Ever driven down Highway 84 and been amazed by the scenery of the Columbia River?
Ever curious about how the Columbia became the Columbia?
Ever seen a giant bolder in the Willamette Valley and wondered how it got there.
Can you imagine the sea level four hundred feet above Portland?
You think you know, but you have no idea.
Until you read this book! (Or hear about it from a friend.)

This book excellently explains why the eastern half of the State of Washington and the lower Columbia valley are so curiously carved. It also shows how a truly observant scientist works, even though his vindication may be slow in coming. While some persons might wish for more color photographs, I believe the black and white format, particularly in the Grand Coulee region, better shows the power and scope of the floods that carved these otherworldly channels from bare lava rock. The drawing of a typical Bretz flood has to be seen firsthand to be believed. Another exemplary book on the geology of the West. Don't see Grand Coulee or the Columbia Gorge without reading this book.

I've lived in the Walla Walla River Basin for a little over a year. After reading this book, the surrounding area became more alive. This book tells of fascinating events that took place several thousand years ago that created many of the local landmarks. It makes my travels more interesting and personal as I recognize features described in this book. If your a highly educated geologists searching for some real meat, this book is not for you. For the rest of us, this book is written in easy to understand terms. If you live in the Northwest, it's a must read.

I've been very happy with other Footprint Handbooks, particularly the Pakistan Handbook, but this one falls short of the mark. Maybe it is because this is only the 2nd edition and there has been too little feedback from users. The background info is very well done (that part is worth 4.5 stars) regarding history and religion, but the description of sights is only mediocre. I thought Lonely Planet described things better, and the Moon Handbook was the best of the three. I could have done without bringing this guidebook.

I have never read a travel guide book like this. It gives you the overall and detailed picture on Cambodia. Besides history, politics, peoples, places of interests and the information any travel offers, the authors, gives abundant knowledge related to Cambodia, like Buddha's footprint, Pol Pot's life, ruby and saphire... The Ankor area map is the most detailed i have ever seen. Without deep affection to Cambodia, it is impossible to write such an detailed travel guide book.

Just came back from a three week trip to Vietnam with three books: the Lonely Planet, the Rough Guide, and Footprint Handbook.

The Rough Guide is the best guidebook around for the country. It is superior to the Lonely Planet guide in the breadth and depth of coverage and especially its accuracy. I liked LP for other countries but here they did a very poor job.

I have not found even one instance where Lonely Planet provided information that Rough did not have. If you are traveling to the north, you may want to consider reading Footprint before you leave -- it has some interesting information.

Also, all hotels -- even the top ones -- can be negotiated down in price. Send them an e-mail and ask for special rates, corporate rates, etc. You can stay at the Metropole in Hanoi for less than half their rack rate.

As a former expat in Saigon with family and friends all along the Mekong Delta, I'm naturally interested in the precision and breadth of guidebooks on SE Asia. This one from Footprint seems to cover all the bases in a detailed and realistic fashion. Since there's always uncovered terrain, it's the one I'll bring on my next trip over. And for new visitors, I'd also recommend the video "Raise The Bamboo Curtain: Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma", available from Amazon.

This is a solid work, with a lot of supporting material. Makes both Native Americans and Puritan settlers come alive as real people, yet with a balanced, non-sensationalized view. Can be a little slow in some spots, but overall a good read for those with an interest in the topic (i.e. Native Americans and early settlers, Massachusetts, or local history to Natick, et al).

This introductory textbook of strategic studies covers four main themes: the enduring issues of strategy, the evolution of joint warfare, twentieth-century theories, and contemporary issues of grand strategy. The book is written from the perspective of 'Western security interests', but even so, studying strategy helps us to think clearly about the ways in which states and others use organised force for political ends.
The writers all refute technological determinism: new weapons - artillery in World War One, tanks in World War Two, guided missiles in the Arab-Israeli war of 1973, precision bombing and superior ground force technology in the Gulf War - were none of them unbeatable. They show that the basic principles of conducting land warfare have hardly changed in the last hundred years. Armies need to combine their arms, defend in depth, keep large reserves, use cover and concealment, and integrate movement and suppressive fire. In particular, Stephen Biddle shows that, contrary to many claims, the USAF air war in the Gulf did not destroy all the Iraqi armour. Possibly 4,100 armoured vehicles later fought the US ground forces, but they did not fight according to the basic principles, so they were beaten.
However, the editors err in dividing what they call '20th-century theories' - deterrence, arms control, terrorism and 'irregular warfare' (national liberation struggles) - from the 'contemporary issues' of technology, weapons of mass destruction, and humanitarian intervention. These are all still live issues. Further, the editors could have presented them in the livelier form of debates.
As with any collection of pieces by many hands, the quality is uneven, but generally the better essays are more grounded in the realities of 20th-century military history. The worse ones try to discuss, for instance, the causes of war in terms of biology or psychology. As a rule, strikingly individual expressions of one person's views, like Colin Gray's Modern Strategy, or Bernard Brodie's War and Politics, provoke more thought than compilation textbooks

I read Silas Marner as a sophomore in high school and I still remember it today, as a senior about to graduate. The tale about a lonely old man, Silas, who lost his not only his faith in God but his most supposedly valuable treasure, his gold, learns that nothing can ever take the place of human love and companionship when he adopts Eppie. With her help, he learns to care about more than money, and a thrilling, touching novel is the result. When I was told to read this book, I automatically thought I wouldn't like it, since it was an assigned book. Instead, it has become one of my favorite novels of all time, right up there with Pride and Prejudice, Hamlet, and The Power and the Glory.

I enjoyed this book very much. The morals and lessons it teaches you are very important. It is the story of a lonely man, who because he was falsely accused of stealing and because this cost him all his relationships with people, he secluded himself in his lonely house along with all his gold that he saved up. He never spent his money because he enjoyed its company. His gold was his only companion for several years of his life. Then one day, he was robbed, and he no longer had anything worth living for.
Silas was slowly dying of misery and depression. He had no reason to live. Then one day a little girl walked into his house and into his life. Her mother died, leaving the baby girl as an orphan. So, Silas adopted her and took her into his home. She grew up a poor, hard-working girl who loved her new father Silas and vice-versa. Because of this new daughter of his, Silas changed for the better. He became more caring and devoted to someone else besides himself. He started to go to church again and changed his views on what really was important in life. And one day when his treasure was found and returned to him, he didn't even care for it. He had something even more precious than gold: someone to love and receive love from.

The fact that Amazon has so many editions of Silas Marner available indicates that it is truly a classic if it is still being read more than 150 years after it was written.

It is unfortunate that some high school reviewers (or former high school readers) feel that they had this book "forced" on them. Yes, the English language has changed since the early 19th century, especially for American readers of this British author.

My suggestion would be to listen to "Silas Marner" as an audiobook, perhaps while reading along. I recently finished listening to this fine book narrated by Margaret Hilton, but I couldn't find her rendition among the titles available here. I'm sure there are many fine versions available.

So, give this tale a listen, and let the language flow into your ears. Then you will discover why this tale about a miserly old weaver, who has been wronged by his neighbors more than once, finds redemption and a new life when he adopts the little girl left on his doorstep is truly a classic.

If you're an armchair general who never served in the military and who believes that professors know more about war than soldiers, this is the book for you. If you love dreary writing, buy two copies. If tendentious history is your thing, buy three. This is campus arrogance with little sense of the complexity, confusion and danger of battle. But if you're just aching to believe that generals are all dummies, and that anybody with a doctorate in international relations could run our wars better than the men and women who sweat, bleed and die for our country, this is the perfect book for you. Good trees died for this.

I am not sure what to make of this book. The model is nothing new if you really think about it. It's bottled snake oil to some extent. The analysis is arbitrary (that does not mean wrong) and one can find subtle flaws. There are many interesting facts, and other ways to look at events and battles, but the book is useful only to the narrow-minded. I wonder who wrote the other reviews. His friends?

If you enjoy this type "failure" analysis (such as the book "Normal Accidents"), I think you'll find this to be an excellent read. My interest is primarily in business strategy and related issues (not in military history and strategy per se), but the authors present material which I found to be very useful across many different professions. My complements to the authors for good cases, good analysis and good writing. I really had great fun reading this book. It could have used better proof reading, but the errors enountered in no way hindered the presentation in any material way.