Roberts Books

This is one of the best books on defining ones business and doing it right. I was totally engrossed with it. We had a meeting where 9 of us had read it and we followed what we had read and were very excited about the results accomlishing in one day.
A must read for anyone with a product or service that wants to grow and be and be an industry leader.

As a business owner, focus on growth is the essential driver of our performance and success. The Inside Advantage offers a clear, smart and strategic pathway to clarify your unique advantage in the marketplace and bring it to life in every aspect of your business.

Our agency leveraged these simple steps and helpful tools to hone our business strategy and nearly double our revenues and staff in one year.

Bob Bloom offers decades of advertising expertise, real world examples and actionable insights that make this a must read for entrepreneurs working at every stage, size and scope of business development.

I'm an avid reader of business books and I have to say this one ranks near the top. With all of the competition out there, it's crucial to not allow your company to get lost in the crowd. This book gives you an ACTION PLAN for identifying what makes your company unique and how to attract the best kind of customers for business growth. I've always been one to beat to my own drum, but this book reinforced the message and allowed me to refine my USP (unique selling position) even further. A great business tool! Thank you Bob, for sharing your wisdom!

I have read the book, seen Mr. Bloom speak and I have taken my team through the growth discovery process that Mr. Bloom has outlined in The Inside Advantage. His process has been an incredible insite for myself, my team, and our company. The process he describes helps a company discover WHO their core customer really is that they should target. This really helped us gain a more laser like focus for the customers of our software company that we did not have before. The WHAT and the HOW raised our awareness so that we could understand clearly what it is we have to offer and how we do it. The OWN IT is a key because it allowed us to define items that would ensure we executed.

Any of you that are big fans of Jim Collins book "Good to Great" and the hedgehog principle, will love this book. Why? Because discovering your hedgehog is not easy and "The Inside Advantage" gives you a process to look inside your company and gain insight and discovery that is hard to do. Mr. Bloom's process is so well described that you will not need a facilitator to follow it. It may not take you fully up to the mountain top to your Hedgehog but will get you high up the mountain so you see the top and find the rest of the way yourself.

The best reward for me as a CEO has been the many experiences in meetings and documentation that team members have referred to our WHO, WHAT, HOW and OWN IT that we learned from the process. The impact it is having is very apparent!

This is an interesting twist on the Unique Selling Proposition (USP). The idea of which has been around a long, long time. Though the idea isn't new Bloom has renamed USP the uncommon offering in his honor. But just because the book lacks novelty doesn't mean it is without merit. In my opinion it is worth reading especially for the entrenched business looking to break-out into double digit growth. This book provides a simple plan for growth through solid, proven marketing principles and business simplification.

The uncommon offering, is the "Inside Advantage" and it all starts with what you are already doing according to Bloom. Discovering the hidden potential inside your business is about the `growth discovery processes.' Meaning you don't have to reinvent your business or branch out for more offerings making thing more complicated. Instead you will need to uncover and capitalize on you're ONE thing. That ONE thing your business does better than the competition. The growth discovery process is uncovering the hidden potential that already exists in your offering. Then Improve it.

This book offers us a four step process and each step is broken down into its own components. The four steps of the big picture are:

1) Find your CORE customers. Beyond demographics; beyond what you may think of when you think of your customers. It is interesting to look at possibilities for the WHO and consider all of the options, such as defining your core customers based on their value for; being the best braggers for your product, being the biggest customers, being the longest relationship with you, being the least lily to complain, being the most likely to repeat their business, being the most likely to not repeat and why. Then you may want to identify these same customers in your competitor's base. Do a little demographic shifting and look at the next step.
2) Discover and deliver your uncommon offering, just listen to your core customers. They will tell you what you do best and why they buy it from you. You will want to examine this from an external and internal base. Writing down all of the ideas and phases people use to describe your offering and distill it down to a statement of 10 to 15 words.
3) Develop persuasive strategies in written statements for action. Growing your business through refining your communication and thought association for your company and offering. To me this read like some of the better branding books I've read lately, but in a short abbreviated chapter. This is a lesson in statements in action to immediately associate your offering with your company.
4) Imaginative acts. Creative public relations or publicity stunts that are tied to your uncommon offering and for the benefit of your core customers. There are some very good examples of what other companies have done most of which you will be familiar with.

I can recommend this book to any company that is looking to break out of a rut they may be in. However, for most creative, progressive companies it will just be a good reminder of what works. This book does a very good job of chronologically drafting out a step by step process employed by the Author. (His record of success speaks for itself)

For the small, new business or start-up this book is good, but you will need to put it into context for the size of clients Bloom works with and the fact that they are very established.

I'm making my way through the classics of 18th century lit via the "1001 Books to Read Before you Die" (I know, I know, I'm embarrassed.) Anyway- it's been a mixed back. I've enjoyed books like Tom Jones, suffered through books like Pamela & puzzled through but ultimately enjoyed books like Tristram Shandy.

The point of the preamble is that Jacques the Fatalist is the first of these 18th century books that I've really, really loved. I agree with all of the other reviewers- this is a true five star read. Not just because of its endurance over the centuries, but because, frankly, it's a fun read. Check it out- there is humor and bawdiness to keep you enthralled all the way through.

THis book is awesome mix of "Don Quixote," "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy," and the "Colloquies of Erasmus." ... With a dash of Rabelais and Boccaccio for good measure.

In other words: playful bawdy post modern meta narrative where carnivalesque stories weave in and out of each other. Ive read a few things by Diderot and this is my fav so far.

I'm a big fan of The Manuscript Found in Saragossa - so its shocking to learn that it leans so heavily on Jacques. I found Jacques to be more entertaining than Sterne's work.

It may be your destiny to read and adore the pithy wit of Diderot. At a time when the novel was new as a genre as a contemporary of Sterne and Richardson, Diderot confronts the religion and philosophy of his day entrenched in the idea that man's fate was written on a scroll on high and that man only acted out a bit part devoid of real choice in his slavery to destiny. Pre-destination did not sit well with Diderot and Jacques is the novelist in this "dog's breakfast" he has served up railing aginst his own genre to assert his humanity and freedom on his picaresque journey to nowhere. "Does anyone know where they're going?" certainly sounds like Beckett who lived in France and may well have read Diderot. Jacques is forced to conclude that people think they are in charge of their destiny when their destiny is in charge of them. What choice does the fatalist really have except to resign to his fate? Because life is a series of endless misunderstandings, it isn't easy to be captain of one's own soul. The epigrams are deliciously well phrased: "Virtue is an excellent thing. Both good people and wicked people speak highly of it." Or this: "I think there are some very odd things written up there on high." The wicked fable of the Sheath and the Knife is certainly memorable. Jacques is genuinely hilarious in many places and despite Diderot's scathing complaints of the early novel, he wrote wrote an enduring classic beloved because of its pure wit, audacity, irony and uncanny phrasing. I urge you to read this great early novel destined to foretell the promise bound to follow for the genre.

Two centuries or so before "modern" writers began writing experimental novels, Denis Diderot, the force behind the Encyclopaedia effort, wrote this strange and indeed very "modern" novel in which the author leads a conversation with the reader, asking him where he (or she, of course) would want to go and what to do with the characters and the story. Here we see the author in the very process of creation, exposing his doubts, exploring his options, and playing with the story.

There is really no plot as such. Jacques, a man who seems to believe everything that happens is already written "up on high", but who nonetheless keeps making decisions for himself, is riding through France with his unnamed master, a man who is skeptic of Jacques's determinism but who remains rather passive throughout the book. Fate and the creator-author will put repeatedly to test Jacques's theory, through a series of more or less fortunate accidents and situations, as well as by way of numerous asides in the form of subplots or stories.

The novel is totally disjointed and these asides and subplots blurb all over the place, always interrupted themselves by other happenings. The most interesting of them is the story of Madame de Pommeroy and her bitter but ultimately ineffectual revenge on her ex-lover.

Diderot confesses to having taken much from Sterne's "Tristram Shandy" and Cervantes's "Don Quixote". This last novel's influence seems obvious at two levels: Cervantes also talks to the reader, especially in Part Two, and also reflects abundantly on the creative process. Moreover, the tone and environment of the book is very similar to the Quixote: two people engaged in an endless philosophical conversations while roaming around the countryside and facing several adventures which serve to illustrate one or antoher point of view.

Diderot's humour is bawdy and practical and the book is fun to read. The exact philosophical point is not clearcut, but it will leave the reader wondering about Destiny, Fate, and Free Will.

Yeah. Believe all the reviews below. This book really is amazing. It would feel like it was written yesterday, if it was more derivative -- but it's fresh! The language is incisive, no waste, and the pacing and structure are brilliantly fluid. It's smart and funny, too, and completely unpredictable, filled with weird offhand bursts of bewildering narrativity. And yet balanced, apparently sane. I truly enjoyed reading it. It's great.

The guy is the best writer ever. That's that. If you disagree with me, you are an idiot.

I love reading this bood I think that is a Great book to read for any one who love reading books.

This volume contains some of the earlier works of John Steinbeck. Steinbeck was a master of the English language and had the talent of using the least amount of words to convey the greatest amount of emotions. His stories are moving without being cheap. He is compassionate and had keen insight into his characters and the world at large.
Reviewing each story that appears in this volume is beyond the scope of this review, and you should check out that various titles individually. I will just say a few words about the collection in general. Steinbeck's earlier works are, in my opinion, better than his later, more ambitious works. While his later works can be viewed as some sort of social criticism, these earlier works are simply his personal salute to human nature. Steinbeck knew a basic truth about writing - if you want to write a great book, before you have a great theme, make sure you have great characters, and the rest will follow.
Steinbeck is both profound and very accessible at the same time, which I think is the trademark of a great author. He wrote for ordinary people (unlike, say, Joyce), and at the same time his works are complex enough to be appreciated by scholars. Whatever group you belong to, you will not regret reading this book.

I purchased this book because it was the first place where I read my favorite story, Of Mice and Men. It was delivered within three days of purchase. I am very very satisfied in the book, and the experience

I recently visited Monterey and upon my return home, I became obsessed with Steinbecks novels as many of them focus on this beautiful city. This collection is a great reminder of lifes ups and downs, friendship, and perserverance. Very easy to read and relate to.

This is a great book. I'm in a yoga teacher training program and was doing a project on Kripalu so I ordered this book. I am thrilled with it so far and I'm sure I'll be using it a lot when I start teaching.

This is a practical guide for new and seasoned Yogis. It includes the basics for breathing, meditation, and even provides two home practice flows along with a template for adding variety. There are inspirational personal experiences, step by step asanas, and much more for all ages and Yogi levels. My new copy has become my personal Yoga guide and has inspired me to develop a home practice which I began after buying the book 8 weeks ago. Now I practice daily.

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to practice yoga while attending college in the 70's; I never forgot leaving that hour and a half usually feeling the best I ever felt. Yes, it was a physical experience, but witout explaination or introduction, it went beyond the physical. Just recently (age 59), I decided to get reacquainted with the practice.

As I studied and searched, I came into contact with Stephen Copes fantastic book "Yoga and the Quest for the True Self". This fantastic book led me to learn about and come to understand the Kripalu yoga method [ yes folks there is much more than just the hatha yoga we all seem to come into contact with]; this great practice is a combination of the physical hatha yoga and meditation. Please don't be overwhelmed; it's, in my book, the perfect combination.

As one who finds himself progressing on a daily basis, I highly recommend these two books. I suggest the reader, searcher, learner to explore a basic hatha yoga book or experience while reading "Kripalu Yoga" and branching out to Stephen Copes book for the "icing on the cake".

Stephen Cope, by the way, is one of the Senior teachers at the Kripalu Yoga Center.

I'm pleased to make this discovery myself and even happier to share my experience.

Namaste ........

As a Kripalu Yoga Teacher I had been waiting for a book that summarizes yet comprehensively explains the Kripalu Yoga tradition. Without minimizing the asana practice the book manages to cover the essence of Kripalu Yoga and taking the practice off the mat to encourage a healthy and spiritually rich lifestyle. I must mention that Kripalu Yoga is accessible to people of all ages and levels of practice. It can be as gentle or rigorous a physical practice as one wants it to be but it can also be as spiritual a practice as one wants it to be. This is the beauty of Kripalu Yoga and the book, Kripalu Yoga, makes this abundantly clear.

Along with affirming the other reviews on this book, I would like to add that I have recently begun teaching yoga and have found this book to be an excellent tool for developing my class formats and information sharing. There is a wealth of information, presented in clearly stated, understandable and comprehensive text, that I can quickly commit to memory to share with my students, or jot down in an outline to reference during class instruction. Having purchased and read volumes of books on yoga, this is the first I have come across that has been helpful in that regard. Kripalu is a beautiful form of yoga that brings the true essence of the practice to life.

This is a great little book all about lavender. It contains lots of information and beautiful pictures about the many types of lavender available. If you were to only buy one book on lavender, make it this one.

Of the five books on growing and using lavender, Robert Kourik's book provided the most practical information on growing lavender. It is well written and nicely punctuated with beautiful photographs.

Lavender is my latest garden discovery -- easy to grow, hardy, useful, beautiful.

Grew up with vast fields of French lavender as a child and lavender is a daily part of my life still. Love this book because it gives so much useful information on soil requirements, watering and best type of lavender to grow where you live. There is also a great recipe section in the back part of the book with the Buttermilk Lavender Bread and Lavender Lemon Shortbread (which is a cookie) being two recipes that even the most manly of men would even enjoy. Beginning on page 112 the author has given a Farms and Garden listing for throughout the states Canada that carry lavender items. On page 116 the author provides a good map of the United States and the different growing zones for those interested in growing lavender. Will also note the book is beautiful and one that I love to simply pick up and re-read often.

I enjoyed this book because it didn't assume you were a botanist, but explained things in a way that answered my questions and yet wasn't too simple. Compared to the several other of the Lavender books that I have purchased I felt that this one was the most complete, it had a nice breakdown of the lavenders and good sections on growing. It is a book of substance and readability. My advice is that if you want a book to get you started and only want to buy one book, get this one.

This great book is now available - completely revised and updated from publisher - or ask Amazon to get for you!

I met the author at one of our District meetings--he was giving teaching one of the workshops. It's there that I purchased this book. I see that it's unavailable now so I wish I had purchased more (for the rest of my EBoard). This book was very informative and easy to read.

when to argue, what to say, what laws to use and how to use them!
this book will make you into a super steward!!! The management
will not try any of their shinanigans after you use this book!!
One steward of understanding can cause a hundred management of
strength to tremble!!!! This book will give you that understanding!!!

remember SOLIDARITY FOREVER!!!!!!!

this is a must read book for all union members our boss really hates this book , he can no longer back us into a corner, he does the backing know

I'm the Director of HR for a large national employer. This book was originally given to me by a local union. I enjoyed it so much I purchased several copies for our management team. It explains union rights in a simple, easy-to-understand manner. Though I didn't always agree with the use of tactics explained in the book, it certainly is helpful to understand the possibilities that may be employed by the union. I recommend it for anyone interested in labor relations, even those who are on the management side of the table.

As a language arts teacher, I read 2 or 3 books a week. I am constantly searching for well written, relevant, and riveting novels. This book delivers. I highly recommend this book for 9-13 year olds.

I am a middle school language arts teacher and I read just about every new title that gets any hype. This book did not disappoint! The plot is well developed and the characters are endearing...Frita is so spunky while Gabe is a quirky scardy-cat afraid of his own shadow. Both Frita and Gabe learn a great about life, love, fear, racism and the nature of hate the summer before they enter fifth grade. In the end they realize that fear is a part of life - bravery is feeling the fear and forging ahead despite it. Great read HIGHLY recommended!!!

On vacation our family read this book out loud for our library's book club. My husband and I (40+ years old) and my two boys- 10 & 6 both adored this book. In the span of 160 pages we all had the opportunity to learn life lessons, grow to be more brave, laugh and most importantly learn about how love will always conquer hate. We do not live in a very diverse area of the country and this book was a wonderful way to introduce to our children the stuggles that African Americans have had to deal with and why civil rights are so important in this country. I had a lump in my throat when the book discussed how the Bicentennial was being celebrated and not all Americans were still being treated as Free. It isn't a book I would have ever had known about without our wonderful librarian and it will be one that none of us will soon forget. Don't be deterred by some of the serious subjects dealt with in this book, there were far more laughs than most books have. It was entertaining and a joy to read. It is a great book for parents and children.

(one last thought...I would not have liked my son to read this book without us because he would have never fully understood why there was such hate for a 10 year old black girl and why grown men dress in sheets. As disgusting as it is that people practice such hateful acts it is a reality that exists and children who are old enough to understand should not be sheltered from truth. The sooner we can educate our children about equality the better this world will be. )

I bought this book because I loved the front cover and the blurb on back. The cover depicts a jar of something yellowish-green, reminding me of "The Secret Life of Bees." Perhaps I should not tell this about myself, but I will--I did not "see" that spider until after I completed the book and looked at the cover again to decide how the picture fit into the story. Then I saw the spider and the green color (grass through the jar). Wow. I decided then that the story really is about fear. Fear of spiders was near the top of Gabriel's list of fears. Frita convinces him to adopt this spider as his pet.

The blurb on back summarizes the story as a friendship between two fourth-graders moving up to fifth grade, two unusual fourth-graders, one white boy and one black girl. Then I thought about the book again. Not fear. The book seems to be about fear, and it is, but the real intangible character is integrity. The book is about integrity.

Frita Wilson is the only African-American in their small school in Hollowell, GA, not far from Plains, where Jimmy Carter hails. The story takes place during the summer of the campaign for president in 1976, a time when integrating is taking place all over the South and racial strife is evident.

Gabriel King misses his Moving Up graduation to fifth grade because some racist bullies physically prevent him. As a result, Gabriel decides he will not go to fifth grade housed in a separate wing, fearing the bullies. He will just stay in fourth. Frita makes it her summer's goal to liberate them of their fears. Even in victory over various levels of fear, Gabriel "knows" all along that his fear of bullies will not be liberated and he is not going to fifth grade.

They defeat some fears on the list and some fears win. The saddest loss occurs near the end and becomes the impetus for winning the big one. Not willing to be a spoiler, I ask you to read this most enjoyable book. Friendship is a big winner. Family love and unity are big winners. But the biggest winner is integrity. So are Gabriel and Frita because they have this integrity all along.

Having written all this, I feel I must voice my one misgiving about the book. Although it really is a cool story with racism and specific racists taking hits (in a law-abiding way, not through violence), I cannot help but question this friendship between Gabriel and Frita. No matter how I look at it, I just cannot see it happening. Not because of skin colors, but because of age and sex of the children. Boys and girls in the fourth grade just aren't best friends. They certainly don't spend the night with each other in the same room. Parents just would not allow this closed door thing with a boy and a girl of this age. Having stated these things, I still endorse this book--with four stars, not five.

I bought this book for Christmas for my 10 year old (4th grade). He will read a chapter and then come find me and read it to me all over again because he thinks it is so funny. He has to read 1/2 hour everyday for school requirements and he will continue to read this book for over an hour. Gets him away from the computer and GameCube games. Hurray.

This is one of the most readable books on Astrology, and probably the best primer on relationship astro-analysis. It is very well written. Being an intermediate student of Astrology, I was able to follow the discussion of the entire book quite easily. It is definitely not for the beginner, but i think this is a must have for every serious student of astrology.

Here is another gem written by Hart De Fouw, but this time with another great thinker and author Robert Svoboda.
Totally unique approach emphasizing the analysis of SAMA DASHA in some cases.
And of course the language is as exquisite as before.

Another insightful book by these two authors. Difficult concepts made understandable. It has helped clarify not only romantic relationships, but also given me insight into quite a number of other relationships in my life.

Here is another gem written by Hart De Fouw, but this time with another great thinker and author Robert Svoboda.
Totally unique approach emphasizing the analysis of SAMA DASHA in some cases.
And of course the language is as exquisite as before.

As a Western astrologer, I found this book to be by far the best introduction to relationship analysis using Eastern astrology. The authors are adept at teaching the fundamentals of this art in a broad but comprehensive survey, while introducing you to the language and culture of the jyotishi. This text therefore gives a Westerner a nice introduction to the jyotishi's perspective in such a way that a Westerner can understand Eastern astrology in context of its culture. The authors' periodic explanations of how the two systems are different are also insightful and valuable information. The authors are humorous, intelligent, well learned and their language is very practical and down to earth. What I am amazed at is how comprehensive this introductory survey is. Eastern astrology is an ancient, accurate and intricate art, and this text is a great starting point if you are pursuing this path of learning, particularly if you already have a Western perspective.

When one reads "Lizzie" it is difficult to fatham that this delightful story of a young girl is J. Robert Whittle's first novel. His style possesses the genius of Dickens and the sensitivity of a Bronte. He brilliantly captures the essence of this precocious former street waif as she begins to make her mark on eastside London. I can't wait to read the next three books in the series! A true delight!

This is the first book in the Series. Mr. Whittle has a great imagination and does a great job of keeping you guessing what Lizzie and her friends will do next. I recommend this book for readers and non-readers...for the young and young-at-heart. Everyone will love Lizzie!

These wonderful books by J. Robert Whittle may not appear to be available on this site, but believe me they are available -- and you don't want to miss them!! The first book quietly became a Canadian bestseller through sales only near his own town in BC. Now they are working with a distributor at last and these gems will be easier to find in 2004.

All Mr. Whittle's novels (he has 5 now) are read by readers of all ages. I know, because everyone from my grandparents to my kids, and nieces and nephews, have enjoyed them. Why? Because they're like an English Anne of Green Gables ... wholesome and lots of fun. Lizzie is some spunky girl and her best friend is a boy, so great for guys too. I can't wait till Book Four comes out in 2004! Have a look at the author's website for more info. Thanks Mr. Whittle, please keep writing!!

Lizzie reminded me a great deal of Dickens. It is set in the same time and era as many of his classic tales, amidst the same tapestry of sights and sounds... and ever present, foggy, London. I love stories about little girls with a punch, and this is definitely the story of a little girl with a punch. Dickens couldn't have written it... too politcally incorrect.

I'd consider this book a hidden gem, and only "hidden" because Whittle is a new author, and still relatively unknown. I couldn't set it down the whole time I was reading it. I greatly enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone.

This book is just the first of the Lizzie series. It is a wonderful book and is even good for teens. I got the privelege of meeting the author, Robert Whittle while on vacation in his home town of Victoria. He is absolutely endearing and is a wonderful writer. I can't wait to read all of the rest of his books. Lizzie is such a warm and exciting character and this story just makes you feel good! Very vivid....just takes you right there to where it all happened. I highly recommend it to all!

Hardy's book is an excellent source of information about the medieval English longbow. I've personally only seen one better--"The Great Warbow"--and Hardy is co-author of it.

If someone mentioned the name of Robert Hardy to you, you mind would probably bring to mind a picture of an English actor with a plummy-voice and tweed suit, who has appeared in countless television and theatre dramas and you would be correct. Many people do not know Robert Hardy's alter ego, the author and man who is interested in medieval weaponry in general and the English longbow in particular. Robert Hardy also has a long association with the Royal Armouries, so it soon becomes apparent that his love and knowledge of weaponry has been gleaned over a long period of time. With these qualifications it is only right and proper that people interested in the subject are more than ready to read what the author has to say on the subject.

I found the book both fascinating and informative. I did however feel that some of the photographs could have been slightly better, but this is a minor criticism and I suppose there are only so many ways that you can photograph a bow before the photographs begin to look repetitive. The book covers every conceivable question anyone could possibly ask on the subject of the longbow the medieval equivalent of the automatic rifle.

The book takes us from when the longbow was first used, possibly 8,000 years ago, right through until the present day. It gives detailed information on how to make a longbow from scratch, showing the tools and material needed. It covers all the major battles where either the outcome was decided by this fearsome weapon, or it featured heavily in the battle and even shows photographs of bows that were raised with the Mary Rose, Henry VIII's ship of war.

I found it fascinating to read about a weapon that virtually every Englishman had to practice using at some point during his life, much like the football practice that many young men religiously attend today. Although in the case of the longbow, depending on the period in history, we are talking about it was compulsory.

I purchased this book out of curiosity and for its historical value.

I find it to be well-written, informative, and has the occasional nugget of the wry humour that the author brings to his acting work.

All in all, a good buy.

Robert Hardy's 'Longbow: A Social and Military History' is elegant, beautifully written. It permits old folks like me to re-live the glory days of youth, when we used to make our own bows and arrows and set out to see to it that good triumphs over evil, whilst enjoying the illusion of scholarly maturity. My wife and I read passages of Hardy's wonderful prose out loud to one another, and time stops - a good thing, at our age.

I read this book for a graduate course in medieval history.
Robert Hardy's book Longbow A Social and Military History. This is the third edition printed in 1993. It is enlarged to include information on the archery equipment found on the archaeological dive from the ship, "The Mary Rose;" a warship from the Reign of the English King, Henry VIII. Besides being a famous British actor, Mr. Hardy is an acknowledged expert on the longbow, including how it is manufactured. He is a longtime member of the Royal Toxophilite Society, which is the society for archery enthusiasts. In his book, Hardy has meticulously researched the history of the longbow, from ancient history through its greatest impact in warfare during the Hundred Years' War; specifically, the battles of Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt. Hardy even has chapters devoted to the longbow's use in hunting and as a modern day sporting weapon. In addition, his book includes a very scientific and technical appendix on all manners pertaining to the physics and ballistics of the bow and arrow, including their material and design, as well as the ballistic effects of arrows on armor.

Bows fall into two classifications-composite and wooden. Composite bows are made of wood and other organic components, such as horn or sinew. Since composite bows are short, the other organic materials used to construct them increase the bow's power. Composite bows were used primarily in Africa and Asia, and were most likely manufactured in reaction to the scarcity of wood in these areas. The longbow, as defined by the British Longbow Society, is no less then five feet long, for arrows of up to twenty-six inches in length, and no less then five foot six inches in length for arrows of over twenty-six inches long. It is a D sectioned wooden spring and not flat, and the limbs are to be made of wood and the bow is to be convex. The very best bows are made from Yew wood. This describes the sixteenth century bows found on the Mary Rose and from all historical indications, those that were in use during the Hundred Years' War.

Hardy opens his book with an informative history of the bow and arrow. In researching the early history of the bow, archaeologists have found arrowheads in Northern Africa from 50,000 years ago. They have also discovered cave paintings depicting men using several different shapes of bows while engaged in hunting. The Romans used short composite bows with their cavalry forces, since longbows were too cumbersome to use on horseback. Most of the Roman army's mounted bowmen where from Eastern Europe and Asia Minor. The Germanic tribes that the Romans found themselves fighting so often, used longbows against them to a devastating effect, which was reminiscent of the battle of Crecy from the Hundred Years' War. In 354 C. E., the Germanic shower of arrows prevented the Romans from crossing the Rhine River and thus, halted their expansion on the European continent. The oldest bow found in Britain is from Somerset. Radiocarbon dating shows it to be from 2,690 B.C.E. The bow was made of Yew wood and was over six feet long.

Hardy next turns his attention to the more detailed study of the longbow's genesis and development in Britain. It is definitively impossible to know when the longbow first came into existence in Britain. However, history does record several historical periods when we know that the longbow, or a weapon similar to it, was used and introduced by invaders of the British Isles. There is evidence that shows that the Germanic longbow made its way into Britain with the invasion of the Saxons in the fifth century. Viking law, from mid-tenth century, required that while aboard ship, fighting men must be equipped with bows and arrows as an addition to their other usual weapons that they employed in their raiding parties. One can still read Viking Sagas of the era extolling the use of bows and arrows as weapons. In 1055, Welsh bowmen while firing from hidden positions on mountain ridges, cut down the Earl of Hereford's Saxon cavalry with devastating effect. This action would be a great lesson lost on King Harold eleven years later, in his defeat at the battle of Hastings. King Harold did have some longbow men in the battle, if one takes the Bayeux Tapestry to be a true pictorial history of the Norman Conquest. Unfortunately, for the Anglo-Saxon army of King Harold, he had to travel very quickly over 250 miles south to engage the invading Normans, which prevented him from taking many archers on foot. In fact, the Bayeux Tapestry is famous for its depiction of King Harold being fatally shot in the eye by a Norman arrow, and thus, changing the course of British history forever.

Chapters three through six of Hardy's book cover Britain's celebrated history of the longbow, and are the chapters most germane to our course of study. It is during the fourteenth century in Britain that the longbow gains its reputation as a force multiplier in battle. In military terminology, a force multiplier denotes a factor, in this case, the longbow providing a technological factor, dramatically increasing the combat capability of a military force. In keeping with the theme of our course in comparing fourteenth century events to modern times, one can easily equate the importance of the longbow to fourteenth century warfare in the same way that one can compare the importance that the machine gun had on early twentieth century warfare-specifically during World War I. The longbow provided the English armies of Edward I, through the end of the Hundred Years' War, a distinct and singular advantage over the French armies and their cavalry forces.

Despite all of the early history of the longbow in Britain, it is Edward I who is the real progenitor of the longbow, as used in battle. Edward I keenly learned the tactics and logistics that were necessary to employ with great success the longbow on the battlefields of Wales and Scotland. He realized that the longbow was less expensive and awkward to use in battle then the crossbow, and with a moderate amount of practice, his Welsh bowmen could shoot more arrows in a given time then cross bowmen could. He worked hard at building a national army. In 1298, at the battle of Falkirk, most of his longbow men were Welsh. By 1346, most longbow men were English. They were well trained, well paid, and could be counted by the thousands. Longbow men where deemed so important to the army that they were given pardons for all types of offenses, including murder, in order to go off to France to fight. Their pay was comparable to that of master craftsmen. During the reign of Edward II, English military prowess was in decline. Although Edward II continued many of the recruiting and logistical policies of his father, his tactical decisions, and those of his commanders, were sorely lacking. He suffered an embarrassing defeat at the battle of Bannockburn at the hands of Robert the Bruce of Scotland. However, the lessons his son, Edward III, learned from that defeat put the British army in good stead for fighting in the Hundred Years' War. Those lessons, learned and used in such future battles as Crécy, Poitiers, and Agincourt, were insuring good organization before battle and good discipline of soldiers during the fight. In addition, cavalry without longbow support was useless against enemy spearmen. Conversely, longbow men who were isolated on the battlefield without support, would easily fall prey to enemy cavalry attack.

Crécy is emblematic of the successes that the British enjoyed at the battles of Poitiers and Agincourt. It was the sight of the first major battle of The Hundred Years' War and was a rousing success for the invading British army of Edward III and his sixteen-year-old son, Edward, also known as the Black Prince. Edward III had 12,000 men arrayed against a French force of between 30,000 to 40,000 combatants. Although heavily outnumbered, Edward's longbow men were the force multiplier that garnered a stunning victory for the British over the French. The record shows that the English longbow men were capable of firing ten arrows in a minute. Most estimates of the longbow tactics used in the battle, state that the over one-half million arrows fired by the British, easily cut down the French armored cavalry. The longbow, and the brilliant way in which it was employed, were responsible for the lopsided casualty figures of the battle. Although casualty figures are somewhat unreliable, most sources put the French losses at one-third of the French nobility-about 12,000 men in all, against the British losses of 150 to 1,000 total. In the battle, longbow men comprised anywhere from between five to one, upwards to three to one, of the English invading force. Hardy states in his book, and I quote, "They were some of the finest, most highly trained and militarily efficient troops that any nation ever put into the field of battle." So, why did the French when seeing the efficient destructive power of the longbow, not learn from the advantage it could afford them and emulate the English? Hardy postulates a few reasons, such as, the French culture of class snobbery made it difficult for the nobles to accept peasants as equals on the battlefield. In addition, cavalry and chivalry were too hard for French nobles to give up. Another reason was that the French King did not have the power to field a national army in the same way that his English counterparts did. French kings had to rely on their nobles and Italian mercenaries to prosecute their wars during this time; thus, they could not enforce regular training regimens, nor standardized battlefield logistics and tactics. In fact, the longbow reigned supreme on the battlefield until the mid-sixteenth century. By this time, other technologies such as better-tempered armor, cannon, and musketry, overtook the effectiveness of the longbow.

In conclusion, I highly recommend Hardy's book to any serious student of medieval history. Longbow A Social and Military History, is an excellent introductory work for understanding the significance that the weapon had during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It is well written and appointed with plenty of illustrations. The book is a very enjoyable read for anyone with even a casual interest in the longbow or the Hundred Years' War.

Recommended reading for those interested in medieval history, and military history.