McDonald's Books

A well written book on Virginia City and the silver mines. A good history of the whole area around Reno and Lake Tahoe.

The book's papers were written shortly before the 1997 Asian economic crisis, which spawned massive devaluations and unrest. Yet just a few years later, much of the authors' insights seem accurate.

The papers give a country by country analysis of the emerging middle classes and how this might affect those countries future prospects. The level of writing seems to be directed at students of politics or economics. The papers were likely not meant for a mass audience.

As a brief note, the mobile phones referred to in the title were used as a good indicator of a massive new and visible development. Yet in 95 and 96 when the papers were written, their uptake into those societies had only begun. Quite a good choice of example.

This book is about Don Stott and "Z" Force, a New Zealand & Australian special forces unit that operated in SE Asia in WW2. Z Force was an ANZAC unit that conducted some successful raids on the Japanese in SE Asia, much of the experience for setting up the unit having come from the British SAS, SOE and Commando units and from ANZAC troops who had served with these units earlier in the war. Don Stott was one of these, the book largely focuses on him and the Kiwi contribution to Z force. There were other raids conducted by primarily Australian troops on Singapore - there's a couple of other good books on these.

Donald John Stott was born in Birkenhead on 23 October 1914, and grew up in the district. When he left school he joined the New Zealand Herald as a rotary machinist. He enlisted in the New Zealand Army in 1940, and quickly rose to the rank of Sergeant in the Artillery. During 1940 he left New Zealand with the Second Echelon. He fought in Greece and in the Crete campaign of May 1941, where he was wounded and captured by the Germans. After spending two months in a Prisoner of War camp in Greece he escaped, and after seven months on the run, managed to obtain a boat and sail across the Mediterranean Sea to North Africa where he rejoined his unit.

In 1942 Don Stott was commissioned. He was asked if he was interested in going back to Greece to carry out sabotage work, to which he readily agreed. He attended a parachute course, and after many delays, finally parachuted into Greece in March 1943, where he made contact with guerilla bands who were fighting the Germans. During his period in Greece, Don Stott was responsible for many acts of sabotage, one of which was carrying out a daring raid that resulted in the demolition of the strategically crucial, heavily defended and virtually inaccessible Aspos Gorge railway viaduct, one of the greatest exploits of the Second World War, and one which changed the course of the war in Greece. For this action he was recommended by his commanding officer for The Victoria Cross, but because there had been no shots fired during the action, was eventually awarded the Distinguished Service Order. The Colonel who was Second-in-Command of the British Mission to Greece described Don Stott as "the bravest man I ever knew".

Towards the end of 1943 the Germans realised that the war on the Eastern Front was going badly for them, and as Italy had capitulated, the odds were against them. They therefore wished to discuss the possibility of a truce. The Mayor of Athens approached Don Stott and asked him to a meeting with the Germans to discuss proposals for peace. Although this would place him at considerable risk, Don agreed to take part, and after many meetings was given safe passage by the Germans to Turkey, from where he returned to Cairo to put the proposals to the Allies. Although nothing came of the proposals, Don was awarded a Bar to his D.S.O. for his part in the operation.

Major Don Stott returned to New Zealand in May 1944, before going to Australia where he was on loan to the Australian Army as an expert on Special Service work. There he was attached to "Z" Special Unit, a highly secret force of commandos and saboteurs, which was to create havoc behind enemy lines in south-east Asia. This unit, with Major Don Stott in command, was sent on a special operation into Japanese territory in Borneo. The unit was taken to the area by submarine, and on the night of 20-21 March 1945, a very stormy night, set off in folboats (similar to kayaks) for the shore. Major Don Stott was never sighted again. On that day New Zealand lost one of its bravest heroes, a man who, perhaps, had come to the end of his nine lives after cheating death so many times. He had crammed more into his 30 years than most people would into two lifetimes.

Very interested book on one narrow facet of WW2 special forces ops. Good detail, well-written.

Simple enough for youngsters but still enjoyable for adults. Makes learning fun for both the teacher and the student.

I was assigned this book as part of a class on the Old West. This is a collection of writings by Native Americans of their experiences of "how the west was lost". More than that, though, it gives an idea, from the Native Americans' experience, of how they felt about white people coming, treaties, their changing way of life, and more. An interesting read and certainly gives a new perspective to the history of the West.

A very useful book, even if you use one or two of the incentives this will give you great results, i have personally tried over ten in my restaurant and have had great results. Reduce the price though Amazon!

This is a British book on the english language, so many of the answers will not perfectly fit an American audience.
But, it's a very cool book.
It includes great, weird facts about words, and is very readable.
Buy it to learn what the longest word in the english language is, whether to write "a hotel" or "an hotel" (a), about palindromes, about the only word to have three consonants in a row in it (godessship), and about obscure and obsolete words of interest. It's very interesting, and very entertaining, too.

The authors do a good job of addressing the unique problems associated with rural law enforcement. This is a must read for anyone in law enforcement and especially for anyone thinking of working in a rural setting.

Dr. Chandler's history of California's privately issued money is interesting and better than that it's easy to understand. Complicated fiscal transactions become clear. If all financial texts were this good, I'd have a degree in economics.

Written in the same vein as Richard Rhode's books, this is a very good read of the history of the Manhattan Project, from the opening bell in Europe, till the ship where the surrender was inked. Has some detail not in Rhodes' book, and is a very complemetary treatment of the subject. Has some good pictures as well.