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Best historical military related book I have read. Very well written and honest comments by the author and easy to understand. Great reading as well as a good history lesson on the U.S. army after WW2 by one of America's greatest warriors!

This is a story of a soldier in an army in decline, a lost war and a premature end of a magnificaint career. It is also the most motivating war story that I've ever read. It is the story of a man with barely a 7th grade education who joins the army at 15 years old and earns a battlefield commission in Korea and in Vietnam becomes the only soldier to be awarded two Distinguished Service Crosses, 10 Silver Stars and three times nominated for the Medal of Honor (which he did not recieve) and became the youngest Colonel in Vietnam. The book is a cry for military reform and it is also a war story. Hackworth tells of the desparate fights on nameless hills in Korea in a fasion that makes you wish that you were there, not an easy task, with the Korean War. When a lackluster soldier is killed Hackworth is proud that he died well and makes him a hero to the unit. He never seems to feel fear-"I guess I just like war...I like the cameradship. Adversity brings out the best in men"- Hackworth told Ward Just in the book "Military Men." In Vietnam Hack often took hopeless situations and turned them into victory. In a way his resignation was a victory, this self educated soldier stood up to a buracatic army that was losing a war while others went along. This is the most motivating book that I've ever read, so much so that I retured to active duty after reading it, insisting on infantry. David Hackworth may have been "Once An Eagle" but he was no colonel Kurtz-as the hardback dusk cover suggested. Hackworth died in 2005 from cancer, the only fight that he ever lost.

Colonel David Hackworth was a soldier's soldier. Born too late to see active service in the crucible of WW II, he lied about his age and enlisted in the Army as soon as he could. Often credited as being the most decorated American soldier of his era, Hack was well-known within the U.S. Army for his courage, honesty, and derring-do exploits.

Hack ranks right up their with the U.S. Marine's Chesty Puller and Gregory "Pappy" Boyington as the sort of officer who is a pain in the a** to have around in peacetime -- but who is exactly the sort of leader you want when the bullets start to fly. It is impossible to read about Hackworth's battlefield experiences during the Korean War without getting a lump in your throat for the privations those poor guys suffered. (Many U.S. Army units were airlifted from the States via Japan directly into combat in Korea, still wearing their Class 'A' uniforms -- totally unprepared for the Korean winters and the raging fighting they found upon landing.)

Col. Hackworth's Vietnam experiences are fascinating, too. As he rose in rank he displayed an uncanny ability to call a spade a spade, and his dismay with how the war was being fought eventually led to his being personally cashiered out of the Army by the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army!

Buy this book and read it -- you're in for a real treat! Hack was the real thing, and his demonstrated courage and abrasive honesty make him worthy of study and appreciation by both junior and senior officers throughout the armed services.

Captain Michael L. Pandzik, U.S. Navy Reserve (Retired)

Excellent Read......... Highly Recommended ... 5 stars

About Face chronicles the experiences of the youngest colonel serving during the Vietnam circumstances. The book itself begins in February 1951 with Hackworth facing the enemy in Korea and is divided into twenty-three chapters. About Face follows David Hackworth the length of his military journey from the days when as a young soldier nick-named 'Combat' he charged into the face of the enemy along a path to near ruin at the hands of disgruntled superiors. The work includes maps, author's notes, a foreword by Ward Just, an Epilogue and an Appendix including a Glossary, Index and final notes.

About Face is a well written page turner presented in language clearly understood by the typical reader. The book is certain to interest those who have any link at all to the Vietnam situation faced by so many men and women from our country. The book helps to demarcate what happened, when and to whom.

I first read About Face written by Col. David Hackworth during the late 1980s. I found it particularly helpful in helping me...a woman with little knowledge of anything military, understand better my children's dad, a land based Viet Nam combat vet and the problems he had to deal with before his death.

As the wife of yet a second Viet Nam combat vet, special forces, I suggest this book for anyone who wants a better understanding of the debt of gratitude and respect we citizens owe those who served during the action in Vietnam and those who willing to serve in The United States Military today.

Molly Martin
Reviewer

This book was an inspirational read. Even though it takes forever to read this book, it's well worth the time. Hack's experiences shared in this book changed my outlook on life, and my outlook on human interaction/organization.

I would recommend this book to anyone, as I'm sure his experience can be applicable to anything you will ever have to deal with in life.

To the person with great imagination, the world is magical, for if it is not the way you want it to be, your imagination can change it. In your mind, you can fly, heroically battle monsters from space, travel through time and subject your enemies to whatever purgatory you desire. Calvin is such a child; his life is difficult, except when he is with his best friend Hobbs.
Watterson does a masterful job in blurring the line between what is Calvin's imagination and reality regarding the actions of Hobbes, the stuffed tiger. On occasion, the story is as if Hobbes is alive and did something and at other times it is Calvin doing what he believes Hobbes would do. This blurring of the line improves the quality of the strip, for Calvin and reality often follow divergent paths.
Calvin is a hero to all children, independent of their age, whose imagination sustains them through life. May he and all like him never truly grow up.

If I could be a kid again, I would choose to be Calvin. Funny, smart, witty... just magical. Great work from Bill Watterson. A must

I simply have to laugh at folks who cannot appreciate Calvin. I have read Calvin & Hobbes for years, and have nearly everything (I'm pretty sure) that has been printed. I was concerned that this might be a reprint of material I already had--but it's not. It's EXCELLENT! Calvin is not a lonely child, he is industrious, imaginative, and actually very strong. Watterson captures the genius of that time in our lives when Mom & Dad were doing other things...be they reading newspapers or telling us to get outside and enjoy the day...and this didn't scar us. It's A Magical World wraps up the wonder of Calving & Hobbes. In fact, I have started giving these compilations to my nephews and nieces who are beginning to read...and they are LOVING them. Wapcaplet, you've got issues (I see you posted the very same complaint on other Calvin & Hobbes books!) Calvin doesn't have issues, just as we didn't have issues when we were children and stayed out way past dark riding bicycles miles from home (back when that was still safe).

I read and listened to my dad read "Calvin and Hobbes" comics to me as a kid so this comic strip has always had a special place in my heart. It' funny, it's smart, and generally anybody of any age can enjoy this comic series. I definitely recommend this book and the 10th anniversary book for anyone who loves or wants to try "Calvin and Hobbes."

I love this book. Calvin and Hobbes have much to say about living and life. I keep a copy of this book around always. I think this is the best of the series.
The last couple pages are worth the price of purchase. A snowy hillside with Calvin and Hobbes on a sled looking down at an unmarked field of snow. I give this to friends who are moving on with their lives, as a hope for their future. "It's a magical world".

I love Christy French Stories!!!!! Her characters are so real and the plots are always exciting. This is a MUST READ author!!!!!

I read quite a number of thrillers, some with a touch of romance while some were straight suspense by different famous writiers. Glad to say FRENCH's Chasing Demons is one of the best written books I've ever read. Her writing is tight; the storyline flows making the read so pleasant and smooth. I also liked it she has short chapters giving us enough detail to bring us scene after scene without sacrificing richness of the story. (Writers who like to overload with details or unnecessary verbage should consider learning from her.)

I enjoyed this book so much that I am seeking for other of her books. Those who love fast-faced thrillers should not miss this one. It is also a page-turner too.

This book was so exciting, I read it in one day. The ending is filled with heart-stopping suspense and nonstop action and left me breathless. Others have written short summaries, so I won't take up space with that, but what I took away from this book is it's one woman's journey from an abused woman to one who turns her life around and becomes strong and independent, and along the way finds true love.

This book is well-written, with realistic dialogue, characters you love and those you hate, and a plot that flies. And a real sweet love story.

I really like this author and am surprised she hasn't made it to the NY Times bestselling lists yet.

Wow! I really liked how this author wrote this book and I will look for other books by her now that I have read this. Her writing moves with the story without all the clutter and mundane details that so many authors use to make a book over 300 pages. Ugh! This is a larger paperback book that came to 183 action packed pages. The chapters were short and sweet and the suspense was WONDERFUL. I couldn't put this book down! And, I must say I really liked the tastefullness in which the intimacy was written. Well done!

I didn't give this book 5 stars because I just couldn't get into the characters. They were not real enough for me; not enough depth. They did not draw me in. But the book did read fast and there was enough action to keep it going. The book was predictable. It was like I new the steps that had to be taken before it could end. Overall, I think the book is worth reading but is is not the best out there.

After visiting most of the places in this book last year, I wanted to read this book to find out the experiences of those who fought in this battle. It was a great book, especially if you are a WWII buff like me.

The military interviews were lame. An important part of history, would have liked more intel detail and military strategy.

A great deal of ink and celluloid has been used to describe the Allied invasion of Fortress Europe on Tuesday June 6, 1944. This book remains and no doubt always will be one of the best accounts of what happened that day. It captures the heroism of the common soldiers on both sides. While some of the men collapsed under the pressure, most exhibited great bravery as they fought for what they were told to fight for. One of the best features of this book is that Ryan depicts the German soldiers as fighting soldiers; he very rarely mentions the concept of Nazism or the origins of the war.
There is also very little mention of the clash of egos on the Allied side, although he spends a great deal of time describing the personality conflicts on the German side. I do not fault him for this, for it was these conflicts that kept the German mobile reinforcements from entering the fight on the beaches when they could have made a difference.
D-Day was not the greatest battle of World War II, greater ones took place on the Eastern front between Germany and the Soviet Union. However, it was the most complex in execution and was necessary from the Allied point of view. Given the tremendous power of the Soviet offensive in the east and the blockade of supplies, Germany would eventually have been defeated. However, if the D-Day invasion had been repulsed, the Soviet armies would have overrun all of Germany and possibly even much of France. As a consequence of this, the post-war world would have been very different. From this perspective it was one of the most significant as it put allied armies on a course through Germany. You cannot understand history without knowing about D-Day.

Read this book first when I was 15 years old and it motivated me to learn more about history of the second world war. It's one of the great books on world war II and D-Day and it is highly recommended!

Cornelius Ryan invented two genres with his ground-breaking history-The Longest Day.
On the one hand, he started a trend to personalized history. His book relies heavily on the recollections of those who fought on both sides. In this he anticipates Ken Burns' The War - A Film By Ken Burns and Lynn Novick and also The Second World War the more scholarly John Keegan.
His other innovation, a brisk style of story-telling that hops from the personal to the technical to the strategic has won the day in the fiction of war. Tom Clancy Red Storm Risingis one of his legatees.
Aside from considerations of this book's considerable influence, this is one absorbing read. The personal sense that comes from Ryan's extensive interviews with veterans comes through on the page and the effect is extremely involving, even hypnotic.
The prose style, which seems a little overwrought today, was borrowed heavily from Henry Salomon's TV series Victory at Sea - The Legendary World War II Documentary (History Channel).In 1959, it seemed lke the best-maybe the only way-to discuss events whose importance was becoming more evident as they receded.
This edition lacks maps-except for one that doesn't even include Normandy, and there's no way to tell the strategic part of the story without them. There are also the same typos that existed in the first edition.

None the less, an exciting book and a great introduction to the power of personal history.

Lynn Hoffman, author of bang BANG: A Novel and the pioneering New Short Course in Wine,The

I remembered this book from my childhood and ordered it in remembrance of my husband's grandfather whose last name was Ferdinand. It is a beautiful story and the illustrations are a perfect compliment to the text.

Ferdinand marches to the beat of his own drum. A great parable of being yourself, regardless of outside influences.

My mother read this to me as a little girl. I'm now 45. As I began to add books to the libraries of my nieces and nephews this was and still is the one book I consistently buy for them. Along with the gentle nature of the book in regards to Ferdinand's passive, gentle character, I love the illustrations. I'm also always looking for books such as this which can lead to discussions with children about the way to treat animals. In my family we learned and still our little ones learn the word gentle, gentle when dealing with animals and babies....I can imagine using the words gentle, gentle with our little ones discovery of a bull such as Ferdinand.

This is a must for my grandchildren. If it was good enough for my kids, it's good enough for theirs.

Ferdinand, Monroe Leaf's classic children's book, is a timeless story. It mesmerized my sons three decades ago and held the attention of my fourth grade students year after year. I always include it in any collection of books I purchase for a new baby. It's a delightful read-aloud for any child.

When asked to describe a favorite children's book to a poetry group, I wrote:

Ferdinand

friendly Ferdinand
charming young
flower bull
his passion is quiet
seeking peace
desiring beauty
he savors small joys
a bull of the sixties
if ever there was one

delights
in sensory
pleasures
comfortable
solitude
won't wait
til he's old
to retire
to lie back
in cork tree shade
meditate
breathe in blossoms

gentle iconoclast
no snorting
fighting fiercely
sticking his horns
butting
he has
his own vision
soft
pure
mellow
my hero
Ferdinand

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R36AF0PQJCZ40B

I have been looking for a new job for roughly 1 year now. I have tons of expeirence in my field but have no luck in getting a interview let alone getting a job. I originally signed up to receive the first 3 chapters for no charge from signing up at his web site. I have put some of his techniques in use and have gotten a few interviews and 2 job offers so far.

Guerilla Marketing for Job Hunter's stand's out in the thousands of books that you can get in help with a new job. This book gives you ideas to have the edge over every other job seeker out their. In today's tough economy this needs to be done.

i'm not usually one to review books, but this book definitely helped me in my job search... i had been searching for a job in ny for 2.5 months with minimal responses from companies... once i started revamping my cover letters and refocusing my search, i got 8 calls from companies, interviewed well thru 3 final rounds, and so far i'm at 2 offers, working on the 3rd. just try it! fyi - there are a few extreme tactics/suggestions in the book... i didn't follow them, but it gave me an idea on how i could get creative in my own way... totally worth it!

Catchy title ... I'm interested in most anything Jay Levinson authors or co-authors, and he and David Perry put together some very helpful tips.

Just to whet your appetite for the contents ... David points out the skills that won't be 'outsourced,' -- a word we're all familiar with as a cause for much job loss. They are:

- leadership skills,
- project management skills,
- people skills,
- communication skills, and
- sales skills.

And, he's identified jobs he believes won't (or cannot) be outsourced ... jobs in

- energy,
- preventative health care,
- security,
- the military,
- government,
- insurance,
- consumer financial services,
- agriculture, and
- biotech/pharma.

And, he talks about skills employers buy:

- leadership skills
- communication skills
- a bias toward action
- passion for the work
- and a cultural compatibility.

He goes into more detail with more examples of what employers value (e.g., the creation of intellectual wealth, high energy, enduring performance, etc.), and whether or not you agree with this, you'll find what he says to be thought-provoking.

The Value-Based Resume
Although you would expect a review of typical job-hunting venues and tactics -- networking, targeted marketing, newspaper classifieds, job boards, newsgroups, executive search firms, headhunters, temp agencies, friend, neighbors, associates, self-promotion techniques, the use of electronic job alerts, and the use of personal Web sites and/or Blogs, creating a Linked In account ... the use of company information sources and competitive intelligence sources ... and the push to get a clear sense of your goals and transferrable, marketable, relevant skills ... what stood out for me are the examples of 'value-based' resumes. You can do an Internet search with the keywords "value-based resume" and find some fair examples. Just taking the time, after seeing David's examples, to put one together for myself allowed me to rethink how I present myself and what contributions I am making.

In the value-based resume (business values), you focus on your accomplishments or contributions to:

1) increased revenues/profit, or
2) cost savings (direct or indirect), or
3) improved productivity (aka, increased efficiencies).

You might think a values-based focus is a stretch for you and your position, but I recommend you do your best to find something for one of those three. If you can't, you might rethink how you are contributing to the firm today, so you can strengthen your chances of keeping your job tomorrow. These are the three basic values business leaders consider in making changes to improve their companies, and you need to show your contribution or risk layoff. David provides some useful resume examples to help you along.

In addition, I found myself easily writing the more pointed cover letters (as David illustrates in the book), ones that mention my contributions in these value areas and as they relate to the targeted organization that I researched. I have felt more confident, more powerful, and more connected to the purpose of the job opportunity I've pursued, since I know more clearly what I can contribute to the firm, and I've given them what they need to make an objective decision. Obviously, there are other factors to hiring -- or not hiring, or delayed hiring, such as a change of mind due to business downturn, employee referral provided a needed replacement, etc. -- that affect the outcome, but I've felt confident that I've presented myself in the best light, in the meantime.

The other benefit of knowing in detail what you have contributed in any of those three business value areas comes in your face-to-face interviews; you have examples and stories to illustrate your contributions. That make for a more useful and convincing interview. David guides us in the creation of our own storybook(s) that illustrate how we rose to the challenge of a relevant job situation, that we can lead under pressure, can execute a strategy in response, and can be both a team leader and a team captain, as needed.

David also offers and explains in detail 13 (interesting) creative ways to find a job, which are worth considering, such as writing an email chain letter, calling your targeted firm's HR person to get the name of the screening firm they use, writing a case study of the targeted firm within its current industry situation, preparing a competitive analysis of the firm, etc.

If all that I've outlined doesn't stir your interest in getting a hold of this book, I don't know what will ... or perhaps you are independently wealthy and don't need a job.

If you are thinking about looking for a new job or currently engaged in a job search, you must read this book if you want to get ahead of your competition. David Perry lays out in a very clear way what you need to do to make yourself stand out and above the competition so that you get the interview, the offer and the job. His strategies and tactics help you find or create that special job; how to make youself stand out from the competition so that you get the interview; how to ace the interview and most importantly what to do after the interview so you close the deal and land the job. In today's job market you cannot rely on the strategies, tactics and tools that job seekers used in the past. Today's job market is more competitive than ever. David helps you develop a new mindset to job hunting, with new strategies and tactics. Like fighting a war, to be successful you have to adapt, improvise and be aggressive. David provides you with the new weapons needed to land the job you want in this new job market. He helps you map out your strategy, select your tactics and implement your game plan so you accomplish your objective -- that new job.

I thank my teacher friends, who gave me this phenomenal recording as a retirement gift. From the first sound of the music and sound effects, through the incredible narration, to the comprehensibility (thanks to the NIV version), I am mesmerized. I have read the Bible a number of times, but I have never experienced it until now. I thought the readers were going to be identified, but I'm glad they were not because as I listened they became the people from the Bible, not actors. I greatly appreciate the attempts at pronouncing some of those names that I don't think anybody really knows how to pronounce, particularly given the way we spell and pronounce some of our children's names these days. A stellar project.

This is a wonderful way to hear the Bible in a manner that allows it to come alive. I have heard some other audio versions of the Bible and they always sounded boring. This one makes the Bible sound like what it really is EXCITING!

My shipment came right on time and was in perfect condition. All the CD's were present in the case with no scrates or marks. Listening to the audio Bible has been awsome for me, it's helped me read along some of the books I find difficult and long. Am a single mom of two and it's the audio Bible has been a perfect away for me to spend time in the word.

If you want a good audio Bible for either your home or your Church for Bible studies this is the complete audio Bible for you "Inspired by the Bible Experience" is the one that you should have cause it has great audio effects as well as a wonderful script and great actors playing the parts the best way they know how. also if you use this for a Bible study this will be a good way to tell the story so they can really get the feel of what the bible is really about. So I highly recommend "Inspired by the Bible experience"

This was a wonderful collection!! I travel a lot and have listened to the Bible on CD before but this is a classic...it is so well acted out that I have cried, laughed but mostly pondered the messages. Talk about making "it real"! Nothing takes the place of reading the Word for yourself but this is excellent...I strongly recommend it.

Let me share part of the first paragraph of Harold S Kushner's introduction:

"Typically, if a book has one passage, one idea with the power to change a person's life, that alone justifies reading it, rereading it, and finding room for it on one's shelves. This book has several such passages."

There's nothing more to add to that, really. You can read the other reviews to get an indication of why I say that passage is accurate, but it most assuredly is. Maybe I should've bought the hardback...

There are few men that can absolutely compare to Viktor Frankl when it comes to groundbreaking thoughts on the human experience. His ideas on the existential vacuum and its effects are simply amazing. He paints a picture of his time in a concentration camp that is simply spell binding to say the least. If this weren't enough he goes on to show how that singualar moment in his life has impacted his work. Absolutely a tour de force do yourself a favor and read this book when you can. The Kindle edition is formatted a bit awkwardly but not unreadable.

Beautiful. Disturbing. Transcendent. If you read only one book on your own "search for meaning" -- though let's hope for at least two or three -- this is the one.

For Frankl, if life has a meaning, it has to be found in suffering. And he knows what suffering is.

A brilliant student who writes essays on Schopenhauer, Psychology and Philosophy when he is still in high school, reduced to a beggar child in WWI and excluded from Alfred Adler's circle, without any reason at the age of 19.
At 23 he already enjoys international recognition for his free work with suicidal youth in Vienna.
In 1938, already a respected psychiatrist, he is invited to live in the US, but prefers to stay close to his old parents, only to be deported, 4 years later to a Jewish ghetto in Prague, where his wife is forced to abort their child and where his father dies from exhaustion 6 months later. Sister Stella manages to escape to AUS. In 1944 the whole family is separated and send to different concentration camps. Only when freed by US troops in April 45, he comes to know that all were killed, including his brother and sister in law. He is kept alive to take care, as a doctor, of other sick prisoners. "Man's search for meaning" was written in 9 days in 1946, and sold 9 million books until his death in 1997, and is considered one of the ten most influential books among lifetime readers in America today.

"Man's search for meaning" makes an analysis of the psyche of a concentration camp prisoner.
What becomes of man when everything is taken from him? To Frankl what one becomes is the result of an individual choice, the choice of weather to behave with dignity and according to moral values or renounce to his freedom of choice, dignity and self respect and behave and become like a scum and an animal.
Suffering is part of life as much as death. The meaning and purpose of life lies in making use of suffering to exercise our freedom of choice, to chose how to take and accept suffering and in this way grow as a human being. Unavoidable, unescapable suffering is in fact a blessing. We must be worth our suffering. Man is free to chose to transform suffering into growth, guilt into change and life's transitoriness into action.
Just as life has a meaning, even under the most miserable of conditions, so does a human being have value independently of its usefulness to society.

The meaning of life in general is less important than the specific meaning of one's life at a specific moment, because that meaning may change every moment. We have to decide every moment what we want to be.
Logotherapy, the psychoanalytical method he devised, concentrates on the responsibility one has for his own life. Responsibility to one's conscience or to society. It identifies the what and the who, one's responsible for. And no one can be responsible for someone else's acts.
Man is free to chose to transform suffering into growth, guilt into change and life's transitoriness into action.

No 2 persons can be compared, No 2 lives are the same.
Sometimes we have to take action, sometimes, we have to accept things the way they are. We all have to suffer, no one can suffer for us. We are alone in the Universe for this task. We have to face suffering bravely and don't cry more than is necessary. Those who see us in our suffering (family, friends or God) expect us to do it with pride and not miserably.
The meaning of life lies outside man. Lies in the people s/he loves and the causes s/he serves.
We cannot know someone completely but through love. Only love sees the potentialities and is able to help realize them.
Sex is only an expression of that love.

A person that has fulfilled the meaning of his life, actualised his potentialities and suffered with dignity, is a person that looks back on his life with pride and does not envy youth.

While I have never really warmed up to the second part of Frankl's book, the "Experiences in a Concentration Camp" section has to be one of the finest examinations of meaning under terrible circumstances ever written. Frankl is insightful, unpretentious, incisive, elegant, brilliant. The first section is an existential masterpiece.

I guess my difficulty with logotherapy is that meaning as experienced and conveyed by Frankl feels like it gets reduced down when put forth as a psychiatric theory.

But part one is just brilliant beyond any attempt to review it.

A total ten!! A truly thought-provoking, intense & emotional book. I am having my dtr (11) read this book and the discussions will be endless. It opens up dialogue between parents & kids about common misconceptions and snap judgements that we ALL make on a daily basis, sometimes unintentionally, sometimes on purpose. I would say this is more geared to a 6th grader or older unless you judge your child otherwise. Fine for younger, but read it as a parent first. I came across this book years ago and was thrilled to find it on Amazon! I don't want to give away any of the story, I will just leave it as a must read for everyone!

"The Only Alien on The Planet" is a wonderful novel that will captivate the reader on page one and leave them breathless on the final page. If the mystery of Smitty's antisocial behavior does not keep one turning the pages the love of his friends, who barely know him, will. Smitty's perspective on life having lived only in his mind for fifteen years gives the reader an interesting view of life and makes one re-think their own perspectives, fears and values. Inspiration will come to the reader as he watches Smitty in his weakest moments; overcome the battles in his life. If one thinks growing up was hard, try growing up with Smitty in his silent, unfeeling world, in "The Only Alien on the Planet."

The high-school romantic in me loved this book, everything about it, but most especially Smitty. I was in love with him just as Ginny was, and when he put his arm around her in the hospital, I just melted... But looking at this story through a critical eye, one has to admit just how amazingly un-lifelike it really is. Someone who lives completely inside his own head and resists all interaction with the outside world is not going to be as handsome and charming as Michael "Smitty" Gibbs. I've known people with those tendencies, perhaps not as extreme, and they are not at all people at whom I would lunge with a passionate kiss waiting on my lips, as Ginny does to Michael. Admittedly, the passionate kiss was my favorite scene... but as I said, it was the romantic high-schooler inside of me. And as this book was written for romantic high-schoolers, I guess that's just right. But don't read it and then walk away with any romantic ideas of abuse. It's just not really like that at all.

I found this read on a booklist for a YA lit class. Upon reading the title, I knew it would either be sci-fi adventure or one of teen loneliness and angst. After reading it, I think I got a strange mixture of the two, with no actual aliens involved. The book is about the struggle of discovering a beautiful yet strange boy through the eyes of Ginny, a young girl dealing with a recent family move. Smitty, the boy in question, never speaks, and is a mystery to Ginny. I found myself totally absorbed in the book; it was brooding and romantic. But a lot of the plot devices were forced: getting the parents out of the way, films presented in the novel, and the way family ties are addressed in the end. Despite these, Ginny is a well-written teenager and believable (even if Smitty's behavior in the end is not). He's a fascinating character, though; and this was a fun read. Highly recommended.

"The Only Alien on the Planet" was a wonderful book! Do not hesitate to pick this one up. It is about a girl who moves to a new town and becomes friends with someone very unlikely - a boy who does not speak. She and her friend Caulder begin a mission to find out if this 'alien' has emotion and is in fact human. This book was brillantly written and it kept me guessing what Ginny would do, who she would end up with, and if Smitty, the 'alien', would end up speaking at all! I don't want to give away anything but I was kind of surprised by the ending. I picked up this book and didn't put it down! Cute story with very real characters. I could really relate to each one of them. You'll want to read this one - so try it out!

Schurch's sock book is excellent. There are plenty of options for both men and women, and enough variations to keep you busy for years (literally).

I had never knit socks before I picked up this book; I think now I can fairly state that I'm pretty much an old hand at it: just grab the double-pointed kneedles and get to work.

The one problem is that her sizing pretty much assumes a loose-fitting sock: if a foot is, say, 9 inches in circumference then she gives sizing for a sock which is 9 inches around instead of 7 or 8. Fortunately I own a pair of suspenders, so I can wear too-big socks. I now knock the size down one or two steps from whatever her charts say, and so far that's worked well.

Loved the choice of options for each pattern and design. Would recommend to my knitting friends.

This book is great. There are lots of patterns for socks and good instructions and pictures.

I was very pleased with this book, it was exactly what I wanted and I received it is a very short time, actually sooner than I had expected.

Like other positive reviewers, I love that following this book, I can make a sock of any size using any weight yarn and that I can use a stitch from another source and interchange heels and toes from different sock patterns.

I share none of the others' complaints. Though I'm a novice sock knitter, the directions are easy for me to follow, with one big exception. I describe my problem in the paragraphs that follow, hoping to elicit advice from other readers. Nevertheless, I want to emphasize that in spite of this difficulty, I am impressed by the clarity and versatility of this highly informative book.

Shurch is unclear on where a heel flap begins on a toe-up sock. On page 59, she says knit "to desired length of foot minus heel measurement. See charts on pages 13-14." On page 13, an illustration indicates that the measurement goes up the back of the foot, a heel flap for a top-down sock. Schurch does not state whether this length is the same when the heel flap covers the bottom of the heel for a toe-up sock.

I tried her advice on page 11, "the heel flap is worked from the middle of the arch," and my sock was too short. Then, I referred to page 41, and knit "until sock reach[ed] anklebone." My sock was too long. Subtracting the excess length, I succeeded on my third try.

Using this book, I would not knit a toe-up sock for someone else, at least not until experience tells me whether the heel flap is the same length on the bottom of the foot as it is on the back of the foot.