Eden and Rory have provided us beginners with an excellent introduction into learning to use our Macs to keep those home movies and vacation videos from rotting on the shelf. The dialogue is clear with just enough technical information to give the 'newbie' a comprehensive picture of how to edit video on the computer with confidence. Most notable are their tutorials, which unlike most books of this nature, go beyond covering the use of the computer and provide excellent pointers on movie-making in general. After reading the book, not only have I been able to make entertaining videos through the editing techniques they describe, but my original footage has improved as well through their guidance on how to use my DV camera to get the best results. Thanks guys!!

I just got this book and it's the best of all the iMovie books I've used/read. Like "iMovies2 For Dummies," this book includes a very good DVD that includes visual/iMovie examples of the techniques and strategies that it explains in the book. For me, this the DVD is the selling point of the book--even though it is somewhat expensive.

I've always felt that a book talking about video/film production must have an accompanying CD or DVD. It's not just about visual learning, but moreso about providing effective examples of what is being explained about visual techniques. I mean...it only makes sense to talk about video technigues by using actual video examples. It really doesn't make sense to keep using a traditional form of communication (writing) to talk about an emerging and developing form of communication (digital video).

Besides the DVD, I also appreciate how the writers of this book provide strategies for different types of video productions--instructional video, music video, documentary video, home video, and short fictional movies. It's the only book I know of that talks about these types of video productions using iMovie. Thus this book (along with another one titled "The Little Digital Video Book, by Micheal Rubin) to me is for the serious/intermediate digital camera and iMovie users.

Finally, I would just like recommend another new book for those like me who want to one day move beyond iMovie to something more professional: Micheal Wohl's "Editing Technqiues with Final Cut Pro" (Peachpit Press) is a very good book on video editing--no matter what editing software you're using. All three of these books should be on your library reference shelf.

Rory Muir's new title in the field of Napoleonic history, 'Salamanca 1812', is another one of his brilliant efforts. After his previous two books, 'Britain and the Defeat of Napoleon' (which won the best book of the year award of the International Napoleonic Society) and 'Tactics and the Experience of Battle in the Age of Napoleon' its good to see that he has returned with another great Napoleonic title.

This account, which covers one of the great battles of the Peninsular War, provides the reader with an excellent narrative of the events leading up to the battle of Salamanca in 1812, the battle itself and the aftermath. The author has taken a novel approach in this book by splitting each chapter (thirteen in all) into two sections. The main section of each chapter tells the story of the battle and events related to it. The author uses numerous first-hand accounts, from both sides of the fighting, to give the reader a feel for the fighting as experienced by the participants.

The second section of each chapter takes a more in-depth look at the numerous sources available on the battle in question, many well know and a few lesser-known authors as well. The rational behind this is the author's attempt to answer many of the controversies that have arisen over time in relation to the battle. He uses numerous sources to flesh out the questions and problems and offers answers based on a logical appreciation of the known facts.

This format (two sections per chapter) does not detract from your reading pleasure; in fact if you do not wish to read the 'commentary section' you will not lose anything. If you wish to delve further into the conflict or try to find answers to certain questions then you can do so without fear that the narrative is going to get confusing.

The book is 322 pages in length with numerous maps which were of a decent standard and easy to follow. There are a number of Appendixes (5 in total) covering Allied and French strength and losses along with a mini tour guide of the battlefield as it is today. The book also has a number of black and white photographs; many take of the battlefield by the author.

Overall this is a decent account of an interesting and significant Peninsular War battle written by one of the leading authors on the subject of the Napoleonic Wars. I am sure that many Napoleonic buffs will enjoy this account.

I write this review in opposition to another review that berates the book as anglophile. That reader should have paid more attention to the opening remarks that clearly specified the limited scope of this book -- British sources. In addition, the author provides a valid reason for this limited scope -- the lack of resources from other than British sources.

To be certain, this book is not about Napoleonic tactics. If this is your interest you'll find Haythornethwaite, Noseworthy, and Nafziger far better sources.

The predominant focus of this book is on the (British) experience of battle during the Napoleonic wars. In this strict regard, it is a very worthwhile source -- certainly a great starting point for further research in this area.

Obviously, next to being there, or participating in re-enactments that emphasize authenticity, the only source for us to understand the experience of a Napoleonic battle is from those who were there. Given this type of source (i.e., individuals), and realizing the limited perspective any one individual has on an entire battle, the value of this book is in the author's attempt to extract accounts of battle experience from a variety of documents.

Please keep this information in mind as you consider purchasing this book and as you read this book.

Rory Muir does an excellent, praiseworthy job with his book "Tactics and the Experience of Battle in the Age of Napoleon". Although he closely analyzes the British experience of war more so than the French, he comments in his preface that this is because there is abundantly more information from the British accounts from that time. Regardless, this is a valuable source for analyzing the age of Napoleon and follows in the path of Keegan's tour-de-force, "The Face of Battle".

Well Done!

What polarising reviews readers have given on this book here at Amazon. However the first crime this book is accused of, Anglocentrism, I find a little unfair. As Muir points out on the very first page of his preface (and a point made by one of the reviewers of this book) - "The Anglocentrism of [writers on the Peninsular War's] approach was not simply the product of a national bias...but rather reflects the fact that for the period of the Napoleonic Wars there is an extraordinarily rich collection of first-hand British accounts of combat, which appears unmatched in any other language." He goes into far more detail on this, but I think you get the point.

Napoleonic Warfare has been a fascination for from the time I read John Keegan's account of Waterloo in "The Face of Battle" - and that is the point of Muir, taking up the Challenge that Keegan posed - this is a book of action and battle order rather than general army life. I found Muir's style suited very readable. He interlaces his arguments with supporting information from quotes out of contemporary diaries and biographies. I liked this because it made the information more than a dry recounting of a structure, but it also gave you a chance to test Muir's theories for yourself based on his supposed supporting information. It is also pretty easy to track down the source of his quotes if you wish to find its context in further detail. I did find the section Part III which dealt with Command and Control the most difficult to read. It overlaid the roles of a number of different armies and men which I found a little confusing. I am not sure how to do it better - but maybe it would have been easier splitting that section up by country rather than by military rank.

The book is divided into 4 sections - 1 - The introduction which has chapters on the Eve of the battle, and on Battles and Battlefields. Part 2 takes up very much where John Keegan left off and describes the conduct on the battlefield of various sections of the military so Artillery, light infantry, cavalry and so on. I did wonder where were the Engineers and the Wagon train. Part 3 is command and control which is the role of various ranks and two very interesting chapters on morale and attitudes. I thought there were some interesting cross-overs in this chapter with Myerley's book "British Military Spectacle". Part 4 is the aftermath of the battle.

There is an excellent bibliography at the end of this all. I think Muir has done a very good job in attempting to extend John Keegan's work on Napoleonic War. I don't think this is by far the end of studies that could be done on nineteenth century battles though.

Stand back, everyone...stand back and be enlightened on how great a country we English have and how we beat the "anti-Christ," Napoleon! Rory Muir's portrait of the war and how great was his country, amounts to nothing more than marching in lock-step with a legion of fellow English writers who are hell-bent on a never-ending agenda of attempting to portray their long-disappeared Empire as the "saviour" of Western Europe. The whole exercise smacked of something that was originally intended to be published in a magazine that caters to the selected audience to which the message is crafted.

Except for the very good title and write-up, which caused me to think I was about to learn something new, this book is very nearly a waste of time. I have given it two stars because it looks good, is well researched (even if many others have been there before) and it is very well edited. However, all in all, I would say read it only if you have not taken O level or other secondary school history, because there won't be anything here you haven't read before, and for the price, I would just dust off an old school book instead. There is one thing I particularly didn't like, despite the fact that it is probably the only original thing about this book; Mr. Muir devotes an entire appendix to writing rather negative, shallow reviews of contemporary works by other respected authors on this period. This tendency of his would be far better served by writing reviews in magazines, or on Amazon.com, like the rest of us, and is certainly not the sort of thing one expects from a professional historian -- at least I hope not. If this is a new and alarming trend among the more arrogant members of publishing academia, I can only hope that a similarly inclined colleague treats Mr. Muir the same way, someday soon.

I found this book surprisingly very easy to read and it held my interest throughout. It covered most facets of Britain's role in the war against Napoleon. As the previous review mentions it looks at why the British Government carried out certain policies and the affects of those policies on it's field army under Wellington, its continental allies and the rest of the countries and people involved in the Napoleonic Wars.

This was a very interesting and enjoyable account of the war against Napoleon and I did not find it dull at any time. Although it only scratched the surface of the military campaigns it gave enough detail for the reader to understand completely what was happening and why.

Overall this is a well written and researched account of Britain's role in Napoleon's downfall and should appeal to anyone interested in this period of history.

The book has a couple of good guides in it and for the most part I picked up some points, but the software instructions on how to use this RAVE engine is awful. They tell you to put it in win-cgi directory and thats it. Most people dont know what that dir. is or how to get there never mind loading software into it. If you like adventure this software is a mind twister.