A Reliable, pragmatic book, great for students and for all those who like to see it clear, with real life examples, great tips and all that is needed to get a good glimps into the hospitality business. Easy to read and nicely organised.

The Aviators was my first exposure to Griffin and what a disappointment! I had been led to believe that Griffin's novels were action packed, battle filled and that Griffin was a latter day Forester or MacLean. Perhaps he is in other novels but this one proceeded like a made-for-TV prime time soap.

The action starts in Vietnam in 1963. Our hero is wounded in a bungled operation and returns to the U.S. to become an aide-de-camp for one year. During the year and change he distinguishes himself and falls for the widow of a friend. He and his CO also must establish the viability of airmobile infantry, demonstrating that army helicopter pilots can transfer large units. There is little action and the story line is predictable. Subplots are predictable as well.

In fairness to Griffin, I listened to an abridged audiotape and it might have been poorly abridged. However, I didn't get the sense that there was an awful lot here to begin with. Gerald McRaney's clipped reading doesn't help it either.

This is a weak series of books, as far as war novels go. They're more like an ongoing soap opera than gritty war drama (think "General Hospital" as a novel, only set between 1945-1970 and revolving around the Army instead of Port Charles.) The characters are given plenty of time to evolve, and some do (Lowell, in particular.) But it all seems too phony. A good war novel should have some truth in it, but it is in short supply with these books.

Like all WEB GRiffin's books, this one combines humor, personality studies, and adventure. I wish I had the whole series. He is great.

I picked up these books hoping to gain some insight into the actions of the Marine Corps in the Pacific during World War II. What I found instead was a sort of soap opera that rambles on for hundreds of pages without getting around to much actual fighting. For example, The Marines don't even get to Guadalcanal (their first major offensive) until the end of book III, some 1200 pages into the story. Those 1200 intervening pages are mostly conversations (ad nauseam) between stateside Marine Corps officers as they sit around headquarters, or go out on the town chasing skirts.

The small portion of the books that is devoted to actual battles is done in such a cursory fashion that you're left with the impression that the author either finds this aspect of the Marines' mission distasteful, or doesn't understand it well enough to write about it. Mr. Griffin could have deleted about 80% of his material, and would have ended up with better books, albeit still not good ones.

If you're the sort of person who likes to watch daytime soap operas, then you may enjoy these books. If, on the other hand, you're interested in military history, the banality of these books will leave you screaming in frustration.

In *Battleground*, book four of The Corps series, W.E.B. Griffin puts our favorite characters to the ultimate test when the United States military launches an attack on Guadalcanal in 1942. *Battleground* is another example of Griffin's amazing ability to create sympathetic, admirable characters in unusual situations.

Captain Charles Galloway has been assigned to lead the VMF-229 squadron with only one other experienced fighter pilot, Lieutenant Dunn. While they are putting together a squadron of eighteen fighter pilots, Lieutenant Joe Howard and Sergeant Steve Koffler are trying to stay alive on a little Coastwatcher island while keeping an eye on Japanese movements. And Captain Fleming Pickering decides that his work as an intelligence officer can be best performed in the line of fire on Guadalcanal. Readers are treated to a short reunion with Lieutenant Kenneth J McCoy, but it's not nearly long enough in this reader's opinion.

*Battleground* was one of the most exciting, on-the-edge-of-your-seat adventures in The Corps series to date. I really can't wait for my copy of book five, *Line of Fire*, to arrive!

In this volume of the Corps saga , we see several of the characters introduced in "Counterattack" elevated to new prominence. Newly promoted Captain Charley Galloway becomes the commanding officer of VMF 229 , and along with Bily Dunn sets about preparing the young squadron to be thrown into the cauldron of Guadalcanal. Flem Pickering continues to grow in importance to the ongoing tale of incredible heroisim exhibited by the young Marines thrown into bloody conflict.

"Battleground" details some of the terrible privations experienced by the First Marine division on the 'Canal and the coastwatchers on Buka island. Steve Koffler and Joe Howard on Buka illustrate the importance of the little known coastwatcher organisation to the success of the Marine aviation assets in the Solomons. Koffler continues to grow in importance to the task of Captain/General Pickering in the Southwest Pacific Ocean Area (SWPOA). Even though Koffler and Howard are ill with parasites and other tropical diseases they continue to function "as Marines".Koffler continues to emerge as one of the more "colorful" characters in the story--look for him in future episodes!

Of the many volumes in "The Corps" saga , "Battleground" stands out as one of the more lively and entertaining volumes. A great read--I could hardly put it down. Have now read it 4 times!
A true 5 star effort.

The book simply reproduces the ideas of the Theory of Administration in its beginning, more than one century ago, when the war generals and the production engineers were the only ones writing about business. After that, however, we had Chester Barnard, Mary Parker Follett, different schools stressing the importance of the human being in management, psychology and sociology of the organizations, internationalization of the economies, etc. but the text simply ignores everything, and is happy to point similarities between Machiavelli's thought and the business world "today". The key word in business, today, is "partnership", but the author relies on "war" as the guide to administration. This is not how it should be, but it is neither how it is the business world today. One star, because there is no possibility of a 0.

It reminded me a lot about the company I work for. People say one thing, but do another. There were some useful tips in the book, for making it.

A must reading for all new managers

I found this book delightful reading. The clear exposition, program examples with detailed explanations, clear definitions, and well stated principals makes this a must have book for those wishing to use Java with Oracle8i. The detailed style is reminiscent of the well-known text books by authors Harvey and Paul Deitel.

This book is suitable for both database application programmers and undergraduate students. My undergraduate students, who have had a strong course in Java, would love this text. I am using it as a supplement in this fall's Database Systems course.

Java has really come into its own and Oracle8i strongly supports it. The Oracle8i database server supports both PL/SQL and Java. Oracle's Jserver, which includes a JVM (Java Virtual Machine). The authors provide a clear overview of how Java and now SQLJ fit into the database world.

This book presents very clear explanations for people new to database programming. They discuss JDBC and SQLJ and compare the approaches for accessing a relational database server. The authors give a detailed explanation of how a SQLJ program gets translated into Java source code. Nothing is skipped in explaining what the SQLJ translator does. For example, there is a fine discussion of the SQLJ iterator (which is essentially a Java class; the SQLJ translator actually replaces the SQLJ iterator declaration with a Java declaration for a class.) There is a detailed explanation about how the Java class contains a next() method and has accessor methods for columns in a particular table. The discussion of SQLJ stored programs is clear. Pros and cons of loading/compiling on the client versus the server side are given. There are fine examples of both ways of doing things. They give a very good explanation of how a SQLJ program connects to a database using an instance of a connection class, which is really a Java class that is defined in a SQLJ connection context. In conclusion, this is a very refreshing book that gives theory and detailed programs with great explanations. Java is an exciting language and SQLJ makes database work very interesting. These authors are doing a super job in promoting this new and relatively easy way of developing for Oracle databases. I have not found any other book to come close to what they have done for the database community.

I got this book when I attended the Oracle OpenWorld 99 conference. I have been programming in Java for about a year and I was accustomed only to JDBC. This book is an eye opener on what you can do with SQLJ as well as JDBC. Unlike other Java books that are just reference books, this book gears towards application developers who wish to develop database applications. I highly recommend it to Java and Oracle programmers.

If you are serious about learning SQLJ, I strongly recommend that you get this book. Both a tutorial and a reference manual, this book takes the guts of SQLJ and spelled it out in layman terms. Full of well-designed and well explained code based on real-world applications, this book is a MUST for any Java developer.

I picked up these books hoping to gain some insight into the actions of the Marine Corps in the Pacific during World War II. What I found instead was a sort of soap opera that rambles on for hundreds of pages without getting around to much actual fighting. For example, The Marines don't even get to Guadalcanal (their first major offensive) until the end of book III, some 1200 pages into the story. Those 1200 intervening pages are mostly conversations (ad nauseam) between stateside Marine Corps officers as they sit around headquarters, or go out on the town chasing skirts.

The small portion of the books that is devoted to actual battles is done in such a cursory fashion that you're left with the impression that the author either finds this aspect of the Marines' mission distasteful, or doesn't understand it well enough to write about it. Mr. Griffin could have deleted about 80% of his material, and would have ended up with better books, albeit still not good ones.

If you're the sort of person who likes to watch daytime soap operas, then you may enjoy these books. If, on the other hand, you're interested in military history, the banality of these books will leave you screaming in frustration.

This,the third volume in the Corps series,must be regarded as a convenient stepping stone to later episodes. We are introduced to sergeant/lieutenant Joe Howard , "big Steve" Oblensky, Charley Galloway , Jake Dillon , and a more vivid portrait off Jack NMI Stecker. Fleming Pickering emerges as a central character in the role of Frank Knox's "spy" in the Pacific. Flem Pickering is commissioned as a reserve Captain in the Navy , sent to be the eyes and ears of the Secretery of the Navy Australia , and becomes a friend of Douglas MacArthur. We also are introduced to Steve Koffler through an interplay with the series most detestable character , Robert Macklin , at Lakehurst Naval Air Station. The action centers on planning and execution of the invasion of Guadalcanal and Gavutu islands in the Solomon chain.

Overall the plot proceeds at a reasonable pace , but this volume is primarily setting up some of the later books through the Griffin trademarked character development. If one is a fan (as I am) of this genre , then this is an intresting "must read" even tho' it is one of the least exciting books in the Corps saga.

*Counterattack* is the third book in the popular Corps series by W.E.B. Griffin. Book 3 starts at the beginning of the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941, and follows the journey of servicemen not previously covered in *A Call to Arms* (book 2). Although, book three roughly covers the same period of time as book two, I was not disappointed at all in *Counterattack* and look forward to the next installment.

In *Counterattack*, Griffin follows the adventures of some unlikely heroes. Charlie Galloway and a buddy put a plane together out of spare parts once the Japanese have destroyed most of their own planes in Pearl Harbor and head out to assist the troops near Wake Island. Enlisted man Joe Howard becomes an officer and a gentleman after once giving into fear during the Pearl Harbor attacks. And of course, we meet up again with the notorious Lieutenant Kenneth J. McCoy, a.k.a. "Killer," and his gutsy girlfriend, Ernie Sage.

Griffin captures the human spirit in awesome and catastrophic moments in American history. If you're in need of a good dose of entertainment, grab a copy of this series.

I had to buy this book for my college course and I found it wasn't relevant to my prefered job industry. This book is not interesting. And I recommend to the authors, that they rewrite this in terms that make it more iteresting to students.