Whoecver heard of the Chicago Whales? While Chicago would be the last place one would go to find a whale (outside captivity), there was a team by that name at the turn of the century. I enjoyed this book as both a baseball fan and a historian. One fault that I do find, however, is the absence of the Negro Leagues. Maybe this oversight can be corrected in a future edition or even in a separate compendium. Also, while mention is made of the original Milwaukee Brewers AL franchise in 1903 in the St. Louis Browns entry, there is no separate entry listed for that particular franchise. The 1903 Brewers had as colorful a year as the 1969 Seattle Pilots (which themselves became the modern day Milwaukee Brewers).

The Ball Clubs is an excellent book. It provides extremely informative backgrounds on ALL major league franchises. I do, however, have two rather nagging criticisms of this book. The first is that the authors seem to be excessively "anti-owner": they seem to take every opportunity to point out every flaw in anybody who ever owned or operated a major league baseball franchise, while rarely (if ever) complimenting these individuals. The second criticism, which in my opinion is much more serious, is their quite STUPID decision to separate "franchises" into separate "teams" (such as the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers). This practice reaches a ridiculous point when a continuous franchise which has played in two different leagues (such as the Pittsburgh Pirates, in the AA from 1882-1886 and the NL from 1887-present) is given two different entries - for the SAME FRANCHISE!!! (Does that mean that there will be yet ANOTHER entry for the Milwaukee Brewers, since they are transferring to the NL in 1998?)

If you had to buy just one book on baseball then "The Ball Clubs" should be the one you choose. It presents an in-depth look at every professional baseball club in the history of "America's pastime". Everyone knows of The Dodgers, The Yankees, The Braves et al, but how many have heard of The New York Mutuals or Altoona Mountain Citys, who also played a role (however brief) in the formation and history of Major League Baseball as we know it today. Well researched and written, this book should become a standard among baseball literature and will hopefully be updated on a regular basis. The writers demonstrate their love and knowledge of the game and this comes across in the book which not only includes bare facts but amusing side stories as well. This book is an enjoyable read and should form the foundation of any baseball book collection

This beautiful 'coffee table' book contains all the information essential to the golden owner, including a detailed history of the breed throughout the world, invaluable advice on every topic from breeding, selection and care of the puppy through conformation, obedience, grooming, and veterinary care. Also includes discussion of the most influential breeding kennels.

We are breeders. Loved the detailed history of the breed including info on the All-Time Great Dogs!

Between all the books we've read about Golden's, The Book Of The Golden Retriever was more informative ,(in all areas), than all the other books combined. We purchased the book prior to buying our new golden puppy. The information on their characteristics could not have been any more " right on the money". It helped us purchase the perfect, loving dog. We also found relatives of hers in the book along with the kennels they originated. It was absolutely terrific being able to locate her ancestors and read when and how they became... Show Dogs.. Champions...Best Of Breed...etc. I recomend this book to anyone who is in hope of purchasing a Golden...You'll be happy you did!!!

Pope writes heroic stories of the British Navy in the age of sail, not as easy as Capt. Marryat nor as grimly vicious as Jan Needle's. The stories in this series are suitable for anyone from a youthful age. They build well to the moments of intense action and there's darn little vivid blood, "salty talk" or eloquent cursing even in situations that demand it; Ramage is one ferociously cool customer. These books have a generous look and feel, like a hardback without the boards (or price).

This is the first Ramage novel based substantially on true (if minor) historical events. Maybe for that reason there are fewer daring action scenes here than in the previous four novels. Ramage is assigned another thankless and politically dangerous mystery to solve, loses his fourth ship in 5 books, faces his second mutiny and second privateer, upsets the Admiralty again, requires an Act of Parliament to be passed, and is still a Lieutenant. We learn such things as the British mail packet-boat system (when surface mail was faster to the Caribbean than it is today!). Also, how to fiddle insurers, the loading of guns, detecting wood rot, rules of neutrality, the giving of parole, and the origin of mahonnaise, among other bits of nautical lore. Pope seems to give Ramage expert knowledges that such a young man might not have known. Pope can write evocatively of the seas and seacapes when he turns his mind to it.

I have read the first five books in this series and I would say that this one and Ramage and the Drumbeat are the best of the five. This one has an interesting plot (involving captured post office packets) that is something a little different from the norm. Creating complex, realistic characters has never been Pope's strong suit, but I think he does a little better here than usual. The best thing about this book, however, is that there is some good action at sea and another situation that develops at the end that is very suspenseful. Another very good thing about this book is that there is not yet another new, bland romance for Ramage to get involved in. His first love, Gianna, returns and is as fiery and funny as ever. Pope's books are certainly not great literature, but they are fairly well written and make for good, light reading.

Review of the Lord Ramage series novels:

Don't read this until you have read the first four books of the Lord Ramage Novels by Dudley Pope.

For more historical information on history of ships of the Royal Navy, read SHIPS OF THE OLD NAVY by Michael Phillips.

Lord Ramage Novels

Book 1: Ramage

Book 2: Ramage and the Drumbeat

Book 3: Ramage and the Freebooters

Book 4: Governor Ramage RN

Book 5: Ramage's Prize *

Book 6: Ramage and the Guillotine

Book 7: Ramage's Diamonds

Book 8: Ramage's Mutiny

Order them all, because you won't want to stop. The action is fast and furious.

This is fifth in a series of historical fiction by Dudley Pope. All of these are fictional novels based on British Admiralty records of the Napoleonic era. Written in the best tradition of Forester and O'Brien, these books will capture your imagination. And if you haven't read the Hornblower series by Forester, or the Aubrey/Maturin series by O'Brien, be sure to try them also. All of these are excellent books that you will treasure and reread. I particularly like these books by Pope. I recommend that you buy them all at once and read them in order. That is what I am doing.

If you enjoy reading accurate descriptions of naval maneuvers in the age of sail, or simply a good adventure yarn, Dudley Pope delivers. Pope conveys how the best of the best, handle emergency situations. He portrays these situations with realism and authenticity.

Review of this book:

Ramage, is given the task of determining why Post Office packets, delivering mail from England to the Caribbean and back are disappearing. This story was based on true events. Post office packet brigs were surrendered to French privateers in the manner described because of "ventures", insurance policies, carried by treacherous officers and crews, and a Post Office packet was ransomed at the neutral Portuguese port of Lisbon in the same circumstances and difficulties as the Lady Arabella of the story.

In the age of Nelson it took 45 days for mail to be delivered from England to the Caribbean. Today, surface mail from England, takes 60 to 90 days to reach various islands in the Caribbean.

Buy the series in the hard cover--worth keeping and handing down.

A good yarn. Buy them all. I starting reading the next one last night. Conrad B. Senior S/V Echo

This book is more than just a hum-drum listing of works that were taken, lost or destroyed in the years leading up to and including World War II. It is an intriguing and thought-provoking look at the attempted cultural occultation of not just its own nation and ideals, but of the Nazi aggression on the world. The Nazi way of condemning certain "degenerate" works, either Jewish or Impressionist for example, painfully exhibit the ultimate crushing of free thought and expression which were so vital to the Nazi regime's recipe for authoritarianism.

But the underlying Nazi menace is only a part of the suspenseful undertone in this book. The various heart-wrenching stories of the brave souls who tried to protect and salvage the many works of art (on both sides surprisingly) are what give this account a real kick. To me the accounts on the Soviet front were especially remarkable.

My only complaint is that since I am not, as I suspect the majority of the readers are not, art historians, the significance of many of these works directly mentioned is lost. I would like to have seen more pictures of the art work in question. (I have uncovered a documentary in the works based on this book which might allieviate some of this problem, but until then...)

For those interested in the history of World War II and who might have exhausted the typical military accounts, I highly recommend this alternate angle into Nazi repression and its effect on those who lived through it. Heck, I recommend this for anyone who enjoys history.

For anyone who's not an art scholar like me, this book can be a difficult challenge. But if you persist, you will be impressed by Nicholas's investigative powers, stunned by the audacity of Nazis, and perversely fascinated by the protective lengths of museums, artists, and ordinary civilians took to save their treasures from falling into enemy hands.

*** The appropriation of great works of art may not be a crime equal to the holocaust of human lives, but we can begin to grasp the progression of tyranny in stolen property and the systematic imposition on everyday lives. It is a story that doesn't have complete resolution. Even today, works of art remain missing or await return to their rightful owners. Many treasures were destroyed, however, and will never return. It is a haunting echo of other, more heinous war crimes.

World War II was unique in so far as war can have different degrees of intensity, scope, or perhaps evil. The Germany of the Nazis was one with an insatiable appetite, whether for killing, inventing crimes so heinous new words were needed, or the absolute fervor with which they wanted everything. They literally wanted everything, whether changed to suit them, or in the case this book discusses, they wanted art, all of it. Their actions went well beyond the spoils of War that a victor generally has taken as his own, either from greed or an imagined sense of recompense for the battles fought. They wanted to change the demographics of the planet, had they succeeded, they would have managed the greatest art theft in History.

It may sound like a bizarre comparison, but the "Grinch" of Dr. Seuss fame came to mind while reading. The fictional character like his Nazi counterparts attempted to wipe out a culture by taking everything. The list of names of Artists includes every Master that ever painted, sculpted, drew, or any artisan who created a work of beauty. Nothing was overlooked; imagine having to return over 5,000 bells stolen from all over Europe. Yes, bells, as I said they took everything.

The book has some great photographs. There is a photo of one of the Goering residences and the Art he had stolen. It may sound bizarre but it looks like a bad yard sale. Any taste he had was in his mouth. It's quite a feat to amass priceless objects, and then display them in such a way and in such numbers, that the result is a garage sale. The picture also illustrates what the whole theft was about, the desire to have stuff, all the stuff you could steal. Happily they lost, or the world's great art would have become the personal property of the artistically challenged moral degenerates of the Third Reich.

Much more intriguing was Ms. Nicholas's treatment of how so much art was preserved, hidden, and protected. A photograph of DaVinci's "Last Supper", or better said the protective covering, is simply amazing. So too are the photos of American Soldiers casually posing with a Goya, or standing with The Ghent Altarpiece. Aerial photographs of destroyed cities where virtually all that was saved was the Art.

There are also troubling events after the War that remain to the present. So much art was stolen yet again by the Victors, some has reappeared, and much has not. Even the custody that was taken of many works after the War by this Country, and displayed at our National Galleries is an event I would hope we would never again repeat. The value of these objects, the tons of precious metals, and other items are beyond calculation. Hopefully with the changes in Europe and the Former Soviet Union more art will find it's way back to where it originally resided.

In the end all the effort the Nazis expended on their desire to feed there egos probably saved many, many pieces of art. I am in no way suggesting what they did was correct. If they thought they were saving art for future generations of people and not their superior race of automatons, they would have destroyed it. And the Corporal's fondness for Paris didn't hurt either.

A very well written and interesting book for the art lover, or for fans of well crafted History.

This book gives a good idea of what it is like for people to have this all on their shoulders. It seems that my dad isn't the only one that has a few problems raising kids. I think reading it made him feel a little less alone.

The book is easy reading and provides some easy techniques to keep children happy. I found some of the information useful but common knowledge. It's a good beginning for any single father.

This book is insightful and full of accounts of valuable life experiences. At times hilarious and thought provoking, sad and uplifting, I would recommend it as a reference book for such educational courses presented in high school or college as Child Growth and Development, Marriage and Family Living, and any parenting course.

This is an extremely valuable compendium of what almost any pracitioner needs to know about 40 of the most commonly used statistical distributions. It is designed as a quick lookup reference for each of the distributions. Most chapters begin with a few brief lines describing some of the applications of the distribution, and then provide a list of relevant formulae, such as for the distribution function, probability density, moments etc. Relationships to other distributions are defined, means of estimating the parameters provided, and ways of generating random numbers from the distribution are indicated.
Graphs of the distributions are shown with varying parameter values in most cases.

The book should be seen purely as a handbook on statistical distributions, not as a theoretical reference. The book is ideal for those who make use of statistical distributions in other fields, and who are not necessarily statisticians themselves. I have no formal statistics training, but use distributions extensively in my own work, and found this book very easy to understand. I have been using Johnson and Kotz monographs fairly extensively as references for the distributions in which I am interested, but find this book a much simpler reference for the basic facts of the distributions. In addition, its consistent use of notation across the chapters makes it much easier for the reader to cross reference.

I refrain from giving 5 stars to the book because of a few weaknesses, primarily omissions. Firstly, as an earlier reviewer pointed out, the lack of an index is a little annoying sometimes. Secondly, the bibliography is very slim, and so the reader interested in finding further details, proofs etc., is given very little direction. Thirdly, there are a few obvious omissions, such as the cumulative distribution function for the chi-squared distribution. Fourthly, random number generation is described only when the generation is relatively simple (for example, a method for generating random variates from a gamma distribution is described only for special cases). Finally, I would like to have seen more guidance provided in the sections on parameter estimation, such as first and second derivatives of log-likelihood functions when the estimates have to be derived iteratively.

This is the most thorough reference on distributions that I have found. The information contained about each distribution is concisely stated in a few pages - you would probably have to look in several books to get the same material. Most useful to people writing digital simulations is instructions on how to generate the distribution using random number generators. This is especially useful if you don't have access to statistical software packages. Lack of an index detracts, but is minor. Listings are alphabetical, by distribution name, so you might have to page through the book to find one that is not in an obvious location (like continuous uniform is listed as "rectangular", but discrete uniform is listed as "discrete uniform"). You need to be familiar with basic statistics to understand the book; but you don't have to be a statistician.

This is a very good reference for univariate statistical distributions. It provides maximum likelihood and moment estimation formulas for many distributions i'ven't seen anywhere else. That's right that the price is quite high for the number of pages but this information is invaluable for practitioners who need to fit distributions to real data.

I enjoyed this book much more than the previous - Scales of Gold. Maybe because Ms. Dunnett went back to her original form of storytelling which combines history, geography, romance and high drama. This is an "edge of your seat" type of book even though it is longer than the others previously in this series. We see Nicholas with a whole new talent to add to his arsenal - that of divining. Yes these books are a bit soap-operaish, but they are exciting nonetheless. In this particular segment we get to see a lot more of Dr. Tobias. He is a treasure, and a great foil for Nicholas' impulsiveness. His Love-Hate relationship with Nicholas continues, but also develops into a trust. I wondered why Nicholas didn't take this earthy doctor into his confidence sooner. Toby is a wonderful character! We also see a confrontation between Nicholas and his erstwhile father, but true to form, it is not resolved, so we know we have to read further. I wouldn't recommend this series to the faint of heart. It takes a lot of effort and emotion to get through it, but it is worth it in the end, if only for the history lesson.

Nicholas has a new talent to add to his already stunning arsenal. The confrontation between father and son finally is realized with both surviving the encounter, but they are forever changed. Ms. Dunnett lets fans have a taste of happiness for Nicholas in the end but don't count the happiness to last. Readers know it never does. True to her form, she mixes politics, commerce and romance with skill and in doing so, weaves a story so deep and complex fans are left begging for more.

In this book of the Niccolo Series, we are introduced to the race set by Gelis and Nicholas to outsmart eachother. It was started by Gelis, trying to avenge her sister's death, but Nicholas understands he must do this to try and win her heart for good. She claims she is carrying the son of his archrival, Simon de St. Pol. He decides to travel to Scotland to find the truth. At the same time, he finds Scotland a great market to increase his fortune.

Pursuing Gelis, Nicholas has to find out if the child is finally born and what sex it is. Once he finds out, Gelis hides once more from him. They travel to Cairo, the Sinai Desert and end up in Cyprus once more. The book closes on the Carnival in Venice and a new discovery for Nicholas.

In this book we are newly introduced to Dorothy Dunnett's best: Scotland. She can present the atmosphere and living customs of the time with incredible clarity and knowledge. The people, the rulers, the history, the places, everything is depicted with accuracy and made very interesting.

I have also enjoyed and learned a lot by this book. Be it about European history as well as middle eastern.

I am on my way to reading the sixth book...

This was an amzing book. It had beautiful photographs and real facts about the wild ponys of Assateague. It was very informative and educational. If you could read one book in your lifetime, I would recomend this one!

This was an amzingly book. It had beautiful photographs and real facts about the wild ponys of Assateague. It was very informative and educational. If you could read one book in your lifetime, I would recomend this one!

This book is Great! I bought it when I was at Assateague Island and have to say it is the most beautiful place I have ever been! For anyone interested in the Assateague Ponies, this book is wonderful!

I am teaching my 5 year-old son to speak German, and having trouble finding materials. The three Berlitz "Adventures with Nicholas" books have been a tremendous help. My son asks me frequently if we can "play" German--he enjoys the stories so much! "The Five Crayons" has especially caught his imagination. My only complaint is that I'm not sure that the voices are those of native speakers; at times the accents don't sound quite right, particularly the final "g". On the other hand, a friend of mine who is a professor of German has complimented my son on his accent. I know he didn't get that from me! It must be the tapes. If only they had more titles!

I bought "The Five Crayons" to teach German to my 4-year old daughter and her friends. The book is lovely and works very well with that age group. My axt to grind is mostly with the songs that come on the accompanying tape. As everything Berlitz has been putting out there, it's freshly out of the ... 1950s! Some of the "timeless" song choices are still OK (ABC die Katze lief im Schnee), others are unappealing AND have vocab that's too hard for kids to deal with. Moreover, the perfomance is pretty lousy and uninteresting - don't they know at Berlitz that kids like to hear other kids sing? Adult voices without much instrumentation are boring to grownups and, even more so, to children. In sum, the song side is useless, the story itself good and the illustrations great.

I bought "The Five Crayons" to teach German to my 4-year old daughter and her friends. The book is lovely and works very well with that age group. My axt to grind is mostly with the songs that come on the accompanying tape. As everything Berlitz has been putting out there, it's freshly out of the ... 1950s! Some of the "timeless" song choices are still OK (ABC die Katze lief im Schnee), others are unappealing AND have vocab that's too hard for kids to deal with. Moreover, the perfomance is pretty lousy and uninteresting - don't they know at Berlitz that kids like to hear other kids sing? Adult voices without much instrumentation are boring to grownups and, even more so, to children. In sum, the song side is useless, the story itself good and the illustrations great.