Despite its age, this is still the definitive book on handling jets. Comprehensive coverage of the widest range of topics, and to the deepest depth needed to satisfy any technical enquiry. Davies has an unmatched writing style that is highly readable, and right up there with the likes of Bill Gunston. If you prefer reading fiction more than textbooks, then this book is just about as readable as fiction.

Excellent sections on landing and takeoff. Davies makes full use of his background as Chief Test Pilot of what was then the UK Airworthiness Authority. He puts all the topics into the context of proper engineering and aviation fact, shows how the rules evolved from there, and generally gives you complete confidence that you've mastered the full range of the subject. PPRUNE Tech Log has always got one or two side references to this book.

Chase it up hard - it's still around - and keep it at the front of the bookshelf. My copy sits between 737-700 manuals and 4th edition Horonjeff.

A top notch choice for the experienced pilot who decides to fly very large jets. For those who are applying for an airline pilot position, this guide makes sense of the new-hire pre-screening flight simulator check on the B-767 or DC-10. The book earns it's keep on the book shelf as a nice review for the twice yearly proficiency checkrides. An excellent refernce guide for high speed aerodynamics and heavy-jet flight characteristics. Captain Davies writes in a way which allows pilots of all types of craft to add to their knowledge of flight. This is a classic book, buy a copy if you can and do not let go.

This book reproduces the original travel book created by David Roberts in the early 1800s. Though not as large as the original book, the reproductions are quite large and beautifully done. David Robert's lithographs are magical.

Roberts portrayal of the holy land as it appeared thousands of years ago brings to life what once could only be described by the words of the bible. A visit to the mid-east would not be complete without first studying Robert's book. One's perspective as they visit the holy land would then blend today's rituals with that of the past.

I highly enjoyed reading Sing & Change The World. I was inspired by the stories, letters, and facts that were presented in the book. This book needs to be read by people who don't have singing in their lives. It might change their life.

David Dayton weaves tales of historical trivia with first-person letters from celebrities and his circle of friends (including me)to shed light on the phenomenon that singing is universal -- it relieves pain, saves lives, serves as a memory aid -- and is just plain enjoyable.

I felt awkward about reviewing a book that I saw take shape during our Thanksgiving dinners, New Year's Eve parties, and life cycle events. That's when I realized that the best person to tell you about "Sing and Change the World" is someone who watched its development from the bubble of an idea to a complete literary work. This is the book you buy for your friends who think they can sing and the ones who are afraid to try, the karaoke lover and the solitary hummer -- bottom line, everyone! Even the Grinch would adore this book.

Library Journal's review of this guide: "Combining encyclopedic coverage of destinations with loads of practical information and atlas-type maps, the series illuminates the wonders of nature but emphasizes the peculiarity of a place's people and their folklore."

The experienced actor David I. Davies gives readings of 30 soliloquies and scenes from Shakespeare's "Hamlet." Travis Dickerson's resonant music enhances the dramatizations. In addition to all of Hamlet's major soliloquies, Davies does a variety of scenes following the story line of the play and the cast of significant characters. Besides Hamlet, there's Horatio, Polonius, Claudius, and Ophelia. With the sharp expressiveness of Davies' readings, the listener can easily follow the development of the play and the inter-action of the characters.

Davies gives a reading which is true to the original language, yet modern in tone and enunciation. Though the readings are faithful to Shakespeare's language, Davies' pacing and pitch is modern-so the listener follows the dialog as easily as if he or she were listening to persons talking on a TV program, for example. The high technical quality of the recording and the tape also contributes to the favorable listening experience. Because Davies' readings make the play so accessible, "Hamlet One Voice" could be used for classroom or individual student study of the play; although anyone interested in the play or exceptionally controlled and elucidating readings of literature would find this work rewarding.

Henry Berry, reviewer
The Small Press Book Review

This is NOT an autobiographical essay, although you might suppose so after the opening story of his exile to California and then later back to Mexico where he was treated as a stranger. This episode serves more as a kernel from which grows his political and social education and experience. Paz briefly traces his political growth from childhood to maturity, through Mexico, the Yucatan (which he points out is so very different from the rest of Mexico), Paris, Spain, India, etc... The editor does his best to provide background history, but be warned that Paz assumes you have the same strong knowledge of Mexican history that he does. I though the highlight was his piercing conclusion about the evil in ourselves, "Evil is human, exclusively human. But not all is evil in humans. Evil nests in their awareness, in their freedom. In there also lies the remedy, the answer to evil... to fight evil is to fight ourselves. And that is the meaning of history."

The writing is clear throughout -- Paz writes well in prose form as well as poetry. A bit hard to follow sometimes, but aren't all intellectual journeys?

Poet Octavio Paz has journeyed across much of the twentieth century landscape in this short book of essays. As a son of La Malinche (see his LABYRINTH OF SOLITUDE), he maintained a clearheaded sense of balance while his contemporaries were losing their heads over communism, surrealism, existentialism, and all the other isms that characterized that time.

What has always amazed me that Paz was at one and the same time both a truthsayer and a poet. Even to someone like myself whose Spanish is less than idiomatic, his poetry possesses a beauty and limpidity that are almost never met in combination. Only Emily Dickinson of the poets I know has this quality. One of my favorites is the poem "Epitafio sobre ninguna piedra" from which the title of this review is taken.

Now that communism is all but extinct, one forgets that only a short while ago it held so many intellectuals in thrall. Looking at our situation today, Paz concludes that "if I am sure of one thing it is that we are living an interregnum; we are walking across a zone whose ground is not solid; its foundations, it basis has evaporated. If we wish to climb free from the marsh and not sink into mud we should quickly work out a morality and a politics." I think that, as a people, we have not. I am reminded of Yeats's "The Second Coming":

The best lack all conviction
While the worst are full of passionate intensity

A final word: Toward the end is a beautiful little essay entitled "Imaginary Gardens: A Memoir" which, while responding negatively to a proposal for a public park, lets loose a Proustian flood of memory regarding the past of the town where Paz was raised, Mixcoac.

This little book, which can be read in a single sitting, deserves a wide readership. I loved it and feel impelled to seek out more of Paz's work.

The agile synthesizing mind at the height of its powers: Skip the 'Labyrinth' and go straight to this.

Given the high-power talent behind the camera (Brian DePalma), in front of it (Al Pacino), and at the typewriter (Oliver Stone), SCARFACE should have quite a lot going for it. It does indeed, although I can't quite call this a GODFATHER-type masterpiece for certain reasons.

Ostensibly, this is a reworking of Howard Hawks' classic 1932 gangster pic about Al Capone. This time, the setting is Miami circa 1980, the contraband in question is cocaine, and the lead character, Pacino's Tony Montana, is a Cuban-born criminal who just came off the Mariel boat lift with 125,000 others that Castro let go, twenty percent of whom were known criminals. Pacino gets in on the ground floor with a local drug boss (Robert Loggia) and soon works his way to the top, doing just about everything to tick someone off--associates, enemies, cops, his wife (Michelle Pfeiffer), his sister (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), and the Colombian drug kingpins he has to do business with.

But in his cocaine-fueled journey to achieve the so-called American Dream, he neglects to follow two rules taught to him by Loggia: (1) Don't underestimate the other guy's greed; and (2) Don't get high on your own supply. He finally crosses the line in the end by alienating a Colombian drug boss (Paul Shenar) so much that Shenar sends assassins to Pacino's Miami villa. The result is a horrific and bloody shootout in which most of the assassins are rubbed out, and so is Pacino.

Without a doubt, SCARFACE continues to generate wildly divergent opinions, both pro and con. I for one had some trouble trying to stomach Pacino's Cuban accent at first, but then his ultra-charistmatic performance kicked into high gear, four-letter words and all. The film is very true to its essentials of showing how a certain segment of the Cuban boat people, a very SMALL segment, tried to latch onto the American Dream by trafficking in illegal narcotics and thus earning millions. Probably the most interesting thing about SCARFACE is the political view that Stone espouses in his screenplay: he seems to espouse a very Reaganesque view of the world of the 1980s (virulent anti-Communism; anti-Castro), but in truth he is severely critical of those very same policies that motivated Castro to send the worst of his worst onto American soil and thus accelerate this nation's drug problem.

SCARFACE does have its faults. It requires a lot of patience to sit through with a running time approaching 170 minutes, and I am not all that sure there is enough in there to sustain it for that kind of length. The film continues to be controversial in some quarters for its extreme (as opposed to merely excessive) violence; the chainsaw scene in an apartment, the hanging from a helicopter, and the ultra-gory shootout at the end rank as some of the most violent scenes ever shown on film. Only four other films in history challenge it in this respect: THE WILD BUNCH, SOLDIER BLUE, TAXI DRIVER, and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. Finally, this film set a record for the greatest number of times the "F" word, or variations of it, are used; I lost count at two hundred. This IS a bit much, although it probably fits the reality of the situation it depicts.

On the other hand, DePalma, whose 1976 film CARRIE remains one of the touchstone suspense/horror films of all times, does make quite a lot out of Stone's wild and crazy screenplay--though surprisingly, for the violent scenes, he doesn't use slow-motion or montage that much, which would have earned him favorable comparisons with the legendary Sam Peckinpah. Just as solid is the camera work of John Alonzo, who worked on CHINATOWN and BLACK SUNDAY, among others. Giorgio Moroder's score is pretty good, though I do admit it gets a little cheesy after a while. And Pacino's performance is also high-caliber; just get used to his Cuban accent, and it works very well.

This film comes highly recommended, but with this warning: It is definitely NOT for younger audiences, it is rated 'R' for a lot of good reasons.

Actor Al Pacino gives a powerhouse performance in 1983's SCARFACE. Paciino plays Tony Montana, a Cuban refugee hoodlum, who quickly rises to the top of Miami's cocaine industry. On his way to the top, Tony uses any means at his disposal to get there, no matter who he hurts or betrays in the process. Pacino takes hold of the character and never lets you forget that he is "Scarface". The supporting cast is wonderful too. It features Steven Bauer, as Tony's right hand man, "Manny" Ray. Michelle Pfeiffer is Tony's girl, Elvira, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, in a role early in her acting career, plays Gina, Tony's sister.

The hard-edged script for the film is written by Oliver Stone, who holds nothing back, as usual Directed by Brian De Palma, the movie doesn't flinch at all to tell its story. The film remains a favorite of mine and will leave you with quite a lasting impression. A "remake" of 1932's SCARFACE, in name only, the film is nearly flawless.

The "Collector's Edition" contains a feature length retrospective documentary, that is so well done, you almost forget that there is no commentary track. It is very comprehensive and covers all aspects of the film and its place in cinema history. There's also a number of deleted scenes and outtakes that were nice to see. These fine extras add up to one heck of a DVD for one of the best gangster movies ever made. SCARFACE should not be missed and comes highly recommended.

Al Pacino's most signature role ever! set in 1980 Miami Flordia, a Cuban Immigrant named " Tony Montana" ( Pacino) has a lot of problems ever since he moved into America, now he wants to become the "Cocaine King" of Flordia and head mobster, he would do nothing to stop with his greed and power.

A totally brilliant, entertaining, 3-hour and ultra-violent crime epic beyond anything you've ever seen. Brian Depalma did a great directing job with Oliver Stone doing the script, the acting is great, the pacing is fast, and action packed including the infamous Chainsaw Shower sequence. This movie has became a modern classic for years in the Mob film industry, this is a must see movie! but this isn't for everybody due to scenes of ultra-violence and tons of profanity, you won't be disappointed.

The cast also includes Michelle Pfeifer ( ever sexy in the 80's), Robert Loggia, Paul Shener and Steve Bauer. So if you like " Pulp Fiction", " Reservoir Dogs" and " Godfather Trilogy" check this one out.

"Revenge" is one of the better entries in the collection of "Pink Panther" comedies, featuring Peter Sellers as the hapless Jacques Clouseau (who we learn has survived "16 assassination attempts, including 2 from his own boss"). The plot is typically flimsy as Clouseau is apparently killed by a businessman with mafia connections, before investigating his own death and turning up in Hong Kong for the showdown. However, the plot is not the important thing here.

What is important is the quality performances given by everyone involved. Sellers is at his bumbling best, along with Kwouk as Cato (the Chinese manservant who always seems to be on the receiving end of Clouseau's slapstick). Herbert Lom's Dreyfus - apparently cured upon hearing of Clouseau's death - is not given as much airtime as he deserves, but then again he isn't the emphasis of the film either.

It is always hard to pick highlights of a "Pink Panther" film, everyone will have their own favorite pieces. Here are some of my highlights, both from the action and dialogue departments:

ACTION

Clouseau being attacked by a bondage mistress in his own home - turned into a "Chinese nookie facory" after his death.

Cato's glasses making him knock into everything possible in the hotel in Hong Kong.

Clouseau and Cato chasing each other up and down the stairs while covered in plaster and paint.

Clouseau attempting to answer the phone after this chase and falling down a hole - again.

The appearance of Clouseau - disguised as a priest - at his own funeral, making Dreyfus pitch into the grave.

The finale in Hong Kong and its aftermath.

DIALOGUE

Dyan Cannon and Sellers upon entering her apartment in the rain: "My God!", "Mine too".

Sellers to the "beautiful woman" he has just picked up: "Do you mean to say that you do carry a gurn?"

Sellers' excuse for blowing a huge trumpet at midnight: "I'm trying to save my life, madam"

"Gesundheit", "I know that, I know that"

Clouseau's ridiculous impression of a mafia don.

"Do you mean to say that he killed a roving transvestite to impress his godfather?"

"Now we are getting somewhere, who is this Phillippe" (it turns out to be the first name of the man they were talking about).

"I knew that you knew that I knew that".

"It is a little overdue for a service..."

In short, a worthy inclusion in the "Pink Panther" canon. Missing the fifth star because the humor is not quite so relentless as in the best ones - a few scenes manage to bog it down.

Why do so many people hate this movie? If you ask any Panther fan what their favorite movie is, they will almost automatically say "The Pink Panther Strikes Again". That film's plot was ludicrous and at the end, Dreyfuss supposedly evaporated, but ended up acting in three more Panther films. "Revenge" has a very believable plot and Sellers is giving his best slapstick. Look for the "Salty Sea Dog" and "Godfather" scenes, they're histerical. If you are reluctant of buying this DVD in the series because someone told you it wasn't a good film, I'd think again.............

"The Revenge of the Pink Panther" was the last Pink Panther film to star Peter Sellers, but I got the most laughs out of this one. The salty sea dog costume and inflatable parrot is extremely hilarious. "Naughty birdin afraid of the feug.", he replies. At his fake funeral, Clouseau dsguises himself as a priest, when he goes to the gathering at the churchyard, there is a 21-gun salute. When the rifles go off, he goes, "Ehh". Quite a bit of violence in this one, too. You want to laugh, go ahead and treat yourself to great comedy with this funny-bone tickler!

A disappointing third entry in this series. A new character and good action in the first chapter and a big pause for the rest of the book. The villain and his motives are obvious long before our two heroes catch on. Let's hope for better the next time.

The novel starts with a 40-page out-of-place chapter as PI Jack Delmas and Sheriff's Deputy Jimbo McInnis spend a night on the town. Jimbo majored in football at Mississippi State University where he was a starting lineman. After drinking tequila shooters, Jimbo has a way of picking fights, e.g., going into a redneck bar filled with Univ. of Alabama fans and criticizing Bear Bryant's trademark hat ("What French Quarter queer joint you reckon he was cruising when he found that..."). The next morning he can't remember the brawl, doesn't know why he has a sore foot and mud all over his pickup, and he has a massive hangover.

The story then flashes back to the start when Jack was hired by a woman to determine why her daughter, along with three other young people, was murdered in a summer cabin on Dauphine Island. Matters are complicated when Jack's ex-wife runs her mouth about Jack's case. She only told her friend on Dauphine Island, but that was like telling the tabloids. Jack receives a death threat before he half begins his inquiries. The 220 pages following Chapter One are divided into 26 additional chapters.

The case involves possible smuggling, sports betting, environmental fanatics, various local watering holes with hard-drinking pool-playing rednecks, and assorted women (Jimbo is usually on the prowl). The reader learns various details about Jack's past life, and his incompatibility with his ex-wife - their preferred lifestyles are a mismatch (he was from a family of shrimpers and boat builders and played baseball at Ole Miss, she was a Rebelette from a cotton-planting banking family in higher society). Jack's ex- is jealous of the new women in his life, particularly if they have a bigger bust than she has.

The novel has an interesting plot, and contains helpful maps of Dauphine Island and the Mobile County, Alabama area. It will probably be of particular interest to people familiar with the Gulf Coast.

If you are new to Martin Hegwood, this is where to start. Other novels in the series are better than fair and worth the time( I prefer Green-Eyed Hurricane), but the necessary set-up information is here. Jack Delmas, divorced drop-out banker, private eye ( why are these P.I.s always retreads?) mixes with smugglers and bombers in an island setting in the company of a good ole boy "bubba" deputy sheriff with a high wheeled, swamp truck. Tavern brawls, parties with Jack's ex-wife's pre face lift crowd, and a next door group of costal undergraduates on weekend binge duty spice up an island inspired plot. This is a quick read, traditional who done what, that moves to a neatly prepared conclusion. Perfect book for a long plane ride or day at the beach.