Tracks Books

Military Vehicles in Detail: US Half-Tracks by Terry J. Gander is one of a series of titles describing, in sometimes startling detail, the military equipment used in World War II. The series is an astounding effort, and although intended for a limited audience, even the casual reader will find items of interest.

This particular volume covers the half-track vehicles M2, M3, M5, and M9. For the uninitiated, the half-track can be thought of as a large jeep with two wheels in the front and tank tracks in the rear. Its design rendered it tough and mobile and gave the ungainly machine a unique place in the war. That place is well described in Gander's prose, and the general reader will probably find the explanatory text more useful than the many charts and diagrams.

It must be said that these charts and diagrams are very impressive, but the general reader may not wish to know the ground contact length (3.9 feet, 1.19 meters) for the M5 or the location of the carburetor on the White 160AX engine. Still, to be fair, what bores one reader may fascinate another. I personally was rather fascinated to learn that the .30-calibre M1919A4 machine gun was mounted on a skate rail, allowing the gun to be easily moved around the vehicle.

If you are at all interested in, literally, the nuts and bolts of equipment, this book is highly recommended. A very smart cover and well done layout are to be noted.

I have the hardback edition, published in the U.S. in 1999, but the content is the same as this paperback edition.

The book start with individual skills, with the first chapter on ball control covering receiving, turning, shielding, and dribbling moves. The book has many, many, excellent annotated pictures illustrating each skill. For most skills, the book diagrams a suggested skill-builder drill, which can either be done by players working on their own ("soccer homework"), or as part of a practice led by a coach.

After the Ball Control Chapter, the book also covers Passing and Shooting, Dead Ball Skills, Defending, Attacking, Tactics, Goalkeeping, and Training and Fitness.

The passing and shooting section has helpful diagrams of where on the ball to strike, and where on the foot, and has enough detail to answer most questions players or coaches would have about the details of how a particular skill should be done.

In the tactics area, and throughout the book, there are also many diagrams and color artwork pictures illustrating player positioning and movement in a way that makes the tactics clear.

I have many soccer coaching books, but this one is the one I go to when I want authoritative information and refresher on key points for teaching a particular skill. I've used many of the drills in my practices, and they have always gone well.

The book has excellent information, and realistic and helpful step-by-step action pictures that demonstrate skills.

The only real criticism I have is that sometimes I need more steps in the action pictures, particularly some of the dribbling moves, to see how the player got from A to C, and I feel like step B is missing.

Now my two daughters (12 and 14) play with an elite club team that wins 2-5 state championships a year (out of 8 girls age groups) and I recognize so many of the key components of that program being effectively taught in this book. This book is tremendously sound in terms of both the skills and terminology it teaches, and the highly effective way it presents and teaches them.

If you are a coach looking for an effective organization of skills and tactics to teach, or a player, especially one without access to expert, state-of-the art soccer skills training, I highly recommend this book. Because a picture is worth a thousand words, and this book is loaded with well-thought out pictures, artwork, and diagrams, players as young as 10, perhaps younger in special cases, could read the material and get very good use out of it. This book is simply excellent, and highly recommended for any soccer player and coach who wants to improve by learning and mastering the details of the skills and tactics needed to become a high-level soccer player.

This is simply an outstanding introduction to the Victorians and their deep interest in the prehistoric period. Not only has the author done a superb job in developing his text, with solid research and extensive bibliographic notes, but the book is so beautifully printed as to compare with the best coffeetable art books. The author traces this interest in things prehistoric to the development in the early 19th century of railroads and canals, whose construction necessitated much digging and tunneling, resulting in large numbers of fossils and rock samples being disgorged. This leads into a discussion of the concept of time, and a very fine examination of the continuing argument about the age of the earth and how this impacted on Darwin's work later in the century (1859). The Victorian fixation with fossils and dinos is examined. A fine chaper is devoted to biblical floods and how this concept impacted on the growing geological evidence. Next, Darwin makes his entrance with all this prehistoric interest and evidence already serving as background. Finally, a most perceptive analysis is offered of how museums began to flourish in this environment, given all these new exhibits, and the manner in which these geologic and fossil treasures were displayed. The author has brought to bear the many talents manifested in his earlier "Railways and the Victorian Imagination," also published by Yale and very similar in being a remarkable collection of art as well as an instructive text. Hopefully, the author will follow these two achievements with similar volumes.

Finally a book that maange to circumvent some of the deeply entranched myths about armored forces and Vietnam. Detailing the use of armor from the first indochina war (it's nice to see the exact fate of each of the 10 M24 in Dien Bien Phu, the fact the the garrison destoyed the last ones when surrendering break many miths abbout their early distruction by the vietminh as is enlightening the amount of punishment they, light tanks, were able to sustain). The book then moves forward to detailng the creation of the RVN armored forces, the entry of the marine armor, the Army part and the importazn contribution of the ANZAC armored forces. Also the NVA armor is examined.

Beside the informative text the pictures are reasonbaly good. Some of the shots are widely known, but other really less and the color section is well done.

If you are interested in armored operations in vietnam this book is both a must and an introduction before tangling the magnus opus of General Starry, Mounted Combat in Vietnam.

I recently moved to D.C. Being unfamiliar with the area, it helped me find some great running routes. A must have for anyone living in or around Washington D.C.

Ofelia Zepeda offers another collection that reveals once again the cultural and creative genius that earned her a MacArthur Award. Unlike many contemporary Native American poets and writers, Zepeda mixes English and her native tongue, Tohono 'O'odham, a Uto-Aztecan language spoken in present day Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. In addition to being the author of a number of books of poetry, Zepeda has also written a fine language learning texts for her native language, one which I personally have used for many years in my courses in linguistics at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Anyone interested in the Native American experience, the American Southwest, or the art of poetry itself should take the time to read this, her latest work. It can unlock a whole new way of looking at the world we all live in and share.

This is the second-best book on Railroads of the Adirondacks. It is exceeded only by the author's follow-up book, which has three times the details, entitled Railroads of the Adirondacks. Definitely go for the newer book, and skip _Where Did The Tracks Go?_

One of the better Poop series. New animals and their wastes shown in this book. Snake was most interesting to readers. Boys and girls like the topic of this book. Very educational. Shows there are pieces of poop to be found outside the yard or neighborhood.

I have now read this book for both Glacier and Rocky Mountain National Parks. They are fun for adults and great for getting children to notice the "signs" around them. I highly recommend this book.

All "Who Pooped" books are a lot alike. Need a wider variety of animals in the entire set. Children love these books. They are very informative of natural processes of nature and of all life. The added bits of knowledge are great. Books aren't too graphic. Perfect for the young scientist