This is NOT a book for a serious reader. The choice of language, style in particular, is surprising for an encyclopedia, and more suitable for an early teen book. Redundancies are abundant, especially in the first two chapters. Here subsequent articles repeatedly cover the same subject, e.g. Alexander the Great and his deeds or the expansion of Rome, etc.. In part, this is due to the unfortunate alphabetical organization of the data that leads to going back and forth in time and revisiting the same ethnic groups more than once within the same time period. Some entries just do not fall under the author's definition of "invasion" and "conquest", but are short biographies of prominent historical figures.

The treatment of the World War II period is highly biased and outdated and reads like a carry-over from the Cold War period. In particular, the Nazi invasion of the Ukraine and Belorussia is described as having been warmly received by the locals. This is an utter distortion of historical events. Indeed, the western Ukraine has been rebellious throughout the Communist era and general Vlasoff has organized an army that fought along with the occupants against the Red Army (but this is not mentioned in the text). However, it has never been representative of the whole Ukranian and Belorussian population that incurred tremendous losses during the occupation. The fact is that the partisan war against Nazi in Belorussia has taken the guerilla-type warfare to a new level and simply remains unprecedented. The Nazi failure to capture Moscow is interpreted as the result of their inability to cope with the harsh winter that year, rather than due to the bitter opposition they faced (interestingly, it didn't t prevent Napoleon from doing it despite similarly cold winter a century-and-half earlier). I had mixed feelings having finished these two entries, because I was not sure with whom the author's sympathy was.

I honestly regret that I spent money on this book. It neither a true encyclopedia, nor a decent reference text in history. To readers out there I recommend to take a look at David Eggenberger's "Encyclopedia of Battles...", it is a far, far better reading.

The author's interpretations of many described historical events are exceptionally biased and most of the given references are outdated. The book suffers from a rather strange for an encyclopaedia presentation style (language), very low quality of illustrations and an unfortunate choice of alphabetical listing of topics.

This book was wonderful. It summarized vast amounts of information into concise articles, all of which were quite informative and definately interesting. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in increasing their knowledge of invasions, war and how we keep repeating history !

The writing in this book would have gotten some stern comments in an eight-grade English class. It's not just that it's a recycled mismash of trite pulp novel cliches, it's that it's an incompetently assembled mishmash. The characters are so one-dimensional that you lose track of who's who-- but fortunately, it doesn't really matter for the plot (which is a bad sign right there). The plot itself *might* have been interesting in the hands of a decent author, but as it is, it is predictable, unoriginal, and not very interesting. There is, of course, a showdown between the bad guys and the good guys in the good ol' pulp tradition, but who cares? (If you really want to know, the good guys win in a few pages and everything's okay again.)

Aboard Sunstation Ra, a giant space station anchored to the sun and protected by powerful energy shields, a group of more than 100 prisoners harvest solar plasma for their captors. Despite having their minds wiped to erase any memory of their crimes - regressing some back to childhood - the sunstation prisoners have managed to carve out a peaceful existence during their three years of captivity. That is until a strange sleeping sickness spreads through Ra. The arrival of a new batch of prisoners complicates matters, initiating a series of events that reawaken the residents' memories and endanger their lives.

Fortress on the Sun is an engaging yarn, full of mystery and suspense. Cook moves the plot along briskly, filling it with clever twists. On the down side, Fortress on the Sun suffers from the weakness of most plot-driven adventure stories: thin characterization. More disappointing, the novel's denouement feels hurried - Cook anti-climactically strips away the last few layers of the onion during the closing exposition of the epilogue. But while certain events stretch the limits of plausibility, Fortress on the Sun's fast-moving plot and engrossing hook make for an entertaining read.

Paul Cook's latest novel was difficult to put down. It starts with a mystery that leads the reader through the chapters with a strong desire to find out what is really happening. The findings behind the plot were a pleasant surprise. Cook's knowledge of science supports the portrayal of the characters and their unique situation, and his imagination is a joy to witness. The book was fast paced and could easily be a hit motion picture. The descriptions were vivid and they brought the reader into the fortress that is anchored to the sun, as well as, the underlying motivations of the characters. If unexpected twists and plot turns are what you like, and you enjoy the application of real science to a futuristic setting - then this is the book for you. Anything short of revealing the plot, could not do this book justice. You must read it and find out for yourself. Highly recommended.

The content is dry, clinical, yet with a curious sense of being vague and incomplete. The text rambles in places, and bounces around in others; it gets interesting occasionally - mostly in places where the content would be impossible to suppress in any case. Like many Schiffer titles that I've read, Himmler's Cavalry has not been properly edited - for content, copy, or layout. Perhaps it's also the typesetting, which makes the book look longer than it actually is; a slightly larger type with closer line spacing would make the book easier to read and remove at least 25% of the page count - a smaller (that is, "less expensive") volume. But an improvement in typography cannot correct the essential problem here, which is one of scant content with uninspired presentation.

Also, there are no maps - at least not in the copy I had, which actually had several blank pages where maps could have been (but to which I found no references; the blank pages in my copy are press flaws - missing content.) Given that much of the text does not impart a sense of "being there", some good photographs might have helped. However, there are very few; those that are included seem to be an afterthought- very small photos placed at the end of the book after the name index. Not surprising, the photos are rather boring as well, some of which are different shots of the same event.

On the subject of the index, there is only the name index and not a proper content index. Given that the book has a flat table of contents, an index would help readers access information more readily. Lastly, there are endnotes rather than footnotes, which of course forces you to flip through the book repeatedly. The bibliography is passable.

Unfortunately, this book is one of the few "focused" studies of the equestrian SS, covering the entire lifespan of the organization, that I've been able to locate. Still, I certainly would not call this essential reading. If you can tolerate the book's flaws, there may be some useful information. A more productive approach is to read the materials and books in the bibliography, if you can access them.

Paul J. Wilson propose us the published form of his scholarship work.
The history of SS cavalery will interest every people who have basic knowledge in this matter because he gives a good focus of this branch of Allgemeine SS of which members where mostly part time (and unpaid) members of the SS.
He provides good biographical informations of the main leaders and offer a critical approach in regard of the non guilty verdict at International Trial Nuremberg.
in fact only "allgemeine ss members" benefit of it,
members of SS cavalery units of the Waffen SS where prosecuted for their crimes in Eastern.

I actually think this book is worthy of 4.5 stars but I don't know how to rate it this way. This is a really good evaluation of an SS organization I knew very little about. How could the Nurember Tribunal exonerate them? Just read the book and you'll find out that they made a huge mistake. Wilson really does a good job of explaining Himmler's Cavalry while developing his theme that this organization was important to Himmler. In fact, one of Himmler's favorites, Hermann Fegelein, imagined himself as the driving force behind the creation of an SS cavalry force as an alternative to the army. Also, this is a sort of mini biography of Fegelein. I've heard about him and have seen him in documentaries but I haven't found much in print on him so far. Wilson does a good job with Fegelein.

One of the interesting things about the book is that these SS horsemen were talented jockeys and outright buffoons. Trying to get farmers to ride their work horses in tournaments seems ridiculous. However, although farmers didn't make great jockeys, Himmler knew that they could be trained to do his bidding. This is what happened in World War II when the SS cavalry shot Jews behind the lines of the Eastern Front. This is dealt with in the last two chapters, and best two, of the book.

The book is not without faults. I found the first chapter kind of slow, the pictures are in the back of the book and not in the middle and the index could be improved. But, I highly recommend the book. I must admit that I'm a little biased because I met Dr. Wilson at a book signing and he seems like a nice guy.

The book compiles the same old recycled jokes anyone living in the South has heard a thousand times throughout football season. As you can imagine you can substitute the name of any team you like for Alabama, as Finebaum does in every book in the series.

I received this book as a gag gift and read it anyway. Paul Finebaum has had few origional ideas of his own and makes a living from bashing people and misrepresenting the truth. The jokes are recycled and stale. You can plug in any schools name in place of Alabama. I would recommend this book for bird cage liner or wrapping fish.

I would have to say that this book hits the nail on the head a true masterpiece of intelligence and humor. It is to bad that most Alabama fans do not know how to read. I think they would truly enjoy this book.

Personally,this book may be on the extreme side. Some of these suggestions might be nice, but many of them are unpractical. The media gives people what they want essentially, in order to make a change in it, it does not need to become an issue in political debate. It needs to become an issue in the hearts of people. People need to be educated enough to find for themselves what is the truth. If the people seek the truth, the media that provides it will be the most successful. Its a simple business, supply and demand.

I have just finished this book for an Electronics Media class I am taking at USF.

Although I agree with most of the complaints that the authors expound about the problems with global corporations and the current state of the media today, I do not see their Socialist fixes as any kind of real solution. In fact, in many instances, they are just power grabs by the Left to get you to pay for their programs (ie National Public Radio and Public Television, which are dominated by the Left).

I agree with the concept of microradio stations to help spread media access around, but not their demand for government subsidies to help the "less fortunate" pay for their stations. They are not that expensive to buy and maintain.

I believe a more Libertarian approach to open media access would be more productive than the authors brand of Socialist "fixes"... which in the end would probably just lead to abuses by the Left.

But it is a good read from the point-of-view of defining all that is wrong with the current state of the media today and why it is out of control.

This indepth analysis should put an end to the myth of liberal bias in the media. As the Left has been saying for years, the media is only as liberal as the conservative corporations that own them. We seem to be tumbling towards a world in which everything is owned by a relatively few number of conjoined companies whose activities are reported on by a handful of aqenda-driven media giants all bent on diseminating a particular view of predigested news aimed at the lowest common denominator. There has to be another way although, like a previous reviewer, I'm not sure all the solutions in this book will work. I would also like to point out that 90% of National Public Radio's funding comes from donations made by listeners and from corporate underwriting. Only 10% of the NPR budget comes from the federal and state governments and all of that is in the form of grants used for specific programs (science, history, music, literature, etc).

To flesh out what one previous reviewer hinted at, this book attempts what several philanthropic organizations are paying good money for: To meld religion (Faith/Un-reason) and Science (Reason / Unbelief). It is a mildly interesting read, yet Stannard ends up doing a dis-service to both particle/ Astro-physics, and Christian Apologetics. There is a sound thinking behind epistmilogically seperating physics and meta-physics: one is academic, one is artistic. The last culture to wed them with success was the Greek, and we are long past Athenian philosophical treatises on objectivity and subjectivity. Try reading Stephen Hawking, and Debates between Dan Barker and William Craig on The Secular Web. At least it was short, though.

I first got acquainted with Stannard's work when he appeared on a popular BBC program as part of a panel of distinguished scientists. The panel was assembled to comment on the problem of creationism in American public schools. When Stannard spoke I was intrigued to hear of an experiment that an organisation he was associated with was conducting: "The God Experiment".

When I saw a copy of the book with the same name at a local book store, I bought it immediately. I had hoped that it described in detail the results of the "prayer" experiment that was out to "prove" (or disprove) God's Existence. Unfortunately mention of the actual experiment, conducted with the assistance of hundreds of patients about to undergo heart surgery, was quite brief and had not been completed at the time of publication. Instead, Stannard proclaims that the actual investigation into the existence of God requires multiple sources of evidence in addition to the actual empirical "prayer" experiment.

Stannard commences by examining whether miracles can indeed occur. After a long discussion, he ultimately confesses that it is up to the individual to make up their mind. He then proceeds to dicuss the views of two psychologists regarding religion. He sides with the theistic psychologist and attempts to discredit the logic of the non-theistic one by employing some very simple, unconvincing arguments. His discussion on why suffering exists in the world is quite amusing. He turns the tables on the reader by proclaiming that in some instances evil and suffering are "necessary" and "good". In the light of this proclamation, he continues to say that it is plausible that God can exist in a world full of suffering. However, once again he concludes by falling back on his favourite expression: "It's a mystery".

In later chapters Stannard discuss such topics as biological evolution and the big bang theory. He argues that at the fundamental level these scientific theories require the existence of God. Although I didn't agree with some of his conclusions, I was fascinated by his theories regarding God, time and Quantum mechanics.

Stannard's book was an enjoyable read. He is a physicist that knows his material and may convince some readers of God's existence on a scientific level. However, his theological apologetics are very weak. Stannard should stick to particle physics.

Russell Stannard is a scientist with the heart, mind, and soul of a theologian/minister and seeks to explore the compatibility of science and religious beliefs. He presents science that the intelligent layperson can understand, including quantum physics and relativity. In presenting evidence for the Big Bang and evolution, he goes beyond the intelligent design theories I have heard before, to include new ways of understanding God's role. He gives wonderful scientific/theological views on miracles, evil and suffering, the resurrection, how the world began, the physical laws of our world and how God relates to them. His exploration of the dimension of time that we live in, but that God is beyond, is wonderfully enlightening and mentally challenging. The analogies he presents when discussing complex issues of science or of God's relationship to us are wonderful new ways of understanding age-old questions.

I highly recommend this book for those seekers or scholars who are trying to comprehend how our concept of God fits with today's scientific knowledge of the world and our place in it.

Yeah, "University" of Central Florida is for those who couldn't get accepted to the University of Florida, or any of the other state schools.

There are two types of fans in Florida--Gator fans and those who wish they were.

Good night, Knights!

Go Gators!

Reason #217: Other schools should get equal opportunity to be hated! So where are the other 'I Hate...' titles, huh? Since I am a Florida Gators fan, this book would NOT be appreciated in my home. In fact, it would either be burned, pulverized, ..., etc. Now, if someone would publish a 'I Hate Georgia' or 'I Hate Florida State' tome...

Mr. Finebaum (or whoever), get to work on those two titles that I mentioned above, then we'll talk.

Go Gators!

I'm not an FSU fan, but this book is so true. UF should be the most hated university in the state and maybe the country. Go Knights! (Thats UCF for those who don't know)

Having completed a six-month crash course in conversational German, I could ask for the train station or if soup came with the meal, but my grammar still needed just a bit of polishing--okay, okay, I did everything in my power not to use a single adjective while in Germany. I thought this book would be just the thing: each chapter is set up as an exploration of one aspect of the German language, reference-grammar style, with page after page of exercises. And, of course that's the way to learn those adjective endings: use them, over and over again, until they get into your blood.

But in the event, the book was a disaster. The grammatical explanations are almost entirely un-illuminating; the layout of the material is unspeakably wretched. What can you say to a presentation of the "strong" adjective endings that is spread out across two pages with the following comment: "Most strong endings are the same as those of the definite article?"

Well, Professor Graves, you're on to a good idea there, since most students with a little German have worked the definite article under our skins. But why don't you just tell us which endings are different? Or present the endings in a single table on a single page with the der-die-das table off to the side?

Of course, he does neither of those things. The endings are one or two letters and would fit comfortably in quite a narrow table, but Graves must clutter up the presentation with useless debris, so one entry covers two lines of text: "brav_e_ Kind_er_" and on the next line, "good children." By providing English and German, he feels compelled to set off all of the German text in boldface, with the endings themselves--the important information--in bold italics. And, since bold italics have less width, less ink, and less visual "weight" than plain boldface, this has the perverse result of making the endings--the whole point of the table--harder to pick out of the text! To say nothing of the fact that the ending of the _noun_ receives precisely as much emphasis as that of the adjective, and that the width of the entries, combined with the spacing and the generous margins on the page, force him to deal with masculine and feminine on page 29, and neuter and plural in another table on page 30!

How on earth is the student meant to gain from this? What I want to see is the pattern of the endings, and how they differ from the pattern of definite article endings. In the end, I had to take out my pen and make my own table in the margin of page 30, continually flipping back and forth to copy out the half of Graves' table that was uselessly on the other side of the paper. I then wrote out a table of the definite articles, compared the two, and circled the genitive singular, masculine and neuter endings--the answer to the professor's little puzzle about which endings differ from the der-die-das pattern (they use -en instead of -es). After all that, I finally have some useful data in a usable format, and a pearl of insight into the adjectives that coy Professor Graves couldn't make the time to just put into the text.

Whatever he was spending his time on, it certainly wasn't writing good German text. Now, I realize that this is a basic-level book, and certain limitations exist. But my textbooks such as "Teach Yourself German" and "Colloquial German" somehow managed to come up with simple text that, although a bit stilted, managed to be useful, plausible, and even a trifle engaging. And here? "The splendid educational method of the parents results in the good manners of the well-behaved children." Now, this reads like something out of the Quotations of Chairman Mao in the first place, but there is a far more serious complaint to be lodged--wouldn't it be better if we were flipping back and forth through the book to look up the words for "envelope," "gas station," or "jacket" than "splendid educational method?"

Then we have the passage "Ein Witz" (A Joke), which really shows off the sheer terribleness of the writing, and adds a little casual sexual harassment as a bonus: "Shall I tell you something about the bookkeeper in our office?" "Yes, please." "Well, yesterday suddenly he steps up to our pretty typist, grabs her, and kisses her. At this moment the boss enters and says: 'For this I'm paying you?' What do you think, Mrs. Muller, does the bookkeeper tell him?" "I am anxious to know." "'No, this I do for free.'" It is easy to be boring, and it is easy to be insulting. Doing both in the space of one third of a page shows a unique literary ability.

In the end, I tried to tackle this book on four occasions. I thought to myself, yes, the writing is awful, but I need the practice. And perhaps there is some value to be wrung out of this book--but my time is just too scarce to waste it here, when so many other teachers have taken the time to prepare books that are actually useful and engaging. I will mention just a few: Nice and Easy German Grammar, Teach Yourself German Grammar, and 1001 Pitfalls in German, all of which soar where this book stalls.

I've now moved on to "Teach Yourself German Extra," and I'm back to interest, enjoyment and advancement. May I encourage you to profit from my mistake, and avoid making a fruitless detour into the morass of "The Easy Way?"

This definitely doesn't live up to the standard set by the other Easy Way Books. The writing is awful. Sure, it helps you learn german, but if you need to do that there are many other books out there that will do the job better, with better writing. The book would actually be very good if this guy wasn't such a horrible writer. His paragraphs lack coherence and jump from idea to idea without any sort of "bridge". Even his commentary is disorganized. In most areas its good, but the horrible prose makes it a chore to read. Did I mention that the writing sucks?

Personally, I enjoyed this book. I thought that the writing was fine, and at times, quite humourous. One great thing about this book is the exercises that are written in each chapter - they really make you think, and make you remember what you learned throughout the chapter. Unfortunately, the book doesn't give you enough space for you to write in your answers, but that didn't pose much of a problem for me. Another downfall is that there aren't any pictures, unlike "French: The Easy Way" and "Spanish: The Easy Way", which were recently purchased by my family.

Before buying this book, I would recommend reading another book on German grammar, just to get a feel for the language. I think this book is most effectively used when the reader has somewhat of an understanding of the German language, and it should not be used by someone who has never studied German before. If you want to start learning German, you should look into the Berlitz books; especially the "Essentials" series. "Essential German" is the first book about the German language that I bought, and I think it's wonderful.

Overall, this is a fine book. If you've studied German before, or know something about the language, I advise you purchase "German: The Easy Way".

I like poetry, but the poems in this book are all written in the same style. There is no creativity shown, and no real variation. I have yet to find a person who liked this book. "Jump city", the poem from which the title was drawn, is the second worst poem I have ever read.

I suppose the reason I really didn't like this book was because I am not a fan of peotry. I prefer fiction novels, mysteries, adventures, etc. I did however appreciate the whole background of why the book was put together.

I enjoyed this books unique theme of giving two sides on the same topic. There is a male and a female speaker in a poem inspired about the same thing. The most interesting part of the book was to see how two people can thing of things in such a different way. At times when I couldn't identify with one, I could identify with the other. The great thing was when I could understand both and think, hey that is a great way to look at it. I felt that this book really caused me to open my mind and not to expect things so much. I also like the great emotions that were pulled out of me while reading the book. There were topics such as death, fathers, hospitals, relaxation, childhood, beliefs, common day existance, and objects commonly thought of as irrevelent. The fact the the book is made up of poetry also gave it chances to be open and the reader to find their own meanings. I felt that I could understand this poetry and that it is current. It was published in 1996, that is probally why. The poems also flow smoothly in general and have come sort of conclusive meaning. Other poetry is harder for me to read because it is too whimsical and I guess and comtemplate the meaning too much and never figure it out. The two views on the same subject seems to set this book apart from others. I think that it is great that it gives two ways for a person to look at something. When I write, I write as a matter of factly and a this is the only way solution. I enjoyed the legnth of the poems in this book because they were catchy and descriptive, yet not overbearing. One of my favorite poems in there is titled Conversation With A Fireman From Brooklyn. It envoked so many emotions from me. A part in it says, "Already he's telling me he dosen't mind women firefighters, but what/they look like after fighting a fire, well/they loose all respect." The male speaker goes on to act as if the only thing good about a women is how they look with a stay in the kitchen attitude. As a female I was disturbed by it. There are also great looks back at childhood. In the poem Dark Song a great part says, "Don't be scared of the dark:/ all night is the biggest shadow/ little kid in the biggest shadow. The book also includes interesting titles that made we wonder and keep reading. Such titles are Black Patent Leather Shoes, The Locker Room, and The Pyramid of Khufu. The whole idea behind the book I feel A little Jumpy Around You is a great example to readers and writers everywhere. Again, I would like to stress how much I enjoyed the different speakers in the poems, the giving of more than one view on the same subject, messages that are clear to understand, but you can interpert them in your own way, creative similies and metaphors that even youth can pick up on, modern subject matter, and poems that are a nice legnth to keep me motivated. The only dissappointment was that all the poems seemed to include a few choppy lines and I feel that there should have been different rhythms and structures used.

I must attest that I purchased this book when it first came up, expecting to be enlightened, or at the very least mildly INFORMED about what the fundamentals of interpersonal communication are and how to apply them in real life. The only thing I was able to grasp from this book is how to never, I repeat, NEVER buy a book whose co-authors are married. I have never been exposed to more ridiculously cheesy, gab-me-if-you-must nonsense about authors' personal lives in my life! They rarely took the time to tie it in with the concepts either! What's going on here? Do Pearson and Nelson actually think we want to read about their "love for eachother" and how strong it is? Sure, I'll be the first to commend them on their undying, unconditional commitment to each other, but I could've done that being 55.05 richer. Not worth the money, unless you're into paying for exactly what you DON'T want to learn.

This book breaks down the fundamentals of communication in detail to describe all aspects of verbal and non-verbal communication. You'll be surprised to realize the little things about communication we all take for granted. I especially enjoyed the chapter describing what brings people closer and separates them in interpersonal relationships. A few of the chapters did seem quite boring and unimportant though. I feel the idea of this book is to discover how we view ourselves in society and the perception we gain through the people we meet and are associated with. Also, this book will give you a better understanding of how to interpret people through their use of verbal and non-verbal communication.

I have read most of this book for my Interpersonal Communication class that Dr. Nelson teaches. It is the best text book that i've read to date. Great examples of the different types of commucation makes this book actually helpful in real world communication.