D Books

A comprehensive story of a less well known battlefield of World War II. Some confusion over the repetition of numerical regiments, but all-in-all good reading.

Field Marshall Slim was ordered from Iraq to Burma to take command of the front in the upcoming Burma debacle. Under Wavell first, and Auchinlek later, he retreated with the Commonwealth armies into India, and later on led the allied armies into victory against the Japanese forces.
His writing is clear, concise, and he does not spare himself from criticism, Often after describing an order he gave, or wished he had given, he will go on to explain how his plan was a mistake, and how he should have done it instead. This is precious insight on the mind of the commander. In many first person war stories, we are told what happened, but not why, and when errors are committed, there is always a lot of blame sharing. Here it is different. Slim tells you what he did wrong, when, and why. This is refreshing.
He shows great respect for his enemy, and describes the enemy's gallant attacks and heroic defenses with respect and appreciation for the heroism of the Japanese soldier. He does not fail to condemm the Japanese war crimes.
He exhibits great wit in describing the different attitudes of the Indian, Sikh and Gurkha soldiers. In one instance, after a Japanese attack in Inphal, some Gurkhas had been ordered to bury the enemy bodies. One of these wasn't dead yet, so the Gurkha trooper gets ready to cut the enemy's head off with his Kukri knife; a British officer tells him "Don't kill him!", and the Gurkha answers "But sir, we can't bury him alive!" Episodes like this give a great sense of realism and "being there" to the whole story.
The best book I've read to date on the Burma front.

I have always heard that Defeat into Victory - Battling Japan in Burma and India, 1942-1945 by William Slim was an excellent book for military leaders and planners. Despite this, I was resistant to reading this book for several years. Field-Marshal Slim, after all, was a failure. He failed to stop the Japanese advance in Burma and took a shockingly long time to retake Burma.

After finally reading this book, I must admit I was wrong. This book is useful on at least four levels. First, it is a good read on a little known part of World War II. Even if one is knowledgeable about General Stilwell's experience in the China Burma India (CBI) Theater, this highly focused work will provides new and interesting insights on that theater of war. Second, Field-Marshal Slim was forced by circumstances to be very creative is his tactics, techniques, and procedures. It is useful to see how many of these ideas were adopted in modern militaries and how many still might have value. Third, Field-Marshal Slim has some very specific and interesting "lessons learned" spelled out in the last section of his book. Fourth, leadership as applied in combat, in a bizarre multi-cultural environment, and in the disease ridden tropics might be useful for both current military folks and those in business.

It was a surprise to learn about the relatively large number of troops involved in the Burma campaign. Like most Americans, my image is of a few aviation and engineering units and that the bulk of the fighting, to the extent there was any, was done by Chinese units and a handful of "special forces/commando" units. It was insightful to read about the difficulties in mixing the militaries of different nations. The British attempt, largely successful, at outsourcing the fighting to Indian and West African units was meaningful as well.

The use of helicopters and air mobile brigades was one of the many innovations that Field Marshal Slim implemented. The development of riverine forces was also interesting and potentially worth study since the U S Navy has decided to reintroduce such forces based on lessons learned from Iraq.

From page 535 - 551, Field Marshal Slim offers some specific lessons learned based on the Burma campaign. The only area where I think he is less than intellectually honest is his discussion on "Special Forces". Field Marshal Slim rejects the usefulness of special forces, but if one reviews his actual campaign, he seems to be inclined to argue the usefulness of small groups of elite forces that act as enablers of larger amounts of indigenous troops. Likewise, he is adamantly against commando and amphibious troops as "special". His argument is that all troops should be trained to do these types of things though perhaps not to the level that so called special forces are trained to.

Finally, Field Marshal Slim managed to survive in a complex and bizarre multinational environment. It seems as if the United States might be in such situations in the future. Indeed, NATO forces in Afghanistan and Multi-National Forces in Iraq are - while different in detail - much the same in terms of the diplomatic and relationship building that is required of senior military officers.

This is a solid book for a variety of reasons. I highly recommend it.

Field Marshall Slim, Viscount of Burma, never lets us forget that it is the soldiers in the field that win battles: not politicians in their ivory towers, or generals in their bunkers far behind the action. Slim's theory is that politicians give guidelines for the campaign, and generals provide the training and backup so that the soldiers can get on with their business. He should, when possible, not get in the soldiers way.
This is a marvellous account of how the Commonwealth managed to stem the Japanese tide in South-East Asia. The main part of the book describes how he managed to restore morale and discipline in the army that was so humiliatingly defeated in 1943. That part should be compulsory reading at any management school. His solution was simple: he accepted that the defeat was due to faulty planning of the general staff. He then set out to provide training and equipment to the front-line troops. Since he commanded a multi-ethnic international army, he saw that every unit was supplied according to its own special needs. He even put his own staff on half-rations if any field unit lacked provisions - which usually quickly solved the problem!
As few generals and politicians he understood that war is about individuals and small units - they just add up to something bigger.
Slim could really write, the book is full of small anecdotes and self-ironic humour. When he writes about the actions it is af we were really there in the midst of it.
Finally, and most importantly: the book is totally devoid of any racism or demeaning of the enemy, it is incredibly respectful of his own native soldiers and of the Japanese enemy.

Field Marshal Slim's excellent memoire of the fighting against the Japanese in Burma and India during 1942-1945 is remarkable on at least two counts. First, the Allied armies were badly beaten and hustled unceremoniously out of Burma in 1942, yet reorganized in time to defend India and went on to liberate Burma in 1945. This feat was all the more remarkable for being fought over some of the most rugged jungle and mountain terrain in the world, under often horrendous weather conditions, at the distant end of the Allied supply lines. Second, Slim's account is exceptionally candid with respect to his leadership, to include mistakes made (his and others), to his opinions of his allies and opponents, and to the political wrangling that goes on in any coalition military effort.

The China-Burma-India Theater of World War II did not include large numbers of American ground forces, and has therefore been left largely in the shadows of the fighting in Europe and the Pacific theater. However, the Allied forces inflicted a massive military defeat on the Japanese Army under extraordinarily difficult conditions; there is much to learn from the common sense, improvisational approach employed by Slim in planning and organizing his campaigns.

Slim arrived in the theater as a brand new corps commander just at the start of the Japanese invasion. His efforts to cobble together a defense were repeatedly overturned by the relentless Japanese attack and by the scarcity of resources. Slim managed to extract his forces and in successive positions as corps and army commander, rebuilt them into the force that went back into Burma. Slim's account is comprehensive, even exhaustive, describing both the operational-level planning and administrative support and much of the tactical level fighting in the jungles. His high regard for his multi-national army, composed of British, Gurkha, Indian, Chinese, and American forces, and his care for their morale is evident throughout his account.

"Defeat Into Victory" is a long read at over 550 pages; the casual reader may be overwhelmed by the length and level of detail. The student of military art without prior background in the China-Burma-India theater may have some challenge putting Slim's account into proper context. The limited selection of maps are a bit difficult to read but enable the reader to follow the course of the campaigns.

This book is very highly recommended to the student of the military art looking for a very readable account of the Allied campaigns in Burma. Those who persist to the end will be rewarded by Slim's retrospective on the fighting in Burma and the surprisingly modern conclusions he draws from the experience.

reading this book about ten years ago! I could never understand why a MOVIE was not made from this book, quality historical/fiction can sell, no? Fantastic story telling, fantastic period research (Ancient Rome is a serious interest of mine). The story was also very poignant to me b/c the author was able to really bring the characters to life, particularly Eugeni. If you have any interest in how the ancient world worked, or more specifically how the modern world may be viewed by someone from the distant past, GET THIS BOOK!

I was telling someone about this book yesterday and spent the next 24 hours trying to remember the title. It's been nearly 30 years since I read this and the plot and characters stuck with me all this time. It's a great story with vivid scenes that could have been a great movie! Somebody write a screenplay!

This is a super adventure novel. The body of a Roman gladiator is cut of out the ice in the North Sea, and, of course, the gladiator is revived. His experiences in the modern world are wonderfully portrayed.

I loved the part where the gladiator tells a nun that the New Testament apostle James, I believe, was a disgrace. He says something to the effect that he was crucified upside down. Thus, the gladiator unintentionally confirms a Christian belief. I love playing with ideas, and this detail from the novel has stayed with me all these years.

The gladiator also gets in a fight with an Olympic fencer. My advise: Don't fight Roman gladiators.

"The Far Arena" is, quite simply, a magnificent story, which places Richard Sapir among the top ranks of novelist talents. Why this one did not receive greater acclaim is a mystery, because this is a powerful, well-written, even compelling story dealing with ancient Rome. Without spoiling the plot, it is simple enough: by entirely plausible scientific means, a Roman gladiator is revived in the modern age. His flashbacks to life in ancient Rome and his impressions of the modern age are all woven into a compelling plot that moves at lightning speed to a startling and yet wistful conclusion. This is a great story.

Sapir's prose is superb. Many authors have trouble switching from first-person narration to a third-person perspective as Sapir does in this novel, but Sapir does it effortlessly. The storyline never drags. The novel has a wonderful sense of authenticity that causes the ancient Roman Empire to become real to the reader. Sapir's characterizations are excellent as well. Eugeni, the Roman gladiator and the other leading characters all become real people about whom the reader will come to care a great deal. Put simply, there is very little about this novel not to like.

I own two copies of this one and would never part with either--I consider this to be one of the very best novels I have ever read. The discerning reader will want to read and keep this one in his or her personal library.

I've been a bit reluctant to rely on Amazon.com reviews after a few clunkers but thank you, thank you, thank you to the person who put this on a "best of" list. This is not only a great story, about a frozen man, who may or may not be a gladiator from Caracalla's Rome, who is revived in the 20th century, but it's a well written book as well, with lots of historical detail that never overwhelms with triviality. Sapir gives us a Russian doctor, a Nordic nun, a Roman gladiator, and a Texas engineer working for an oil company and brings them together realistically and, more amazingly, in a way that makes you care about every single one. He intercuts their efforts to resuscitate and then communicate with the Roman, with the story of the putative gladiator's life in ancient Rome. Sapir has done his research and created a very moving and fascinating story. Well worth the effort to track a copy down.

As a Workforce Development professional, I have administered a slew of career assessment instruments with varying success. Some of the newer quizzes and questionnaires aim to reveal the Dream Job: that one is best suited for. This job is also most likely to provide high job satisfaction. However, it is often difficult to find a job that fits both models.

Today's trend is to find a person's "calling." This is accomplished through paper and pencil tests like the Keirsey Temperament or Meyers-Briggs, online surveys, and even some effective card-sorting games. Some online measurements reveal one's "work personality" as being closest to a particular Star Trek® or Star Wars® character. These are fun, though a bit gimmicky - and not always correct. In the end, all this "work personality determination" can seem akin to casting horoscopes, while Young Adult Professionals (YAPS, as I call them) prefer something fresher. All these instruments have their due applications, but Ms. Levit's system outshines each one.

In a survey of workers aged approximately 20-39, Levit determined qualities that reveal Work Passions - more likeable and fun than "work personalities." Self-administered and self-scored, the associated quiz can be retaken yearly to determine changes throughout the lifespan (my own test results were spot on). The careers of passion, so to speak, are Adventurer (that's me), Creator (also me), Data Head (me, too), Entrepreneur, Investigator (me), Networker, and Nurturer. As with other quizzes, most users will likely score a "highest three categories" cluster that provides a range of lucrative career choices. Overall, the system is easy and based on facts.

Levit includes actual interviews with workers for clues on how to break into exciting careers that match the Passions, and she provides descriptions and in-depth information about the Top 60 Most Attractive Careers desired by young professionals today. Easy to read and engaging, the text is an exciting journey through a Disneyland type of Career Space Ride. For a neat finish, it all seems very effective.

Every high school and college grad should receive a copy of this book as a gift. This is one of the best books of its kind I have ever read or used. I am recommending it to many people.

Armchair Interviews says: Highly recommended.

As the author points out, a vanishingly small number of us grew up and went to college to work in a vast, impersonal cubicle farm doing work we have no passion for and that has no more than short term utilitarian importance. We didn't set out to be faceless and anonymous worker-bees. Yet, most of us end up in such jobs. There's nothing wrong with paying the bills and funding your life and life's passions outside work. In fact, many people actually enjoy this kind of work because of what it funds at home and at play.

What's wrong is living a life that makes you feel frustrated, trapped, and sinking deeper into a sense of uselessness. Alexandra Levit provides you with a bunch of alternative careers you can at least consider. A wise boss once said to me that we should enjoy 80% of our job and the other 20% is what we get paid for. That seems about right to me. So, if you hate roughly 80% of your job, maybe you well into the area for reconsidering how you spend your time putting bread on your table and a roof over your head.

The first chapter is a self-assessment to help you see what broad category might bring your more satisfaction than the situation that is leading you to seek out this book. After you take the assessment, you will be given advice about which of the seven broad categories may suit you best. The seven categories are The Adventurer, The Creator, The Data Head, The Entrepreneur, The Investigator, The Networker, and The Nurturer. You will notice that these aren't jobs. However, within each category she describes some possible jobs, what those careers are like, and how you go about getting them.

For example, in The Adventurer category you get to look at being a conservationist, documentary photographer, ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher, foreign service officer, news correspondent, oceanographer, outdoor adventure guide, and travel journalist. Each of the categories are similarly broad. You will probably want to look through all of them regardless of what your assessment results are because each job is interesting to contemplate.

Remember, this is a book about getting ideas and leads for new jobs and is not about providing directives for your life. You will get ideas and you might become energized to go look at something completely different from your present path or from what is provided in this book. Even if you decide to stay where you are, reading through this book and considering other things may well help you see your job with new eyes and appreciation.

A good book for anyone of any age considering where to work for your first job, for a career change, or what to do after you have already had a career but aren't ready for the rocking chair or watching daytime soaps.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

You might want to also look at:

Delaying The Real World

Escape from Corporate America: A Practical Guide to Creating the Career of Your Dreams

I really enjoyed this book! It clearly broke down dozens of careers in a digestable manner, and it was fun to read. I'm a 20-something who doesn't feel entirely fulfilled in my current job and am using this book as a platform for finding new paths. There are so many interesting jobs that I had never even heard of...it was so fun to read about all the new opportunities!

"Figure out what you love to do, and you'll never go to work a day in your life." Good advice... but how do you do it? I'd say reading "How'd You Score That Gig?" is a great place to start.

For anyone staring blankly at a hard-earned diploma and thinking "What now?" this book is a must-have. With enthusiasm, skill and tremendously thorough research, Levit takes readers on a tour of the coolest jobs for every personality type. Each chapter is full of stories from people who have already figured out a way to do what they love and, thanks to Levit, the secrets of their success are yours to discover. From a personality quiz to step-by-step advice and wisdom on how to land a dream-job, you'll find exactly what you need to kick the post-grad blues.
Get ready, get set, get a gig!

This book was a fun read. I liked it in a superficial kind of way. It features 60 jobs that may be worth pursuing. The author has grouped the 60 jobs in seven of the book's 8 chapters as follows:

1. Self-assessment
2. The adventurer
>>Conservationalist >>Documentary photographer >>ESL teacher
>>Foreign Serviceofficer >>News correspondent >>Oceanographer
>>Outdoor adventure guide >>Travel journalist
3. The creator
>>Actor >>Book author >>Fashion designer
>>Interior designer >>landscape architect >>movie screenwriter
>>Performance musician >>Restaurant chef >>Video game designer
4. The datahead
>>Computational linguist >>Environmental engineer >>Financial advisor
>>Information security specialist >>Meteorologist >>Pharmaceutical scientist
>>Urban planner
5. The entrepreneur
>>Bed-&-breakfast innkeeper >>Blogger >>Boutique owner
>>Event planner >>Health club owner >>Internet-based business owner
>>Inventor >>Pet sitter >>Professional organizer
6. The investigator
>>Antiques dealer >>Art curator >>Classic car restorer
>>Criminologist >>Field archeologist >>Forensic scientist
>>Futurist >>Historian >>Psychology lab assistant
7. The networker
>>Book editor >>Congressional staffer >>Image consultant
>>Lobbyist >>Marketing executive >>Pro sports team manager
>>Speech writer >>Talent agent >>Television producer
>>Wine merchant
8. The nurturer
>>Doula >>Elementary school teacher >>Life coach
>>Nonprofit administrator >>Nutritionist >>Physical therapist
>>Social services caseworker >>zoologist

Chapters 2 though 8 cover occupations that are grouped by the personality type of the person suited for them. For example, someone who is creative (a creator) might want to be a book author or movie screenwriter. See Chapter 3. And the reader is expected to use Chapter 1 to determine which personality type they have. After reading Chapter 1 they can then turn to the chapter that applies to them and skip the rest of the book. In that case, the book can be a very short read.

The author says this book was written to help the reader embark on the journey toward career fulfillment. And the target audience is really smart, ambitious, goal-directed kids. I'm sorry, but the list of jobs featured in this tome for the most part do not seem to match the target audience. And they don't seem to be entry-level jobs that will help someone get on with a career full of fulfullment.

If you are looking for a book that will give you some insight into how to land a job featured in this book, then this book is for you. It is well-written and informative. However, if you are really smart, ambitious, and goal directed, then I suspect you have already planned your career moves long before graduating from college and you will get little from this book. Generally speaking, entry-level jobs are not fulfilling. And a book that provides career advice shouldn't really be advising on particular jobs for new recruits. Instead, it should be advising on CAREER TRACKS that will lead to a fulfilling occupation that can adequately support a worthy lifestyle financially. If the author had done this latter thing, then I would have really liked the book. 4 stars!

Volume two of Le Proust's great work is a sensual delight. Part One (of Vol.2), by and large, is more about Swann's family and, of course, the agonizing and philosophizing in regard to "getting over" Miss Gilberte. There is much less about the narrator's family which ran the course throughout SWANN'S WAY. Stylistically, BUDDING GROVE is an absolute wonder. We are once again treated to the narrator's philosophies on life's ups and downs (how's that for a summation?). Once he gets to the fictitious seaside town of Balbec, the book surges--taking on the proverbial "life of its own". The reader is in the hotel room with him...and on the beach...and on the boardwalk, etc. It was a joy to see how Proust/Moncrieff would occasionally work in "street talk" with the mainstay of aureate and lyrical prose: a woman in Balbec is described as having "yellow hair and six inches of paint on her face and a carriage which reeked of harlot a mile away..." Delicious. Priceless.

I cannot imagine trying to read Proust's Everest of a novel until I've had enough life experience to be able to identify with his insights. How on earth was a man who died young and was confined to a bed for so many years able to learn so much about life and common human experience, emotion and perception? I don't know how, but I thank God that he was.

For modern readers, Proust is definitely an acquired taste that rewards patience. I never thought reading the works of one author would make those of others seem so much easier to read. But such is the case with Proust. Nevertheless, one shouldn't regard his writing as therapy or medicine; it may read like self help at times, with its frequent use of the first-person plural, but it is a story first of all. His writing is just more detailed and insightful than that of all but a handful of modern novelists.

Within a Budding Grove is a primer on patience and perception, one that will probably make you a better reader, perhaps a better writer, and certainly a more interesting human being. Struggle on patiently. You will get used to the labyrinthine sentences, paragraphs that run on for pages, and gargantuan chapters (if they can be called that) that don't really begin or end anywhere tidy. Eventually, you will likely come to enjoy it.

My only criticism: at times one does get annoyed by the slow pacing. For instance, I knew that this is the volume that introduces the reader to Albertine. But it did take about 600 pages for the narrator to meet her! That said, there are plenty of tasty morsels along the way. Read it, not so much for the simple story or the minutely detailed descriptions, but for the numerous insights and the astounding wisdom.

Montcrief's translation, is the quintisential Proust. The, beautiful, florid prose is reminiscent of a time and a place that no longer exists, and captures the French aristocracy in the advent of WWI -- full of old-world trappings, yet abounding with subtle reminders of the globalization that was to follow. Proust's style and vision are directed admirably towards his artistic goal of appreciating art through sublimation, and express his idea that a true understanding of art comes first through appreciation, and then expression through a medium. This volume is full of Proust's own philosiphies on art, life and the people who abound in both. His observations, pointed and amusing, keep this volume relevant. Considering the wave of expatriate and existentialist writers who propogated Paris after the Great War, this book is truly the last in a line of works that view life in a grand, sweeping and elegant manner. Within a Budding Grove brought Proust fame and acclaim in his own time, and in ours can be seen as a masterpiece reflecting a time past, yet glimsping assiduously into the future. For those "in search of lost time" this is truly a great read.

How can anyone summarize even a single volume of Proust's massive six volume novel? Within a Budding Grove (sometimes translated as In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower) is the second installment of In Search of Last Time. We find the narrator perhaps marginally older on vacation with his grandmother living in a luxurious hotel in Balbec off the coast. This volume, paired with the first (Swann's Way), is really the introduction to the work entire if you can believe it. In it, the narrator perhaps matures slightly; he cultivates his keen awareness of art, meets new people, and ultimately falls out of love with Gilberte and falls in love with Albertine. His relationship with his grandmother is certainly expanded, and the reader comes to learn that the narrator is not merely motivated by a trivial pursuit of pleasure and bourgeois charm. He is in fact, a truly full human being, complete with fear, love, desire, and ambition. He meets one of my favorite characters in the whole book, the impressionist painter Elstir, a character clearly based Monet, Manet, Pissaro, and others. He introduces the narrator to Albertine through his paintings, and teaches him about the joys of life and art. There are some passages in this section of the book (the latter half) which I just can't resist from quoting,

"I could never have believed that I should now be dreaming of a sea which was no more than a whitish vapour that had lost both consistency and colour. But of such a sea Elstir, like the people who sat musing on board those vessels drowsy with the heat, had felt so intensely the enchantment that he had succeeded in transcribing, in fixing for all time upon his canvas, the imperceptible ebb of the tide, the throb of one happy moment; and at the sight of this magic portrait, one could think of nothing else than to range the wide world, seeking to recapture the vanished day in its instantaneous, slumbering beauty" (pg. 657).

also (how French is this?),

"For a convalescent who rests all day long in the flower-garden or an orchard, a scent of flowers or fruit does not more completely pervade the thousand trifles that compose his idle hours than did for me that colour, that fragrance in search of which my eyes kept straying towards the girls, and the sweetness of which finally became incorporated in me. So it is that grapes sweeten in the sun. And by their slow continuity these simple little games had gradually wrought in me also, as in those who do nothing else all day but lie outstretched by the sea, breathing the salt air and sunning themselves, a relaxation, a blissful smile, a vague dazzlement that had spread from brain to eyes" (pg. 669).

I certainly cannot add any insights into the greatness and profundity of this work which has not already been said by Edmund Wilson or Vladimir Nabokov. Within a Budding Grove is a deeply felt, beautiful and fleeting segment of one of the finest novels of the last century, I urge you to read it.

This is a great copy of Vol. 2 of A la recherche du temps perdu [In Search of Lost Time] or [Delving into Things Past]. Each volume in the septrology may be read individually as an independent novel. This is, of course, the very best translation available in English; probably the very best that will ever be available in English: certainly the next best thing to reading the original French.

Note: Proust is not quick reading, and one who tries to read too quickly will just as quickly lose the tread of the narrative. This text has its own time scale, and the reader must adjust his/herself to the text--not the other way around. In this stream of consciousness narrative, the narrator (/author) digresses as he speaks (/thinks): he digresses, digresses, digresses; and then, he returns, returns, returns to the point where he began. One has to follow his line of thought: this is the art and beauty of the text.

Proust's achievement is one of the greatest edifices of Western art, perhaps comparable only to Wagner's Ring cycle.

This book is invaluable in increasing awareness and education about breastfeeding. It also exposes the negative social and financial implications our country suffers from not placing the needs of parents and families first. I really appreciate that its underlying focus is on the family. This book incredibly informative on a variety of issues all directly related to breastfeeding and the consequent emotional and psychological health of not only the baby, but the mother and entire family as well.

I was raised in a "breastfeeding family" but this book still was amazing. It should be required reading for college students in business ethics courses. Students majoring in health education, nutrition, family sciences, and women's issues, all should read this during their coursework.

The statistics and studies cited, and information contained, are invaluable in understanding how we came to be a formula-feeding society. And they are the nuggets of how we can reverse that situation. Inform yourself! And you'll begin to be able to inform others, too [given opportunities]. I'm amazed how many people don't recognize the duplicity of formula companies in their product marketing, here and in the Developing World.

I can go over all the reason why to read this book, but it's easier to say you have to read it! If you have come across this book, you must be interested in breastfeeding, this book won't tell you how to do it, but it will tell you why and give you a much greater feeling of how to promote it to others!

I'm shocked that a book like this can be around, it's sad that there is enough anti-breastfeeding companies etc. to warrent the book.

This book should be on every mother-to-be's MUST READ list. It goes into great detail about breastfeeding in other cultures, how the medical establishement derails a mothers efforts before she can even get started, and the overly agressive marketing tactics of the formula manufactures.

There are heartbreaking tales of the number of babies who were killed by artifical feeding.

I cannot reccomend this book enough! Read it before you have children, it will make you see formula (and the Nestle corporation) in a whole new light.

This definitive history of formula, pharmaceutical companies and infant death is highly readable, despite its depressing topic. While it would be comforting to think that formula fed babies only die at a higher rate than breastfed in places without access to clean water that just ain't so -- never has been, never will be, and the companies which make formula know that. Which is why the code of advertising (which formula -- which is to say, pharmaceutical -- companies continue to violate) adopted in the early years of the boycott applies around the world, including in the U.S.

Along the way, Baumslag and Michels include some really amusing sidelights like the invention of the stroller by a New York man, and its adoption by Queen Victoria. One tiny snit: they're anti-swaddling, considering it a barbaric, backward practice that only occurs in backward, barbaric places and should be stamped out.

Joseph Balkoski's book on Omaha Beach is a great historical resource like his book Utah Beach. Omaha Beach tells the story of when largely untested American troops assaulted the German army's Atlantic wall. This is a great read covering the events of the day almost minute by minute. It reads like a great documentary. This is not written in the format of a memoir. Balkoski relies mainly on primary sources such as after action reports, unit journals, and citations to create his blow by blow narrative. He includes the invasion's diplomatic and strategic context. Omaha Beach is the closest the modern reader can get to experiencing the Normandy landings firsthand.

Sprinkled throughout the battle account are the accounts of those in the battle. It is a classic. It is a must for any D-day library. It also included comprehensive lists of all Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross winners at Omaha Beach. It has: the Order of Battle, unit casualty list for the first twenty-four hours, unit organization of a 30man assault boat unit weapons, and equipment carried in the assault by a typical soldier, and a series of detailed maps allowing the reader unparalleled insight into the minute-by-minute combat on Omaha Beach.

I read the book several years ago, just prior to visiting the Normandy Beaches. Bought it to have my own copy and read it again. The book's great strength (drawback for some readers, maybe) is its huge volume of detail. It is thoroughly researched; written with clarity; tells the story fully. The human side of this Day In History is also illustrated in meaningful detail; descriptions of unbelievable heroism are numerous; only three Medals of Honor were awarded;many DSCs. Issue: General Cota should have received the Medal of Honor; saved many lives; inspired leadership. A really fine and exciting book.

I am not going to go on at length since there are already some well written reviews here. I just wanted to add my vote that this is a great book. I think it is the finest book on Omaha written, including Ryan's and Ambrose's. I also recommend Bernage's work for the graphics and photos.

I decided at first to write a long review of this book, but upon reading the other reviews here I trimmed my review to simply this...

I own and run a battlefield touring company in Normandy and have read many many books on the fighting on Omaha Beach on D-Day. There is no better book than this one, that's it it's absolutely the definitive book on the subject. The author has lived overlooking the beach, he's from Maryland - home of the 29th division and he has studied the units involved for thirty years. This book will never be bettered. I cannot sing its praises loudly enough.

This is a great "you are there" description of D-Day on Omaha Beach in Normandy. Joseph Balkoski has done an excellent job of presenting the official and personnel accounts of people who were there that longest day of the war. The descriptions by the veterans take you into the landing craft, onto the beach, and up and over the bluffs that overlooked the beach. His telling of the story dispels the usual belief that the soldiers were stuck on the beach all day and only got off the beach near the end of the day as depicted in the movie "The Longest Day".

I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a real detailed story focused on this one beach of the D-Day invasion. I would really recommend it to someone who is a wargamer such as myself since reading the stories makes me want to recreate these small firefights as well as the overall battle. I am sure there are many people who feel that way.

Balkoski's style of telling history is very well done and he has done an excellent job of bringing the materials together so that others can follow in the footsteps of the brave men of that day.

I can't want to read Utah Beach!


Utah Beach: The Amphibious Landing And Airborne Operations On D-Day, June 6, 1944

Great book. Lots of historical data, great photos! Very informative. I have several other meteorite reference pieces and this is one of the best. mike.

Norton is a rare author who combines detailed knowledge of a subject with very entertaining stories. Once I started reading some of the chapters I just could not put it down. On the other hand, it also includes chapters which are technical (and sometimes beyond my understanding in some cases)! It therefore has something for everyone from beginner to advanced, collector or even a noncollector simply interested in the subject. This is a great introduction and very well written. It was not the first book on metorites I read, but should have been!

very informative and well written. a good book to have on the subject.

Excellent book, especially for the beginning/intermediate meteorite collecter. Written in easy-to-understand English, yet technical when it needs to be. Very comprehensive on the subject, and well illustrated with photographs and drawings.

I purchased the book "Rocks From Space (Second Edition)" about seven years ago. My main interest in space is in the field of planetary geology and I have a need to be reasonably conversant with the subscience of meteoritics. The "Rocks From Space" book was recommended by several colleagues, and I also noted that it had received good reviews.

In general, I find "popular" books directed to the interests of amateurs to be shallow and even corny. "Rocks From Space" is an exception. This book is outstanding. It provides a concise but excellent introduction to the subjects of meteorites, asteroids, comets, meteors and impact sites. It is presented in a way that amateur collectors, amateur astronomers or anyone interested in these space-related subjects can easily read and understand, but, at the same time, it is very informative and authoritative. I would not hesitate to recommend the book to anyone who was interested in meteorites and other space debris. In fact, I have recommended it to countless individuals as an excellent place to start.

"Rocks From Space" is well written, well illustrated and interesting to read. It has achieved a permanent and respected place in my reference book collection. I give talks on planetary geology to groups of geologists and astronomers and I use some of the illustrations in my presentations. For people who are interested is collecting meteorites, Norton presents a series of guidelines, anecdotes and useful information including a list of laboratories where one might get an identification confirmed. For a small and inexpensive paperback, this book contains a wealth of information.

Gary Peterson

This book is so great - I bought this a long time ago, back when I was first learning HTML. I can't tell you what a great resource it was for me. I learned so much, so fast from this book. It really is a simple, straightforward guide to HTML and it actually teaches you a lot about what you are doing so that you can learn and apply these concepts to your own projects. It's a guide that beginners should definitely turn to, but is great for people who aren't just beginners as well because it has tons of cool stuff that you can learn even if you do know a bit about HTML. Plus it would be a great reference guide while building a website for yourself or for someone else. And another great highlight of this book is that its not skimpy or condescending like some of those 'for dummies' books.

Started recently with showing interest in the HTML language. It became clear that in the huge amount of books covering this subject, I was keen on getting something simple, easy to understand and a very handy reference guide. I belive that with this book, it cannot be made any simpler!! Even for non IT minded persons.

The book covers all, from starting a web page, building CCS, what and how JavaScript is working (did not had a clue what it was) up to special features that can make your web-site just that more interesting.
Even now, as a reference guide, it is just what I needed.

The visually part of it - if somebody is not known with the "Teach yourself visually" series - is so clear, the results are showing.
Later I have bought the Dreamweaver MX 2004 from the same series. Even though Dreamweaver is pretty clear in itself, I still come back to this book for some handy tips and how to do.

Worthwile? I do think so!

Great for beginners to intermediate users. Clear instructions, great color graphics, simple but fundamental instructions, powerful in its simplicity. Mouth-wateringly good! Grab this.

Following the advice of the others on this page I duly purchased this book. I can now safely say it will be my LAST time following the general concensus! What is WITH you people?
A photographer/grafik designer by trade, specialising in print-based media I have never done web-based work (other than actually designing pages and buttons in Illustrator - and then having someone else doing the converting, assembly etc.) so I decided to buy a book and have a go. To get straight to the point this book is a piece of crap for the following reasons. 1) (despite professing otherwise) It is totally incoherent, and follows a very illogical progression pattern. 2) The grafiks are so sadly outdated and amateur-ish I cringed every time I opened the book. 3) It fails to empower the reader to move freely and thus visualise their own ideas. 4) It is VERY incomprehensive. 5) It is very hard to navigate, has no real index, no thumb tags etc.
It is like a 'Big Mac' - it looks yummy and filling and when you take a bite it SEEMS to fill you up, but soon you are hungry for more REAL FOOD. My advice? Go for a less disturbingly 'visual' format that provides you with the building blocks to build your own house.

Although I consider myself fairly computer savvy, I know absolutely nothing about webpage development. Until now. With this book, I was able to create professional looking webpages in literally, minutes. This is my first and only book I've purchased about creating webpages. I can't say that other books aren't as useful, but I can say, that this step-by-step approach, is fool-proof. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in creating webpages, with little or no prior knowledge of webpage development.

have a problem with using words like "brilliant", "masterful" and "intelligent." But willing apply all words to this brilliant book, masterfully research and intelligently told.

The author gives a very full and complete treatise on Brown versus the Board of Education, but of greater interest, he writes of all the history that lead up to the ruling.

An exceptional book chronicling an extremely important issue in our country's history.

This is certainly the best book ever written -- the best book that ever will be written -- about race, law and American society. It is a remarkably insightful history and one of the most stunning existing examples of narrative journalism. It is a masterpiece.

I'm a fan of nonfiction works and this easily moved to my top 5 favorite books. When I was growing up there were no courses on the contributions blacks made to America. There was no black history month. And I was cheated. I'm a 50+ white woman who lived through desegregation and had no clue that it was a struggle. I honestly don't remember a time when my elementary classes were all white but they must have been. I do remember clearly when my elementary class stopped being all white. That was when Richard Harris became my Batman buddy. On the aftenoons following the show we would go to the neighborhood soda shop and have a coke and discuss all the action of the previous evening's show and check for new Batman bubble gum cards with the intensity that only 5th graders can bring to such an important endeavor. It felt normal to chat Batman with Richard; and I'm so sorry for all the children that had such a dumb practice as segregation rob them of those moments.

This book read like a thiriller for me. Couldn't put it down. Underlined and highlighted parts. Read other sections out loud to my husband and to some friends at work. This is American history. Everyone should have the opportunity to learn about the value of education, the value of varied experiences and the perseverance to acquire the rights that should never have been denied to the black people. It's made me hungry to know more and I'll be keeping my eye out for other works by Kluger. Excellent author.

I just finished this book, A Simple Justice, and it is fantastic. It's the story of Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, which is the landmark Supreme Court case that desegregated compulsory public schools in America. But it's so much more than that. After reading this book, I felt almost ashamed of my previous ignorance to the struggles and condition of black america at the hands of almost everyone else in the country. It is comprehensive in its scope and perspicacious in its analysis, sparing no feelings on either (or rather, any) side. I believe myself to be, for the most part, a judicious man when it comes to philosophical or sociological observations, but Kluger was able to open my eyes to angles I had previously missed on issues I thought I had resolved long ago. So if you're not too scared of big books, this one's worth the time.

Long a mainstay of every 1L's pre-law school summer reading list, SIMPLE JUSTICE is more than a retelling of the tortured history of the landmark cases now known collectively as Brown v. Board of Ed. It is more than a retelling of the agonizing struggles of both gifted and ordinary people---black and white and every other---to reverse the four centuries of racial disparagement that make up the ugliest of all underpinnings of the American Experiment. What SIMPLE JUSTICE is, is an exhaustive sociological history of race relations in the United States to the 1950s.

It is a book every American should read. The endemic quality of racism in the American psyche is so overwhelming that it is easy to lose the human element. SIMPLE JUSTICE restores that element with sensitive, intelligent writing, exhaustive and documented research, and a tone which is pitch perfect, strident when need be, reasoned and thoughtful throughout. Ultimately optimistic, SIMPLE JUSTICE will renew your belief in the American system even while tempering it.

In it's retelling of nightmarish incident after nightmarish incident (the explosive and hideous lynchings are often easier to understand than the equally hideous and more subtle segregation and caricaturing that endured for, it seems, ever), SIMPLE JUSTICE shows us an America riven by its view of itself as a noble nation being eaten by the canker in its soul.

Although many Americans now consider race discrimination passe, it is not so hard to see the continuation of a pattern of violence toward blacks and the denigration of the black experience, even today. And yet, there is more, for not only are Black Americans denigrated, but White Americans as well, both suffering because this nation is only a fraction of what it might othewise be.

SIMPLE JUSTICE is a crucial Civics lesson. Read it to learn. Read it to know. Read it. Read it again.

I purchased this for use at home as we home-educate our children. I thought this would help me to brush up on my grammar skills, but my kids immediately picked this book up and started using it on their own. It is very user friendly - an easy read for any age, and a great review for middle and high school students. My 14 yr old uses it as a reference when she is writing. Highly recommended!

Painless Grammar is completely different from any typical grammar stuff! We tend to label grammar as boring, but I noticed something totally different from what we learned at school; it doesn't involve any dull and/or old-fashioned structures at all. What really intrigued me was the last chapter dealing with how to e-mail! Actually, I like that chapter best in this book. That was the least I'd expected! Facial expressions and abbreviations drew my attention because both of them are expressed differently from Japanese. I think using them sometimes helps you enjoy e-mailing your friends. Of course, I know too much use of them confuses readers, though. I bet dealing with e-mail is a down-to-earth and up-to-date approach to attract readers!

Read and then keep at your desk within arms reach when you write. This book is perfect for those grammar stumpers.

Even though this book is geared for the 6th-8th grade student, it offers sound advice in a clear, easy-to-understand style. Who needs a grammar book that's full of long, linguistical answer that no one can understand. If I'm stumped by a grammar question, I don't hesitate to pick up this fun reference tool.
Karen Reddick, author of Grammar Done Right!

Before ordering this book I've read many reviews. Those reviews helped me a lot to make the right decision. This book is just amazing for sharping your English grammar skill. You polish your English by learning little details. I'm a Junior in High School. I thought that my level of English grammar is pretty high, but till I started reading ''Painless Grammar" with all these small, tiny detail. My dad, is educated 52 years old teacher, who is a bookworm! Even he found this book very exciting. So right now, when I start to read this book he is always next to me. The book is written with good humor and explanations to every aspect of the grammar. I read 10-15 min. per day, that's enough.

I think this book should be a "hand book" for every single person, no matter how old you are. Folks, don't even hesitate! Just go for it, buy it, and have pleaser by reading "Painless Grammar."