This book was a great help in understanding turbine and transport category aircraft. I read and re-read this book to help prepare for my airline interview. Many questions asked in my interview had been answered in the Turbine Pilots Flight Manual....buy it, you be glad you did.

This is a great book! It conveys a lot and is yet simple enough for just about anyone to understand. I'm starting a job as a Beech 1900 pilot and this book has been great in preparation for that. Read it cover to cover...you won't be dissappointed!

This manual gives me a general idea on how an aircraft turbine engine operates. This book is for any teens who want to be a turbine engineer. There are no complex technical drawings or discussions in this book, therefore it's a nice book for begineers.

If you're a pilot or have ever dreamed of becoming one, you'll love this book! Greg Brown takes readers into the cockpit of his small plane and shares all the struggles, triumphs and the crazy adventures of a pilot from his novice days through today, with several decades of experience behind him. I found the book immensely readable. The language is simple and straightforward and the stories are broken down into short chapters, each a separate adventure, which is ideal if your reading time is limited. I also liked the variety of stories -- some were harrowing, some were downright hilarious and all of them made me wish I had been along for the ride. Finally, I found this book to be as much about relationships -- father-son, husband-wife, family and friends -- as it is about flying, which really balanced out the book for me. An enormously satisfying read!

A large portion of my life is spent with my nose in a book. I know a good one when I see it, and this is a good one. The moment I opened Flying Carpet: The Soul of an Airplane, I was hooked. Greg Brown's unique talent lies in showing us how airplanes are used in the enterprise of aviation adventure while allowing us to learn some important lessons about flying. As
you read, you¹ll find yourself buckled in with Greg and heading off to the shores of Lake Winnipeg to watch a solar eclipse or wrestling with ice on your wings or trying to outwit troublesome mountain waves. The adventures are plenty and education always present as you explore many wonderful places across the United States. Flying Carpet is a book for everyone. Pilots will be entertained and wiser for having read it. Those who don¹t fly will learn what it¹s like to share the wings of a skilled aviator.
Flying Carpet: The Soul of an Airplane captures the joy, enlightenment and adventure of flying an airplane. Each chapter is a ticket to share some of the extraordinary flying adventures that are the lifeblood of master flight instructor Greg Brown.
Beginning with his early development as a pilot, Greg reveals the important lessons that helped mold his ability to make sound aviation decisions. Sandwiched between these valuable lessons are stories about people. Some are pilots. Others simply enjoy and respect those who operate flying machines. As the novice becomes the journeyman and eventually the master, Greg reveals how relationships with people and airplanes ultimately
lead to greater wisdom.
No book about flying would be complete if it didn¹t reveal how the use of an airplane expands time and shrinks space, making the distant parts of our extraordinary country more accessible. Flying Carpet does this and much more. It¹s also the tale of a man who evolves to think with the mind of a pilot, question with the curiosity of a philosopher, and see with the eyes of a poet.
Buckle in with Greg Brown and head off to chase a solar eclipse or wrestle with ice on your wings or try to outwit troublesome mountain waves. Each chapter of Flying Carpet is a new ticket to extraordinary adventures that transform a pilot from novice to journeyman and eventually, skilled aviator.

As a flight instructor, I know this book will be fun reading for every pilot and for those who dream about being pilots. Brown shares the thrills and chills of flying and, at the same time, makes us feel safe going along for the ride. Each chapter stands on its own: a combination of aerial adventure, self-discovery and pure joy. After you read this book, you'll want to invite Greg Brown over for a cup of coffee so he can regale you, in his easy-going, friendly manner, with more stories about the magic of flight.

Mr. Brown, a Master CFI and columnist in the National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI) explores flight instruction *as a business*. Viewed another way, The Savvy Flight Instructor picks up where the FAA's Fundamentals of Instruction left off.

In addition to discussing how to successfully build a career out of flight instruction, Mr Brown presents a marketing plan: how to position yourself, where to find prospective students (and how to advertise), determining how serious they are, closing "the deal" and maintaining "customer satisfaction."

Having worked with over 25 different instructors in the last five years, I found the customer satisfaction (and projecting professionalism) sections are wonderful. These should be required reading because too often we forget that students *are customers* - they need to feel important, should have their expectations set accurately, can be recurring customers, AND are the best form of advertising. We're not competing amongst each other as much as we are against other ways to use disposable income (e.g., a $6000 jjet-ski).

Finally, Mr Brown offers specific suggestions for flight schools. Some of these are no-brainers like "keep the airplanes well-maintained," but there are some more subtle ideas like incorporate a formal ground school (often overlooked), set expectations on how students will be billed (instructors are prone to not bill for time; this also encourages more efficient planning) and incentives for instructors to minimize burnout.

This is a great reference for the career instructor as well as the CFI building time for his or her airline job.

As a Flight Instructor, you probably can't wait to do something else. Maybe night freight in a Baron. Maybe right seat in a Beech 1900. But have you ever stopped to consider, in your rush to leave Instructing, that you might be missing a huge opportunity not only to improve your piloting skills, but to improve yourself on a personal level and to MAKE MORE MONEY?

Are you hanging up on customers who call your school without getting a name and number? Are you sitting there waiting for the customer to come to you? Are you sick and tired of staring out the window on days with low ceilings, moaning about what a tough life the CFI lives? Are you fed up with driving an 81 econobox with 240,000 miles on it? Are you sick of eating Ramen noodles for dinner and with sharing an apartment with 3 other guys who are just as poor as you are?

You can MAKE MORE MONEY in Flight Instructing. The reason you are poor and not flying enough is because your piloting skills alone are just a foundation for your instructing career; now you need to be open to learning about how you can make sure those skills are earning what they are really worth, which I guarantee you is more than $24 a flight hour. If you don't believe me, find the December 1998 issue of Flight Training Magazine and read page 6 very carefully; it's time you opened your eyes and learned about selling, about business, about supply and demand, and about how you can play a part in making the job of the CFI into the Profession we all say it should be. Then, buy this book and start learning.

Sincerely,

Jeff Packer, CFII

This is a fantastic book for someone who is interested in implementing an advanced controls project, but may have been intimidated in the past with the complex math, tools, etc...The first two chapters have a about 1000 years of practical experience in the proper use of final control elements (valves, transmitters, drives, etc...). Highly recommended!

Extremely well written book about John Brown and the history surrounding his life. The author brings the Civil War era (and Mr. Brown) to life, even to those readers who may not be particularly interested in this time period. Thumbs up. I am eagerly awaiting more works by this author.

After reading the excellent "Visual C++ Blue Book", I still felt a little ignorant about how the OOP works with C++. Though the "Visual C++ Blue Book" explained it well, OOP is such a 'core competency' or 'fundamental' I felt I needed a little extra understanding on these concepts of C++. This book did an excellent job of explaining the core concepts of OOP as it relates to C++. Since it is short, I didn't get bored with the endless yammering of many authors. It was quick, consice, and yet somehow managed to be extremely thurough. I highly recommend this book to anyone even though it recommends itself to C programmers moving to C++. I'm from VB, ASP and was able to grasp all of the concepts. Buy it, it will make you a better programmer.

I am a 10+ years C programmer. I red this book twice without coding a single C++ line. Then , this book helped me to start thinking in an object oriented way and provided me to jump on the advanced books on C++ in a time shorter than a month. As the book title states , it gives you the clear explanations of the "CORE" of the C++ language thus , don't expect to find everything on C++ language. If you have a C programming experience and want to learn C++ , this book helps alot.

First and foremost you need to already know C in order to use this book. You need to be familiar with the entire language because the authors derive most of their examples by saying: "This is the concept, this is how you would do it in C (to see the basic mechanisms), and now here's how you do it in C++." This book does not hold your hand through this teaching though, they assume you know what you are doing and are following what they are talking about, which is okay by me. I personally don't like books that are really wordy and have alot of information I already know and so I waste my time and money on needless words. There needs to be more books like this one, just tell me the core concepts like what they do and why and the burden for learning and understanding them falls on me not the authors. One complaint that was echoed in an earlier review was the lack of disk I/O commands which are different enough in C++ to necessitate in me having to go to another book to look them up. How about an appendix or website or something like that, sure would be helpful. All in all, a very good book if you don't like all the B.S., fluff, and general page filling that you see on the bookshelves (aka. every book except O'Reily's).

A brilliantly written, beautifully evocative story that tries much too hard to be profound. The author has a lived-in knowledge of human nature as well as descriptive genuis...but his pretentious tone and feeble epiphanies weigh the story down. The title is very apt: the atmosphere of the book bogs down into a fancy Gothicism that seems largely decorative. The emotions of the story remain mild and vaporous. A frustrating waste of the author's gifts.

Being an avid fan of books placed in New Orleans, I picked up this book and was very pleasantly surprised! That a man can write a book so well from a woman's perspective is amazing to me. I thought the characters were very well written and the interplay of the races in the South was excellent.

I also don't agree with the Kirkus review, I am enjoying this book enormously. The author does a great job of giving the different narrators of the story unique voices. He also has rare insight into the heart of a woman. I am looking forward to other books by this author.

"Audubon's Watch", by John Gregory Brown is the first book of his work that I have read, and I intend to read his previous two books very soon. While reading this tale I often thought of the work of Wilkie Collins, one of the great writers of the late 19th century, and the man widely credited with the creation of the modern mystery genre. The Audubon of this novel is the famous artist who documented the birds of America, and while knowing some of the man's history is helpful it is not necessary.

A great mystery work maintains the suspense, the tension of the story to the very end. The tale itself sustains and lures the reader throughout the book without the need for blind alleys or misdirection. The facets that I mention can be great fun when used by many authors. Mr. Brown did not use them here, and I think the work is all that much better without the devices.

A young woman dies and Audubon is asked to sit watch with the husband the first night following her death. There is a second watch that has three owners, a watch that works or doesn't, a watch that appears to have a mind of its own. A common ritual in this instance has immense importance, for the husband is considered a notorious anatomist/resurrectionist, and Mr. Audubon has knowledge that drives his guilt for 30 years, when on his deathbed he summons the man he sat with that evening. But what is he guilty of, why does Emile, the deceased's husband, make a month long trek dealing with his own failing health to hear what Audubon wishes to say? And what could possibly be haunting Emile for these now past 30 years? The answers are all in the book, and they are not what appear to be obvious or even high probability predictions. The author is brilliant at manipulating what he shares and how he shares it, so that what you may take as a conversation among characters is something very different.

The author seems to play with the reader's need to know and the reader's willingness to make presumptions before the tale is complete. The effect he produces is really marvelous and entertaining. When he digresses from the specifics at hand to share the imagery of a roaring fire, a hurricane, and the flashing blades of the cutters of the cane as they work in his inferno is great reading.

John Gregory Brown is another writer that seems to have yet to be discovered by large numbers of readers. His work will now be on my reading list going forward.

I loved Brown's first two novels, "Decorations in a Ruined Cemetery" and "The Wrecked Blessed Body of Shelton Lafleur", but I think this new one is his best. As with the others, this is a terribly sad and rather disturbing story but the writing is glorious and the observations about John James Audubon completely fascinating. Brown takes us into the minds of Audubon and the anatomist Emile Gautreaux not just as artist and scientist but as men. He examines them the way they examine their subjects. The novel's real subject seems to be grief and passion and the way both can take hold of us. I think John Gregory Brown's books deserve to get much more attention than they do.

Excellent value for money and one of the few books that cover the topic of what you do after you obtain your Commercial licence. Indeed, that should read what you do BEFORE you obtain your Commercial pilots licence. Using the information in 'Job Hunting' I managed to obtain a first job float plane position before I even had the float endorsement and that was in addition to being on the north side of age 40. Now working as a Flight Instructor I recommend 'Job Hunting' to Commercial students as both a guide to getting that all important first job and as a bible of inspiration that says, Yes, you too can get a flying job if you follow the tips in Brown's book.

Certainly "artsy," certainly original, and certainly tiring is John Brown's second and most recent novel, The Wrecked, Blessed Body of Shelton Gerard Lafleur. At points in the story, it seems that Brown achieves something great. At other points, I wished I never picked the book up. The novel's complex plot circles around a handful of eye-catchingly interesting issues including racism, life as a seriously handicapped child, mentorship, and others. Suspiciously reminiscent of the Forrest Gump screenplay, Shelton Lafleur (abr.) also contains a nice dose of casual, meaningful, and insightful philosophy in the form of Shelton's occasional reflections on life. The story is told from the retrospect of Shelton Gerard Lafleur, who is narrating the story as a moribund and decrepit old man. He tells the story of his most unusual childhood in New Orleans during the Depression -- the story of his mysterious adoption by an affluent and aged white woman, his life-crippling fall from a backyard oak, and his experiences with the eccentric and impoverished black mentor who adopted him for a second time. Despite the poignant issues involved, Brown fails to create anything close to a moving novel. The Wrecked, Blessed Body of Shelton Gerard Lafleur is instead victim to long spells of rambling and trifling.

I completely disagree with the previous reviewer and with Kirkus. Maybe some of the plot is implausible, but that isn't really important. This author has touched deeply into things about human nature. And I loved the irony of the ending.