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The New York Times...
I had heard a few of my friends speak of the virtues of this book, but being a New Yorker, it was only when the Times wrote about the book... no raved about the book, that I went out and got it. The Times were critical of the myriad of golf books that just don't cut it, and I share their view. I also share their view that this is one special book, one that could even get "cult status." A novel that is for all readers of good writing, young, old, men, women...golfers and non-golfers alike. I highly recommend this book. You won't be able to put it down and within two days you will be looking for the authors next book! I will join his fan club and put it next to my latest Grisham ! | 1positive
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Looks at both sides of the story, exhaustively researched
This book has been popularized as the one that contains private investigator Tom Grant's theory that Courtney Love hired someone to kill Kurt Cobain. I read it thinking it would be borderline wacko with the conspiracy theory. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was an exhaustively researched account of the history of Nirvana, Kurt, Courtney, the days surrounding Kurt's death, and the investigation of the incident by the Seattle PD. The authors do present Grant's theory and his main arguments pointing to murder, but they are quick to point out that there absolutely no smoking gun, nothing explicity incriminating Courtney. They even point out some failing's in Grant's work and theories. Their main case is that there are enough unanswered questions and questionable actions during the investigation that the case should be re-opened. In fact, most people who review Grant's theory, when polled, say that the investigation should be re-opened to lay to rest all the discrepancies that he turned up.The authors took nothing at face value when writing this book. Anytime someone claimed to have a degree, or that an incident happened, or the police were called, or that they said a certain thing, anything, the authors looked it up and verifyed whether it was true. If they couldn't verify it, they identify it as a claim. A lot of Courtney's official bio seems to be her wacky brand of lies and tirades, since the authors found many, many discrepancies in her statements, especially those to her biographer, Melissa Rossi.Courtney is a fascinating woman, a spectacle, a force to be reckoned with. The authors remind us that no matter how much Courtney bashing goes on, we have to remember that our icon Kurt did love and trust her, and she was one of the few people he was close to. The portrayal of Courtney in this book has made me want to learn more about this dynamic woman.Read this book to see an excellent case laid out in front of you, and then see what you think. I'm reading the author's 2004 follow-up, Love & Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain next. | 1positive
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Knew the ending, loved the journey
The story starts out with revenge on her mind and love in his heart. He has killed for the Union Army and the first person he killed was her brother. The ending is predictable (but what romance isn't?) but the journey to the end was very enjoyable. The twists and turns. Can love survive betrayal? Can love survive the hurt and hatred of war? Can love survive? For hopeless and hopeful romantics, we can both hope. | 1positive
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Scarlett and Rhett make the best couple !!!
I think "Gone with the Wind" was a great book. I liked the book better than the movie. The book went into more detail than the movie. I wish Scarlett would have waited for Rhett when he was in jail though. I wish Scarlett would have just admitted to Rhett that she loved him sooner. I think Ashley was kind of a wimp, and I did not understand why Scarlett had wanted Ashley when she had a man like Rhett who wanted her. I was glad when she tried to get him back at the end and I can't wait to get the sequel. | 1positive
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A delightful romp through evolutionary and behavioural economics
Sam Bowles never fails to please. Not only is his writing style clear and eloquent, but he also conveys mathematical ideas with rigour and nuance. For those yearning for an introduction to evolutionary economics, look no further than this book and Herb Gintis' "Game Theory Evolving." The mathematics is not overly advanced, and someone with a university-level knowledge of calculus can grasp the author's main points. If you are a micro-economist, then this book absolutely must be on your shelf.My only complaint would be that there is no accompanying solution manual. There is no point in books having problem sets without even partial solutions. That being said, this book is superb in every other way. | 1positive
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Amazing!
Read it in high school. Changed my life | 1positive
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Plot lines left dangling in the Machin Shin
Is it just me, or did anyone else think that the cover blurb wasn't written by someone who'd actually read the book? E.g. what was that about with Perrin's soul and Faile in danger? Or could it be that Tor has chopped this book into two in order to double its revenues....I hope that this is the case and the state of this book isn't entirely down to Jordan. | 0negative
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Don't waste your money
He has some good ideas, but I would say skip Bach and read Dave Ramsey. His plan is much better at helping you actually build wealth. | 0negative
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Excellent Service
Mary at A&S BOOKS - Amazon Marketplace provided excellent, fast, reliable and friendly service. I ordered the book on Aug 16th, Mary mailed the book on the same day and my friend received it 4 days later. I gave the book as a gift to my friend who was returning to the Philippines. So to ensure that she received it before her departure, I contacted Mary to request update on shipment. Mary was very responsive and friendly and provided the details on the same day. I highly recommend this vendor! | 1positive
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No sublety, SciFi of the lowest order
I love scifi, but I'm at a loss to explain the success of Bova's books. His writing is predictable and often repetitive, his plots are loose, and his characters are flat. His technology is contrived, and thinly explained. This book hits you over the head with his philosophy on science versus religion, and instead of asking interesting questions on that front, resorts to near lecturing using the unispired device of character thought monologue. About halfway through this book I lost interest. | 0negative
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Mother Anne
Anne of Ingleside is yet another lovable Anne story. In it we find Anne, quite grown-up, with a family of her own. Ingleside is the happy home of 5 children, with a new one on the way; Susan Baker the loving house keeper; and Anne and Gilbert, still as in love, as ever. In this story we find that we love the Blythe children just as much as Anne, and we can understand why she feels, "surrounded and encompassed by love". Anne of Ingleside chroniclizes the home and life of a young at heart, still blossoming mother, Anne. | 1positive
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Deceptive
This is not really a field guide. Rather, it's a general introduction to the various animals and plants found around coral reefs, plus colour photos (many quite small) of a representative sample. There are no species presentations, no keys. Frankly, the title of this book is deceptive! | 0negative
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MOST AWFUL BOOK EVER.
I can't i am required to read this book. Its endlessly boring! The literature is just so boring and so dull..... its mental torture to read this book, they should give this book to read for the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay for torture. | 0negative
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Poorly written, poorly edited, very light on content
I was excited to find this book, an introduction to ERP in one slim volume.Unfortunately, the authors do not use their pages well. The book meanders (even more than one might expect from a "novel"), the writing includes a definite Southeastern U.S. regional tone, and the editing is very poor (I spotted a number of grammatical errors and several instances where a sentence had been cut in editing and not repaired).Overall, this is a sloppy piece of work. One might expect better from a major publisher, but...I cannot recommend this book to anyone. | 0negative
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I really liked the first book...
This book is pretty much a straight continuation of the first book. The annoying things are still annoying, and the good stuff is still entertaining. It is a bit raunchier than the last book, but not a big deal.Spoilers below...you have been warned.I am better than 3/4s through this book and am really just tired of it. The main plot arc is pretty cool, but the really dumb things that happened towards the end of the first book, and were cropping up in this book, have just gotten to be too much. To spell it out: the red woman birthed Stannis's shadow demon?! really? that's how you decide to deal with getting him more involved in the story?!!? This may be my last GRRM book. I have taken to completely skipping the "Dany" chapters. They are excruciating. Bran is not much better. What the hell is even happening in the Jon chapters?! The only interesting chapters anymore are the Tyrion ones (maybe Catelyn, but to be honest they are stupid as well...all she does is cry about her sons). Ugh... I am not to the point where I am not going to finish this book...but if Bran becomes a friggin' direwolf for real I am done.It's pretty crazy how quickly this series has gone downhill. I will certainly be spending my leisure reading hours with other authors going forward. | 0negative
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I read 15% of it and gave up
I have to have the feeling of authenticity and some plausibility for a thriller like this to work for me. This book provided neither to me.There was a whole series of technical mistakes (like a nuke being able to explode in an airplane crash) that made it clear the author did not do very good research. So no authenticity.There was also the goofy idea that Libyan intelligence could easily penetrate the blackest of US black ops with relative ease. So no plausibility.That ruins it for me.I got to the point where the author started talking about millions of tons of plutonium being naturally available, and that was it for me.It had a good premise and a bunch of 4 and 5 star reviews that convinced me to acquire it when it came up for free recently, but the sheer number of technical mistakes and total lack of plausibility made it something I just did not want to pursue. | 0negative
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A dreary book
If you don't know the history of South Africa, this book will baffle you. Great to have Google to figure out what the heck she is talking about most of the time. But that isn't the book's worst fault. It is essentially a pseudo novel of manners. Even the best novel of manners (i.e., Henry James) is dreadful. You know - entire chapters about the lifting of an eyebrow. It dulls an exciting, intriguing series of historical events. Nearly all the text is innuendo about the sexual proclivities of the characters or about meaningless trivia such as the instruments in the home of the mother of a minor character. Yes, I got it - the Afrikaaners were full of unrestrained life and could make music, playing on home-made clay flutes, for instance, while the repressed Victorian Englishmen, like the British birds transported to the Cape, could never sing and were destined to die. Still, there are just all these loose threads and endless detail about characters that are not woven together for nearly three hundred pages, and then only loosely and lifelessly. What could have been a suspenseful plot had no more spark than anything else in the story. The central character, stepping wildly out of character for no apparent reason, tries a daring theft to try to stop the Boer War - but this entire episode has no more oomph that the loss of a baby tooth by the little Afrikaaner girl. I mean, the man did a truly dreadful thing in his youth, an abhorrent act of animal cruelty that results in his father's death, and it is just mentioned lightly in a sentence or two and then dropped. As though something like that might not be pivotal in the character's life or psyche. Just bizarre. I actually went back twice to re-read it, to be sure that's what it said, as I couldn't imagine something of such enormity treated as a snippet of text.It is fine to fictionalize history, but there are superfluous appearances of Rudyard Kipling and his family, Frank Harris, Oscar Wilde, and so on.All in all, a dreary book. | 0negative
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Bored to death
Most boring thing I have ever read...no wonder it was free. He was a very interesting man, but I would rather read another version of his life. | 0negative
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You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll fall down...
Templates are increasingly becoming one of the most importantaspects of C++ programming, and are the central feature of themost creative and innovative new C++ projects.They are reasonably simple in concept, but in the effort to makethem behave "intuitively" for common cases, the actual rules thatdescribe what they do are hideously complicated. A guide for theperplexed was sorely needed, and fortunately, has now appeared.I'm no slouch at the subject myself, but I learned a few thingsthat I had no inkling of before, just on a casual reading of thefirst few chapters. (Although the main thing I am learning onceagain is just how insanely stupid C++ syntax is, and how awfulwas the choice of angle brackets for template delimiters.) Theauthors are experts on the subject, and the material is presentedclearly, with many examples, and above all correctly.This is another must-have book for people who want to understandall of C++. (Not that that's possible, except for perhaps half adozen people or so. I'll bet more people understand GeneralRelativity.) | 1positive
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Looks like another great series
Zahn is amazing. The guy looks like he's about to out do himself. He's already got the best star wars books out. Now he's writing better ones. If these books don't come out soon I'll explode with anticipation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | 1positive
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Outdated
Although it does have some relative information it is ten years out of date. Updates on tax laws would be the place to start. | 0negative
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Ghost
John Ringo had to take a step down into the sewers to write this trash. The Basic story could of been good, but he runed it. I have put my copy in the trash. all others I've talk to about this book feel the same way I do. | 0negative
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Can't Get Enough
I have been reading a few chapters of this book each night to my kids. The only problem is, my children don't ever want me to stop. They absolutely love it and can't wait for our storytime each night. The story pulls you in from the very beginning and it is very hard to put down, even for me. Love Love Love it, can't wait to see what happens next! | 1positive
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Sex belongs in the bedroom NOT in the library!!!!!!!
This book is filthy. I had to take a shower after I read it. Why doesn't he get a job? Why does he have to live in France? Why doesn't he save his money instead of investing it in alcohol and hookers? So many questions. People just think this book deserves a place on the same shelf as say James Michenier because it was banned. It was banned because it's a bad book! | 0negative
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A Mom's opinion
When my 12 year old told me she wanted a scary book to read for Halloween I knew what to get her. I ordered this book from audible a year or so ago and it scared me. She loved it so much she had me go out and pick up the next two books for her. Of course I had to read them first to make sure they were appropriate reading for a 12 year old (that's my story and I'm sticking to it.) | 1positive
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Excellent 'Buffy' book!
I'm a huge fan of the show, so I've read many of the 'Buffy' books. This first installment to the Lost Slayer serial novels was one of my favorites. It instantly made me want to read the rest. Christopher Golden is one of the best if not the best of the regular 'Buffy' authors. He seems to understand the characters better than any other author and comes up with great stories they could probably never use on the show. He has a terrific imagination! I also highly recommend the Gatekeeper Trilogy. | 1positive
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Definitely a chick book...
I tried to read it, but I couldn't. I put it down at about page 100. From a fan of IMMANUEL KANT, this was too boring. Honestly, after I put it down, I had to study the Diamond Sutra and the Book of Job to get the vapid feeling out of my head. Someone on here wrote something to the effect of "as Blake saw the world in a grain of sand, so did Austen see the world in a drawing room". To this, I'd say that there is a vast difference in seeing the world in a drawing room, and thinking that the world IS a drawing room.Basically, it felt way too narrow for me. I will admit that I dislike British culture, as a whole, and have yet to make it through a third Dickens novel (have tried four). Still, I am a huge fan of Fielding, Defoe, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, and like a few other English authors. | 0negative
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Anna Karenina - Radio Drama
A well done and well acted drama. Unlike other CDs, there were announcements at the end and begining of the CD. No issues with the product. I recommend to buy this CD as a nice preparation for the movie. | 1positive
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Not Bradbury's Best Work
The Bradbury Collection includes about one-hundred short stories, but most are not considered to be among Bradbury's best work (visit his other collection for those). The selected stories range from mundane to thought provoking; some with twists or sublte messages and others that are just plain ordinary. None of the stories are longer than about twenty pages, most well short of that with some even only a couple pages in length. Bradbury seems to be somewhat polarizing; most either love his work or find it mind numbing. If you are new to Bradbury this particular collection might be rather drab. The stories are all over half a century old and and many are affected by a lack of relevance. Of course, one can hardly blame Bradbury for this, yet given that these aren't even his best stories it does leave this collection rather lacking when everything is considered. Bradbury has the timeless ability to produce enduring content, yet that is not evidenced by the stories found in this collection. | 0negative
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The Granddaddy of Them All, Y'all
I will keep this review short and sweet by saying that this is the granddaddy of all German-soldier memoirs from the eastern front. Because of its superior prose (or the translator's), it is better even than Blood Red Snow. Moreover, Guy Sajer's fictive account is not even in the same ballpark. Bidermann's excellent narrative provides the reader with vivid imagery of his unit's push eastward and southward into the Crimean Peninsula, culminating in the costly encirclement and capture of Sevastapol. Bidermann was a thinking soldier and the tone turns philosophical at times, but never abstract. His observations, descriptions and commentary will keep your eyes glued to the text. In Deadly Combat is the kind of book you read more than once. Or even twice. It is not only superb, it is a treasure that far outweighs its retail price on Amazon. | 1positive
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Love this bible
This is the 3rd Mom's Devotional Bible. The first time I bought it was for a secret sister and I liked it so much that I got myself a copy. This copy that I just bought was for one of my good friends. This has been a blessing for all of us. | 1positive
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I feel misled.
$5.95 for less that two pages of marginally useless information about an intervention that had no clinical effect? Buyer beware. Selling this "brief article" at this price seems unethical to me. | 0negative
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I love this story myself !
This is one of the book that all children should read. It is easy to read and is a very enjoyable story. | 1positive
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In the tradition of Sharon Kay Penman
In 1470 England, the civil war that has ripped England appears to be waning as the War of Roses seems virtually at an end. The House of York appears to be the victor over the House of Lancaster. However, King Edward IV soon finds two of his allies (his jealous younger brother and his cousin the kingmaking Earl of Warwick) have joined forces to depose him from the throne.The schism especially pulls Margary apart as she is the monarch's mistress and Warwick's ward. Edward uses Margary as a spy since she has access to her guardian. On a regal mission, Margary journeys to France where the ruler wants a revolution in the island across the Channel. Sir Richard Huddleston, who has loved Margary from afar for several years, sees the opportunity to abduct his beloved and ultimately make her his wife. As Margary falls in love with her jailer, she knows she must somehow complete her mission even if it costs her a lifetime of happiness. Margary realizes that if she succeeds in her royal endeavor, she saves many lives.THE MAIDEN AND THE UNICORN is a superb Medieval romance that successfully blends numerous personage and events from history into a fabulous story line. The lead protagonists are a daring wonderful couple, who struggle between loyalty and love in an era fraught with betrayal and danger. Isolde Martyn paints a vivid portrait of fifteenth century England and to a lesser degree France inside an exciting historical romance.Harriet Klausner | 1positive
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The A Team meets the Bates Family
I remember when I was (ahem) a mere child I used to have the opening sequence of the A-Team memorized, I was such a fan. Today, I can still recite it. "In 1971 a crack commando unit was sent to military prison for a crime they did not commit...." In the closing of that show I remember seeing Mr. Cannell yanking a final page out a novel out of his old electric typewriter. Little did I know that he was really writing...and writing well. King Con opens with a bang, er, a golf club and ends with a sentimentality that cannot be denied. So what if the roller coaster ride ended with a gentle roll? The plot twists are better than a good New York pretzel. The cons themselves are nothing short of glorious. And....the guy gets the girl. Granted, the last sentence seemed like ole Stephen was just plain fed-up with the plot and said to himself "Hey, this is good enough. After all, the deadline is in five minutes." Nothing, not the end nor the beginning, is as important as the meat of a book. And let me tell you folks, this novel is a bonafide thick-cut T-bone. Enjoy! | 1positive
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WORST OF THE WORST
I am a "bookaholic". I love to read and read almost anything but I can honestly say this is the only book I have never finished. Absolutely boring | 0negative
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OK it's a classic, but it bored me to tears
This is one of those books where I can see why people consider it a classic, at the same time that I wish I'd never been forced to read the silly thing. Some classic books are hold your breath reading. This is smother your yawns reading. The grammar and prose are not enough reason to read the tale of a silly woman and her boring husband. Though if Emma were real she'd be a hot candidate for the Darwin award. If Flaubert was so bored by his story and subject, why should I be interested in them? | 0negative
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Hard to believe kids would like this book.
I was read this book as a 4 year-old in 1972 by my teacher, and didn't like it. I found the writing style very old-fashioned. Neither the pictures nor story appealed to me, (and I felt sorry for the tigers). Most of us kids back then had never seen a black person before in that part of England, so I don't think the caricatures gave a good impression. Nowadays, of course I would be totally horrfied if anyone actually sold a book with this title. | 0negative
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Normal boring book
My opinion on High Fidelity by Nick hornby is that the novel is funny but many passages are a little bit boring because sometimes it's the same content on every page in a chapter. But if you see the film , you will say that the film is better than the novel, cuz the actors are very ood and funny...Bo-email | 0negative
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Only Read if You are Hopelessly Obese
This book scared the life out of me! It started off good with a funny, easy to read first chapter that hit home...but then it went south. I was recently diagnosed as severely hypothyroid (even with treatments my numbers are still not good) but I do NOT have a significant weight problem. I have had the same 5-10 lbs on me for years that I would like to loose. And, I was hoping not to gain any more in light of this thyroid problem since thyroid and weight are so closely related. So, I bought this book thinking that I'd get some useful tips. Well, the book basically scared me to death - with how hopeless and depressing it is to be hypothyroid and overweight. She basically says only a tiny minority of thyroid patients can be thin, and even replacement therapy doesn't help. What?? I'm thin! I haven't even been on the hormone replacement until recently. I am incredibly paranoid now that "the pounds will just start coming on - up to 30 pounds in a month!" AHHHGH!! Are you kidding? She goes into painful details - one after the next - of people who just gained like 20 lbs overnight. There are frightening calculations that "if your metabolism slows by just X calories per day - that's 30 lbs per year! This is what hypothyroidism does to you." Ok - stop freaking me out - Ms. Shomon. That is not why I wanted this book and not really what this book purports to be. I wanted to "manage my metabolism for lasting weight loss" - not be depressed and freaked out. Maybe some people like this kind of thing because it explains why they are obeise and makes them feel that they are not alone, but I feel like it also is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. I think I gained weight just reading this thing. She needs to be more specific about people who are hypothyroid and NOT obeise - what are they like? Are they men instead of women? Are they athletes? What do they do for excercise? What made them fall into this "lucky" group?There is nothing new or thyroid specific in here. There is a 100 page overview of thyroid disease which only useful if you don't know you are hypothyroid (but one would think you do if you are buying "the THYROID diet") and then a few recipes that any diet cookbook can give you. She lists all the fad diets and says essentially: "Any of these might work - everyone is different. A combination will probably work best for you. You just have to experiment... At the end of the day, it is just diet and excercise." Yeah...that's helpful. If you have absolutely NO clue about thyroid disease, metabolism, or what "bad carbs" and "bad fats" are - then go ahead and buy this... | 0negative
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Pure male fantasy
This book is pure male fantasy, with ideas of absolute power. There is a fawning young beautiful woman who acts as admiring helpless geisha -- freely sexual and cooperative, hiplength hair of course, and she does not want a commitment. The hero rapes her at one point.In adolescence, boys mistake the power feelings of testosterone for the ability to paint a mustache on Smokey the Bear. Although Abbey has certain keen observations, he doesn't develop them in an interesting way. His characters are one dimensional. He disrupts the peacefulness of the desert much more than any billboard would.I'm not sure what is being rescued by this fictional batch of heroes -- however, if a woman is married to a man who has outsize ego and power needs, she can read this book to better understand his world view. | 0negative
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book!
The book was cheaper than at school and it was in pretty good shape. I was satisfied by my purchase too bad i dropped the class. | 1positive
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Yes, I was another victim who had to read this for school
Ok, when I first started this book I thought it was the dumbest thing and I could not belive this was a classic! (I still can't) After a few chapters I thought it was a little better and thats why I gave it two stars. Also, it is one of the better books that I had to read for school. I still feel that it was a little boring and hard to follow but with the class discussions I understood it a lot more. I still wouldn't reccommend this book to anyone | 0negative
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Me no like
Me no could read that book good. It too slow. Me like better book. Me like Tales from the Crypt. I no think any one should read. I would not read again. If you like torture read book. If you smart spend money on beacon soda | 0negative
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Pretentious and dull
This is a book about Wolfe's boring southern life. It's cliche to the extreme: "romantic" young man goes to university, laments the fact that he is so much more intelligent than others, wishes people could understand him, returns home and looks down on everybody there. Unfortunately Wolfe is not close to being intelligent or interesting (and he certainly is not a genius as he himself said!). Wolfe obviously thinks that everything that has happened in his life will be of interest to the reader, after all he holds himself to be a genius, but one immediately sees how self-important he is, and how seriously he takes his ridiculous outlook. This is a nostalgic book; if you want to read a nostalgic book, read some Proust or Nabokov, who both soar above Wolfe, and let Wolfe be forgotten as he soon will be. | 0negative
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I'll Stick With The Movie
Here's one case where the movie was 100 times better than the book. It's no wonder that Leroux sold very few of these books during his lifetime because, quite frankly, the book was awful. The story idea itself, though, is interesting. Therefore, it's no wonder that it made it to the movies. In the novel, a disfigured man lives underneath an opera house in France and becomes obsessed with one of the opera singers. He seems to haunt the opera and makes demands that must be met lest the opera feels his rage.The author really isn't very good at telling a story. There were a few very interesting parts that lasted no more than 2 or 3 pages, but they were few and far between. Most of the characters were very one-dimensional and indistinguishable except for the main three. The author has difficulty switching between scenes; one moment two guys are locked in an room filling with rising water, then they are sitting in front of a fireplace, and then they are above ground. The author also doesn't explain his settings very well; is he talking about a proper house or rooms underground and how in the world does a forest of trees suddenly appear in an an underground room? Some of the problems might have been with the translation (such as the mistranslation of "shadow" as "shade", but I think the main problem was with the author himself.I completely slogged through this book and really don't recommend it for a pleasurable read | 0negative
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Excellent book for Februay- Black History Month
I read this book to my 1st grade students to teach them about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. The illustrations were nice and my students caught on that they were really following the constellation (the dipper). I would highly recommend this book. It was THE BEST resource I could find to tie into Black History Month. | 1positive
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Blink by This One--Get the Cliff Notes!!
Blink's main idea is that with limited information people are able to make good decisions. That being said I found it both ironic and irritating that the author was so long winded in convincing the reader of this insight. In fact this insight isn't original psychologists have known for awhile that intuition is nothing more than really fast thinking. The more expertise one has in an area the quicker they are to make a good decision. Consider the x-ray technician takes one look at an x-ray and knows exactly what is broken and how bad. The patient has been staring at the x-ray and doesn't understand what to look for. The x-ray technican has looked at thousands and knows exactly what to look for.This book isn't worth the time it takes to read it. An article is about all it takes to present the information contained. It promises to be groundbreaking but instead the book should be buried. | 0negative
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Poor binding
Though the subject matter was not what I expected, the real problem was that the pages started falling out as soon as I opened it. | 0negative
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Rather borrow than buy.....
Errrr..... I might be out of line here, but how can the first part in this novel('Low men in yellow coats') be compared to earlier works of Mr. King exploring the theme of kids growing up, like 'IT' and 'The Body' from 'Different Seasons'? It seems to me that Mr. King might be losing his touch and I SERIOUSLY doubt if this novel would have sold this well under another author's name.... Still, it has its moments, I suppose (the final part is the only part which gave me goosebumps). And, of course, if you're an avid follower of the brilliant 'Dark Tower' series, you just can't skip it.... | 0negative
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The Art of Peace
A great insight into the views of the founder of Aikido. Living the art of peace, not only in everyday life, also through training, is a way to inner peace. An excellent read. | 1positive
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A guide to making a difference in assisting the planet's environmental well-being
Creating The National Environmental Master Plan--2006 by civil engineer and environmental activist John M. Tettemer is an informed and informative descriptive study of the steps to be taken in a short time if we are to salvage and protect the environment through sound public policy and scientifically appropriate initiatives in reversing the negligent American mentality toward the natural world. Introducing readers to a planned ten-step approach to taking action and pursuing environmental protection goals, Creating The National Environmental Master Plan--2006 comprehensively presents an analysis and "reader friendly" understanding of what might most ably help realize environmental goals through cooperatively developing new national, state, and regional pro-planning practices for precisely mapping the course of future environmental initiatives. Very strongly recommended for environmental activists and policy makers searching for a guide to making a difference in assisting the planet's environmental well-being, Creating The National Environmental Master Plan--2006 is a welcome and core addition to personal, professional, and academic library Environmental Studies reference collections. | 1positive
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Happy self-terminating people
Eve Dallas, fresh from her honeymoon with new husband Roarke, must investigate the deaths of people who all apparently, died willingly. A "burn" in each victim's brain leads her to the fact that they were somehow, made to kill themselves.Eve and Roarke are in top form, and even though I guessed who the killer was as soon as I met that character, this is another great entry in the In Death books. | 1positive
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Equal to The Little House series...
This is the first Anne of Green Gables book I've read, but I have seen the earler versions on tv. I guess I cheated by jumping right to Anne of Ingleside,but I was anxious to see how she fared with five kids, six actually, because she's pregnant when the story opens.I read it and all I can say is what a sweetadolescent book:) This story takes us on an adventure of Anneand her family. Mostly each chapter is devoted to a single family member's adventure. With three girls and three boys, there are many adventures, like the time when an aunt came and wouldn't leave,or the lesson about false friends.This was a fun book to read and I definitelygive it my highest rating:) | 1positive
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Good deal
The book is more than perfect, its content, the way its written. It was right on time with a big discount, but had a corner a little wrinkled. | 1positive
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The Guide to a New Model of Spirituality
I loved Conversations with God books 1, 2, and 3. I have done a ton of reading and I've never found such a broad, advanced, and relatively accessible cosmology. Neale's last book, Communion with God, is a philosophical masterpiece that explains our confused world at its deepest levels. I've read a lot of philosophy, metaphysics and theological books. The Conversation with God books contain some of the purest truths you can find anywhere and this new book is every bit as good as the others.In The New Revelations, Neale and God continue to deliver amazingly valuable insights. This book is the most practical and the most challenging of the Conversatons with God series. It asks us to act, to become spiritual activists, to help change the world, and potentially to save it.God says that the difficulties we are experiencing with our world right now are not simply political, or religious. Our fundamental beliefs are out of wack. God is diligently non-judgemental here and asks us to drop the concept of right and wrong. Righteousness is part of the problem. God asks us to look at things pragmatically. Instead of my beliefs being right, and your's being wrong, God suggests that we simply look at the results we're getting compared to the results we want.I just returned from a weekend seminar with Neale at the Omega Institute in NY state which centered on the messages in this book. Neale asked us to become Spiritual Activists, to help others to examine their beliefs. He wants you to post the 9 New Revelations and the 5 Steps to Peace everywhere, like a modern day Martin Luther - challenge the status quo.There is no question, this is DEFINITELY great stuff. If we all do as it suggests, it WILL change the world for the better.The only problem I have is that Neale plays dumb and hands God a lot of questions that are obviously setups. Neale is much more advanced than he pretends to be here. I suppose he does this to make the material more accessible to a wider range of readers but I know he's more advanced than that. The philosophical side of me wishes Neale would raise the level of the dialog, but I'm sure that would make this less interesting to the average potential reader. | 1positive
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No, Snow falling on cedars
Haunting......A whodunit complete with courtroom maneuvering and surprising turns of evidence and at the same time a mystery, something altogether richer and deeperThis book had something for every body. Of course it did! it had too it is a best selling novel, built lets really look into this book. It is just like every other Love suspense thriller. It had its typical characters.....well the typical is fine but you should have the smarts to jazz this characters up a bit. Then the plot was a typical edge of your sit, heart throbbing story....or was it you could predict the story. There was not much point to read this book besides improve your reading skills and use up time. This book was quite the trend.Author of book: David Guterson | 0negative
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Great audiobook
Rob Inglis does a wonderful job reading the whole series. All of the voices, singing the songs, nothing is left out. | 1positive
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An Unfair Review
This is a completely unfair review to make. I'm not a Ayn Rand fan, and I usually try to avoid reviewing books about whose authors I am more or less ignorant and uninterested. That said--and all readers having been warned--this is one of the few books I have ever read in my life that I completely and utterly and absolutely loathed. If I ever had the slightest inclination to read The Fountainhead, this book squashed that interest to ant-like proportions. I found it narcissistic, chauvinistic (even by my relaxed "Hey, patriarchy has some good points" standards) and bovinely incompetent in its logic. The hero's solution to his anti-individualist society by creating an "I'm the only individual that counts" society (in other words, ANOTHER anti-individualist society) plumbs the depths of idiocy. I've been told that Ayn Rand did better than this, but I can't bring myself to find out.To play fair, other reviews are much more positive so keep reading if I've thoroughly annoyed you. | 0negative
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Seems all to familiar......
If you have read another book by David Bach, save your money. This book has no new ideas.I was very disappointed in the book. Mr Bach has repackaged material from previous books in a more simplified manner. I was hoping for more insight since I had read two of his earlier books, but found the material all to familiar. It seemed like a dumbed down version of smart women finish rich.I can sum up his message (and save you $13+) - save 10% in retirement, buy a house, don't use credit cards, and tithe and do all of these in the most simple way possible and then you will be a millionaire. | 0negative
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DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY (LIKE I DID) ON THIS GARBAGE...
This book should have been entitled "When Nothing Else Matters... But ME Michael Leahy, The Latest Sportswriter Attempting to Cash in on Michael Jordan". In five words or less: THIS IS A BAD BOOK. It is nothing but a rehash of old Washington Post articles from the 3-year-plus period that Jordan was associated with the Washington Wizards franchise. There is nothing in the book that even a casual watcher of ESPN Sportscenter or reader of sports reports would not already be aware of. In addition, the book has virtually no focus and offers no real insight into Michael Jordan, the man, or the curent culture of the NBA. I had been looking for a book that reported on and analyzed both of the 2 years that Jordan played for the Wizards, I had been a Washington season ticket-holder for several years and up until the day that Wizards owner Abe Pollin booted Jordan out of the franchise. This book pretty much is concentrated on Jordan's first year as a Wizard and lightly covers his second year. What's worse is that the book contains numerous examples of bad analysis by Leahy. As one example, Leahy cites the drop in the demand for first-level MCI Center tickets going into Jordan's 2nd year as evidence that Washington was losing its fascination with Jordan; he leaves out that Wizards owner jacked up these ticket prices 25% and higher for Jordan's 2nd year. As another example, Leahy claims that Jordan traded the young Washington star Richard Hamilton to the Detroit Pistons because Hamilton was the one player on the Wizards who had stood up to Jordan. Leahy fails to report that going into that season Hamilton's agent had tried to push the Wizards into giving Hamilton a max contract that Hamilton did not deserve one whole full year before he officially became a free-agent. Leahy doesn't even mention Wes Unseld, who ran Wizards basketball operations while Jordan played the two years and who partially defended the trade to the sports media based on Hamilton's agent's ploy. Leahy also fails to report that although Hamilton went on to fit in well offenseively with the veteran Piston team, Pistons Coach Larry Brown entertained the same reservation about Hamilton's defense that Jordan and others did and initially would not play Hamilton down the final stretch of close games. There are countless other failings in this book. The bottom line is that Jordan totally misconstrues what Michael Jordan's tenure with the Wizards was about; Leahy thinks it was all about EGO. But as I stood with 20,000+ MCI Center fans on April 14, 2003 in giving Jordan a 2-minute standing ovation when Jordan went to the home bench for his final time (this standing ovation occurring incredibly while play was still continuing on the court), certainly all the Washington fans knew that it was about giving that 110% EFFORT and that absolutist pursuit of EXCELLENCE in his chosen craft and that the Washington sad-sack basketball franchise had never seen anything like even the aging Jordan!! I feel like Michael Leahy just saw an opportunity to use his access as a Washington Post reported to try to cash in on Jordan. Time and again, Leahy wants to tell us in this book about what a "bad-ass" he was as a reporter and how he was the only reporter who would ask Jordan the "tough" questions by which he really means intensely personal questions, such as about Juanita Joran's filing divorce papers or about a former Jordan lover trying to extort $5 million from Jordan-- questions that had nothing to do with how Jordan and the Wizards were performing on the basketball court. I certainly am not one who would compliment Leahy as a "bad-ass" for delving into private matters, but I will offer him the credit he most richly deserves: THAT HE HAS AUTHORED A VERY BAD BOOK. Don't wast your money (like I did) on this garbage. | 0negative
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Disappointing in Many Ways
This book can be summed up in a few words: Disappointing, Tedious, and a Waste of Time! Several of my friends recommended this book to me. Some said it was a fun read because of it's design and crazy typography. A few said that they liked it for the modern writing style and interesting characters. However, almost all of them, and several other people I've talked to about the book since, agreed on one thing: it's incredibly scary. So after a bit more research into what critics were saying about the book and asking a few other people, including some of my literature professors, I decided to give it a shot.What a let down!!!First of all, if you're reading the book to read a story, don't because it isn't. The book is basically a research paper, filled with footnotes that last 10 pages, don't have any relevance to the discussion at hand, and make the reader very irritated if you're just reading to see what happens inside this house. If you enjoy reading interesting, slightly philosophical papers/books, please dig right in.Also if you are a true horror fan that likes stories that make you jump, gasp, speed up your heart rate, and make you question whether or not you'll be able to sleep tonight, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK!!!! It is NOT that scary at all. There are intense segments where you can feel something about to happen (the monster music starts playing) but they are lulled away by the rest of the book's long descriptions of the surroundings and facial expressions of the people involved.The only positive thing I can grant this book is the typography. The different fonts help with differentiating between narrators and the use of space and angle of texts helps create a feel for what the characters are experiencing. But that's it.All in all, I was, and still am, EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED!!If you'd like an actual scary book to read, pick up Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti's "House" or "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova. | 0negative
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Moby Dick or the white whale
I have been going back and reading some of the classics that I should have read while in school. IMO this is one of the worst written. This guy is the ultimate master of the 'run on' sentence. He seems to know all the punctuation except the period. Over uses the comma and dash way way too much. Most of the book just over describes almost every type of fish in the ocean. One of the most boring books read or written. Glad I was smart enough to skip this one in school. I should have had him in my Lit class. His writting style would have been much improved.john | 0negative
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Good Read
I have read several of Dodge's books and enjoy them, including this one, very much. One of the best features of his books is that he includes numerous maps and simple drawings to better show the battles, troops, weapons, etc.Limited, like all histories of the Punic Wars, in the available source material, in this book Dodge relies heavily on Polybius and Livy (not that he has a choice). However, he also relies heavily on his own military experience and visits to the actual battlefields to present his summary and analysis of the battles, and in this case, of Hannibal's route across the Alps.My one criticism has been noted by other reviewers--Dodge just LOVES Hannibal. Hannibal is the yardstick by which Dodge measures all other commanders. While this may be justifiable, it seems a bit overdone. | 1positive
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Dusk of Dawn
With this book, Roulac has given us THE complete and definitive book of hemp's past, present to future. It traces hem's historical roots, details the hundreds of uses of hemp, explains the historical legal underpinnings of hemp's brush in with the law, examines the global hemp industry, and shows hemp in the modern marketplace. In effect, this book provides readers with the most factual, historically comprehensive, and even-handed presentation of this controversial crop to date. To give an understanding of how useful and potentially revolutionary this crop is, allow me to quote one of my favorite parts of the book:"So imagine that one day within the next ten years, you wake up in a house whose walls, roof, flooring, insulation, and paint are derived of hemp. You feel great after sleeping on your hemp-stuffed mattress, covered with soft linens spun from hemp fiber. Your feet sink into the hemp carpeting as you get out of bed and open the hemp drapes. It's a beautiful morning."You jump into the shower, where you soap, shampoo, and hair conditioner made from hemp. You step out onto the hemp bath mat, drying yourself with a superabsorbent hemp towel. You clean your ears with H-Tips (better than the old cotton swabs), and apply hemp-oil lotion, moisturizer, and lip balm. You make a mental note to buy some more hemp toilet paper, recalling how it wasn't too long ago that we were still cutting down centuries-old trees just to flush them away."Opening your closet, you dress in hemp jeans, shirt, and jacket; put on hemp socks and shoes; tie the hemp laces; and grab your hemp wallet, which holds checks and currency printed on hemp paper."You're hungry, so you walk into the kitchen with its hemp-based linoleum floor. You make some wheat-and-hemp-flower toast, and pour a glass of fresh, organic hemp milk. After eating, you make a salad with hemp-oil dressing to take to work. Then you wash your dishes, using hemp-oil dish soap and a hemp pot-scrubber, and put the dishes away in a cabinet built of hemp fiberboard. Sitting down on the hemp-framed and upholstered couch, you glance at a newspaper printed with hemp ink on hemp recycled paper, and learn that the hemp industry is now the largest agribusiness and the major job provider in your state. You turn on the stereo, which sits on a hemp fiberboard cabinet, and listen as music vibrates from speakers also made from hemp fiberboard. They contain specialty hemp paper for the speaker cones and are covered with black hempen cloth."Leaving the house for work, you open the door of your car, built of strong, lightweight composites that include hemp. Relaxing into the driver's seat, luxuriously upholstered with hemp textiles, you rest your feet on floor mats that look like rubber but are made from hemp. As you drive to your job at the new hemp-fiber processing facility, you pass farmers harvesting some of the locally grown hemp that is revitalizing your community's rural economy."A beautiful morning indeed, but it would be even more beautiful if you knew how environmentally friendly and healthy your new hempen life actually is. The rubber-like mats in your hemp mobile are all natural and 100 per cent biodegradable; the roots of the hemp plants that line the fields of your county help enrich and solidify much-needed topsoil and therefore increase the yield of other rotational crops. You smile while spreading hempseed hummus on your hemp-wheat toast knowing it is the single most complete source of non-animal protein on the planet - and tastes much better than tofu. The smile increases as you pour hemp oil on your salad, knowing it is high in essential fatty acids that help you think better, boost your immune system, decrease your chances of cancer, and reduce the risk of high blood pressure, platelet coagulation, and hardening of the arteries. Lastly, before heading off to work, you opt for your hemp skateboard instead of the hemp mobile, as it is a brilliant, bright and sunny day.The fact of the matter is, this beautiful morning has no imaginative end. The only thing keeping us from achieving the dawn of a new tomorrow is our monopoly cotton and paper industries, and a government which seems to be supporting those industries by restricting and limiting hemp production permits and also by unleashing the DEA on would-be hemp producers (despite the fact that it has NEVER been illegal to grow hemp in America). Whatever you want to know about hemp is in this book. A must read. | 1positive
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Diverse collection for the historian or average reader
Max Hastings has compiled a truly stellar group of personal stories of campaigns dating from the Bible to the Falklands War. Each item is briefly introduced, with any background needed to understand the context of the story as it relates to the battle or campaign. It being the "Oxford Book of Military Anecdotes" the emphasis is on British history, but there's also a fair number of French, and American stories thrown in as well. Active or retired military members of most countries will especially enjoy the fights against bureaucracy going back to the Napoleonic Wars-plus ca change I guess. Anyway, it's too bad though, that almost no German or Russian stories are included-but any anthology requires some fairly tough editing to make publication. In fairness, Mr Hastings explains that there just weren't "that many" German anecdotes, and I expect that linguistic difficulties and sources (my copy is dated 1985) excluded the Russians. A more surprising omission is a lack of ancient Greek military stories, a few of which are almost common knowledge (at least in military circles.)The publishing date is, I think, the only real issue I have with the book. After almost ten years, a new edition with Ancient Greece, plus maybe the Vietnam, and Gulf I/II would further enchance an excellent book. Highly recommended. | 1positive
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Suns of God attacks the Son of God!
The author of this book clearly does not understand the Bible. In the book, the author misrepresents the data regarding textual variants in the Bible. This false information is then used as an attack against the Bible and the Son of God as revealed in the Bible. Avoid this book and the deception that lies within it's pages. | 0negative
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Thank you very much for offering exactly what I needed.
Several years ago, I read an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about this book. I was surprised, because I didn't even know that a book was written about how the indigenous peoples of California felt about the change from being governed by Mexico to being ruled by the United State of America. It was heartbreaking to read, but it's a must-read for everybody who lives in this country. May we never forget, so that it won't happen again. | 1positive
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Michael Echanis, American Ninja, Or The Special Forces "Count Dante"
i'vc had this book since i was 7 years old. i loved the awesome photos of echanis doing his thing. if you like the elaborate and complex, then this is the knife fighting book for you. there are simpler ways of "getting it done", but few are more fun to try. and, by the way, if any of you are curious as to how he died, he was killed while "training" in nicaragua. hmmm . . . | 0negative
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Misprinted Book
I purchased this book at Christmas as a gift for my son. I noticed today, when we finally got around to reading it, that the book is a misprint. It starts off with pages 1-16, then starts over with a duplicate of pages 1-16 and then jumps to pages 33-48. Pages 17-32 are missing. Too late to return it without having to pay for the return. Not sure it's worth taking the time to send it back for a partial refund. Wish there was an easier way to just exchange it for a complete book. I guess I should have checked the book sooner. | 0negative
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Storytellers, not really
This book is OK, but not a good source of ideas for storytellers. This has a formulated style to it -- little room for creative expression.Probably good for those who aren't truly looking for storytelling that involves one's own interpretations of things. | 0negative
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A nice guy tricked by NDE beings.
The author Howard Storm states on page 128:"God creates variety in everything he does, and we will ultimately find the same God, the same Christ, the same truth in all religions." This is classic universalism and a head-in-the-sand denial of the written, historical, and present day differences of various religions.He claims on page 128 "The differences between religious beliefs are man-made" thus he is saying that all written scriptures are so inaccurate that you can not believe them.From page 40 on shows himself to be some sort of end times new ager with return to nature life style as the ultimate goal of God on page 45. Overall it reads like a political diatribe of left wing views attached to an NDE.It is believable that the NDE happened to him. If you've read some of the NDE literature you recognize him as someone who got to the other side and was not knowledgeable enough to discern which beings were good and evil or between those telling him truth and lies. I don't doubt his sincerity and I do appreciate his kind tone throughout the book.The problem with all the NDE experiences is that if you haven't found the truth about God while living you might also be fooled "on the other side of life" by the NDE experience.If you like this kind of book try: A Land Unknown: Hell's Dominion, by B.W. Melvin and anything by authors Maurice Rawlings or Howard Pittman. Do a Google search and you will find them on Amazon. | 0negative
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outstanding
it's just the sort of material a business English teacher needs to meet the requirements of both business classes and executives.it is comprehensive and includes major business communication skills . I have been using it for the past two years. it is just exellent. it would probably be better if an answer key was attached to it.well Done!! | 1positive
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book review
The response for this book was quick. It is the information that I was looking for, and I am pleased with the information in the book. | 1positive
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Flood's 'Night to Remember'
I have just re-read `The Johnstown Flood,' and it brought to mind how similar in structure and narrative methodology it is to Walter Lord's classic account of the Titanic disaster, `A Night to Remember.' Both treat with relatively brief periods of time which are dissected hour by hour. Both recount the respective disasters by carefully setting the stage with principal actors and pivotal events, those of a night and those of a day. Both were due to natural occurrences which could have been avoided, but were not. And both are even similar in the number of lives lost. And both are simply wonderful reads.Among the crucial differences between them, of course, is that History lovers can actually visit Johnstown relatively easily and see for themselves the setting of the calamity and the efforts that have been made to memorialize it. First, the site of the erstwhile lake is readily accessible and the trip gives some sense of the changes in elevations between it and the town, although the long-gone body of water is difficult to visualize. Then there is a fine museum downtown which very innovatively displays the course and ferocity of the watery onslaught in pictures and interactive models. The highlight is a solid wall of the museum space covered with the kind of debris that would have accumulated at the bridge and elsewhere throughout the town, uniformly colored the inevitable, doleful brown of earth-and civilization itself-disrupted. Then go to a restaurant at the top of a hill overlooking the town and accessible by a funicular. The location provides a perfect view up the valley and I guarantee will send chills down your spine as you picture the flood cascading down and destroying just about every living and standing thing in its path.Finally, travel to the Grandview Cemetery where most if not all of the victims are interred. The 777 unidentified bodies are buried together in a semi-circle of modest markers overlooked by a marble figure of a watchful angel. My wife and I visited several years ago in early June and there remained at the site a beautiful standing flower arrangement with a ribbon saying, "You are not forgotten." McCullough and the memorializations of the town's residents ensure they are not. | 1positive
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Murder? Where?
When I purchased the book, I expected a typical mystery (something I was in the mood for). That is not what I got. Instead, I got more of a Saturday afternoon movie. The actual "murder" takes up only a 1/5th of the book. The rest is a sociological study of Mississippi. If I was in the mood for that, I would have gotten a sociology book. Why label it a mystery when that is not what this is about? | 0negative
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Pastor Murray takes us with Christ in the school of prayer.
This work by Dutch Reformed Pastor Andrew Murray is actually 5 of his books in one volume; Abide in Christ, The Prayer Life, Waiting on God, With Christ in the School of Prayer, The Ministry of Intercession, and The Secret of Intercession.What distinguishes this book from many modern day books on prayer is that Pastor Murray's focus is squarely on the Person of Jesus Christ and establishing a relationship with Him, whereas many of the modern day works on prayer focus on how to squeeze your desires out of God, as if He were a "Jeanie in a Bottle," granting your every wish.Pastor Murray's work is no mere intellectualization of prayer, but rather gentle, Godly, scriptural guidance on how to experience the Person of God through His only provided means of doing so, and that is by prayer.Rev. Murray uses scores of scriptures to illustrate that it is God's will for His children to experience and enjoy Him in His fullness. This work will transform the prayer life of anyone willing to humble themselves before Him. | 1positive
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This book kept me from going crazy....
If you have OSX or are thinking about installing it, this book is a MUST HAVE. OSX is a remarkable operating system, but I felt like I was back in the first grade trying to navigate between the world I was familiar with and this new one. After buying another book (that will go nameless) which offered absolutely no assistance at all, I discovered David Pogue's "Missing Manual." Finally, my computer and I became friends again. It is extremely well written and easy to follow. Every chapter holds countless tidbits of information, tips, and screen shots to guide you through the OSX maze. The "Programs and Documents" and "Back to Mac OS 9" chapters helped me tremendously in understanding how to work effectively with both systems. I've spent hours pouring over the information in this book and have highlighted hundreds of "must knows." I haven't attempted Applescripts yet, but I'm ready to try with this excellent resource in hand. I wish I had bought it months earlier. It would have saved me from some major headaches and the cost of several bottles of aspirin. Thank you, David Pogue! | 1positive
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For all of you out there who love mind-numbing crap.
The Red Badge of Courage is the most boring book I've ever read. Ever. And I like classic books. I've read War and Peace and David Copperfield and Middlemarch and Tess of the D'Urbervilles and loved them, but this book I could barely get through, for the following reasons.1.) Crane feels the need to write all the dialogue in some kind of awful backwoods slang.Ex: "Mebbe, it wa'n't all his fault--not all together. He did th' best he knowed. It's our luck t' git licked often."Apparently during the civil war era, no one could speak in full sentences, or even full words.2.) The description is absolutely ridiculous. It's overdone and insane, and Crane apparently found some kind of cruel joy in making up ridiculous metaphors. Ex:"Each distant thicket seemed a strange porcupine with quills of flame.""The colonel, perchance to relieve his feelings, began to scold like a wet parrot.""The hush was solemn and churchlike, save for a distant battery that, evidently unable to remain quiet, sent a faint rolling thunder over the ground. It irritated, like the noises of unimpressed boys.""The white-topped wagons strained and stumbled in their exertions like fat sheep.""He often tried to dismiss the question, but his body persisted in rebellion and his senses nagged at him like pampered babies.""This noise, following like the yelpings of eager, metallic hounds, increased to a loud and joyous burst, and then, as the sun went serenely up the sky, throwing illuminating rays into the gloomy thickets, it broke forth into prolonged pealings."Truly awful. Do you think maybe Crane was just messing with people? It's hard to believe that someone smart enough to read and write would actually use metaphors like these on purpose.3.) The characters are one dimensional and you never get to know them,4.) The plot is nonexistent.5.) The youth" doesn't die. And you want him to soooo badly after reading the book.Honestly, the best part of the book is when "the youth" gets shot in the arm. Too bad it wasn't the head. | 0negative
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Certainly worth the gamble!
Beating the Odds took an exceptionally broad area (project managenet) and made it not only concise and understandable, but very entertaining. The true surprise for me was the enjoyability factor-this book seemed much funnier than your traditional business book while keeping the key elements simple. Schroeder's knowledge and presentation of the subject matter and his ability to make difficult concepts simple reminded me of some of the better business writers (Steven Covey, Peter Drucker, Jim Collins and Malcolm Gladwell come to mind). All this, and he loaded the book with poker references, both anecdotal and instructional, of which I couldn't get enough. | 1positive
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Beautiful Story
Like everyone of Maeve Binchy's stories this one is a heart warming wonderful one. Once you start reading it's impossible to put it down. I highly recommend it to everyone, who does not need books in which every two pages someone is kiled, or violated.Maeve Binchy is a master of story telling, and her characters are very human, just like most people we know. | 1positive
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This book was intended for an art student
I was some what dissapointed with this book because I found the author too worried about filling text rather than getting to the point. I am a welder and really was looking for a book that discussed reasons, good examples, and how to create wrought iron design. I was not looking for a history lesson. If you are looking for history on the art of Spanish, Italian design etc. and where they were used,this would be the book for you. | 0negative
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Dull And Disapointing.....
Maybe Jane Eyre is just not ment to be a book for teens, but whatever the case... I found it the worst book I ever read. Jane Eyre, like all other books, has it's good parts.. But most of the time, it was just plain dull. Deffiantly don't read it if you are a teen simply looking for an exciting read. This book is a dull and boring young adult book... But maybe thats just my opinion. | 0negative
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It connected to my heart
John uses what he knows, which is hiking, fishing, canoeing, and manly movies to describe his point.I have always loved the outdoors, climbing a 14K foot peak is far more spiritual than attending your average worship service, that is for sure. I love many of the same things that John does, and I have been trained to be a warrior in a foxhole. So when John talks about being in the "Wild" or having a "warrior's heart", I get it. If you have been locked up in the prison of civilization all your life, (which is how I understand it) you may not appreciate it. I am a father of two boys, and just teaching them about the outdoors is a challenge. If, on the otherhand, you have dreams of floating through the Grand Canyon or climbing that mountain, this book will connect with your heart.Some critics have called this book an attempt to get us back to our caveman roots, but when you don't connect, you cannot see the vision. It is about living out God's adventure for our lives, it is about taking up His battle, making His battle our own. In this area, I believe that John has hit a crucial nerve with so many men that have been afraid of becoming passionate about anything, much less being passionate for Christ. That is where John is trying to lead us, into a passionate existence where God is our guide, and we pursue Him passionately. If you follow John's next book, "Waking the Dead" you see this being further fleshed out. Many in the Christian church are stone dead in their faith. They produce little or no fruit and they see church as an obligation, instead of a place where passionate followers of God gather. I have been that man. Eldridge helped me understand that having a warriors heart, where the only thing that matters is God, is not only ok, but what God is searching for.Having helped lead a group of a dozen men through this book, I can honestly say that about half the guys get it, half don't.It you connect to it, it is 5 stars. If you aren't a lover of the great outdoors, you may just get angry because you don't even understand why someone would even bother to take a long hike in the mountains in order to get at some fish with a fly-rod.If you like to be comfortable in the air conditioned atmosphere, this book won't suit you. As for me, even though I live in a large city, my passion is for the wild. | 1positive
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All Technique? How About Heart, Soul, and Guts?
So much of this book seems to be devoted to the singular objective of conjuring up and applying technique--for the sake of conjuring up and applying technique. How about heart, soul,and guts, the innards of what makes a truly great novel great? After reading Conflict, Action, and Suspense I find not the slighest nod in this direction. If, for example, you set out to portray a protagonist with deep-seated psychological problems, is it best to first think of how to create conflicts and actions for him / her, as Noble urges? Or, is it best to largely monologue your way into the story in order to "set up" the forthcoming suspenseful situations you have in store for him / her? If you carefully shepherd the reader's thought-flow by way of psychological portrait, isn't this a better setting of the stage for real life-like suspense to follow? Sure, most writers of books on writing will tell you that you must make things get very ugly, very quickly. But, is this really the best way to paint the Celebrated Dreamer, The Simpleton, The Fool In Love, The Anti-Hero who believes his peers are all conditioned to suppose they can get rich "thinking" while other schmucks sweat? ##### Noble writes well enough. And, there is no shortage of ideas in this book. But, alas, the ring of "artificiality" is too much for me. | 0negative
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Historical Fiction that Almost Delivers
Caleb Carr did a wonderful job of incorporating historical characters (JP Morgan, Teddy Roosevelt) into his novel about a turn-of-the-century serial killer and its pursuers. I would have rated this book a ten had it not been for the farfetched Hollywoodesque climax. Still, I recommend this book to readers of all genres. | 1positive
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Quite a rubbish book
The one question I was left with at the end of the novel was: how did this piece of junk come to be a bestseller?The entire novel was filled with cookie cutter characters living cookie cutter lives. The things the characters were concerned with (an angel next to an urn on the family grave, for example) were so trivial that I felt almost guilty wasting my time reading it while there are people dying of starvation in third-world countries. I'll admit, sometimes I do like a guilty pleasure "candy" book that goes nowhere but is entertaining, but this book was all the sludge without any of the pleasure. Actually, I think Chevalier is a pretty over-rated writer, all across the board. I seem to be the only person on the planet who WASN'T enthralled with "girl with a pearl earring." Well, I gave Chevalier another shot and my suspicions were confirmed.Final Verdict:Don't read it. If you HAVE to read Chevalier, which I wouldn't recommend doing, read Lady and the Unicorn. it wasn't as depressing as this one, and it had a bit of intrigue in it, at least. | 0negative
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Lame! Vampire Romance
Ugh. This book was bad. I knew it was going to be bad when the ex-vampire hunter, Regan, is walking toward her car after dark in the park (where vampires roam free) and is afraid. Afraid? I'm sorry, but if a heroine is going to be billed as an ex-vampire hunter, I don't want to read within the first few pages that she's scared to walk to her car alone in the dark. I must admit that I only made it half-way through this book. There was no believable reason for Joaquin to feel so strongly toward Regan. The whole story just seemed flat, underdeveloped, and shallow. And then when the werewolf bite happened and she was all, yeah, let's go to South Dakota on a whim, I was done.I had read another Amanda Ashley vampire romance (historical) and thought it wasn't bad. But this one was very poorly written. And word to the poster who mentioned Regan's "robot coffeemaker". Cringeworthy. | 0negative
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Disappointed in selection of illustrations
Just received two copies of this book today, one for myself and a second for an illustrator/friend as a Christmas gift. I am not impressed with the books and I am returning both of them.I have an extensive collection of books on illustration and famous illustrators which I use as reference and inspiration as an artist/illustrator. I had hoped this one would be one of the better books exhibiting outstanding examples of illustrators' work. It is not. I feel that too much emphasis is placed on text on the illustrator, with wasted empty white space around it, as well as large mediocre illustrations taking up two pages when there are others that deserve more attention and space.Given the amount of illustrations that have been done for National Geographic over the last 100 years, I expected this book to be crammed pack full of inspiration and variety. It is not. It does not go into enough depth into a specific illustrator's work, such as Paul Calle for example, who did numerous pieces for N.G. Only one of his paintings is shown in the book and it is not one of his better illustrations in my opinion.The chapter on Natural History is probably the best of the book, but again, I had expected a much more diversified selection with many more examples than what is shown. I felt many pages were wasted on illustrations that were enlarged 200+ percent for the sake of making an impact, when the technical merit of the painting does not justify the space of two pages. In several instances, the paintings are blurred and lose their detail due to the enlargement.I am sorry to say that this book is lacking in many areas and I would not advise buying it at full price. If someone feels that they must have it, wait until it goes on sale. | 0negative
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read this
its a great book..short enough? HAHA! | 1positive
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These books are a hoax
Please do not fall for these books, they are purely imaginary. It does matter when things are made up and passed off as true, and is contrary to the whole point of the spiritual journey. My sister was involved in a cult in Denver Colorado based on these books for several years and I deeply regret this. | 0negative
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amazing service!!!
Fastest delivery! Product was in perfect shape! Thanks... would most definately order from you again! | 1positive
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Not a good piece of literature.
I enjoy a wide range of literature. But, I am sorry, I did not think this book was worth my time. I got very frustrated with Krauss' writing ("And yet.", "But."), I did not find a real mystery or climax, and did not perceive any sense of closure for any of the characters.On the other hand, if you want to read a good book about a book, please accept my recommendation of "The Shadow of the Wind", a truly entertaining and beautifully written novel. This book received a lot of praise in Spain and the rest of Europe. Enjoy. | 0negative
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POWERFUL READING
INDEED WHEN YOU READ LOUISE HAY POWER CARDS THE DAY GOES WELL. I LOVE LOUISE HAY AND INDEED IF YOU FOLLOW HER ADVISE YOUR DOUBTS AND FEARS CAN GO AWAY BUT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECTION .THE MOST YOU REPEAT YOUR AFFIRMATIONS THE EASIER TO ADJUST TO CHANGES AND RECEIVE THE WONDERFUL GIFTS THE UNIVERSE HAS TO OFFER BUT YOU HAVE TO CHANGE YOUR THOUGHTS OF LIMITATION TO ABUNDANCE AND WELL BEING. THESE CARDS ARE AN EXCELLENT TOOL TO KEEP POSITIVE AND BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN BE SUCCESSFUL AS YOU MAKE UP YOUR MIND TO BE AND YOU CAN HAVE ANYTHING YOU WANT ONLY IF YOU BELIEVE IT, DREAMS CAN COME TRUE IF HAVE THE COURAGE TO FOLLOW THEM BUT THOUGHTS ARE THE TRIGGER TO EVERYTHING THAT GOES AROUND IN YOUR LIFE AND YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN DO IT. YOU HAVE TO LOVE LIFE AS LIFE WILL BRING YOU GOLDEN OPPORTUNITIES IN EVERY CORNER. MY LIFE HAS CHANGED SO MUCH BUT YOU HAVE TO WATCH YOURSELF AND KEEP TRACK OF WHAT YOU THINK. IF I CAN DO IT YOU CAN DO IT AND LOUISE HAY IS OF GREAT HELP. I ALSO LISTEN TO HER CDS WHILE DRIVING SO YOU CAN DO THE SAME. ALSO REMEMBER YOU RECEIVE WHAT YOU GIVE TO OTHERS AND BE GRATEFUL TO GOD AND EVERYTHING YOU HAVE IN LIFE , SPECIALLY THOSE PEOPLE AROUND YOU, IF YOU GIVE LOVE YOU'LL RECEIVE LOTS OF LOVE. I COMPLEMENT LOUISE HAY WITH WAYNE DYER & ESTHER/JERRY HICKS BOOKS AND CD'S, & MOVIES. YOU CAN HEAL YOUR LIFE IS AN EXAMPLE MOVIE FROM LOUISE HAY AND ALSO THE SHIFT - WAYNE DYER. | 1positive
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An intelligent and entertaining book
This book starts as your standard cold war spy novel that is vaguely interesting before moving into high gear. When you finally realise what is actually going on in the plot, I assure you that you'll be astounded at the sheer intelligence that LeCarre has communicated in this novel. All is not what it seems and the plot kicks into gear, it is addictive reading. In fact, a second reading is often necessary just to go over and comprehend it completely. All around it is a great story, so great, in fact, that when the novel was first released it was believed that LeCarre was a former government agent! A great book that makes for a fascinating read. I totally recommend it. | 1positive
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Rendez-vous : an invitation to French
I used this book in my introductory french class and it was highly informative. The activities that were in it allowed for me to really learn, as well as have fun while doing it. | 1positive
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Best insight into the law and being a lawyer
This book is a must read for anyone who ever contemplates the law or being a lawyer. Especially for anyone thinking about attending law school! Sells, along with Thomas Moore, relates the imaginative language of Archetypal Psychology to the mainstream in this insightful discourse. | 1positive
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Insightful
This book is a remarkably fresh and insightful take on the lessons that can be drawn from the Bible about man's relation to nature. Although the book of Job is widely viewed as one of the most pessimistic and perplexing ones in the Bible, McKibben leaves the reader feeling uplifted. | 1positive
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A non-stop read
Thomas Pitt is now a member of the Secret Branch having been forced out of Bow Street when Inspector Wetron became the head of the Inner Circle. When anarchists bomb homes, the head of the anarchists is murdered, and members of Parliament are lobbying for a bill to arm the police and allows ad hoc searches and questioning of servants, Pitt is forced to work with his enemy Sr. Charles Voisey to find out who is behind it all.I had actually put off reading this book thinking "Oh no, another Inner Circle story," but am so glad I finally picked it up and then I didn't stop until I'd finished it. Perry is a masterful writer and an expert at using an historical incident as the nucleus of a compelling and suspenseful story. It is also timely as it deals with some of the issues of government access and privacy that are in today's news. The plotting is impeccable; the story has several threads and good red herrings all of which are effectively tied up at the end. The usual wonderful characters with strong interconnected relationships are here, but it is the interaction between Pitt and Voisey that is particularly effective. No one creates sense of time and place in Victorian England better than Ms. Perry. She educates, entertains and makes you think. I would read the series in order but feel this book is one of the best. | 1positive
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As the NY Times said, "...A whiz-bang page turner!"
Despite the many allegations that this book is unfair to the Soviets, portraying them as crude, belligerent, and even downright evil, I have but one thing to say: well, duh. That's pretty much communism in a nutshell, and Clancy just lets the facts speak for themselves. He's really quite fair in presenting both sides. The reader learns about both sides through the characters, not the narrator. The Soviet characters praise their beloved homeland, while the American characters praise theirs. As Clancy points out, we Americans were not without fault. (I could argue this point a little better, but that would give away too much of the plot.) Point is, it just so happens that we Americans surpassed them in many respects. But before you get to feeling all sorry for the poor widdle Commies, keep in mind that these are the people whose solution to the mutual devastation of nuclear war was their "first-strike capability," whereby the Soviets would use their nuclear arsenal to obliterate the United States, leaving us too crippled to launch a counterattack. Now that's a friendly bunch, eh? Well, I'd love to finish bashing communism, but this is a book review, and they only let me have 1000 words anyway. To sum up, this book is a fabulous read for both sides of the Commie/Yankee Imperialist Pig argument. The plot's fast-paced and well developed, the characters are realistic, and it's the most interesting way to learn about the Cold War and its combatants. He teaches a little Russian, some navy acronyms (which might as well be in Russian), and everything you need to know about a sub. By the way, since I'm taking the Yankee Imperialist Pig side of this issue, I would like to point out that pigs are the only barnyard animals noted for both their intelligence and keen sense of smell. | 1positive
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