For the casual travelogue reader (or someone with varried interests in Japan), this book is quite good. But you must keep in mind that all of the stories are short -- many of them were taken from longer travelogues and books. Sometimes I found myself wanting more. And I thought that some of the writings were by unexperienced, travelers with a Western bias and a limited understanding of Japan. But this is a great introdction to experienced Japan travel writers such as Alan Booth and Cathy Davidson. And many of the travelogues in this book (though short) are very well written. Booth's poignent piece about his experience in Hiroshima is wonderful. The short observation by Pico Iyer about English in Japan is downright hilarious, and Michael Ward's detailed description about missing the last train is very detailed and is a common dilema for the foregin traveler in Japan. Yes, I would recommend this book. However if you are truly interested in Japan, I think you would also enjoy some longer travelogues.

"Japan : True Stories of Life on the Road" is a collection of anecdotal stories told by people who have journeyed to Japan.

The strength of the book lies in the different points of view. Each traveler experienced a different Japan and has different things to say about the country and it's people. Some of the tales are funny, some are serious and some are informative. The book has a nice balance of styles, and there is very little replication. What is it like to go to a Love Hotel? What do you do when you are served living squid for dinner? What is a Kabuki play like? These are the type of questions answered by this book.

It's weakness lies in the fact that many of these tales have been published elsewhere. If you have read many books on Japan, chances are you will have already read many of these stories. Several selections from "Learning to Bow," "Dave Barry does Japan" and "36 Views of Mt. Fuji" are here.

All in all, it is a good book, and worth reading.

This is a great book! Like all of the other Travelers' Tales Guides, it is well edited - filled with interesting, finely crafted stories by both well-known and newer writers. Keep in mind that if you've done a lot of reading on Japan (like me reading travel narratives on Japan in preparation for the JET program), you've probably already read some of the books that are excerpted in this book - Cathy Davidson's 36 Views of Mt. Fuji, Learning to Bow by Bruce Feiler, Pico Iyer's The Lady and the Monk... But overall, this is a great introduction to Japan and a nice selection of viewpoints for those of us who have already done some reading.

Actually this is a nice book of ATM and SONET/SDH. Part 1 starts with today's world telecommunication industry and markets and introductions to ATM. This book continues to the principles of ATM and more technical discussion. On part 2, this book starts with SONET introductions and more technical discussion. At last on part 3, the authors tried to explain how ATM and SONET working together as part of high-speed network. I think the authors' objective was to seperate the ATM and SONET discussion in different parts and then combine them to present the real application.

From this book, I think the authors had a deep knowledge and understanding of both ATM and SONET technology, and how to make them working together. Unfortunately, the authors assumed that the reader already know some knowledge of ATM and SONET. I think this book is nice and perfect for poeple who need to refresh their memory about both technology. If you have little or no knowledge about ATM and SONET, I suggest that you find other books.

Don't get me wrong. I myself found this book nice and perfect. I personally recommend this book to working-knowledge ATM and SONET poeple (but not to beginners). From the book dimension, I think it is obvious why there is no deeper discussion of every topic. Therefore, this book might not suitable for poeple who have little or no knowledge of ATM and SONET.

"This book provides a great overview of ATM & SONET technology. The Optical Networks/Fiber Optics industry is notorious for acronyms, fuzzy definitions, and confusing uses of the same words to mean different things (e.g., is SONET a physical transport mechanism, a standard, a switch, or a poem? (sorry, couldn't help myself)). Dobrowski provides a clear description of two critical components of today's networks- ATM and SONET, explains them individually and how they work together. Great reading for understanding the basis of much of today's broadband optical networks!

This is a good book for someone entering the telephone industry. I needed to know the basics of how ATM worked and what systems it worked with. As a result of reading this book I finally understand PVCs, SVCs, ATM routing tables and why ATM is such a hot topic. I highly recommend this book.

I enjoyed the wonderful pictures that practically fill this thin book. They truly are unique and rare photographs for the most part. However, the story as far as a biography goes is sorely lacking in any great depth. And as you might expect of one's son, told from a safe vantage point, leaving much of the true gritty details out. The text encompasses as much a play by play of Don's racing career more so than anything else. Those who want to know the true story of Don Aronow beyond his race victory's should look elsewhere, but do by this book for the pictures, they are excellent.

Michael Aronow has done a fantastic job with this book. It's a class act all the way and it features the most incredible speedboat pictures I've ever seen. The action shots, in particular, are thrilling. Terrific!

This is the best book ever written about speedboats. Unbelievable stories combined with awesome photographs. This is as close as you can get to the action.

Don Aronow was the Babe Ruth of boat racing. It's refreshing to see him finally get the recognition he deserves.

Michael Aronow did a great job.

one of the main objectives of expose of solid waste management is to bring together the scientific and technological community, the decision makers,the non-goverenmental organisations and lthe public of this city.

solid waste management is any city is a multidisplinary and multilevel system. i would like to took at the system as a whole from the followings aspects.

-waste handling and transporation -disposal and recycling -administration,management and finance -role of various agencies

i belive that providing a collective forum for professionals amongst us to express their views on the subject,from the angle of their areas of specialisation, will facilities generation of new ideas and approaches for

- addressing the issues

This is the most comprehensive book in environmental engineering subject that I've ever read.
As an environmental engineer, this book really helps me both in the field and behind desk!

Though a complete laboratory text with 50+ experiments, lab techniques, tables of unknowns and spectroscopy, the organic faculty prepare our own lab manual to be followed. Pavia text becomes a close handy reference for lab techniques and setup. The techniques section, which include filtration, crystallization, distillation (simple, fractional, and steam), chromatogrpahy (column, thin-layer, and gas)... should be carefully studied before conducting experiments for beginning students. Unless your organic lab course follows almost exactly the outline of experiments in this text, you can check it out from the library and read it.

I have taken a full course using this book and I think that it is the best one I have seen! Organic chemistry is a hard subject and this book lays it out in an understandable way. The "techniuques" section is current, readable, and the pictures are well done. The essays that accompany many of the experiments are entertaining and give good background information that helps doing the experiments more enjoyable. Probably the best section is the "identification of unknowns" section which lays out in a good logical way how to identify what you have in the lab. I think that the book also addresses and promotes a great trend in chemistry i.e. microscale research that reduces waste and promotes conservation of chemicals and the environment.

This book is essential for the library of every scholar of American constitutionalism. For those who have studied the subject, the superb selection of essays on different aspects of American political thought is enlightening. Those who are simply interested in America's founding may however be at a loss and overwhelmed by the wide range of arguments put forward in the different essays even if Gary L.Gregg did an excellent job in the introduction giving an overview to the reader of what he should expect in each essay. Thus, since all and even the American constituiton and its origins is a matter of perspective, this book can only be enjoyed after a thorough study of American political thought. For constitution freaks however it is not only useful to have, it is a real joy to browse through the essays.

There is a palpable fear that America has lost its way, and perhaps even been untrue to itself. Examples of this loss abound, from school violence to a youth culture nihilism. "Vital Remnants," a collection of essays by some of America's top scholars in history, philosophy, political science, and law, shows, with remarkable clarity, the ways in which contemporary American society has radically altered the course upon which it was originally set. To be sure, our century looks at America with a different set of assumptions than that of our ancestors. "Vital Remnants" gives us clues by which we might stay the course for the benefit of generations to come.

This book (and its second volume: Military Operations since 1871) are both required texts for my Military History class. Most students claim to only rapidly skim required reading for classes, but I've managed to read everything so far (if that tells you anything). As far as material is concerned, this text is both wide-ranging and thourough, describing the invention and development of military techniques as well as discussing the society and government of the time, and how all these factors influence eachother. Highlighted areas include the Thirty Years War and the development of limited war, and the progression though the Napoleonic Wars to almost complete total war during the War Between the States. This book does an excellent job in tying all these early battles together and showing the overall development of warfare. However, if you are interested in nitty-gritty facts on Waterloo or Gettysburg, find a book specific to that battle instead of the sweeping panoramic view this book provides.

This book is the result of the collaboration of a number of the best military historians in the US today, including Mark Grimsley, George Herring, John Lynn, and many others, skilfully tied together by the editors (who are also major contributors), Professor Ira Gruber of Rice University and Colonel Robert A. Doughty of West Point. The result is an outstanding survey of modern Western military history designed for undergraduate history courses, but easily accessible to the general reader as well. The prose is exceptionally clear and the ideas lucidly presented. These two volumes are definitely focussed on the operational level of the "military art" (i.e. on the planning and conduct of campaigns), with some treatment also of strategy, tactics, and technology, but very litte material on "war and society" subjects (i.e. how wars and military developments have affected society and vice-versa). This makes it especially useful for ROTC military history classes, but it is also a very good introduction to the "sharp end" of military history for scholars or students whose main interests lie in the effects of war, rather than its conduct.

If you liked the movies, this book is something that you should find quite agreeable. "Star Wars" is probably not as well written as the other two stories(a friend of mine remarked that "it reads like a script"). Still, read it if you must. The writing gets better with "The Empire Strikes Back", but I think it would had been a lot better if Glut had gone into detail a little more. Still, even if it is missing something, it's still good. "Return of the Jedi" surprised me. Many critics say it is the worst movie in the "Star Wars" trilogy, as it can be constructed as weak and childish in some respects. Yet it makes for the best book of the three! Since it is best, of course, to read all three books in sequence, a compressed edition should be very convenient. I would recommend this book to most "Star Wars" fans I know. But on the whole, I'd rather just go out and see the actual movies instead

Pretty much the case with watching the movies too for most of us, isn't it? Excellent adaptations of the classic trilogy stories in one book, and a must for true-blooded STAR WARS fans. I only hope that in the future, after Episodes 2 and 3 have been made there will be a new addition with the novels to all 6 available. Until then, I'll keep my fingers crossed!

The books are great, but they only serve as for you remembering the movie, knowing a couple of things that were cut but were written in the script and knowing what these great characters were thinking at the very moment.

The books are short, yes and if it were only for them the Star Wars book universe would be very short, that's why Lucas has hired so many talented authors to expand the book universe in all of those novels that have come out explain what happened before and after the story that he's presented to us in his movies.

These books are not on what the movies are based, the scripts were written before, the scripts are of about 100 pages each, these books are novelizations of the movies that came from the scripts, these books are almost the scripts only that in novel format.

Stop posting reviews commenting on that they are too short, because for me they are not all what we've gotten, we've gotten many other novels that are not to be taken as each story they are to be taken as ONE huge amazing story filled with everything, comedy, drama, action, adventure, love, romance, some stupid points and some intelligent points, there's a little bit of everything in a story set on a galaxy far, far away.

A fantastic book from a fantastic website. The stories from Europe seem strongest, including Bill Barich in Italy, Maxine Rose Schur in France, and Simon Winchester in Romania, but Wanderlust covers the entire globe, from 1st world to 3rd world, from the luxury of club med to the drug-fueled violence of Columbia.

While some stories lag behind, as should be expected with 40+ tales, there is certain to be something for everyone. One reviewer found Barry Yeoman's piece about lonliness in Spain and Karl Greenfeld struggle to stay sober in Thailand as two of the worst, but I would highlight the same pieces as two of my favorites.

For any wayward traveler forced to take a break from the road, salon.com's Wanderlust makes for a great escape.

"[I]f travel is like love, that is, in the end, mostly because it's a heightened state of awareness, in which we are mindful, receptive, undimmed by familiarity, and ready to be transformed."

So observes Pico Iyer at the end of his foreword to this magical collection, adding that the above is also the reason that "the best trips, like the best love affairs, never really end. "Anyone who has traveled at least a bit, who has loved at least once, or who is ready to be transformed should read this book. High praise is due Don George and Salon.com for gathering such a stirring and tantalizing collection of writings together: in forty short pieces not one dull or sappy note is struck.

For romance, the standouts of this collection are Maxine Rose Schur's "Passionate and Penniless in Paris," about the time she spent with her husband living in a van by the Quai de la Tournelle; Simon Winchester's "Romance in Romania" where the Rolls Royce he happens to be driving brings both him and a young Romanian girl into a beautiful moment that takes its romance from its very fleetingness; Iyer's own short, musical "Bewitched in Bali"; "Fade Into Blue," written in the third person by Amanda Jones; and most memorable of all, Laura Fraser's "Italian Affair," one of the most personal pieces in the book, but written completely in the second person (let's just say it begins with "Let's say your husband leaves you" and ends with her discovery of "la bella vita").

Notable for their adventurous qualities are Bill Belleville's "Looking for Mr. Watson" in the heart of the Florida Everglades; Don Meredith's relaxed brush with death in "Sleeping With Elephants"; Jeffrey Tayler's not-so-relaxed brush with death in "Lost in the Sahara"; editor Don George's surprising fear of climbing Half-Dome in Yosemite while watching his 8- and 10-year-old children scamper up like squirrels--he not afraid for them, he's jealous of them; and Susan Hack's humorous "Tampax Nightmares."

Of course romance and adventure are not mutually exclusive, and many of the stories here exhibit both. The writers of SALON.COM'S WANDERLUST convey the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and feel of the places they go--both externally and inside their own heads. The reader is transported to all seven continents and several states of being (drunk on absinthe, crashing a motorcycle while on heroin, eating the ambrosial sauces of the Memphis World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest). It will be hard to read just a quarter of these stories and not want to make your plane reservations, stuff a new notebook into your backpack and just go.

Salon's "Wanderlust" section was always my favorite part of Salon -- even more so than "Sex":). This book is a marvelous collection of authentic writing, and answers the kinds of questions good travel writing asks -- what is it like to be drinking absinthe in Spain? to be penniless and in love in Paris? to be a cynic at Club Med? to try to stay sober in Thailand?

This is armchair travel at its very best.

If you love The Empire Strikes Back, you will like this book. It is very well written, with different and expanded dialogue between characters. This is especially evident from the parts where Luke is learning different aspects of the Force from Yoda. There were scenes of Luke's training that were filmed and not included in the final cut, so reading this book, you'll be able to find out what we didn't see. Overall, though, this book is closest to the actual movie than the books for A New Hope and Return of the Jedi. Not that that is bad. I and many, many others consider Empire to be the best Star Wars film ever made. (I also hope the upcoming Episode II is more like Empire, with its dark tone.)

This book is just as exciting as the movie and is a must-read for fans. For those who are curious about this, buy Star Wars: A New Hope first, or you won't understand a lot about what is happening.

The "Empire Strikes Back" is a darker kind of stroy, basically because it's the middle act (refering to the way you put the characters in the worst possible situation and then in the final act you get them out). This book tells that story perfectly. In the book scenes are added in that were not put in (for one reason or another) the movie. Books can do one thing movies can't do very well, revel the character's thoughts and feelings. You learn a lot more from the book too. I'm not saying the book is better than the movie, I'm not saying that at all, that would be a digrace to George Lucas. All I'm doing is speaking from an authors view (I'm an upcoming 13 year old author working on my second book). This is a MUST have for any Star Wars fan, collecter, buff, freak (like me), or just someone normal (not like me).

Being that the Empire Strikes Back is my favourite of the Star Wars movies, I just had to read this book. It won't disappoint Star Wars fans, with all of the energy of the movie. I liked how it wasn't a complete adaption of the movie, with different things taking place on Dagobah. I would recommend this book to any science-fiction or fantasy fan.