This was a good collection of many explorers travels to locate Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat. I was a little dissapointed that they didn't put many details in about other areas that are now being explored by other searchers. It's great to see all of the difficulties that people have gone through just to climb the mountain, and after reading the book, I hope that the search continues in a broader area since Ararat may not be the mountain described in the Bible.

This book is an essential historical report of the many liars {often in their own words} who claimed to see, touch or bring back samples of Noah's Ark. It is also a list of the many dupes who courageously or recklessly climbed this mountain over & over again (like possessed little children) to see the same sights & suffer more depravation & degradation by nature & man. I wrote another review two days ago but did not make a copy to send to Ark searchers & believers. I think most of the Ark veterans are convinced that the Ark is NOT on Ararat but are ashamed to admit it. They still have two locations to examine!! Ararat is a volcano that probably was created around 2400 BC, just after the FLOOD in 2437BC c. or by 2200 BC the latest, at the time of the Babel dispersion. It did grow through the years, erupting in 1840 & shaking in 1883 & 1966. (This is from the book.) The authors understand earthquakes as they understand glaciers, but in this book, they do NOT dwell upon earthquakes for very long. Why? Because their Ark would have disappeared down the mountain where the vast majority of sightings are located. Another aspect I did notice was their neglect of those who DIED climbing Ararat!!! Most people like to remember those courageous enough to pioneer, to explore. This book only tells of three - very quickly!!! And now we get to the reason why. I believe under Reagan & Bush, various hoaxes were perpetrated by the US government to deceive the world public. Corbin uses the term "boxcar" about three times, & that is the number of boxcars I believe the US & Turkey buried on Ararat. I don't think they let these boxcars stay up there for long - 1-2 years at the most. These explorers were told to shut up about it when they discovered them. These plants were during the time of their most successful & prolific ground searching during 1984-1990. Suddenly with the US-Iraq War, the US could not sponsor or support these expeditons. It was NO miracle James Irwin wanted to climb. The Ark expedition of 1966 & other secret expeditions were sponsored by the US. The paragraphs on Bud Crawford were very important - the CIA wanted him to take pictures. Only if he was taking pictures of a bogus Ark would that be important, the US already had everything else!!! And it is NO coincidence that Stephens 3rd, a US military employee spotted one of those plants in 1988 around which an expedition was sent in 1989. But these bogus arks only got laughs for a few elite; they did NOT damp the determination of some to find an Ark where it would NEVER be found. This book is VERY important & very interesting to read. Thank you for it. Now let us find the spot on Mt.Judi where the historical record supports its landing & build all the shrines, churches & observation sites so modern tourists can make a haji to it. This IS important to do BEFORE the nuclear war of Rev.6:8!! Contrary to your already proven erronious beliefs, there is NO rapture. Buy this book for your library & to support the true Church of God in truth & love. In Jesus' Name, Clifford Catton - Sept.6, 2000.

I just finished " Explorers of Ararat ". What a fabulous adventure story. I have followed the hunt for Noah's Ark for years and by far this was the most objective book that I've read about it. Regardless of the religious convictions of the explorers , they gave an unbiased account of their experiences trying to uncover this great mystery. I can hardly wait until the new edition comes out in 2001. Bravo !!!

Dispite my mild dissappointment with the author, I enjoyed gaining greater insight into my political hero. While I do not consider myself qualified to critique anyone's writing ability, the author too frequently repeats certain otherwise interesting Goldwater quotes. Unfortunately, this impression will compete with my overall favorable feeling.

I happened to read this encomium to the late Senator Goldwater in the midst of the Presidential election imbroglio. Senator Goldwater's dignity, candor, courage and conviction stand in stark contrast with the crass self-interest of many of today's leaders, and their policy-by-poll approach to governance.

Barry Goldwater is one of the most misunderstood leaders of his generation . . . his consistently literal interpretation of the Constitution and unwavering fealty to the Rule of Law caricatured by a press with a penchant for oversimplification, and a viciously cut-throat LBJ political machine (aided by the Rockefeller wing of the GOP). It was only in the twilight of his life that this political giant was accorded the respect he deserves.

This book is spectacular...it gives an in-depth view into the life of Barry Goldwater, one of the founders of conservatism in America. What an interesting look at his life and accomplishments. Wonderfully written!

In his book, John Morris offers lots of amusing baseball anecdotes and one or two touching if maudlin family stories. However I have never seen so many spelling errors in one book (a short book at that!) in my life. Too bad.

From the grind of the minor leagues to the thrill of playing in the World Series...John Morris knows baseball extemely well-having played 12 years with the Cardinals, Phillies and Angels. In his first book "Bullet Bob Comes to Louisville" Morris demonstrates a surprising strong talent as a writer and storyteller. The strength of his book comes from his ability to take his baseball experiences and interweave them with themes of everyday life. In his short story format (22 stories over a nine-inning game) Morris displays a wonderful balance of baseball humor, behind the scenes insight, and sensitive family issues relating to life and death. This book moves very quickly- which made it that much more enjoyable for me. (I read it from cover to cover in one sitting)Go buy it for yourself and your friends. You won't be disappointed!

As a former teammate of Johnny Mo's, with the Cardinals and Phillies, I vividly recall many of the events he describes in his stories. These stories bring back so many memories - precious memories of the joys and pains experienced on the trek to become a major leaguer. I knew Johnny Mo was a great teammate and an outstanding individual, but I did not know he was such a wonderful storyteller! I could not put the book down. If you want a glimpse at the life of a baseball player - the life you never see on TV or in the movies, read this book.

A collection of essays, photos, album covers, and assorted flotsam; Forming doesn't know what it wants to be. For every insightful look at the state of performance art at the dawn of the Punk Rock scene in Los Angeles, there's a glamour shot of Exene Cervenska. The apparent Queen of Punk Rock, Cervenska dominates the book in content. When other writers aren't tossing about her name, pictures of her dominate the page. Meanwhile, she and John Doe basically interview themselves for the fifth and final essay of the book.

For those who are unimpressed with X and all things Cervenska, there are still a few fun facts to know and tell provided in this book. However, Forming is not the documentation of this crucial musical/cultural "scene" that it pretends to be. (ISBN: 1889195448)

Great Document of the LA punk Glory Days! Great Pictures, Anecdotes and Attitude about this Scene of the true spirit Rock'n'Roll. Only Four Stars, because it leaves you Hungry for More. It was originally a book to accompany a Gallery show of the Scene. The Bands and characters are all here. X, Screamers, The Germs, etc. I actually have yet to find a book about LA punk that I haven't loved. Keep 'em coming!

One of my personal favorite punk books. There are great photos of the Screamers, Go-go's, Germs, Weirdos, and X, just to name a few. The old flyers will make you wish you were at those legendary shows. The time line of L.A. punk facts is very informative. This single book is more important to any punk book collection than all the hundreds of Sex Pistols' books combined. A definate must.

This review book , as do all of the Red books by Barron's, offers good practice for those who know the cirriculum and need to reinforce learning or who need to re-remember information after the AP Exam. However, explanations are week and those looking for a comprehensive book that will supplement slightly lacking knowlegde, should look elsewhere.

I have read a lot of books on introductory digital electronics, and this is a good one. If you are a beginner, use this along with some of the Radio Shack booklets such as Getting Started in Electronics. It does a very good job of explaining resistor-capacitor circuits, which are basic to the understanding of how actually to make some of these supposedly simple chips (like the 555 counter) work.

The history of such a "new" state is intrinsically colorful, and the stages of growth and development make for the rise and fall of towns and small cities for a wide variety of reasons. The white man mostly ignored Oklahoma prior to the 1840s, giving said growth and development a dynamic unique among the states.

The author has collected several dozen stories of such locales, and in addition a vast collection of historical photos and plats, gives regional maps, dates, names, commerce info, populations, etc. His monographs on each "ghost town" (a few of which still exist but are seemingly at the end stage of their existence) are well written, informative, and suitably colorful.

Oklahoma has towns that were relocated en toto for the building of reservoirs, towns that were founded as socialist experiments, towns that served primarily as Indian trading posts and withered with the relocation of tribes, etc. Each story is intriguing in its own right, history buff or not. The only reason I rate it less than five stars is its publication date of 1978; an update with rewrites and newly mined information would be wonderful.

This book tells one of the hebrew bible's stories that have no evidence. It takes people of myth, superstition to believe that.
There is no human being that can suvive that heat of the fire.
realistic thinking has no place for fiction.

The book boldly and straitforwardly address difficult issues that have been violently distorted in our times. The information is Historicly well documented, and shows an understanding that takes into concideration ALL of history and not just a small favored portion of it. A must read for all converts to The Orthodox Church.

This book purports to be a 20th century analog of War & Peace. Unfortunately the author transposes entire scenes from Tolstoy's novel. Characters are one-dimensional, wearing labels such as "Decent Citizen Doctor," "Starry-Eyed Young Jewish Communist" or "Cynical Careerist".
The translation is goofy. No doubt jocular or slang terms for any manner of things sound just fine in the Russian, but using slang for the same word in English often sounds risible. Thus food is usually referred to as "grub," clothes as "duds," and so on.
Then there are the downright errors. Polish names for example are grossly misspelled; names of major streets in Warsaw are chewed up and spit out as names for non-existent neighborhoods.
Stalin and Beria were bad men and their purges were terrible events. That doesn't mean you've got to write bad books about them.

"Generations of Winter" is an interesting history of the early Stalinist period in Russia. While using the vehicle of the well-to-do, privileged Gradov family to describe the era, the book is, however, nothing but a fictionalized tale of the history of those tumultuous times in Russia. Author Vassily Aksyonov does write in an engrossing style which enables the reader to have feeling and empathy for the Gradov family members during their trials (rarely do they have triumphs). The reader will want to finish the book to see how everything is resolved.

The interesting, but unrealistic, fact that the extended Gradov family was personally involved in every significant historical happening of this period will provide the casual reader with an insight into the times, but it merely whets the appetite of those desiring a complete picture. To cite examples: - father Dr. Boris resolves the well-known crisis of Stalin's "constipation"; - daughter Nina participates in pro-Trotsky, anti-Stalinist demonstrations when Stalin was consolidating his power (but, curiously, never is arrested for this); - son Kirill, the doctrinaire Marxist, is arrested and sent to the gulag during the Terror; - son Nikita rises in the military, is arrested during the purge of the military, and then is rehabilitated during World War II and rises to become a Marshall of the Army; - nephew Nuygar, a Georgian thug, becomes a Major General and right-hand man to Lavrenty Beria, the head of what has become the KGB; - son Kirill and daughter-in-law Celia first meet in rural Russia during the de-kulakization of the countryside; - adopted grandson Mitya is drafted into the Soviet Army, is captured by the Germans, and joins the Russian Army of Liberation to assist the Nazis in their attack on Russia; - daughter-in-law Veronika emigrates to the United States; - etc., etc., etc.

As such, then, there is no real plot as we would normally think of a fictional plot, but rather a set of seemingly unrelated vignettes revolving around the history of Russia which become related only because of the omipotent Gradov family and their incredible impact upon Russia's history.

Mr. Aksyonov periodically resorts to a "cutsy" technique of interjecting into the text parenthetical sentences to seque into the vignettes, such as "How did it happen that Mitya Sapunov, who in July 1943 had joined the Dnepr partisan detachment, again found himself in a group of "traitors to the Motherland".....? This technique appears to be necessary because the vignettes are rather unrelated, except for the family connections.

Mr. Aksyonov also periodically includes anthropomorphic "Intermissions" where various things such as the Gradov family dog, a squirrel, and an oak tree provide us with, so Mr. Aksyonov must believe, some intellectual insight into something. These Intermissions add nothing whatsoever to the novel. Perhaps, as another Amazon reviewer noted, these are a holdover from Mr. Aksynovov's attempts in the past to confuse the Russian censors who might actually read them and try to determine what is being said.

All-in-all, "Generations of Winter" left this reader interested in the Gradov family and wanting to read the follow-on novel "The Winter's Hero" depicting the end of the Stalinist era to see if anything really positive could happen to the family during that time. However, readers will be left with an empty feeling if they are looking for a sweeping view of Russia during the Stalinist period. Each of the vignettes of history depicted in this novel deserve a separate detailed study.

Yes, it helps if you've read "War & Peace", but even if you don't know your Rostovs from your Raskolnikovs, "Gens. of Winter" is a must. Funny, wrenching, profound, and above all totally original, "Gens." is a masterpiece I have been reading and rereading for five years. Aksyonov alternates a straightforward, gripping, family-history narrative, full of densely layered, palpably real characters, with quotations-- many of them hysterical -- from magazines like 'Time' and 'Pravda', as well as occasional short chapters from the point of view of a squirrel, a dove, a houseplant, and of course a dog. Far from being bewildering or pretentious, however, this point-of-view smorgasbord coalesces into one vision of startling clarity. This book won't please the fundamentalist or the PC (lots of drinking, smoking, sexual activity), not to mention apologists for Stalin if there are any still alive. If, however, you crave exciting, challenging, world-expanding fiction, with a compelling story line and dialogue so real, you're practically wiping the characters' spit off your face -- if you like the idea of historical fiction but can't bear ponderous, talentless bores like James Michener -- if you've ever wondered what was going on in Russia during all those curtained years, put "Generations of Winter" in your shopping cart and click CHECK OUT. The book is long, the print is small, and the experience can't be surpassed. One of the formative books of my life -- and, could be, yours!