Reviews Books

This is a wonderful, amazing book. But STOP as this obsolete version has been superceded by "Joel Whitburn Presents the Billboard Albums" which updates the book through Dec 31, 2005.

I first got this book in 1976 and have gotten it every time it's updated, and I have only two complaints about it; 1) it only gets updated every 3 to 5 years and 2) it's so damned expensive! But once you open it (and it feels like an LA Phone book), you forget the price and just OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH at how fact-filled and interesting it it! It practically tells you the last time your favorite artist picked his nose! It has EVERYTHING! I only with they would update it something like every two years. Get it, along with the Albums and Singles books, and you really don't need anything else. This book is THE B E S T !

I've been on Record Research's list for many years, and this was my very first Pop Albums book I purchased. It's got several amazing features. The best feature is that you can see which albums made the Pop Catalog albums chart. Although all of the artists do not have their complete discographies listed (only the albums that were charted on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart are in this book), and not much facts and trivia under albums, I still think this book deserves to be on music lovers shelves. I hope in the next edition they will show what current albums that can be found on vinyl.

Quite unlike any other work I've read based on the happenings during early WW2. The detail was particuarly impressive and the reader will absorb an enormous amount of historical fact in an easily assimilated way without appearing to do so. The persona and life of the main character, the well brought up and slightly naive,unworldly young fighter pilot from a priveleged background, is particularly well drawn and totally beleivable. There are one or two sub plots and beautifully set up characters that add enormous interest. The contrast between the hastily snatched social breaks and the chronicles of the death and destruction whilst flying against the enemy reflects no doubt exactly how it was and again is particularly well drawn and sensitively written. The lifetime of the average frontline fighter pilot at the time being measured in months at best. A lot of meticulous research has been done for sure by Frank Barnard to produce a great read that is hard to put down once started. I look forward to his next one, as he must go will surely go from strength to strength.

"Blue Man Falling" by Frank Barnard , is a fascinating glimpse into the fragile, often bizarre days of the "Phony War", that "wishful thinking" period of WW II when few believed the Nazis would actually invade France. Accordingly, one day we find an RAF Hurricane pilot engaging in a dogfight with his German counterpart and the next we see him enjoying a drink in a Parisian cafe. This jarring juxtaposition of moods illustrates all too well the surrealistic nature of that period. Mr. Barnard has a great ability to capture a "sense of place" whether he's describing a French farmhouse, a British barrack, or the Hotel Crillon. He also portrays convincingly the comaraderie and the rivalry among the "blue men", as well as their romances. I found this to be a very readable and well written book about a period not widely understood.

Blue Man Falling deserves to be a great success. Frank Barnard has managed to combine a gripping adventure story of Hurricane fighter pilots with a moving and totally convincing account of the tragedy and drama of the phony war. The book gradually builds pace through the skillful use of flashbacks and scenes which contrast the relative calm of pre-occupation Paris with the turmoil of the German advance. The author clearly shares in the adrenalin rush of an aerial dogfight, but equally clearly recognizes the pain and horror experienced by combatants and civilians on either side of any conflict.

After reading Blue Man Falling, you will not only have enjoyed a hugely entertaining story; you will have learnt more about the early days of World War II (and probably the Spanish Civil War, too), and very likely wondered how you yourself would have acted in the heat of battle.

I'm a fan of formal verse and discovered Gylys through the villanelles she published with the Boston Review (I think). Her tone is great, her diction striking, yet approachable, and her subjects are wonderful. This is a book I keep coming back to.

Bodies That Hum is a strange mix of formal poetic style and frank sexual expression. It seems to herald a new wave of formal, even archaic style (and I mean that in the best possible sense) brought to bear on these wonderful matters. You can't know what's going on in poetry without knowing this book.

Beth Gylys knows we're driven by desire and her poems show us as sexual beings. She's witty, amused at folly and pretense. She often shows men as self-deluded fools for love, incapable of clearly stating what they feel. To this male reader, it's somewhat disconcerting to find a woman coming this close to the bone. And yet this poet seems to love men while she sees through them. "She watches men -- the way they move, their shirts./ There's something good in every one she's found." ("The Erratic Gardener")

Sex is a frequent topic, with frank language. There's a lusty edge that's closer to the way most people talk and joke about sex than we usually find in poetry, unless you go back to Chaucer and Bocaccio. In "Fervor," for instance, we get a fantasy moment, incited by a flasher in Central Park, in which suddenly inhibitions dissolve and people throughout the city succumb to their urges: "Clothes fall to the floor,/ and legs open spontaneously;/ fingers curl, clutching air or bits of clothing./ Like the bodies of newborn babies,/ bodies writhe and sing in monosyllables:/ "Please," and "Oh, God."

A striking aspect of Gylys's work is her formal virtuosity. Villanelles and sestinas are ancient, some would say antique, forms in which words and lines repeat according to strict rules. Remarkably, Gylys has 14 villanelles in this collection. One of the better known poems of this century is Dylan Thomas's villanelle about his dying father, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night." Gylys's colloquial diction and sense of humor subvert the expectation of rhetorical grandeur that, since Thomas, is part of this form -- as in "Marriage Song," which in 19 chastening lines (a villanelle is five tercets and a concluding quatrain) takes us through an affair and broken marriage:

"He saw this woman at the skating rink,/ watching their sons play hockey from the stands./ He fought the urge to ask her for a drink./ She wore those stretchy pants, a long faux mink,/ slid next to him and said, "Hi, my name's Nance,"/ He wanted her right there. He couldn't think."

Along with fables recounted from a third-person perspective, there's a first-person narrative running through several sections of the book: the story of a woman whose marriage broke up, who had an affair with a married man, who's single again, beset with longing and loneliness. This voice struggles to express her experience in language and wants to provoke the rest of us to think about "the ways humans mess up loving."

I have read about 50 POW escape books, most from WW2. This guy was tough. Most of the escapers are amazing people. I think most the escape books have more humor than this one. Richard Pape wasn't about being funny he was determined to escape at all costs.

I just finish Richard Papes' novel about his exploits as a POW in Europe during WWII. He has a great ability to tell not only his story of survival and wartime intrigue but those of the Poles and other eastern Ethics group. If you ever needed a pick me in today's fast pace world this book is it.

True story first person page turner about a British RAF pilot shot down during WWII and his accounts of being captured, escaped, captured again and escaped for a third time. Brillantly written, taking you on an across occupied Europe underground suspence story of bravery and heroism

A classic book covering all aspects of business stats
-a real boon to students and business professionals.

I manage a group of people who are incredibly skilled in data modeling and business statistics. I purchased this book as a refresher and reference - and was very happy with it. It discusses key statistical issues in simple terms - giving you the tools to handle yourself in any discussion.

I read this book just before starting an MBA course called "Basic Statistics". I found the book to be clear, intuitive and it certainly covered all topics we discussed in class. In my opinion, this book presents an easy way to understand Statistics by applying them to real business situations. I still use it as reference at work. Highly recommendable for business people interested in Statistics and with no much background in Math (just make sure you know how to add)

This is one of the best first person accounts of WW2.
I have read most of the first person accounts from the German side,and this ranks among the best.

This splendid book tells the remarkable story of Degrelle and hundreds of thousands of other non-German volunteers who fought against the forces of the Soviet tyranny in World War II. Because circumstances allied us with Stalin, people like Degrelle were vilified as "collaborators" with the Germans. Anyone with an interest in the Eastern Front will learn volumes from the author's humble recitation of what he and his men endured. As horrible as the Eastern Front was, the author endured worse after the war, when his family was imprisoned and his children forcibly scattered to institutions across Europe in a vengeful attempt to punish him. It's a story you'll never forget, and a side of history wholly unknown to most.

It is never easy to judge the motivations of people 60 years prior, but Degrelle gives a plausible and doubtlessly accurate explanation of the political malaise in Belgium and much of Europe before the war. The view he shared with a large number of others was that the Bolsheviks were the real danger to Europe and the "European" army fighting the Reds on the Eastern Front saw this as fighting for their past and their future as Europeans. With the wisdom of hindsight was he wrong?
Degrelle also goes some way to debunking a few myths.
- Scorched earth gets barely a mention. In fact there are numerous mentions of huge crops late into the fighting.
- That it all came down to numbers. Degrelle credits the Russians with fighting to match the conditions while explaining how the German "civilisation" was often a real handicap.
- Worse than the cold was the mud.
Degrelle paints an ugly picture of war, but displays a love of life and beauty, things we are not supposed to associate with the SS, even the Waffen SS. It is a privilege to be given his perspective.

These books are charming, clever and fun to read. My 7 year-old niece loves them.

The Jenny Linsky books are so delightful it is surprising that they have not been picked up and ruined by some savvy merchandising conglomerate. This one focuses on Sinbad and the Duke, two stray cats in New York City who are suspicious of but intrigued by the the "civilized" members of the Cat Club. Each cat in the series is given a distinct personality and, although the books were written some time ago, the stories are not at all dated. We first introduced our daughter to them when she was in kindergarten, and she still enjoys them as a 10-year-old tween. Highly recommended.

This was a great family read-aloud book for our cat-loving preschooler. We borrowed it from the library, and liked it so much we bought it. It's a classic that will last us many years!
The story follows two scrappy stray cats ("tramps" who are feral by choice) who balk at making friends with a quite civilized club of pet cats. The irreverent tramps at first resent the Cat Club rules (hilariously calling the club's decorous president "The Old Windbag"), but gradually see the up side of playing by the rules. The language is quaint and charming, and the story is spunky and readable.

This is a new book in Dr. Toy's case files series. It is the best book I read to help me prepare for the surgery shelf exam (better than NMS, Surgical Recall, First Aid, etc.) It contains 55 cases that cover the most commonly encountered problems students will see on the surgery shelf exam and in clinical practice. It covers definitions, diagnosis, and management of disease. Most importantly, this book teaches students how to think about and answer correctly questions on the exam, especially the many questions that ask, "What is the next step in management?" Format makes book easy and fun to read, great for reading a couple of cases even when students are very tired from the long hours of a surgery rotation.

This book is FABULOUS! It's well-organized, has the right amount of detail, and is extremely high yield in terms of learning & for the shelf. I bought 5 over-priced, yet useless surgery books before I found this one. After reading the reviews here, I decided to get it. I never write reviews, but let me tell you, after using this book, I had to come in here & comment...it was that good!!!!

For the new third year students out there, you'll be inundated with study materials to help you prepare for wards and shelf exams. But the way you learn and the way you are tested is totally different now. You are expected to learn independently and apply that knowledge on wards and on tests (shelf exams will ask what to do to manage patients or the next step in treatment)

This is where Case Files comes in. For the first half of the year, I used other texts that presented the information in a standard textbook way. While they were easy to read, I often forgot most of the salient points about each disease. It was extremely frustrating for me to waste so much time. But Case Files is different. Each book in the series presents 50-60 clinical scenarios that you'll see not only on wards, but also on your shelf exams and step 2 CK.

Each case is presented the same. First you read the scenario, then it asks you a couple of overview questions about things like diagnosis, treatment, and initial management. Then background information is present. First, there is an analysis section where key terms are defined, background info is presents, clinical considerations and management issues are addressed; it's like what you get in other texts but it applies to a real (albeit simulated) patient. Then questions are presented at the end to reinforce what you just read. One of my favorite things is that clnical pearls are summarized at the end of each case (these are great to review the day before a test).

The Surgery book in the series was no different. Having just taken the shelf exam, I feel like this book did a great job of covering the majority of the material with very little prep time because the book is easy to read and the information sticks in your head. Other books are frustrating in that they are boring and take too much of your precious time to have such a low yield. I kept wanting something better, and I found it with the Case Files series. With a minimal amount of outside reading, you'll be surprised with how fast you'll go through this book, remember important facts about your patients, impress your attendings, and see great shelf exam scores (I know mine went up)

Wow! We love this book even though we are not preparing for the MRCP! The book is completely up-to-date, and the cases are incredibly educational and thought-provoking. If you think you know everything in Medicine, this book will prove you wrong. Incidentally, the questions are much more difficult than what you would see on the American Board of Internal Medicine. An example: Case 1.4 is a 30 year old lady with dilated cardiomyopathy diagnosed 2 years ago now undergoing transplantation because of rapid deterioration. Coronary was normal on cath. She had a PHx of premature menopause 2 years ago. The surgeon made the diagnosis at surgery. What was the diagnosis?----A Cardiology Fellow, New York City.

Be warned - some of the questions are very hard - but Goldsmith provides excellent explanations to the answers. Graded marks are given for possible answers, just like in the exam, which I really liked.

This was the only membership book I kept after passing the exam. It is very well written and is a real gem.

These cases tell your simulated patient exactly what to say and do during the H&P. It is excellent for student-student practice but also if you are practicing with a patient (like my husband) who does not have a medical background. In addition, it also has really good examples of SOAP notes and detailed diagnostic and management plans following each case.

I have also used First Aid and USMLE World to study for the Step 2 CS. I found "Case-Based Simulation" to be particularly helpful for studying the musculoskeletal components of the exam. This book has very easy to understand descriptions and diagrams of the maneuvers for examining the knee, shoulder and back. It also describes the pathophysiology that may be related to each type of complaint. After practicing the exams, I now feel that I can do these exams with confidence.

I would still buy First Aid or subscribe to UW to study, but this book is very helpful as a companion or to practice with classmates.

I found this book to be very helpful, with thorough discussions of the topics. The book is designed to be used for study with other people to practice cases. I have used this book and First Aid.