I completely neglected to mention in my initial review that this fascinating little book includes some of the key memos and reports covering the decision to implement the lunar landing using lunar orbit rendezvous (LOR). Those familiar with the history of Project Apollo will know that John Houboult, a middle manager at NASA's Langley facility, put his job on the line by writing a letter to NASA Associate Administrator Robert Seamans, skipping at least half-a-dozen layers of bureaucracy in a desperate attempt to get someone to address the issue. Well, you will find that memo here, followed by von Braun's report acquiescing that LOR is the way to go.

Gemini 6? What's the big deal about Gemini 6? One word: rendezvous.

Before Gemini 6 (and 7), no two spacecraft had met in space. For the moon missions, which required not only a meeting in space but a meeting in lunar orbit, this was a critical issue. And space rendezvous is a far from simple process. If you're behind someone in orbit, you'd think you could blast your rockets and zoom ahead. No, if you do that, you just put yourself in a higher orbit and get farther behind. The paradoxical solution is to slow down, get into a lower, faster orbit, and catch up that way.

But enough technospeak: the bottom line is that it's tough, and Gemini 6 was to be the first. The original plan was to use an Agena. When the Agena failed, then the target became Gemini 7. And that almost became a problem when the Titan II launch vehicle for Gemini 6 shut down right at liftoff. Only Schirra's cool hand, staying off the abort switch, made a successful launch possible a few days later.

You can find all this information in this excellent book. It has the press kit, the pre-launch briefing for the NASA administrator, transcripts of press conferences, and, most interesting for me, the post-mission debriefing with the astronauts - something never before shared with the public. You get to hear what Wally Schirra really thought of some of the decisions made by McDonnell Douglas (the spacecraft manufacturer) and NASA management.

In addition to the fascinating text, there's also a marvelous CD. It's advertised as Windows-only, but I didn't have any significant problems accessing it (via Netscape) on my Macintosh. It's got movies from the mission, a ton of still photos, and an interview with Wally Schirra. I've only checked out part of it so far, so I can't comment too much, but what I've seen has been very interesting.

I look forward to acquiring the rest of the books in this series. Highly recommended for those with a strong interest in America's space program.

This book is must for all budding polyhedrists! The math is there, if you are interested, and the net diagrams are listed to allow easy understanding of the 2D "plan" that allows any competent paper model builder to fabricate the polyhedra, from Platonic to the Archimedian Solids. Williams also covers space packing (tessellating the solids) in a clear and easy to grasp explanation. This is truly one of the best educational resource for learning or teaching spatial relations! My only wish is that the author would have indicated where the net tabs needed to be!

There is a paucity of good books in the area of polyhedral geometry, many books either provide too esoteric an account or too little information for the ordinary person to make use of. This book is one of the major works in the field that should be on any geometers bookshelf. Many classic works either show only a picture of a solid with no metric information or give a verbal description with no illustration to show what the solid looks like, this book is much more balanced in this regard and covers a wide scope of polyhedral information from the basics solids on into the three dimensional patterns that can be formed with them. This book is a great resource for artists, chemists, architects to use to be able to apply polyhedral mathematics to their fields, this is the kind of book that should be a required textbook in college but isn't. I have only two complaints about this book, the illustrations are a little hacked out looking and there is an inadequate accounting of how the properties of the two snub polyhedra are derived. I recommend this book as the best first introduction to the science of polyhedral geometry.

This beautiful catalog from an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1992 is an excellent anthology of Seurat's work, juxtaposing finished works with sketches, and includes a large selection of sketches as a student. The size allows the works to be displayed in all their glory. If you like Seurat, buy this!

I felt that this book is the best overall catalog of the work of Stuart Davis. It includes an enormous amount of color and black and white pictures of his paintings and of himself. It also includes a good synopsis of his life and extrordinary career. If you need a book on Stuart Davis than this is the best.

This hilarious, down-to-earth book will be your only guide to, you guessed it, getting in to radio. It is PACKED with valuable information, real-life examples, and humor to keep everything light hearted while still informative. This book will tell you how to get started, down to making a resume and demo CD (even HOW to talk!). A must have for anyone mildly interesting in radio.

This book is a must for anyone who wants to work in radio. Not only does Elsenpeter's book provide step-by-step instructions for landing a job as a disc jockey, it also reveals important information about finding other jobs in the industry. The book is both informative and entertaining. There's nothing else like it on the market.

If you've seen the Robert Altman film, "Gosford Park," and especially if you're sure you missed something critical but aren't sure just what it was, this is the book for you. Julian Fellowes' brilliant screenplay not only brings into the foreground all the dialogue and physical action that flowed through the film in typical Altman fashion, but it is accompanied by highly illuminating notes and photos identifying all the players and where they fit in the story. I bought it to use as an aid to my second viewing of the film, at home on DVD, but I found it so fascinating and well written that I read it long before the film was released on video. All screenplays should be this good.

This script is mesmerizing. The subtleties of the dialogue clearly define the constitution of the characters. It makes the film more enjoyable. I now understand more clearly what the actions on the screen represented and what many of the motivations were. So much went into this story that when you think about it, this was an incredible piece of filmmaking.

I have used the Harbrace College Handbook for 31 years. My first was the 5th Edition, which I keep on the top in one of my desk drawers. I used it throughout college. I bought this edition for my father, who gave me the first one, and seems to have lost his own copy (he's 86!). This edition is much thicker than the 5th one -- these books are not exactly "reading material," but a reference guide; so I haven't read it from cover to cover. This book comes with a computer CD to install the entire book on your computer.

Excellent reference if it is necessary to constantly bibliograph infomation off the internet and other electronic sources

I enjoyed this book immensely. Did you grow up watching such great classics as "Sergeant York", "A Yank in the RAF", "Sahara", "Flying Tigers", "Wake Island", "Gung Ho", and "Air Force". These are but a few of the great movies made during WWII to bolster American morale. There were also some real stinkers. I never cared much for "Mrs. Miniver", "Dragon Seed", "Days of Glory", and several others that were just plain bad of silly. This book explains the reason behind these films and some of the history of their making. The Office of War Information (OWI) was founded by the government to monitor the content of the war films fed to the American Public and set standards to follow and frameworks to work within. There is some very interesting stuff here. Why was Italy treated as a nonbelligerent? Why were Austria, Finland, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Rumania never mentioned? Why was there no distinction of Russian ethnic groups (they were all just simply Russians)? Why were Japanese depicted as barely more than monkeys and the Germans as stupid baffoons, but no racial slurs? This book gives great insight about Hollywood, the movies, and WWII.

This book was extrodinary, and I recommend for everyone to read and purchase it.

Williams' book plunges you head-first into an era when people truly did make money "the old-fashioned way" ( they earned it with their sweat and tears). We sit as interlopers as we watch the toil of daily lives unfurl across the beautifully photographed pages. We sit at the counter while the waitress who has been at this particular diner way past her prime, exchanges small talk with the patrons. We can almost feel the cold rain against our faces as we view the water-drenched images of The Cheyenne (NYC) and The Highland Park(NY). We sense the simultaneous joy and frustration on the faces of diner owners who can't be sure what the future holds for their life's work. William's has taken us into a doorway that we rarely have a chance to enter; he has given us a license to the past. Through this book we have the opportunity to rekindle the memories of our childhood, teenage years and young adulthood...all at the same time. We remember what it felt like to sit at the counter with our Dads. We remember the hard formica tables against our ribs as we shared a ketchup-drenched kiss across the table. We remember introducing our "little ones" to the wall boxes of music that sit on the tables and watch in wonderment as they try to figure out "where the music comes from".

Robert Willaims captures the essence of our hometown diners in a beautiful and touching way. The photographs are beautiful and a perfect example of excellent photography. I would highly recommend this book to all readers, especially those who remember the nostaglia of going to your hometown diner. Don't miss this one!

Briefly paging thru this awesome piece I had the immediate need to order the publication and add it to my collection of favourites - you have'nt lived til you have this piece of art!!!

Shipping a heavy 40 dollar book to a foreign country may be a bit much, this is an excellent way of sharing with all my friends the wonders of Robert Vavra's photography and his beautiful models. I'll be ordering this more than once!

This is an excellent book in that it not only has little-known and important facts, but also includes anecdotes about each battle, and a review of each general's strange personality traits. Despite a few editing errors, I really enjoyed this book because it brought things that happened hundreds of years ago alive. Also, it was fun to learn about such obscure facts as the pyschological diseases that ailed certain Civil War generals. Overall, this was a quick, fun read that I would recommend to anyone who likes American history, or to anyone who is bored by American history, and is looking for a way to connect it to everyday life.

This book is a "must read" for anyone interested in American history. It contains some of the most original new ideas about military strategies and leadership out there. The alternative scenarios were especially thought-provoking - and the authors' "report card" of the military leaders generated several very interesting discussions/debates with colleagues.

An excellent read! I would highly recommend it.