S Books

This is an awesome book. I laughed and cried. It's heartbreaking and uplifting. I highly reccommend this for all US citizens - whether you are associated with the military or not. It gives an understanding of what the military members and their families deal with, and who they are.

This book really gives you a taste for how it is in Iraq...I think everyone should read it...especially Pres. Bush.

This book was very moving. I laughed and I cried. There were sad stories and poignant stories and many positive stories. I recommend this book to anyone wanting a real look at how the military and their families feel about going through these deployments. I also recomment it for families going through the deployments now. I have learned a lot about what my son may be going through and may not be willing to share with us right now.

I am a military wife. My young daughter and I survived 12 months while my husband served in Iraq. This book was absolutely amazing. I cannot come up with the words to describe how much this book meant to me. I don't know about other spouses, but no matter how much my husband and I talk, it is not easy for him to communicate his thoughts or feelings on his service in Iraq. It was even difficult for him to describe his life over there when asked directly. I think a lot of it is him trying to protect me, but also, his brain does not work that way. He was there, he did what he had to do as a soldier, end of story. This book brought me insight into my husband. It made me laugh. It made me cry. It made me sick. It made me angry. It made me happy. It made me joyful. It made me all of these things at the same time. I am so thankful to the organization(whose name escapes me right now) that made this book possible. It is a book that touched my heart and soul. I will never be the same, and I am greatful for that. It is in know way a "light" read. I read it quickly, as I do everything, but because I was hungry to read more, to know more, to feel more. Do not read it without a box of tissues next to you.

I am a NCO in the army and have been to Iraq 4 times and this book sent chills through my bodie many times with the pure honest look at war. Most of the stories are reflections of events that any service member will identifie with. Then there are some events told in this book only a select few will truely grasp. This is a must read if you would like a insight into the mind of a Military member who has been deployed. I cant recomend this book more then just get it read it and prepair to get choked up. I know i did

I love this textbook (as much as you can love a textbook). This is the bible for your cardiology block. I've read it cover to cover and think it's probably the best textbook (by far) I own. Not only does it provide information in a concise fashion, but it explains it very well too.

I am a first year medical student in the middle of my cardiac module and have really enjoyed using this book. It is easy to read, high yield, and very clinical. I would recommend this book to any student trying to really nail down cardiology.

If you are in medical school this book is the greatest thing you will ever buy. For our cardiology block I read this cover to cover and made the highest grade I have ever gotten on an exam.
Get it right now!!

I picked this book up at Barnes and Nobles while studying for the boards. It is excellent, both concise and thought provoking. My only regret is that the faculty and students have not written these books to cover every topic in medical school.

I read this book cover to cover for my cardio theme. It was clear and well written. I would recommend it highly to anyone in medical school who wants a clear easy read. It has all the detail you need to know, without extraneous material.

great for the price and wow very fast shipping very easy to use. If you travel alot get this atlas.

This is a road atlas that has everything I was looking for. I'm glad I bought it and know I will use it for years to come.

Best map of USA I have ever seen. Very up-to-date. Tons of information. This map is a must have for USA trips...

You won't need to worry about getting lost with this in your car!! Wonderful detail. We went from NH to Florida and back without any problems!

This isn't your father's road atlas! This one has RADICAL streets, AWESOME rivers, and COOOOL lakes represented in TOTALLY TUBULAR drop-down 2-D! I should warn you that you may LITERALLY BURST INTO FLAMES when you note the 6 - 6!!!! - main thoroughfares out of Gettysburg, PA. That is but one moment of potential spontaneous human combustion in the Northeast. Do not look at panel A-4 on the Vermont map, WHATEVER YOU DO!!!!

The perfect size to place in your rucksack in your cross-country trek, the Rand McNally Road Atlas will give you much "G Love". By which I mean that you will be grody to the max and will blind multiple people with science. Science. The sweet science of geography.

I'm a fan of these giant DK coffe table books. This was my first and is still my favorite. Tons of beautiful pictures of our planet. All sorts of exotic locales I didn't know existed. Especially nice to have if you're an artist of any kind looking for inspiration.

I saw a smaller version from a local bookstore, bought the large version from Amazon, the fonts are much more comfortable to read. I am using the book as a reference, feel very satisfied. The book is also good for random browsing, the paper and printing are both of very high quality.

THIS IS GREAT BOOK WITH A LOT OF INFO. MY TEENAGER LOVES IT AND SO DOES MY HUSBAND

This book was a Christmas request from my 6th grader who is very curious about earth sciences. He was genuinely excited to see it when he opened it. In some ways it is more like a coffee table picture book than a reference book. It is lavishly illustrated with detail-captioned photos and charts. This is not the kind of book you're going to sit down and read cover to cover, but instead are going to use like a good encyclopedia of earth science. My older child, who is interested in astronomy, received the companion book "Universe" and the two make a beautiful pair of additions to the reference library.

A great book with a nice balance of pictures (including some full page) and informative text about, well...about nature!

K.T.S

As soren suddenly realises that Ezylrybe is missing. so he and the band go leave and search for him. this book is very exciting because Soren and The band go searching for Ezylrybe and go searching everywhere for him.

Ezylryb had been missing for months. Soren along with the rest of the weather chawgo out into a storm. While they are out in the storm Soren's friend Martin is sucked into the hurricane but he is luckly saved by a sea gull. The chaw waits out the storm on the Peninsula of the Spirit Woods while they are there Soren sees the ghosts of his parents. The ghosts warn Soren to stay away from an owl called Metal Beak. The chaw goes back to the Great Ga'Hoole tree the next day. Soren asks the smith Bubo about Metal Beak. Bubo tells Soren to go to the Rogue Smith of Silverveil. Soren and his group of friends go to her her and she tells them that Metal Beak lives in a castle on the boarder of Ambala and Kuneer. The gruop go to the castle and find out that there was aa devils triangl some wheer that could harm all the animals in Ambala.

Book Three, The Rescue, is one of my favorite books in the entire series. I couldn't stop reading and finished the book in one day. I would highly recommend this series to anyone who loves novels where good triumphs over evil.

Alexandra

I am really excited about this series! It is one of those books that you get a really satisfied feeling when you've finished it, but at the same time you are craving more. Before I picked up these books I thought practically nothing of owls. Now I know tons of facts I'd never thought of before,and have a whole new outlook about them. though this series is made up of 8 books, the books in this series are kinda short (especially the third one) but I still enjoy reading them. There were parts in the first book where I felt kinda bored, but as with all good series it takes a while for the plot to unfold. In some ways this book was kinda predictable (like I knew metal beak was soren's brother) but the mood also took on a mysterious air. One of my favorite things about this book is how well the characters are developed. Soren:leader Gylfie: practical, yet enjoys big words Digger: deep thinker Twilight: boastful yet true
In a way this series also reminded me of two other of my favorite series. First, the redwall series (except for the way mice and other rodents are now prey) and second, the warriors series. If you like animals and adventure, then all three series are definately for you

This was the best book I've ever read in my entire life, because it had a lot of action as well as being mixed with mystery. The characters made me feel as if I were a part of the story. I could envision myself actually flying with them or living with them. If you like owls and suspense this IS the book for you. Can't wait to read 4 & 5.

Though it is a favorite saying of the book's characters, "dark and empty" is only partially correct in describing this novel. It is indeed dark, but it is not empty by any means; on the contrary, it is filled with rich storylines, plots, counterplots, and enough action to keep things moving.

The amount of combat has decreased from the previous trilogy, but when it happens, it is far more intense than before. Instead of Slaadi, Erevis takes on fellow Shades and even his own God. There is a scene between Mask and Erevis that makes the entire book worthwhile (yet even without it, the book would still merit five stars).

The pacing drags slightly at times, but only because so much is happening that Paul S. Kemp must take time to explain it all. The descriptions are vivid and rich with detail. Even these slow moments are significant. They often involve the political machinations of Sembia, and the causes of the unrest that could very well lead to civil war. Unbeknownst to the mortal politicians of Sembia, unseen hands are guiding events in precisely that direction. A slew of new characters are introduced, and fleshed-out accordingly. One great thing about Kemp's writing is that he subtly helps the reader see things from everyone's point of view. At times, I found myself cheering on the drug-addicted servant of Shar, even though she was ruining the lives of many a good soul. It is this quality-- the lack of preaching and one-sided perspectives-- that really set all of the Erevis Cale novels apart from the typical WOTC fare.

Sex also plays a role in this new book. A number of reviewers have criticised Kemp for introducing Varra into the plot during the last trilogy, yet I think that she plays a key role in Cale's story. She helps keep him human. She represents the mortal hopes&dreams of Erevis Cale before he became a Shade. With Jak gone (though he does appear in this book, for a short while), she is the last bastion of his humanity. She is present in this novel, but most of the sexual encounters involve the main villainess. She, and the rest of Shar's Servants, bring a whole new dimesion to the story. Prince Rivalen and The Leaves of One Night, first seen in the novel 'Mistress of the Night' by Don Bassingthwaite and Dave Gross , show up in this book. I love the way that this series brings so many huge, realm-spanning events and characters into the fold, yet keeps the story personal, the motivations believable and human.

Numerous other characters from Cale's past show up as well. The entire Uskevren clan has a long-awaited reunion with 'Mister Cale'. Erevis' struggle to keep his Shade-self hidden makes this all the more interesting, as does his conflict with the still somewhat immature Tamlin.

The last twenty pages really bring the book together. They contain the most action, and some of the most important plot development, in the entire book. In his usual, infamous fashion, Kemp leaves us hanging three-fourths of the way through a monumentous event. Luckily, the second book in the series has already been released, or else I would be tearing my hair out in frustration. All in all, this series is transcendent for the Realms. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good story, and especially to those D&D players who prefer the plot of a campaign over the mindless hack-and-slash. This is truly a thinking man's series.

One final note- the events of this trilogy lead up to the 4th edition shift, for those of you who actually play D&D. This series, and the story therein, plays a significant role in the changes that take place during that one hundred year break between 3.5 to 4th edition; in fact, the spell-plague is a direct result. I shall say no more, to ensure that nothing is spoiled for anyone.

I have read quite a bit of fantasy in my day and I must say that out of all I've read Paul S Kemp's work is truly spectacular. He creates fascinating protagonists that are fleshed out and realistic. None of the things Erevis Cale does is without motivation and reason. The villains that Mr. Kemp created from the last book series defy description and the new villains are just as good. I can say without a doubt that Mr. Kemp creates fantastic characters of any variety.

Shadowbred is a great tale, filled with intrigue, action, Lies, redemption ,character development, and a bit of romance. The story takes a bit of time to focus on the protagonist, Erevis Cale but since this is the first book and the author needed to set the stage for the main plot the delay is acceptable. The book, like all the Erevis Cale books, ends in a horrible cliff hanger that kept me on the edge of my seat all year waiting for the next book. This book is a must have from a great author and I would recommend it to anybody.

Though some parts are a bit slow, I'm really enjoying this series of the Erevis Cale story... probably the best I've read thus far. Can't wait to start on Book 2!

I know alot of you who follow R.A.Salvatore are probably thinking to yourselves that if I have read any of the novels by the master of fine fantasy fiction himself, then there is no way I could possibly be serious about the title of this review. Well I am as serious as a heart attack. While reading this novel and the rest of the novels involving Erevis Cale I did, if for only the time it took me to finish said novels, totally forget about the Transitions series that Mr. Salvatore is currently working on. This review, however, isn't about the novels involving Drizzt, so lets get on topic.

Mr. Kemp knows how to create a powerful, evolving main character and surround him with a supporting cast that greatly improve the flow of the story, and do a great job of keeping you interested. Erevis Cale is that character. Although each of the characters in the story are powerful in their own way, Mr. Kemp makes them extremely easily to identify with and become attached to due to their individual character flaws. Whether it is Erevis' attempts at coming to grips with his newfound power, or Drasek Riven's craving for more of it, you will feel as if you have been reading about them for years.

These books are hard to put down. Many authors use different chapters to jump between different settings/events in the storyline, which normally makes it easy to find a stopping point. This is not the case with this series/author. Every chapter ends with something that makes you want to keep reading to find out just how it affects the story in the next chapter.

I picked up this book to give me something else to read while I wait for the next book in the "Transitions" series to come out, and I ended up reading the whole Erevis Cale collection. Now along with Mr. Salvatore and Mr. Knaak, I am adding Mr. Kemp to my list of favorite fantasy fiction authors. Pick this book up and I think you will be as surprised and hooked as I am.

This is yet another in a great series from Paul Kemp. I've been reading his work for years and can compare it to others in the WOTC stable, such as RA Salvatore and others. I really enjoy his style of writing, and he has a way of really portraying the dark side of the Erevis Cale saga. I find that when I read his workm I fly through the books very fast. They're real page turners.

This book is an excellent choice for the child or adult who is just gaining an interest in watching their back yard buddies! The book is color coded and so you can look up the bird by it's predominent color. It definitely narrows the field to the most common birds. We have really enjoyed this book!

A very colorful, well written review. I am very much a novice bird watcher but share the interest with my 5 year old grandaughter. She immediately scooped up the book and it is in her bike basket so that while she is riding in her neighborhood she can look up and identify her feathered friends. Has been a great tool to share with her.

Great ! This was a gift and it was the perfect for the bird watch beginners book. Now you can sit out in the back yard together watching the birds and naming all the little feathered friends we have attracted.
My husband loves his Book!
Great Bargin and experence.
Fast Delivery!

This book has pictures that are sharp, detailed and close. They are arranged by color, not species, and include the most common birds in the area. It is my third bird ID book and my new favorite. Have shown to other people and they love it, too!

Beautiful book. Good information. Very helpful to a new bird watcher.Gives common birds that everyone can find easily in their own back yard or local park. Gives a new birder confidence and practice in observing birds that they are familiar with. Another book that makes my grandson happy.

I took the Microsoft exam 70-216 for network infrastructure today and all I can say is AMAZING! How did the writers know what was on the exam? There is so much obscure stuff on the exam that no other book I read covered the questons on the exam. But this one did. So much of the test was troubleshooting the network, so I guess a TCP/IP troubleshooting book would be the right one. But the similarity of this book to the test is amazing.

This book was good to read too and I am using it at my job and fixing some of the problems we've had with WINS and VPN based on what I learned. Great book and best study guide for the test.

This book is heads and tails above any other TCP/IP book I've read or own. Finally understand how DNS works, the RAS section helped me put together my Win2k VPN. Get this is you wnat to understand some of the weird stuff in Win2k TCP/IP.

We are in the process of moving from NT to Win2k and my boss made me the project manager. I had to get on top of Win2k networking fast. I bought this book on the recommendation of several of my co workers. Glad I got it. The book is informative and detailed in explanations and examples. A must have for the busy guy like me.

OK, I admit it. I learned my TCP/IP for Windows NT exams from reading Exam Cram. Needless to say, I passed the Windows NT TCP/IP test, but couldn't tell a subnet from a supernet. Now I have a job in the industry and I needed to actually learn TCP/IP, especially since we are moving up to Windows 2000 in our shop.

This book is unreal in how good things are explained. Great detail in describing RRAS, WINS, DNS, and the TCP stack. Using the information in the book I am now up to speed on TCP/IP. Enough to pass the 70-216 test! Not bad for a NT MCSE!

For Real, this book helped a lot. I owe the author's a beer on this one.

This book is fresh air to someone like myself who has read at least a dozen Windows 2000 books. I get the impression that a lot of the Windows 2000 books were written by people who write books and don't work with the technology. This book doesn't fall into that class. It was great to read this book, because it renewed my faith that a tech book could be written in a way that doesn't put me to sleep.

They cover Windows 2000 TCP/IP from top to bottom. WINS, DNS, DHCP, RRAS, IIS, routing and network devices. Its all there, and its filled with little known factoids that makes me want to keep reading and have another "aha!" experience.

This book also was the major reason I passed the Microsoft 216 exam so easily. Although I didn't buy it to pass the exam, they seem to cover all the material that the exam covered. A nice bonus. I wish they made the book longer, because I'm sure they could have said a lot more that I would like to read about.

This book isn't for beginners, but neither is Windows 2000. I think once the reader is ready to manage Windows 2000, they'll be ready to get the most out of this exceptional book.

A massive forest fire swept through eastern Minnesota destroying almost an entire county in one day in September 1894. Several towns were leveled, several hundred lives ended, and hundreds more altered. The story is full of daring railroad escapes, awful suffering, and surprising heroism, and Daniel James Brown's vivid writing relays the drama. His narrative details the stories of over a dozen victims of various backgrounds and fates. (This is enough that effort is required to keep track of who is who.)

In the endnotes, the author mentions one witness was particularly useful, because he "tended to note the kinds of details that bring a scene to life." Indeed, the main text is full of details and even dialogue recorded in various survivor accounts. Brief asides about the region's history, the science of forest fires, and burn treatments are scattered throughout and add much to the book. The overall product reminded me of David McCullough's The Johnstown Flood, though with less socioeconomic tension.

Author Daniel James Brown is to be commended for his knowledge of the incident and his chronicling of it. What an emotional read! There was so much drama, so much carnage and human suffering, that I sighed sometimes as I put the book down to take a break. This author knows his subject, and he knows how to write about it to please his readers. I've never seen the monument to the fallen pioneers but I plan visit it soon. I've read books about the great Chicago fire, and the Peshtigo fire, but never have I felt the riveting force as I did in this book. Now I feel it. The dissection of a firestorm of this magnitude along with the destruction it brought, and the lack of medical knowledge at that time about burn treatment showed me what a scholar Brown is. I learned an immense amount. Thank you, Daniel James Brown, for such a glorious textbook and tribute to those who lived in Minnesota during this era.

I grew up in Sandstone, MN and happened to find this book on the "Noteable Reads" table at BN. Picked it up and couldn't put it down. I had, of course, been taught the history of the Hinckley Fire, but never realized the total horror those people went through or what a monster of a fire it actually was. This book had chills running up and down my back as I read it. I'm sure I have one up on most people reading this as I have actually seen the places in the book (though altered now) for example the Sandstone Quarry (Robinson Park now) is one of my favorite places. I have a personal thanks for Mr. Brown for writing such an amazing book that really touched home for me(no pun intended.)

This book is an easy, informative read about a horrific disaster. It follows several people before, during and after the fire. It was much like reading an enjoyable fiction book. I plan to use portions of this to teach my junior high students about the causes and effects of forest fires.

"Under A Flaming Sky," by Daniel James Brown, is an intense, enthralling book detailing the events of the 1894 Hinckley firestorm. The event itself has been buried in our national memory, part of the great fires that happened at the end of the 19th century, like Peshtigo and others, unlike those of Chicago and major cities. Occasionally it is brought up at its anniversary in Minnesota by the local media. As Brown points out, though, the same kind of horrific incident that happened at Hinckley can still happen today.

Brown builds the chronicle of events from the night before the fire, augmenting it with conditions that built the firestorm, through the day of the fire and the events afterward. In the book, many characters are introduced - it was a bit confusing sometimes to trace who was with which family - but in being caught up with this tragedy and people, one would wonder who would survive, how they would survive, who would not and how they would die. The human interest stories that Brown creates an almost fiction-like story - but you know that it is a true story, and you want to know how it ends.

There are also three parts of the book where the story is interrupted, something that may seem to be an annoyance in most books, but extremely useful in this book. The first takes several pages to explain fires and the creation of firestorms, where conditions build swirling winds that may reach hurricane strength, heat the melts steel and throws fire and gases to instantly burn oxygen and set fire to things miles away. Another impressive detour has to do with burns and their effects on humans: how the body has difficulty dealing with burns, in fighting infections, the process of fighting bacteria, and more. Add to this the perspective of the technology of the times, and one gets further insight to the evolving disaster. Brown has written an excellent book on an American tragedy, and done it in engrossing style.

If you're into winning any sort of competition, not just warfare, this is an excellent book to read, concise and to the point. You can read it in a few hours and be forever changed by it. My only criticism is that, judging from the endnotes, it leans a bit too much on Carl von Clausewitz and too little on modern thinkers such as John Boyd, a USAF fighter pilot whose impact on Marine Corps tactics is considerable and widely acknowledged. As the disasters of subsequent German history would demonstrate, war is not, as Clausewitz believed, diplomacy taken to a new level. Wars are much more costly and difficult to extract oneself from than a conference in Geneva.

Also keep in mind that it's not enough to win a war. You also need to win the peace that follows. During World War I and for several years afterward there was a fierce debate over how to make a peace that would last. Pacifists thought the world would come to learn that wars don't pay, an idea so absurd no one mentions it today. Internationalists thought the League of Nations could keep the peace, even though it soon failed its first test, a war between Poland and Russia that immediately followed the war. Militarists, a group little seen immediately after such a bloody war, continued to insist on the importance of bigger and bigger battleships. Even Churchill, although he later regretted it, thought for a time that disarmament would work.

In retrospect, there was only a few who got it right and the one who got it right the best was a popular English writer, G. K. Chesterton. In 1932 he would warn that Germany was going to find itself a dictator and that the next war would break out over a border dispute between Germany and Poland, precisely what happened in 1939.

If you want to win a war, read this book. If you want to learn how one war can be used to prevent the next war, read Chesterton, who bluntly wrote in 1917 that, "Peace without victory is war without excuse." Chesterton also gave some of the most telling arguments against pacifism ever put into print, noting that: "the real point against the cause of Pacifism is that it is not a cause at all, but only a weakening of all causes. It does not announce any aim; it only announces that it will never use certain means in pursuing any aim. It does not define its goal; it only defines a stopping-place, beyond which nobody must go in the search for any goal."

--Michael W. Perry, Editor of Chesterton on War and Peace: Battling the Ideas and Movements that Led to Nazism and World War II

Elegant in its simplicity, powerful and profound in its application -- this is a superb, practical primer on leadership.

The US Marine Corp's version of Sun Tzu's Art of War. Concise and direct as would be expected from the Marines, yet with depth enough to make the points clear. A wonderful work for explaining how the Marines fight wars and a good resource for a competive advantage in any context. A handy resource for the military or military history enthusiast. A must read for every Marine. Insight for business leaders and more.

This is the best book that I've ever read regarding military doctrine-- it elegantly sums up the most relevant points of Clausewitz and Boyd's OODA Loop to come to sound military principle in less than 100 pages. It also includes a number of references to the Eastern military philosophy (think Art of War and the Book of Five Rings, both required reading for the Japanese businessman) and ties them to our Western military philosophy quite elegantly.

If you aren't familiar with Clausewitz then I'd recommend picking up On Strategy by Summers; Warfighting will not give you all of the elements necessary to understand concepts like Friction.

This book travels with me wherever I go-- it is relevant to business and even personal development and is more than worth the price being charged for it.

Warfighting was written for the Marine unfamiliar with maneuver warfare to pick up, flip through, memorize the axioms, and apply in battle. As such, like most other field manuals issued to soldiers, it is a distillation of a large swath of ideas from Sun Tzu to Liddell-Hart. That said, it packs a good punch for such a small work. If, however, you're looking for a more detailed illustration of the principles outlined here, you might take a look at B.H. Liddell-Hart's "Strategy" as well as Thomas Cleary's translation of Sun Tzu's "The Art of War."

Additionally, those westerners who enjoy axioms focusing on the flux of life, war, or what have you might also like to take a look at Heraclitus' "Fragments." The basic tenets of Taoism that permeate Sun Tzu (and, by proxy, "Warfighting") can be equally well found in Heraclitus. His primary "thesis" if you will, "nothing is stationary, life is flux," is the axiom upon which maneuver warfare strategy is founded.