If you want to know what different locomotives in different countries looked like, then this is a great source of information. Set up almost like an encyclopedia of locomotives and trains, you can find what you are looking for here.

This wonderful book covers over 150 locomotives starting from the very early steam to present day high speed trains. Steam,Diesel and Electric traction are all covered with fairly good descriptions on each locomotive.Though majority of entries are from from US and UK, other countries are covered aswell. Locomotives which brought technological innovations and also ones which performed well are all included.Interesting historical information on each locomotive is also provided.The book contains beautiful color photographs and some superb highly detailed color line drawings.Though without an index this book is very informative and covers the most important locomotives of the past aswell as the present.

In Memoriam is a breathtaking poem... written over a period of nearly two decades, Tennyson laments and exorcises the ghost of his friend Hallem, who had died at a young age. He struggles with his religious faith, asking himself, is his friend in Heaven or does Heaven not exist... if not, then what? Tennyson displays an unequaled sensitivity for and mastery of the English language as a tool for expressing feeling and mood, he has created in this poem a thing of great and uncommon beauty.

When I first began to read this book, it was in my Senior English class. At first I thought it would be some dumb poem. But as we read I became so enthralled I couldn't put it down. Alfred Tennyson wrote with such good emotion and truth I felt I knew what he was feeling. He describes so many emotions that most of us feel, and he did it so well. This is a very wonderful book! And although I have only read it once, that is all it took for me to know that it has become one of my favorite.

Russell became famous as a mathematician and philosopher.

But when he won the Nobel Prize, it was for Literature. When you read this book of essays, you will see why.

It is beautifully written and has all of Russell's virtues: clarity, wit, humor, forcefulness, simplicity.

Even better, it is a brief education in itself. Most of the essays were written just as the Great Depression was beginning, and Russell gets right to the heart of a problem Capitalists and Socialists do not usually address: How much work is needed, and what is the ultimate point? He constantly stresses that we do too much work, and most of it is unneeded, and makes life grim. He never ceases to remind us that we should work to live, not live to work.

He addresses this point in many ways--through economics, through architecture, through the then-raging problems of Fascism and Communism. And though he treats serious problems seriously, he always has time for the breathtaking perspective and the ligtht touch--as with the essay, "Man Versus Insects."

A wonderful, even life-changing book.

Written by a very advanced thinker, this book represents a shattering statement against the Christian petit-burgois morality of work, a true revolution and evolution in man's thinking.

This is by far the most comprehensive work on Vietnam during the past few years.

Previous books looked exclusively at the American aspect of the Vietnam War while others focused only at the Hanoi side. Dommen elucidates the perspectives of all the parties involved in the conflict, namely North and South Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. He thinks the fates of the Indochinese countries are intertwined and the loss of the nationalists to the communists in Laos and Cambodia has adversely affected the war in Vietnam.

Dommen begins his story in 1626, but the fratricidal war actually started in 1600 when duke Nguyen Hoang broke away from the then Thanh Long (Hanoi) regime, settled in present-day central Vietnam. and thus founded South Vietnam. North and South fought against each other for 50 years from 1627 to 1677 followed by one hundred-year peace. It was only in 1778 when the southern general Nguyen Hue reunited the whole country. He unfortunately died young at the age of 40 and another southerner Nguyen Anh reunited the country for the second time in 1802.

Dommen also looks at the war as a struggle between communists and non communist-nationalists that eventually went the communist way. The assassination of President Diem, the US take over of the Vietnam War, Kissinger's machiavellian ploys to extricate the Americans out of Vietnam, and the eventual fate of the nationalists are carefully analyzed. He hopes the latter could recover one day the sovereignty that has been stolen from them by Hanoi, a regime of "mendicity and mendacity."

The author is to be congratulated for his in-depth review of this long and agonizing war, for which many lives have been lost, certainly not in vain. The lessons are still vivid and it is hoped we can learn enough from them to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.

For anyone who wants an accurate, objective, and thorough understanding of 20th century conflict in Indochina, this work is essential. Dommens research is balanced, well planned and documented, and for a change provides a complete picture of the much mis-understood complexities of the conflict. The work is lengthy; a necessity in this case, but for those truly interested will not seem cumbersome. Dommens links Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia together as they should be linked to grasp the subject. Many works are published every month claiming to be full accountings of the Indochina struggle. Dommens literally is. Highly recommended for those truly interested.

This book is great! It is about a bunch of doctors who mess around with DNA, and they unwittingly cause an accident that makes everyone in the world lose a bunch of IQ points and start acting dumb! It even happens to the President of the US. This is a great read!

Scary idea that we could all be 'dumbed down' by a runaway virus...

I've just come back from Glastonbury, and having read this book first helped a great deal. I'm reading it again, and am feeling so enlightened. If you love Avalon, you must have this book.

Anyone interested in the background behind the mysts of Avalon will enjoy this book. I found it well-researched, fairly easy to read, and quite informative. A great collection to my library.

This book contains selected and annotated documents, in English translation, pertaining to the autonomy of the Jewish community in Poland and Lithuania in the 16th and 17th centuries. The scope of this autonomy, the communal and extra-communal institutions and their modes of operation are covered. Through annotated excerpts from original Hebrew source material, the author describes the structure of Jewish self-government in those countries, illuminating the social and economic problems that Jews faced in everyday life: deserted wives, loans at interest, rights of daughters in their father's estates, organization and maintenance of elementary education, and many other questions. The book includes an in-depth introduction describing the historical period, a lengthy epilogue explaining the workings of the Jewish educational system, and extensive glossaries and indexes to help find individual points of interest. There is a detailed map of Jewish population, showing how Jews were spread throughout Poland and Lithuania during this period, as well as sixteen pages of photographs of Jewish sites. The reader will savor the flavor of Jewish life in the Middle Ages, that flourished despite oppressive surroundings. The book will appeal both to the learned scholar and to the layman interested in Jewish history of the period. As noted, the documents are in English translation, and provide access to information that untill now was available only to Hebrew language speakers.

This book contains selected and annotated documents, translated into English, relating to the autonomy of the Jewish Community in Poland and Lithuania in the 16th and early 17th centuries, its scope, communal and extra-communal institutions and their modes of operation. Through annotated excerpts from original Hebrew source material, it describes the structure of Jewish self-government in those countries, throwing light on the social and economic problems that the Jews faced in their everyday life: deserted wives, loans at interest to Jews, rights of daughters to inherit their father's estates, organization and maintenance of educational systems, and many other questions. There is an in-depth historical introduction, a lengthy epilogue describing the functioning of the Jewish educational system, and extensive glossaries and indexes to help locate individual points of interest. Included are a detailed map of Jewish communities, showing how Jews were spread throughout Poland and Lithuania during this period. Sixteen pages of photographs of Jewish sites are also included. The flavor and intensity of Jewish life in Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, despite the usually hostile and oppressive surroundings, comes through very clearly. The material presented in this book has until now not been available to non-Hebrew speakers, and will be of interest to both scholars and laymen interested in Jewish history of the period. A fuller review of this book was published in the Los Angeles Jewish Times (October 1998).

this book rocks!!! arthur is so cool! i love him!!

i love arthur!!! this book rocks!!! arthur is soo hot!!!

THIS IS MY FAVORITE BOOK IN THE WORLD!!!

I first read this around 1967, when I was 10 years old. I remember it quite fondly. It felt very real, read very smoothly, and the pictures were amazing, if a little gory. I strongly recommend this book for young readers. I'm completely impartial, too. My mother and grandmother were the co-authors! :)

Superbly illustrated by Gustaff Tenggren, and collaboratively retold by Emma Gelders Stern and Barbara Lindsay, King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table is an informative and thoroughly entertaining retelling of the classic legends of King Arthur and Camelot for young adult readers. Filled with museum quality, stylized full-color artwork, King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table presents the whole course of King Arthur's life, and those of his allies and enemies, in skillfully narrated, straightforward prose immediately accessible to young people of intermediate reading skill and above. King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is enthusiastically recommended for personal, school, and community library Mythology & Folklore collections.

Although the language is a little advanced for early readers, the story is very tellable. There are many threads to this story that come to life through the illustrations. The story is told in an interesting, dynamic way that gives pause for wonder, such as the conversation between Sir Ector and his son Sir Kay. Their personalities come through and we can appreciate the types of men they are. Another moment is when Merlin plans the timing for Arthur to draw the sword from the stone. When, asks Arthur. "After all have tried and failed, whenever that may be," replies Merlin.

A dynamic painting of a tournament with thundering hooves, flying pennants, and lances at the ready illustrates perfectly our idea of a medieval joust. The illustrations seem cinematic in that they always shift the viewpoint. Now we see the action from street level; in the next picture we view a crowd scene from above. We are comfortable with such shifts from movies and TV.

The illustrations evoke "chivalrous" ideas. The son, grieving that he has to leave his father's house, rises bravely to Merlin's bidding in a sequence that culminates in the "Youth Triumphant" painting, when the young Arthur raises the sword over his head. The idea of "chivalry", respect for one's elders, telling the truth, and being brave is well interwoven and are excellent topics to discuss with children.

The final picture, the crowned Arthur dressed in white and gold, holding the sword in his hands under the white blossoms of a tree, is such an archetype of the young, white hero that it verges on the comical. But I have to remember that this is a children's book, and mine will get enough of my cynical views when he's ready for it, later.

I recommend this book for 6 and up. The young ones will love to be read to, and the older ones will enjoy reading it.

This is a great book based on the original Arthurian legend. If i could, I'd give it more than 5 stars. Arthur is given to Merlin by Uther Pendragon and is raised by Sir Kay. When his "brother" forgets to bring his sword, Arthur...if I said anymore, it'd get carried away and I'd give away the ending.