Barry Williams Books

Here, in this relatively obscure work, Thackeray is at his ironic and satiric best. Modern critics lightly dismiss the book as a piece of journalistic hack work, but it is much more than that. Redmond Barry, later Barry Lyndon, chronicles in a fairly sophistocated and always lighthearted manner his rise from a poor Irish country boy to the astral heights of polite English society from 1750-1820. Mr. Barry is always Machievellian in his way, and is quick and efficient with his sword. He is Odysseus, Holden Caulfield, Don Juan, and Nabokov's Humbert Humbert merged. In a word, he is very, very entertaining and very, very good. The book's only glaring flaw is it's belabored and uninspired ending. But it is much worth reading to watch Redmond Barry when young

This 5th edition is very in depth for medically qualified people active in occupational and therefore also in environmental health. All aspects, medical, social, even political, are fully discussed. Appropriately this sentence is stressed : Screening and monitoring, in and of themselves, prevent nothing; only the appropriate intervention, in response to results of these tests can prevent.
However, nowhere is it precisely stated which results should have an intervention as a result.
I bought this book because my "Industrial Chemical Exposure. Guidelines for Biological Monitoring" by Robert R. Lauwerys and Perrine Hoet. 2nd ed. Lewis, Boca Raton, 1993, looked a bit outdated. I must confess, in my new acquisition I miss pages 290-305 of the old one (16 pages of tables, titled "Biological Monitoring of Chemical Agents", with a column each for 1.Chemical agent 2.Parameter, 3.Biological material, 4. Reference value, 5.Tentative maximal permissible value, 6. Remarks.)

For that kind of data the new text refers to the websites of the CDC, ATSDR, etc. There, it is not that simple to find intervention limits for the hundreds of chemical nuisances.

Very good self explanation with updated information.

An extraordinary look back of the 'magic' period of the early '70s, when the world first became aware of this superb orchestra--despite its (then) 80-year history. Solti's demands to tour, combined with what can only be called a vacancy at the top of the American orchestral world, projected the CSO forward--but for the first time ever, it occurred at the speed of modern media.

Heavily detail-oriented, the book spends a lot of time on individual players, which for many players of the era end up serving as memorials. It also lacks a grand overview of the direction of the season, dealing with schedules, tours, recordings and the work stoppage as episodes rather than clearly drawing the arc. But the book is redeemed by its loving depiction of what makes the CSO unique in North America; its extraordinary internal discipline, fierce pride in its Central European heritage and sound, tradition of training its own, and insistence on the very finest world-class first chairs, many of whom would ordinarily have superb solo careers. In explaining the CSO from that perspective, Furlong has written less of a diary and more of a primer as to why no one else gets it so right, year in and year out.

The CSO recently left a prominent first chair open for four years, rather then comprimise on replacing the legendary Ray Still. Despite the troubles that today's rather generic conductors may cause, Furlong allows you to understand the CSO fully: the virtuosity, discipline, and tradition are intact, awaiting only the right conductor.

William Barry's WHAT DO I WANT IN PRAYER was published nearly ten years ago, but his information is still very helpful for those who wish to grow spiritually. Fr. Barry is a well known Catholic writer and retreat director. His works flow from his Jesuit/Ignatian perspective and training. Fr. Barry believes that God can be experienced in daily life and prayer can help us become more aware of God's working in our lives.

The book is not so much a "how to" pray book, but more of a book to help a person get more out of prayer. He invites his readers to view the book as a retreat and each chapter can be used as a mini retreat talk. The chapters contain prayer exercises which rely heavily on scripture and a person getting personally involved in the scripture passages. The chapters help a person get in touch with the deepest desires of the heart and aid a person in getting to know Jesus in a more personal manner. Readers will discover that Barry leads a person from the very basics to a desire to serve God in all things.

This book is helpful to people who want to experience more from prayer and is written in a manner that is inviting. For people more mature in prayer and spiritual techniques, it will more than likely include new insights that will deepen the life of prayer. The book can be used by individuals, but it can also be interesting to use this book with a prayer group.

In the search for the more authentic Jesus, William BArry provides an excellent work for moving beyond the Biblical Jesus to a Jesus with skin on! BArry's chapters start with the familiar and gently challenges with the unexpected. It's as though one rediscovers the amazing qualities of an old friend! It calls us to look at Jesus with new lenses. A book well worth reading for ones own devotional studies, but also one well worth using for small discussion groups, where Christians are searching for a more real and challenging experience of Jesus.

The book has lots of interesting anecdotes on Thackeray, Hawthorne, Dickens, Wordsworth, "Miss Mitford" and others, many from the author's personal interactions. He seems to enjoy dropping names and letting you know where he has been! He is a bit wordy, and admits as much, himself, in the preface. Few others would have been as well-equipped to offer personal observations on well-known authors of this period.
. . . . some have suggested that his wife, an outstanding literary person in her own right, may have been the source of more of his insights into the authors' thought than he acknowledges . . .

(I have included below some excepts on the author, from Wikipedia, for the edification of browsers):
Fields was the publisher of the foremost contemporary American writers, with whom he was on terms of close personal friendship, and he was the American publisher of some of the best-known British writers of his time, some of whom he also knew intimately. The first collected edition of De Quincey's works (20 vols., 1850-1855) was published by his firm. As a publisher he was characterized by a somewhat rare combination of keen business acumen and sound, discriminating literary taste, and as a man he was known for his geniality and charm of manner.

In 1862-1870, as the successor of James Russell Lowell, he edited the Atlantic Monthly. In 1871 Fields retired from business and from his editorial duties, and devoted himself to lecturing and writing. He also edited, with Edwin P. Whipple, A Family Library of British Poetry (1878). His chief works were the collection of sketches and essays entitled Underbrush (1877) and the chapters of reminiscence composing Yesterdays with Authors (1871) in which he recorded his personal friendship with Wordsworth, Thackeray, Dickens, Hawthorne and others. He died in Boston on the 24th of April 1881

I think Mastering Windows 2000 Server is one of the best Win2K books on the market. I was expecting Mastering Exchange Server 2000 to be much the same. This book quite simply frustrates me. I keep it on the shelf and refer to it sometimes and then remember how bad it is. The problem with this book is that it covers the spectrum of Exchange 2000 with no detail about anything you might encounter if you actually run Exchange 2000. If you want a book that describes what every menu in Exchange looks like then this is the book for you. I have given this book a fair shake but its definetly 2 thumbs down.

I found this hard to read and search on for specific information, some critical information was just not covered in anywhere near enough detail. Active Directory Connector for example.

I have ordered another Exchange 2k book to try and fill in the missing pieces. 'Mastering' in the title is perhaps optimistic.

A lot of space is used describing how cool a feature is, or how easy Exchange 2000 is to use. Looking in the book's Acknowledgments, the author gives his "deepest thanks to the marketing folks at Microsoft and Microsoft's public relations support firm".

That's how the book comes across to me, something written by a PR firm.

For example, when I wanted to learn about OWA, I was met with this text: "If everything I've said so far about Exchange 2000 Server's OWA has failed to excite you, I know this will."

I don't need excitement. I need to know how Exchange 2000 works!

I agree with a previous reviewer, that the author describes the obvious in a chatty way, without giving any real understanding. Rather like a long-winded friend who never gets to the point.

Great Book. I had never deployed Exchange Server before, but using this book I was able to understand, setup, and put exchange online for my company in only a few days. We were even able to use "OWA" (Outlook Web Access) that allows our employees to access their email through a browser from any location in the world that has Internet access.

No book is perfect, but this one provided nearly everything I needed to know to setup and run exchange. And if the book doesn't provide the answer to your question, the author does. Three times I emailed the author, Barry Gerber, requesting information on some important point, and three times Barry responded much faster than I would have dreamed. One time he replied with the answer I needed within 5 minutes! Great book, great Author! If you need to deploy Exchange Server for your organization, you can get it done using this book!

I don't understand how this book got so many good ratings.
Its frusting to get a bad book. You waste, money, time and loose confidence in your ability.
I was a beginner in Exchange and thought that this book would be a good start. I was wrong. This book is not for beginners.
If you want a book for beginners you should read "Exchange 2000 Server Administration" by Bill English and Cavalancia.
Why didn't I like the book?
-It kept comparing Exchange 2000 Server with 5.5 the entire way through in too much detail. Just more 5.5 information than I care for. The title says "Exchange 2000 Server" not 5.5.
-It kept going into properties and attributes. For example what a mailbox is. Every property and attribute in existence but when you're done reading it no where does it says what a mailbox is! And that goes for everything. I felt like I was just reading and reading but not having anything explained or defined properly. As if you're reading a manual. How incredibly frustrating.
-I may be wrong, but I'm not sure the author really understands the material.

Congratulations are in order to the authors of Mavericks of the Sky. Barry Rosenberg and Catherine Macaulay managed to create a story, almost three hundred pages, about the beginnings of air mail in the United States that could have been all summed up in their thirty page epilogue. Rosenberg and Macaulay, at first, seem to be well proven authors with many successful publications under their belts. Both have published work for publications such as Aviation Week & Space Technology, E/The Environment Magazine, and the Daily Racing Forum. It is important to remember that looks can be deceiving.
Webster's Dictionary defines Maverick as a person or individual that does not get along well with others. It is quite odd that that Rosenberg and Macaulay would title their work and label the founding men of aviation and air mail as "Mavericks", but maybe the name was stolen from Top Gun. The book basically sums up the stories of the early pioneers of aviation that led to the formation of air mail and the airlines as we know them today. It is quite amazing that a topic of such interest could be told in such a confusing and unprofessional manner as Rosenberg and Macaulay demonstrated.
Mavericks of the Sky begins with the ill famous story of Major Reuben Hollis Fleet, and his tedious role in the formation of the air mail service. The book continues with the story of Major Fleet and introduces numerous amounts of characters that some how had a role in early air mail service. The authors present a story that would be quite sufficient for the average 7th grader, but not for anyone who has the slightest inclination about the overwhelming amount of information that should be told about the pioneers of the air mail service.
Rosenberg and Macaulay are successful in telling the story of the air mail service as much like a comedy skit off of Saturday Night Live. Both continually change from the tone of a scholarly author to that of one that seems to be writing an episode of Seinfeld. It is easy to spot numerous examples throughout the book where both authors display a carefree attitude in the telling of an incident, and the average reader loses the historical meaning of the incident, because they become caught up in a joke. The authors may simply be meaning to poke harmlessly at the mishaps of these early pioneers, but it is suggested that they stick to a more serious attitude when discussing men who lost their lives day in and day out to further a dream.
The epilogue of this book was much more beneficial that reading the story itself. Information was presented better and more organized than through the twenty something chapters in Mavericks of the Sky. The epilogue simply shortened all the various stories presented throughout the book and got right to the point instead of a bunch of ad lib.
Rosenberg and Macaulay deserve much credit on the pictures contained in the book, because they give the book much more character. It is easy to gain a lot of understanding of what early aviation was like by flipping through the pictures contained within this book, but it is sad that neither author can take credit for these pictures. Pictures make a book very personnel and these deliver the wide array of attitudes presented by these men and women just be looking into their eyes.
This book is a great recommendation for anyone interested in a quick read with little information. Mavericks of the Sky, is very selective in the stories it tells about the formation and development of the air mail service in the United States. If the reader desires to have a more detailed understanding of these pioneers and their stories, it is recommended that this book be passed up and one chosen by someone who actually can write a historical work of non-fiction!

In Mavericks of the Sky, Barry Rosenberg and Catherine Macaulay present the daring and heroic tale of the first set of air mail pilots in the world. Mavericks of the Sky brings to life the many characters who risked their lives on a daily basis in order for the delivery of the mail. The pilots of the United States Air Mail conquered the impossible task of transporting cargo on a regular schedule through inhospitable terrain and weather. Unfortunately, an interesting topic becomes tedious due to poor writing and poor organization.

According to the back cover of the book, Barry Rosenberg and Catherine Macaulay are both professional writers who have made their livings writing for various magazines. Having written for Aviation Week and Space Technology, Rosenberg is the only writer with aviation writing experience. It appears that neither Rosenberg nor Macaulay has written a book of any length. One particularly trying item is the authors' tendency to interject curse words into the exposition. It is simply out of place in a scholarly and historical work to use words such as "hell" and "damn" to underscore a point. Furthermore, Rosenberg and Macaulay do not even use the curse words to underscore a point. The words only serve to detract and distract from the writers ultimate purpose - whatever that may be.

Mavericks of the Sky suffers from a lack of discernable purpose. The authors possess a broad purpose of informing the reader about the United States Air Mail operation. However, this is a wide topic and the authors address many topics that are outside of the purview of the history of the air mail system. Rosenberg and Macaulay often stray from their supposed topic to enlighten the reader on postal history or the history of Belmont Park. While these items may seem interesting in a historical context, the frequent digressions of the authors detract from the overall purpose and meaning of the book. The scope of Mavericks of the Sky is far too broad. While the title states that the book is about the "first daring pilots of the U.S. air mail," it seems that the authors meander through a history of the air mail whilst only mentioning the pilots when it becomes necessary in the storyline.

In the end, it seems that Rosenberg and Macaulay cannot make a decision on which authorial voice they wish to use. At times, the authors use a scholarly voice to discuss the heroes of the airmail. However, at other times, Rosenberg and Macaulay opt or a more entertaining approach as if trying to make the reader laugh at seemingly innocuous details. Early in the book, the authors recount the arrival of Lt. George Boyle at the airfield in Washington, D.C. the day of the inaugural mail run. With President Woodrow Wilson present, Postmaster General Albert Sidney Burleson rushes to meet Boyle with a bouquet of spring flowers in hand. Rosenberg and Macaulay interject with, "the sight of the notoriously terse postmaster general holding a bunch of spring flowers in his arms, trying to pass them over to man clad in all leather appeared awkward at best." What does this statement mean? Are the authors implying that Boyle and Burleson were gay? Are the authors implying that Boyle and Burleson were homosexuals involved in sadomasochism? While it is likely that the authors are simply trying to make light of a humorous occurrence, both the joke and the implication are irrelevant and improper in a work of historical non-fiction.

Rosenberg and Macaulay display a clear lack of understanding of their subject throughout Mavericks of the Sky. Aviation, and specifically aviation history, requires an understanding of the dynamics of flight, the inherent risk involved, and the enormous sacrifice that all aviators must make to pursue the dream of flight. Early in the air mail service, the authors describe the organization as "an operational nightmare reflecting a mere 78 percent on-time success rate." Only fifteen years after the first flight at Kitty Hawk, a four out of five success rate does not seem so horrific. Without the aid of instrument navigation, weather reports, or reliable aircraft instrumentation the aviators were lucky to arrive at their destination at all. Most appalling of all, is the flippant terms and jokes the authors make several times throughout the book. At one point, the authors refer to the air mail service as "Uncle Sam's Suicide Club." In a book where the supposed main purpose is to inform the reader of the history of the United States Air Mail, referring to the sacrifices made by the heroic aviators so flippantly is preposterous. To refer to an aviator and soldier's ultimate sacrifice for his country and his love for aviation as a "suicide club" is morally irreprehensible. In the lengthy epilogue, the authors note that forty-three American citizens lost their lives in service of the air mail. The authors commit an egregious violation of trust and simple good taste by referring to the air mail pilots as part of a "suicide club."

In conclusion, Mavericks of the Sky is an interesting topic that is poorly executed. The authors continually sabotage their own attempts at proper writing through poor organization and poor writing. The time of the United States Air Mail service is an exciting and interesting time in the history of America and the history of aviation. Unfortunately, Barry Rosenberg and Catherine Macaulay have not done the aviators justice.

"Mavericks of the Sky" seems to have generated a small firestorm of debate over whether it is an outstanding book or not even worth the time and effort to read. Having just finished the book, here's my assessment of the pros and cons of this book:

PROS
1) This is a good introductory look at the history of early commercial and air mail aviation. I've never read anything about this subject before, and was captivated by the bare-knuckle drama of the entire enterprise.
2) The book immediately immerses the reader in the danger and unexpected nature of early flight within the first few pages.
3) The authors do a great job of presenting the astounding obstacles of time, money, weather, manpower and resources to the development of a reliable air mail service.
4) The research is documented and footnoted in the back of the book to assist further reading.
5) The photographs are wonderful glimpses into an all-but-forgotten world, where the joie d'vivre and devil-may-care attitude of early flight (as well as the lines of care and constant exposure to danger) are clearly visible in the eyes and faces of the aircrews involved.

CONS
1) There are no maps in a book that talks about developing landing strips and air routes in little-known areas of the country. At least one good map in a book of this nature would have been most useful.
2) A bibliography would have been helpful to those seeking further reading.
3) The bios of the pilots might have been better served as sidebars or separate vignettes entitled "The Airmen" or some such, rather than weaving them with varying effectiveness throughout the story (i.e., "Wild" Bill Hopson).
4) The tone of the book fluctuates unexpectedly between scholarly and popular fiction, and sometimes even goes completely over the top (such as inventing an imaginary shooting script for Douglas Fairbank's war bond air mail promotion).
5) At times, the passage of time is difficult to track as the authors jump forward, then backtrack to tell other portions of the story.

As a popular and easily accessible introduction to the world of early air mail, "Mavericks of the Sky" is a fine read despite the few failings and foibles noted above. The best recommendation that I can give is what I'll do next ... pass it on to a friend who is a pilot and loves the history of early aviation.

A chance purchase at the airport bookstore resulted in an enjoyable flight across the country while immersed in the early days of Flying.

Having already been captivated by this subject after reading Beryl Markham's "West with the Night", this view of flight's maturation and the start of its commercialinzation process was fascinating.

It led to many questions including what lessons might be derived from this experience as NASA attempts to move towards commercialiation efforts of its own. It made me crave more in depth analysis of specific problem solving methods and long for a map of the various fields and distances.

There are intriguiing modern day parallels on how to apply technology and the process via which technology can be deployed to affect improvement, efficiency, and service.

There is no better material than that which entertains, leades to questions, and furthers an interest!

If you already have an interest in the topic or if you never wondered how the whole thing got started but it now sounds intriguing, I strongly recommend this book!

Dear Readers, the co-author and I have been thrilled at the positive response to the publication of MAVERICKS OF THE SKY, and while we understand that not every story is for every taste, we have to take exception with the comments of Mr. Carnett in his review of our book (in his first review on Amazon).

There have been a number of obscure scholarly works on the subject of the founding of the U.S. Air Mail service in which the authors did little more than recite names, dates, and pounds of mail carried. We believed that none of those books did justice to the bravery, tenacity and sacrifice of the air mail pilots and the government officials who organized the service. In MAVERICKS OF THE SKY, it was our intention to tell their stories in a new and exciting way so that the readers are caught up in the danger and adventure and not bogged down by the bureaucratic details. The historian for the U.S. Post Office said no other book ever written on the air mail gives the reader a better "you are there" emotional pull.

We spent years researching their stories and treated the pilots with the utmost respect. They cursed every now and then and we're sorry that the previous reviewer was offended by that. We made light of what was funny and pointed out the absurd, all in the hopes of humanizing the story. Pilots are notorious for gallows humor and often referred to themselves as part a "suicide club".

We also took great pains to place the founding of air mail in the context of the times: World War I, the progressive administration of President Woodrow Wilson, suffrage and the Jazz Age. We're disappointed that the reviewer felt that these asides were distracting but it is that type of detail that brings the story to life.

We've received dozens of positive reviews since publication, and every other reviewer got exactly what it was we were trying to accomplish.

The Associated Press called the book "an enthralling saga, told in a smooth, agile style."

Air & Space magazine wrote that "the authors introduce a succession of fascinating characters who flew the mail" and said the book "is a should read story of forgotten flying pioneers who earned their keep in the hardest way."

Publishers Weekly and Booklist (the publication of the American Library Association) also understood our point of view in their reviews, which are included in the Amazon listing. Also, dozens and dozens of libraries in North America have purchased the book for their collections

MAVERICKS OF THE SKY is both meticulously researched and fun to read. We're proud to have been able to bring to light to forgotten chapter in American history. Thanks for your time. Barry

I received this book from an old friend who I hadn't seen in nearly twenty years--she showed up unannounced, spent a few hours sitting in the sun, and then disappeared just as unexpectedly. I still don't know if she meant to leave the book behind, but I've decided that I won't give it up. Cornell's boxes have a strange beauty that seems to attract strange birds--deceptively simple, at first you barely realize how quickly you can slip into these lost, overlooked, forgotten worlds that seem to hum along according to an amusingly skewed logic. Many of the stories and poems show writers who've successfully crossed over and have sent back postcards filled with the fresh and unfamiliar voices of travellers far from home.

... I was so psyched when I first saw the book, but then I noticed that many of the contributors to it--famous though they may be--pretty much just handed in whatever they had in the bottom of their drawers for this collection. I don't know that for a fact, but it seems that way. The poems and stories in here are vapid, lacking any of the kind of creative formal risks that Cornell and his boxes are known. Add to this the fact that the editor included one of his own stories in the anthology (alongside the famous chaps) .... WAy over priced too, I'd say. I can't recommend it. The book offended me in fact.

With it's tipped in plates and beautiful end papers I think this book is a bibliophile's dream. Being a big fan of Cornell's work I was very impressed and pleased with the overall packaging, which I find to be quite lovely, and the quality of the writing. Finally I was really impressed when I found out that the editor put it all together while he was still in college. I think this is a great book for fans of Joseph Cornell's boxes.

I'm a huge Joseph Cornell fan, and own every book that has anything to do with him. This is the best! Not only are the images beautiful and plentiful (and many new to me), but the stories and poems are so unbelievably entertaining and different from one another. I've never seen a book quite like this one, and I'm going to give a copy to everyone I know!

I too am a big fan of Joseph Cornell, and this sort of new book, A Convergence of Birds, is one that I was eager to read. The first short story, Emory Bear Hands' Birds, by Barry Lopez is powerful and worthy of being placed in this anthology. But the rest of the collection, pa-tooey. Even the Joyce Carol Oates contribution is suspiciously unworthy of publication. The rest of the pieces, both the poetry and short stories, are simply stream of consciousness junk writing that should never have found publication anywhere, least of all, in this beautiful-looking tribute to Cornell. Perhaps there are writer snobs "out there" who claim to understand this stuff, but once again I'm afraid the emperor is wandering around looking for his underwear.