Some events happened to me in 1977 that made me feel very confident that many really big changes were going to happen, and I was certain that the changes would start happening in about 1995, oddly enough about the time of this book's publication. The things that happened to me were not in any way the same as what happened to Vance Davis and the "Gulf Breeze 6," yet reading parts of this book, especially the predictions of apocalypse, reminded me of visions I had as well as intuitions i.e, "things are so messed up in this world, it just can't go on the way it is!"

Only it's 2001 as I write this review, and from my point of view none of the big changes happened, and thus while I liked "Unbroken Promises," I was soured by the parts that predict apocalypse and have, at least to this date, been proven wrong over and over. Personally I also don't react very favorably when dire predictions are made and then the "prophet" claims that they didn't come to pass because people "woke up," or whatever excuse can be thought of.

"Unbroken Promises" is first of all Mr. Davis's autobiography. He is a psychic trained in Silva Mind Control who eventually goes to work for the NSA. Davis, who is also keenly interested in consciousness expansion, learns how to go into deep meditative states, to the point of meeting spirit guides, such as Kia, who claims to be from a planet forty-five light years away. Yet Mr. Davis also is a religious, or better-stated, spiritual man, and he repeatedly asks Jesus for help in all his endeavors. To some having contact with aliens while believing in Christ might seem strange!

The real story of "Unbroken Promises" occurs during the summer of 1990, when Davis and 5 other mililtary personnel begin to dabble in the paranormal while stationed in Germany, eventually to the point of communicating with spirits through an Ouija board. They have 7 sessions with these spirits. At first there isn't a totally religious overtone, but quickly more spirits come through, and almost all of these spirits use the names of apostles of Jesus. The messages they give are a mixture of good ol' Biblical global apocalypse, a la the Book of Revelations, along with specific directions to the 6 humans to leave their posts and return to America, to help with the "big changes" that are imminent. They are told not only the approximate date to go AWOL, but also, repeatedly, that they will be protected from danger.

So the 6 do go AWOL, ending up in Gulf Breeze, FL. Unfortunately they are caught, and initially are treated like hardened criminals who have engaged in espionage. After about 3 weeks of imprisonment, during which the story becomes a public scandal, they are not only released, but almost unbelievably are given a choice - they can actually remain in the military or receive honorable discharges (they of course choose the latter)! In short, all the predictions that the spirit guides make concerning their welfare come true (assuming none are omitted, and I question that). We are told implicitly and explicitly that in fact the 6 do have "friends in high places," and one of the important points made in the book is that the US govt. is divided into "good" and "bad" factions.

What is a bit "unkosher" about the book is the claim by the authors (mostly via the channeling from the Ouija board) that Mr. Davis and

company are going to play a very important in the "awakening" of humanity during the aforementioned apocalyse, the apocalyse that in my view still shows little indication of happening. And indeed almost all of the really dire events listed towards the end of the book, such as riots in many major cities, the widespread institution of martial law, and particularly the coming of the Peacemaker/anti-Christ, have simply not come to pass, which is why I question whether Mr. Davis supplies a complete list of predictions concerning his group going AWOL.

Still, "Unbroken Promises" is surely an intriguing book to read and ponder, and I have no doubt about Mr. Davis's sincerity. I also enjoyed the inclusion of the accounts of 3 females who were involved in the arrest of the Gulf Breeze 6 (one who had gone AWOL, plus 2 friends, one of whom Mr. Davis had seen in a dream 10 years before and became his wife!). The final part of the book are the documents that back up what was written about the imprisonment and release of the 6.

Once again, Brian Livingston and Davis Straub have put together their complete knowledge of Windows 95, a great book. Accessible as well to those who "knows" as to those who don't know that much.

I bought both "Badges and Insignia of Third Reich" and "German Uniforms of the Third Reich" from Amazon.com. I was disappointed. I'm a modeller and looking for reference books for the German uniforms and insignias. But I found out those books may be good sources for the collectors or historians, but not for modellers. It should use tables for the illustration and catagorize the shoulder strips and insignias by ranks. It does not have enough information for the representation of color used around/on the shoulder strips and insignias.

This is an okay book. It has some interesting facts -- good for reference. I was hoping for rank and insignia tables; e.g., a sergeant has so many stripes and a captain has this many bars or whatever. The layout is confusing -- you have to flip from the area with insignias to another area that provides a description. I was disappointed.

If you are a collector of WWII German militaria and you do not own this book, you should. Classic volume, features 64 color plates (illustrated by Malcolm McGregor) depicting virtually every patch or badge issued by the Third Reich. Each Item is accompanied by an incitefull description of each item. All-in-all, an excellent sourcebook by a world-renown militaria author. I also strongly reccommend any of Mr. Davis's fine books.

This is one of the most helpful books on WIN 98 that I have seen. Although it's published by the same company as those "dummies" books, it steers well clear of the condescension and verbal clutter of those. You don't need a great deal of experience to make use of the book, though it does make the peculiar assumption that you've upgraded to WIN 98 from a 3.X version, rather than from WIN95. Fortunately, those parts are easily skipped. Less useful are the shareware programs included on the CD-ROM, but the book is well priced for what it contains. You need to know, however, that this is far from an exhaustive treatise on Windows 98. If you are seeking real depth of detail about DLLs and registry files, you will have to look elsewhere.

I found this Windows Secrets book just as helpful as its predecesors. I had used the Windows 3.1 Secrets years ago, in order to become more accuainted with the OS and learn some tricks that don't come well documented, and it certainly helped to do so.

However, if your goal is to become an EXPERT of Windows 98, i.e. learning the whereabouts of the Registry, you might be disappointed.

One last thing: this book does NOT deal with the Second Version of Windows 98. For example, it mentions tons of times a VERY useful un-documented tool called TweakUI, which is not supported by the Second Edition (sadly enough.)

Windows® 98 Secrets makes a great reference book. It has rescued me out of a couple of jams. It covers Tweak UI which Microsoft shuns. It shows how to restore Microsoft Fax which MS omitted. The list goes on...If I ever happen to lose my copy, I will buy another one. Can't say that about many books.

THIS BOOK IS THE SAME AS HANDBOOK ON THE BRITISH ARMY 1943 BY
CHRIS ELLIS,PETER CHAMBERLAIN.
IT IS THE SAME BUT HAS 29 MORE PAGES,COLOUR RANK PLATE

Seven Candles for Kwanzaa is a change from the original Cristams story. This Kwanzaa loving picture book is by Andrea Davis Pinkney. And the stunning pictures are by Brian Pinkney. This book is about you guessed it Kwanzaa. Seven Candles for Kwanzaa tells you everything from the traditions of Kwanzaa to the candles. The colorful illustratins help show what each of the candles specifically stands for and what is done on the days as they are one by one lit on the Kinara. Seven Candles for Kwanzaa gives any one who os not to sure what goes on during the Kwanzaa holiday a very in depth description of what goes on.
I would think twice before spending your hard earned money on this book. In my opinion Seven Candles for Kwanzaa was about 5 pages too long. I would make sure you are really into Kwanzaa before you get this book. And if you are this is the book for you. No mater what you celebrate, it is good to be familiar what other cultures do.

Co-author Davis usually writes outstanding works on Third Reich Militaria but this co-authoring effort is mediocre. The lead author, Sharpe has produced a very uneven work. A look at the bibiliography shows how little research & editorial effort went into this. Most of the LAH photos are non-combat ceremonial while most of the frontline photos cannot be specifically identified to the LAH. Many of the captions are a joke. A photo of a SS-VT soldier firing a Mauser Schnellfeuer is identified as a Luger. A rare photo of Sepp Dietrich in black SS uniform shows him with his lower right tunic button undone and his swastika armband (kampfbinde) slipped down below his elbow to his lower left forearm, so it rests just above the Adolf Hitler cufftitle. A single rejected photo never previously published is not enough to warrant purchase of this title. The maps are virtually useless. This book is just adequate for a budding high school military history buff but it's insufficient when compared to the many other superior books on the subject.