Bryan Books

"The Best Possible Sawmill" was published in 1996. I regret that it took me until 2001 to discover this book, which could have been titled "The Best Possible For Profit Enterprise" as the book is a gold mine for any businessperson with P&L responsibility. Using the sawmill as a metaphor, the book explains The Profit Gap (the difference between a company's current and potential earnings) and how to narrow this gap and increase profit by using Linear Programming technology to guide a manager's decision making about what markets to compete in, what products to make and sell, and what vendors and business partners to use. I recommend this book to any person with P&L responsibility.

(The Product Review describes another book.) The Big Green Book (actually a small handy book) contains metric conversion charts for all track and field sports, for time, distance and weight. Many other features: altitude of selected cities; English/Metric time equivalents; kilograms to pounds; per-mile marathon pace; rules of track & field; equipment specifications; effect of wind and altitude on runners; too many to mention. A must-have updated reference by the editors of Track and Field News.

This book is essential reading for a thorough understanding of the biotech industry, its complexities and potential. Highly recommended!

It's in vogue for social scientists to declare they are interested in the body. This collection of theoretical articles offers a solid foundation for people who make such declarations to know what they are talking about. Yes, there's life after Foucault. Micro-politics and the realities of sensual experience offer scientists a way of not outdating themselves.

Appleyard writes in a clear concise style and knows his subject extremely well.

Although not a scientist he doesn't hesitate to take on the high priests of scientism, asking how many times before science has claimed to have the answer to everything, and how many times before has it been proved wrong.

His main thrust however is that lay people need to question scientists and take responsibility for the use of new discoveries. Taking the cloning of Dolly the sheep as his starting point he forecasts the likely effects unquestioning acceptance of the use of such techniques will have on human reproduction; suggesting that without realising it we could be heading for a new type of eugenics, just as immoral as the terrible experiments the world has seen in the past.

In Osprey New Vanguard #100 David Fletcher, a historian at the Tank Museum in Bovington (UK), provides an excellent summary of the development and introduction of the first British tanks in the First World War. Fletcher succeeds in assembling a lot of disparate information into a tight package, that outlines the development, training and entry into combat of the British tank force. This Osprey summary is an excellent starting point for academics or professional military readers who wish to study the introduction of a radical new weapon system. Overall, in terms of narrative, freshness of information, and graphic appeal, this volume is excellent.

Fletcher begins the volume with background information on how Winston Churchill's idea for "landships" was translated by two engineering geniuses into the prototype "Lincoln Machine" and "Little Willie." Most readers will be surprised to learn that the original track set was built in Chicago (which doesn't cast the concept of American "neutrality" in a particularly sincere light), although this track was deemed unsuitable for the later prototypes. Fletcher details how the initial requirement for tanks in February 1915, after passing through the "Little Willie" design, resulted in the first tests of the Mark I tank or "Mother" in January 1916; less than a year from concept to working prototype! Considering that aircraft and submarines both existed prior to the First World War and their wartime developments were evolutionary in nature, the development of the British Mark I tank may be one of the most rapid weapons breakthroughs in military history. Fletcher also notes that it was the development of a functional track design that "was the single most important factor in the evolution of the British tank" - not the engine, transmission, armor or weapons.

Fletcher also spends several pages discussing how the Mark I tanks were built - a subject that is rarely discussed in other sources. By the summer of 1916, Fletcher notes that British industry was capable of building about 25 tanks per week, but many were siphoned off for training duties, so few were available for the battles of 1916-1917. One item that Fletcher does not cover is the issue of how much the first tanks cost; again, from the point of view of R&D and weapon development, it would be interesting to see how much the British investment in tanks cost (versus say, development in new heavy artillery or aircraft). Fletcher's section on crew duties is also very interesting, and as a former tanker myself, it is hard not to sympathize with the early tankers who had to operate inside a vehicle filled with "gushing clouds of carbon monoxide" and with temperatures rising to 120º F. Fletcher also includes brief sections on training for war and the initial introduction into combat. Although recently there has been a school of revisionist historians who have challenged the value of the early tanks, Fletcher notes that despite heavy losses and awkward moments the British Mark I tanks did prove their worth. In one engagement, a single British Mark I commanded by a 2LT Storey single-handedly captured a formidable German position and 300 prisoners. Fletcher also discusses the eight Mark I tanks used at Gaza in Palestine in 1917. The final sections cover several variants of the Mark I, included the similar Mark II and Mark III. The photographs and illustrations in the volume are excellent. The color plates include: the Lincoln Machine; Little Willie; Mother; camouflage schemes on Mark Is in 1916; a cutaway of a Mark I Male; a Mark I in Palestine; the Mark II and III variants; and the supply tank and wireless radio tank variants. Unfortunately, the author does not provide a bibliography or notes on sources of photographs.

All told, the British built 150 Mark I tanks, plus 50 each of the Mark II and Mark III variants. Virtually all of these tanks were non-operational by 1918, but these 250 early tanks paved the way for their sturdier successors. While some modern critics have attempted to characterize the early British tanks as too few in number and mechanically unreliable to matter, they tend to ignore the value of these first steps in creating a viable tank corps. Like many early-model weapons, the British Mark I was not itself destined to conquer on the battlefield, but it laid the seeds for its successors to reap at Cambrai in 1917 and Amiens in 1918.

***** This is a terrific collection of poetry with a western flavor. There are eighty-one poems in all.

Some touch upon the wildness and harshness of the wild, such as "Brush Country" and "Hide & Seek" ...

Some touch upon nature, such as "Wild Flowers" and "Rebirth" ...

Quite a few are filled with humor, such as "Midwife" and "Jake" ...

But most of these will make the reader picture the Wild West and the towns of long ago, such as "Simon and Seth" and "Sam". Highly recommended for all fans of poetry, western novels, or historical romance novels. *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

This book is really great, an excellent work! Its writing is exceptional and very unique, in a way u cant find in modern litterature. A true, original novel, in its content and format. I was reading this again and again, it was just like a big poem!

This songbook contains the words and music to the following 20 songs:
1. Virginia Plain
2. A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall
3. Pyjamarama
4. Do The Strand
5. These Foolish Things
6. Street Life
7. Let's Stick Together
8. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
9. Love is the Drug
10. Sign of the Times
11. Dance Away
12. Angel Eyes
13. Oh Yeah
14. Over You
15. Same Old Scene
16. In the Midnight Hour
17. More Than This
18. Avalon
19. Slave to Love
20. Jealous Guy

Bryan White is THE BEST book I've read, when I start reading it I can't put it down. Him being my FAVORITE country star.
I just can't tell you enough about it. It is a really cool book you will just have to read it yourself to find out what I mean.
That is if your in to Bryan White.

review by: Sarah Hale