Fletcher Books

I tried to like this book-- the theme was interesting enough. But in the end it was too theater-y and the main character just didn't have enough bite. Too bad.

I was rather disappointed in this book. I purchased it to learn more about the blue Koi in my pond. A blue was illistrated, but only one page was devoted to this color sad to say.

I purchased this book because it listed the publish date as 2005. It is actually a reprint from 1983. The information is ok but outdated.

I bought this book thinking it would apply to the PC version. It is only somewhat helpful. Some of the Chapters are different on the XBox. It should be more obvious when you order the book that it is an Xbox Guide. After reading the book and playing the game, however, I decided that it was of some help, particularly as the game became more difficult the second and third time through. I am updating my rating accordingly to three stars.

This was, sadly, the only biography my library had on Gustavus Adolphus. This book was originally published in 1904 as part of a "Heroes of Nations" biography series. This book is ironically more interesting in that it is, in itself, a better piece of history than its substance. The author reflects at one point on his era of world peace, and pleads with the reader to understand the alien concept of a war-torn Europe -- writing a decade before the outbreak of WWI, its most chilling to read today. Other references make you smile a litte: "...the current reigning House of Romanoff" "...what we today call the dual monarchy of Austro-Hungary." And a telling pro-German remark at the end, when the French recovery of Alsace and Lorraine was established at the end of the Thirty Years War, the author notes "...for another generation of heroes to recover." A frank endorsement of the events of the Franco-German war of 1870-71, in which the two provinces were annexed back to Germany (to be lost again to France after WWI).

As charming as all of this is, this is a poor piece of scholarship. The author admits that he is nothing close to a scholar in the field. It is poorly researched, even for its time, and is clearly written for an English audience. Its nauseatingly pro-Protestant, and therefore indulgent in gross hero-worship over Gustav II. Its, in short, typical of early 20th century English school books. This is made even more evident with the absolutely silly and overdone illustrations of the book: odd sketches of exaggerated weapondry are awkwardly placed in any blank space provided.

Not a great piece of work in its own time, the book is a century old. In its defense, however, I will say that it was an incredibly swift and painless read.

In my opinion, the book was somewhat interesting, however, the content was rather general and not presented in depth. For example, one part of the book presented some "rules of thumb" for assessing reliability of information.(For example, ask yourself whether you believe it, ask yourself whether you would invest your own money based on the research, etc.) I thought this section was somewhat interesting, but it did not address issues of reliability in objective measurable terms, it did not address the various sources of information in detail, and it did not give remedies for overcoming difficulties with dubious information or synthesizing information. The treatment of market research specifically was similarly shallow and general. This was somewhat dissapointing considering the cover blurb called the book "profound". On the other hand, although the book was rather general, it was written in an engaging style and the content is certainly worth knowing. So, it may be useful for someone as a first book on how to sort through their e-mail inbox or to get a general idea of what type of research is included in "market research".Overall, the book seemed to address how to get a feel for the reliability of incoming information rather than how to "release the power" of knowledge.

This was not a very readable book, but it does contain lots of information. It was very dry, and focused far to much on original sources. Fully a third of the book was pages of quotes and their translations. Not a casual reading book.

This book was written in an era wherein heightening racial tensions would have lent a more credible aura of dread to the tale. In a nutshell: a well-to-do family's home is essentially invaded (well before the time in which the term "home invasion" was coined, interestingly enough) by members of a militant black (African, or African-American, whichever the preferred term of the readers of this review may be) group which is focused on the secession of the Southern states of America (Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, if I remember correctly) into a conglomerate of an independent nation, which they would call Gamal, for purposes of their ethnic heritage (and possibly racial purity?). Kind of like Israel with an African slant.
It's interesting to see the descriptions of the characters. Probably interesting for the time, but really more amusing today. The idea of bell-bottomed, afro-coiffed, big-gold-medallion wearing militants might have been striking thirty years ago, but now it almost strikes me like a Saturday Night Live sketch from back in the day when that show actually took chances.
While the idea of equality, and the initial idea spawned in a quote from Carl Sandberg at the beginning of the novel, is interesting enough, it unfortunately starts to careen through too much territory before sprawling face-first into tensionless melodrama.
The book is like opening a soda that you've never tried before--promising before you open it: kinda tasty at first, then a little tiresome, and finally--flat.

Prima seems to have built a reputation with their guides, though not the best sometimes, they still are fairly decent from the few I have from them. Unfortunately, this guide fails the standard test.
On first look, the guide seems good enough, diffrent sections for each campaign, in order by mission, plus a item list and monster list. Then it goes downhill. The last part for both the Kaiba and Yugi mission gets clumped together at the end of the guide, and though its in order by mission, the information is sometimes out of order, not concrete enough, or not there. It also isn't very well organized, and can get confusing. Some of the strategies aren't the best from what I have found.
The Item lists seem alright enough, but the monster list could have been better. It doesn't list where to find the monster, nor any of the abilities that the monster has and learns as it levels up. And I'm not 100% sure, but I think I found some monsters missing from the list as well.
If you just need basic information, this guide will have to do since it is the only one out there. However, you'll probably find more detailed information on gaming websites, that's where I went when the guide wasn't clarifying things.

One of most poorly written books I have read. It jumps from place to place with seemiinly nothing to really bind it together. A real disappointment from this author.

I can't believe that the same author who wrote THE HAJ AND MILA 18 wrote this book. It is scattered and sophomoric and I'm most disappointed. Perhaps he was "getting on" in years or health and just needed the money.

This book of fiction includes many historical events and facts. It is about politics from WWII (FDR and Truman) to the 2008 presidential campaign. If Uris is a seer, the president won't be female, thank Goodness, but our first Jewish-born man to take over the Oval Office.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in 'Nature' that "man is a god in ruins..." Not just any man but one with an inflated ego who will not allow himself to admit defeat. That describes the current U. S. President. The Democrats candidate is governor of Colorado, Quin O'Connell, who was adopted by Irish-Catholic parents in 1948. America is tired of wars, death and retaliation leading to destruction of this country if it is allowed to continue. We need a peacemaker.

In 2008, the nation's first black FBI director to complement the first black Secretary of State decides to expose the backgound of the Democrat frontrunner, on orders from his boss. As they orchestrate college riots, like during the Vietnam War, with their infiltrators called claverns to bomb areas, it starts to look like the "Keystone Cops." When to hold and when to fold, executive order to put "Joy Streets" into motion to desecrate synagogues and cemeteries. Anti-semitism in this country resembling that in Germany and Poland during the Holocaust. This time the black muslims and skin heads will be used to put the blame on the clan. IN Memphis, they expect one thousand as a show of force.

It could have been an other Holocaust all over again, but our country is now more civilized and overcame. Perhaps they have not overcome, but we have. It was time for a change, a time to return to our roots.

This novel is an incredible disappointment. I finally gave up and pitched it away after reading about a third of the book. The plot and characters are flat and predictable. The background research is deplorable. After tossing it away, I consulted Amazon to see how other readers had received this book. It appears that the majority are as appalled as I am. Who would have known that this was the creation of Leon Uris? I read my first Uris novel fifty years ago (Battle Cry) and enjoyed many more since then, but Uris was clearly in decline when he churned out this dreck.

I was so excited to find a Leon Uris book that I had not read, th I was eager with anticipation. I got about halfway through the book before I became so disgusted that I had to put it down. I thought, "is it that I'm prejudice because don't agree with his politics which are so blantanly displayed in the novel, or is this book as incredibly poorly written as I feel it is?". I checked on this sight (too bad I didn't do that first) and saw that my opinion was indeed echoed by many other reviewers. I love Leon Uris and have read all of his previous novels - some twice. Do not waste you time on this drivel. It is poorly written, the characters are unrealistic and it is frankly, boring.

For those of you who have never read Uris, I suggest you stick with his other novels. As many others have said, I question whether he actually wrote this garbage.