I first read this in book about 10 years ago and was aghast at the content. As a proud Scot I felt slighted by some of it. However, it got me on the road to delving into Scottish history and it didn't take long to discover that what the author explained, in just under 100 pages, was in fact very accurate. I therefore read the book again. And again. It's an excellent read, with the information coming in relatively bite sized chunks so that the reader is not swamped with surplus detail. Read it - but (if you are a Scot) don't get annoyed - I'm afraid it's us!

I just finished my first project from this book and really like the way the mosaic patterns combine scrolling with painting. I am a beginner and found the instructions very clear. At first I found sawing and sanding the tiny pieces (I used the original size pattern) tedious but when I put it all together I was rewarded with beautiful results. I'll be looking for more pattern books like this. I'm even inspired to try to make my own patterns for mosaics.

Cunningham's years of experience shine through the text. He covers the basics of sculling, including a section on "rigging" your shell, which alone is worth the price of the book . He writes with the same non-condescending tone that made him so successful as a coach for many years at Harvard. It is all here from an esoteric descripition of the shell to a very practical glossary of terms. I have been both a sweep oarsman and a sculler for over 50 years and this little book which can be read in an evening still sits on my desk, year round. It is so good, that I have committed much of it to memory. In one hundred and sixty two pages he makes a sport which takes as much concentration as a golfer and the stamina and balance of a ballerina available to anyone who will apply his lessons. I found the section in which he advises the sculler to scull with his eyes closed(!) on open water fascinating. (I have tried it and it did wonders for my balance.) This is definitely a 10. It belongs on your shelf and as a gift for anyone interested is sculling. It is also a great substitute for all those runners whose knees have worn out! Enjoy

This is a long and great disection of all the US naval operations during the Korean War. It covers everything from the intial view of the Korean Pennuisla after WW2, the underrated mission of the anti-mine units, the Close air support during the Chosin Campagin, the Inchon Landings, and the Naval Jets Aces. This is a perfect companion to any other things on the Korean War on your bookshelf. This books can show the bigger picture as seen by the Navy during the Korean War. This book is a little dated since it was written just 2yrs after the war ened. It helps to fill in that void that all others cover in just passing. The authors also try to make a point in this book that the Navy and Marine Corps are a great team that can take on the world. This point isn't very subtle but should be understood that the at the time the Navy was in a losing battle with the USAF and the US Army for the all important dollar. If this doesn't detract from your enjoyment, then this is a great buy.

Frank Todd's book is an excellent overview of all 17 species of penguins, combining a general description of penguin evolution and biology with more detailed descriptions of each species. Although this book is out of print and some of the information may be outdated, it is still a valuable resource for anyone interested in penguins.

Season of Saxophones and Sea Nymphs, by John Salacan

Mr. Salacan is a very good poet. He is what I would call a poet's poet because of his versatility and technical mastery. His poetry uplifts and entertains us with images of a spiritual and compassionate philosophy. In a poem with funky edges called, "Meeting at Erica's Place", we are told about a poetry reading. In the poem Mr. Salacan defines the artist: "I am passionate. The passionate one. See me. Know me." This has been every poet's cry and lament through the ages - a plea for the individual self to be known and united in oneness with the beloved. In "Long Ago," Mr. Salacan speaks for all artists: "Once I was sculptor, Searching deep in stone, I found a friend inside there, The best I've ever known." The artist's search to find self-expression and union is ironically answered through his art. In another poem, "Chthonian Archetype," stones are equated to words that hauntingly speak of lust, rendering "...inconsolable the two black ends of time in their yearning to meet and know the other." In "Tanabata," a poem based on the Japanese legend of lovers separated by the Milky Way, we see yearning for union made all the more poignant because of the vastness of the lovers' separation. But while the poet is no stranger to separation, in "Ecstasy of Seeing a Flower," he tells us that even in pain and loss there can be an unexpected awakening to beauty. The poet's philosophy here is very near to the Buddhist or Sufi philosophy. The majority of his poems are not abstract at all but are reflections in modulated timbres of saints and sinners and concrete experiences we can all identify with. His great variety of poems celebrate every moment, through conscious living of the moment. He makes each activity of the day, each person he meets, a meditation, of beauty, art and feeling. I love Mr. Salacan's poems. I am awed by them. I have been a poet all my life and I feel redeemed by them.

This book is now published by Writers Consortium (1-800-887-5526)with the ISBN number of 0964166003 and is identical. It will soon to be cataloged with Amazon.com. Librarian reviewers specified this book as a "core" purchase. Book-of-the-Month Club said, "There are so many good things about this book, but the best is that it was written by senior citizens for senior citizens.

i used to have tis book then some jerk stole it out of my car. Anyway I think all that can really be done.I only got half way thru it before it got ripped.I need to find another book like that.I feel like i've ben cut off from a good book.

Peter Deriabin's autobiography is a microcosm of the best and worst of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Deriabin was born into a system which educated, designed,and shaped him. He rose from an unknown provincial status as a bright Komsomol (Communist Party Youth--equivalent of the Boy Scouts), fighting heroically in WWII, to being wounded and assigned to Stalin's personal bodyguard unit. Later, he worked for the KGB in espionage while stationed in Austria. Ultimately, Deriabin became a defector to the West because even this priviledged life was simply too dangerous and arbitrary to survive in. For example, he compares the battle to be the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to that of Sir James Frazer's sacred kings constanty prowling the hold woods in search of their future murderer, killing everybody he encounters until his age and wits fail, and he is himself murdered and replaced by the next sacred king. The detail of the way that the Soviet Union functioned socially is terrifying for any normal man or woman from the free world. For example, it was perfectly acceptable to beat and murder your wife and be accepted back into society after a brief jail term whereas if you exchanged currency, you could be shuttled into a gulag and forgotten, living a life of torture and starvation. This is not chauvanism from an occidental anti-Communist; it is the memoirs of a man whose whole life was designed to protect Stalin's variety of Communism. If you have ever wondered why the Cold War was fought, Deriabin's life serves as a prime example

Seeing Beyond: Movies, Visions, And Values is a compilation of twenty-six essays by William R. Robinson and an assortment of his personal friends on the subject of film theory and offering a wide range of commentary and criticism of American and foreign films. In addition to Robinson the contributors include Annie Dillard, Frank Burke, R.H.W. Dillard, George Garrett, Armando Jose Prats, A. Carl Bredahl Jr., Seve Snyder, Vincent B. Leitch, David Lavery, Elaine Marshall, J.P. Telotte, Walter C. Foreman Jr., and Susan Lynn Drake. Each essay is a small gem. Taken together as a whole they form a persuasive argument that movies are a fundamentally revolutionary moral force in contemporary life. Seeing Beyond: Movies, Visions, And Values is an invaluable contribution to film theory and criticism, and a highly recommended addition to both academic and community film library reference collections.