"Watching Jim, you learn how easy flying is, how effortless this wonderful art can be. But how do Jim Gannett and his like accomplish this simplicity? They study and practice, enthusiastically pursuing the art of flight, until knowledge gives them confidence and practice provides the skill to perform. It is there for all of us."

Reading this book you get to fly with the author, who's career at TWA spanned DC-2's to the B-747, and learn his distilled practical knowledge. Check lists, habits, emergencies, control smoothness -- it is all here. People say that if you want to be successful in something, you should hang out with people who already show the qualities you desire. This book is a way to hang with a true master pilot. (If you were wondering, Jim Gannett was Boeing's senior test pilot.)

A truly comprehensive set of must have books for the aviation enthusiast. A great blend of theory and practical aspects of flying, weather and navigation. These are books that you will read once and refer back to again and again.

... and will remain so after you read this book. Everything in Buck's book is useful but it is tough to remember all of his rules without a solid grounding in meteorology. The cover's subtitle "a practical book on flying in all kinds of weather" is accurate. This book is about practice, not theory. However, after finishing the book, I was disappointed to find myself as ignorant as ever about weather and completely at the mercy of the FAA briefers.

I got my instrument rating 25 years ago, and Buck's Weather Flying recommendations are still fresh and pertinent. A friend just shared that she is going to tackle an instrument rating, and Weather Flying came to mind as the perfect gift to make a safe pilot. I still use his practical recommendations in my infrequent IFR flights, and feel that it has contributed to making me a safer pilot. Sorry if this sounds a bit corny, but few books have stuck with me like this. PS: If you're interested, try T.R. Fehrenbach's "The Reckoning" or "This Kind of War" if you want something that will also stick with you through life.

Tom

Buck entertains and teaches. Alone, that is a talent, but add to that Buck's experience and his ability to observe and anticipate our weaknesses as pilots, and this book becomes a valuable down and dirty reality check. If you are a high-time pilot or just getting under the hood for real, read this book.

There is a particular joy to flying with the clouds. The style of Buck's writing captures this uniqueness. It also warns the pilot of the consequences of not preparing for the same event.

Weather Flying is a fast read, yet might just save you from being tangled up in a ball of scrap aluminum.

A wonderfully written book of an amazing life. From DC-2 to 747, it was a career spaning the greatest changes in civil aviation. A story that is now told by someone who was active in advancing the skill of airline flying and can make it very readable. The airline pilot autobiography is not a new idea - there have been some good ones and boat-loads of just OK ones - but this is the best I've read.

A pilot's pilot (Captain Buck flew the line, did research and wrote some best-selling classic pilot education books) who can make the flight through the decades come alive. Imagine sitting down with an old man at a small airport who still pilots gliders and he turns out to be a storyteller of great wit and charm, a man who still remembers when crossing the Atlantic was a battle, who was there when airline flying advanced from shaky pistons to huge jets. Who would not want to relax in the sun, watch the airplanes, and listen to the wonders of TWA unfold. In the tradition of St. Exupery, Ernest Gann and Len Morgan. And yes, I liked it.

North Star Over my Shoulder is the best flying book I've ever read, and one of the most fun books that I've read in a long time. Captain Buck has an easy to read style and has had a fascinating life centered around aviation. From the earliest planes through 747s, Buck has flown them all. He bring us along through his life with entertainment and a sense of humor. Highly recommended!

Simply amazing , one of the best aviation "history" books I have ever read, Truly those were unique times for aviation : the author started flying wood and fabric airplanes and finished his carreer flying 747. I reccomend this book to pilots and to everybody intersted in the history of commercial aviation and its developments. In my opinion it is comparable if not better than another classic : Fate is the hunter.

A job search used to be a dreary process of mailing resumes, making calls, scheduling interviews, and suffering rejection until you took the first thing that came along. Well, the employment quest has changed along with everything else. Here's how to take advantage of being a skilled, available professional in a hot job market. J. Thomas Buck, William R. Matthews and Robert N. Leech pool their considerable experience as career development consultants to cover the entire landscape of job hunting in this detailed workbook of 101 exercises. Though written clearly and conversationally, the book is not simplistic. The authors ask thought-provoking questions as they take you through the job search process. Even if you've been in the business world for years, you will find this guide valuable since it harnesses the whirlwind of today's ever-changing corporate climate. We at getAbstract.com recommend this book to anyone embarking on a job search and to human resources professionals.

The author is obviously a highly skilled pilot and has extensive experience. His recounting of the progress in the airline industry is very interesting. I bought the book expecting to read about progress in dealing with the problems encountered in adapting new technology and adjusting to the obviously over crowded skies. While the author states (over and over) that both are very real problems, he does not offer much in terms of what is being done to address the pilot's ever expanding workload. He seems merely intent on convincing the reader that the industry and the FAA are out to get the pilot. This book is not so much a study of human factors as a pilot's complaints about an industry that probably somehow just became something he no longer cared to be a part of.