Downloads Books

Well-done book, written concisely and full of information. I enjoyed the information against popular myths about the elevator pitch and giving presentations. I would recommend this as a great start for people going into pitch meetings.

This book was actually a gift for my husband. I remembered him commenting an article he had read about Stephanie Palmer and she impressed him. My husband is like a sponge. Always reading and trying to soak up knowledge. However, rarely does he comment out loud to me, unless the person or subject matter really zings him.

I also remember him indicating that Stephanie Palmer had a book out.
I decided to find the same book he was talking about, without hinting that I was going to buy it for him.

Well, I found it, he read it, he really liked it and got some excellent information from it. Now I am putting it on my list of the next books that I read.

He recommends this book and says it is helpful whether or not your are in a speaking position on any regular basis, a job you have that you may need to present yourself in front of anyone, or as he did to myself, just a housewife, he said would benefit me.

So, we give it an A+

this book is a must for anyone trying to improve their communication skills in any business. So much is done "in the room" and the fact remains that talent for the job and talent for getting the job are not the same thing. The author tells us things we may not want to believe but are things we are be better for knowing. It's like having ammunition, or a great coach with you when you go in for that interview or pitch meeting. I've already used some of the techniques and benefited greatly. Will most likely read this one a second time when another big meeting comes up.

We all have problems closing the deal. Whether it's pitching a screenplay to Spielberg, ironing out the final sale price with Trump, or negotiating who picks up the kids with the hubby/wifey.

This book provides an entire canon of strategies that can be used by different personality types in different situations. This isn't the stuff they teach you in school, but is precisely the type of knowledge and skills needed to be successful (or at least to avoid picking up the kids).

I can say first hand that the skills in this book helped me discover an unadvertised job in the industry of my dreams only a few weeks ago. Yesterday, I closed the deal and start next week.

I think that's worth doling out for the hardcover, don't you?

We don't often see everyone giving a book 5 stars - this one deserves it. The other reviewers have touched on some of the important points in the book, don't assume that you can extrapolate and get all the benefits just by reading the reviews - read, re-read, and study this book!

Although the book is focused on business applications specifically sales and moving up the corporate ladder - its tenants can be applied in most any interactions between people - friends, family, organizations, and of course business.

Palmer does not propose flashy or manipulative techniques; it's down in the trenches building solid and genuine foundations. She advocates thoughtful planning, with allowances for mis-steps along the way (and excellent advice on how to handle them).

A few of the gems that stand out for me relate to interacting with others - could be a boss or a (potential) client - organized a bit differently than in the book:

1. Before the meeting starts - do your homework, be prepared, dress appropriately (could be different that how client dresses), don't sit in the wrong chair.
2. Remind the others why you're there - the appointment could have been set days ago and they forgot.
3. Don't start your pitch too soon, develop rapport.
4. DO NOT try to be the smartest person in the room (even if you are) and do not be the center of attention.
5. When the inevitable interruptions happen - determine if it just a pause or a reason to break off the meeting for now. If getting back into the meeting after an interruption, easy back in with a brief summary of what was covered before the interruption.
6. Have a smooth way of informing the attendees on details that perhaps they should know, but perhaps don't remember (or don't know). "As you probably know, the Brothers Grimm are the nineteenth-century German professors..."

I could go on and on, but you need to read the book anyway. Go for it!

This is a very cute story! A "must have" for all children's personal libraries. It is always so fun to get a great kids book and this is definitely one of them. You won't be disappointed! Our twin 3-year-old boys love it, and we parents love to read it!

I bought this book on an Amazon recommendation looking for reading material for my 8 yr old nephew. Not only does he love it and enjoy reading it, turns out my 2 yr old niece loves it just as much too. There are lots of pictures balanced with words to keep her attention and an entertaining story to keep his. It is the favorite book of the summer for both of them. A huge hit.

My not quite two year old loves this story, and regularly chooses it along with "Room on the Broom" from the pile of around twenty children's books, for his bedtime stories. Julia Donaldson's entertaining, rhyming style and simple yet meaningful story, is complimented beautifully by the wonderful, rich illustrations.

This is the most clever children's story I've ever read, and I've read hundreds of books to my 17-month old! What an imaginative, original premise with a great message, too: You can outwit any scary or imposing creature -- no matter how small you are!

I completely adore everything written by Julia Donaldson. She is my favorite children's author. She is an incredibly talented "poet" of children's literature. Another MUST BUY is The Snail and The Whale. It's a wonderfully told tale with a truly heartfelt message (I actually cried for the whale!). She's just awesome.

My husband and I found the book very cute, nicely illustrated, and of course you can't beat the title. No wonder there are no bad reviews posted. It took our 4-yr old daughter to point out the obvious: the mouse lies to everyone to protect himself. Which mommy and daddy have worked hard to convince her is NOT a good thing to do. Oops! I suspect we'll have the same issue with many of the world's folk tales...

Excellent, witty, funny and got a great response when read to my grandsons, ages 6 and 7.

My daughter (age 7) is never "keen" to read books. When she told me she liked the "Fly Guy" books she read in class - I went and bought the series! There are 5 books, total. The stories are silly and have a fun "gross" factor that most kids would enjoy. The books have a few chapters, but they are easy readers and so it allows the kids to have a sense of accomplishment (having read a "Chapter" book), while not being too labor-intensive. I would definitely recommend them for kids that need to be "encouraged" to read.

My little girl was introduced to fly guy in Super Fly Guy! She just loved the story! Of course we had to pick up the first story!

Buzz is looking for something to catch for the Amazing Pet Show. He meets fly guy as the bump into each other. Well fly guy boinks his noise. He catches him and takes him home but nobody believes a fly can be a pet! Dad tries to get him with a flyswatter! My girl told him NO! Even at the show, the judges keep telling him a fly is not a pet! But flyguy wins them over in the end!

This book deservedly won the Theodor Geisel award as it's really easy to read and it's interesting enough to keep children interested.

Artwork is great as my girl did not get tired of the pictures!

Fly Guy is so cute. A fly cute? Well, he is. He's drawn that way as only Tedd Arnold can. I love his pictures as they all have that same uniqueness to them. You can always spot a Tedd Arnold book.
Fly Guy has an owner named Buzz and he says his name all the time. Who wouldn't want a pet that says your name?
My kids really enjoy this book. It's simple yet innovative. How many of us wish we thought of it ourselves?
Love it!

Used this book with groups of struggling readers. It was motivating and they wanted to read the sequels. They are very fond of Fly Guy now, and they are very excited about the next book. They want to write a letter to Tedd Arnold and ask him to write more Fly Guy books.

A lot of the approbation or criticism of a book like this has to do with the accuracy of the translation, which is something I'm not an expert in. What I can say about it is that this translation reads like a novel. It leaves you with the impression that Herodotus is telling you a story, rather than the impression that you are reading a bit of ancient Greek literature translated by some stodgy classicist.

The story itself is excellent. Basically, it's the story of the rise of the Persian Empire, culminating in the war with the Greeks. It covers things like the battles Marathon, and Thermopylae. But it's much more than that. Herodotus surveys the geography and cultures of the people who existed during that time. Much of what he recounts is hearsay and mythology, which I imagine can be frustrating for the historian but is actually very entertaining and fascinating for the general reader. There are also numerous short stories interspersed with the larger narrative, especially in the earlier chapters.

This is a fantastic book, which I think even people who normally wouldn't read classics would enjoy. In fact, I think this books is most comparable to a book like "The Lord of the Rings". If you enjoyed that, and you like history too, then you'll probably like this book.

Who am I to write a review of Herodotus' The Histories? I am not a classicist, a historian, or a scholar. I wouldn't know the difference between translations, which one is "most true" to the original, which one provides the most accurate analysis of the texts and its accuracies and inaccuracies. So, I have decided that the only way I could review this book is to express how readable it is for a non-scholar who wants to read one of the most ancient of histories, of a time and place far removed from our own, about alien cultures and beliefs, and a complicated war between the ancient Greeks and Persians.

The only reason I read this version is that when I mentioned to my brother once that I had never really read any of the Greek historians, he said I had to read this one and then loaned me his copy. It took me a couple of years, but I finally got around to it. And I found that what he told me is true. The Histories is extremely readable and interesting. Herodotus spent a lot of time giving a background of the conflict, and mixes the historical with what we would call the mystical or fantastic. A lot of time is spent describing the cultures of the Egyptians, the Persians, and the various Greek city-states. If I forgot the significance of a name, I could just look him (rarely a her) in the index, where a short description could be found. If I became confused about where the Thracians were from, I could look at several helpful maps in the back.

There were several times that I became overwhelmed by the details (I guess I didn't appreciate knowing what colors and costumes each people wore during battles). I also had difficulty following from one battle to another, but I'm not sure if that was the fault of the text.

I therefore recommend this for the casual, armchair historian who just wants to learn more about the ancient Greeks while reading a good story. I suspect the book would also work for the more serious scholar who wants to study the text.

Having had a couple years of Greek in college (just enough to be dangerous) I have to say Grene's translation looks to me the most literal and readable at the same time. The old Rawlinson translation is stylish but not as close to the Greek as Grene. de Selincourt's Penguin classics effort loses style points compared to Rawlinson, and yet manages to perhaps be even a bit further from the Greek. Waterfield's Oxford classics just reads as flat and featureless as the Wall Street Journal's finance pages, and yet isn't very close to the Greek either! Grene alone seems to open a contemporary English speaker's ears to hear how Herodotus would sound if you were actually a Greek speaker of the 5th century BC (and isn't that exactly what we want our translators to do for us?). I like his point that with the Homeric overtones, Herodotus should sound just a bit "odd" a little archaic, yet lively. I think Grene hit the mark right on the head, and of course Herodotus himself is a gas. Totally entertaining, and highly recommended.

On a side note, does anyone know how to pronounce Mr. Grene's name? I realize he's Irish, but it's an unusal name and I've never heard it pronounced...

this is to my mind the only translation for you. Herodotus was not a historian; rather, he was an inquirer, and a displayer of inquiry. I've never read another translation that captures the profound uncertainty about the operation of the universe that radiates from every sentence of his Greek.

The ancient world is a wonderfully unfamiliar place, once you've let go of your preconceptions: reading Grene's Herodotus is a very good way to start letting them go.

David Grene's translation of Herodotus' "The History" is a good version of the Greek historian's magnum opus.

The Introduction provides context for the translation to come. It is useful and functional, although Knox' introductions to The Iliad and The Odyssey (Fagles' translations) strike me as better at putting the work in its place. Nonetheless, the Introduction is serviceable. Grene notes of Herodotus' work that" "There are two worlds of meaning that are constantly in Herodotus' head. The one is that of human calculation, reason, cleverness, passion, happiness. There, one knows what is happening and, more or less, who is the agent of cause. The other is the will of Gods, or fate, or the intervention of daimons."

In the History itself, Herodotus ranges widely geographically, and considers many different countries. With these, he discusses in detail such varied matters as hygiene, sex, culture, animals, religion, geographical features, and so on. He appears to have tried to ascertain as best as he could what the actuality was and what hearsay or rumor was. One of the more interesting examples of this is his effort to understand the role of Helen in the Trojan War (2, 120). Here, he doubts the veracity of Homer's rendering of the causes of the war. He believes that Helen never did go to Troy, because Priam would not have been willing to risk his empire over one woman. At other places, he clearly states the different versions of some incident and then renders his own best judgment as to what he thought the reality was. In short, he did not simply retell tales that he heard. When he is not sure what actually happened, he says so (e.g., 1, 49; 1, 75).

In the end, Herodotus has done a great service for many generations, by putting down, as best he could, his understanding of the history of the various actors of his time and before. The reader will find it difficult to keep all the people and countries straight. The volume features a useful set of maps, providing a sense of the different countries mentioned, as well as the travels of armies on conquests.

The book moves ahead in a majestic trajectory to ultimately describe the Persian-Greek War, with Xerxes leading his great force into Greece. Herodotus provides detail on many aspects of this conflict, which the Greeks eventually won, after battles at Thermopylae, Salamis, and Platea.

For an early effort at history, Herodotus' work is important to be aware of. And Grene's translation makes the work accessible to readers today.

An excellent novel, part of the series written by WEB Griffin. As intiguing as The Corps series. Delightful to read as a relaxing activity but always "wanting more" as you continued the novel. Strongly recommend as an adventure espionage novel. Highly recommend.

During WW2, the 'Office of Strategic Services' was set-up by 'Wild' Bill Donovan as the precursor to the CIA. Unlike the CIA of today (uhhuh) OSS was run on a shoe string and by a lot of academics who watched to many John Wayne movies. The OSS was notorious for trying to pull off missions in France which led to more problems for the Resistance than they were worth. It was a hotbed of Ivy Leaguers who thought that intellectualism would win out over ability every time.

Griffin has done a marvelous job of describing the tenor of the times on both sides of the Atlantic. The Germans cover all the cliches, like the Honorable Prussian Office, the dastardly Gestapo/SS Guy, the bumbling 'Sargent Schultz' type, etc. The Argentines spend their time plotting to overthrow the government (coup d'etats are like a national sport) and deciding on whether to be American or German neutrals. The Americans are all 'can do' kind of guys, especially the marines, and have more luck with the ladies then an Emir in his Hareem.

But, it's all good fun, sort of like Casablanca (but without the music) from the feel of it. Of course, the idea that there will be a sequel is understood, and we'll get to see everyone again real soon. We'll always have Buenos Aires. Here's looking at you amigo.

This is one of the best books I have read about the OSS operations in a theatre that is rarely considered.

WEB Griffin fills a gap in my military history of actions outside the main combat arenas. He obviously researches thoroughly and the result is gripping all the way through.

Honor Bound captures your attention at the start and never lets go. While there is not really a lot of "action," the story, the settings and the character development all make for an excellent book.

The story is the recruitment and development of an OSS team to carry out a secret mission to disrupt German submarine activity in neutral Argentina during WWII. The sub story is the reconnection of a powerful Argentine father and his American son who have not seen each other since the son was an infant. Several other sub stories are also woven in. All are interesting and well told.

The primary setting is WWII Buenos Aires. Most of us are unaware of the atmosphere there during the war, so that makes for a good learning experience. Other settings include Guadacanal, Midland (Texas) and New Orleans. All add interest to the story.

Griffen also does an excellent job of developing his characters. The primary ones really come to life.

If you are looking for "shoot 'em up" action, this book is not for you. If you are looking for a fascinating book about an arena that you probably know little about, give this a try. I am pretty sure you won't be disappointed.

After much previous reading and study wihtout learning how to medidate reading this little text gives a clear and simple path towards achieving the rewards of medidation.

This book is a blessing

This is an inspiring and practical book with exercises to live lovingly in the world.

The contribution of Delai Lama's writing's in this century may give the world a significant change as it struggles in material pleasures of life. May his message of love and peace win over human suffering and bring about a positive change in people.

Author of "A Hot Pot of Roasted Poems"
Editor of "The Blue Fog Journal"
Rohitash Chandra

Like a few other reviewers, I am in the beginning stages of my practice of Buddhism, and I have struggled with some of the concepts I have read about from other authors, lamas, and practitioners. However, when I read this book by the Dalai Lama, the veil was lifted from my eyes and I literally felt the sudden rush of understanding. Never have I meditated on a topic so deep and full of mystery and felt that it had been explained so thoroughly and with such clarity.

The pages just fly by as you get lost in your own thoughts - your world will be literally turned upside down as you proceed through the chapters. This book will have you thinking long after completion and will allow you to experience your life through completely different (and more compassionate and understanding) eyes.

Highly recommended for experienced practitioners, as well as beginners like me who wish to grasp an extremely deep and insightful concept that will not be explained with better clarity.

This was a wonderfully insightful book that challenges you to take a hard look at the "true you". It makes you think on the choices you have made in life, and where you want to go from where you are now. I found this book very enlightening and found great peace in it's reading. I learned many things about myself that I feel have made me want to be a better person, and I believe it has helped put me on that path. I recommend this title to anyone looking for self awareness.

This book is very unique in the fact you expect it to be about a haunted house but actually the main subject is the struggle of growing up different. I got this book because I love haunted house stories but I have to admit I got more than I bargained for. The author did a good job bringing her awkwardness and pain to life especially when he was almost discovered with his sister's bridal dress on in the attic by his father! I don't believe in the gay issues but I felt very sorry for Jimmmy as a boy who was so confused and noone to turn to and I really believe considering the fact he did have sexual feelings for a couple of females and the desire to change that he could have if he had gotta the help he needed. All and all it was a very well told memoir and her personality really came thru in the story.

A fascinating story woven with the backdrop of a transgender young man haunted both by his phsyical identity and the physical haunting of a house in main line Philadelphia. It is a very poignant, at times sad and then humorous book. I deeply admire the struggle of the author and the way in which she wrote this moving story. The call to be real and to "find ourselves" is one in which we all struggle to achieve on varying levels.

This book picked up steam after a chapter or two and never ceased to be less than enthralling. Boylan's story of growing up transgendered and in a haunted house is a tale that probably no one else can tell, and she does a remarkable job. Even better than She's Not There, in I'm Looking Through You Boylan recounts a rich childhood and adolescence filled with love, doubt, pain, joy, and how both the living and the dead have an impact on our lives. A surprisingly addictive read, and highly recommended.

At first glance I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted: A Memoir seems to be about growing up in a haunted house, but it's much more than that. Author Jennifer Finney Boylan uses the near-translucent spirits inhabiting her family home as a metaphor for her dissociated youth. She spent her first 40 years as James Boylan, the boy's and man's body a bad fit for her soul.

The Boylan family moved to the aptly named "Coffin House" on Philadelphia's Main Line, and at once young James began to observe ghostly shapes drifting through the rooms. Through the teen years and in later visits as a young adult, alienated by feelings that "James" was meant to be "Jenny," the author continued to experience the ghosts. In more recent years, after transgender surgery turned James into Jenny at last, she visited the house with a "ghostbusting" team and came to a better understanding of the strange presence and what it was foreshadowing to the boy, near-translucent himself.

This memoir follows the theme of author Boylan's earlier book She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders, expanding on her life with a full cast of eccentric extended family members and friends. Boylan's humor has a dark cast; she deflects her serious moods with lightning-quick turnarounds, yet the reader never doubts her seriousness. The book is full of music and cultural references that at times are the only tethers holding Jenny/James in the real world.

Parent and partner, professor, friend, musician, daughter, sister -- some of Boylan's relationships have thrived and some suffered. Her books leave me believing that, as she states, she's "solid" at last. I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted: A Memoir is not your everyday memoir but it will make you think -- about ghosts, but especially about the human experience.

Linda Bulger, 2008

I didn't know jack (or jill) about Jennifer Finney Boylan when I picked up this book. I was only interested because it was described as a "growing up in a haunted house" memoir, and I can't get enough of the paranormal.

Imagine my surprise when a few pages in I discover that Jenny was formerly Jimmy.

At first I was annoyed at what I perceived as falst advertising. But in no time I found myself captivated by Jenny's unique voice and perspective. She captures perfectly the goofiness of teenagers in the '70s, with all cultural references intact. The section on Jimmy's first job as a bank teller had me laughing out loud because it reminded me so much of my first job.

By the end of the book, I loved both Jimmy and Jenny, and the whole haunted angle was almost a moot point.

I'm looking forward to reading more by this talented writer.

If you are ever bored, pick up this series, and start reading. Usually when I read books, I read in short segments. But when I picked up the first one, it was different. When I started, I couldn't stop until the end of the fourth one! It is action packed, and has so many adventures. Plus, it is suspenseful! I highly recomend this to EVERYONE!

All 4 dragon books are filled with mystery, suspense, adventure and action, but this is by far my favorite. I've read the Kingdoms and Dragons books about 10 times each (I'm not exagerating). These books are better than Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings combined. I liked this more than Eragon and Eldest. I love all the battles and action but nothing prepared me for this one, HOLY CRP!!!! I was glued to the book the first time I read it and totally blown away!!! This book is amazing and everyone who I've talked to says its great too! Read it you won't be disappointed.

This book was amazing. I started reading this series because the kid across the street was already reading it. So then I picked up the first one and kept going and going It's like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars all rolled into one. It's really entertaining and I couldn't stop reading. I read all 4 in 2 weeks. I'd recommend this for anyone who likes fiction.

This book was awesome because of how much fighting, adventure, magic, and excitement Robert Stanek put into the story. It reads fast. If you like dragons this is your kind of book.

This Book was Great AND the best of the series. I never read anything like it. On my favorite books list this ones on the top #1. If you love adventure and you've already read Potter and Lord of the Rings, give this book a try.

I WAS REALLY STRESSED OUT, HAVING PANIC ATTACKS, REALLY DOWN ON EVERYTHING AND TAKING MEDICATION FOR ANXIETY. THIS BOOK CHANGED MY THINKING ABOUT LOTS OF THINGS. I BECAME SO POSITIVE ABOUT LIFE AND ITS MEANING THAT I EVEN STOPPED MY MEDICATION AND FEEL GREAT.

A MUST READ.

This lady is slowly turning my life around. Everything in the book is common sense but in today's busy world we no longer think that way. I've gained a new outlook on life and am approaching situations that would normally leave me stressed in a more peaceful way. It has something for everyone.

This book offers practical strategies to help readers achieve inner peace in a busy, chaotic world. Each of the 52 strategies are realistic and simple to implement. Dr. Borysenko offers strategies in each of the main areas of our lives including: overall life, taking care of yourself, time, managing your mind, developing compassion, kindness, and clear communication, and creating wisdom and purpose. She offers a specific action for each strategy so the reader can begin transforming their life immediately.

"Inner Peace for Busy People" is definitely worth the time to read.

Chapters are short. Nice read before bed. Good and thoughtful information. Worth the money.

As a big believer in the need for personal peace to achieve our life purpose and a huge fan of Dr. Joan Borysenko's wisdom, I treasure this book!

Who among us in this high speed world isn't stressed by the environment in which we operate? And, who among us hasn't seen that our health and performance is better when we have inner peace? The challenge is to maintain our inner peace in this busy world. And, this book provides 52 thoughtful strategies and tactics for doing so.

Other reviewers have done a fine job of summarizing the contents of this gem. So instead of replicating that which they have summarized, let me share how I use this book. This is one of a handful of books that are my life guides (Cheryl Richardson's Unmistakable Touch of Grace, Judith Orloff's Positive Energy, Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life). I reread these books frequently. Each also stands as a powerful tangible reminder of that which I believe I must practice. And, each has directly contributed to profound, positive changes in my life.

Beyond the personal benefits of this book, I am just enough of an idealist to believe that the best anecdote to the absence of peace in this world is for each of us to become more peaceful. To be a beacon of peace, and a practioner of kindness. This is as good a guidebook as you will find in setting forth a holistic approach to personal inner peace.

A fairly interesting book. O'Donnell lists the campaigns of the elite troops of this theater of command, details the plan of battle, and then gives the oral histories of those who served in those campaigns. Most of the veterans are at the end of their lives, so these oral histories present a heartfelt tribute to the difficulties these soldiers endured during combat. What surprised me most was how these soldiers/veterans got choked up recounting the battles they went through, and the friends they lost. Freedom isn't cheap, and these soldiers are living proof of how America was affected by the battle.
This is a good read. Oral histories are good at describing the personal experiences of soldiers, but they don't put perspective on the actual battle campaigns. If one wants to know more about the War in the Pacific, one needs to read a general history, before reading this book.

This review is of the Audio CD version of this excellent book. Jeff Riggenbach did a fantastic job reading this text. He managed to give proper emphasis without drowning the material.

Many soldiers are reluctant to talk of their wartime experiences for fear of seeming boastful. O'Donnell got these veterans to open up and tell their stories. They did so that the fallen heroes would get proper credit, not to tell of their own exploits in a grand fashion. Many of the other reviewers have told of the specific episodes relayed in the book, but what struck me was the depth of feeling that these men had many decades after the fact. One soldier tells of looking up the family of a fallen buddy after the war. It was as if he felt driven to tell them of their son's valor and his worth to his fellow soldiers. Another tells of a friend he saw die in combat after having met his wife and been their with him during the arrival of their child. It was a common theme that these men had these experiences with them every day, if only just beneath the surface. I highly recommend it to those who would like to grasp the depth of the sacrifice these individuals made on our behalf.

I read this book after "Beyond Valor" by the same author and I wasn't disappointed. "Into the Rising Sun" is a collection of first hand accounts of the brave men who fought in the Pacific. The author sets up the accounts with some background material to make more sense to it all. After re-living some of these battle through this book, I started to understand what a living Hell these guys lived through. The intensity of the Japanese soldier was astonishing.

This book has special meaning to me since my father was a Marine fighting the Japanese in the Pacific. He was at Guadalcanal and Okinawa .I now know what a hero he was!

This is the second of Patrick O'Donnell's books. O'Donnell is a gifted oral historian who's been collecting the recollections of men who were soldiers and served in the Second World War, partially through a website he set up some years ago, and partially through other sources. This compilation shows off O'Donnnell's strengths, and weaknesses (such as they are) and is a good example of his work.

O'Donnell, for whatever reason, is very attached to "elite" infantry units. In his book on the European Theater, this included paratroopers, rangers, and the members of the 1st Special Service Force. In the current book, which covers the Pacific Theater, the distinction between "elite" forces and the regular ones is somewhat more blurry: Army Rangers, paratroopers, and members of Merril's Marauders are the participants from the army, but the author chose to distinguish the Marine Raider and Parachute units from other Marine outfits. This is a weakness as all of these forces were disbanded in 1943-4, and so the book would be rather truncated as far as the Marine Corps went for the last 18 months or so of the war. This (of course) is unacceptable, so the author merely follows former members of these specialized units who were absorbed into other, regular Marine regiments.

The result is that some battles are covered in considerable detail here, while others (notably Saipan and Peleliu) are ignored because the Marines who participated in these campaigns weren't "elite." This includes members of the 1st Marine Division, who were arguably the most experienced in terms of combat against Japanese soldiers. So what's here is rather skewed and somewhat disjointed, but if you accept that, then the material that's here is worthwhile.

I enjoyed this book, within its limitations, and I would recommend it and the others in O'Donnell's series, provided you accept what they are.

Well, if other reviews don't say it already, this book was one of the more brutally honest books written about war against Japan. Its honest because its brutally politically incorrect. The American soldiers who relates their stories, tell not only of the horrors that the Japanese troops committed but additional horrors of what they did to the Japanese troops. This was no-hold bar combat, where there were no "good guys" or "bad guys" per say. The stories related in this book was all about killing, surviving and living on. In doing so, anything goes and there were no rules. It may be that many general readers may be kind of shock to read so honest account. Some of them may not like the read how the Americans in these pages acted with certain amount of brutality that almost mirror their enemies. But then, what is war after all, right?