This is without a doubt the best and most definitive work on the former SS anti partisans who were recruited for the French Foriegn Legion after WW2. [Some people claim] this book is fiction, it is not. the Devils Brigade was real, and was the most effective combat unit that the French government had deployed in what was then known as "French Indo China". This is a work reportedly derived from the memoirs of one " Hans Wagemuller"( not his real name)and details the "Devils Guard" in action in Cochin China against the Viet Minh, in the years before Dien Bien Phu. The combat action is real and clearly presented. The main characters come alive on the pages of this incredibly exciting and absorbing book. This should be a must read for every NCO who will lead troops in ground combat or small unit actions. Every teacher of military history should read this book about the combat experiences of a field unit that was combat effective in a part of the world that would eventually embroil the United States and its allies. claiming an excess of 58,382 American lives. One of my friends and mentors was Henry Thibedoux( Henry Africa)during my tour(s)of duty at the Presidio of San Francisco. He was a well known and colorful figure. a retired 2REP from the the Legion, he owned two popular bars in the Van Ness area of San Francisco. Henry knew some of these Legionaires, and confirmed the validity of the basics this story. A must Book, along with the sequels if you can find them!
mine are under glass!
Viva La Legion!

This book was recommended to me by a friend who was finishing up film school. This is the first-hand account of an experienced combat officer who lead an all-German battalion of the renowned French Foreign Legion. The details and descriptions are blunt, but nevertheless necessary in conveying the harsh realities of fighting an unconventional war against communist guerrillas. Hans Wagemuller is the alias for the book's main character and story teller. This is done to protect his identity and those of his comrades. Wagemuller was a former SS officer who fought on the Eastern Front. Before the reader of this review balks at reading this, bear in mind that Wagemuller describes himself and his colleagues as fiercely anti-communist, rather than haters of Jews and Catholics. He was not one of the members of the SS who guarded camps and exterminated defenseless civilians, but what is referred to as a kopfjaegar - a headhunter - one who hunts terrorists and unconventional combatants. Wagemuller offered his insights and experience to the U.S. military, but never received a reply. Ironically, Wagemuller simpathizes with the draft dodgers because of the way the U.S. prosecuted the war. This book, I believe, is better suited to the person who has an interest in Vietnam, and who believes that the war could have been won had it been prosecuted differently.

Having first read this book while on active service I found the story truly amazing from the units last action against the Red Army to the hand to hand struggles with the Viet Minh in French Indochina.This story tells of how former German SS Partsian hunters used skills learned fighting in Russia during WW2 against Russian guerrillas to fight an equally determained enemy on instead of the Steppes of Russia it was the jungles of VietNam.Many of my friends have read this book and are eqully amazed as I was.The book having been read soo much is now falling apart being held together by tape.This is one of the best books on warfare I have read and Iam trying to get the others written by the same author

This book is a very helpful tool for anyone who is experiencing the pain and emotional turmoil of a break-up, whether you were married or not, whether you were the "Dumper" or "Dumpee." I especially liked the comparison of climbing the moutain, taking each level and learning those lessons at each level - and that sometimes you would come to an understanding at one level and as you moved up to the next, you may realize there was still more to learn "back there" where you had just left, at a lower level of the mountain. But the book ALLOWS you to understand that these feelings are a process, that there is no easy or orderly way to experience them, and that it's perfectly OK to step up the moutain and then back down a couple of steps, up again, down again - until you come to understand it all and allow yourself to experience that understanding. Each step helps you to deal with the last, and you don't have to "finish" in one area before you move onto the next. You learn in your own way and your own time, yet the words are always there to comfort, encourage and teach you. This book put it all in perspective for me, gave me permission to feel pain and confusion, and helped me through each phase of my struggle, reminding me of my worth and teaching me the most important lesson of all - which is to take care of and value myself. I recommend it highly.

This book is a self-help manual for those trying to recover from a divorce, or going through the process of divorce. "Rebuilding" is the feelings that surface during this trying and stressful period of your life are identified. It is comforting to read that we are not alone in our pain and confusion and that given the circumstances, the turmoil you are experiencing is quite normal. As each emotion is explored, the reasons for them are also examined. An example from another who has suffered the same misery is given, then the best part--what we can do with and about those upsetting, hurtful and sometimes hateful feelings that want to pull us under and drown us. The chapter continues to describe the emotional cycles the "dumpers" (the one ending the relationship) and the "Dumpee" (the one being rejected) go through. Fisher and Alberti acknowledge not everyone is going to react the same, but no one escapes the pain. No matter how we are affected, though, we must remember guilt and rejection are tied to feelings of self-worth and self-love. Build up these two areas, and we will be less devastated by life's inevitable rejections. The end of each chapter has a "How Are You Doing?" section. A list of questions will help us think our way through our dilemmas and offer ideas with which we can rebuild our lives. I like this book because it forces us to do something besides sitting around feeling sorry for ourselves. There are ways to work through relationships that end, and we have the power and the tools to do it. We don't have to feel helpless. I like this book because it acknowledges we are not alone with our feelings. There is light at the end of the tunnel. We can go on to live a normal, happy life. It gives us hope.

The book "Rebuilding When Your Relationship Ends" was one of the things that really helped me get thru my own divorce process and create a whole new wonderful life. It truly showed me that my feelings and reactions were normal and that they could be worked thru. After all Bruce Fisher and Robert Alberti worked with people who were rebuilding their lives after divorce for over 25 years and they ought to know. The book has a style that is very very readable. You can begin at the beginning and read it straight thru or open it to just the chapter that is appropriate for you at that moment, like "Loneliness", "Anger". "Self-Worth", or "Sex". The book is built around the metaphor of climbing a mountain, and you are shown just how achievable it is to successfully rebuild your life one doable step at a time. Once you reach the top of the mountain you experience a wonderful sight of a new you and a new life. As Alberti says, "So prepare yourself for a journey. Pack up your optimism, your hopes for the future. Discard your excess baggage. ---- And the Rebuilding mountain lies ahead for you." If you are only going to buy one book to get yourself thru the divorce process this is the one. I can't recommend this book more highly. Other books I would recommend are "How to Survive the Loss of a Love" by Colgrove, Bloomfield, and McWilliams, "Spiritual Divorce" by Debbie Ford, "Life after Divorce" by Sharon Wegscheider-Cruse, and "Finding Love (Again!)" by Connie Merritt.

Bankrolled by rockstar superstar Dave Stuart and presented by Robert Palmer, author of the superb book of the same name, this film was a very timely voyage into the blues of missisipi. Timely because a number of the cast have died since this film was shot, including the presenter.

Traditional old blues haunts such as Memphis, Clarksdale and Greenville are visited, and fine artists relatively unknown at the time were recorded such as Big Jack Johnson, Booba Barnes and Lonnie Pitchford. Delta old timers Jack Owens, Bud Spires and Booker T. Laury also turn in fine, spirited performances. But for me the highlight is the attention given over to the more obscure "hill country" blues of north missisipi, featuring Jessie Mae Hemphill, R. L. Burnside and the late great Junior Kimbrough and his original juke joint in Holly Springs. Here the music extends from country blues to "drum and fife", a hypnotic musical form that predates blues all the way back to the revolutionary war, but which now faces extinction since the passing of Othar Turner (not featured here, but a close friend of Hemphill). The bonus items are very welcome, especially the extra performances by honkytonk genius Booker T. to the drunk audience comprised of Stuart and Palmer, and Lonnie Pitchford's demonstration of the diddly bow. Also included are extra audio tracks that were originally only available on the soundtrack album (now deleted).

This film helped to revive not just interest in country and acoustic blues in general, but the careers of all of the artists featured. This film is well shot, sounds great, and shares the passion and emotion of some great bluesmen and women. After this, try the "Feelin' Good" CD by Jessie Mae Hemphill. Not only is that a beautiful album, but Jessie's an invalid now who desperately needs the cash!

There's no other way to put it, this is simply the best book out there on the blues both as a music form and as force in shaping American culture. At once simple and concise, yet broad and in depth enough to tell a very complete story, this one work should satisfy everyone from the novice to the experienced blues fan.

Meticulously researched, Palmer uses Muddy Waters as a jumping off point to explore the history and evolution of the blues as music as well as the society and culture from which it sprang. He peppers his work with amazing anecdotes, from the story of Robert Johnson, the Band meeting a dying Sonny Boy Williamson, an aging Howlin' Wolf giving a phenominal concert that add color to his story and helps make his frequent forays into musicology more tolerable to the non-musician. Best of all is the sense of time and place the book evokes, from plantations and dark swamps in rural Mississippi, to the noisy, crowed streets of South Chicago at the peak of the Great Migration, to small clubs and long forgotten juke-joints.

I read this book for the first time 10 years or so ago and have probably reread it 5 times since. I keep coming up with new things to admire about the book every time. That so much richness can be packed into such a short readable work is amazing. This book triumphs over everything else written on the subject and only leaves you wanting to explore further.

I've been a big fan of the work of the late great blues historian/folklorist, Robert Palmer, for sometime now. His book, DEEP BLUES, is generally regarded as the definitive reference on the Delta tradition... and rightly so (needless to say, if you don't have it... get it). What a treat to finally get a chance to meet the guy... albeit, on my TV screen.

In this eponymous documentary, Palmer assumes the role of the proverbial veteran "tour guide," casually offering us expert commentary, laced with entertaining anecdotes and served up with dry Southern wit. While we do hear and see a great deal of Palmer, the film never loses its main focus-- the blues and the musicians who keep this important element of American musical heritage alive and kicking. Each of the featured artists performs one or two songs in their entirety-- in sharp contrast to so many other music documentaries, which par down their musical selections to excerpted sound bites to make room for talk, talk and more talk.

Here we find everything from down-home guitars and mouth harps being played on farm house porches to full bands--influnced by the modern Chicago-style, yet still distinctly "Pure Delta"--playing in dark, smoke-filled juke joints. True to the blues tradition, the music is hot and sweaty. You can't watch this film and sit still--you gotta shake something. Highlights: cane fife player Napoleon Strickland (you can hear more of this wonderful pre-blues tradition on TRAVELING THROUGH THE JUNGLE: NEGRO FIFE AND DRUM MUSIC FROM THE DEEP SOUTH, an album on the TESTAMENT label, and several ARHOOLIE compilations); the totally stylin' Jessie Mae Hemphill (granddaughter of Blind Sid Hemphill, the pre-blues style fiddler/quills [panpipes] player documented in the Lomax field recordings); harp player Bud Spires telling a folktale about the devil, accompanied by Jack Owen's soulful guitar picking in the cranky, individualistic Bentonia style, popularized by the early bluesman, Skip James; and Lonnie Pitchford's intense singing as he accompanies himself on the diddley bow (a raised metal string nailed to the side of a house, which you pluck with a plectrum and note with a slide).

A publishing event of the most signifigance for 1997. The long establisher bible for medical doctors and almost everyone in the field of medicine, is for the first time written specifically for the non-medical reader. Over 1500 pages covering diseases, causes, treatments, drugs etc. this is the finest 1 volume medical authority every home should have. A layman's medical book has been long overdue. Who but the editors of Merck Pharaceuticals could take on this daunting task. At AMAZON's discounted price of less then $21.00 the bargain in hard cover publishing. WE RATE IT A BEST BUY !!!!!!!!

Let me start with my own qualifications for reviewing this invaluable book: 25 years' editing and indexing of professional medical texts and reference books; 20 years of creating "translations from the medicalese" for the rest of us; 3 years as consulting reviewer for an online health publication.
In this work, I use both the "senior" Merck Manual, which is written for professionals (though many nonprofessionals have been referred to it by librarians and such), and this recently developed "home" version, which I can't praise highly enough. It is literally the first text I have encountered that provides essential medical information in terms the average educated person can understand, WITHOUT writing down to people. It covers all the basic diseases and conditions and many unusual ones, including prevention where prevention is possible. Clear, understandable charts cover such topics as common blood and laboratory tests. The index is superb, so finding things is easy, whether you are coming at the topic by way of some medical jawbreaker your doctor has mentioned (myocardial infarction) or by way of what most people call it (heart attack). Any household would benefit from having this reference on its bookshelves. Even as a professional, I look in this edition first and tackle "Papa Merck" or a specialized textbook only if I need more than the basic information.

This reference book is easy to use and understand. When I first leaned of this home edition version of the Merck manual I was hesitant. Over the years many books have been published that are medical in nature, some published by doctors, but the content is watered down or so vague that a layperson doesn't derive much information from it. Some books are actually condescending in attitude, some patronizing. So many books briefly skim symptoms and then caution to call a physician for more information.

Recently my son was diagnosed on the phone by our pediatrician with chicken pox and it was made clear that they did not want to see him for a physical exam. I was given a tiny bit of information by the office staff but was still curious for more information. I spent over an hour surfing the Internet looking for information but found watered down information, repeated many times over on multiple websites, including some written by physicians intended for laypeople to use. I looked at my parenting books written by doctors (one titled "The Portable Pediatrician", no less) and was still lacking any substantial information. When I consulted the Merck Manual home edition, (which I had forgotten I bought recently and had not yet used), I was surprised at the level of information given. There are many details that I had not found elsewhere, such as number of days from exposure to outbreak, how long it takes the pox to change from first appearance to crusted over, about how long the infection lasts, and treatment suggestions. Reasons why some children have a mild outbreak vs. a severe outbreak were even provided, something I had not found anywhere else.

The information here is not dumbed down in that it is not so vague that it is not useful. There is a lot of information here but it is written in a style for the layperson to understand. I appreciated the writing style, which presents information to the non-physician without putting on airs.

Anyone who, like me, prefers to gather information and learn about things rather than making a call or office visit to their doctor to get just one opinion will appreciate owning this book. At about 1500 pages it covers many illnesses and ailments. If you are interested in this book I suggest you buy it so that you have it at your fingertips 24 hours a day, for whatever may arise. I am not suggesting this take the place of a doctor, but I know from working with physicians that there are certain calls that are non-emergent in nature that are not appreciated when the office is closed!

If you are looking for a book about children's ailments that encompasses not only western medicine but lists an array of other treatment methods, I suggest Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child: A Practical A-To-Z Reference to Natural and Conventional Treatments for Infants and Children by Janet Zand. I found this to be an excellent companion to the Merck manual, home edition. The Merck manual gives more information about the disease or ailment itself through a Western medicine viewpoint while the Zand's books' specialty is sharing treatment options grouped by category (herbal, homeopathic, western, etc.).

it was also the first Nora Roberts book I read, I guess it holds the standard of what I expect from Roberts- GREATNESS. I love this book! In fact, it is the only book that I have read more than twice.

I love the concept of the book and how it's centered around the music world. I love how the book spans the time of Emma at 3 into an adult and her life changes through all her experiences and the reader is able to understand mistakes and choices she makes through past events in her life.

The romance was great, and the mystery part as well, but I loved just the general way that Roberts wove the story. I have read quite a few (getting close to all) of her books and I still love this one the best. Next to Public Secrets, Genuine Lies would have to be my next favorite... then maybe Where the Rivers Ends, where the main characters love story kind of reminds me of Emma and Michael.

Read this book- you won't regret it!

I only read scattered parts of this book because I read it out loud to my 17 year-old cousin over my sprong break. I asked her what she was reading and she told me it was a book by Nora Roberts. I asked her if I could read it aloud to her and I loved every part of it. Ever since then, I've been reading my mom's Nora Roberts books. Public Secrets was hard to put down and I couldn't wait to read more of it out loud to my cousin. The book is about the life of Emma McAvoy. As a toddler she was beaten by her heroine addict mother until she meets her biological father, Devestation rock star Brian McAvoy. Brian takes Emma to live with him, his wife Bev, and their baby son, Darren. Emma is genuinely happy until the shocking death of her brother to which she was the only witness. As a six year old child only remembering monsters and scary men, it is hard for her to recall the face of Darren's killer. The murder seperates the McAvoy family. This book goes all throughout Emma's life. She is used and beaten because of who her father is and she doubts if anyone will love her just for her and not think of her as a connection to a superstar. With a twist of mystery, romance, and drama, Nora Roberts has written an excellent book and I can't wait to read the conclusion.

By far, this is one of the best books that I have read in a long time! The mystery is intriguing, but the best thing about this book is the emotional ranges that the reader is put through. A person can go from anger at how this little girl was treated by her mother, to horror at what the little girl whitnessed the night her little brother was killed and lives with the guilt of thinking that she could have done something, to anguish over how the family and friends react to the tragedy. The reader is able to be involved in this story as it follows the Emma's struggles as she tries to create a life for herself, as well as keep her family together. I loved this book, and just can't say enough about it. I was never a person who was interrested in reading romance/myseries, but this book sure got me hooked. After reading this book, I anxiously await her new books, and keep searching for her old ones. Thank you Nora, and keep up the good work!

Beverly Cleary's books have entertained kids for nearly 50 years, and this wonderful introduction to Ralph S. Mouse is no exception. Ralph is a young mouse living between the walls of the Mountain View Inn. He and his family always depend on the crumps of food that are dropped by the vacationers who stay at the Inn. It is critical that they remain hidden from human eyes lest the hotel sprays the Inn. One summer day, Ralph hears a boy making the sounds that all young children make when playing with toy motorcycles, so Ralph stealthily investigates the cycle when it's owner, Keith, is out of the room. When Keith discovers Ralph on the motorcycle, he makes a new friend by showing Ralph how to get the contraption to "go." "Pb-pb-b-b-b," goes Ralph, and away he goes on the "motorized" motorcycle, finding the freedom he has always yearned for in his young life. Now Ralph has endless opportunities for adventure, sometimes fun, sometimes scary, but always exciting. This is a special book. Kids adore it, and adults frequently love this journey back into childhood fantasy. I know I do!

This reviews the audiotape of the "chapter book" that is read in my child's 2nd grade class. It is more exciting to listen to the audio version than reading the book silently or out loud (though it's big stuff to be able to read a chapter book). The storyteller was well picked for this task. He has wonderful sound effects and different voices for each of the characters and uses them well and consistently throughout all three stories in this series. The class especially loved the sounds Ralph, the mouse, makes to get his motorcycle to move. If your child likes this tape, then I recommend you try all three audiotapes in the "Mouse" series. My child listens to them constantly, especially when travelling in the car, and though I enjoyed listening the first few times, there are occasions when I'd rather not hear them again. However, I still recommend this series for young children, and it is still fun to see my child's imagination captured by a small talking mouse and his adventures.

VROOM VROOM! Went a little motorcycle going down a hotel floor. If you like adventure stories then Mouse on the Motorcycle is the book for you! This book is about a little boy who goes to a hotel. And he happens to stay in a room where a little mouse and his family live. Keith, the little boy, and the mouse Ralph became great friends. Keith collects little toy cars and Ralph loves to ride them.
He has a lot of adventures on them. Ralph finds the motorcycle and during the night drives it down the hallway and has the time of his life! When Keith and his family leave the hotel, Keith asks Ralph to go home with him. Should Ralph go with Keith to be his pet, or should he stay with his family? You have to find out by reading the book.

With his heretical views on dinosaurian (and other paleo-species) lifestyle, Bakker's Heresies has helped change the view of dinosaurs in both the public and the scientific community's eyes. But, for all the good Bakker's book did, it still has its flaws. Since the majority of reviews here have been extremely positive, I thought it might be best to focus on the less accurate parts of the book. First there is the nomenclature.

Bakker generally avoids using scientific jargon in the book. This is good as it opens the market for more people to read his book. Names like duck bill and horned dinosaurs are easier to remember than hadrosaur and ceratopian. Still some of Bakker's actual scientific terms are horribly inaccurate and hurt paleontology more than help it. I am talking about a certain term in particular; Brontosaurus. This name has been defunct for over 50 years and it is only in popular culture that it has lived on. Bakker uses it because it's more descriptive and because he believes that the fossil Brontosaurus excelsus is different enough from _Apatosaurus_ to warrant an entire generic distinction. Modern paleontology on the other hand, did not see the distinction then and still does not now.

While I commend Bakker's paradigm altering view of how dinosaurs were, I wish that he didn't have to make them warm-blooded in order to do it. Today's "cold-blooded" animals have a wide range of energetic behaviours that Bakker never really gives mention to. And while he does devote an entire chapter to reptilian diversity (chpt 3, which is by far the most ironic chapter in the book), the final page of that chapter, featuring a _Pristichampsus_ taking out a _Hyracotherium_, has at the end of it a caption that reads that due to its rarity, this was positive evidence that "...cold-bloodedness was a great disadvantage." It was almost as if he was saying "Reptiles are an amazingly diverse group of animals with a wide range of lifestyles and body plans. Now I will show you why dinosaurs could not possibly be reptiles." This pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the book. The following chapters deal with changing the popular view of dinosaurs while simultaneously removing them from the realm of "cold-bloodedness."

In order to show how dinosaurs could ONLY be "warm-bloods" Bakker relies a variety of circumstantial evidence. In the fossil record he uses predator to prey ratios to determine how active the creatures are. Besides having to deal with fossil record bias, Bakker's "control" is a living survey of a wolf spider to its prey. While Bakker knocks off interesting numbers (Wolf spiders making up 15-20% of the predator/prey population) he gives no mention of the prey themselves, so no one knows what kind of prey he was comparing the spiders to. Luckily Bakker does have a reference section that is divided up into the various chapters so one can go looking for it if one really wants to.

Then there is the use of haversian canals, stating that they indicate warm-bloodedness, when in reality all they indicate is a high level of activity (one can see these same haversian remodeling in varanid lizards). While the above was only found out recently, one of Bakker's "proofs" of warm-bloodedness is a dangerous use of taxonomy. Using the rules of punctuated equilibria Bakker states that species turn over is greater among warm-bloods than "cold-bloods." He shows this with fossil record evidence from Como Bluff Wyoming showing the average life of a species of dinosaur compared to a crocodilian (_Leidyosuchus_) and a chelonian (_Aspideretes_). Now in this modern era taxonomists have a hard enough time as it is to tell what is a new species and what is not; to use this criteria as evidence for warm-bloodedness is dangerous and a tad sloppy. This is especially so when one considers the fact that being "cold-blooded" crocodilian and chelonian fossils are less well studied than other fossils and there are bound to be more than a few taxonomic blunders in there.

Bakker does voice other ideas, such as the thought that sauropods had trunks, a thought that is OK to entertain but probably not worth serious consideration. Bakker's view of the gizzard style digestive system of a variety of dinosaurs is eye opening for those who ever wondered how a sauropod could feed itself with a mouth so small.

Then there are the contradictory parts of the book. In Bakker's haste to remove the dinosauria from the Reptilia, he unwittingly removes a group of animals that he himself admits to be real reptiles. Bakker believed (though histological and predator/prey evidence) that the pseudosuchian "crimson crocs" (beautiful name) showed the same warm-blooded evidence that dinosaurs show and should therefore be removed from the basal Reptilia on this and other shared derived characters. The problem inherent with this is that in order to do it, Bakker would also have to remove another pseudosuchian descendant, the crocodylians. These are the same creatures that in previous chapters he had been calling "cold-blooded" reptiles.

All in all the book is a good. Bakker provides his own illustrations, all of which show his creatures as dynamic animals, regardless of warm or cold-bloodedness. The ideas themselves are actually the resurrection of older ideas from the 19th century and not so much new ways of thinking, and much of Bakker's examples of warm-bloodedness should be taken with a grain of salt. I give this book a higher ranking than I normally would, because of the uproar that it caused in the area of reptilian paleontology and especially metabolism. Thanks to Bakker's book we now know that the arbitrary lines of warm and cold-blooded are not as black and white as we thought. In fact there is an increasingly growing amount of creatures that don't easily fit either definition. For that reason alone, the book is a worthy purchase, even if most of the text is of more historical value than anything else.

Dinosaur Heresies is everything a popular science title should be. This book is a free-wheeling, thought-provoking, incredibly fun jaunt through the range of controversies and rethinkings paleontology has seen in the past twenty years or so.

Robert Bakker, first of all, is probably the best popular science writer I've ever come across. His voice is accessible, full of humor and character, and he writes a lean, sharply-turned argument that's easy and fun to follow without being at all pedantic. You don't think, at all, about the welter of disparate arguments Bakker's making in this book, because he just tells them so darn well, he really does. This book is pure delight for anyone with even a passing interest in dinosaurs.

I will mention, again, that this is a pop science title. It's a summary of the sorts of things that show up in academic articles, and a broad, idea-spinning take on those issues and problems. If, reading some other reviews here, you get the impression Robert Bakker singlehandedly rethought the whole cold-bloodedness thing, well, don't get too carried away. Pop science books don't do that work. Peer-review journals are where the evidence lives, in science, and books like Dinosaur Heresies get the word out to you and me.

I would recommend this as a gift to give anyone twelve or older who has an interest in Dinosaurs. Later on someone may be enthused enough to try Jack Horner, who's slightly less accessible in my experience, and closer to the journal writers than Heresies is. Then, too, reading this book might throw you in all sorts of other directions. (I personally became really excited about prehistoric mammals.) I hate to be hackneyed, but that's what a dazzlingly good popular science book will do; it'll broaden your world and make you remember what curiosity is good for. Dinosaur Heresies does that, in spades. You'll reread it.

The Dinosaur Heresies by Robert T. Bakker, Ph.D. is a forward and progressive look at unlocking the mystery of the dinosaurs and their extinction.

Misconceptions are always associated with dinosaurs, because we do NOT understand completely as to how they looked, nor will we ever, unless we go back in time and see directly. So, we have to extrapolate from the fossil record. Which then leads to interpretation, as the clues are being uncovered, it takes a good detective with a vision to put the pieces together.

I believe that Bakker has done that in this book as he paints a revolutionary picture of dinosauria. And a dynamic, robust picture it is. This book opens eyes as to how things could have been or were at that time. As more information becomes available, the tapesty of that time begins to fill in and a picture emerges. I believe that Bakker is on the right track. This book will enlighten and educate as well.

I found the text to explain well as to why Bakker believes what he believes and makes a compelling argument to that. Whether you agree or disagree with Bakker's theory, the dead bones in the right hands seem to come alive a tell a most enthralling story.

If you like dinosaurs, this is a brilliant and unquestionably well written book. There are spectacular illustrations throughout to highlight this well told story.

It's a rare thing indeed to discover a movie adaptation is actually better than the book that inspired it, but here it is: Paul Brickhill's THE GREAT ESCAPE is a great plot with no characters to speak of.

Brickhill gives a firsthand account of the escape of 76 men from Sagan, a German prisoner-of-war camp, during World War II. Through tireless efforts and disheartening setbacks, the men managed to dig a lengthy tunnel 30 feet down into the earth, and 300 feet towards possible freedom. The plan, which originally called for three such tunnels, was the single largest escape in WWII history, and the efforts, patience, and bravery of the men secures their escape as one of the most noble efforts of man.

What a pity, then, that THE GREAT ESCAPE is a fairly badly written first-hand narrative, related with all the style of a person making a grocery list. Brickhill has provided the bones of an amazing story, but he neglected to provide any meat along with them.

The story couldn't help but lend itself to a fascinating read. The actions of these men could never be anything less than remarkable. But all Brickhill does is tell the story. He doesn't add any true characterization to the hundreds of people who pop in and out, resulting in a lack of empathy for these men. The reader is left wanting to know more, but is frustratingly denied the opportunity. Even the leader, Roger Bushell, is a cipher, easily interchangeable with any other character.

It is easy to see why this story makes such fertile ground for a movie. The plot is astonishing, and the complete absence of any true personality leaves the filmmakers free to make up any character they want. Roger Bushell didn't escape from Sagan, Richard Attenborough did. So did Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson.

I don't want to seem as if I am making light of the situation. THE GREAT ESCAPE was a shining example of what humanity can achieve under the most strenuous circumstances. But Brickhill doesn't provide us with any reason to care. The story unfolds with all the excitement and tension of someone telling of their day at work. Simplicity in storytelling can be a fine thing, but not where the story demands so much more.

220 Allied POWs would have been swarming all over the Third Reich before the Germans realized they were missing. Unfortunately, only 76 managed to escape through a tunnel under Stalag Luft III that had taken a year to dig. Of those 76, only 3 managed to make their way back to Britain. Twelve found themselves back in Stalag Luft II in a matter of days. Eight wound up in concentration camps. The remaining 50 were shot by the Gestapo, on orders from Hitler himself. Among the 50 was South African-born RAF Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, a.k.a. "Big X", the originator of the escape plan. The Great Escape is an incredible read. While the book is narrated from third person omniscience, its author was anything but detatched from the story. Paul Brickhill mentions his own role in the escape only very briefly in the foreword to the work. A key element of the escape plan, as Brickhill recounts in great detail, was the forging of official papers required for freedom of movement across the Reich. Brickhill led the gang of "stooges" that warned the forgers when camp guards approached. He found himself barred from participating in the actual escape when Big X learned of his acute claustrophobia. That fear may well have saved his life. After the war, Brickhill interviewed several of his other fellow survivors to assemble the grand narrative. The result is a riveting tale that ranks among the greatest war stories ever written, fact or fiction. You've seen the movie. Now read the book!

Paul Brickhill, based on his actual experiences in a prison camp and using characters based on real life POW's, takes the reader behind the wire at a World War II prison camp. These men were trapped, unable to fight for their country in battle, so they found a way to do the next best thing. Led by Roger Bushell, they formed the X organization, a group of the most intelligent and resourceful prisoners from the British and American air forces. Using only their wits and the few materials available, they devised and executed a plan to tunnel under the fences and escape into Nazi Germany. Unfortunately this led to fifty of the escapees being shot by the Gestapo, but Brickhill does credit to their memory with this book. Using a light writing style, humorous anecdotes, and fascinating descriptions, Brickhill has created an entirely readable adventure with charismatic protagonists who gain the readers respect and sympathy from page one.

Blueberries for Sal is a favorite book from childhood and is still one of my favorite books to this very day. This book is about a young girl who finds herself caught in a wild adventure while she is picking blueberries with her mother. It is a perfect book to sit down and read together as a family, and is a story both children and parents can relate to. I will never forget listening to my mother read, eating blueberries, and singing kurplink, kurplank, kurplunk.

Whenever I ask my 3-year-old granddaughter to pick some books for me to read to her before she goes to bed, I know that "Blueberries for Sal" will be one of them. This gentle story of Sal and her mother and Little Bear and his mother picking blueberries on the mountain is one of her favorites. There is enough repetition in the story that I can pause and my granddaughter will fill in with "Kerplink, kerplank, kerplunk" or whatever other words fit in the story. Losing one's mother and getting lost are great concerns for children, so the happy ending of this classic is very appealing to little ones. This is a highly recommended children's book.

I loved this book as a child because I saw myself in Sal who was curious and spunky and had a serious independent streak. She was and is what is called a Tom Boy. And like Sal and her Mom, my Mom and Aunt Ann would take me with them to pick blueberries or what we call huckleberries here in the west coast, and on the hillsides of Mt St Helens, Mt Rainier, Mt Shasta etc.

Knowing that we saw black bears and always had to be prepared if cubs were around, made this story "real" to me. And I love stories where the girl isn't a whimp, but is allowed to be herself and is shown doing both normal activities but activities that show a more rural or self sufficent idea.

I also like the story because it is a great Mother and daughter tale and shows that even the human animal like the bear and her cub, have such caring personalities. Oh and I also indetified with the eat more berries than you pick theme.

Unless someone has tasted a sweet freshly picked blueberry or strawberry etc they have no idea how wonderful the taste and smell is and that you really cannot stop at just one. I wonder how many parents who have taken the kids along to pick berries have done so knowing that the kid will probably not produce much fruit for canning or baking, and may even come home with a tummy ache. But that it is a great outing and make for great memories.

I'm a horsewoman, but I don't often find a good story with a horse as a main character. The authors don't often get their facts straight. This one did. Every detail that was explained was correct down to the smallest little thing.

Old Black, the book, was a bigger book than it seemed. I counted about 35 characters counting Sam the Rodesian ridgeback dog, and, of course, Old Black himself. Not one character escapes my mind's eye. I knew them every one. Even the reporter, Paul Hardesty, was memorable, and had only a cameo (but important) appearance. Oscar and Ruby, I fell for them hard. Salt of the earth. And how I cried when ... but read it yourself. I could see why the author took that route, it was a big step up the ladder to adulthood for Jim. It took me a long time to read the whole scene because I had a hard time seeing anything.

The author truly introduced every character. And that isn't so often the case.

There was some extravagant adventure in this story, but I never once had to suspend disbelief. Old Black the horse was not overplayed into a super horse, either. Nor was that wonderful little boy Jim. And wasn't Alexandra something? Uncle Harry was right, she's a little princess. And speaking of Uncle Harry and Aunt Hazel, everybody who knows someone who has a loved one with Alzheimer's should get a copy of this book. I know in my heart that Jim's therapy would be beneficial.

There are some real heartbreaking scenes and events in this book. And some funny ones too. I thought I'd die laughing over Mr. Mehlman's "theoretical last days." And the incident involving the snake in the bathroom. My husband came in to see what I was laughing about. I told him I had been bitten by the fabled laughing snake. (Of course, he didn't get it until HE read the book.)Wasn't Harry's reaction something a man with a good sense of humor would come out with? And I can understand Matt and Jim laughing themselves sick.

I finished Old Black, lay back on the pillow and relished it a while, then started right back on page 1.

A wonderful story, and told in just the right voice. When I began the book I thought it was only a contemporary boy-and-his-horse story. But unlike most of the genre, it is much, much more. The boy and his horse are the cornerstone, but the story expands way beyond them to involve an interesting variety of people. This is not a children's book, but my 11-year-old daughter was soon captivated and sailed through it in good time. ("Is Old Black going to die?" she asked, teary-eyed. "Read on," I said.) One does not need an interest in horses to love this book. Readers with a keen eye will savor the precious little clues planted along the way, like Easter eggs hidden for the purpose of being discovered. The dozens of illustrations are simply marvelous. Early in the story, Old Black, the horse, is being readied to go off to his new life with the boy Jim Bradley. The part where the cowboy Buck Jones (I just loved him!) is stoically, silently bidding farewell to his dear, longtime friend, the horse displaying his own feelings about their parting, is as touching as any scene I've ever read. It was some minutes before I could go on. You will not miss the absence of profanity, sex, or unnecessary violence here, although that long, dreadful scene in the woods ends with violence aplenty. I found it completely called for and applauded when the criminals got what they deserved. I was drained at the end of the ordeal in the woods, and Aunt Hazel and Uncle Harry strolled onto the scene just when I needed an uplift. I still laugh when I replay that scene in the bathroom: a furious, hissing snake, two grown men and a boy "overcome by the most sustained and idiotic laughter Norma had ever heard." Like another reader, I felt that the scenes arising from Aunt Hazel's Alzheimer's disease were handled with sensitivity and good taste. My grandmother had the disease and I really believe I could have applied some of Jim Bradley's instinctive strategies to bring her some happiness if I had read OLD BLACK while she was still alive. Uncle Harry's exasperation with his wife's condition, his inability to deal with it effectively until Jim showed him the way, was sadly familiar. I feel sure that the author has experienced the anguish of being close to someone with Alzheimer's, to write about it with such delicate insight. The scene at Richter's store where likable old Walter Mehlmann gleefully rehearses how he will waltz through his theoretical last days was a fine piece of humor. Walter's influence on the other men present was hilariously realistic. So realistic, in fact, that after reading that part I found myself rummaging the kitchen for junk food, the more cholesterol laden and otherwise unhealthy the better! I wish I knew where to get some real country cracklings. Fat ones, Reinhard. I like FAT ones! Every character in the book played an essential role. They were so well developed that I could clearly see them in my mind as they came onstage, always true to their distinct characters in actions and speech. Old Black was not a superhorse, as so many fictional horses are. He had limitations and faults, which only made him more "human". OLD BLACK breathes with vibrant life, and did so even while I cried during that sorrowful part with the death and the funeral. It was an experience that gave Jim Bradley (and me too) a better, if bitter, understanding of life. The story is uplifting, happy, dreadfully sad and hilarious, and the ending is just perfect. Throughout, this intricate novel is entirely credible. I agreed to some extent with one critic below - that the book suffered a little in organization. But that defect was overwhelmed by a superb plot, clearly drawn characters, vivid action scenes, settings (I was right there in every scene: seeing, smelling, feeling), and the author's often touching insight into people and horses, especially that lovable Old Black. This is the kind of literature (I call this book literature) that can put a teeny edge on the reader's good side. It is the kind of story (too rare, today) that can open the eyes of young people to the reality that being good, responsible kids can be rewarding, and they can still have fun. This story is much too special to be confined to adult fiction. I would love to see an edition of OLD BLACK written especially for young readers.

Old Black is the most wholesome, absorbing, exciting, touching book I have ever read! And that's going back through a lot of books! Everything in the world that should be in it is there. Old Black the horse was as wonderful as his master, Jim Bradley.

I loved the old black couple, the Jacksons, who lived on the lane to the Bradley's little weekend ranch, and was truly touched by the genuine friendship between that couple and the Bradley family. All of the characters in the story, and there are quite a few, come vividly to life. You never have to think back and ask yourself, "Now just who is this walking on stage?" You know every one of them as if you had known them a long time.

The chapters involving the visit of Jim's Aunt Hazel and Uncle Harry are precious. Aunt Hazel has Alzheimer's disease and Uncle Harry is allowing her condition to get to him. It took the intuitive therapeutic interaction of a boy with compassion for his ailing aunt to show Uncle Har! ry, by examples, how to mitigate her suffering, how to lift her spirits. There was hilarity galore in those chapters, much of it at Aunt Hazel's expense, but it was never once in bad taste.

The rescue of Sheriff Martinez in the woods by Jim and Old Black, which consumed several chapters, was an endless stream of excitement that continued to escalate right up to the very last page of chapter 24. It was a tough job for both the boy and his horse that almost proved to be impossible, but every bit of it was entirely credible.

Old Black is a beautiful piece of creative writing. The story moved. It had a start, a middle, and definitely an ending, an ending that swept along through several chapters in such a rewarding way for the reader. Briggs never takes the writer's easy way out of a single scene or event, but works his plot with fascinating detail and excellent execution. The story was a fine blend of happiness, sadness, tragedy, and humor. Every aspect of the ending was perf! ect -- all the little loose ends that had collected along t! he way were neatly tied up in the most satisfying ways one could imagine -- even better than I ever imagined.

Without giving away the REAL treat at the very end, I will say I loved the way the jealousy toward Jim by the boy on the flashy horse was disposed of. That scene was a magnificent stroke! Then there is a very nice vignette involving that same boy at the very end that had best be left for the joy of reading it first hand. At that last horse show in the Astroarena, I swear I could hear the bawling, cackli! ng, mooing, crowing, grunting . . . of the animals, I was aware of the constant announcements over the loudspeakers, I smelled every aroma of the place, saw and heard the hay carts buzzing around, felt the presence of the activity going on all about -- I was THERE!

Old Black is a fairly long book --387 pages of text -- but I flew through it way too fast to suit me. We should be able to give an extra star to special books for appearances. This one is a beauty, with a nice oil painting for the cover, a pretty full-color map of "Old Black Territory" on the front and back endpapers, and at least five dozen gorgeous illutrations, which is why I presume the book was printed on such fine paper.

When you buy Old Black, you may as well buy two and get it over with. You'll just HAVE to let certain friends read it, and you'll sure not want to part with your own special copy.

(This review was provided by the reader, who does not have a computer, to the publisher for sending on to amazon.com.)