In his book 'Luck and a Lancaster', Harry Yates offers the reader a chance to follow the author through his tour of operations as a Lancaster pilot during the last five months of 1944. The story begins with the author as a young English lad wanting to join the Royal Air Force to fly fighters just after the Battle of Britain (as all young English boys surely wanted!).

We follow Yates through his initial training at flight school and then into training for multi-engine aircraft in Canada, something he wasn't expecting. We then read of his exploits as an instructor and then finally his posting to a Operational RAF Squadron flying one of the great bombers of the Second World War, the Avro Lancaster.

Young Harry Yates ends up with 75 Squadron (RNZAF) based at Mepal in August of 1944 with a task of completing 30 operations against occupied Europe and Germany. Although by this period of the war the conflict in the air had swung towards the Allies it was still a very dangerous occupation flying in Bomber Command. This is the guts of the story, flying with Harry Yates and his crew in one of the many Lancaster's allotted to them through the 30 missions required to complete their tour of Ops.

I found this story truly amazing and it was so well told I was totally immersed in the narrative. I must admit it has been awhile since I have read such an interesting and captivating account of war in the air and I cannot imagine anyone who has an interesting in aerial warfare not being taken by this honest and enjoyable book.

Not once did I find the book bogging down in too much detail, not once did it flag or slow down in pace, even the author's account of his training and instructional flights were full of interest, humour and occasional sadness. This is a great testament to the young crews who flew in Bomber Command doing a job without question that cost many their lives. Well done to the author!

This is a fantastic overview of the simple Mennonite life. Not only did it have wonderful photographs it was a wealth of knowledge. I was so impressed. I not only learned more about Mennonite life but of life in general for a lady in that era. It made be proud to be a women. I have never seen such great photos all in one book. Very impressive!

This amazing book far exceeded my expectations. For the past several years, on Saturday nights we have friends over, and take stabs at new drinks in various Alcoholic Beverages books. We prefer the ones that show the glass to be used to clear up any confusion. The problem of course is the Kids can feel left out of the party, and those "pretty glasses" often get replaced with our regular glasses filled with soda and maybe some grenadine and a cherry. Also the non drinking adults are left to fend for soda's themselves if they're the designated driver, or are just not in the mood for a drink.

The bar books we have do indeed have a small collection of some fairly tasteless non alcoholic drinks, most without a type of glass, or worse, for like 7-10 people at a mixing (punch bowls, etc).

This book takes care of every single one of the problems listed above. This beautifully illustrated and well bound book, looks like a black version of the more popular Boston Drink Guide. Hardbound with a spiffy cover.

Inside is a wonderful section on the Essentials of running a bar, including equipment, displays of every type of glass (everything from highball to hurricane, even a pilsner glass is included).

Descriptions of basic ingredients, garnishes, a liquid measurement conversion chart, and more take up the beginning of this wonderful book.

There are three different classes of drinks to be made. From Mocktails, which as you'd assume are mostly highball and coctail glass drinks. Also Drinks for all seasons, which are a wide variety of drinks for winter spring summer and fall, and holiday sections for each season. Lastly something called Sweet Endings, which make up the more exotic drinks, everything from spiced coffee drinks to floats and shakes.

Each recipe has an image of the glass used next to it. The directions are clear and the drinks make liberal use of a wide variety of measurements; from ounces, to parts of cups, tablespoons, and so fourth; making drink making fun and quite exotic.

The book states that the royalties from the sale of this book go to support Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). Which is very commendable. This wonderful book isn't full of those cutsie kiddie phrases for drink names, but contains things like Peach Sparkler, and Banana Hurricane.

It has the look and feel of a professional drink book, and makes liberal use of the various bar techniques, glasses, and equipment. So if your little one wants to be part of the action in a fun way, or if your teenager wants to throw a party and you'd like them to feel a bit more grown up, this is the book for you.

If I had one complaint it would be that the drinks are not indexed by ingredient, which admittedly would be a rather large undertaking with non alcoholic drinks, but you get used to that in regular bar books.

This is an incredible book, well worth the money, and the only book you'll need to cater to non-drinkers of any age without making them feel childish or different, which is worth its weight in gold.

A stunning compilation in words and pictures, focussing on the arts and culture of the Mongols. Filled with sumptuous full-color plates of thankas and artifacts in museums and collections worldwide, this book traces the rise of Tantric Buddhism within Mongolia and the tremendous transformation in Mongol culture as a result. Featuring some of the finest sculptures to be found within the Buddhist artistic tradition, those created by the first Bogdo Gegen Zanabazar, among a multitude of other examples of the heights to which the Mongolians raised tantric art.

I've taken to reading history lately, but only those works written by those actually there. This is Mary's own personal diary, kept for her two years of captivity by Indians in 1675. This is one of my more cherished books.
Her village was attacked by Indians and all present killed or taken hostage. Her neighbor's murders were described.
*Mine is a 1930 edition signed by the owners of the only 1903 edition which it was reprinted from.
Read what life (and death) was really like with the Indians as neighbors. Not the "history rewritten" version we are being taught.

-The 5 stars are for it's value to me. It is not written by a great author, nor is it many hundreds of pages long. It is a straight forward diary.

Well written book, hard bound, cloth cover, archival 60# paper, fold out maps showing early Neff farms in Lancaster and Huntingdon Co's., PA and early Neff documents from the mid-1700's and early 1800's. Historically accurate and well documented. Printed by Princeton University Press. As of 2003, book is still in print and available.

This pamphlet provides a good introduction to the emperor Nero and the history of his reign. In less than 100 pages a good foundation for understanding the chief events of Nero's reign. We also gain some insights into his personality but this book is written as a history, not a biography. Hence the concentration is more focused on where Nero fits into the Julio-Claudian dynasty. So while not dealing with Nero in detail this slender volume admirably fills the role of primer to a fascinating period and a guide to further reading.

This is an excellent book, do you have any more by the same author

I really enjoyed this book, a nice change from the usual
romance type novel... The characters seemed more human, and
authentic. This is a 479 page book that covers the life span of
several generations of a family. Set in pre and post civil war
times, we see the hardships and the courage of people of that
time period. Also the bravery of one woman who stands up
for what she believes in. There is a lot of sorrow, but in the
end you have a good feeling. It deals with the subject of
slavery, pro and con.......as viewed in the time period
mentioned.

The Sequel to this book, Is.... "Desire and Dreams of Glory...

A study of how modern prisons developed due to such problems as disease and nutrition. Medical opinions were important in guiding prison officials. A new look at an old problem.