From the 704th Tank Destroyer Battalion Review: This book is very handsomely presented. It is an ideal coffee-table edition showing many of the troops in various situations and depicting many of the outstanding events that were part of the 704th's historic drive across France into Czechoslovakia.

"Men Seeking Women" is a genuinely entertaining collection of stories that all, in one way or another, center around sexual relations on the internet (with the curious exception of the last story by Po Bronson which, while good, doesn't seem to have anything to do with the rest of the collection). This is a really strong group of stories that explores the impact of the internet on the interactions between the sexes in a variety of different ways and from a variety of different angles. Some of the stories were better than others, of course, but I particularly liked "Payback Time" by Gary Krist, which takes as its theme the way men develop powerful crushes on enigmatic women they encounter on-line but of whom they know nothing; "Minesweeper" by David Liss, which is about a serial internet liar and how he justifies his awful behavior to himself; "The Face in the Glass" by Paul Hond, which is basically just effective and creepy; and "Prisoners of the Heart" which is, perhaps, not particularly realistic, but a whole lot of fun.

This book provides useful information on the design and implementation of experiments and studies of stream systems. It is valuable not only for young researchers, but also for seasoned researchers reaching into a new area of stream ecology.

I was given this book as a present - it had been ordered through Amazon in the States and it took about just over a week to be shipped over to the UK, and it was a wonderful surprise. The book tells true Fox fans the story of how his first real break came in television, - through to international fame with hit movies such as BTTF, Teen Wolf, Secret Of My Success. There are excellent pictures. And yes it does tell of how he is coming to terms with his Parkinson's disease and his life right now. I definately recommend this book, it is a very interesting read (and the pictures are rather yummy too).

It's too bad that this book is out of print. Probably it stopped selling because of its title -- people must have assumed that it was only relevant for the Nixon era. Not so! The book is valuable today for the evocation of the early part of that time (especially the summer of 1968), but more than that, it is a masterful analysis of that collection of shared intellectual assumptions that make up a great deal of American political (and other) impulses -- specifically, that set of post-Lockean interpretations of social, moral, economic and political life which fall under the rubric of "liberalism". Wills details the connection between Nixon and this background, and the results are far-ranging. Many of the great American assumptions about life are implicated and their mythical foundations revealed: equality of economic opportunity, electoral "mandates", democracy via fair elections in countries that do not have them, fair competition of ideas in academia, and others. Wills leaves no stone unturned. The book deserves to be reprinted again.

Original review above was July 1998; Below added Jan 2003:
Hurrah! It's back in print! Get your copy before it disappears again!

I should have mentioned that, in addition to the fun of watching Wills dismantle the superstructure of liberalism, the book provides great pleasure through its style. Wills writes non-fiction better than most poets write sonnets.

There's something most of us find fascinating about the lineages of persons of note, whether they're royalty, U.S. presidents, movie stars, military leaders, or literary and historical figures like Pocahontas and Louisa May Alcott. The Virginia ancestry of the Queen Mother is relatively well known, as are the New England cousins of the late Princess of Wales and the Duchess of York -- but did you know Elvis Presley, Jimmy Carter, and Jesse Helms are all collaterally related? Roberts is probably the leading expert at this sort of thing, especially when it comes to uncovering surprising connections, like the British royal descent of Karl Marx's wife (whose grandmother was Scottish), and he carefully lays out examples of what might be called "genealogical evolution," demonstating that genealogy really is inclusive, not exclusive. Many British, European, and American contemporaries are much more closely related than we often realize. There are also a number of descents contributed by guest columnists which maintain the same high standard of documentation.

Evans is a fascinating man to listen to. He is a decorated veteran, but shuns the recognition he rightly deserves. He admits that some of his actions during the heat of combat "might have been foolhardy." Evans was not interested in medals, only in trying to keep his men alive. As Evans' Third Army Com mander, General George S. Patton remarked, "No one ever won a war by dying for his country. He won by making the other poor bastard die for his country."

Evans met several truly historical figures. First and foremost was Patton. After the first day of the Battle of Arracourt, Patton visited Evans' command post to commend him on a job well done. That was just the first of many encounters with General Patton. After hostilities ceased in 1945, Evans was assigned to a Prisoner of War camp near Landshut, Germany. There, while interrogating prisoners, he briefly met General Vlasov, another larger-than-life individual. Vlasov was a former White Russian officer who was convinced (some say coerced) to help the Nazis against the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front. Later, in Switzerland, Evans was able to get a glimpse of a compound full of Nazi war criminals, most notable of whom was Herman Goering.

Evans was also fortunate to have been able to participate in the design, testing and eventual combat deployment of the M18 "Hellcat" tank destroyer. The United States Army found that its antitank capabilities were woefully inadequate against the masses of German armor, so a new tank destroyer was desired. Evans, along with a handful of other armor officers from various posts around the US, was invited to Detroit to the Buick Division of General Motors, to offer suggestions for the design of this new vehicle. There are precious few times in a soldier's career that he is given the opportunity to impact upon the equipment he will use in the performance of his duty. Evans and these other officers seized the moment and helped to design one of the most effective combat vehicles ever. In ju! st a few short months the M18 went from the drawing board to the maneuver field and then the European Theater of Opera tions.

Richard Henry Dana suffered from measles while a student at Harvard in 1834. Rather than suffer a slow recovery from weakened eyesight, he shipped out as a common sailor, rather than as a passenger, on a long sea voyage. After becoming a lawyer, he published his recollection of his voyage in 1840; it was an immediate success. He became an active member of the Free Soil Party, and represented fugitive slaves. This first and greatest book shows his sympathy for the suffering and the oppressed, and his courage, unselfishness, and fair-mindedness that characterized his life. This important book describes California before statehood and the gold rush, and life in those times. RHD hoped this book would promote religion and moral improvement for seamen, and diminish their hardships.

Chapter IV tells of being chased by a black hulled ship that flew no colors. They were able to outrun this ship, then lost it in the dark. Chapter V tells of the bad weather while rounding Cape Horn. They passed a whaler from Poughkeepsie NY. Chapter XIII gives his impressions of the Californians. RHD knew that local officials were appointed from the capital, but didn't ask if they controlled the local economy as a colony: produce raw material, buy finished goods. Chapter XVII tells how their captain, known for his flogging, could not hire any new seamen. Chapter XVIII tells of Easter celebration in California. The crews of Catholic vessels get about three more weeks of vacation in a year, and "Yankees don't keep Christmas". Chapter XXI tells more about California politics. Since the independence of Mexico the missions and their lands became the prey of administradores, and became diminished and decayed. RHD describes the lack of common law, and the private morality. It was a rich country waiting to be exploited.

Chapter XXIII tells of the advantages of a bigger ship over a smaller ship: more hands make lighter work. But a smaller lighter ship can catch a slight breeze that becalms a bigger ship. Chapter XXV tells how the heavy import taxes of Mexico are handled. A vessel puts in to declare a moderate cargo, then sells a large part. It then sails to another port; but on the way it gets other goods to replenish its cargo. RHD describes his visit to a whaleship, whose crew resembled fishermen and farmers. [Whalers got a share of the profits, not a wage.] The chapter ends with a description of a 3-day gale. Chapter XXIX tells of preparations to sail home: ballast is dumped, the ship sealed and fumigated to kill vermin. Then the hides are loaded, then steeved to pack in more. This hard work was fueled by a constant diet of fresh beef. Chapter XXX tells of the return trip by a shorthanded and inexperienced crew; they would round Cape Horn in the dead of winter, the worst possible time. Chapter XXXI tells of the sailor's need for rum or hot coffee in wintertime; and what it is like to have a tooth-ache at sea. Chapter XXXII describes the terrible times in the iceberg fields. Chapter XXXV tells of the haste to get home by keeping sails aloft. Scurvy had broken out on the ship due to no fresh provisions. They met a brig and got potatoes and onions for a cure.

The Concluding Chapter tells that drudgery and hardship is a sailor's life, not romantic fantasies. The captain must control everything, and be responsible for everything (mistreatment of seamen). Passengers on board (independent witnesses) result in better treatment of seamen. The lives of merchant seamen are shortened by a lack of sleep. RHD would not abolish flogging: most seamen are foreigners, the cast-offs of war vessels, and unknown to the captains. Force is needed to control them. Gradual improvement will correct this, he claims. RHD strongly objects to the practice of granting leniency to a convicted captain or officer because of previous good character, or a family to support. First, they don't know what it was like there, and this excuse is never granted to seamen! It is just a reward for class differences. Moral improvement is the seamen's best friend. RHD visited California 24 years later and writes about this in the last chapter.

After finishing this book, I am amazed that this book is not more prominent in famous literature. Much of US and Sailing history can be learned through this true firsthand account of a Harvard student gone temporary salty dog. I am not from California or even the west coast but still found the stories contained throughout the book fascinating. Dana did an excellent job of describing the life at sea in the early 1800's without a moment of boring reading. I would recommend (and have been recommending) this book to anyone and everyone.

I really enjoyed his perspective on this voyage - the things he notices and comments upon to us, his readers. He offers us a marvelous view of a land that no longer exists. An intimate view of a sailor's life in its exciting - and mundane - details. I read it as an adult and/but I think this is the book they should give kids to read in high school literature classes. A book that shows life for the adventure that it can be. Not always easy, of course, but always an adventure. I recommend that you relax with it, take you time, go there. You can trust Richard Henry Dana. He tells a good story.

The Haymeadow By: Gary Paulson John Barron, a fourteen year old boy, lives with his father on a ranch in Wyoming. His father goes to town to help a sick employee that works on the ranch. This employee usually and herds six-thousand sheep up into the haymeadow, but since he is sick it is up to John to help out his father's business. The sheep can not survive outside of the cool mountainous environment of the haymeadow during the summer. This meadow is a two-day trip by horse from the Barron's camp. John is forced to stay there for three months tending to the sheep. While John is there the river floods and his supplies are scattered everywhere. John is faced with possible starvation. Also he loses his rifle and has no way to defend himself or the sheep from the ravenous coyotes. In the haymeadow John has to be very resourceful and brave as he faces many dangerous and difficult situations while he is alone in the valley. The story reveals that Gary Paulson wrote The Haymeadow well. In the novel Paulson describes everything thoroughly and keeps one on the edge of one's seat. Paulson's theme in this novel is different than most. He wishes to convey that everything in nature is beautiful in some way no matter how what an organism's purpose is. To back this up Paulson writes soon after the herd is attacked by coyotes, "By the end of three weeks things had reserved and he decided one afternoon to try and find what wasn't beautiful. He was sitting on the side of the stream and had his pants rolled up and his bare feet in the water and he looked around and thought of the last three weeks and tried to think of something that wasn't beautiful. And he couldn't." This book is filled with action and is interesting. I enjoyed it a lot and would recommend it to many.

The book The Haymeadow was written by Gary Paulsen. John is just a fourteen year old who wants some change in his life. He lives with his father and two permanent hired hands named Cawley and Tink. John's mother died when he was four years old. He barely remembers her. During the years he was told few stories about his mother and his memories are confused with stories. John's father and Tink go to town and were suppose to return in the afternoon. His father only returns. John finds out that Tink had to stay in town with the doctors because they discovered he had cancer. Just like John's grandfathers will be asked to go to the haymeadow. But since Tink can't watch over it John will have to go a little earlier than his grandfathers had. Doubts of not accomplishing the task are all over his mind. Spending a whole month with six thousand sheep, two horses, and four dogs will be lots of work. Going to the haymeadow was a long journey as it is. During the first days at the haymeadow, John already approaches many problems. A snake attacks one of the lambs causing it to have a deep cut. Usually they would shoot a lamb so that it won't suffer but John decided to heal the wound. Also, a bear attacks! These are just some of the many obstacles he approaches in the haymeadow. He continues overcoming the obstacles and before John knew it, it was the end of the month. The figure on the horizon was his father coming to see him. His father brings good news. Tink was not going to die because of the cancer. All of the stories of his mother are told to him by his father. When it's time for his father to head back John doesn't want him to go. He tells him that and his father stays and tells him more stories in the haymeadow.

The reason I liked this book so much was because of the way the author describes the setting. "It was more than a meadow. More than just hay. It was a wide, shallow valley between two rows of peaks. The haymeadow itself was four sections, but the whole valley was close to four miles across and nearly eight miles long and so beautiful, John thought, that it almost took his breath away." I could picture the haymeadow by the way the author describes it. I picture a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains and the grass rolling in the same direction. Everything is so beautiful and peaceful. I really enjoyed learning more about the haymeadow.

What I also liked about it was that included some love. This evened out the book so that it balanced. "One car with New York plates was full of tourists and there was a girl with long brown hair who got out with a camera and John felt a little shy but tipped his hat to her. She smiled back and waved and he felt himself blushing but was glad he'd done it anyway." John continues to think about that girl through the days in the haymeadow. I think he found his crush but he never admitted it to Cawley. Cawley saw everything and teased him about that day. John still hoped to see that girl once again.

My favorite part of the story was when the flood hits his trailer with all of his belongings. John ends up fishing his stuff out of the river. All of his shirts soaked and he lost many supplies. The labels of all the canned food flowed down steam so John ended up with having a mystery meal everyday. This is the part of the book with the most action. I think this was the best part because at one point I questioned if he would survive in the haymeadow after all this.

When 14 year old John Barron is asked to spend the summer in an isolated mountain meadow, he is unsure. I mean, sheep are stupid anyway, right? But Tink, the farmhand is sick, and it IS John's turn, just like his father, and his father before him. So he does end up going up to the haymeadow to waste his summer with these...these... creatures.

During his stay, John learns more about responsibility as he encounters may complicated tasks, and he also realizes that maybe sheep aren't so stupid after all. An outstanding book. Gary Paulsen does and exellent job of actually telling the reader what the character is really thinking.

This books contains just about everything you will need to FULLY understand the implentation of tcp/ip on a unix based computer. But if you are like the 95% of people in the computer world, you are running windows, and this book contains nothing regarding its implementation on a windows system.

Even though this book was first published in 1995, it still serves as a useful research and reference guide to those involved in changing the TCP/IP protocol or the mathematical and simulation modeling of it. Most of the source code is included for the protocol and UDP is treated also, with Berkeley TCP/IP used as the protocol implementation. A brief introduction to descriptors and memory buffers is given in Chapter 1, along with a discussion of input processing. The authors treat memory buffers (Mbufs) in detail in Chapter 2. Four different types of Mbufs are used in the protocol, depending on the flag setting in the m_flags member of the header. The source code clearly illustrates the data structures used for the Mbufs. This is followed by a detailed discussion of the Mbuf macros and functions. This is followed in the next chapter with a discussion of the interface layer and the all-important sockaddr data structure. In addition, the system initialization procedures are treated very nicely. This is followed by a very informative overview of the Ethernet interface, with most of the source code omitted since it is hardware specific. The LANCE driver is discussed thoroughly in this chapter. Then, in the next chapter, the SLIP and loopback interfaces are discussed with a very effective diagram used to illustrate the device drivers. The authors do manage to spend a few helpful paragraphs on SLIP performance considerations.

Chapter 6 is a very detailed treatment of IP addressing, the most useful discussion being the one on the in_ifinit function. This is followed by a discussion of the data structures used in domains and group protocols, with the IP initialization and transport multiplexing discussion being of particular interest to me.

The next 3 chapters give an overview of the IP layer, with IP packet structures and processing, option processing, and fragmentation and assembly all given detailed treatments. The performance issues involved in computing checksums and data copying are discussed also. The treatment of timeout processing by the function ip_slowtimo, which is very important from a modeling perspective, was given a thorough treatment.

ICMP is discussed in Chapter 11, with an extensive table included of the ICMP message types and codes. The discussion on error processing was particularly useful. This is followed in Chapter 12 by a survey on how IP multicasting is implemented along with Ethernet multicast addresses. A brief discussion of performance issues involved with Ethernet cards not supporting perfect filtering is given.

IGMP is then taken up in the next chapter, with a good discussion given of the virtual interface table in IP multicasting given in the next chapter. The authors carefully discuss the difference between physical interfaces and tunnels.

The most useful discussion in the book for me was the one on sockets in chapters 15, 16, and 17. The code for the socket data structure is given and a very detailed overview of socket system calls is given. The discussion of the listen and accept system calls is very helpful in understanding the process by which TCP sets up a connection. A full description is given of each macro and function involved in socket buffer allocation and manipulation.

Tree routing tables are discussed in chapters 18, 19, and 20, with emphasis on the structure of the radix tree routing tables used by packets, the interface functions between the kernel and the radix tree functions, and the routing sockets used to exchange routing messages. The discussion is extremely detailed, and the authors take great care in explaining the relevant data structures and function calls used.

ARP is discussed in Chapter 21, with a useful diagram given illustrating the relationship between ARP and routing tables and interface data structures. The structure of the ARP packet when transmitted on an Ethernet channel is shown in detail. Most interesting was the discussion on the algorithm used to avoid ARP flooding.

Protocol control blocks are discussed in the next chapter, with detailed treatments of binding, connecting, and demultiplexing. The handling of ICMP errors with the in_pcbnotify function is surveyed, with a detailed diagram summarizing how ICMP errors are processed.

The actual UDP implementation is discussed in Chapter 23, and the authors show how checksumming is done in this protocol. This is followed naturally by a discussion of the TCP implementation in the next 6 chapters. The reader can clearly see the difference in complexity between UDP and TCP in terms of the number of function calls and lines of code. A complete listing of the statistics used in the tcpstat data structure is given along with a listing of the SNMP variables used in tcp group. The TCP state transition diagram, familiar from Volume 1 by Stevens is given here also. The discussion of the seven TCP timers is very detailed and very helpful to those involved in the modeling of TCP performance. In particular the discussion of the tcp_xmit_timer function, which updates the smoothed RTT estimator and the smoothed mean deviation estimator, is very well written. Retransmission timeouts, the occurrence of which is so important in performance analysis and network troubleshooting, is given ample treatment also. Most interesting was the discussion on determining when a segment should be sent, via the tcp_output function. Also, the reassembly mechanism with the tcp_reass function is discussed in great detail. The reader who needs to be a TCP expert should take away a thorough understanding of it when completing these chapters.

The book ends with a fairly detailed treatment of the BSD Packet Filter and raw IP.

Noticeably missing of course, because of its age, is a discussion of the different versions of TCP/IP currently implemented in Windows 2000, Sun Solaris etc, which are slightly different. The reader will have to consult the Web or modern books to get an understanding of these implementations.

I found vol 2 and 3 extremely helpful as a reference book, definitely recomended for learning the core of the tcp/ip system.

i started out trying to learn the basics of the ip stack,
insted this prompted me to buy vol 1 and 3 as well.