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I was taught sailing at the old age of 19 by one of my 12 year-old YMCA campers. Since my first 5 minutes on the water I have been hooked.
Since then, I have sailed, raced, motored and flated thousand of miles on all types of boats and in all kinds of conditions. My advice, buy this book and read it. Then read it again.
It is not the kind of book you can sit down and read straight through. You need to have it handy so when you are wondering about something, you can get right to it and learn. Just try not to do it when you are wondering if you have the right of way...
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Attention all parents burned out by reading The Pokey Little Puppy over and over again.
Attention cynics whose primary memory of Winnie-the-Pooh is the Dorothy Parker quote (from her "Constant Reader" column in the New Yorker) "Tontant Weader frowed-up".
This book is a treasure for all who hear it. There is gentleness and not a little wit in these stories. Contray to the book description above, the book is read by the late Charles Kuralt. His inflection adds much to the story. One senses that he is amused; but he is never condesending. Now I will always prefer Kuralt's version to my own bedtime efforts with my children. Charles Kuralt must have loved Winne-the-Pooh mightily. How lucky we are that he left this delightful gift behind.
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This book is exciting and hold your interest from start to finish and gives the reader an opportunity to reflect on many aspects of life.
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Anything you'd want to know about the "Christmas" TV special is in this book -- lengthy interviews with producer Lee Mendelson (a veteran of Peanuts anniversary books) and animator Bill Melendez. Charles M Schulz passed away before the book was written, but there are plenty of rarely-seen photos of him taken in the 1960s. There's a chapter on Vince Guaraldi, whose jazz soundtrack defines the lives of many "Peanuts" fans; interviews with some of the children who voiced the characters; and, O happy day, sheet music! The second half of the book contains the complete script for "A Charlie Brown Christmas" itself, along with dozens of photos and animated sequences, taken from the original cels.
"Christmas" is not for small children (unless they're reading it with you), and there are a couple of misprints (including, in my first edition, a caption for a photo that's not in the book!). But it's lovely to look at, and when I put it down finally, reluctantly, I was whistling the soundtrack and hearing Linus's nativity speech (and I'm Jewish!). These days you can buy it for about as much as the DVD costs, and it's a wonderful Christmas gift. Unless, of course, the person you're buying it for already owns it.
It includes storyboards of the Ford commercials which featured Linus and Lucy back in 1962 (3 years before this classic TV special debuted). Not only that, it features advertisements in TV guide, an interview with Bill Melendez, who animated all the Peanuts specials and films up to Charles Schulz's untimely death in 2000), and a few essays from Lee Mendelson, who worked side by side with Melendez on each of the specials. It also features a few words from Peter Robins (the 1st voice of Charlie Brown) and Chris Shea (who played Linus). You also get a tribute to Vince Guaraldi who composed the music (not to mention that it includes the sheet music for "Linus and Lucy" and "Christmastime Is Here"). This book mentions how they came up with the adult "voices" in the specials and Schulz's conditions on working on Charlie Brown Christmas (one was that real children would do the kids' voices, and another was that the Gospel of Luke was present in the script in order to remind the audience the true meaning of Christmas).
Most importantly, this book includes the entire script of Charlie Brown Christmas with stills from the special. In essence, there is enough information for you to cast your own stage production of A Charlie Brown Christmas. There is one slight error in the script, however- the Peanuts gang is not humming "O Little Town of Bethelehem" at the finale but "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" (unless this was written in the original script and changed at the last minute). Finally, turn the pages and you'll see Snoopy cause Charlie Brown to crash into the tree in the one scene that begins the special!
Recommended to all Peanuts collectors and all who love the classic special that started it all for Peanuts animation. I got this from a good friend as a Christmas present!
I'd read so much about Lee during the war that I needed something more, to find out what happened to him after the war. Charles B. Flood provided that "something" and I am so happy that I decided to go for this purchase. It was a snap decision but one I shall never regret.
The first ten chapters of the book are worth the price of purchase on their own, dealing as they do with the surrender of the marvellous Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox and the subsequent weeks and months as Lee made his way back to Richmond and waited to see what fate awaited him at the hands of the victorious Union.
I don't believe Flood was laying it on too thickly but the devotion felt towards Lee by his old soldiers (Pickett excepted of course) and the civilian population of the South are incredible. The stories of soldiers coming to see him before they set off on foot to return home are just so moving and Lee will not say no to anybody who wishes to see him.
After those opening incredible chapters things slow down somewhat and we learn of Lee's transition into what could be called a 'normal' life which sees him take up the presidency of the Lexington College in Virginia. It's not rivetting stuff by any stretch of the imagination but it's interesting and we gain a greater insight into what drives Robert E. Lee... duty and honour. He could have cashed in on his name a thousand times to retire a wealthy man, but he would not sell out and knows that his example, a dutiful one, will be followed by so many former Confederates in those dark post-war days.
Lee also refuses to incriminate his former comrades when pressed to do so and it is a measure of his standing even in the North that no-one dares to bring charges against him, despite the clamour from some sections of society that he be tried for treason.
The picture that Flood paints of Lee is not always flattering though. He is shown to be a stubborn man in some respects and his family are always in awe of him, especially his daughters, of whom he is extremely possessive. So much so that all three will die spinsters!
One of the last things that Lee does before his death in 1870 is to go on a short trip into the deep south and that again provides an incredible picture of his standing in the old Confedracy. Though he craves privacy word gets out that he is on a train and telegrams break the news ahead of his journey. Consequently, thousands turn up just to get a glimpse of him, with old soldiers bringing their children (man of who have been named after Lee). It is a very moving account of just how deeply his people felt for him.
My only complaint is that I would have liked just a little more reaction to lee's death around the South. How did the people react? What did the papers say? That sort of thing. An omission that could easily have been avoided in my opinion.
All in all though a hearty well done to Charles B. Flood for an excellent biography of Lee's last years. If my review sounds a little soppy then believe me, the book isn't. It is a solid, fair and well constructed picture of the last years of Robert E. Lee's life. It may move you in ways you weren't expecting though!
Lee lost most of his property during the war. He was a career soldier, and didn't have many prospects for employment. He hoped to move onto a farm and to live quietly in the country.
However, other plans were being made for him. The trustees of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia, voted unanimously to offer him a job as president of the college. Lee was not a professional educator (although he had served as superintendent of West Point), but the trustees believed that his leadership and integrity were just what the college needed to survive the harsh economy left by the war. For his part, Lee saw this as an opportunity to help young Southern men to become productive citizens.
The college's wager paid off. Enrollment grew each year that Lee spent at the helm. The college developed new programs, and Lee's stature and good reputation were such that Washington College received large donations from philanthropists, even in the Northern states. Lee took a personal interest in the students, learning to address them by name and taking responsibility for disciplinary measures.
Yet Lee's last five years were not years of unabated bliss. His health declined steadily, his wife was an invalid, his brother died, and his reputation suffered from some unjust attacks in Northern newspapers. Throughout it all, Lee held his head high and maintained his dignity, his character, and his principles.
Lee put much effort into healing the wounds left by the war. He appreciated the esteem in which he was held by his fellow Southerners, but he encouraged them to be loyal citizens of the United States of America. He never said a word against General U.S. Grant, and even rebuked an employee of Washington College who did. One of the most fascinating (and mysterious) episodes in the book is Lee's trip to Washington, D.C., to visit President Grant in the White House. No one else was present for the meeting, and so no one really knows what they discussed.
The book ends abruptly with an account of Lee's death, without going reporting on his funeral and his family's life without him. Even so, this book makes great reading and has fascinating insights into the private life of an American icon.
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The price of this notion, is, of course, massive death, but because the massive death does not happen to the nobility, nobody important really minds. This is one reason the Charge of the Light Brigade, with which _the Reason Why_ primarily deals, was so different, and worthy of eulogizing in prose and song (Alfred, Lord Tennyson, by the way, appears absolutely nowhere in this text)--those dying, those paying the price for the Army's obsession with aristocracy, were aristocrats themselves.
Woodham-Smith manages to trace the careers of two utterly unsympathetic characters--Cardigan and Lucan--in a fascinating manner. This is no small feat, considering the reader will probably want, by the end of _the Reason Why_ to reach back in time and shake both of them, and maybe smack them around a bit.
Again, Cecil Woodham-Smith proves herself a master of the historian's craft, and produces a well-researched, thorough and driving account of what is probably the stupidest incident in modern military history.
The Crimean War changed so much about how war is waged--the treatment of prisoners and wounded being tops on the list of reforms brought about in the wake of the debacle. _The Reason Why_ is an excellent account, and should be required reading for anybody with even a remote interest in military history, or European history in general.
The heart of this book concerns the relationship between society at large and the military. Military leaders feared nothing so much as public scrutiny, for widespread discontent could lead to political interference and, indeed, political control of the army. Whether in dealing with the incorrigible personalities of Lords Lucan and Cardigan or in covering up the series of blunders that resulted in the sacrificial ride of the Light Brigade, the military leadership acted with the overriding principle of preserving the Army from governmental control.
The embarrassments of the Crimean campaign proved uncontainable. A great source of difficulty was the incompetence of the Army staff; rank and privilege were held to be superior to actual experience. When these difficulties led to humiliation and defeat, the commanders' concern was not with the men they had lost nor the future of the war effort; to the exclusion of these, their main concern was that bad publicity would appear in Britain, that the public would hear of the lack of success, that the House would begin to ask questions of the military leadership, that the press would begin to criticize the Army. This great fear of political interference was realized in the aftermath of the Crimean War. The author portrays this as the one positive effect engendered by the War effort. A new era of military reform was born in Britain, Europe, and America. Experience now became a prerequisite for command, and officers were trained in staff colleges. The author's final point is that, above all, the treatment of the private soldier changed as the military system was humanized to some degree. Her assertion that at the end of the Crimean War the private soldier was regarded as a hero seems rather bold, but it is clear that he was no longer seen as a nonhuman tool of his commanders' designs.
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That is as much as I should tell of the plot....I don't want to give too much away.
This novel is similar in style and feel to the "X-Files" television series and yet in many ways far superior. Most of the characters are realistic and behave as real people would and the plot is very realistic. You get the feeling that this could have happened (well...sort of) and that's what makes it fun. The whole concept of "one person against a hidden society of criminal geniuses" is always exciting and full of action.
A note on the author's style, I found Wilson to be short on description and visual cues. What you are left with is the plot, which is pretty darn good. Wilson writes this taut thriller very well and leaves it up to you to fill in the gaps. I know he couldn't have told us more about the people involved because some of them are the bad guys...Wilson wants us to figure out which side a person plays on. Overall a good story and fun to read.
Chilling, terrifying, and fast-moving, GAME PLAN is a study in tension from the first page. If you've read all of his books, you will be delighted. If you haven't, this will make you hunger to read every one of his novels.
Do it! You will be hooked for life.
The characters are wonderfully drawn, the storyline has you guessing until the last pages, and there are no loose ends to frustrate even the most critical reader (Me!). This is probably the finest fiction book I have read in a very, very long time. Highly recommended.
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I recommend this book to anyone looking for a Christian perspective on success. Having said that, unlike others reviewers, this is not the best "how-to" success book that I have read. The Success Journey by John Maxwell provides better "tools" and "methods" for how to set goals, and achieve success. But Maxwell's book lacks a Christian perspective on the subject. Therefore, I recommend that those readers looking for books to help you plan your course along the pathway to success, look into both books, John Maxwell's and Dr. Stanley's.
Whether you're a new boater just getting started or an old salt needing a little refresher, this is your dependable one-volume reference. When we need material for our "Boating/PWC Basics" course, this is where we go.
The book is continuously updated and fresh, with new information on topics like GPS and how to use it and Digital Selective Calling (DSC) for your marine radio. It continues to present essential and complete information on preparing to get underway, operating and navigating your boat, the practice of good seamanship, docking or mooring your boat, and how to put it away for the winter (which some of us have to do!).
Chapman's has been a fixture in our library (and on our boats) since the 50th edition in 1972. And even though we pay a little more for it now than the $8.95 price in 1972, you'll still find it a great value at Amazon's price shown above.
Our advice: Don't leave home (or the dock) without it.