Exploits Books

This book was originally published in 1724 under the title The History of the Pyrates, volume one, and was written by the great Daniel Defoe (c.1661-1731) under the pseudonym, Captain Charles Johnson. In 1836, the book was republished with some additional material added on more recent pirates, with the name, "The History of the Lives and Bloody Exploits of the Most Noted Pirates; Their Lives and Executions. Including a Correct Account of the Late Piracies Committed in the West Indies, and the Expedition of Commodore Porter; Also, Those Committed on the Brig Mexican, Who were Tried and Executed at Boston, in 1835." Wow, what a mouthful! But, whoever did this did not include some of the great pirates who had been included in the second volume of The History of the Pyrates, including Edward Teach alias Blackbeard, even though the two volumes were originally published together!

That's quite confusing, but anyway the damage was done a very long time ago. What this book is is a reprint of that old, cut-down & extended version of Defoe's book, complete with some old ways of spelling. I found it to be an interesting book, filled with a lot of interesting details, but written in an old style which makes it somewhat dry and lifeless at times.

But, that said, I found this book to be informative, and I do recommend it to anyone who is interested in the pirates of yesteryear.

There ought to be a limit on the number of times publishers can reprint parts of a whole. This is yet another in what seems to be an endless series of reprints of pieces of Captain Charles Johnson's history of pirates. The list of included names varies from volume to volume, but you find enough overlap to know it for a piece of the original.

This particular version includes: Misson, John Bowen, Robert (William) Kidd, Thomas Tew, John Halsey, Thomas White, Condent, Samuel Bellamy, William Fly, Thomas Howard, Lewis, John Cornelius, David Williams, Samuel Burgess, Nathaniel North, and a section added for piracies in the early 17th century. The text is highlighted by nine woodcuts, but otherwise offers little beyond the original prose.

My recommendation is that if you have other pieces of the whole and this one gives you enough new content, feel free to buy, but if you only get a little new content, seach the other versions for better coverage.
P-)

In re the Defoe/Johnson authoring controversy, without going into too much detail, the ardor of one Defoe scholar, many decades ago, in claiming this book as the work of Defoe has since been discredited.

The book is boring! The characters are boring. I'm one half way through it and ready to toss it out! The characters have no personality and with the exception of the main character and her servant (so far) each one is immoral in one way or another . . . . also the dialogue is seriously lacking. It's a thumbs down.

I found this book to be a quick, light read that was fairly entertaining. However, I'm quite glad I didn't pay very much for it. The plot seemed awkward and hurried and the characters somewhat clumsily developed. It's obvious that Titus and Alethea are set up to become a couple, but by the half-way point of the book, they've talked only a little and aren't even in each other's company. Titus rather abruptly drops his search with a cliché epiphany around this time, presumably to free him up to think about Alethea sporadically. For her part, Alethea thinks of Titus sparingly as well and seems somewhat resolved to remain a widow (another overly convenient plot device to smooth the way for the would-be couple), declaring she will never marry again (to Titus's only vague disappointment and no hints to her toying with the thought of wedding him). After much incredible openness and bluntness that I do not think polite people of the period would have utilized in discussing Alethea's situation, she is tucked away in a villa to recuperate. After some time (with no communication with Titus), he rides up for a visit, both suddenly and unconvincingly admitting love for one other.

One certainly shouldn't go into this expecting something very Austen-esque. The plot is not something she'd devise and original P&P characters have just the barest of cameo appearances. This works in favor of the book, however, if the reader just considers this a more-or-less stand-alone piece of historical fiction and doesn't seek to compare the sequel to the inspiration. I won't speculate on the historical accuracy too much, though there were situations that seemed jarringly out of place. I wouldn't dare pretend that all people before our current time were horribly naive prudes, but I don't think spousal abuse, homosexuality, and extra-marital relations would be as frankly and openly discussed (and performed-- Alethea is nearly sexually assaulted twice by a lecherous homosexual and is blatantly groped to determine her gender as female rather than "castrato") as they were in this book.

My most minor complaint is that the author had a tendency to use some particular phrase or term several times within pages of each other before completely dropping off on its usage. For example, toward the end, Alethea is said to be dressed in "widow's weeds" over and over, and why isn't she in widow's weeds, and how pleased Titus is to see her out of her depressing widow's weeds-- right. It was an interesting turn of phrase... the first time I read it. And certainly, one usage is in her own mind, the next time another character says it, the next someone else is thinking it, but from the reader's vantage point, it's horribly repetitious and occurred often enough that I was pulled from the (admittedly shallow) story to notice it.

Nonetheless, as I've said, the story is still a pleasant read when approached with the right mindset. Don't expect Austen and you'll probably be entertained.

This is written similar to the other three novels by this author but read it last because it just isn't "as good". Feel free to skip unless you really want to read all Jane Austin type books, which is me.

Delightful to read the different developments of the Darcy characters...well written, very interesting plot and a happy ending....

This is the story of the young daughter of the Darcy's, Alethea. After rushing into a marriage she finds that her husband is not the man he portrayed himself to be and custom dictates that she remain his wife. Finding this to be an intolerable state in which to remain, she concocts a plan to escape to one of her sisters, hoping that things can be resolved. She and her maid disguise themselves as men and what follows is an exciting escape to Venice, filled with danger, entanglements and an opportunity of a lifetime............if only the disguises can hold up.
The story is enjoyable, the characters entertaining and the romantic possibilities are intriguing. While this tale is a spin-off of Jane Austen's characters, Elizabeth Bennet and the enticing Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth Aston crafts a whole new tale of romance and adventure that is fully capable of dancing off into the sunset on it's own accord. This is a pure delight to read.

In fairness, I have given this review 3 stars so as not to tip the scales with a double-rating. And I suspect that's something this author would *never* do.

It appears that there is some bizarre controversy now brewing about whether people from Seattle are, in fact, actual sentient beings, or just figments of an egomaniacal, over-dramatic poet's imagination. I am writing this to put that notion to rest, so everyone can just get on with the business of actually writing reviews of the BOOK and not of other people's reviews.

Unfortunately Amazon.com (who I once worked for here in *SEATTLE* during the holiday season) will not allow me to post pictures in this review, otherwise I would gladly furnish an undoctored photograph of myself standing in front of the Space Needle (or Starbucks Corporate Headquarters in the SoDo district) holding the current day's Times or P.I, wearing layers and being rained on while simultaneously protesting the election results and hugging a Douglas fir tree.

But alas, you will all have to take my word for it. Whether you agree or disagree with my review of Mr. Stryker's book, I am indeed an actual human being, and I am posting this to publicly certify that I am neither an alter ego nor a conjoined twin of any author living or dead.

Do I have terrible taste in poetry? Probably, as evidenced by the disproportionate number of negative reviews for a book which I really enjoyed. Do I physically exist? For the time being, yes.

I am an artist and importer living on Capitol Hill in Seattle. You are welcome to search public records for my WA state business license filed under Twisted Fortunes, just to assure yourselves it isn't all a schizophrenic Stryker conspiracy. I also sell on that big online auction site that starts with "e". Look me up and I'll give you free shipping if you live in Texas and hate Rod's book. It's the least I can do to help ease the tension between "Blue" and "Red" states.

I stopped in San Antonio on my 3 month tour of various art markets and festivals throughout the U.S. last year. I happened to pick the Esperanza Peace Market held during Thanksgiving weekend. It was cramped and disorganized, and sales were terrible, but the people were fascinating. I picked up a copy of the book in question, on a whim. I liked it, and wrote the "Naked Human Heart" review.

I have since purchased other copies, and given them to friends as gifts. Some of them will also probably like the book, and may possibly even write reviews for it. Go figure.

What *brilliant* analytical skills one must posess to deduce that nobody from the city of Seattle could possibly use the word "folks", or to do such exhaustive research on the average price of movie tickets in the greater Pacific Northwest (including the non-corporate theaters, which need to charge higher prices, and which many Seattlites prefer over the faceless Megaplex alternative). Or to figure that anyone who gave this book a positive review couldn't possibly be corporeal, or had fallen prey to an occult spell. Many people have given positive reviews for the music of John Tesh...yet sadly they also exist on this physical plane.

Relax. It's just a book. :o)

I've checked this book out at the library and READ IT and I can honestly say there is NO way I would pay for this. It's too short and there's nothing of value in it. All of these poems would be better suited for a website or a blog instead of going through the hassle of getting published and printed and copyrighted and so on. I believe that the others have actually read it as well based on how accurate their 'scathing' reviews are. While I was reading it, I just couldn't believe that Pecan Grove published these. It has to do with Mr. Stryker's status, I guess. The biggest problem I had was his misuse of certain words. Someone has too much fun with a thesaurus, methinks and not enough time to understand syntax.
The only two I liked were '3rd and Broadway' and 'Poet w/o a Collar' - although the accompanying photo WAS a bit disgusting as reviewed, all the others were awful. Certainly not worth 5 stars as some of these people have claimed and barely more than 1 star, and even that's being far too polite in my opinion. Although I can see where the more negative reviewers are coming from and I'm starting to think that Mr. Stryker is the one writing the postive reviews. I mean 2 people from "Seattle" give this 5 stars and use the word 'folks'? C'mon. That's just pathetic and a wee bit obvious. Maybe that's a common phrase up there. Perhaps Mr. Stryker should move to Seattle since he has so many fans up there.
I can't speak about this guy personally since I've never had the privilege of meeting him, but I can say that after reading this very short book and reading these reviews, I don't feel he is an interesting character at all. If anything, I feel totally indifferent about him. Take him or leave him, it doesn't matter. I don't feel he's really contributing anything to the literary world and the only "anger, loathing, and frustration" I feel is that these 5 star reviews are complete lies and totally misleading. I don't know what kind of struggles Mr. Stryker has gone through, but I can say that he failed to write about them. Maybe I'm incredibly stupid and he's too deep for me, but I didn't relate to nor did I empathize with anything he wrote about. Sure, there are some phrases where I found myself understanding where he was coming from, but it didn't affect me in any way which leads me to wonder about the authenticity of these 5 star reviews and claims that he can touch the spirit. What does that say about me? I'm worried. I'd like to think my mind is NOT impotent. Although I didn't particularly like this book or the majority of his poems (only 2 out of 39 I liked), I can see that he does have some talent for poetry, but certainly not 5 star material and just barely worth 2 stars. Maybe 1.5 stars. I do think that the negative reviews, especially that long-winded one, have been a bit harsh, yet I also believe that the unbelievably upbeat bubbly positive reviews have been bold-faced lies. It seems that to some (the ones who have met him and the ones who are his friends) LOVE him, while others (the ones who seem to be objectively reviewing the book) DON'T. Pick a side, but at least be honest about it.
About the $12, I can understand where that one person was coming from. $12 is alot of money for something that isn't even worth it. This book might be better suited with a price tag of $7 or $8, but not anything double digit.
And "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", "Elephant", "Napoleon Dynamite", the "Lord of the Rings" films...you can't say those aren't entertaining and don't pass as "film" and are certainly under $12 at the theatres. I don't know how much tickets are in Seattle. Anyone who uses that kind of reasoning as an argument is just taking a shortcut to thinking. Those FILMS are far more thought provoking than G.I. Joe's marriage to Barbie and three pages dedicated to a parking ticket. Oh, my God.
If anything, to anyone reading these reviews, I'd say do NOT be fooled by the YAYsayers. Mr. Stryker obviously has them under some voodoo spell, because this isn't worth 5 stars or so many praises. Pay attention to the negatives here, there's a reason for them. As far as I can tell, it sounds like only one person here has some bad blood with Mr. Stryker, the other negatives are coming from objective viewpoints. What does that tell you?
The best advice in any of these reviews has been "...seek out some of his work on the internet" and "If you don't like it, put it down." which I'm sure you will.
As a matter of fact, here you go: http://www.postpoems.com/members/rodcstryker/
Enjoy.

Total and utter crap.
Trees died for this.
Our precious oxygen was stolen for this regurgitated spic drivel.
Shameful.

I am always looking for poetry books that are on one hand, comprehendible and coherent and on the other, new. This book takes a fresh and distinctive look at life today with a voice that describes visually and sensitively, the world we live in. It's artistic and strong, complex with enough simplicity in the structure that it remains intact. I would definitely recommend it for those who are tired of all the re-printed poetry of old, and the new poetry that regurgitates it. A must read.

I have actually read this book. I think that should be a pre-requisite for any book review. I really quite enjoyed it. Rarely to I read poetry by modern authors that touches on experiences similar to those I have had.

I have also, to my good fortune, had the opportunity to meet Rod C. Stryker. I have attended the poetry readings hosted by the Sun Poets Society, and had several opportunities to listen to Mr. Stryker read his own work and that of those he admires.

Reading through these reviews, one comes away with the idea that the author is definitely an interesting character. He either excites one to anger, loathing, jealousy and frustration, or quite the opposite. My encounter with him lifted my spirit, opened my creative mind and actually inspired me to write some of my own poetry after a lull of over a decade.

Truly try to open your mind to the possibility that some of the scathing negativity in these reviews is written by folks who have had personal dealings with the author that have gone astray for whatever reason. I met him, he's a good guy. He is very real, down to earth, and honest. I doubt that the negative reviews here would for one second acknowledge that the author has struggled for years to deal with all of the problems we all share and has written some words about his thougths. That is what this book is, one human's thoughts and feelings put into print to be shared with whoever will listen.

If you don't like it, put it down. Anyone who is able to reason and see things through a balanced mind should be able to discern for themselves if they enjoy his work or not. I agree that you may want to seek out some of his work on the internet to get a sampling, then if you like it, purchase his book. What's $12 anyway? Why should anyone get that bent out of shape over $12? You can hardly get two tickets to a matinee movie to see 90 minutes of what passes for 'film' nowadays for $12. At least the words of Mr. Stryker are thought provoking. They seem to have provoked quite a bit of thought from several reviewers.

That in itself may tell you how powerful his work, and his personality, can be. Don't be fooled by the naysayers. Make your own choices, listen to your own voice. I never liked critics much anyway.

The Seattle Sage

Gill's book deals with the life of Larry Thorne (Lauri Torni) who served in the Finnish Army during the Winter War, WW 2, and who later emigrates to America and joins the US Army Special Forces.Thorne serves in Vietnam and is listed as MIA (presumed killed in a helicopter accident).Thorne was one of Finlands most highly decorated soldiers.

I feel that this is a book that is long overdue and that America has forgotten some of the colorful characters who were members of SF during the early days of its founding.
Unfortunately the book is a bit superficial in it's detail on Thorne's WW 2 service and his later service in Vietnam.I am curious if that is because the author could not find more info on Thorne or that men who served with Thorne are still secretive about their activities conducting combat missions in Vietnam.

I do recommend this book for those who are interested reading about this Finnish American hero who was a legend in the SF community.

A basic narrative of the life of famed Special Forces man, Larry Thorne. The great epic of Thorne's life began in his native Finland, where he distinguished himself as a junior officer, in the defence of his nation against the communist invasion in 1939.
Thorne, originally named Lauri Torne in his homeland, volunteered for advanced military training in Germany during World War II, through the Waffen S.S. As Finland became a reluctant ally of Germany out of necessity for national survival, they conducted the Continuation War against the Soviet Union in 1941, in order to regain lost territory. Here Thorne gained fame and notoriety as a leader of a Finnish Jaeger (special operations) company).
They end of the Second World War found Thorne attending Werewulf training in Germany, where he ultimately volunteered to assist in the defense of Germany against the invading Soviet army.
As the pro-communist post-war government of Finland proved to be politically dangerous for Thorne, he eventually emmigrated to America. With the aid of other Finnish army veterans, he found a new life as an officer in Special Forces. One of the sponsors who aided him in this transition was none other than O.S.S. founder "Wild Bill" Donovan.
A veteran of three armies and four wars, Thorne's career is certainly among the most astounding in terms of vast and varied experience.

Lauri Torni (Larry Thorne) was a superb soldier whose name crops up in many of the books on the russo-finnish winter war / continuation war (as WW2 is known in Finland). Lauri Torni was born in 1919 in Viborg (a part of Finland occupied by Russia since the end of WW2) joined the Finnish army in 1938 and served as a patrol NCO during the Winter War (1939-1940). He was promoted 2/LT (9 May 1940). After that war ended, he went to Germany and Austria, where he was among the early volunteers for what became the Finnisches Freiwilligen SS-Bataillon "Nordost" - and Torni became an SS Untersturmführer (2/LT; 8 May 1941). By the end of July 1941, Torni was back in the Finnish Army for the Continuation War (1941-1944). As a leader of small units operating behind soviet lines he was by all accounts a truely inspiring leader who made a significant contribution to Finland's war effort - significant enough that as commander of Detachment Törni, which operated behind Soviet lines, the Russians put a price of 3,000,000 markka on his head. Among his jääkärit in this "Lightning Bolt" unit, was Mauno Koivisto, future President of Finland (Interestingly enough, Koivisto, in his own biography, is rather critical of Törni - he felt that Törni's "daring and soldierly behaviour sometimes confused his own men and put their lives at risk". Gill, incidentally, while he mentions Koivisto's membership of Detachment Torni, does not make any mention of Koivisto's comments). Torni was awarded the Mannerheim Cross (9 Jul 1944), the equivalent of the US Medal of Honor / British Victoria Cross, and was promoted CPT (28 Aug 1944).

After Finland under Field Marshall Mannerheim made a seperate peace with the Soviets, Torni travelled to Germany, rejoined the Waffen SS; and fought on the Eastern Front - as an SS Hauptsturmführer (CPT; 15 Apr 1945,), leading a detachment of German Marines who fought thru to the war's end (and after, as they had to fight their way thru the Russians to reach American Lines and surrender). Gill very much understates Torni's SS membership. Torni was interned but escaped to Finland where he was indicted and sentenced to 6-years as an "enemy of the state" (for fighting with the Germans after Finland changed sides and signed an armistice with the Allies). By then, the Finnish government was "pro-", if not actually, Communist. By the end of the War, Torni had been awarded every Finnish medal of valor including the Mannerheim Cross. While fighting with the Germans, Torne was awarded the Iron Cross.

Pardoned in 1948 (but losing his Finnish rank in 1950), Torni fled to Sweden and then onward to end up in New York by 1951. Befriended by other Finnish officers who had joined the American army (and by "Wild Bill" Donovan, OSS head in WW2), the 1951 Lodge Act enabled Torni to enlist in the U.S. Army - as PVT Larry A. Thorne (28 Jan 1954).He became an NCO instructor in winter warfare and special operations; was promoted to 1/LT (9 Jan 1957) and CPT (30 Nov 1960); and commanded Special Forces A-Teams in operations. Torni served two tours in Vietnam (1963-1965), first as an A-Team commander; and then as a staff officer on a B-Team (part of the MACV-SOG "Studies and Observation Group", in charge of clandestine ops in Laos and Cambodia). He disappeared just over the Laotian border (18 Oct 1965) on a CH-34 "KINGBEE" helicopter from the 219th Vietnamese Air Force Squadron while performing a C&C mission out of Kham Duc for the very first OP-35 cross-border reconnaissance mission (RT Iowa) being conducted with all on board lost. Torne (recipient of the Bronze Star and 5 Purple Hearts) was promoted after death to MAJ (16 Dec 1965). His remains were recovered by a joint American-Finnish effort in July 1999; positively identified in 2003; and buried with the remains of his South Vietnamese air crew at Arlington Cemetey (26 Jun 2003).

Gill's biography does an adequate job of presenting the above in 200 odd pages. It's the only english-language book available on Lauri Torni, so unless you read Finnish, this is it and, regardless of the failings of this book, you may as well buy it coz there ain't nothing else available (correction Feb 08- see my comments about Cleverley's book below). Which is a shame, because there's the material for a superb and enthralling biography here. The fact that Thorne (Torni) is so well remembered in the US SF community, and has an SF building named after him as well as being played by John Wayne in the movie "The Green Beret's" - as well as being credited as the insipiration for a graduating class of officers from the Finnish Military Academy a number of years ago is no small tribute to the man. Gill may have been interested in the man for 23 years before writing this book, as an SF man himself he had access to sources who knew Torni, as well as access to members of Torni's unit and family in Finland. In addition, there's far more source material in Finnish and Swedish available. As well as many a well-written military biography on which to model a book such as this. Considering all of which, this is a pretty poor biography that outlines the man's life but which lacks any significant details and which does not illustrate his personality to any real degree.

That was the downside. The upside - well, Gill cared enough to write the book and while it's not a masterpiece it's a creditable job. After reading the odd comment about Torni in books on the Winter War and Finland in WW2, I was interested enough to buy and read this and it certainly answered a few questions about Lauri Torni. But it could have been so much better..... In summary, this book is it in english so regardless of it's flaws (and there are many, as almost every other reviewer has commented) if you're interested in the man, buy it. Or learn Finnish and read the Finnish books (and that's hard believe me - I've been trying and it's a slow and painful experience......). Or try and find a copy of Cleveley's book "A Scent of Glory - see note below)

For those interested in further reading on Törni, try the following:

English language
Finland at War - Koivisto Remembers
The Green Berets by Robin Moore 1965 / USA / New revised version 1999 / ISBN-13: 978-0312984922 (Torni is written up as Sven Kornie)
U.S. Army SF in Southeast Asia 1956-1975, the green berets at war by Shelby L. Staton 1985 / USA / ISBN 0-8041-1884-1
SOG-the secret wars of America's commandos in Vietnam by John L. Plaster 1997 / USA / ISBN 0-684-81105-7
SOG-A photo history of the secret wars by John L. Plaster 2000 / USA / ISBN 1-58160-058-5

In Finnish or Swedish (and good luck...)
Legenda: Lauri Torni by Kari Kallonen, Petri Sarjanen (Language=Finnish, 397 pages, published Jan 2004, ISBN-10: 9525170381, ISBN-13: 9789525170382)
Lauri Törni - Syntynyt sotilaaksi by J. Michael Cleverley 2003 / Finland / ISBN 951-1-18853-4
Note: You won't find these books on Amazon but I ordered the above two from a Finnish online book shop called Bookplus dot fi - they have english pages for ordering which is a bonus. My Finnish isn't quite good enough to figure out how to order without a bit of help :) - yet. Hopefully, working my way thru these books translating them as I go will improve my Finnish. And they were delivered from Helsinki to Canada far faster than books from Amazon.com in the US take to get to Canada.

Added this comment as of Feb 2008: J Michael Cleverley's book was first published in English in 2003 under the title "A Scent of Glory: The Times and Life of Larry A Thorne." It was translated into Finnish and is a bestseller in Finland. You may be able to find an English language copy if you do a search - it's not listed on Amazon - having worked my way thru the Finnish version with the aid of translation software, a Finnish-English dictionary, a grammer and a couple of Finnish websites where people were very helpful, and then having picked up a second hand English version, I have to say it's a far far better book about Lauri Torni than Gill's. Worth looking for it. Both Legenda and Cleverley's book include a great collection of photo's - again, far better than Gill's. And "Legenda" is printed on the most amazing glossy paper. Haven't seen a book with this quality printing for years outside of coffee table stuff.

Paalun Divisioonan taistelujen tie by Arvo Ojala 1974 / Finland / ISBN 951-9272-07-0
Lauri Törnin tarina by Jukka Tyrkkö 1975 / Finland / ISBN 951-9272-16x (sid.) / 951-9272-17-8 (nid.)
Marttisen miehet by Paavo Kairinen 1987/ Finland / ISBN 951-0-14664-1
Lauri Törni ja hänen korpraalinsa by Antti Lindholm-Ventola 1988 / Finland / ISBN 951-9429-42-5 (Lauri Torni and his Corporal)
Jr 56 1941-1944 by Kaino Tuokko 1989 / Finland
Törnin jääkärit Lars Rönnqvist-Anssi Vuorenmaa 1993 / Finland / ISBN 951-0-19056-x
1. Divisioona 1941-1944 by Kaino Tuokko 1995 / Finland / ISBN 952-90-6970-7
Purppurasydän 1949-1965 by Kallonen-Sarjanen 1997 / Finland / ISBN 952-5170-01-2
Vaarallisilla teillä by Niilo Lappalainen 1998 / Finland / ISBN 951-22665-3
Leijonamieli 1919-1949 by Kallonen-Sarjanen 1998 / Finland / ISBN 952-5170-00-4
Ristiretki 1965-1999 by Kallonen-Sarjanen 1999 / Finland / ISBN 952-5170-09-8
Permanent patrullverksamhet by Harry Järv 2000 / Sweden / ISBN 951-8902-80-1
Maanpetturin tie by Juha Pohjonen 2000 / Finland / ISBN 951-1-16994-7
Karhumäestä Ilomantsiin by Matti Koskimaa 2000 / Finland / ISBN 951-24831-2
Sotasankarit by Robert Brander 2000 / Finland / ISBN 952-5170-11-X
Vastuunkantaja by Matti Lukkari 2000 / Finland / ISBN 951-1-16051-6

And if I could identify these books, why couldn't Gill source and use them!!!!!!!! All I can say is, the definitive biography in english for Lauri Torni remains to be written. Sadly, the primary sources have largely passed away and any future biographer will have to rely on written sources. For a good example of what a biography of such a man could be like, take a look at "Paddy Mayne: Rogue Warrior of the SAS." Now there's an example of what this book could have been....

Just as an aside, if you go to Youtube and search on "The Legend of Larry Thorne", you'll find a song by Finland's top Bluegrass Band (Jussi Syren and the Groundbreakers) by that name which is a pretty good tribute to the guy. There's a few more clips about him on Youtube including a video of his funeral and other bits and pieces. If you're interested in the man, it's worth a look.

And a last personal note. It's men like Lauri Torni that fought the hard fight against totalitarianism in WW2 and the Cold War. They deserve to be remembered for what they did, their dedication and their committment. To quote the ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) prayer:

"They shall not grow old,
As we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember them.
We will remember them."

Gill is really superficial in this book. The overall story is quite fascinating, to say the least, but there are so many inaccuracies in the book that it should not have been published at all. I personally found the book unpleasant to read, because Gill had used the Finnish words for the most important terms. And mostly wrong. As a Finn, I find it troubling and makes reading uneasy. It also makes me wonder about other facts which have been presented in this book. I also did not understand why there was a photo of the former president Mauno Koivisto presented but no story attached. Maybe there was a reason?

Soldier Under Three Flags relates the story of Larry Thorne (Lauri Torni) a Finnish soldier who emigrated to the US and had a distinguished career in Special Forces. One might imagine this would be a great subject for a biography but unfortunately, this book does not do justice to its subject. Thorne's Finnish military service is rife with inaccuracies, reflecting some poor research. For instance we read that during the Winter War, "the Scandinavian midnight sun lowered Russian (sic) soldiers morale", and "they disliked the forests...which they called the 'White Death' [Byelo Smert]." Well, "midnight sun" refers to the almost continual sunlight during the SUMMER. No one who's been to Finland in the winter could possibly mistake the almost permanent darkness for the midnight sun. Also, "Byelo Smert" refers to the white uniforms of the SOLDIERS not the forest. Finally, the author is less than fully forthcoming in Torni's association with the Waffen SS. He did attend training as the text describes, but he also fought in the Finnish SS battalion, which was part of the "Nordland" SS Division. In describing Torni's subsequent SF career the author appears more comfortable with the subject matter. However, battles are discussed very generally, with no details on his combat leadership, and there are no stories by those who knew him best-his troops. At best we get variations on, "he was a great soldier, and a great guy" nothing more. Finally, the author needlessly complicates his narrative by referring to Thorne/Torni's by the pseudonyms he used as he changed his name throughout his life; confusing to say the least. As a cursory account of this fascinating character's life this book may be acceptable, but it's basic errors regarding the Winter and Continuation Wars make it suspect for any more than the most basic background.

This being the first "Thomas the Tank Engine" book I've ever read. I recognized some stories as word-for-word narrations from "Thomas" videos, but since I haven't seen ALL of the video or TV stories, some stories were new to me. My sons are big Thomas fans, so I know they'll love these books when they get them for Christmas!

This is a good Thomas story book. There is a TV series about Thomas. Then there are vediotapes about Thomas and there are a whole lot toys about Thomas. Children like them all. When I bought this book, ha, my three young ones fought for it. And I had to read to them one by one in turn. And I have other Thomas book too. They just can get enough of Thomas.

This book has several words in which I feel are not appropriate for a child's ear/story. Many of the characters are angry and show resentment. Would not advise buying for someone else's child.

Our two year old is a HUGE Thomas fan and also loves to read. About six months ago, we picked up three Thomas paperbacks at a used book store. They are the earlier ones, written a few years before these stories. The books we bought were exciting, well written, taught lessons and captivated my son completely. We thought it would be a great idea to get some more Thomas books.
The collection of stories in "Edward's Exploit" are LAME. I'm sorry to say it, but it's true. The stories barely make sense. The writing and grammar are poor. The story lines (when comprehensible) are boring and occasionly use innapropriate language. The pictures are alright to look at, but my son quickly loses interest in the stories and asks to read "Terence" or "Thomas fish" instead. I strongly recommend the story books "A Cow on the Line", "Thomas in Trouble", and "Thomas gets Tricked" instead of these newer books. I am most likely headed to the used toy store with "Edward's Exploit" and "James in a Mess". Don't waste your money!

The number of times "Shut Up" appears in these stories is shocking!! We have never seen the series but we have a cute Scholastic Thomas book and when our son received a Thomas Train Set I picked up a couple more books from the library. My husband and I were VERY disapointed with the language and the aggressive nature of all the characters (trains & people). Trains hitting each other and saying "there's more coming should you misbehave." Threatening to send trains away for being "clumsy." Of course our son loves the books because he loves trains but we don't want him learning anything these books have to teach.

This is as good an account of Confederate guerilla activities in the Eastern Theater of operations as I have run across. For me, this book helped me understand 3 things:

1)The war was intensely continuous. It never stopped. Most historians focus on the major battles being as they were the key tests of strength between North and South. But the war was not made up of 15 or 20 segmented, key events. It was not a sometimes thing. It was brutally constant. These people were angry with each other, killing angry, and went out of their way to make their point as often as possibly.

2)The North's battle plan was exceedingly difficult to execute. Virginia's topography was not suited to a clean advance. Holding territory taken was difficult. Supply lines had to be thin, extended and vulnerable. The land itself had to be worth many divisions to Southern forces. And they took maximum advantage of the terrain.

3)The South fought a campaign of terror and was damn good at it. Both sides fought to win. Both sides fought to intimidate. The South was exceptional at this through the summer of 1864 but then the tide changed and when it did it was a tidal wave of unimagined proportions.


It is amazing how small some of these bands were that descended from the mountains to attack their enemy and then disappear. They snatched couriers to learn of Union movements and plans, destroyed bridges and railroad service, attacked sleeping camps and captured supply trains and prisoners by the thousands. They attacked in the evening, at noon, in the morning and at night. They even captured three Union generals from their beds, almost without firing a shot.

This is a good book, one worth reading. It drives home the intensity and continuous nature of this conflict. You will not be disappointed.

This is an incredibly dense historical account of Confederate guerrilla warfare in the areas of northern and western Virginia. The author obviously did his homework with hundreds of quotes and references. The book was so detailed as to occasionally lose the reader. A map certainly would have helped. I got the feeling that every single guerrilla attack was accounted for in this book.

On the strong side were some amusing and touching accounts of individuals and incidents. On the weak side was the page after page of oh-so-so similar accounts of attacks. The book also centered on the Virginia area guerrillas with hardly a mention of those in Missouri and Kansas.

The author's theory, that the Civil War - or at least Lee's surrender - was delayed by at least months by the work of the guerrillas is well-substantiated in the book. However, I think the author would have been better served to apend more time on the larger picture and overview and less time on every derailment on the B&O Railroad.

Worth reading for a serious Civil War buff. A bit too much for the casual reader of Civil War material.

This book isn't as interesting as its title would suggest it is. In the end, it's a series of intelligence tests that don't seem to indicate whether or not you're smarter than you think you are. The tests each only have about five questions, and they're not very hard. I got the top score on almost all of them, so I know they're far too easy. The layout of the book is clear and attractive, and the book is mildly entertaining. Just don't expect a clear assessment of your true intelligence.

Juve and offsider are trying to track down the dastardly villain.

They think they have a lead through Lady Beltham, who, they presume, has actually seen Fantomas with his clothes off, so to speak.

Getting close, they seem to have cornered him in a building.

Blowing it up, with the pursuers inside, "I win!" Fantomas declares.

I recently picked up this book because I have an interest in the Electric Utility industry. Boy, was I disappointed. You have to hand it to Mr. Weil - he takes on a broad array of topics, but he never really does justice to any of them. Maybe a good editor could have focused his attention on one aspect, but it seems this is more of a self-published vanity book than a true fact-checked volume. If you want a quick overview of a lot of topics and don't care about details then this might be a decent book, but it really pales in comparison to many other. For instance, if you want to know what was going on with Enron - read "The Smartest Guys in the Room". If you want to history of regulation (and deregulation) in the US and elsewhere, I would suggest "Power Play: The Fight to Control the World's Electricity" by Sharon Beder or "Power Loss: The Origins of Deregulation and Restructing in the American Electric Utility System" by Richard Hirsch. There are countless books on Samuel Insull and also some good accounts of the WPPSS debacle. If you decide to pick this up anyway - be ready to question the logic and investigate other sources before siding with Mr. Weil...although he has some good points it seems at times to be coincidental with the evidence he cites (or doesn't bother to cite).

I normally steer well clear of derivative fiction having heartily disliked Letters From Pemberley by Jane Dawkins. However, I had been lured back to this subgenre of novels by Pamela Aidan's excellent series "Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman".

This book, however, was a disappointment. Although some aspects of it I enjoyed, particularly the descriptions of travel across the Alps in Regency times (did you know they fitted sleigh runners to carriage wheels when in thick snow?), there were so many other parts of the book that I found annoying that I was relieved the finish the book and certainly won't bother reading any others by this author if they're of a similar ilk.

I suppose the main problem with writing books that are semi-sequels to great literature is that your characters are fixed. Elizabeth Aston avoids some of the difficulties by dealing with the next generation of characters - Darcy and Elizabeth's five daughters. I imagine there will be a novel per daughter, and this is the second of them, I believe. "Mr Fitzwilliam" is the Colonel Fitzwilliam of Austen's novel, although his character seems rather different than in the original. Apart from that Austen's characters don't appear in person although they are mentioned. This was a wise move as it theoretically helped the book to stand on its own merits.

Except it didn't, as it didn't have enough. When reading a follow-on to a classic novel, even if the characters are different members of known families I expect the overall feel and tenor to be the same. But this is not like reading another Jane Austen or a Georgette Heyer novel. Here sexual morality is very different - our heroine lost her virginity to a gentleman just before he got engaged to someone else. What would have been a complete and utter social disaster is glossed over - partly because everyone else seems to be at it. I don't know of the truth of behaviour in Regency times in England, although I suspect that upper class women were careful to retain their virginity for marriage, but as Austen's characters never showed a whiff of bad behaviour except for Wickham and Lydia I felt this really didn't work. Would honourable Mr Darcy's daughter really have behaved like this? And then the rest of her behaviour carries on in the same vein. She marries an entirely unsuitable man (wouldn't her father and mother have dissuaded her?), then runs away from him and ends up agreeing to `live in sin' with another man once she is a widow. She also has a brief moment of glory masquerading as a castrato at the opera in Venice; somehow I think Austen might be turning in her grave at that one! The wildness in Alethea's character would work well for a novel set with a different cast of characters but for me it was wrong in a Darcy family novel.

I was also, throughout the book, unsure of the accuracy of the historical detail. Obviously Jane Austen was writing in her own time, but Georgette Heyer was a master of this period and you knew you could trust her; I was less sure of what I was reading in Aston's work. The comment about the sleigh runner on the wheels piqued my imagination but I have no idea if it is historically accurate or not; I hope so, but I don't know, and that irritates me. It felt rather more like a modern story to me with all the `modern' ideas such as homosexuality, problems within marriage, love connections without the institution of marriage. While there is certainly nothing wrong in considering these themes within books, I wasn't sure that a book in the Austen tradition was the right vehicle for this.

The hero, Titus Maningtree, was portrayed interestingly and he was a reasonably well-rounded character, except for the fact that the quest that drives him for the first two thirds of the book (trying to discover a family heirloom Titian painting) completely disappears once he discovers his feelings for Alethea and we never hear about it again. This is a bit messy in terms of tying up loose ends as we don't know what happened to the painting - unless it appears in another book. I for one can't face the agony of finding out.