This book lists all sorts of gems, esp for appliances, electronics and carpeting. Every store I have gone too has been terrific, and their prices the lowest when I did a comparison. However, a lot has changed since 1996 and the book desperately needs to be updated. Mark....please prepare a 2001 version!

Mr Churchill's Tank - The British Infantry Tank Mk IV by David Fletcher 210 pages, large format hardback, fully illustrated.

During the Second World War, the British Army operated three classes of tanks. The Light and medium-weight Cruiser classes generally corresponded in their intended roles with those of other nations. However, in the heavier class, Britain used the Infantry Tank. This was designed purely for support of infantry in the attack, and was designed to be move at the general pace of a foot soldier, while its armour was usually heavier so as to be able to withstand anti tank fire as it moved forward. While four types of this tank were produced, the third - the Valentine - was used at times in a cruiser role, but the last was definitely an Infantry Tank. The Churchill was born out of an planned design which would have acted in a similar manner to the first heavy tanks of the Great War. Times had changed however, and with them the need for the original design. Vauxhall Motors were asked to design and act as developer and technical experts on the new series, which first appeared at a time when Britain's tank recourses and general fortunes were at a low ebb. It was built without the usual cycle of building and testing prototypes, which meant that when first introduced into service it had many problems to be overcome. From then on, the tank's fortunes waxed and waned. It came close to being taken out of production more than once, only to be reprieved and improved before finally becoming a useful vehicle in the field in its intended role and some new ones. Its story is very complicated, and intertwined with that of British tank development at this period. While it has been written about before, some of what has appeared has missed some points or left details out. This makes the coverage here all the more valuable. David Fletcher is ideally placed, not only as one of Britain's leading authors on tank matters with a thirst for knowledge and an ability to pass that knowledge on in a very readable manner, but as Librarian and Curator at the Tank Museum he has ready access to a store of information on the Churchill and related matters. He follows the tank from its early beginnings, through development, user trials, problems in service and their resolution, improvements and modifications. Much light is shed on other matters such as development of tank armament, as well as the often conflicting demands and sometimes confusion and interference in design and production. Some interesting might-have-beens and even some areas not well documented are included. As tank development is always a continuing tale, he also describes the original "shelled area" tank which spawned Churchill and ends with Black Prince, a sort of Super Churchill, which appeared in time to be made unnecessary by the replacement of two streams of tanks by one, universal design. Not only is the story of the machines themselves told, but also its actions, from a less than auspicious debut at Dieppe through more successful use in Tunisia, then through North West Europe and Italy, on to its final deployment in Korea. Details, sadly still sketchy after many years and much change, of its use in Russia and peacetime service in Australia and Eire, are also included. Churchills were not only used as gun tanks. Many were converted or built as specialist armour, which wisely are not covered here apart from the unusual 3" Gun Carrier. This leaves the way open for a full and detailed study of them at a later date, allowing more detail to be included in areas not usually covered. Some unusual field modifications are however covered. Alongside a text which should be read closely as it contains a wealth of detail which could easily be missed, are a fine collection of photographs of the many versions produced, including views in the factory and of such things as the turret basket separate from the tank, and many photos of the tanks in action. Even more detail is shown using original stowage diagrams and extracts from various handbooks to show specific components. While most wartime British armour had a bad press, and the Churchill itself had some adverse comments, it generally came through with a good reputation. Its full story has had to wait a long time to be told, but now it has been brought into the light in good form in a book which deserves a worthy place among studies of major armoured vehicles.

This scholarly and readable life of Twain begins with his thirties and carries the master humorist through the glorious successes and bitter tragedies that would haunt him. Well written and full of insightful analysis into his real character this book brings to life a persoanlity so large that it took a new era (Gilded Age) and two centuries to contain it! For his boyhood try Deep Waters- an equally good review of his wit and life.

I was impressed at the magnificent way that this book brought to light the struggle and dreams of the Mule Train participants. Their beleifs that what was transpiring would make a difference, not just for them, but for all of America. The committment of Mr. Willie Bolden, tasked with the responsibility to see that all went well. His determination and others that dispite several roadblocks insured all travelers were taken care of. The reporting by Jean Pond-Smith showed the realness of this movement without being bias or prejudicial. Her capture of the spirit of the travelers were enligntening and heartwrenching. This book brought home to me many memories that I had long ago moved to the back of mind. That I, along with with mother and three of my sisters were a part of this moment in history.

I am a teen father. I felt alone and like I had no one to turn to until I found this book. This is the only thing available for guys like me who didn't expect to become fathers at such a young age and want help. Mark Kiselica has written a book that is the first thing I have ever read that expresses how I feel and how I might get help. I am grateful that somebody has finally cared about us teen dads!

I am a faculty member at Dept. of Educational & Counseling Psychology and teaches Statistics for graduate students. I owned several Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) books since I have been using MDS a lot for my own research. I read this book a couple of times for my own research. There are several outstanding aspects compared to other MDS books (e.g., books by Cox & Cox; by Borg and Groenen; and by Young): (1) Davison's MDS book is easy to read, not that much technical and easy to understand the core concepts of MDS; (2) Examples are appropriate. His illustrations really help understand what he covered in each chapter; (3) Davison's comparions of MDS with its alternatives are very meaningful, such as comparions with Factor anaysis and Cluster analysis; (4) Davison's exercises sections are really helpful to make sure whether the users understand materials covered in each chapter. In addition to that, the exercises's solutions for each chapter were attached at the end of each chapter, which is really convenient for us.

In summary, as far as I am concerned, Davison's book is the best for introductory or advanced level students who want to learn about MDS. Excellent book! If you have any further questions regarding Davison's MDS book, please don't hesitate call or contact me: e-mail is 'kimse@missouri.edu' or phone is '573-884-5587.' Thanks.

Se-Kang Kim, Ph.D. 16 Hill Hall, Dept. of Educational & Counseling Psychology, Univ. of Missouri

Columbia, MO 65211

What a great book for any Kottke fan. Great songs with clear notation. The cassette is very helpful.

The story is about two kids who accidentally fall back in time and mix it up with some pirates and find buried treasure, but who cares? The real fun is the comic-book style pictures/words and the puzzles--jumbled words, picture clues, double-entendre poems--that the reader must solve every couple of pages in order to proceed. One of the best features, that I rarely see in other mystery/puzzle books, is that for each puzzle they offer a Hint as well as the Solution. So if you're stumped by a puzzle and torn between wanting to solve it youself and looking at the Solution, you can turn to the Hints page first. Entertaining and absolutely non-frightening (the ominous-sounding "Master" of the ship turns out to be a warm, non-nonsense Grandma). Great for 8-12 year-olds and their puzzle-minded parents.

This book is inspirational and very heartwarming. I love the positive outlook of both the author and all of the celebrities that contributed to the collection. Great gift idea!

The best book I have in my shelf I recomend you put your diary away and pick up this journal. I write in mine every day for atleast an hour.As you could probally tell by now I absolutly love this book Its the perfect book for a twelve year old as my self. beacause I am in Jr high Face Peer Pressure every day and I can write about it In my journal so hopefully when I have children I could maybeTell them what to look out for