Loved the details of submarine life and also work done by the Seals. You could see and smell the submarine in this book. I would love to hear more about submarines and what the U.S. is doing with it's current fleet of boats.

I don't think I have ever read a book that includes so many different aspects of intrigue and action taking place around the world.

Hope this duo writes another.

I don't usually take the time to write about the books I read for pleasure, but this one got to me in a unique way. I really felt I was there, every step of the way on an adventure that surprised and thrilled me. The authors succeeded in hooking me in from the very first, then keeping my attention for the entire book, quite an accomplishment because I'm a very demanding reader of fiction. Congrats to Messers. Wallace and Keith, and I hope they write more together.

This book combines all the ingredients for the perfect page turner. Suspense, great plot and all the submarine details one could want. Wallace and Keith are a great team! Bring on the next one.

Just got back from a week on the Kenai Peninsula - this book was an absolute must. The author is very candid about places, good or bad. Saw a bunch of amazing stuff and did it all on a modest budget, thanks to this book. The history and flora/fauna sections are very accurate and very interesting. I read other sections of the book (places that I didn't go), and because of the descriptions, I am already aching to go explore more of the state. If you go to Alaska, all you need are the proper clothes and this book.

Along with "Off the Beaten Path" by Melissa DeVaughn, this book was indispensable during a 2001 and a 2002 trip to Alaska. I especially appreciated the candor in this book, for example tersely warning to stay away from a certain hotel in a certain town because it was "run-down." In the sections about Nome and Kotzebue, I appreciated the tip that these parts of Alaska aren't set up for independent travellers and are best reached via a tour group. Additionally, the sections for each region all follow the same format. And the book is just a good, chunky size and feels good in your hand!

After using Lonely Planet on my trip to Europe I purchased the Alaska one for my recent trip. This book was wonderful, it was the only guidebook that we needed. It was especially helpful in finding hostels, and allowed us to arrange lodging before we arrived. All the information contained was up to date, and pointed us to little treasures that we might not have discovered otherwise. As a result we really got to get taste of Alaska and keep our trip affordable and interesting. If you have a desire to really discover any place you go, turn to Lonely Planet I know that I always will.

My mom got me this book for Christmas, and her impeccable taste in humor didn't fail here. "My Love Is Free ..." is one of the funniest books of all time. Her "Sweetie" sounds just like most guys I know ... I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe when I read about their "adventures" in installing outdoor lighting. Even my husband, who can be a bit sensitive about this subject, laughed until his eyes watered. You can't go wrong giving this book as a gift ... and make sure to buy an extra copy for yourself!

This is without a doubt, the funniest female writer since Erma Bombeck. P.S.Wall makes girl talk fun, without the complaining. A must read!

I bought the book at lunch and decided to just thumb through it quickly. Oh,no...I hear the sound of laughter and realize it's me. Quickly, I slap my hand over my mouth and slowly turn around to see if someone heard me. A cube-mate rolls his chair around to my cube and just stares. I blush and stare back. He is waiting for an answer. I giggle and say I just remembered something that happened at lunch. Suddenly, I am telling the story as if it were my own (wishing it to be true). Others join the laughter and I tell another. Then an idea hits me.! My Love is free....for secretary's day instead of flowers...the boss gives everyone a P.S. Wall book. My peers will love me and I might get a promotion or better yet a raise for this suggestion.

One of the best books available about Hamlet for general readers. The author explains the plot, charactrs and themes very clearly and makes the play highly accessible to anyone. A terrific little book that should be used in all high school English classes. If I had seen it when I was in high schol I proabably would have liked Shakespere a lot more than I did in those days.

This little companion book to Hamlet written for students can only be described as outstanding in all respects. It covers the plot and characters and themes and so forth, all in very thoughtful and easy to read prose. My first introduction to Hamlet was the movie with Mel Gibson that came out a few years back. In the book, the author, Don Nardo, talks about how a person's first Hamlet stays with him and colors the way he sees the play ever after, and I have to agree that he's right. Later I went out and rented the version with Laurence Olivier, which by the way is a really great film, and while I was watching it I found myself comparing it to the one with Mel Gibson. Anyway, Nardo's book is crammed with interesting information and well worth looking for at your local library.

Wow! This is the best brief study of HAMLET I have ever seen, and I have seen many in almost five decades of reading about the Bard. Students will benefit immensely from the author's ability to convey a huge quantity of facts about a long, complicated play without boring, confusing, or talking down to them. The plot, characters, themes, and much more are covered with care, attention to detail, and enthusiasm, revealing what must be a life-long love of Shakespeare. Indeed, Nardo, a historian by trade, and quite a good one by the way, seems equally at home in the world of Shakespearean criticism, which turns out to be fortunate for all the rest of us! So, I say "get thee to a library" and take out this marvelous little book!

The bible for the other-side-of-the-hill people. Makes you think of the places you have been and the places that you haven't---but plan to. You smell the flowers and the vagrant aromas of far off places, and develop a yearning for the ones you have yet to see. Ageless and timeless, a masterpiece of beauty for those who are vagabonds---and for those who wish they were.

Dear Don Blanding: I would like to honor you by a poem you wrote in 'Vagabond's House', called 'Prodigal's Song'. I wish to quote the whole poem. - 'I'm glad I drank the blood-red wine,/The crimson froth, the murky dregs,/I'm glad I drank the amber ale/That bubbled forth from wooden kegs'. - 'I'm glad I squandered folly's gold/On worthless treasure, priceless trash,/I'm glad I danced the nights away/To frencied cymbals' blatant crash'. - 'I'm glad I kissed soft painted lips,/I'm glad I knew responsive flesh,/I'm glad I burned the vital flame/While fire of life was in me fresh'. - 'I'm glad I know the look of Heav'n,/I'm glad I had a slant at Hell,/I'm glad I lived, I'm glad I loved/Before the slow black curtain fell'. - 'I'm glad that I can madly laugh,/I'm glad that I don't give a damn/To see myself . . . a tawdry thing/I'm glad. Oh God! Like Hell I am'. I love you so very, very much. You passed away when my adult life began. 'West of The Sunset' ought to be reedited too!

Don Blanding had a talent to turn words into pictures that become so vivid you actually feel the breezes, smell the fragrance of the flowers, enjoy the brilliance of bouganvilla. I am an island girl, my husband has 11 of Blandings works, so it has been wonderful to travel the world for 34 years,living out the poem. Our home in Mesa has palm trees, tapa cloth, a Chinese rug plumeria,hibiscus,bouganvilla, ti leaves all that it takes to be a 'Vagabond's House'.

Let's face it. Most sales people we come in contact with drone on about what they think is gonna make you buy. Wahburn and Wallace have revealed profound conclusions of what customers want to hear, based on hundreds of research questionaires conducted with customers of highly successful companies. I've been in sales for 17 years and I gave up on reading sales books because they were not helpful. This one is different. It immediately helped me improve my presentation that I've been giving for the last 11 years. I thought it was as good as it was gonna get. Wrong. I'm making more money and saying what customers want to hear. Even better, more customers are saying what I want to hear. Buy the book. You won't regret it.

I refer to this book on a regular basis to train my sales force. It reinforces what we have been working on for several years AND the results are there. Great job Harry and Kim.

I am a CPA and Harvard MBA and have sold sophisticated tax shelters on a commission basis for years. This is one of the finest books on salesmanship I have ever read.

It is grounded in excellent theory, yet it presents the information in a simple manner that is easy to understand AND easy to implement.

The book focuses on two areas:

1) Know where your customer is in the buying cycle. a)Is he committed to do something yet, or not. b)Is this a repeat of a prior purchase or not? c)Is he evaluating alternatives? d)From whom will he buy the product or service selected? e)Is the price right?

2) Different personality types buy in different manners. The book describes three types. a)Commander (take-charge, action-oriented leaders) b)Thinker (logical, analyze details, and like knowing the answers), and c) Visualizer (practical, intuitive, see things as they are).

A buyer is interested in certain information at each STAGE in the buying cycle. Additionally, each personality prefers to receive their information in a different manner. By recognizing the buying stage and the personality of the buyer you are trying to persuade, you can choose the most compelling arguments to make every time. This will avoid 90% of the turn-downs other salespeople get when trying to close a sale.

I have read other books classifying personalities into 9 or 16 types. Other authors define 8 or 11 stages of a sale. By using 5 stages in their DREAM sales cycle, and 3 personality types, I think Washburn and Wallace have done salespeople a GREAT service. These categories are well defined, easy to identify, and easily utilized to increase sales with their strategies.

Readers looking for more advanced strategies in these areas can try Kerry Johnson's "Sales Magic" and "Selling the Way Your Customer Buys" by Marvin Sadovsky and Jon Caswell. However, I feel Washburn & Wallace's "Why People Don't Buy Things" has the ideal mix of quality content which works, is easily digested, and implementable. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Our family loves this book! It has gone through three boys and we need another one! PLEASE REPRINT!!! My two year old goes around saying shh when he wants to read a book. Absolutely a great book!!!

I have been a children's librarian for 11 years. I use this book every year during National Children's Book Week. I read it to Preschoolers through 2nd graders. Every year I ask students to write down their favorite book. This one wins in a landslide! PLEASE REPRINT IT!!!!!! I have people who want to buy it for their kids and it's out of print. If you want a sure hit, with students or children of your own, try to get a copy of this book.

Wow!! I am a Pre-K teacher and this is one of my classes favorites. I wish I could find this book somewhere. I borrow it from the library over and over. As soon as I return it, all my students beg for the book again and again. We even have made our on Shhh! book, but it's not the same. They love to see that eye looking at them. What great squeals of delight. Now I'm pregnant with my first child and I would love to have this book in my collection. Boo, hoo I can't find it anywhere. So it will be off to the library.

For anyone out there who is Sicilian/American, this is a great cook book. The author's stories are great. Brings back memories about what your grandpa might have said. I'm going to make the "Ricotta Pie" (recipe in book) for the holidays this year to keep up the tradition of our wonderful heritage. I enjoyed reading through this cookbook as much as I enjoyed the recipes in it.

The recipes comprising Sicilian Gentleman's Cookbook were gleaned from the author's Sicilian background and provide over 150 dishes from pasta dishes combining meats and vegetables with stews, sauces, and soups. All come embellished not with color photos, but with the author's insights into Sicilian culture and culinary styles.

Back in print--at last--is "The Sicilian Gentleman's Cookbook," which Don Baratta originally self-published back in the 1980s. It's a very personal effort, an hommage to his late father, who was born in the little town of Mussomeli in central Sicily and who came to the U.S. in 1905. The elder Baratta was a man of strong opinions; for example, he didn't consider many mainland Italians to be Italians at all or, as he put it, "anything north of Palermo is Swiss." The younger Baratta minces no words either, and often in this book he and his father combine delightfully: "Cauliflower is a much-hated vegetable in this country [the U.S.], yet it need not be so. It is usually boiled and accompanied by small groans. A non-Italian guest once watched with interest the respect my father paid this detested food. Her curiosity broke down her ancient reservations, and she tried a piece. The result was near-disbelief in the lively flavor. The Old Man flatly pointed out (indifferent to the insult he offered the poor girl's family), 'If it had been prepared correctly, you would have always liked it!' So much for polite chatter. He remained unrepentant all his life."

There's much more of the same in these pages, and plenty of recipes--many of them unusual and delightful (Sicilian cooking is ine of the richest and most varied cuisines in the Mediterranean basin). The pages are large, the type is clear, and there's only one recipe to a page. So whether you try the cauliflower recipes--or the cardoons or the meat and seafood dishes--you're in for a treat. Still, the best part of this book is the salty talk of two Sicilian gentlemen--the one who wrote it and the one who inspired it.

I've been reading Robin Cook books and decided to try another 'medical thriller' author. Don Donaldson is an author I'd recommend to anyone who reads Robin Cook. This book was a bit slow to start. In fact, I was tempted a few times to stop reading it. However, after 100 pages or so, things started to pickup. This book shows the dark side of genetic engineering. Although it is a work of fiction, it's scary to think that this may one day be possible.

IN THE BLOOD, a new medical thriller by Don Donaldson, takes you on an emotional roller coaster ride. First there is a single female physician who has faced a terminal illness..... Leukemia and lived. Then Donaldson takes you into the world of fertility clinics and egg donation. Immediately, he introduces the unbelievable occurrence of donated eggs being stolen and involves you, his reader, in sharing in the search. The roller coaster ride has just begun! Utilizing cutting edge science, ethical issues and the readers' emotional involvement he takes you on a ride of a lifetime. Each character, either good or evil, is very believable in their creative development and descriptions. Like a roller coaster, the story takes you up to the top with both horrific and vulnerable characters. Then you hold on, often with white knuckles, as you turn each page with that same feeling of rushing down the other side.

As a mental health provider, I look for a reading escape that is exciting, fun and has enough of a challenge not to waste my time. Donaldson has done it again with IN THE BLOOD, his previous thriller being DO NO HARM. After two books of this type of entertainment, I have already bought my ticket for the next ride.

"In the Blood" reaffirms Don Donaldson's superb talents as a creative writer and scientist, and as a master of the medical thriller genre. His writing style consistently brings the reader deeply into the adventure at hand and keeps us "running" from chapter to chapter. In this, his second medical thriller (his first being "Do No Harm"), he involves us in scientific achievement gone uncontrolled. He draws a picture of a young physician, Dr. Holly Fisher, eager to begin her new life as a cancer survivor by claiming her commercially-preserved eggs and then having the child she has dreamed of. We feel her dashed spirits when her lover rejects the possibility and then when she discovers that her eggs have been stolen. Her determination to find the thief and, hopefully, the eggs, lead her and her ally (the head of the clinic from which the eggs were taken) into the Wisconsin dairy industry where they are confronted by convincing and realistic dangers. Ironically, it leads Holly into a secret production center where her eggs and others are being used to produce a cancer-curing drug.
Donaldson's careful research into the science involved in the central theme gives him the capability of creating a scenario that is both believable and appalling. His heroine investigates the circumstances intelligently, giving the reader the sense that ordinary mortals can problem-solve and search out the answers to the questions that arise as the book progresses to the resolution of the situation. The science is strong but understandable to the non-scientist who wants to enjoy a thrilling ride through a unique experience in the scientific "underworld". Donaldson doesn't disappoint and leaves us looking forward to his next creation. Those of us who have been fans from the time of his forensic adventures with Andy Broussard and Kit Franklyn are happy to see his even greater success with the medical thriller genre.

I didn't think this book was quite as funny as A Fine and Pleasant Misery, but I still enjoyed it. I get a kick out of reading humorous literature about the outdoors, however, I'm not really into hunting and fishing, two activities that McManus spends a lot of time on. I mostly enjoy the stories about camping, hiking, and general wilderness survival.

Patrick McManus is the greatest reading material I have come across in years. I found his books in my local library and have read every one three or four times. McManus tells storys that make outdoorsmen laugh because they know his hysterics are all true. I can relate to most of his humorous tales myself. A must read for all outdoor enthusiasts.

Ahh The legend of Pat McManus...lost person, helpless person, hopeless person. i have personally read and heard every book/audiocassette in the series, and not a single one of them has failed to split my sides with gales of laughter, without resorting to profanity or direct hostility, McManus regales us with stories about a time period that most people would have thought there was'nt anything funny about, He brings Hilarity from Horror. If your an outdoor enthusiast, or a sportsman of any type, or you just enjoy seeing the underdog win sometimes, then get this book, and hold on for the ride of your life.