Donovan Books

This is a very old-appearing book with some old-fashioned ideas, but sometimes that's not all bad, you know?

Well, on the overall, this d20 game supplement isn't a bad product, but it's not what I would have liked to get. This Atlantis is described as to fit with the Classical Greek period (Plato was the first to speak about Atlantis). As such, you get an history of Atlantis, new character races, 4 new prestige classes, a few skills /feats /spells /etc. making this product an excellent supplement if you want to run a campaign set in ancient Greece, and/or Egypt. In such a setting, Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, etc. would be ridiculous; so you would get a good alternative with the races given in this booklet, which fit well in that kind of mythology.
However, as far as I am concerned, I was deceived by Twilight of Atlantis. I would have liked to get something more futuristic (of the tech-magic kind; reminding of the last Disney movie), and not related to ancient Greeks. If this is what you would also like to get, this supplement won't be up to your expectations.

"The Buck Stops Here" is a compact collection of sayings of Harry Truman. It is organized topically. I read it in search of quotes for a class on Harry Truman for which I was preparing. For this purpose I would rate it as successful. I ended up noting 16 entries. This book does provide the reader with an insight into Truman's thoughts and words. This book provides few memorable quotations to elevate your speech. I do not fault the book. Truman was common, not very quotable. It is often said that Republicans like to quote Democrats. After reading this book one will understand why Truman is rarely quoted. He was truly a common man in word and action. This is not one of the better quotation books which I have found.

Like whistle chains, dump pouches, and callbox keys, this book has become outdated in the world of modern policing. Tips on how to spend your 2 hours of detention to verify a person's identity? Take them to roll call, scan their fingerprint, done. Give your informants your pager number and pager codes? Cell phone's pretty much killed that. Remove the coil wire from a suspect's vehicle? What hood opens from the outside any longer? How to identify a early 80's car that's been hotwired? Not such useful knowledge now.

There are some gems of wisdom in the book, but they are extremely general. I think maybe there are three pages in this book that I said "huh, I learned something" and that keeps it from being 1 star. Its not a total waste, but I wouldn't drop $20 on it. If you're a brand new rookie, you might impress your FTO with something you found, but I wouldn't count on it.

I HAVE BEEN A POLICE INSTRUCTOR FOR 41 YEARS AND OWN SEVERAL PRIVATE POLICE SCHOOLS IN NEW JERSEY--I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS BOOK AS WRITTEN---IN SHORT-IT NEEDS RE WRITING---CAPT DAN DEL BAGNO---

must reading for any patrol officer. This book covers the basics and innovative ways to become a recognized expert in the profession, a good "street cop." I highly recommend this book. Contents include: Searches, interviews of susps, witnesses and victims, foot and veh pursuit tactics, patrol investigations, informants, parolee's, and gangs.

I bought this book based on the book TITLE alone. It was a busy day and Amazon recommended that I buy this book based on the types of books I was searching for that day.

Trusting Amazon to add value to my reading experience, I bought it.

As I cracked the paperbook open hoping to learn what Kirk knows about "AdSense"...I was quick to discover that it has NOTHING to do with GOOGLE AdSense.

Ohh well, my fault. I hope someone benefits from this review and decides NOT to buy this book if they are looking for Google AdSense strategies.

As for the value within the book? Yep, pretty good and filled with common sense advertising tidbits. Kirk did a great job and I'm sure someone wanting this type of information would enjoy the book... as long as you know it has NOTHING to do with GOOGLE.

:)

I too thought this book was about Google Adsense and was sorely disappointed when it arrived. And despite its subtitle, "The behavioral science of advertising", it mostly isn't about that either.

The bulk of this book is a primer on basic advertising strategy for a business. And I do mean basic; the book covers topics like the purpose of advertising, and how CPM (cost per mille or thousand) works. The book is set in large type with huge paragraph spaces. It is 202 pages, yet the primary messages could have been communicated in between 50 and 100. The primary benefit I can articulate for the book is that it is a fast read; otherwise, otherwise, I don't recommend it.

The Saboteurs is another less than 24-hour read, Griffin's books are like popcorn, you can't do just one. The Saboteurs may not be Griffin's best work, but I liked his twists and turns. There's a story tightly woven with bits of history and characters to cheer on.

I just re-read the Brotherhood of War series and I'm looking forward to re-reading the Corps series in a few months. As a retired military officer, well read in non-fiction of the eras that Griffin covers, I find little to quibble with in his descriptions of military, intelligence and historical action.

I learned some things but man it was slow and disjointed. The audio book was especially cast wrong by the way they made Kennedy's voice.

He must have needed the money -- this was written with his left hand -- no suspense whatever

If I had known that the audiobook release used a different reader than the voice from all the previous books, I would not have purchased the audio book.
There is a legacy that was created with the voice used for all the previous books. It 'belongs' and the expectations are that this is continued.

It is a major disappoinment that a different reader was picked. Quite a let-down, I have to say.

As I expected, this was another "I can't put it down" novel by a superb author. Also as I expected, his charactors continued without interruption from previous books in the "Men at War" series (and for the first-time reader, there were "fill-ins" about each main charactor). Couldn't wait to receive it and now I can't wait for his next novel in any one of his series. Griffin, in my opinion, is one of the great American fiction authors of the century.

This book was confusing and a lot of things happended that you have to remember for later. I gave it two stars because i thought it had a good story, but there were A LOT of characters. I forgot about a lot of them as the book went on so i couldn't enjoy it. If you have a bad memory, like me, i sugjest that you don't even think about this book. I thought it was pretty much terrible, and i can't belive i spent my time reading it. If you like war and a lot if killing, than you will like it. But if you are really sensitive about killing, but like Middle Aged stuff, good luck finding a book to read. I sugjest a nice book like Robin Hood. Better yet, watch the Disney version of Robin Hood. That is a nice movie. No killing or anything like that. This one dosen't say all the details about the blood and guts and stuff, but a lot of people die, which is good, because that is one less character to think about. I highly recomend that you don't read this book, but if you like books, than you will probebly like it more than me. When i read a book for school (I read this book in a group with 4 people including me) all i can think about is what is on tv. That is probebly what made me confused with all the characters. After a while, i think my group got anoyed with me for not paying attention. I'm not very good at that. But anyway, if you are like me, than raed another book. Also, if you don't like memorizing, steer clear of this book because there is a lot of memorizing involved in understanding the book.

I don't read many westerns and when I do they are usually about gunfigters. Zeke Donovan is not one of them. He's a gambler. At first I viewed the guy as a wimp and coward. But I had to remind myself that not everyone in the old west could handle a gun well. So actually reading a story about a non-gunfighter or outlaw was interesting. That's where my stars come from.
The dialogue to me however was very annoying and distracting. Not by the main character, Zeke, but by his 'dove', Nancy. Does this lady ever stop whining?! She complained and felt sorry for herself throughout the WHOLE book. "I'm cold"...."I'm tired"..."I'm scared."
Not only that, 1/3 of the words in this book are Donovan. Said by Nancy.

"How will we avoid him, Donovan?" asked Nancy. "I'm really, really scared, Donovan."
"I hope so Donovan."
"Where we going Donovan."
"I'm frightened Donovan."
"Ask somebody Donovan."
"You have to reach Donovan."
"Donovan"
"Donovan"
"Donovan"
This is where the 2 stars came in. It was overdone and very distracting and annoying. This book would've been shorter if it weren't for all the Donovan's.

I am not sure why, but I can't seem to stop reading this poorly-written book. It's not the plot, which is far too convoluted and devoid of interest to sustain serious inquiry. The writing style is tedious and sophomoric. The character are charmless, primarily recovering alcoholics in 12-step programs and nuns (and a main character who is both).

The conceit is that an old woman hires the main character (Bridgid Donovan) to write a history of a very small non-profit Catholic charity called H.O.P.E. (Helping Others, the Poor Especially). One wonders what the market share of such a book might be. Just this premise alone stretches the bounds of belief. Why would someone write such a book? Why would someone read such a book?

A secondary (or primary) agenda however emerges in a related investigation of a murder, which is so labyrinthine and involves totally undeveloped characters in all kinds of tangential relationships with each other, that one tunes out all developments in this plot completely rather than dwell on something of such little interest.

Every once in a while however, Saum focuses in on something picturesque about Quebec City or Manhattan that keeps me plodding along.

This guide to culinary careers is terribly overpriced for the information it contains. The quick descriptions of different culinary careers have some value, as do the appendices listing culinary publications and organizations. However, the career descriptions are quite short and the advice is unremarkable. On the topic of finding a culinary mentor, for example, the author advises you to find one. That's pretty much it - no discussion on how to choose a suitable mentor, or how to convince an experienced professional to take you on as a protege. The book mentions the apprenticeship system but doesn't explain how to find an apprenticeship. The section on choosing a culinary school/vocational program is much better, though.

Something trumpeted in both the book description here and on both covers of the actual book is the inclusion of up-to-date information on salary statistics and earning potential for the spectrum of culinary professionals. It must have been printed in invisible ink, because I don't see it *anywhere* (and yes, I have this exact edition). This promise was my primary motivation for getting the book, so I was very disappointed (disgruntled, even) that this information is NOT in the book after all.

Don't spend money on this book unless you're just looking for a quick overview of the career possibilities. That's the one thing the author does well - it describes (in brief) a wide range of culinary careers beyond the obvious white-linen restaurant ones.

This book could have been greatly improved if it had expanded on the career descriptions, perhaps including short interviews with actual culinary professionals, especially those in roles like institutional cooking or food research. Of course it also would have been much better if it had actually included the promised salary information, too.

It's a good book to have in a library or career center, but it's not much use for your home reference bookshelf.