Great customer service. Arrived within 3 days, no problems getting the product ordered. Highly recommended!

I first used this as a high school student then later at univerity doing engineering. Now I use it as an engineer. It's so worn it's due for replacement. Handy size, useful tools, practical.

This US Navy uses this book in the Leadership School for PO1s/E-6s. It's a great hip pocket book.

While the text essays in this book are a bit dry, the photographic reproductions are of top notch quality. Kenna's photographs are beautifully elusive, sometimes printed quite dark, yet remain salient throughout. I found myself wondering how the images looked on the contact sheets, straight, with no darkroom manipulations. This book serves as a great example of what you can do in the darkroom to bring out a more poignant image than you actually shot at the location. It should be required for anyone who works with black and white photography in the darkroom; not because you will gleen any certain tips or techiques but because you will study the final results and perhaps wonder how they were achieved.

As a photographer, this book will remain in my photo book collection and it is Kenna's strongest work to date.

I am very lucky indeed to have been able to see many of Michael Kenna's photographs at live exhibitions, both in Washington, D.C. and in New York City. Any art book is a "poor" substitution for the real thing, but there are some books that can give you true, beautiful examples of specific art works that then, hopefully, can someday be seen live. Kenna is a British photographer, in his 50's, who now lives in San Francisco....and seems to concentrate, in large part, on landscapes as his subjects. His images in this book are of the gardens created by Andre Le Notre, "the most important garden designer of the court of Louis XIV." In approximately 6o plates on 80 pages, we are taken to 10 different locations in France including the Tuileries in Paris and Versailles and Fontainebleau. The photographs are nothing short of breathtaking, obviously taken at dawn or dusk when the natural light is almost unreal. These images evoke mysterious, art movie settings---one almost expects a stranger to appear from one of the designed paths or pools or from behind one of the symmetrical trees or shrubs. All of it: the photographs, the accompanying essay, the way the book is put together with obvious care and love is magnificent magic.

A beautiful book that is full of some of Michael Kenna's finest images. Truely beautiful black and white printing. Michael Kenna is a master in his own time. Some of the fimest landscape I have ever seen. A must have for photography lovers!!

This book is very short and to the point but it doesn't leave anything important out. It is the true story of U.S. Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady who was shot down in Bosnia in 1995 by a surface to air missile while flying missions for the United Nations forces there. He ejected from his disintegrating aircraft and had to survive and evade capture for six days behind enemy lines before he was rescued by friendly forces.

While not the most harrowing aviation survival account I've read (BAT 21 was much more intense) it is nevertheless a good, solid example of how people can survive if they have the right training, equipment and, above all, the right attitude. O'Grady's account is told in a frank no-nonsense way and he is quick to admit his own mistakes and fears and he quickly acknowledges that the real heroes were the guys who came to get him.

I loved this book. I have read it 3-5 times. My goals and ambitions is to be a F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter pilot in the Air Force the same as Capt. Scott O'Grady. I admire this guy. I admire his will to survive and his will to live. If I should ever be in his situation I will remember everything that he did to survive and I will not give up even if the going gets tough. Thanks Scott for telling us the true story from your point of view. I know it was a hellish ordeal but you survived and that is the most important thing.

This is a story of a man called Captain Scott O' Grady. He starts off preparing to go on patrol to make sure that planes don't fly in a peace area. While patrolling, he is shot down. He then tries to live behind enemy lines until a rescue team comes. He tries to survive for days off of little food and water, while hiding from the enemy. Six days later, a rescue team comes and takes him back home.

I didn't choose this book. My mother bought me the book for me. After I started to read the book I got really interested in it. I like it because it's a true story, and also because it is full of excitement and adventure. I also liked it because it is about planes.

My favorite part was when Captain Scott was patrolling the airs with his friend Wilber. While patrolling the East, his friend was locked on by a Threat-Radar, the kinds that can give you enough information that you can launch a missile in seconds. Then patrolling that area again, he was locked on a shot down by a SAM (Surface-to-air-missiles). While falling, he ejects very early. he then activates his parachute manually, and waits for his seat to fall off on its own. While he falls he directs his chute to try and go to a forest where he can hide and wait.

"Beauty is the greatest of human powers. All autocratic unbridled power with nothing to counterbalance it, leads to abuse, mad excess. Despotism is power gone mad. In women, despotism takes the form of satisfying their whims". This remark engulfs Balzac's opera: To collate the audience with the obliterating debauchery society of 18th century France. Lisbeth Fischer aka Cousin Bette lurks in every chapter as a concealed beast coveting her prey (The house of Hulot) under the same roof. Perhaps Balzac's major achievement in this master piece, is to portrait a flauntering society feigned by its ostentatious opulence but immerse on a licentious and decadent life. "The savage has feelings... only the civilized man has feelings and ideas." Balzac seems to banter at Parisians with this idea: how civilized, civilized society can be. I strongly recommend this book if you intend to follow De Laclos work in Les Liasions Dangereuses. As an amateur reader I founded the characters difficult to identify at the beginning, however is an strategy smartly set by Balzac and very much appreciated as soon as you start to realize and pace through the richness of the narration.

This is a remarkable book, setting the template for Flaubert and Zola's respective journeys into the sordid human psyche.

Lisbeth is a peasant girl from Alsace, bitter at her cousin Adeline's preferential treatment during their childhood. Vindictive Bette decides to cut the family from its wealth, as well as to debase her family personally. It's not difficult when Adeline's husband Hector becomes so weak-kneed over a pretty face that he would compromise his family if it came to a choice between sex and relatives. Lisbeth maneuvers skilfully, befriending Madame Marneffe, an unhappily married woman with numerous lovers who only wants to see her sickly husband made a manager of his governmental department. Installed in this household as a spy for hector (who is smitten with Marneffe), Lisbeth works toward an alliance with Marneffe, on one side to destroy the Hulot's, on the other to gain the love of Count Steinbock, to whom Lisbeth is a benefactress.

I saw a feminist agenda in this novel. Consider: Whereas Hector Hulot is not frowned upon for his numerous infidelities, and indeed feels no guilt even though his longsuffering wife turns a blind eye, when Adeline, in trying to save her family, attempts to seduce a wealthy perfumer named Crevel, she fears dishonor for herself, and feels immeasurable guilt over the infidelity she never even commits. Could Balzac be commenting on the fact that both women and men should be allowed their indiscretions? Call it immaterial. Also, the female characters are by and large either intelligent and conniving (Madame Marneffe, Lisbeth), or beautiful and virtuous (Adeline, Hortense). The men are scandalously disloyal (Steinbock, Hector), or inneffectual and dissolute (Monsieur Marneffe, Crevel). A fresh perspective...from a male author. Great in every way, even if quite convoluted.

When I described my fascination with Balzac to a pal of mine, I said, "yeah, it is all about disillusioned and cynical people" and he replied: "I am already disillusioned and cynical, so why should I read it?"

Why indeed. This is indispuably one of the best of Balzac's novels, with clearly drawn characters and grim lives in an inexorable descent to self-destruction, which are the classic Balzac themes. It explores the life of a libertine as he ruins himself and his family for the sake of pursuing pretty girls. Unbekonst to him, he gets help from Bette, a cousin full of secret hatreds and bent on vengence. It is very sad to read. One minor character even commits suicide by repeatedly smashing his head into a nail, his only means to finish himself off he could find in his jail cell.

So why read it? Well, again, it is for the wider social portraits that you can find, which are offered almost as an aside. Balzac in one section explains the politics behind the statues you see all over Paris, which is fascinating. You also learn of the career of courtisans, as they use their sex to advance themselves. The book is simply full of these thngs, in addition to the psychology of the many interesting main characters.

Also unusual for Balzac is the coherency of the story, which does not degenerate into ramblings like many of his other novels as they weave the tapestry of his Comedie Humaine like so many threads, that is, as vehicles in his vast project to fully portray an entire society with characters re-appearing in different situations and venues throughout his interrelated novels. The characters stand on their own here and are more clearly drawn. Hence, it is a great intro to Balzac and may get you hooked for more, that is, if you are masochistic enough to subject yourself to it!

Warmly recommended.

The technique of association is actually quite useful in picking up vocabulary. Unfortunately, the vocabulary you will pick up here is so limited -- and the "associations" so strained -- that I found it to be of little use.

Still, the idea behind association is sound, and if you create your own associations to fix difficult words into your mind, you'll find yourself picking up a foreign language much more quickly. I'd recommend using this book to learn the technique, then making up associations of your own to memorize words with which you are having difficulty.

This is also not a book which will stand on its own: use this in conjunction with another text or set of texts.

I have tried many books and tapes to learn French as I vacation there every year. Most are as forgetable as the french you are trying to learn. French by association by comparison has worked wonders, I actualy use the french I have learned in this book and It's very rewarding. This book has built up my french vocabulary wonderfuly.

This method has been working really well for me. Over the past few weeks, I've started intensively learning French using tapes, videos, CD-ROM software and this book (I really need to learn French for next year). None of the other materials compare to this book in the area of learning and retaining basic vocabulary. It has also been the most encouraging of all the tools, because it is easy to use and really builds my confidence that I can get a handle on this language!...

I'm not a huge Steve McQueen fan but love his LeMans film. I've watched it loads of times and every time I'm more hooked. I've just finished reading the book and looking forward to watching the film again as I know the experience will be even better. The information about the filming and McQueen himself shows the passion and desire for realism with which it was made. It took me a while to get round to getting the book but as a huge fan of the film I'm really glad I bought it.

OK, I was half way to enjoying this book before I opened the cover...

1) I'm a big motorsports and Le Mans fan, having been fortunate enough to attend the 1999 and 2001 races so far.

2) I loved the film Le Mans.

But the book certainly got me through the other 50%...

What you get in this book is a fabulous scene setting of the history and significance of '24 Heures Du Mans', which is critical to show the importance of the event to Steve McQueen when he was preparing for and making the film - this was definitely a labour of love.

Also there is a brief but by no means lightweight biography of the man himself, again helping to build up an image of the actual person who was making the movie.

Then, in meticulous detail, you get the story of the build up, preparation and filming of 'Le Mans', with plenty of interesting anecdotes and events, particularly on how the fantastic crash sequences were filmed.

In my opinion you will enjoy this book if any of the below apply:

You are a motorsport fan with an interest in the history of the sport.

You are a Steve McQueen fan.

You enjoyed the movie and want to know how it was made.

If you fit into two or all three categories you will definitely be on to a winner!

I'm giving this book five stars, not because it's perfect or couldn't have been much better, but because I'm very happy I bought it. One of the auto magazines had a review that said "a horrid title for a great book" (as close as I can remember). I agree with both. The title is childish and unfortunate, and probably will turn off people who would have bought the book otherwise. That's a shame. The book could have been even better if it didn't use up a lot pages on the history of the LeMans race, and about the various teams competing in the race the year the movie was made. The authors seem to have thought they needed to "set the stage" for people not familiar with the event. But I think the people who will want to buy this book are already familiar with the event as well as the movie. Some of those pages could have been spent on even more detail about the making of the movie -- that's how the book could have been better. But I really enjoyed reading the book as it is, so what might have been is academic.

If you're the kind of person who's watched the movie multiple times, you will like this book. On the other hand, if you're the kind of person who thought the movie was lousy, you don't want to buy this book. You know who you are. If you liked the movie, but were put off by this books title, my advice is to ignore the title and buy the book anyway. (About 300 pages into the book I finally found out that the title wasn't just plucked out of some marketing idiot's nether regions. A fellow writing a proposal to do a documentary about the making of the movie used that bit of purple prose as his punchline in an attempt to make it sound sensational. But it's still an unfortunate title.)

Basher Five-Two by Scott O'Grady and Michael French is a good book about Captain Scott O'Grady's time in Bosnia after his plane was shot down. The main chacter is Air Force Captain Scott O' Grady. Some of the things that that kept me reading were the obstacles Scott had to overcome. One of my questions as I read this book was, "Is somone going to rescue him?" I never knew what was going to happen next. This book is full of adventure and action. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read about Air Force pilots who have survived plane crashes in enemy territory and people who like to read action and adventure stories.

Basher 5-2 is an excellent read for anyone looking for adventure. I myself can tell you that a man of Scott O'Grady's character really makes the book what it is. I reccomend pickin this up

Reading Serrres before this book was something of an adventure... You never know in advance quite what to get out of a reading of his work. Now, being able to flesh out all of the vaguenesses of his work with a general outline of this man's mind, I am more perplexed than ever. He comes across as very childlike in many respects and also very WEIRD. Seemed like Latour was humoring him in some parts as well. I admire Serres just as much having read this, if ony because he is stepping off onto a ledge in attempts to perhaps create something entirely (? ) original in the history of philosophical thought.

Science is full of magic and myth. But so-called "primitive" people are also very scientific. So what is the difference between modern and primitive, between science and magic? Maybe not as much as we have been led to think. Michel Serres is a wild, marginal philosopher whose 20 dense, often obscure books try to break down the boundaries between science, culture, and art. Bruno Latour is an anthropologist of scientists, author of pathbreaking studies of the strange and unscientific, almost magical, work of laboratory scientists. Here we have a series of five deep, clear, and often playful conversations between the two. No jargon, fast pace, a peek at two brilliant minds on the key issues in science and literature. They both know their science--Serre started as a mathematician--and neither are Luddites who want to tear science down. But both argue that science often conceals more than it reveals, and they show how both science and arts build barriers between human beings and nature, for example, or between the present and the past, the modern and the primitive. One of Serres' best examples of how little difference there is between science and religion is his comparison between the science of a Carthaginian sacrificial rite (where children were killed inside a giant bronze statue) and the magic of the space program (where astronauts died inside a giant machine). BL ...it seems to me that there is a double test---first you link Baal and the Challenger, then they have to exchange their properties in a symmetrical fashion. We are supposed to understand the Carthaginians' practice of human sacrifice by immersing ourselves in the Challenger event, but, inversely, we are supposed to understand what technology is through the Carthaginian religion. MS Yes, the reasoning is more or less symmetrical...We could construct a kind of dictionary that would allow us to translate, word by word, gesture by gesture, event by event, the scene at Cape Canaveral into the Carthaginian rite, and vice versa...the respective cost of the operation, comparable for the two communities, the immense crowd of spectators, the specialists who prepare it and who are apart from the rest, the ignition, the state-of-the-art machinery in both cases, given the technology of the two eras, the organized or fascinated rehearsal of the event, the death of those enclosed in the two statues, whose size dominates the surrounding space, the denial...--"No those aren't humans, but cattle," cry even the fathers of the incinerated children in Carthage; "No," we say "it wasn't on purpose, it wasn't a sacrifice, but an accident," inevitable, even calculable, through probabilities....The series of substitutions functions exactly like stitches, like mending a tear, like making a nice tight overcast seam...Each term of the translation passes on a piece of thread, and at the end it may be said that we have followed the missing hyphens between the two worlds. Baal is in the Challenger, and the Challenger is in Baal; religion is in technology; the pagan god is in the rocket; the rocket is in the statue; the rocket on its launching pad is in the ancient idol---and our sophisticated knowledge is in our archaic fascinations." (159-160). BL "But you are always tripping up your readers; you are always operating simultaneously on two opposing fronts. When they think they are reading about collective society, you bring them back to things, and then, when they think they are reading about the sciences, you bring them back to society. They go from Baal to the Challenger and then from the Challenger to Baal!" MS "Its a magnificent paradox, which I savor. To walk on two feet appears to mean tripping everyone up. Is this proof, then, that we always limp?" (142) MS "All around us language replaces experience. The sign, so soft, substitutes itself for the thing, which is hard. I cannot think of this substitution as an equivalence. It is more of an abuse and a violence. The sound of a coin is not worth the coin; the smell of cooking does not fill the hungry stomach; publicity is not the equivalent of quality; the tongue that talks annuls the tongue that tastes or the one that receives and gives a kiss." (p. 132) MS "There is no pure myth except the idea of a science that is pure of all myth." (p. 162)

I loved this book. As an American who lives half time in France, a former restauranteur and ardent Francophile, it had all the things that most interest me here. A type of lifestyle very similar in many ways to the rural people who live all around me in Normandie, the story of a restaurant struggling to survive and prosper, as all small business owners do, and the experiences of an expatriate family who tried their best to assimilate into the French culture, something which is very hard for unilingual Americans to do.

This book is required reading if you plan to visit this region of France. Most North Americans have never really learned about the art (and science) of the production of fois gras, and the I found the chapter dedicated to that subject to be truly fascinating and educational...probably the best chapter in the book. Another excellent section is the discussion of the French obsession with the Michelin star rating system of restaurants. Both of these chapters give you a good look into the French food culture...one on the specific production techniques of one of the very most "French" of foods, and the other a look into the (macro) French psyche of food as a central part of life and culture.

This book, along with "A Castle in the Backyard" are two good narratives of life in the Dordogne/Lot region of France.

This is a delicately written account of a small village, its local restaurant, and its agricultural life, the village residing in the valley of the Lot river in central France. The book is also the record of encounters with a number of memorable, wise, and (mostly) kind village people and is, moreover, redolent with the aroma of truffles, foie gras, and the dark wine of Cahors. Reading it, one learns a great deal about farming in that part of the world, and about what is required to create a really first rate restaurant. I consider this admirable book to be in the splendid tradition exemplified by M.F.K. Fisher, Freda White, and Adam Gopnik.

The very first "naughty" French word that most beginning students in the French language learn is "merde!" Thus, "Merde!: The 'Real' French You Were Never Taught in School" by Geneviève is an appropriately titled supplemental glossary of "argot" (slang) that probably is not be covered in Conversational French courses. However, one needs to learn this terminology as much as one needs to learn the subjunctive if one is to navigate successfully through the streets of France. Also, now that the internet has made it possible for people to chat online in French-speaking chat rooms, one needs to know more than formal French. Geneviève has compiled in "Merde!" twelve small chapters of "a guide to survival." On each page the English words are on the left and the "equivalent" French colloquialisms are on the right. Geneviève has added asterisks to words that "indicate a degree of rudeness above the ordinary colloquial . . . .[and] two asterisks show a whopper," which means the "strength" and "rudeness" of the expression.

Here are some of the chapter headings: "The Body and Its Functions"; "The Weighty Matters of Love and Sex (National Obsession Number One)"; "The No Less Weighty Matters of Food and Drink (National Obsession Number Two)"; "Hassling"; "Money Matters"; "Work and Social Status"; "Indulging in Racism, Xenophobia and Disrespect for One's Elders"; "To Exit Rapidly"; "Positive Thinking"; and "Foreign Invasions of the Language." The first two chapters: "Musts" and "Variations on a Theme" go over basic idiomatic vocabulary, including all the parts of speech. At the end of all the chapters, there is either a "review" or a "quiz" to recapitulate what one has "learned." This short book concludes with a four question "final exam" (and the answers are given in English).

There are several ways to approach this book. If one speaks decent French already, one may enjoy browsing through the book to "pick up" a bit of slang. (One will hear this type of language all over France and online in French chat rooms.) Further, one could make an attempt to memorize the vocabulary so that one may understand what is being said (or typed). "Merde!" offers a brief overview of the more salacious and, as Geneviève says, "authentic" language of modern France. However, "Merde!" does not offer that many idiomatic phrases because it is primarily a vocabulary book.

Highly recommended for travelers, whether "real time" or "cyber"!

I loved this book! Let's face it, every advanced French student wants a little fun. Today (Bastille Day) I took the book to work with me and translated the obscene cartoons for a friend.

But it's more than just obscenity. Sample of something I learned: un frangin = un frere = a brother. The book has lots of "innocent" words like that, and you will hear many of them in the movies!

Shortcoming: the book doesn't have an index. This makes it very hard to find that word you want to check up on: ?bagnole?

All in all, a good value for your dollar.

When I first moved to Paris, I could barely speak a word of French (and had no job, and nowhere to stay, but that's another story), apart from a heavily-accented "une baguette de pain s'il vous plait Madame". And I can honestly say that this book was THE most useful thing I read -- indeed, it's the only book I pored over and learnt sections of by heart. Yes, speaking proper sentences and being polite and all that is all very useful, but if you really want to enjoy yourself, and get on with the locals, then this is the motherlode. Even if you only know two words of French, slipping a few well-chosen words like "bagnole", "boulot", and "flingue" (and the choicer swear words) into your conversation will break the ice, and impress your hosts, a LOT more than knowing the subjective pluperfect ever could. I eventually took "proper" French lessons at the Sorbonne, and had many arguments with my teacher about the relative merits of "correct" and "colloquial" French. For me, learning a language is about communicating, not about grammar, and this is the perfect place to start. To this day, I make sure that none of my friends or colleagues goes off to France for any period of time without a copy of this under their arm...