Bainbridge's writing to state comfortably that there is probably no topic that she cannot spin a great tale from. "The Bottle Factory Outing", is above all else about people, which is in keeping with the author's previous work. The primary characters are two women that while they share the same bed, with an impenetrable wall of pillows between them, could not be more different. One is passive, almost a victim, desiring more not to upset her day-to-day existence than to stand up for herself. The other is a warrior defending not only what she perceives as her territory, but any turf that may catch her eye as well. The former may be an unsure individual, however she does not delude herself. The latter has confidence that causes her to believe that which she wants despite any reality she witnesses.

The book is unique as it has more than one instance when the story could reasonably end. The story is in no way overextended, just marvelously structured. The event of course is the employee outing and all that takes place from the early morning start, to a surrealistic second act, and finally the disturbing close of the third. Personalities that have become familiar do not conduct themselves in keeping with the book's start. Honor, which is repeatedly called upon to justify, draw or inflict guilt, becomes many things other than an honorable trait. And finally some of the worst traits of humanity do not begin and end with a single act, but are repeatedly compounded by a rationalized conspiracy.

If you have never read this writer's work, you most probably have missed enjoying a wonderfully talented mind. You may pick a work of hers at random and not be disappointed.

And the next time you raise a glass of wine, I guaranty you will think of this book.

beryl bainbridge is excellent in her droll, very british sarcastic way of portraying people on the down side of life, no matter how hard they try to get a leg up over the edge separating htem from any kind of true happiness or even an hones tunderstanding of themselves, something or someone is always there to push them back down. very sad ending becuase you hjave to have regret at seeing the real waste of a death is the way the person lived their life before it ended. very good story

It was a toss up between "The Dressmaker" and"The Bottle Factory Outing" when I decided to check outBeryl Bainbridge. I plumbed for the latter - the quaintly offbeat storyline was curiously enticing, promising both "funfull" reading and a sense of the ridiculous - black comedy in short. I wasn't disappointed. The novel is populated by largely unsympathetic characters but Bainbridge's empathy for their sense of desperation and need to find some form of escape from their drudgery makes them funny, touching and ultimately very human. I found her prose accessible, uncomplicated and highly enjoyable. The blurb at the back of the book promised more. But the ending is simply delicious..and hilarious.

The DISC personality system on which all of the parenting advice in this book is based reminds me of your run-of-the-mill horoscopes, Birthday books, birth-order personality descriptions, and other miscellanea of that ilk: entertaining, but not particularly helpful. In responding to the various, hugely UN-specific statements that help determine your personality type and your child's, I found I had a different answer for different circumstances, moods, or times of day. For instance, in the section that determines if you are a fast- or slow-placed person, you circle 1 if you make up your mind quickly, or circle 2 if you take your time in decision-making. Well, am I deciding which preschool to send my child to, or choosing shampoo at the store? Different circumstances, different answers.

In addition to disliking the basis for the book, I found the parenting advice to be very basic. "Do not become impatient with the child. Don't rush or push him. . .Be open at times if your child suggests a different way of doing something. . .Realize that some conflict and change is healthy. . .," etc. Be aware, too, that this book is written from a fundamentalist Christian viewpoint--the author is a southern Baptist minister and liberally sprinkles the pages with Bible verses and other evangelical language.

The one part of the book that I enjoyed was a couple of pages of positive "one-liners" you can use to build your child's self-confidence: for example, instead of saying "What's taking you so long?" you can say, "You do things precisely and accurately." That is very much in line with the whole "observe, don't judge" philosophy of child psychologist Haim Ginott which I try to follow.

There are many more helpful parenting books out there--keep searching.

I am really enjoying this book. I say enjoying instead of enjoyed because it is a great reference for me. I have four kids and each child is TOTALLY different. This book has been an eye-opener to help me cater to each on according to their individual needs. This book is an easy read and very spiritual. I've been recommending it to every parent that I know who has more than one child.

This book will help you understand that different personalities aren't right or wrong, they are just different.
Using the DISC personality profile descriptions this easy to understand book can help you re-open closed communication lines with your child who is different than you in action, thought, and deed.
It's as simple as starting by asking yourself is he/she "slow-paced" or "fast-paced", "task-oriented" or "people-oriented"? I'm an associate pastor in a large church. Our children's minister is planning to use this book with teachers and parents. Her quote is, "Why should we wait until we are over 40 years old to understand this stuff?"

This was a forced attempt to bring Asian culture into the series. Keep in mind, The Mystery of The Fire Dragon of Nancy Drew fame was published the same year and it dealt with Asian culture. I view that as a negative. The brothers run a ferry service while operating a Chinese Junk in Bayport. The book was actually not too bad with a fair amount of interaction with the criminals. I rank it as average never really liking or disliking this particular volume. RATED C+

Frank, Joe and a group of their friends buy a chinese junk to make money during the summer by taking passengers out to picnic on one of the islands in Barmet Bay. However, shortly after they buy the junk, two rival chinese groups begin pressuring the boys to sell the boat. Also, Frank and Joe discover that a dangerous criminal who calls himself "The Chameleon" may be in Bayport. Frank, Joe and their friends must find out why the two groups of chinese are interested in their boat and discover the true identity of the Chameleon. The book has a moderate amount of action, but the mystery isn't that interesting. In the end, it isn't even Frank or Joe who discovered the secret of the junk or were responsible for capturing the criminals, it was their friends. While it was nice to see their friends do this for a change, this is the "Hardy Boys" series for a reason. One thing that I really did like about this book; though, was that it did remember that Frank and Joe have friends other than Chet and they were used quite often, unlike in many of the later books. The book is worth reading, but it is not one of the best of the series.

...Chinese Junk does neither, so it sits at a 3 rating. Its worth reading, but ranks among the average of the set. It is an adventerous book, full of that. Little suspense and little mystery however. The publishers in 1959 & 1960 published back to back Nancy Drew & the Hardy Boys stories about Alaska/Hawaii & then added an Oriental book. Drew's The Mystery of the Fire Dragon, published the same year as Chinese Junk, correlates with Chinese Junk. Devil's Paw was about Alaska, and Drew's volume #36 about Hawaii. All this robs from all four volumes. I liked the characters in Chinese Junk. They seemed to have personality. Again average, but worth reading.

Franklin is entitled to her opinions just like every one else. But if her opinions about Castro as expressed on CNN to Connie Chung on December 4, 2002, are any indication of her style as an author, look for this book, like all of her others, to be laced with a predisposed bias. If you really must read it, borrow it from the public library, or from someone you know who has a copy and doesn't object to lending it to you. But don't waste your money on it unless you have money and shelf space to burn.

If you are looking for a competent, professional look at Cuba and its relationship with the United States go elsewhere.

This book covers about 600 years of history, the last 40 in almost day-by-day detail. A unique feature of the book is its calendar format: news events are given in order, grouped by month and year. This format allows events to be viewed in as broad a perspective as the reader desires. It also allows the reader to sidestep the mire of opinion in which even the shortest Cuba writings are invariably bogged (let's face it, opinion is hard to avoid). The calendar format enables "just-the-facts" analysis and cross-referencing of events.

For all its amazing breadth, this book does have a drawback: Although the book presents itself as a chronicle of historical events without opinion or commentary, after reading it one gets the idea that the Cuban revolutionary government has not made a single error in its public policy since 1959 - that all the tensions have been the result of U.S. interference. On the other hand, the book itemizes inconsistencies in U.S. public policy in detail. That seems odd regardless of one's political leanings on the matter. If the author believes that to be false, then where are the "dirty details"? If she believes it to be true, then it is hard not to conclude that the book is loosely propagandistic. That I have seen it for sale in Cuba is in itself not incriminating, although it does seem to underscore the argument that the book has a propagandistic current. When else are issues of national integrity so clear-cut?

This slant is unfortunate because it seems inconsistent with the ambitious and commendable goals of the book. Fortunately the perspective is a useful one. After all, would another type of source document the acts of U.S. terrorism against Cuba quite so thoroughly? It is indeed eye-opening, and the treatment is authoritative. As a college Spanish professor who has been to Cuba several times I do recommend this book as a cornerstone of anyone's pre-trip reading.

Jane Franklin, one of the few honest writers on Cuba, gives us a extremely important history of Cuba. As someone who is interested in the Cuban Revolution, I was particularly surprised at her numerous and lengthy citations of Terrorism on Cuba. Cuban Exile terrorism from Miami, backed by the CIA with the full knowledge of the US government. This terrorism has claimed thousands of lives which include foreign diplomats, tourists whose sole crime seems to consist of 'being at the wrong place at the wrong time', the bombing of an airplane of 1976 killing everyone on board, government officials, and of course, ordinary Cuban civilians.

With Bush's jingoistic "war on Terrorism" this is a particularly useful resource for those of us that realize that the US has their own terrorists as well. Bush's daddy even pardoned notorious , self confessed Cuban Exile terrorist Orlando Bosch, the man responsible for the 1976 airlplane bombing that claimed the lives of 76 men, women and children. Even when the FBI and Justice Department classified him as a 'serieal terrorist', Bush still pardoned him. Now , his son, Dubya, tells the world "If you HARBOR terrorists, you are one!" I assume that Bush was not speaking in front of his father, the CIA or in the city of Miami at the time.

Thanks to the prodding of extreme right wing Cuban Exile Congresswoman, Ileana Ros Lehtinen, this serial terrorist now walks in Miami among those that call him a "freedom fighter" Remember the whole Elian debacle? When Lehtinen and Cuban Exile congressmen staged huge rallies in Miami telling us how much they cared about THIS 6 year old boy? But where is the outrage of all the little children that were in the airplane that Bosch had bombed? As well as the other innocent children that have died as a result of Cuban Exile terrorism backed by the Congressman and the CIA?

Are you reading this and don't have any idea of what I am talking about? Well, then you know why this book is so important.