Europe Books

I bought this book several months before our trip to Amsterdam, and it got me so excited about our trip. The photos are beautiful, and the design is engaging. Although we did use several other guides (as well as internet research), this was a very useful tool that made our visit a great one.

This DK book has an incredible foldout architectural walk of Amsterdam. Only DK could have conceived of such an innovative way of presenting this walk.

I found this to be one of the best books on the market. If you are looking for a comprehensive guide to get around the city this book is a must. I do quite a lot of traveling in Europe and always pick up a "Eyewitness Travel Guide" since they have more in depth history, plenty of pictures, and take you on guided walks throughout the city. You are provided with lists to the museums, restaurants to suit all tastes, and hotels ranging for tight budgets to high class. I would recommend this book to everyone. Have a great trip!

After reading some reviews, I bought two guides (just in case), since DK Eyewitness Guide was labled as "expensive". But I wound up using only DK Guide. It has everything you need. The information is easily accessible. The maps are great. Just perfect for a quick reference. You'll find yourself refering to it again and again while walking the streets of Amsterdam (I just couldn't deal with reading long pages of information (probably very useful) in Frommer's Guide).

The selection of restaurans was great. Every restaurant rated in this book that we went to was a hit.

.
Summary:
Every Dorling Kindersley Guide has been a great and interesting book... and delightful to have and use, even if you are not traveling to that location, but are only interested in learning more!

The Guides are well organized in a logical and easy to follow manner. They are beautifully illustrated, well developed with accurate information (it is unusual for hotel and restaurant information to be that accurate), have enough history to help the reader understand the people and cultural background, and have a lot of useful travel information and useable maps in the appendixes.

The really great attraction to this book is several fold; it is:
............Very complete
............Easy to read
............Beautifully and artistically completed
............Good shopping, safety and other tips
............Gorgeous photographs too numerous to list.

Specifics:

The guides are organized as follows:

How to use this guide
Introduction to Historical and Geographical information
............Introducing Amsterdam
........................Amsterdam on the Map
........................History of Amsterdam
........................Amsterdam at a Glance
........................Through the Year (events, holidays)
............Amsterdam Area by Area, each section includes:
........................Introduction to street by street area
........................Detailed pictorials of area buildings
........................Architectural drawings, pictures, cut-aways of buildings
........................Specific stops, historical monuments, churches, buildings, etc.

Travelers Needs - includes full list with rankings and notes
............Hotels
............Restaurants, bars, cafes
............Shops / Markets
............Entertainment

Survival Information
............Practical
........................Tourist info., Etiquete, Personal Security and Health
........................Currencies, Telephones, misc info.

............Travel Information
........................Planes, trains and automobiles, signs
............Street Maps
............General Index
............Phrase Book

Discussion:
The book begins with "Introducing Amsterdam", including a complete map, a review, the city's history, and Amsterdam through the Year - including events, etc.

For the specific areas it provides an "At a glance" overview, then has subsections of specific blocks, or sections, then specific locations, churches, historical monuments, bridges, galleries, etc.

Architectural reviews include various views, and cutaways; given greater understanding and better perspective. They are all attractive, if not works of art - honestly.

The travelers' Info. offers good and valid info. on prices, currencies, customs, important words, etc. I used the reviews on hotel's restaurants and nightclubs, etc. and found they were useful and accurate, and helpful with my touring and site decisions

The books are so well thought-out that it has multiple maps, with various lookup tables, and the book's flaps are designed to be used as bookmarks for map pages.

Conclusion:
Each book in this series is a great help, and beautiful collectible resource. As the President, CEO of an International Meeting Planning Corporation we have many resources and techniques to learn about places we have meetings / groups at as well as the cities and sights. But, as a traveler, this book really is top notch and I would recommend it to anyone going on a personal trip, or wanting to learn about a city, or location. We have used some of these books to augment our research to investigate cities for our groups.

Great Siege: Malta 1565 (Wordsworth Military Library.)

This is a good, well written book.The siege of Malta is one of those great episodes of history where almost super-human courage and bravery triumph against overhelming odds.

If you like adventure read this book: besides reading like a fascinating adventure story it happens to describe real-life actual facts. Beats any Hollywood epic, imho.

The "Great Siege", is the Siege of Malta in 1565, as the Turkish Ottoman Empire tried to expand further into the Mediterranean and up to Italy. The Ottomans had already conquered most of Eastern Europe.

The book, by a British historian named Ernle Bradford, is great! But unfortunately extremely difficult to get. It's not stocked on Amazon and second hand copies are rare. I was lucky and got mine second hand off Amazon for 20 bucks plus shipping, back in April. It's a book I'd always had a wish to read, since seeing a review years ago.

The historical background to the siege, and an abbreviated discussion can be found here online: Siege of Malta (1565) - Wikipedia.

The book uses all the contemporary accounts and puts them into a flowing narrative, that is really quite riveting. The main characters are the Grand Master of the Order of the Knights Hospitaller of St. John, (a fighting religous order who also maintained hospitals! Go figure.), Jean de Valette, the Turkish leader , Mustafa Pasha, and his Tripoli ally Turgot Reis.

The Turkish invaders really should have won the day as they had vastly more men. They were stymied by their own infighting, some bad tactical decisions (especially opening the siege by trying to capture the Fort of St. Elmo's), and by the heroic defense of the Christian defenders who travelled to Malta, and the Maltese fighters. The violence level is appalling. It was a bad idea to be captured, by either side!

It's a great, highly readable story, if you can get the book. I hope it gets re-issued soon.

An absolute page turning account of a desperate battle. The account, though historically informative, reads like a novel. It is concisely written, expressive, and captivating. I could not put it down. I highly recommend this book if you're interested in not only learning about a fascinating struggle, but in obtaining a sense of what it must have been like to be in Malta in 1565.

This is a truly great book. Mr Bradford is so passionate about his subject, so vivid in his detail, that it's all you can do not to book a plane ticket to go and see for yourself. The detail is staggering - he recreates the past with the love and care of an artist. It is a book about the Knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem and their struggle against the Turks of the Ottoman empire - and it's a ripping good read. Just pick it up - you'll enjoy it.

What I read: An amazingly heroic defense of the knights and the Maltese against an amazing siege of the navy of the Magnificient and his generals. When I read in my middle school history class, this siege just was an unsuccessful one-sentence event in the hundreds of pages of the Ottoman Empire, but, while reading this book, I felt like I watched and lived the siege minute by minute. And I felt like this was the most important siege of all times (it truly might be!). My respects to especially Dragut (Turgut) and to La Vallette increased, since both were great leaders. I also learned how little things can change the result of the war. Questions in my mind after reading the book are: What would be the result like if Suleiman attended the siege? What would be the result like if Admiral Piali Pasha listened to Mustafa Pasha so that they would secure the north before the siege? What would it be like if Dragut wasn't hit by a stone and die during the siege? What would the result be like if the Don Garcia waited for two more days? What would the history be like after that?
It felt sorry for all the people fought during the siege, both the siegers, who came to "smoke out the nest of vipers who were constantly attacking their ships in the mediterranean", and the defenders, who "were defending their last homeland to death".

What happens when a young woman (16) learns that her entire life has been a lie? This is what happens to Estrella di Madrigal in Spain during the Spanish Inquisition.

She watches as those around her are arrested, tortured, and put to death because they are Conversos (Jews who have converted to Christianity). She feels for them but is happy that she and her family attend the Christian church headed by Friar DeLeon and that her brother is a seminarian.

Estrella's best friend and neighbor is Catalina. They have been close since birth but it is Catalina's cousin Andres, who lives with Catalina's family, that ultimately causes the rift between the two girls. Catalina has always believed that she and Andres would be married. But Andres sees Catalina as a sister while he looks at Estrella in love.

With the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition as a backdrop, Estrella soon learns from her honored grandfather that she is Esther, that her entire family are Marranos (Jews converted to Christianity but who practice judaism in secret). Because of Estrella's love for Andres and his for her, Catalina and her family betray the Madrigals; Estrella watches from the shadows of the crowds as her family is first denounced, then tortured, and finally put to death. She is the only one to escape.

This book is short but packs a mighty punch. Easy enough to read in one sitting but don't, no matter how much you are tempted. Take time to digest what you are reading here. Although meant for the younger reader, most adults should find this a compelling story. A word of caution: the descriptions of the torture of the Marranos is very detailed and vivid and may not sit well with the squeamish.

Different from Alice Hoffman's other novels, I found this one nevertheless equally as good. Ms. Hoffman hasn't disappointed me yet.

When I first picked up the audio book from the library, I was nervous that it was only three CDs. When I found out it was for young adults, I grew more nervous. Then I started listening and fell in love with it. It's an amazing story. The writing is simple yet powerful. The narration is amazing. The entire story is heartfelt and deeply moving. I loved it.

This book is one of the most amazing books that I have read. I could not put it down from the time I started reading it. It is both easy to understand and follow. The story is an incredible story of love and betrayal.

This is not a book for the sqeamish or for younger kids. That being said, it is a wonderful read, vivid and gripping, for adults and teens. It calls up events of the time, both in daily life and in its look at a group seldom mentioned, and offers readers something that lingers after the text is done. The young adult readers in my classes have been devouring this and passing it from one to the next so quickly, my book signout can hardly keep up.

This book was very short, but really amazing. It took me back in time to the Spanish Inquisition (as you can see by the summary) and it gave me some insight on what it was like to live during those times. There was no good court system, and people were scrutinized for just being different. Basically, if you weren't Catholic you were trash.

In the beginning, Estrella has a good life. She has a wonderful, if a bit strict, family, and she has a best friend that she loves with all her heart. But things begin to change when Estrella starts to get attracted to her best friend's cousin. And things get even worse when Estrella finds out that her whole life she was raised thinking she was Catholic, only to find out that it was just an act and she's really Jewish.

This book was wonderful, truly. I couldn't put it down. There was some romance in it, but mostly it was about a family who struggled to stay true to their faith, but stay alive at the same time. I was really sad, and there were some memorable passages that I will never forget. The writing was fantastic, and I found that I liked this book much more than I really thought I would.

This is one of the better first-person accounts I've ever read. I highly, strongly recommend that you take the time to read it. It's well-written, relevant, and hard to put down.

A great day in an day out story about the war. No hype, no frills. Just the story of what the days were actually like for a foot soldier in WW II.

I had to read this book for a course on WWII. Neil does an excellent job of "putting you there" as the cliche goes. The complexities of battle, to the horrid conditions to the mindstate of men about to die are all covered well in this novel. Neill really does a good job of keeping the reader attached to the book, and helps bring to life something that many people have only read about in history text books. I recommend this novel to anyone interested in War in general, and of course in WWII.

George Neill presents a front line soldier's view of what it was like to be part of the WWII American infantry. While reading the book, I almost felt the cold and fear that were the soldier's constant companions. while the rear echelon soldiers got the winter boots, and the generals got heated quarters, Neill and his fellow soldiers tried to survive the cold, boredom and attacks. I felt like I was there. This book gets my very highet recommendation.

The ASTPer's were the brightest, most intelligent young citizen soldiers of their part of the World War II generation. Originally deferred from military service to be allowed to attend college, they were thrown into the battlefields of Europe when America needed bodies to make to final push to Berlin, just in time for the Battle of the Bulge. Infantry Soldier: Holding the Line at the Battle of the Bulge is an accurate account of the fighting and front-line conditions facing the common infantry rifleman during one of Europe's coldest winters. Neill not only served as one of these men, he has done the research and interviews needed to complete the picture, not just of the men on the ground who knew little beyond the events of their immediate foxhole, but events on the German side and U.S. Army rear echelon and high command decisions. Included is an excellent description of the destructive power of a German artillery barrage, and the problems encountered when supply lines are stretched and items desperately needed by the front-line soldier for survival are being diverted to rear-echelon personnel. Neill also takes an intelligent look at war in general, and the conclusion is that we should never forget the horrors and untold human suffering caused by war.

This book is so much better than the novels. The author captures the life of this very interesting woman.

If one is looking for mere entertainment, this is not the book to buy. I thoroughly enjoyed "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" written by Antonia Fraser, which contained only the most necessary historical facts in order to present the six Queens properly.

When I have given Eric Ives' book five stars, it's because this is probably the most detailed and enlightening book ever written about Anne Boleyn. But the book is not an easy read, not if one is searching for pure entertainment. For me it is more a book of facts about Anne which I can go back to whenever I'm searching for more information about her. That does not mean the book lacks for numerous enjoyable anecdotes from Anne's life and vivid descriptions of her as a person.

The book tells about Anne's family and background, which was far more important than one is often led to believe. Originally, the family made its fortune in trade, but later on its relations with the Tudors became significant and Anne was by no means an unsuitable match for King Henry.

What I found most interesting was the picture of Anne as a very cultured and highly educated young woman. The time she spent at the Continent and how this influenced her in her role as Queen of England. It thoroughly explains why she became as powerful and politically important as she did. And not the least, the circumstances leading to her death.

For a complete picture of Anne Boleyn, look no further. This book gives all the answers.

I became fascinated with Anne Boleyn after watching The Tudors and The Other Boleyn Girl. I really wanted to find out the factual truth about her. I thought this book was fairly easy to read and the author seemed very interested in writing as close to the factual truth as possible.

I definitely am interested in reading more about this period.

i loved this book, very accurate and insightful, great read for all anne boleyn fans.

This is a must-read for any Anne Boleyn fan, who wants to learn more about her life. This book lists many intricate details about Anne's life at court, which I found fascinating!

i orignially purchased this book as a resource for a paper i was doing on tuscany, but when i received it and began to browse through it, i sat down and read the entire thing from cover to cover. the photography was magnificent; the information was just the right amount without going on and on; the entire product was stunning. i wanted to run to the internet and book the next flight to tuscany!

Great service and beautiful pictures of Tuscany but somewhat dissapointed at the lack of an organized route map for efficient traveling to the various villages.

This is the best for someone wanting to visit interesting places in Italy. It is not only well arranged and written, but it helped so much in trip planning. I highly recommend this to anyone traveling on their own to Italy.

Since I love Italy as a place to visit, this book is great to own.

Yes, the photos are nice, but how many coffee table books with pretty Tuscan villages, cypress trees, and silvery olive leaves shimmering in the wind do we need?

Someone who reviewed this book suggested bringing it along on a Tuscan trip; if you put this large and heavy book in your luggage, you will have to leave the toothpaste, underwear, and a number of other things at home, particularly now that some airlines are apparently toying with the notion of lowering weight allowances and charging for the excess.

The text in most instances is not particularly helpful. There are quite a few books on Tuscany that do a much better job. And I was truly surprised to see the town of San Quirico d'Orcia included in the list of "most beautiful villages". I happen to know San Quirico and because it is off the usual beaten tourist path, it retains an "Italianness" that has been lost by, for example, Greve in Chianti, where one would be hard-pressed to find an Italian in that town's lovely main square on a Saturday afternoon. But San Quirico could never be called "beautiful", by any stretch of the imagination.

Despite my reservations about this book, it would probably be a welcome present for a friend who has recently returned from the grand tour of Tuscany and it will, at least for a while, have a prominent place on this friend's coffee table.

This is a recommended book to read for people who would like to read about statistics and maths. People with few knowledge about these sciences will find it a bit difficult to read.

This is the best book I have found for a general study of the of neural networks. I found this particularly useful when looking at how to write my own NN frameworks. The depth of the mathematics allowed me to easily answer questions like: 'what if I replaced function abc with xyz'. I have found other texts failed to show key mathematical derivations, or to explore the subtleties of what the maths imply.

The book covers a plethora of topics from simple gradient descent through second order techniques and conjugate gradient, through to the use of 'bayesian techniques' (basically confidence intervals on network outputs), monte carlo techniques etc. Similarly error functions, non-linearities (sigmoids, softmax etc.) and data preparation are all treated.

The extensive bibliography also provides excellent references for further study, (a whos who of the field, as well as actual titles). My copy is now dog earred from frequent reading.

The theories of NN and PR are quite difficult to understand. But this book makes them much easier. The author can explain the concepts without using too much formula. If other authors could follow his step then the life is much easier!

If you want a very good, intermediate introduction to pattern classification this book must be on your bookshelf. It even does a very nice job explaining the EM algorithm in a few pages! Basic calculus is all you need to understand the book. A must read.

Mr Bishop's book is very well written and contains a lot of useful information on neural networks. It is outlined well and progresses in a logical form. If, however, you are looking for a book that gives discussions with concrete examples of neural networks applications or set ups, you will be sorely disappointed. The mathematical treatment is universally generalized with very few specific concrete examples shown. Even the exercises will not serve you well. The term 'graded' is used; however, that simply referes to the description of difficulty. There are no answers to these exercises, so unless you have a teacher or are already firmly familiar with the material, you will not know if you have completed them correctly or not. Even worse, the exercises are in general not written to reinforce concepts in the chapter, but in most cases extend the chapter material into new regions.

In summary, this book should only be purchased by someone already familiar with neural networks and their mathematical basis. Anyone else will be wasting their money.

I gave this to my friend for her birthday. She flew to Prague yesterday and is there right now for a week. She went with someone who grew up there and showed him the book. He loved it and read it before she did. He found it very interesting & having lived there thought it was well written. They are using the book this week and I am sure it will come in handy.

I have to agree with the other reviewers...this book is a gem! One of the best guide books I've ever read. Useful, funny, and engaging style. Leaving for Prague in October, and this is the only guide book I'll need. Highly recommend!

We've visited Prague four times in four years, and are constantly buying more guide books. This one is clearly the best of the dozen or so Prague guides that we own.

If you plan to buy only one guide, this should be the one, even though the author says this book should be used as a supplement to more conventional guides. The Artel Guide will point you to more of "inside" Prague than any other guide.

If you plan to buy more than one, then there are a couple of ideas that may prove helpful. First, Prague is constantly changing. New guides are obviously going to cover those changes better than old ones. Keep publication dates in mind. Second, the book does not really try to cover the history of Prague. Consider one of the more 'traditional' guides from Lonely Planet, Frommer, or the like to plug this gap. Third, while Prague is eminently walkable, it is also an easy and wonderful place to get lost. The best map guide we've found, out of about four we've tried, is from Knopf. A new version came out in 2007.

Beyond that, we agree with all the others who've made this Amazon's top rated guide to Prague. Buy it.

This is the book for people who want to learn what the natives know: where to find the real character of the place, like the one-ring circus, the art house cinemas, model trains, the puppet museum, the best toys and antiques... I could go on! The author has found every single cool, offbeat thing to do in Prague and if she didn't have the personal expertise, she found an someone who did. There are concise, informative sections the local music scene, hipster bars and night clubs, Czech wines, etc. Of course, it also has all the major tourist attractions, including castles and museums, and a ton of tips on getting around and getting along. The gorgeous design and amazing vintage pictures are worth the price alone! This is the most fun I've ever had reading a travel guide.

The changes in Prague since 1990, when we were last there, are utterly amazing and somewhat overwhelming, although not surprising -- Prague was fantastic to visit in 1990, even though it was not yet quite geared up to receiving visitors. We were fortunate on the second day of our second (2007) trip to find Karen Feldman's little guidebook. It is absolutely terrific! As a native of North America but a longtime resident of the city, she has an excellent sense of the kinds of things that "anti-tourist" tourists will find interesting. Her summaries and descriptions are well written, and the book is well laid out and easy to use. As a guidebook author myself, I think I know a good guide when I see one! I only wish we'd known about it before we got there. Buy it and enjoy -- it's the next best thing to an actual visit and indispensable for a real visit.

Very much enjoyed this book. Loaded with fascinating pictures and images. Stays out of political opinions or posturing. Highly recommended.

This book broadly covers the organization and History of Hitler's elite enforces providing the reader with great amounts of information on this subject. It hides nothing especially the attrocities.

A must read for those interested in this subject.

Many good things can be said about this book. I sought out this book after reading the `Complete Idiot's Guide to Nazi Germany' and found that it had very little information on the SS. I was surprised at the number of photos and pictures in this book. That was the aspect I liked the most. The overall layout of the book was nice with detailed information on the formation of the SS, day to day tasks, subdivisions of the organization, equipment, atrocities on both the Eastern and Western Fronts, and the foreign legions. However, I feel the book could have used more information on the Gestapo, the SD, and the Einsatzgruppen. The Waffen-SS was given plenty of coverage in regards to its individual divisions and campaigns on the two fronts. I would have to say too much information considering that this was supposed to be a book about the entire SS. The sections on the Waffen SS were excellent, without a doubt. The book should have been given a different title which stresses this fact. Overall, the book was easy to read and flowed well with plenty of fascinating information. The author seemed a bit quick to defend the Waffen SS and some of the atrocities it is accused of, constantly stressing the fact that on the whole they were soldiers like those in the Wehrmacht. Though this may or may not have been true, opinions like this should have been kept to a minimum. The book would have been better if the information was just presented and then proceeded to let the reader decide for him or herself.

This book is an awesome collection of written material along with rare, powerful photos and diagrams. A standout feature, and my personal favorites, were the illustrations of particular uniforms, medlas,ceremonial decorations, propaganda posters, and weaponry that you don't find in alot of WWII references. Overall, this a great book and a must for WWII enthusiasts.

Comprehensive, profusely illustrated, reader-friendly, concise, nice size edition and clear in its exposition. In about 250 pages Mr. Williamson covers the whole history of these special troops, in all their aspects. Reviewing all its divisions, commanders, foreign nationalities that were incorporated into them, the weapons, the battles, their most talented fighters, etc and without losing the thread of his story: a most remarkable thing. Of course this is no eulogy of the SS, it tells of the barbarities committed as well as the acts of true heroism in battle by some of their soldiers. This is a great history. One can follow their main divisions from their inception long before the war, and how they grew in size and experience parallel to the national circumstances of Germany herself.

The role played by Himmler's crackpot ethnic theories were debunked by sheer necessity of man force: many of its finest soldiers were indeed non-Germans. One feels compelled to read more about this ignominiuos personage, Himmler, as he really was a weird (and evil) guy. On the positive side are outstanding acts of sheer valor and heroism of some soldiers who really deserve to remain in any military history of this war. Some passages of course overlap with the Wehrmacht, since they fought side by side many times, but both the detailed analysis and the wider scope of the SS role are present in this book. Nothing relevant is missing here. A great history book and an engrossing read.

I bought this book at the American Book Center in The Hague, Netherlands, a few years ago. As I knew many of the places mentioned in the book, it took on an even deeper meaning for me. I love this book, and I list Diet Eman and Hein Sietsma as heroes. Definitely 5+ stars!

Excellent book. The book is fast paced, exciting and touching.

The risks and sacrifices that the author and her fiance went through for their beliefs and for unkwown people amazed and inspired me. Highly recommended.

The account of the author and her experiences fighting the German occupation of Holland during WWII is harrowing. It is hard to imagine that any human being can display so mush courage at such a young age.

The true story of true Christians, and Dutch patriots, Diet Eman and Hein Sietsma, and their courageous risk of everything to resist Nazi tyranny and hide thousands of Dutch Jews.
True Christians always love the Jewish people and Israel, and true nationalists are opposed to both Communism and Nazism, both the antithesis of national self-determination.
Diet recounts her own life, and experiences and what she saw and heard, as well as her deep faith in G-D, that guided her in all she did and thought.
Diet recounts her experiences in Scheveningen prison, where she describes how Jewish families, who were caught in hiding, were hauled into the prison, mothers, fathers and children: 'On the nights the guards brought Jews in, we always heard the children crying all through that place. It was bad enough for us to have to suffer through a place, like Scheveningen, but it was terrible to hear those poor innocent children crying.'
It is up to true Christians and righteous gentiles to stand by the State of Israel today, in the struggle for her survival and that of her children, against the monstrous Islamic-extreme leftist hate machine.

I have read more than 75 books of this genre depicting this period of history. "What would I have done under the same circumstances?" That is the question I am always asking of myself whilst reading these stories. This is the story of a group of people with the courage of their convictions...Diet's story is inspiring and touching. It illustrates perfectly that the power of prayer is undeniable and when 'all one can do is pray' one has done everything.