While studying early greek "Christian Forfathers" and their lives and influences, ALOT of names get mentioned. When such a name is mentioned you think to yourself..: "who is this?", "why did the author mention this person?, what context should I look at this in?" Often times proper understanding behind the names mentioned can be the key that opens the door to context. I bought this book And it's companion
(ISBN: 0062700561) The Harper Encyclopedia of Military History From 3500BC to the Present (from a third party vendor). Niether one have let me down in accuracy or thoroughness. And has repeatedly helped me achieve a more accurate view of history itself as well as how it has been shaped by militarys. A 'must have' for any home library.

One thing about it, this book and "maybe" another one would replace all those biographies that take up too much room on one's bookshelf (especially mine). I especially like it when a good majority of our nation's military leaders (those on the Joint Chiefs) are included when no other volume even comes close. Great job, Colonel, and also outstanding work, Mr. Johnson

I have studied Military History for quite some time, and have always wanted a "quick reference" book for each figure in history. A lot of times, I will be watching a movie, and they will mention "General whoever" or another figure, and I jump up, grab this book, and read a brief history on the person involved.

This book is excellent in that respect. Do not buy this book for an in depth look at different personalities of military history. However, for a quick reference, this book cannot be beat. It is quite extensive, and seems to be unbiased in it's opinions of the people involved.

We borrowed this book from the library and I must buy a copy for my 3yr old. He loves it. The illustrations are unique and so pleasing to the eye. They are a little abstract but not too much so you can't see what is being conveyed.

Henry builds a cabin but his friends doesn't think it's big enough. Henry says it's big enough for all kinds of things. In the end, you find out what the cabin is perfect for.

Delightful read and a sure bet for a Baby Shower Gift!

I'm 12 but I really like this picture book. I learned a lot about what Henry Thoreau was trying to do when he built a cabin by Walden Pond, and it was fun learning it through this book. The illustrations are funny and I like how Henry solves his problems. I also like Henry Hikes to Fitchburg, which is even funnier because Henry makes his friend learn a lesson in a funny way. I also recommend another great book about Henrey Thoreau, that especially girls of all ages will like, Louisa May and Mr. Thoreau's Flute. It talks about how Henrey Thoreau helped Louisa May Alcott learn to like the outdoors and learn to like writing. Henry's funny in that book too so I think readers will like it too.

Henry, a sturdy looking bear wearing a large hat and workclothes, is building a cabin in the woods. He borrows an ax and cuts down twelve trees for framing, buys an old shed, takes it apart and uses the wood for the walls and floor. He builds a front door, finds two used windows and some old shingles for the roof. As he's building, friends stop by to look at the cabin and check on his progress. Emerson comments that it seems too small to eat in. "It's bigger than it looks," replies Henry and shows him his garden out back. "When it's finished, this will be my dining room." Friend, Alcott thinks the cabin will be too dark to read in, but Henry shows him a sunny spot right outside. "This will be my library." And when Miss Lydia shows concern that there won't be room for dancing, Henry shows her the pathway down to the pond, his grand stairway to the ballroom. On July 4th, Henry's cabin is finished and he moves in. He eats in the "dining room", reads in the "library" and dances in his "ballroom". When it begins to rain, he hurries back to his cabin, where in a very wise and amusing way he shows us that his new home is just perfect..... D.B. Johnson is back with a marvelous sequel to his award winning first picture book, Henry Hikes To Fitchburg, based on the life of Henry David Thoreau. His simple and inspiring text is sure to be a springboard to interesting and thoughtful discussions. What does a home really need, and how big does it have to be? Mr Johnson's creative and expressive, light-filled illustrations enhance the story beautifully, and capture the imagination. With an author's note at the end "About Henry's Cabin", to help fill in the details of how and why Thoreau built his cabin, its cost, and his two years living at Waldens Pond, Henry Builds A Cabin is an engaging and unique little treasure youngsters 4-8 shouldn't miss. "Most men appear never to have considered what a house is, and are actually though needlessly poor all their lives because they think they must have such a one as their neighbors have."

I've created basic database structures and applications for about five years and pledged never to go past writing macros, because I didn't want to be forced to learn VBA. I run a realty and mortgage office and just couldn't spare the time. Now that Outlook and the Office suite is becoming more familiar with my crew and now that we've joined a WAN and some B2B data sharing, the basic stuff just didn't fill the bill. I've bought quite a few books on Access recently (not to mention dozens from the past few years) and have found this one to be one of the best in its presentation and content.

It gave me some real insight on how I should be considering networking and upsizing. I answered more questions I had after spending 12 hours with the book, than I had spent searching the net or reading the other books for several months. I even read though the code and understood it, and contrary to the warnings the presentation still flowed well. I still know little VBA and am now going back to get a Wrox book on Beginnng Access 2000 VBA.

Concise, very detailed, stuffed full of info and reference. I'm a Wrox fan now.

I've been consulting for over 5 years with Access in all it's iterations except 1.0 and I must say that this is the best book on intermediate topics that I have found. There is no "fluff" like in books from other publishers (especially Queue in my opinion). This book is concise with real world examples for real world issues. When I first opened this book and read a bit I realized this book was written by consultants/developers who have gotten there hands dirty and not "feel good" academics who have never written a line of code for a company. Keep this one handy if you're the Access guru at your firm.

Professional Access 2000 Programming is a combination of a training book to heighten your programming skills, and a reference work that will give you a complete overview of Access 2000 and it's related programming environment. It's written in the traditional Wrox style that is so easy to read and usable for developers.

One thing I do miss, is the usual Wrox opening statement where it is described whom the book is written for and if any previous programming skills are assumed. It's not until chapter 3 that you find out VB or VBA programming experience is assumed to make use of the chapter. Don't start on this book without any knowledge of VBA, since it is used in most of the coding examples. If you don't know VBA check out the following books: ISBN 0782123244, ISBN 1861001762 and ISBN 0735605920. An understanding of ADO would also improve on the usability of the book.

To make use of the books fullest potential, have a design plan of your database next to it and make notes or check for errors in your design when you go through the chapters. This helped me to improve on the design of my database.

Not essential, but it would have been nice if the sample code used in the book had been made available to the reader. At one place in the book the author even writes that the sample code is available from Wrox' website, but as of today it is not.

This book has given me the skills and confidence to start working on client/server solutions and integrating SQL server. It breaks down the entire complexity surrounding Access 2000 and database development to sizeable blocks and tools that I can piece together according to programming and design goals. A must have for any Access programmer on his way to become a true professional.

I'll make this short...For anyone interested in Chinese history, literature, or culture, this volume is an absolutely essential collection of primary sources, and includes prefaces and explanations by China scholars. There is no one better than de Bary, and this new edition includes everything from the 1960 edition up through the Jiang Zemin era.

I've read a little of this and that about Chinese history and religion, and I needed a book to fill in the basics and the details. This was perfect.

First, the selections included excerpts of almost everything I'd ever heard of: Shang Oracle Bones, the Analects of Confucius and the Confucian classics including the I Ching; Mozi; the Tao Te Ching; Zhuangzi (who famously dreamed that he was a butterfly); Mencius; Xunzi; the Zuozhuan; Sun Tzu's art of war; all kinds of stuff about Chinese schools of Buddhism including the Lotus Sutra and the Flower Garden Sutra and the history of Guanyin and Wutai Shan; Li Po (Li Bo) and Tu Fu (Du Fu); and neo-Confucianism (which was so influential in Korea). In short, this is really, practically the "Eatern Canon" and the selections are deserving of such a label. I was in turns morally and intellectually challenged, uplifted, informed and surprised; but rarely bored and never disappointed.

Second, the introductory essays were exactly what I wanted to know: who might have written it, and when, and who read, and what it meant to them. For all that information, they were still brief and the bibliography was sufficient to help me chase the points that left me curious. An important thing these essays did was to cover the political, historical and social backgrounds (and foregrounds) of the texts, so I learned about Chinese history as well as literature and religion. If that is what you want to do, this book will serve you well.

The binding is excellent, and while the price might look steep I have to say it's a bargain considering what you get.

I didn't read Volume Two, and so I don't know if it is as good. It is certainly a lot smaller!

This second edition of a classic provides an update on a reference recommended for college-level collections specializing in Chinese literature. Sources of Chinese Tradition has been recognized already as a scholarly staple: in its new form Sources of Chinese Tradition has been extended to include the Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin eras of China and includes invaluable source readings on history and literature of the times, from the 18th-century Qing civilization onward.

Jan Johnson's book on contemplative prayer is one that I'll be rereading. It's not difficult reading, but this type of prayer is not something that you can just assimilate into your Christian walk without considerable thought and prayer. I really appreciated the author's honesty and her vulnerability. She definitely doesn't paint herself as being a person who has mastered this stuff - she is just another pilgrim on the journey, and indeed her points are more credible to me because she isn't perfect.

The book talks about what contemplative prayer is, what it looks like in someone's life, problems we might encounter - really practical stuff. She used personal anecdotes to illustrate her principles, and also quotes from many sources. I must say that I found the "notes" section at the end of each chapter fascinating. As a lover of Christian books, I'm fascinated by the books that an author refers to. And this book has the notes at the end of each chapter, instead of the all of them being at the end of the book. They're more accessible this way, I think.

I especially appreciated Jan's description of how we can practice a contemplative lifestyle in the busy-ness of life. She is quick to dispel the notion that contemplatives are locked away in a room somewhere, not living a normal life.

I own Jan Johnson's other books - "Enjoying the Presence of God", "Listening to God - Using Scripture as a Path to God's Presence", and "Living a Purposeful Life", and I look forward to reading those as well.

Please check out my other reviews of Christian books and music.

i had long been wanting to know what is comtemplative prayer. I had read many books about it but they just confused me. Jan Johnson showed me what it really means to pray contemplatively. She also challenged me t oadot this kind of prayer in my daily life. I have done so and GOd has blessed me mightily since then.

Because I often feel too busy to even think, contemplation seems like a spiritual luxury I can't afford. Jan Johnson shows me otherwise. When the Soul Listens is about contemplation for the rest of us; it's about developing simplicity of soul and receptivity of spirit in the busy world we live in. It's a "how to" without condescension because Ms. Johnson takes us along on her spiritual journey and her exploration of the other side of prayer - listening. This journey goes beyond platitudes and cliches into authentic Christianity. I appreciated the careful research, thorough documentation, yet comfortable conversational style. Jan Johnson says her purpose "is to help you learn how to meet with God in life transforming encounters in which your heart comes to rest in His presence." Everything in the book focuses on this purpose in an understandable and inspiring way.

I'm 38 and am a home schooler and to get back into math mode, I chose this book. I did every odd problem and some of the systhesis problems. You will learn the material if you take the time. I spent around 14 or 15 months to get through the book. The program is excersises and review. Constant review is huge plus. I recommend you get the solutions manual from addison wesley. I've just started Marv's et.al.. Precalculus book and then will go onto calculus. I'm enjoying the math. Much more then in high school.

My son and I sit down and learn together. He says "get your book" and lets do math. The key to his desire to do math is because he see's his dad doing it.

I've seen many other books and this tops them all.

This book is not all you get. The book itself is great. But the additional FREE helps which come with the book assure that even the most inept math student can learn algebra. These helps consist of, but are not limited to:1) free tutoring via phone,email,& fax; 2)free practice problems via internet website. Other supplemental materials consist of: Videotapes, Tutorial Software, and a solutions manual. These are all available for the student. I haven't even mentioned the benefits that a classroom teacher has through the Instructor Supplements. These consist of a Test Bank/Instructor's Guide, extra practice problems, mtls for transparencies, video tape index, and several tools for the computer users: test generator, test grader,on-line course management and testing. In other words, this is a great resource for teachers also. I am in the processing of trying to purchase it for my school.

Words cannot do this book justice. This is one of the finest studies of military bureaucracies rejecting change and protecting the old order that has ever been written. Anyone who wants to know how big Rumsfeld's challenge is in trying to transform the Pentagon must read this book.

Johnson was a career soldier before going to RAND. He has a deep sense of how military cultures operate. His portrait of the cavalry wing rejecting modernity is humorous and tragic simultaneously. It is a case study in how large bureaucracies protect themselves and their caste system from being threatened by new developments.

Equally, if not more fascinating, is his conclusion that the Air Corps was equally one sided in favoring its theory of big bombers. While the cavalry drove out officers who believed the time of the horse was past, the Air Corps drove out officers who believed fighter planes were powerful opponents for bombers. In some ways the Air Corps self-blindness was as dangerous as the cavalry's total identification with an obsolete past. The refusal to recognize the vulnerability of the bomber meant that bomber crews in Europe would have the greatest risk of dying of any elements of the American military.

Johnson also reports on the tankers fixation with lighter, less powerful "fast tanks" rather than the heavier, more powerfully armed versions the Germans settled on. The American fixation was on a fast tank that could break through and run amok behind enemy lines but was incapable of standing up to German tanks in one on one fights. The result was a tank that led to many more American casualties than necessary. Interestingly, all post World War II American tank designs have been based on the German model of heavy armor and heavy guns.

This is a very thoughtful book filled with quotes from sincere, serious professional military men who were dead wrong but determined to protect their views and to use their position in the hierarchy to get the job done.

It is a sobering story for anyone who would modernize a large, complex military bureaucracy.

This absorbing history of the U.S. Army between the world wars and on into the Second World War illuminates not only the past but the present and future. As his title indicates, author David Johnson traces two main themes: the Army's responses to the challenges and opportunities presented by the airplane and tank. He shows that these responses, although very different, were both seriously inadequate in ways that proved very costly in the test of war -- and he shows why and how these inadequacies developed. Johnson, a former professional Army officer and National War College instructor, is not dedicated to any theoretical framework. He tells the story very clearly and directly, relying on deep research in primary sources, and draws his lessons from the events as they occurred. He understands the people and the institutions and organizations within which they acted, and he views them sympathetically but dispassionately and objectively.

The story Johnson tells is not one of inevitable historical forces but of human decisions. The decisions were made under the influence of institutions and events, but were not determined by them. They were not catastrophic, but they were well short of optimum. Many Americans died as a result of deficiencies that could well have been avoided.

Because it does not tie the story up in a neat theoretical package, Johnson's book offers no canned recipe for success in responding to present and future challenges and opportunities. Instead, it provides a rich source of inspiration and caution, and a stimulus to thought.

There are a few disappointments, although minor in comparison to the book's strengths: (1) I would have liked to have seen a deeper analysis of the part played by technological factors. While we are too often treated to on-dimensional purely technological approaches to such questions, I feel Johnson goes a bit too far in the other direction. (2) Johnson's citation system for sources, while adequate for a brief article, becomes frustratingly cumbersome at book length. It is too often a real struggle to unearth exactly what his source for a given point is.

Another book that can profitably be read as a complement to this one is William O. Odom's _After the Trenches: The Tranformation of U.S. Army Doctrine, 1918-1939_ (Texas A&M U. Press, 1999).

Will O'Neil

Green Plans are comprehensive, integrated and large-scale national environmental strategies. H. J. Johnson shows us what Green Plans are and what they are not. His examples of pioneering countries, The Netherlands, New Zealand and Canada are very convincing. He shows how those very different countries have developed innovative Green Plans, how they translated the concept of sustainability in practical strategies and action plans. His personal experience, as head of California's Resources Agency, from 1977 to 1982, in developing a comprehensive resource strategy, called Investing For Prosperity (IFP) gave him a basic understanding of Green Plans. He gives us a very good overall view of Green Plans, their ingredients for success, their principles and techniques and the new relationship needed between government and business. His clear vision for the United States should be read by all politicians and concerned citizens. It is still very actual. Of the many books published in environmental protection and sustainable development, this book should be on all bookshelves. And it is a real pleasure to read.

Green Plans is not a book about how bad things are today; it is a book about how good things can be tomorrow. It lays out the global environmental problems (and there are a lot of them) in a brutally honest manner,but it does not dwell on them. Instead, it focuses on what is being done, and what must be done on a global and national scale to alleviate our ecological dilemmas. Green Plans is about solutions, and although these solutions are at a national scale, the implementation must be done on an individual level. Herein lies the strength of Green Plans. Johnson writes with a contagious enthusiasm which leaves the reader with the knowledge and desire to help make a difference. Green Plans is a must read not only for planners and government officials but also for business leaders, environmentalists, and concerned citizens alike.

A great story line and fine performances. but the ending is missing. The final episodes to the story were never performed or recorded, so we are left hanging mid-climax with no conclusion in sight.

These tapes are the best audio horror that I have ever heard. They make you feel like you are part the story. I would recommend this set to anyone who loves radio theater in the same vain as Masterpiece Theater.

Although it has been common since the time of T. S. Eliot's groundbreaking essay, "Johnson, the Poet," for critics to praise "The Vanity of Human Wishes," this is first time a whole volume has been devoted to Johnson's poetry. Prof. Venturo is splendidly equiped for the task. His thorough understanding of Johnson's work and career, his wide-ranging knowledge of Renaissance, Augustan, and Roman poetry, and his rare grasp of the technical aspects of prosody and poetics, make him uniquely able to give us a broad, inclusive, and definitive treatment of Johnson's verse. On the use of Classical imitation in "London" and "The Vanity" he has offered important clarifications. On J's occasional verse he has always enlightened the reader. But of all the many virtues of this book, the most outstanding is Venturo's acute and learned explication of the Latin poems. That chapter alone would have made this fine book an invaluable contribution to our understanding of a great author. Venturo has produced a volume likely to become the standard by which we judge future studies of Johnson poetry.

This is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read about English poetry. It will delight all readers of Samuel Johnson's poetry and bring new readers to the poems as well.