W Books

I've never read any autobiographies from the people of this war until now; I've read a lot of books from people who were in Nam, but never the WWII book era. What a way to start! It's like test driving the Ferrari before the Honda Accord! Truly a remarkable story, full of humor (im some cases I had to put the book down because I was laughing to hard), emotion, technical foot notes, ancedotes, photos, stories, ..death. You feel like your there, like a movie cam on his head, living the day to day turbulent life of a B-17 crew member. Excellent, Excellent, non-fiction because it is just written so well! Even for those of you who are "gun-shy" about books of this era - trust me, you will not be dissapointed. I haven't read anything in the last 3 month's and I finished this book in 2&1/2 days!. Even a 5 Star rating is not enough!!! A superb account of these fine young men who laid it all out on the line for this country. Thank you Veteran's everywhere. Our country owe's you a debt of gratitude it can never repay.

Thank you Grandad, your legacy is a good one. This book has become everything and more than you hoped. I am so glad your memories were preserved in this book. Thanks for being my hero. -Micah McGuire-

This book is one of those rare finds that was purchased because of the title, that actually delivers a strong, well remembered, story about an ordinary man from an ordinary family who becomes part of extraordinary events at the right time. It is a simple story told so well, that you feel like you are flying those B-17s yourself. The style of writing is fast, accurate, and well paced for the reader. The narrative moves along at an almost frightening pace, and the reader is swept up to become part of the events as they occur. I could not put it down. I fully recommend this book for all readers of events during the air war in world war 2. This book is not only worth the asking price, but would be an excellent read, if the price was twice as much. My thanks to the author for having such a great memory, and sharing with the rest of us, those extraordinary times of aerial combat in the skies over Europe during world war 2. All in all, a most treasured book.

Hadley has captured the recollections of Fifteenth Air Force crewman Melvin McGuire and molded them into a memoir with rare power. Bloody Skies should go down as one of the best memoirs produced concerning the World War II airwar.

The reader gets a great look at the daily life of a B-17 crewman. We learn the way in which he lived with death on a daily basis. WARNING: This book is impossible to put down when it gets going.

The book is also a great contribution to the memory of the Fifteenth Air Force. Having been usually overshadowed by the Eighth Air Force, the Fifteenth was stationed in North Africa-Italy, and bombed strategic targets throughout the underbelly of Europe. The Fifteenth absored horrible casulties while bombing infamous targets including Ploesti, Steyr, and Vienna. McGuire and his fellow airmen lived in cruder and more inhospitable conditions than the England-based Eighth.

I have been a B-17 enthusiast since I can remember, and I have had the priveledge of talking with a few pilots as well as touring many of the remaining aircraft; but until I read Bloody Skies, I had never accurately understood what it took to complete a bombing mission over Europe in the height of WWII. Mr. McGuire, through his amazing memory in concert with massive amounts of research and actual written documentation brings the reader as close an anyone could ever hope to become to his war. If you are looking for a thrilling book, that blends raw emotion with factual documentation this is your book. I will never forget Mr. McGuire, his crew, and their sacrifice from this day forward.

The Stokes bird books major in the sheer delight of discovering the bird in question. The 1991 STOKES BLUEBIRD BOOK carries this tradition forward without missing a step.

The book's three sections explore 'The Birds', 'Attracting Bluebirds', an 'Bluebird Behavior'. The first section introduces this captivating bird by way of poetry and observations made about it, mostly when the species was more plentiful than it is today. The Stokes then present the 'Eastern', 'Mountain', and 'Western Bluebird' varieties.

The second section details what we've learned about compensating for the habit destruction that has made Bluebird numbers drop precipitously in recent times. I bought my copy after undertaking the Quijote's quest of adding a bluebird house to my Indiana front yard. It was immediately fitted out by a male house wren whose spouse chose other digs.

A final section, comprising nearly half the book's pages, follows these birds through their life stages.

Through 96 pages, the authors' prose cannot veil their admiration for these birds and their sheer delight in sympathetic proximity to them.

It all adds up to a winner.

This book has great pictures and answered all of my questions re bluebirds. I love the pictures of the different nest types...it has enabled me to know what kind of bird is nesting in the bluebird box. Very helpful.

This is a good book for those who are interested in learning more about bluebirds and perhaps getting started with their own trail. It is mostly focused on the eastern bluebird but also discusses the mountain and western bluebirds, with plenty of photos. It also shows how to distinguish different types of nests so you can tell whether a house wren or house sparrow has taken over your bluebird box.

This is certainly one you will want to add to your collection. Having been a birder for well over fifty years now, and a collector of books on the subject, I found this one to be well worth the cost. As pointed out by another reviewer here, some of the information in this book is quite basic. But that is okay! Everyone has to start somewhere and this is one of the best books I know to get that start. This is not to say that an "expert" will not be able to get anyting out of this work...that is silly. But, like any work on the subject of birds, this one needs to be supplemented by other books on the subject and field guides.

The photographs in this work are wonderful, some of the best I have seen and the text is clear and concise, which is sort of a trade mark for this writing team. There is a great amount of useful information in this relatively small volume, and with it, and a couple of the other recommended works here, you should be able to become quite an authority on the subject. This particular bird is a favorite of mine and I find any work that promotes it's well being a good thing. Recommend this one highly.

Once you have a bluebird visit your backyard, you WILL be hooked...and you'll start looking for anything and everything to lure them back--it sounds crazy, but I think every bluebirder started this way! I read just about everything I could find about them on the internet, and you can find tons of information there, but sometimes I'd rather consult a book or two--The Bluebird Book is one of my two.

Actually it is pretty basic, and I thought it was too basic at times, but the further I read there was still a lot of good information about bluebird behavior, feeding habits, preferred habitat, nesting, nest boxes, predators of the bluebird, predator prevention, and what I didn't see anyplace else...bluebird language! But I think what kept me reading was the fantastic photographs--the photos will draw you in, and if you weren't too serious about doing the 'bluebirding thing', you will be after starting with this book. What it lacks in "complete reference" will certainly prompt you to take the next step of getting another more advanced book, pouring thru bluebird internet sites, or setting up a nest box or two in your yard. Just a note--depending on where you live in the US, parts of this book may not apply--but that is the same for other bluebird books also; don't get discouraged over it. Most bluebird books cover Eastern, Western, and Mountain bluebirds all at once, and what works in the east, may not work in the west, or south, for example.

The other book that goes into great detail on just about everything bluebird related is the Bluebird Monitor's Guide. This should be your next book if you can find it. Excellent stuff, expands on what you learned in the Bluebird Book, and lists many lessons and lessons-learned, easy and hard, from average folks who became very passionate about bluebirds.

After starting with the Bluebird Monitor's Guide, The Bluebird Book filled in a few areas and had some good detailed photos. And all the photos will have you wishing to have these beauties grace your neighborhood. Another note--there's also a Stokes video about bluebirding...I haven't seen it, but much of what I've read about it online is not very positive. Stick with this book and the Monitor's Guide and you will have plenty of solid information about bluebirds, setting up PROPER nest box(es), and providing a safe environment for a bluebird family, or any native wildbird family for that matter. Please be a responsible bird landlord!

I was so glad to see this book available. I have used Vedral's programs in the past and know they work. No gimmicks, no frills, etc.

The book includes the valuable wall chart of exercises. The pictures are easy to follow and simple hand weights are all you really need.

Thank you!!

This is a great routine and the book is an easy-read that I found quite motivating. I was a bit discouraged, however, when I discovered how long the exercises actually take. It takes me 30 minutes to complete the "8-minute" routines. I would have actually felt more motivated had I been more adequately prepared to allow for the necessary time. That said, I commend Joyce for this book, which also includes a chapter on diet and a chapter on aerobic exercise. I am very encouraged that I may be able to prevent osteoporosis, and am recommending this book to my mom, who was recently diagnosed.

I bought the hardcover edition of this book used from Amazon and am very pleased with it. This is a very readable book, with most things clearly explained. When I say 'most', I mean that I still have questions as to WHY the pyramid method works better than other methods, and I also think it should be explained WHY the exact order of the workout matters (by body part, not by specific individual exercises within a body-part group). I am confused too because other books say to constantly vary your routine or to even change it completely every other week, where-as this book says that you must follow this exact routine every time. Aside from those points of confusion, the explanatory material is quite good. The work-out itself is excellent, and well suited to the woman who prefers a good at-home dumb-bell workout. Joyce must have the routine memorized, and do it without any rest periods at super-speed in order to finish within the time she says it will take. I have the extra time to put into it, so that is not a problem. If your goal is to build bone to prevent osteoporosis, this is a great program, or even if you just want to have a nice dumb-bell routine to build strength and re-shape, I also recommend it.

I bought this book because I have the 12-minute Total Body Workout by Vedral and I wanted to see if she had updated her excercises. I was very pleased with this book, the exercises are easy to learn and they work! However, there is no way you can do it in 8 minutes a day without sacrificing proper movement and form. Plan on spending between 15 and 20 minutes per day for four days, 30-40 minutes per day for two days, or about 1 1/2 hours for one day. In the 12-Minute book, you did 2 body parts, 2 exercises each, for 3 reps. In this book, it's 3 body parts, at least 3 exercises each, 3 reps each plus stretching. How on earth did she think you could do it in 8 minutes?

This workout is great, although you may want to do ALL the designated warm-up exercises at the beginning of the workout, in order to avoid wasting time picking up and putting down the dumbbells between sections. If you do this I think it would be much easier to get the workout time down to where the book claims it should be.

I own The 12-Minute Total Body Workout book, and in one respect, this book is better in that it contains a photo chart of all the exercises involved, which "12-Minute" does NOT have. I recommend that you buy a copy of this book, make a copy of the chart, then cut it up and paste each exercise onto index cards, so that you can mix up the order of the exercises every few weeks or so, as well as putting the warmups at the beginning of the workout.

Both books are great.

This little book, "Brazen Chariots" is the best first-hand account by any tank commander in North Africa in the British 8th Army. The author, South African cricket star Robert Crisp, was the top tank "ace" of 8th Army's successful Operation Crusader offensive of late 1941 (credited with at least 8 German tanks).

It gives a clear and precise account of what being inside a tank was like and the technical problems involved in tank fighting of that era. It also provides valuable insight into the command of armored formations, in particular why the British "left hook" attempt to outflank Rommel at the end of Crusader failed: the "left hook" commander, Brigadier Alec Gatehouse of 4th/22nd Armored Brigade, was afraid to confront the Panzerarmee and was willing to give away his position in Rommel's rear, alerting Rommel to retreat.

It should be noted that it was Crisp's driver who gave the M3 US-built Stuart tank its alternative name, the Honey, by exclaiming something like: "Lord love us, what a honey !".

Contrary to the impression many readers have, the Stuart, while dubbed a "light" tank by the US Army,was vastly superior to the then German and British light tanks (Panzer I, II) both in armor thickness and gunpower. The 37mm gun of the Stuart had a vastly more powerful armor penetrating ability not only of the puny 20mm guns of these earlier light tanks, but was also considerably more powerful than the German 37mm gun (a lower velocity gun on early versions of Panzer III)and roughly equal to the British 40mm (2-pounder) gun or the German short 50mm gun (on some versions of Panzer III).

In Crusader, the US 37mm gun gun was only inferior to the German long 50mm gun (just then appearing) or the German short 75mm gun (on Panzer IV). Checking tables of armor penetration and armor thickness, it was equal to or slightly superior to most German (and all Italian) tanks in Crusader. However, it was Crisp's keen observation and skill in picking off stray German tanks that enabled him to destroy so many.

This book is infused with action. It is a very personal account of tank combat against superior machines and odds. The author is likable and sometimes humorous. I enjoyed his British figures of speech.

My only complaint is that the book is too short. That is a reader's highest compliment.

I recently finshed reading this book, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It provides a gripping, first hand account of just what it was like to be a member of a tank crew, during the early, confusing, and often deadly battles of the war in North Africa. This book provides the human view that is so often missing from the more conventional histories of armies or battles. Hightly recomended!

Going over my list Introduction to Tank Warfare list, I'm surprised I left this one off. This is one of the books I read as a kid that is partially responsible for me becoming a tanker myself.

Crisp gives a great first person account of being a tank commander during Operation Crusader in 1941. This book is great for the vivid descriptions of battles where he survived, though under-gunned and under-armored compared to his Panzer opponents, by using terrain and mobility to advantage. However it is also an accurate account of the mundane activities between battles without becoming boring in the process. All this is accomplished with Crisp's characteristically British flair where he continually relays how important was the need for British troopers to brew their regular pot of tea.

This is a short volume that gives an almost day by day account of the campaign in a very readable fashion. While detailed enough to keep any expert turning the pages, it is also basic enough for the casual reader who just wants a good 1st person account of the War in North Africa.

The limited scope is, of course, not the authors fault; he fought where he was assigned. If you just want some idea of what tank warfare was like in early WWII North Africa from someone who took part in no major armor engagements during the few weeks he was there, then get this book. However, if you want a book that tells about the battles and fighting vehicles used in the entire campaign or even a chunk of it, then Brazen Chariots is not for you. Major Crisp only commanded American made M3 Stuart light tanks with puny 37mm guns that couldn't stand up on equal terms against anything bigger than a Panzer Two, although Crisp's M3 was typically matched against a Panzer Three or Four. Of course, this wasn't his fault either, but I couldn't help wishing he would have at least served in a Crusader or Valentine at least from a British standpoint. In combat, he was luckiest when he could use his tank to sneak up on an anti-tank gun from behind. I also thought the writing to be a bit amateurish. This book also had the weirdest ending of any I have ever read. It leaves you not only wondering what ultimately happened to Major Crisp, but if some of the last pages of the book are missing. Seriously! I actually went to a book store to look at another copy, but it was just like mine. I grade a "C" on the book; and an "A" for the world's worst ending. My advice is: Only read this book if you have a lot of time on your hands or are desperate for something to read on this particular subject.

This is such an important novel. Everyone needs to read this book, especially as the issue of torture is finally center stage in American politics. The author's writing is beautiful, unusual, and distinctive. She is clearly someone whose career readers should follow. I recommend this book whole-heartedly. I could not put it down.

A brilliantly-written, moving book about the takeover of British-occupied Singapore by the Japanese in WWII.
This story is ingeniously told through masterful writing which is at times poetic, at times cryptic and always beautifully descriptive.
The superbly-drawn characters are utterly human, believable and many-layered. No cliches or stereotypes here.
This novel is political, historical, psychological, and deeply emotional. It seems to transcend time and place.

In the middle of "Breaking the Tongue", Vyvyane Loh repeats Somerset Maugham's warning that:

"'A work of fiction ... is an arrangement which the author makes of his experience with the idiosyncrancies of his own personality.' In other words, if someone messed with him, he'd write him into a story."

It seems that most of the ethnic groups in Singapore must have "messed" with this Malaysian author and she's written them into a mean-spirited parody of life in the island state during the 1940's.

At the center of the action are the Lim's. Father Lim is a sadistic snob, who evicts a homeless family from their temporary shelter in his drainage ditch. Mother Lim is a mentally unstable self-mutilator with the morals and varnished claws of a cat. Junior is a whiny adolescent. Little Sister doesn't have a speaking part, but her Confucian saint of a grandmother makes up for it by reciting large tracts of Sun Tzu at the drop of a hat. The various members of the family detest each other and that is the only part of the book that truly makes sense.

Alert readers will have noticed by now that "Breaking the Tongue" is a farce, not a literal history of Singapore. It didn't take any `courage' to write, just a lot of spleen.

An American reader confronted with a passage of Chinese characters might think: "Well, this is Chinese text so if it were read aloud it would come out as Chinese." This however is completely false. The tens of thousands of incredibly complex Chinese characters are ideograms, they represent not sounds but meanings such as man, flower or war. As a matter of fact, there are many Chinese languages such as Mandarin, Cantonese or Hokkien. All of these spoken languages sound entirely different but they are all written in the same set of Chinese characters. A long time ago the Japanese also adopted Chinese characters to write their language which is of course completely different from Chinese. The practical Japanese use an alphabetic script as well, so in practice a passage of Japanese writng might consist of a mixture of Chinese ideograms and alphabetic symbols. It is clear therefore that if you were erudite enough you could write any language including English in Chinese characters. Conversely, if you were to read aloud a passage of Chinese text you could do so in any language including English. Chinese text in other words is sound-independent, language-independent or as we might say tongue-independent.

In this book, near the end, the English text is occasionally replaced by passages of Chinese characters which are of course incomprehensible to the average American reader. This does not mean that the author has switched from English to Chinese but only that she has abandoned (or broken) the tongue. This is one meaning of the book's title, but only the metaphorical meaning.

There is a literal meaning as well. At the end of the book, the main character Claude Lim cuts out (or breaks) his own tongue. This operation is described in very clinical detail reminding us of the fact that the somewhat intimidatingly brilliant author is in fact a practicing physician who writes Nobel Prize quality novels in her spare time. The reason Claude cuts out his tongue is that he is an "English educated" Singaporean Chinese which meant in the colonial pre-war period that he was taught only English and could not speak a word of Chinese. After the Japanese conquest in 1942 and related personal events, Claude rejected his English education and wished to revert to his Chinese heritage. Since he could speak only English he accomplished this by cutting out his tongue ao that he could no longer speak any language but make only grunting sounds.

The reader may be pleased to hear that in modern independent Singapore Claude Lim's linguistic dilemma can no longer occur. English is now the primary language of education for all Singaporeans but each ethnic group is also taught their "mother tongue" whether it be Malay, Tamil (a southern Indian language) or (Mandarin) Chinese. So there are four official languages in Singapore and every Singaporean of normal intelligence is at least bilingual.

Well, it has taken me the space of a longish Amazon review and I have managed to explain only the title. To explain the body of the book as well is obviously beyond the scope here. But perhaps you can see what I mean when I describe this book as of Nobel Prize quality. I do not mean that Vyvyane Loh will receive the Prize in the near future since the Swedish Academy will not award it for a first novel. What I mean is that there is not the slightest doubt in my mind that she will receive the Nobel eventually. This book has the literary quality and the depth that would be expected. It is also has the exotic setting that is evidently much liked in Stockholm. So congratulations Vyvyane, a great literary future for you is assured.

In BREAKING THE TONGUE Vyvyane Loh successfully brings to life the myriad of cultures and languages resulting in a rich tapestry of colors and flavors of Singapore, situated at the tip of the Malay Peninsula. The days of the British Empire are numbered as the Japanese threaten to invade Singapore in the days leading up to Second World War. Within the unstable economic and political landscape is Claude Lim, a young Chinese boy who was raised to only speak the language and admire the mannerisms of England. His parents taught him that the Chinese along with other non-whites are barbarians; the British are much more civilized and cultured. There is little uncertainty that the British will succeed in protecting Singapore from the Japanese menace.

Despite their initial beliefs the Japanese experience minimal difficulties advancing south through Malaysia towards Singapore. After his family flees to the relative safety of the countryside Claude is left behind to resume his studies. However, shortly after their departure the routines of everyday life are interrupted when the bombings begin and war becomes more apparent. Claude along with Brit Jack and Chinese Ling-li who strive to survive day by day while running a defunct medical clinic. They dodge bombs and the chaos of the streets to buy food and run the injured to the hospital without knowing when or if any type of normalcy will return to Singapore.

One of this novel's strengths is the manner in which Loh highlights and exposes the issues of cultural identity and belonging. There is Claude who is a devout Anglophile and who has essentially turned his back on his cultural identity, Jack who is British but is interested in the peoples of Singapore, and Ling-li who is strong pro-China. These three divergent individuals bunker down and explore their own cultural identity. Throughout the course of this book Claude slowly realizes that all his father taught him is not necessarily true. He begins to regret not knowing the various Chinese dialects and opens his eyes to the futility of his parent's choices.

BREAKING THE TONGUE is a book that is well worth seeking out and reading. It is filled with mystery, intrigue, and action and there's much to enjoy.

The book offers many useful advices, which I have already applied at work. Some issues regarding e-marketing are little bit outdated (the book was written in 1998), but it's overall still a good investment.

As many other mention, this is a very good book. It clearly demonstrates the unique fundamentals of marketing to business buyers: their process and concerns. It contains descriptions on numerous methods of marketing to business and then the actual details of execution. You can tell this book is written by someone who makes his paycheck by marketing to businesses. There's also good explanation of some of the common mistakes and weak points of execution that others fall into.

The book also hits a homer on detailing how to write good copy. The advice is applicable for whatever your message is and how that message is delivered, and how to get your message through.

I take off one star because this book was published in 1998 and contains little advice on Internet marketing, which is now a major component of a company's marketing effort. Instead, the book goes into great detail on direct mail marketing, which I suppose was big in its day, but is less relevant today.

The best book I've found on B2B marketing. Bly's straightforward writing style makes it easy to understand the different direct marketing mediums and how to utilize them for success, especially for lead generation and keeping your company's name first in a customer's mind. I amazed more businesses don't use these techniques. The chapters on hard sell and soft sell marketing should be read by every marketing manager as Bly explains where and how to use these selling techniques. Another great section in this book is the "Checklist of Direct Response Tips and Techniques" so you can refer to these bullet points when you need guidance in creating sales letters, direct mail packages, self-mailers, postcards, ads, brochures, catalogs, newsletters, websites and more.

Business to Business Direct Marketing focuses on what you need to know as a business leader or as a copywriter to produce effective B2B direct marketing campaigns. Bob not only explains what needs to be done, by why. The book is filled with clear examples from past successful campaigns.

Whether you are a marketing manager or a copywriter, you need this book.

This book is well worth the cover price. It will make you think about every single word you put on your marketing material. I encourage sales professionals to read it too. Reason: So many of the Salespeople I consult with are responsible to write their own letters and are sending numerous emails to clients. The more you can understand the art of persuasion and word power, the better your sales!

Cache Lake Country stands up to the test of time. Out of print now, it is still as relevant and beautiful a testament to the outdoor experience of Rowlands, Kane, and Chief Tibeash as it was in the 50's. If you love nature and the solitary experiences of the wilderness then you'll love this book.

Rowlands is a marvelous writer, for sure, but I was totally smitten with the outstanding black-and-white illustrations of the highly talented illustrator, Henry B. Kane, who brought, humor, fine draughtsmanship, art, and passion together for this book. It's reminiscent in some ways of Joseph Wood Krutch's "The Voice of the Desert" and Abby's "Desert Solitaire" but it takes place in the North Woods (some say Quebec, others say Ontario). I liked this book even better than the two aforementioned because of the great teamwork of Rowlands and Kane.

I reviewed this book several years ago, and after accidently stumbling upon my review, the same images, smells, and excitement still come to mind. I just purchased an old copy at many times the original price, and I can't wait to read it again after more than thirty years. It still amazes me to thnk that a simple diary of life in a bygone distant frontier could elicit such a Technicolor panorama in the mind of the reader. Everyone should read this book. It's good for the soul.

Don't we all wish we knew someone like J.J. Rowlands. What a life! He should have been a father; what a wealth of information he might have imparted... ...and what delivery! Couldn't put it down. Thank goodness he left us his book.

Back in the prehistoric days of the 1970's, I found this small book in my school library. Despite it's small size, it became, and has always been a bible of life in the northwoods. No politics, no social agenda, just a detailed blueprint of the pleasures and perils of living far from the city. The book covers the basics of shelter and winter warmth. It instructs the reader in a variety of skills ( from keeping oatmeal warm until breakfast, to making snowshoes to get along in mid-winter). All in all, I recall it as the first docu-drama that I ever had the pleasure to read. Though it can be labeled as non fiction (of the instructive kind), it has the ability to build endles dreams of pioneer life in the mind of most any reader.

I can only echo the other reviewers to date: this is simply the finest and most memorable book from my youth. The painstaking black and white line drawings embellish a story of life in the Canadian backwoods. The author was well aware that his was a disappearing way of life, when he spent time as a timber overseer on a remote Canadian lake, and his obvious care in crafting his recollections shows his love for that life. I was fortunate enough in my youth to have a chance to canoe 200 miles of Canada not all that far from Cache Lake country - and can only say that Rowland's account rings true. I have made some of the recipies, perched on rock shores above sparkling Canadian waters. I can only add that in a world of quick fixes and patent falsehoods, Cache Lake Country is a collection of truths. If books can truly be friends, this is a best friend.

I am a big fan of Cedar Point and this book tells the history all the way back to before the amusement era. The roller coaster capitol of the world started as a small amusement park with just a water slide and this book plots it's history through the beginning, the depression, the 50's and 60's all the way up to the 90's. It's so interesting to find out the history of some of the most popular amusement parks and this one is one of the best I've ever read.

I am a big fan of Cedar Point and this book tells the history all the way back to before the amusement era. The roller coaster capitol of the world started as a small amusement park with just a water slide and this book plots it's history through the beginning, the depression, the 50's and 60's all the way up to the 90's. It's so interesting to find out the history of some of the most popular amusement parks and this one is one of the best I've ever read.

I love Cedar Point so much and I thought I knew everything about Cedar Point until I read this book, it's the best book I've ever read!!!!!!!

This is a great book! If you have any interest in Cedar Point..BUY IT NOW!! Any CP buff should not be without it! It can tide you over the long 7 months from October to May! Buy it!

If you love Cedar Point, this book will give you everything that you should know to be a first class fan of the park. Dating back to the times of the geological formation of CP, to it's present fame, "The Queen of American Watering Places" is an indepth look at the good, bad, and amazing facts of CP that most people probably never knew. There are also some things that happened at CP that may shock you, but you must read this book to find them out for yourself.

Complete, full of ideas, easy to read, well structured.
Great book, specially if you're starting at small or home-scale. It brings you from the general approach to a common and not so common marine species details. It covers jawfish, grammas, bettas, gobies, blennies, cardinals, dottybacks and many more... even pelagic spawners, providing insight into how future acheivements might be reached. The book is very useful as a reference for hobbyists, but also for researchers in the field. This book is a must.

It's a great book covering the basics of how to set-up larva rearing systems, plankton cultivation, and what species would be the best for a beginner to take on.

This book was written for the hobbyist not the commercial aquaculturist.

Great breeding book, It's complete, easy to read, with nice pictures and drawings. I love the Genus section who display a specie specific caracteristi for breeding easy al aquarium fish.

This book has some great information, but was disappointed with the lack of fish species.

Everything you ever wanted to know about breeding common and not so common marine ornamentals...

James Whitcomb Riley is one of the few poets to deal with the death of youngsters and oldsters alike. His poems give comfort to any who have experienced loss. He is little known today for these poems but they appear throughout this magnificent book. In these complete works there are love poems, grief poems and humorous poems told with such lyrical expertise and wisdom from someone who has experienced every emotion he writes about. Although his style is old fashioned rhyming poetry it is truly delightful.
I applaud the publishers of this great book (I have three copies and send it to friends and family)and recommend it to ALL who love poetry whether it be contemporary or otherwise.

When I was a kid, we had a friend who would recite "Little Orphant Annie" to us before we went to bed. I'll be damned if that poem didn't scare me into being a good kid! I plan on reading it to my 3 year old tonight with the hopes of scaring her straight enough to start being nice to her baby brother! One can dream, right?.....

Folksy Hoosier James Whitcomb Riley (1849 - 1916) is America's premier poet of the sentimental. The Complete Poetical Works Of James Whitcomb Riley brings together over 1,000 touching, humorous, easy to read, and intelligent but non - intellectual poems, many filled with longing for irretrievable childhood innocence, freedom, and joy. Today's readers will find the volume a genuine time capsule into the past; these poems will evoke not only the reader's own memories of childhood, but also a simpler and perhaps more innocent and joyous America. The ambitions and expectations expressed by the speakers, narrators, and characters in the poems are humble, the horizons of their world near. One of the secrets of Riley's backward - glancing poems is that his reflections are only partially regretful; the joys of the past are equaled by the child - like joy still present in the adult poet's heart. Dozens of the pieces included here are suitable for reading to and sharing with children.

Titles 'The Swimming Hole,' 'The Noble Old Elm,' 'Company Manners,' 'When Mother Combed My Hair,' 'Us Farmers In The Country' 'My First Spectacles,' 'Blooms In May,' 'Two Sonnets To The June - Bug,' 'The Land Of Used - To - Be,' and 'Our Boyhood Haunts' offer a good indication of the book's content. There are numerous nature poems and celebrations of the seasons, summer meadows of "clover to the knee," August moons, lazy rivers, "the twitter of the bluebird and the wren," and, in one of Riley's most famous, the frost "on the punkin." There are tributes to William McKinley and Abraham Lincoln, to Tennyson, Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Joel Chandler Harris. Famous characters 'Little Orphant Annie' and 'The Raggedy Man' are here; Puck makes an appearance "under a low crescent moon" in a poem of his own, as do Pan, Santa Claus, pixies, and goblins in others. Odes to boyhood best friends abound. People lived on closer terms with death in Riley's time, and, appropriately, a number of the poems address the subject, all of which express either blissful faith in the afterlife or sadness for the living left behind.

Riley was endlessly inventive within the limited sphere of his talent, or, perhaps, within the limitations he purposefully set upon it. Oddly, there are relatively few poems celebrating romantic love and marriage. Riley, who never married, apparently held the adult world and women in particular in no little suspicion. In his poetry, eligible women are generally kept at what Riley must have felt was a safe distance, though there are numerous tributes to mothers, aunts, sisters, and little girls - even stepmothers are embraced lovingly. But when Riley wrote about single women and imagined wives, his poetic vision generally darkened.

In 'The Werewife,' the volume's 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci,' Riley portrays the speaker's "fluttering, moth - winged soul" helplessly caught and mesmerized by his wife, a white - skinned, red - cheeked seductress who is also a murderous vampire. In 'The Mad Lover,' the narrator lives in a state of grim emotional paralysis after falling in love with 'Miriam Wayne,' though whether "fate" or Miriam herself is the cause of the "evil" and the lover's madness is not made clear. In 'Oh, Her Beauty,' the poet sings the praises his beloved's transcendent loveliness, but the last lines find him on his knees in thanks to God for revealing her spiritual ugliness at the eleventh hour. The plucky woman in 'Her Choice' is asked by her lover to chose his "love or hate," and she chooses "your hate, my dear!" The cuckolded man in 'The Lovely Husband' fans his wife and cold creams her face upon command, ignores her plucky unfaithfulness, and is every way a "handy hubby" and "lovey - dovey" until he cheerfully takes a shot gun and shoots her. The lover of the imprisoned killer in 'Life Sentence' is "false, while he was true," "the mistress of all siren arts," and "the poor soulless heroine of a hundred hearts!"

Riley and Carl Sandburg were kindred souls; admirers of Sandburg will find that Sandburg's work was partially a progression of Riley's. Both poets' verse is filled with anecdotes, homey bits of wisdom, funny stories, songs, folk truisms, and legendary characters. Riley's poems are snippets of life, fireside tales, and reflections; unlike Sandburg, politics are occasionally touched upon but never the pivotal focus in Riley's work.

How readers react to John Whitcomb Riley will depend on how they respond to the overtly sentimental and the character of the times in which he wrote, for these poems effortlessly evoke it. Though warmly sentimental, Riley was also bright and witty and full of spark, a dreamy, reflective, pre - urban poet of the small town and the home, of the sun porch and the rocking chair, of back fence gossip and street corner news, and of the American dream as it was conceived in his era. Potential readers may think themselves too sophisticated, cynical, or highbrow to enjoy the happily middlebrow works of James Whitcomb Riley. But such readers may be pleasantly surprised at how completely they find themselves immersed in Riley's detailed, frequently timeless, invigorating, and ingenious work. Despite its overall simplicity, Riley's work comfortably rests within the grander tradition of American literature, and makes for visionary reading in its own unique, whimsical manner.

After mulling over volumes like the "Viking Portable Library" it is refreshing to have an entire volume of light-hearted, folksy fun. Of course, Riley's works aren't ALL in that vein, but favorites like Ragedy Man and Little Orphan Annie are, and that's why I like him. Being from California, I hardly know how to use the type of speech inflections and what-not that Riley hasn't written into these rhyming tales. But the closer I get to being able to master such speech the more it entertains my kids! Great collection, get it!

Twas struck with words as ne'r b'fore,
those gentle flowed from a poet of yore.
Each letter 'round our hearts was wrapt,
melodies of beauty lovely tapt.

Who'd er'er thunk that a pokety ole' man,
could know our thoughts and understan.
There ain't any we'd recomand as highly,
as Indyanna's James Whitcomb Riley.