Crommelin's Thunderbirds is written by two Navy veterans who flew in from the U.S.S. Randolph (CV-15), in Air Group Twelve. It covers the period from February to June 1945. The ship flew in operations on Japan,and Iwo Jima before suffering Kamikaze damage while at the forward base, Ulitihi. Their Air Group Commander, Charles Crommelin was detatched on temporary duty with the U.S.S. Hornet, at that time. Commander Crommelin, one of the five Crommelin brothers, the most decorated family in U.S. Navy history, was killed in action over Okinawa while with the Hornet. Air Group Twelve continued, and from early April 1945, the ship returned to action, flying cover for operations off Okinawa. In the book there are many reminiscences by veterans of how an event looked to them. This adds a "first-person" quality to the work that helps its perspective. It is well-written and interesting throughout. This period of World War II in the Pacific has not had much written about it. Yet there are parts of it that remain current today. This time of the war saw manned bombs (Kamikazes), that foreshadowed the guided missle warfare of the present.

My Dad was one of Crommelin's Thunderbirds as a TBM aviator, so granted I'm a bit biased, but it's a great read, due in large part to the personal anecdotes contained within. Too many of today's generation haven't a clue of what our parents generation sacrificed. This book brings a lot of that home.

DATA ACQUISITION AND PROCESS CONTROL SYSTEMS ON 8051 MICRO CONTROLLER 8 BIT

It is a great book, great explanations, cover most topics of the MC68HC11 microcontroller; and especially if you got the M68HC11EVB this book would be useful.

It's been a couple of years since reading the book, but it remains one of my favorites. One of the few books when finished reading, I cried. Great story and beautifully told.

This is a great book,haunting and sad. An architect, Geoffrey Staddon, is forced to return to his past and try to rescue the woman he abandoned. Consuela Caswell,a beautiful Brazilian woman,trapped in a miserable marriage,is convicted of murdering her husband's relative. Staddon's life becomes caught up in complex events as he searches desperately for the truth. I did not like the ending! This book excellently shows the corrupt world of the British upper class. The Philadelphia Inquirer compares Goddard to Daphne DuMaurier.

The author has done excellent research in developing a biography of the life and times of Frederick Townsend Ward during China's Taiping rebellions during 1860 through 1863. But as a historian seeking accuracy of facts, the author commits several types of "avoidable" error in just writing.

In attempting to get the who, what, where, when, and why about people and places, he clouds these issues with such overwhelming "context", that it becomes difficult to read at times to see the forest because of the trees. Quite often his sentences are just too long, many running 200 words or more, with the result that the reader has to go back and re-read them again. It's easy to get lost because of his verbosity in spite of the fact that he uses simple words.

The author makes excessive use of parentheses to slide extra context into his sentences; where in itself this isn't bad, but when his writing contains sub-context within sub-context of a context in one single sentence, before he tells us of an event happening, his writing is difficult to read (like this sentence).

Moreover, what is surprising is that the author, Caleb Carr, is not guilty of any of these stylistic errors in anything else of his that I have read. He has always gripped my attention.

But my criticisms aside, the author goes out of his way to be an independent observer and commentator about the events concerning Ward's battles, based on a plethora of well documented research and opinion. He is very careful to imply just this, as opposed to fact, as a responsible historian should. In so doing, he does a very credible job in showing Frederick Townsend Ward to be an honourable, honest, responsible, and loyal warrior of the Manchu imperialists who were just not at all deserving of the services of\a man of such integrity.

Also because of the author's research into the cultural attitudes of the Chinese, it becomes easier to understand how China's people fell into another form of personal domination, by the same calibre of government it has today.

When you mention to most (Americans) about the civil war of the 1860's, most likely they'll think you're talking about "The War Between The States", The American Civil-War.

However, roughly around the same time that America's North & South were slowly edging towards that great tragedy over the issue of slavery, a different civil war was gripping another of the Earth's great nations half a world away in a struggle that would claim millions(!) of more lives than even that more famous (to the American mind) struggle. The Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864), initiated by Hung Hsiu Chuan, a man who had failed in China's examinations to become a civil-servant, was a war over religious beliefs, ideology, & class-struggle. Hung, in a "vision" had believed himself to be the younger brother of Jesus Christ(!) His Taipings, made up of neo-Christian Chinese converts, frustrated & angered over the corruption & poverty imposed upon them by their inept Manchu rulers, captured several Chinese cities, established their base in Nanking, & nearly succeeded in toppling the Chinese (Manchu) empire. Hung's Christian learnings came from an American, Issachar Roberts. One of his oppoenents, an important adversary, a soldier for hire who had worked in Mexico, California, & Texas as a professional mercenary, who came to China & trained Chinese soldiers in the most up to date weaponry & tactics (as well as absorbing much of China's military culture), was an American also: Fredrick Townsend Ward.

Ward was a loner, a man who worked for prestige rather than money, a man who was stern yet fair to his band of mercenaries, & a man free of racial prejudices. He was the classic warrior, a character you would expect to find in westerns & adventure movies. However, he was real! He fought against both the Taiping Rebels, who he respected in battle & who respected him, as well as the corruption of his Manchu employers & the British military, who saw Ward's actions as a threat to the West's (Europe & the U.S.A.'s) strict policy of neutrality. In the end, he died in battle, but he won what he prized above anything else, recognition for his outstanding achievements in this most deadly of occupations. For a brief moment in history, thanks to Ward, East met West in a joint-collaboration to form a team of fighting men the likes of which the world had never seen. (Imagine the sight. American & European mercenaries armed not only with rifles & cannon, but also being acquainted with Chinese martial-arts weapons, including swords, spears, & bamboo-clay "bombs", filled with gun-powder, natural poisons, & (yuck!) human feces. Fighing alongside with them are Ward's Chinese troops, wearing the traditional Manchu queue (pigtail) & also armed with traditional martial-arts weapons, but also instructed (by Ward) in the use of Sharp's rifles, Colt revolvers, & modern cannon & mortars! Again, this isn't a comic-book fantasy or a Jackie Chan movie, this was real life!)

Caleb Carr does a meticulous, yet gripping, & in fact, fast-paced narrative on Ward's life. This book, along with Evan Connell's "Son of The Morning Star" & Dee Brown's "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee" should be a classic in historical reading. It gives a good portrait of the times, the nations, & the individual characters of this truly international struggle. (It wasn't just Chinese & Manchus. The British, The Americans, The French, The Russians, & even Filipino mercenaries all played a part in this epic true-life story.) It's tragic, compelling, uplifting at times, & depressing at others. However, one thing is certain. It educates & entertains without compromising on either count!

Hollywood (& Hong-Kong) film-makers take notice! This book is the stuff of great action-films, with heroes (& villains) that you would find in the greatest Westerns, the romance of high-adventure, & (given the culture & the methods of the major antagonists) all the flash of a martial-arts movie classic! ("Crouching Tiger" eat your heart out!)

Buy this book if you can. You won't be dissappointed.

Being a dinosaur collector, I found this book interesting and quite comprehensive. Full of pictures and good quality printing! Though there are still rooms for improvement. For example, the list of the Carnegie collection is not complete, neither is that of the Jurassic Park series. The prices contained for some of the items are not realistic, too. Despite the above, I still love this book very much. Thank you!

Any collector of dino toys/models/replicas simply MUST HAVE THIS BOOK! As well as being a fountain of info of interest to the collector it is wonderful for just browsing through. Mike Fredericks and Dana Cain have done dino lovers everywhere a wonderful favor by producing this wonderful, long overdue book. (A big tip of the cap also to "Big-Time Dino Collector Par Excellence" Dean Walker who supplied copious amounts of beautiful photos). If you love dinos and you don't have this book, you my friend are living a lie!

I knew nothing about flying P-38s until I read this book and never even would have thought it an interesting subject. But Arnold put me in the seat with him as he and his squadron fought World War II while he endured anti-Semitic bigotry in the Air Corps. Lots of things in this book stick with you. Arnold loved and never insulted his beloved P-38, but it was a flying coffin. What a fine look at WW II.

This is the best book I ever read. I just couldn't put it down. You'll live and fly with Arnold in the cockpit of his P-38 in aerial combat during WWII.

A sensitive and authentic account of what it is like to be a fighter pilot.

Highly recommended!

...this book is a culinary and historic gem. I am fortunate enough to own a first edition of this highly entertaining collection of recipes and folklore, not to mention the copious illustrations, and believe me, I don't keep in the kitchen with the workaday cookbooks! It is my personal favorite among my many books about food (which are different than cookbooks) Yes, it is surely politically incorrect, but that's the way it was, and we can't change history. Those of us who delight in the wonders of Maryland ccoking and the eccentricities of the Maryland (Baltimore) personality will be higly rewarded. And the recipes are good, too! To quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes, to whom Stieff dedicated his book, "Baltimore...the gastronomic metropolitis of the Union... Why don't you put a canvas-back duck on top of the Washington column?...Why ask for other glories when you have soft crabs?..." Any lover of culinary lore will treasure this work.

I can't believe that this book is coming out in reprint. This is a marvelous look at the food of Maryland in the 1930's. From this, however, some of the foods to be found in here - like terrapin (turtle) - are not to be found in the Maryland restaurants today, but some - like the Crab Cakes Baltimore - are made just as they are nowadays. I lived in Maryland for 20 years and reading these recipes gives me fond rememberences. These recipes were gathered by Stieff by talking to people he met in his travels and writing down what they had to say. These were never published before, and hence are an important historical document from the times. The reason I can't believe this book is being reprinted is that it would never pass the politically correct standards of the '90's if being printed as a new book. It (at least the original hardcover edition) is printed with cartoons to make it entertaining to read. Here's 3 of them: (Picture of an old woman talking to a fish merchant at his counter) Woman: "I don't like the looks of this 'ere 'addock." Merchant: "Well, if it's looks ye're after, lydy, ye'd do better by the goldfish !" (Picture of an old black gentleman in glasses and a beard) Man: "Chickens, suh, am de usefulles' animal dey is. Yo' can et dem befo' dey's born and after dey's daid". (Picture of a middle aged black woman with a corn cob pipe talking to a black preacher) "Parshon, Ah'd like to kill dat low-down husban' o' mine." "Why, Car'line, what he done ?" "Done ? Why, dat hunk o' black trash lef' de chicken-house do' open and all de chickens has gone." "Why, Car'line, dat ain't nothing to get worried about. Don't you know dat accordin' to de gospel of Luke and John dat 'Chickens Come Home to Roos'!' " "Come home ! Why, Parson, dose chickens'll go home." I know this is authentic because this is exactly how my grandfather used to talk. In spite of, or maybe because of, this down homeness, I still love this book. The recipes are authentic and good, and reading it will send you back to the time of the 30's. Just remember to take a deep breath before re-entering the '90's

This book goes with the series of books written by this author:" Theory of Functions". Together with the other parts it gives a good introduction to the theory of complex functional analysis. Although the language is in places outdated, the mathematics covered is solid and necessary. It is a starting point in study for subjects like chaos and fractals as well. One of the best points is that is a cheap Dover book!

This book would be worth the price of it were 10 times as expensive! One of the best presentations of the real and complex analysis I have seen.

While the above review is of course very helpful, potential buyers and readers may want to know from someone who has actually read the book that it is indeed excellent. Neuhauser's book is in fact a "must-read" for anyone looking for a clear, well-written, and theoretically-informed treatment of Fichte's cryptic but groundbreaking account of self-consciousness. Readers with a healthy background in Kant will benefit most from the book. However, it is not written for specialists in the field. Anyone interested in understanding some of the basic moves in post-Kantian idealism would do well to start here.

I actually haven't read this book but Professor Neuhouser is my writing professor at the university I go to and he is a wonderful writer and wonderful philosopher. All of his ideas he presents to us in class are well-formulated and thought out and he cultivates this same thought and philosophy in us. I am going to read this book as soon as I have a chance.