United Kingdom Books

The British Special Air Service is one of the most highly trained military forces in the world, but they shroud their training, team selection and operations in complete mystery.

The book mentions a lot of acts of terrorism incidents in the 20th Century, from plane hijackings, bombings, embassy takeovers to the massacre of the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972. The book also shows one of the favoured weapons of the SAS, the MP5 submachine gun.

I really enjoy military handbooks, because I believe conflict can change the world. Look at the Vietnam War: the conflict made the country better than it was after the Second World War. Vietnam now has good food, beautiful countryside that is safe to travel and many enjoyable activities like cross-country tours.

Check out the website: vietnamtourism.com

Robert Franck

This book is the best book I have ever read on special operations and includes a indepth analysis of the selection, training, weapons, lands, water and air roles, counter terrorism, hearts and minds and operational tactcis. This book is about the SAS but has a overall review of the world's elite. It's excellent

When the King of Bohemia himself comes to Mr. Sherlock Holmes with a case, how can he say no? A woman has an indiscrete picture of herself and the King, and is threatening to disrupt his wedding. Numerous attempts have been made to retrieve the picture, but now Sherlock Holmes himself is on the case. But, there is more going on than meets the eye, and Holmes soon finds that he is facing one of his most clever opponents.

This is the third Sherlock Holmes story that Arthur Conan Doyle ever wrote, and it was first published in 1892. This is another wonderful Sherlock Holmes story, with lots of mystery, adventure and disguises. Indeed, the woman of the story - Irene Adler - has become so popular, that a number of books have been written starring her! So, if you want to read a good Sherlock Holmes story, or you want to see the very first Irene Adler story, then get this book!

A Scandal in Bohemia was a nicely written short story. It was engaging and it is my favorite Sherlock Holmes tale. Its nice to see that for once he went up against someone whose mental capacity was in the same league as his. At first I didn't really like Irene Adler for no reason I can think of now. But she grew on me and by the end of the story, she was my favorite character. The King was an absolute idiot.

Good book and very informative for planning a trip to Scotland (especially for someone who's never been).

I am planning a family trip to visit my parents homeland. Scotland for Dummies has helped me to learn a great deal in a short time. I love the Stickers to highlight the places you want to go. The cheat sheets should prove valuable too.

This was our most used guidebook on a recent trip to Scotland. It is divided into a vast range of categories (including recommended places to stay and/or eat, interesting sights, hikes...) which are numbered and referenced on regional maps. The author also uses a check system to rate what he considers to be the most exceptional and unique. Wherever you might find yourself, you can check the map to see the recommendations for everything in that area (especially useful when you're on the road and looking for a place to eat). Our only complaint is that many items were included in more than one category with slightly different information in each listing - which results in numerous numbers for the same item on the maps. In spite of a few typos, we highly recommend this savvy and informative guide.

We have used this guide extensively in our many visits to Scotland. It's a little confusing to get the organizational structure but once you get it, it's a great guidebook. Much more info than any regular guidebook. And 95% of the time the descriptions and recommedations are right on. I won't go to Scotland without it.

This is a very well produced book on Scotlands great lost estates. The text is highly informative and the images are fanstastic. It is so disgraceful that so many of these great houses were so underappreciated, they were torn down like dilapidated public housing: it's tragic. The great Robert Adam house Bardelie was the worst lose, how anyone could tear down this masterpiece is unfathonable. The book is a joy to peruse, but you can't help but have a touch of meloncholy for the ease at which the philitines pulled so many of these great houses down. Be assured, you'll never see the likes of these houses again.

As a fan of Scottish country houses I found this book to be very interesting reading. There are many particularly fine photographs detailing the history of these fine buildings which unfortunately became victims of changing times.

Purser's large volume offers a broad overview of Scotland's music, from far off pre-history to modern times. Unlike many more specialized works, he incorporates a wide variety of sources and covers Highland as well as Lowland traditions with proper weight and attention given to Gaelic, Latin, Scots, Norse and Welsh. There are many useful illustrations and a detailed bibliography, making it very useful to the researcher. This is a great place to start to understand a rich and diverse history of music of all sorts in Scotland.

Anyone who is doing any kind of reading or research on either traditional or classical music from Scotland should be familiar with this book. Purser outlines how the traditional and classical are related up to present times. He not only gives information on the composers, but also on the performing artists. Interested persons should also explore his radio program on BBC. The book is laid out that it could be read cover to cover or as a resource for looking up information on a specific topic.

Duncan Bruce has done it again! I really enjoyed his first book, The Mark Of The Scots. It appears that Bruce is establishing himself as a leading authority in Scottish achievements. This new book consists of an elegantly written and remarkably well researched collection of essays. The Scottish 100 is definitely a must have for history buffs and Scottish enthusiasts alike!

a highly informative, entertainingly and elegantly written overview of some notable Scots. In the age of "Black" centered television, minority based social programs and other unabashed celebrations of racial or genetic pride, it is refreshing to those of us from Scottish stock to read pridefully of our own rich heritage. For the record, I'm for celebrating all cultures deemed worthy of exceptional accomplishments.

Anglo and Celtic-phobes BEWARE! Our little nation has generated quite a few feisty geniuses and raucous rebels.

Alexander Broadie is Professor of Logic and Rhetoric at Glasgow University- a chair once occupied by Adam Smith author of "Wealth of Nations". This book, "The Scottish Enlightenment", written for the general reader, is a great treatise on a most astonishing period of Scottish history during the 18th century. Broadie writes; "that what gave the Scottish Enlightenment its character as a distinct historical movement was the complex set of relations with a group of geniuses and other immensely creative people living in each others intellectual pockets. Broadie writes about the leading Scottish luminaries in the fields of science, philosophy, history, economics, and the arts. Men such as Hume, Smith, Reid, Ferguson and others ideas had an immense influence on the great thinkers of Europe as well as our founding fathers here in America.

The term "Enlightenment" suggests emergence from darkness. There are two essential features of the enlightenment. First, a demand that people think for themselves. You do not take ideas on faith but you inquire study and observe for yourself. Second, social virtue of tolerance of ideas. The state and church cannot punish one for their ideas. This allows literati of men to meet and exchange ideas on a plethora of subjects and to spread these ideas through their writings so that other literati in Europe can comment and react to them. Thinking becomes a civil activity with ideas in the public domain. These men love liberty and are looking to build a better society for humanity. They believe that if morality is about anything it is about - protecting the civilized values vested in society. No wonder these men had a great influence on our founding fathers!

If you are truly interested in a classical education put this book on the top of your reading list! I recommend this book for anyone interested in philosophy, history, political science, and history of America's founding era.

As a person of mildly above average intelligence and a very broad range of interests, I often have friends suggest that I should try out for Jeopardy. My standard [and honest] response [regardless of whether the comment was meant as a compliment or an insult] is that I have incredibly large gaps in my knowledge and I'd probably stink at Jeopardy. Alexander Broadie and his scholarly AND entertaining book The Scottish Enlightenment came to rescue me from one of my more embarrassing knowledge gaps. You'd've figured a person with some Scottish blood in his veins and who teaches at a high school that has a Scottish theme and a Highlander as a mascot would know a whole bunch about the pivotal period in history know as the Scottish Enlightenment?! The knowledge gap surfaced when I read Jack Repcheck's recent biography of James Hutton [The Man Who Found Time]. I researched the available literature on the Scottish Enlightenment and Broadie's book appeared to have the qualities needed to plug my knowledge gap. Written for the interested reader, The Scottish Enlightenment was scholarly enough to give me the short course that I wanted, but interesting and idiosyncratic enough to avoid reading like a textbook. It left me feeling quite satisfied about my knowledge of the Scottish Enlightenment and, like any good book, left me with a few questions to explore further [the connection between the Scottish Enlightenment and the American Revolution - enquiring minds want to know!]. I highly recommend Alexander Broadie's book to anyone with an interest in history, Scotland, the Enlightenment, or the Scottish Enlightenment.

I found this book extremely useful in better understanding the screenwriting process. Even though I have no interest in being a screenwriter, as a film/television buff, I found the book very informative in anaylizing script construction, the ingredients of a quality script, and understanding the relationship of the scriptwriter to the producer, the director, cast, etc. I took a screenwriting course in college, and the text book used in the class was totally useless compared to what Pat Silver-Lasky has written. Every aspect of the scriptwriting process is covered in this book, and the material is logically presented in language that is understandable to even the novice scriptwriter. Nevertheless, even season scriptwriters will find this book useful as well. Ms. Silver-Lasky draws from her personal experience as a successful scriptwriter, instructor, and film enthuasist to create this must have read. At less than $15, one cannot go wrong purchasing this book.

This is a great book for anyone who is interested in screenwriting either as a hobby or as a professional. It gives a straightforward and easy to understand explanation of how to develop your initial idea into a fully blown screenplay. It also includes antidotes, stories and references by the author who has an excellent insight into writing for this medium from her own experience. Pat Silver-Lasky makes you feel that you are being taught on a one-to-one basis, which is something that is rarely achieved from books in this category. Go out, buy it, read it, then start to write that screenplay you have always had at the back of your mind.

A sly fictional account of the good queen's holiday in Jamaica and her improbable adventures there. Lavishly illustrated with whimsical drawings of the black-clad queen kicking up her heels. A delight.

I was intrigued to read an obituary of Routh in the Economist (June 17th, 2008) and wasn't surprised to learn of his reputation as a eternal prankster. He was, it seems, star of the British version of Candid Camera in the UK. In later years he moved to Jamaica and took up painting. The Economist obit described his style thus:

"He painted nuns driving racing cars and flying balloons, the pope windsurfing, Mona Lisa naked or smoking. His favourite subject was the aged Queen Victoria, on an imaginary trip to Jamaica in 1871, doing the hula-hoop or the limbo dance, riding a zebra and driving dodgem cars. He could have found a more prosaic explanation for the missing three months of her reign. But he preferred, as ever, the shock of the absurd, and the sense of the detached voyeur intruding on private space."

Endearing illustrations of a tiny, white veiled Queen Victoria cavorting with courtiers the color of midnight accompany a tongue-in-cheek description of a monarch on a risque holiday adventure. This charming picture book is a wonderful addition for anyone who collects memorabilia from Jamaica.