We have long needed this book. Historically, most texts have either concentrated on describing the natural history of venomous organisms or the medical implactions of envemonations (a noteable exception is the excellent contributions by Halstead). This book provides a great deal of biological informtion about toxic marine organisms and then combines this with the latest information about medical treatments for envenomations. In addition, this book also contains an excellent reveiw and classification for cnidae, which I have personally been looking for for a while. I honestly can't say enough about this text. Although this book is not really for the layman (you won't find much in the way of popularized accounts of injuries), it is an EXCELLENT text for specialists.

You do have to separate bull from actual facts tho. He tends to embellish. And he is flippant. And a bit full of himself. He talks about one incident involving a Canadian being attacked by a pirate in Mexico but fails to mention the well known fact that the whole thing was a hoax. When the author runs that loose and fast with the truth it makes you wonder how much of this is bull and how much is fact. Also this author, who is a good writer, very good in fact, can't make up his mind if this is an investigative "facts based" piece or a compelling piece of fiction. He darts back and forth between the two styles further blurring the line between fact and fiction. He also fattens up the piece by repeating himself. I take books like this with a grain of salt and jaundice eye, cull what seems to be credible facts from the minefield of bull. And he never pauses for a second to ask why are these "pirates" so desparate in the first place? What is behind the economic conditions that drive barefoot natives to risk life and limb to board a 8 foot high oil barge anyway? He talks about them taking synthetic rope so their wives can make fishing nets? Why would they need that if they can get 40K from a ship safe? I mean there is a whole load of unexplainable stuff here. He has a very interesting topic here but doesn't seem to have enough information to truly flesh it out. He would have done better writing a novella peppered with facts rather than a non-fiction piece speckled with fiction. He is taking what would have been at best a good feature magazine article and fattened it up into a book.

This book starts out like a house on fire, interesting and for me something new. Unfortunately the author could not keep up the pace of excitement and the middle of the book drags a bit. The author takes the reader through the world of modern day pirates or at least the ones in Asia that attack large oil tankers. The author does tell us this type of activity takes place all over the world and to all different types of ships but the book only focuses on oil tankers in Asia. He does a good job of telling us the overall issues like who is doing it, why and where, but I think he fell down on the excitement of the actual events.

The author just did not hold my attention with the different dangers and types of highjacking. I think he really could have made the book more exciting by focusing more on many different events instead of a 10 day trip on an oil tanker talking about on deck rail patrols and the food in the mess. I do not want to sound too negative; the book was overall entertaining and interesting. I would suggest it if you are interested in the subject. It just could have been more fun and exciting.

This book is extremely well-writen and contains both first and second hand accounts of piracy. More important than the individual tales that Burnett weaves together is the overall theme. Virtually no ship is completely safe from piracy and piracy has been increasing at alarming rates.

I heard this author on the radio, and was so capitivated by the subject matter that I later bought this book. I was not disappointed. Burnet opens with his tale of pirates boarding his sale boat. He later travels on two large commerical ships. While traveling on these boats, he blends firsthand accounts of piracy prevention and secondhand accounts of attacks on commericial ships.

That these pirates have success while using very primitive tools and methods is very alarming.

As for shotcomings, I would have preferred more information on piracy in the caribbean. The book focuses on the biggest hotspot, the Malacca Straights near Singapore.

For those who doubt the authenticity of the subject matter, I suggest you type "piracy report" into google and check out the weekly reports provided by the International Chamber of Commerce. The link was provided by the author.

I got this book within two days, exactly when I needed it. It arrived on time and in good packaging. I would like to thank el felix for sending the book. I am anxious to use it.

Every step expains the advertising basic component. It can help you understand the advertising.

As a student of Contracts, this casebook is useful for learning the subject area. It provides several cases to adequately illustrate the areas of contract law & major concepts. Although it can be somewhat dry, the historical overviews provided by the editors can be helpful to the average law student.

This is really a fun read, covering British drinking habits, alchoholic and otherwise. It purports to cover several centuries but is really mostly about the late 18th century to the early 20th. My only major gripe is that it is based entirely on secondary sources -other people's work. So as a survey it is very useful, but really doesn't contribute anything new to the scholarship. It is also clearly written by a social scientist -lots of tables and figures, and even the text decribes trends quantitatively. For the qualitative-minded, we are rarely given more than anecdotes about why culturally shifts in national preferences occured. These tend to be obscured by heaps of evidence drawn from new laws, import duties, and marketing schemes. All in all, pleasant reading, but patience with numbers is required.

From an academic point of view, the book may have elements that can provide insights into IMC. However, the book is too repetitive and detailed to provide any practical use. In my opinion you can get better value for your money buying another book.

The book is a good example to follow if you want to rip of your fellow humans. Following the different stages in the communication process, you will find yourself biting your own tail several times. You read the same stuff over and over and over again, and never seem to get grip of the essence of it. I would not recomend anybody to spend $77,33 on it, unless you collect marketing books just for fun.