Admittedly, I haven't read this entire book yet. I bought it because I'm giving private Spanish lessons to some children and wanted new ways to teach and to practice Spanish. However, I've skimmed the book and there are some glaring errors in it. These may seem like nitpicks to you, but as someone who's spent the last 5 years of her life learning to speak this language properly, the mistakes actually sort of make me grumpy. On page 28 the author says that he's "forsak[ing] the modern simplifications [of the pronunciations of b and v] for that of the older, more correct standard." He goes on to explain that the letter b is a labial consonant and the letter b is a dentolabial consonant. However, the Real Academia Española says that the pronunciation of v as a dentolabial has NEVER existed in Spanish (except as a spontaneous form spoken by natives of Valencia and Mallorca). The second mistake--and perhaps the more grave one--is the section on direct and indirect objects. He confuses the direct and indirect object by relying on the non-standard English translation of sentences. He explains that Spaniards will use "le/les" instead of "lo/los," and in this he is correct; nevertheless, his formation and explanation of some sentences with direct objects is simply incorrect. (And in one example, he even conjugates a verb improperly!) Because understanding direct and indirect objects is a critical determiner of Spanish language fluency (along with a firm grasp of the subjunctive), these sorts of errors cannot be overlooked by someone who is undertaking a serious study of the language. Find another book to use.

This is an excellent overview to learning Spanish and is one of the best books on the market. The author is passionate about his subject and understands how to make learning a new language fun.

The Everything series is well done and presents the information in a very accessible format.

As a basic primer on fan concepts, this is a good book. It also serves as a sort of non-engineer's guide to fan design and allows someone with very little knowledge or experience create a fan design of some reasonable worth.

Unfortunately, I was looking for a bit more of an in depth aerodynamic study and have yet to find a piece of literature that I like. I understand that many of the older books on cascade aerodynamics are quite good, but they are no longer in publication, and this didn't really satisfy my interests.

Particularly annoying to me is the lack of derivation of the methodology in the fan design section. Some basic magic formulas are given and then tied together with some basic velocity diagrams to yield a fan blade design methodology.

The "Fan Handbook" is the finest book yet written on fan design, implementation, use, and trouble shooting. The book a delight to read and use. Mr. Bleier, unlike many techno-types, is fine writer (and I suspect re-writer) and a careful idea organizer. The work has many, many professionally shot photographs and is fully illustrated. There are no crude computer generated drawings anywhere! It's well indexed and heavily cross-referenced.

The book's slant is to the practical and explicitly avoids calculus, but it is by no means elementary. Any person with high school algebra and trig can understand the well-presented equations and solve all the case study problems with a little effort. Math phobes needn't be put off; the book is not "too" mathematical.

The only thing that prevented me from awarding five stars to this terrific book was an important omission. No mention is made of specialized fans for cooling towers. I had especially hoped to learn mo! re about design requirements for static presure regain/velocity recovery fan stacks for very large fans. But this shortcoming should not disuade any cooling tower engineers from purchasing this book, since all of the principles discussed do fully apply to cooling towers. END

Book #2 in my read through the Hugo's. While I thoroughly enjoyed "The Demolished Man" by Alfred Bester, this novel comes across as being way too preachy. Seeking a telepathic companion, Joe Carter orchastrates the building of the first super-computer, named Bossy, that has the ability to renew mankind. Wash away their prejudices and preconcieved notions. And, I guess in the view of the authors, create a race of zombies with no convictions. Skip this one if you're looking for classic Sci-Fi.

This book was originaly called :"They'd rather be right" and won Hugo in 1955.The book is typical for those years. The idea is simple: We created something new and of course we do not know what to do next. Should we destroy it or should we worship it or maybe it's just something that should make everybody's lives better? .The book answer those questions and more. If you do not read much science fiction or read only the NEW "STUFF" and you do not usually use your brains , this book is not for you. You would not simply understand why this book was in top twelve most important Sci-fi books ever. However, if you like to think for a change and like the genre, read it and you will not be disappointed.

In his enlightening introduction, Horvat says, "The faces which attract me rarely resemble those I am asked to photograph for fashion magazines."

The pages that follow contain photographs of interesting faces he has selected himself. But Horvat's approach is flawed and the really excellent photographs number only a precious few.

Horvat's pictures look best when he keeps it simple and he allows those faces he loves to shine through. Too often, however, he seems unable to escape the influences of fashion photography, overwhelming and encumbering his subjects with distracting gawdy period costumes.

Horvat's use of color and light results in truly luscious photographs, and the reproductions in this volume are quite good. In my opinion, the book is worth buying just for what is good here.

I saw one of this book's 70 photos of women on the cover of Zoom. It's been several years since a "mere" photograph struck me as stunning. The photos are "very similar" to classic portraits by Rembrant, Vermeer and other master artists. The lighting and color look like digital retouching at its most artistic. Some of the models seen to be aware that they are modern women in costume. But most are simply floating outside of time. A small gem.

A reader may want to keep in mind that German War Birds, by 'Vigilant,' was first published in 1931, perhaps accounting for the dated, melodramatic writing style. (Sample: "'Blasted impudence,' he muttered, as he stared at them through his binoculars. As, however, the enemy had obviously lost all sense of shame, it was his duty to instil one.") Vigilant supplies biographical sketches of WWI pilots that cannot be found elsewhere. For example, one can read of the defense of the German colony of Tsingtao, China, or of another rarely-heard-of German pilot: "The Eagle of the Aegean Sea." Vigiliant's volume provides a few photos of the pilots discussed. If you seek photos or illustrations of vintage aircraft this is not the place to go. However, if you are looking for an absorbing read or biographical information about German WWI pilots, some famous, some not-so-famous, I can recommend German War Birds.

Back in the early 1930's, there was a resurgence in interest in WWI (then called 'the great war'), especially the accounts of those on the 'other' side. For example, a number of surviving Zeppelin captains wrote their memoirs (notably 'Zeppelins over England' by Von Buttlar) which were then translated into English. This book is a reprint of the original 1931 text. The book reads with a 30's feel to it, but in my opinion, that is one of its charms. The vintage printing font adds to the effect. Covered are a number of pilots that are nearly forgotten today. Many of the WWI pilots came from the German aristocracy and had a gentlemanly view of war that might be hard to fathom today. They were truly saddened if their foes died in combat and would often treat a surviving enemy pilot to a nice dinner before sending him off to a POW camp. 'Vigilant' was the pen name for Claude Sykes, who translated a number of books into English during that period. If you enjoyed this book, you might want to read Lowell Thomas's "Raiders of the Deep" which covers German Submarines of WWI, and likewise was written in the 1930's.

Frank Thorne is probably best know for this work on Red Sonja for Marvel.

Ghita draws heavilly on that experience (or perhaps vice versa) with a lot in common with the chainmail bikini clad Sonja.

The big differences come in 2 areas 1 the level of gore this is far more visceral and bloody than the Red Sonja books the other is of course the sex Red Sonja had this no sex until beaten in battle clause Ghita shares no such qualms.

Franks sex scenes are quite time by the standards of the eros line which may be a good thing he also seems to marry the needs of the plot to the sex quite well so while it comes off as titilating rather than erotic it's still worth a look

In the late 70's, in an attempt to compete with HEAVY METAL magazine, Warren Publishing put out "1984", a B&W anthology that took the company's usual mix of sci-fi, horror, fantasy & mystery to a new level by adding S E X. LOTS of it. So much, in fact, that the magazine quickly spiraled downward into a morass of the worst trash imaginable, with terrible writing and even worse artwork. Yet amidst this, one bright light shone-- a blonde warrior woman with a taste for blood as powerful as her appetite for sex-- GHITA OF ALIZARR, the wondrous creation of Frank Thorne.

Frank, a longtime commercial artist and sometime comic-book illustrator, had taken Marvel's RED SONJA to unprecedented heights of popularity-- until he left the series abruptly, in mid-story. The character has NEVER been handled as well since. Free of the restrictions of the Comics Code, Thorne created his own world from scratch and populated it with a mix of wizards, warriors, non-human creatures and supernatural monsters, and turned loose on the public an EPIC storyline about a quest to retake a city overrun by evil conquerors that reads like somebody should adapt it into a feature-film!

The episodic format of 1984 (later 1994), I feel, did not do justice to the storyline. Reading it all together so many layers of character and intrigue are evident that I never picked up on before. Ghita is neither heartless slut or murderous savage, but a warm-hearted woman of merely loose morals who spends the story battling as much for control of her soul (possessed by the spirit of a dead warrior-king) as she does slaying the infidels. Along the way, she's accompanied by her steady friend Thenef (who poses as a mage) and Dahib (a half-troll who worships her as a goddess).

THE COMPLETE GHITA collects every episode to date-- both stories (the 2nd reprinted for the 1st time!) and a short story from Eros' THE EROTIC WORLDS OF FRANK THORNE. It's a THICK book-- and one any fan of SONJA or XENA should have! During its initial run, GHITA was often the ONLY feature worth reading in 1984/1994. Now one can enjoy it to the fullest, without all the DRECK getting in the way!

Thirty-two pages? Unless you're desperate for this information--and I don't see why anyone would be; there's lots of FLW books--be aware that you're only getting about a dozen color pics and a brief accompanying story. Usonian houses are thoroughly covered in John Sergeant's book, in a more scholarly way. Nice presentation though: the cover is perforated like the plywood panels on the house.

This impressively illustrated small volume tells the inspiring story of an important Frank Lloyd Wright home. The Gordon House, 1957, was designed for an Oregon farmer and his wife. This very special house is one of only two houses to evolved from Wright's famous model house design "A Private Little Club", published in Life magazine, Sep. 1938. When new owners planned to destroy the house to make way for a much larger, but very common place design, national media attention, public opinion, and a sizeable tax deduction, pursuaded the new owners to allow the Chicago based Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy to move the building to a new site. However, they allowed the Conserevancy only 105 days to remove the building from their property. The Oregon Garden, a relatively new botanical garden 25 miles south east of the original site, was selected to receive the building. Their team, through heroic effort and impressive community participation, moved and reconstructed the building in record time. It has now opened as the only Frank Lloyd Wright house museum in the northwest and the only "Usonian" design west of the Mississippy open to the public.

True story of the Civil Air Patrol, a para military organization established by the USAF to aid in searching for downed aircraft, and other humanitarian efforts. Having flown with the C.A.P., I was impressed with the dedication of these volunteers who would drop everything on a moment's notice (including anniversaries) to fly search missions. Many harrowing missions have been flown by the brave flight crews of the C.A.P., and a few are captured in this fine addition. It's a "looker"!

I thought this was well written and had the all important names, dates and facts that some books lack. The actual account of the slap together civilian aircraft being turned into Anti Submarine hunters was particularly interesting. The material is dated (of course) but it's well worth adding to the bookshelf. I enjoyed the WWII era material when CAP was first a flying Civilian Defense and then made a part of the Army (Remember no Airforce until after WWII!) I think the later material was just as good.

I bought this book as a unix fan wanting a broad technical overview of modern networking, and to some degree got what I expected. The book covers just about everything from 10base-2 to ATM but never actually goes into sufficient detail to provide anything but the broadest of detail - not enough if you're looking to set up a new network (look at Spurgeon's "Practical Networking with Ethernet" instead). Some of the technical details are a little, umm, "shakey" too. As the book is composed by many authors, each bringing their own prejudices, its opinion on issues such as unix veer wildly from total dismissal to full-on smooching, which is rather tiresome. All in all, a decent introduction, but nothing more, despite the book's manic proportions. Too many writers spoil the text.

This book is a decent starting point to networking. It not only introduces the reader to the different theoretical, logical, and physical aspects of networks, but also gives practical advice and solid guidelines for choosing appropriate network options. As often happens with many technical manuscripts, the book sometimes wanders without a logical flow. In essence, it makes a much better reference manual than a tutorial. The examples given are also trite--leaving the reader with little enhanced understanding at times of some of the various topics covered.