On November 21st, 1970, a rescue mission would be launched inside North Vietnam that would eventually gain status as being possibly the most incredible operation ever conducted during the Vietnam war.

The culmination of months of grueling planning and training, intensive coordination through military channels, extensive secrecy, and special operations wizardry would lead to the daring raid on the Son Tay POW camp just 20 short miles outside of Hanoi. So well prepared was the team that after the raid's accomplishment, no lives were lost and everyone returned safely after just 26 minutes on the ground. Everyone except U.S. POW's, that is, who were unfortunately not at the POW compound being that it had been abandoned only months previously. Information discovered as to why the Son Tay facility was empty would prove to be both revealing and disturbing to the raid planners and executers.

In assessing the aftermath of the mission itself, although deemed a failure by the mainstream media and squabbled over by Congress, the military, and intelligence agencies, positive aspects would eventually come to light to justify the raid a success after all. Unknown to many outside the purview of the POW's themselves, the raid was an eye opener to the North Vietnamese who now fully realized that America would defy the greatest of odds to repatriate their POW's and show them that they were not forgotten. The Son Tay rescue mission was a serious morale booster for our U.S. captives and also hastened their improved treatment from their North Vietnamese jailors.

Benjamin F. Schemmer has written a fascinating and in-depth study into one of the most sensational rescue missions ever accomplished in the history of warfare. Richly detailed and researched, included are photographs, maps, and appendixes with a multitude of statistics and operational facts. Whether just a casual reader or an avid fan of Vietnam era history, The Raid is an excellent book from start to finish. For those readers interested in the complete story of POW rescues in Vietnam, I would highly recommend the book "Code Name Bright Light: The Untold Story of POW Rescue Efforts During the Vietnam War" by George J. Veith.

The Son Tay Prison Raid was a good idea but was based on poor intelligence. Benjamin Schemmer did a good telling the story. It's too bad it doesn't have a happy ending.

Sam McGowan
Vietnam Veteran, author "The Cave"

Before reading this story, I simply had no idea that the raid on Son Tay had such a major impact. I found the story very emotional yet informative. The audio is a wonderful presentation.

In the course of an individuals maturation process, there are certain immutable truths that transcend the [genders] and the generations. Benjamin David has grasped that process and articulated it in such a fashion that any person who has been through, or will go through, these turbulent years, can identify with. In detailing the trials and tribulations of persons whom I can easily recognize, it was refreshing to see that I was not alone in my thoughts-awkward or normal, his characters embody life for a person my age. As each page passes and the characters unfold, it is easy to see a friend, an acquaintance, or even yourself evolving with the story. Truly a delight to read and an enlightening experience. I look forward to more stories from this talented, energetic, realistic and enlightening author.

So This is Wilderness... offers some of the most insightful prose about growing up and learning who we are and what is important to us of any book around. The book's several stories offer characters, situations, and feelings that one can relate to, which is, after all, the hallmark of a great story. David's writing style is unique, inviting, and reflective of the way in which we think about things. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys short and intriguing stories that will undoubtedly strike a chord of nostalgia.

This book was recommended to me by a friend and I want to spread the word. I loved it and I can't wait for Benjamin David's next book.

Annyone interested in Colombian cooking should pick this book up - the recipies are representative of a Colombian meal and the photos are outstanding.

I got this book in Bogota and I really love it. The pictures are absolutly great. I do not get most of the ingredients here in Japan but I love to see the pictures and to remember the good and friedly meals I shared in Colombia. I think it is also a great present.

I found this book to be simply and utterly fantastic! The photography is absolutely magnificent, and the recipes contained are authenticly Columbian. The layout of this book is a work of art, and it makes you incredibly hungry just to fan through the pages. A comprehensive and broad presentation of Columbian cuisine is presented here in a collage of photography that will marvel your eyes. The historical material was very well presented and the book itself very well researched. If anyone is wishing to explore the depths of Columbian cooking, this book will take you there. If you merely want to explore a colorful and culinary tour of Columbia and its riches in all that is tasty, then this book would be a great place to start.

This book is very good. Ben Franklin has a great style. This book is very short, but he gets to the point. Although this bookw as wriiten before the American Revolution, the suggestions are still relevant today. This book is a good little sermon on what to do if you want wealth, dont sleep all day, dont take on debt, etc. I enjoyed it. The cover and binding are very nice too.

its an awesome book keep it near you at all times teahes a lot in a few a real 5 star book buy it hear and start your succesful life now of wealth and happiness

A great little book, that teaches a lot in a few pages.

Keep it in your Jacket's pocket and read it whenever you have a minute to spare.

A very practical read for especially busy executives; it should take maybe less than a hour.

It would be an injustice to call this book a photographic essay. Instead I prefer to call Alta Colombia: Splendor of the Mountains, "a work of artistic brilliance." This book is a stunning and powerful portrayal of Colombia's mountains. Unfortunately few people outside the borders of Colombia are aware of the "summits and perpetual snows that crown the great mountain range of the Andes."

To that end, Cristóbal von Rothkirch and Juan Pablo Ruiz are knowledgable environmentalists and expert mountain climbers who mangage to capture breathtaking scenes from remote areas of Colombia. We have had this book on our coffee table for years. And it always manages to get rave reviews. With the holidays coming up soon...I think it is a great gift idea.

This book is not limited to mountains. It also includes impressive frames of giant condor's, other rare birds, rocks, fields, native indians,plants and much more. "Alta Colombia: Spendor of the Mountains" is a book filled with a wide display of colors, some are soft and while others are quite bold. It also boasts some great photographs of nature's intimate relationship with the sun. Colombia is blessed with great beauty. This book captures the majestry of Colombia's natural treasures.

What a beautiful book! The pictures of the High Andes in Colombia are exquisite and moving...
By far one of my most valued books on photography from Los Andes. If you can't take a visit to the region in person, buy this book and let the spirit of Los Andes overtake you....Another excellent--although difficult to find--photography book of this region is LOS ANDES VENEZOLANOS by Gabriel Gazso.

ALTA COLOMBIA is a beautifully done book. It illustrates Colombia's magnificent countryside with a superb photographic work. Just by seeing the front page, you can tell Cristobal von Rothkirsch is an artist of great talent, but overall a being with enormous sensibility, who has been deeply in contact with the mountains'spirit. I was very lucky to meet him here in Guatemala, and have not lost hope that he may come back to climb and feel our unique volcanoes, so we can get them printed for the world to enjoy...

The Art Of Cooperation by Benjamin Creme is a three-part metaphysical examination of how cooperation and the need for unity affect human life and spirituality. Meditations, the danger of glamour, prayers for the new age, and more are accessibly rendered for the non-specialist general reader, as well as the dedicated and experienced student of metaphysics, in this insightful and highly recommended treatise.

We all cry for peace, but do nothing, really, to stop war. And we all accept the need for co-operation, yet stand paralyzed at the prospect of implementing it. What's wrong with us?---

Perhaps our understanding of these concepts is more limited than we think. And very likely, the gap between aspiration and action is further stretched by our conditioning and glamors. As we move deeper into the age of globalism, the problem will turn more acute. For we cannot become global citizens without a firm grasp and clear understanding of these concepts. "The Art of Co-Operation" offers an inspiring examination of three ideas that will dominate this coming age: Co-operation, Unity, and their embattled opposite, Glamor.---

Known to millions today as an indefatigable messenger of hope, Benjamin Creme has spent nearly 30 years highlighting momentous changes ahead of us. His central claim: the upheaval we experience in all aspects of life these past decades signals the end of a two-thousand cycle in the (psychological) evolution of humanity and the beginning of a new one. This transitional, hence painful, stage is punctuated and galvanized by a great spiritual teacher, whose very presence gives the keynote for the new cycle. Against the two dominant understandings of humanity in the past age (a spiritual patient in need of salvation from God, and a self-reliant and fast progressing biological species), Creme maintains that between humanity and the godhead stands a spiritual hierarchy. Without being directly responsible for human affairs, this group oversees the evolution of the whole planet through proper management of its energetic fabric. Our civilizations, scientific discoveries and cultural achievements are islands emerging from and receding back to an ocean of energies. We may claim full mastery of the island itself but we have no control over the forces that sustain it in the first place. That's the task of the planet's spiritual hierarchy. The Piscean age, inaugurated two millennia ago by Jesus Christ, has highlighted the qualities of individuality and devotion. The present age, named after the constellation of Aquarius, will manifest the qualities of detachment, or the ability to see things as they are without prejudice and glamor, synthesis and group endeavor.---

Unity is the origin and destiny of all existence. It is life's underlying purpose and the drive behind our evolutionary journey. Steeped as we are, nevertheless, in strong passions and tight conditioning, unity finds a limited expression in our actions. ... contact, family reunions, charitable societies, rallies, even organized crime, are all but distorted manifestations of this drive. Only the conscious and steadfast cultivation of unity can lead to a soul-oriented life. As we approach that elevated state of consciousness, we realize in unity the source of all diversity. The fear of uniformity disappears and a new creativity rushes into our everyday life. Co-operation then becomes the natural way of interacting with others. In fact, it generates a new layer of strength, beauty and fulfillment, as various ideas are synthesized into focal points of a common will. In this respect, co-operation is truly a magic art, enriching all participants without impoverishing any of them.---

Understanding unity and co-operation as spiritual qualities, opens up new possibilities in social life and world politics. But how are we to enter this path? Who is going to stimulate us into following this direction? That's a task for a World Teacher, indeed. The one Who, Creme affirms, lives now among us.

I am always impressed by the depth of insight exhibited by Benjamin Creme. He has a clear grasp of the underlying problems which haunt our world. A house divided cannot stand. And he clearly illustrates how our world is a house divided. But the book is not a pessimistic treatise. As with his other books, Creme inspired me with a sense of hope for humanity and our planetary home. Co-operation and unity are the key ingredients, if we would save ourselves from destruction.

I've read the book several times and each time I feel as if I gain new insight into the possibilties which await us, if we will choose to manifest the divinity which lies within us all.

A special book.

I'll keep it short and sweet. It's a long book, but Isaacson's a helluva biographer, and Franklin's a helluva person.

Isaacson is a superb biographer. I've read his book on Henry Kissinger, and even though I don't agree with some of his conclusions, I admit that was a good book. I'll have more to say about this book when I'm through with it. But I can say this: Isaacson's writing is worth the reading.

And the subject itself? Franklin is only one of four people whose portraits I hang on the wall in my own home. (The others include Niels Bohr, the Danish physicist, and Mao Zedong. And the latter was, perhaps surprisingly, also a fan of Franklin.)

I consider Franklin a true hero, a near-universal genius (possibly the only talents he lacked were military, artistic and musical), a great revolutionary, a loving and loveable man......in short, one of the greatest minds with one of the biggest hearts that ever lived. He succeeded in everything he tried his hand at: business, journalism, letters, science, invention, politics, civic duties, philanthropy, diplomacy, even women (Ben was smoother than James Bond). Franklin founded the U of Pennsylvania, the first American fire department, the first American postal service, the first American "learning academy" (the prestigious American Philosophical Society), among numerous American firsts. As a self-made businessman Franklin would be worth a couple of billions in today's money, according to one source ("The Wealthy 100"). His honors in the sciences would altogether be equivalent to at least one Nobel Prize in Physics (he won the Copley Gold Medal of the Royal Society, picked up scores of honorary degrees, and was a fellow of both the RS and the French Academy). A Nobel Prize, had it existed then, would have been more than appropriate for his theoretical writings on electricity alone - never mind his other scientific contributions. As Harvard's I B Cohen pointed out, Franklin's understanding of electricity was much more fundamental than a mere kite experiment.

Franklin was also a great American. Indeed, Franklin, who was the only signer of all five key documents which created the United States - the Declaration of Independence, two treaties with France, peace treaty with England, the US Constitution - was really and literally the first American. He was mentor to Jefferson (whose draft of the Declaration Franklin edited), and was respected by Washington. If Washington was the Founding Father, then Franklin was the Founding Mother. And while the Father could be cold and distant at times, at least in public, the Mother was always warm and doting.

I have many books on my great hero Ben Franklin - and I use this term "hero" very selectively. And I'm happy to add this fine book to my library. I'm sure you'll do the same.

In my review of Edmund Morgan's biography of Franklin, I observed that while reading it I felt as if I had been allowed to tag along throughout the course of Franklin's life in much the same manner that I had while David McCullough examines the life of John Adams. There is a compelling sense of immediacy in Morgan's and McCullough's biographies. That is less true of Isaacson's approach. His primary purpose, rather, is to have his reader understand and appreciate Franklin from a 21st century perspective: "We see his reflection in our own time."

To at least this reader, it seems as if Isaacson had just returned from a roundtrip visit in a time machine and then at a press conference said "Let me tell you all about Benjamin Franklin ...and share my thoughts about his significance to us today." He draws upon the same research sources that other Franklin biographers have. Both halos and warts are duly acknowledged. Of special interest to me is what Isaacson has to say about Franklin's pragmatic approach to both problems and opportunities, from the years of apprenticeship in his brother's printing company in New York until just before his death when he made one final (unsuccessful) attempt to have slavery abolished.

When quoting social critic David Brooks's phrase, "our founding Yuppie," Isaacson correctly suggests that throughout the 84 years of his life and work, Franklin was sustained by an entrepreneurial spirit. He became "America's best scientist, inventor, diplomat, writer, and business strategist, and he was also one of the most practical, though not most profound, political thinkers....But the most interesting thing that Franklin invented, and continually reinvented, was himself."

Isaacson carefully organizes his material within sixteen chapters (from "Benjamin Franklin and the Invention of America" to "Sage: Philadelphia, 1785-1790") and then in the final chapter shares his "Conclusions." I suggest that two of the sections which follow ("Cast of Characters" and "Chronology") be read first, thus providing a frame of reference within which to gain a better perspective on the life and work of "our founding Yuppie."

Each year, I make it a point to re-read Franklin's Autobiography as well as Thoreau's Walden and Emerson's essay "Self-Reliance" inorder to re-connect with some of the most powerful ideas which have guided and shaped our nation's intellectual history. I have always been especially fascinated by Franklin the man with whom I feel a personal rapport that I do not with Thoreau and Emerson. It is Franklin's compelling humanity which enlightens and sustains Morgan's and Isaacson's correlations of Franklin with the age in which he lived. For these and other reasons, I am deeply grateful to them for increasing and nourishing my appreciation of him.

Isaacson's substantial (493-page) but ever-lively examination of Franklin's continuous self-reinvention does indeed leave no doubt whatsoever of his relevance to our own time, centuries later, as we also struggle with a fundamental issue: "How does one live a life that is useful, virtuous, moral, and spiritually meaningful? For that matter, which of these attributes is most important?" Isaacson goes on to suggest, "These are questions just as vital for a self-satisfied age as they are for a revolutionary one." Today and for years to come, how well we answer these questions will to a great extent determine whether or not we prove worthy of a heritage to which Franklin made so many and such unique contributions.

I've profited handsomely in a real-time portfolio over less than 6 months from ideas accumulated from my reading of this nice collection of articles. Before picking up this text, I expected it would contain mainly writings from Graham's earliest years --writings destined to be melded into the first edition of "Security Analysis." There are a couple of such pieces, but I was most taken with the pieces written towards the end of his life. Some of these are interviews. Graham generated financial ideas for the individual investor until the very end of his life, and this book is currently the only published repository for these. I'm not sure if someone just coming to Benjamin Graham will derive the greatest benefit from this book, but anyone who has a passiing familiarity with "Security Analysis", "The Intelligent Investor" and "The Interpretation of Financial Statements" will derive great pleasure and a goodly number of valuable insights from this collection.

This book give a concrete two factor formula for buying below market value investments without needing the more extensive balance sheet analysis as used in the "Intelligent Investor" or "Security Analysis".

Janet Lowe's book delivers. Want to know what a genius of finance thinks about investing, the stock market and economics? Buy this book. Each time I read it, I discover a new insight which previously eluded me. Truly a great book and I recommend it to all investors of any level of investment sophistication.

I found this book to be very helpful in the daily struggles of Positive vs. negative. Nice to be able to find positive input after dealing with the negative people all day. Thanks for the relief.

This book was given to me by a friend, and I've found it to be very helpful as I juggle work and family demands! Its format lets you focus on one or more tips per day, with great suggestions on how to reduce stress in this ever-changing environment. This would be a great gift idea for anyone living with today's challenges!

What a motivator!! Great book that is full of common sense motivators that we all need from time to time. When I feel myself falling back into old habits I pick the book up and read a few pages and can feel the motivation return and I am ready to face any and all tasks be it at the office or at home. I recommend this book to everyone that needs to be motivated toward any task or to manage their time efficiently. It even gets me back on track with my exercise program! And best of all the book is small enough to fit in my briefcase or purse so I can have it with me all of the time (I travel quite a bit).

Very well written, I am so happy I found it!

Dr. Donoso has written a wonderful account of his medical experiences in refuge camps in Malawi. His writing style is engaging for both the medical professional and the layman. He has enough detail (and footnotes if you really want them) so that you can look critically at his efforts. In addition, at times, his writing is fluid and even poetic. I gave the book only 4 stars because at times the translation was a little rough. I'll bet that this book is really beautiful in the original version. Anyway, if you are interested in the details of delivery of healthcare under trying circumstances, get this book and read it.

An Eloquent Book by a Doctor in the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize Winning Organization, Les Medicines Sans Frontieres

Across the Footsteps of Africa by Dr. Benjamin Puertas-Donoso

Les Medicines Sans Frontieres have won the prestigious and much deserved Nobel Peace Prize for 1999. I would like to congratulate them and praise their dedicated doctors. I was especially touched by this eloquent and beautiful memoir of an Ecuadorian doctor who worked with the American Refugee Committee in Malawi and with Les Medicines Sans Frontieres in Mozambique near the end of their long, brutal civil war in 1993 and 1994.

Dr. Puertas is a gifted writer. The refugee camps where Dr. Puerts worked were not pretty places. But Dr. Puertas took the inconveniences, risks and deprevations of the work in stride. His warm personality bursting with optimism, energy and humility, not only charmed his refugees and coworkers, but captivates his readers as well. However, of course, his success in taking on the gargantuan task of saving lives in wretched conditions was not due to charm alone. In fact he has a genius for organization and administration.

Dr. Puertas does not focus the book on his own accomplishments or dwell on the dirt on the floor in the hospitals. His book is very intelligent and shares with the reader a little of the history of the countries he worked in, their governments and politics and he gives the reader a respectful and balanced idea of what the people, the food and the native cultures are really like. He was very impressed with the good natured people and their incredible strength to endure each day. He traveled quite a bit in the region, met a lot of interesting people, and is a good travel guide for the reader sitting comfortably in his armchair.

Years ago I too lived and worked in Africa. I served as a Peace Corps teacher in Ethiopia. I was teaching English to children who were starving, with many unnamable and unreatable diseases and living without adequate shelter. I can vouch that every word in Dr. Puertas' book resonated true to my experiences in Africa. Africans take their hard life pretty much in stride, but it is indeed very hard. It is organizations like Medicines Sans Frontieres that bring the doctors with skills and abilities to make things happen to improve their lives. Dr. Puertas is to be commended for giving his time and gifts to humanitarian efforts and also for writing such an inspiring and exceptional account of it. It is Dr. Puertas' great gift as a writer to make this story, necessarily suffused with so much human pain and suffering, a great triumph to the human spirit and a romantic adventure. Dr. Puertas is so likeable, his narrative creates suspense because the reader really cares about what happens to him. This book would make a great movie!

This book's first edition in spanish showed me the crude reality of the african health system. This delightful narrative experience of Dr. Puertas' incredible adventure in Africa is very well written. It's contents may prove useful to anybody in the medicine, public health, and medical anthropology fields, especially if related to third world countries.

great book

JLBE