It helps to have read other Irish literature first to appreciate this book.

This book is an inside joke, and a classic at that. It is a grand send up of professional Irish (both at home and abroad). As example, consider a book written in Gaelic making sport of the Gaelic movement by means of a Gaelic festival. ( In ourland of the professional ethnic festival, this might serve as an effective antidote to "Irish" nights and "Scots weekends.") If you are inclined to romanticize villages of the old sod dominated by pigs, mud, rain and potatos, avoid this work. If you want a great classic of the jaundiced eye school of literature, read this book. By the way, some of the fun lies in the many parodies of Irish literary works in the assorted chapters; knowledge of the genre helps.

I hurt myself laughing about Ambrose the foul smelling pig. An earlier reviewer noted that knowledge of gaelic liturature and Irish folklore is important in understanding the puns and satires and that is true BUT not prerequisite to enjoying this very funny story.

This book has great pictures to keep the interest of young readers. My son did not know this story was true and he really wanted me to help him read this book NOW so he could find out what happened to all the people. The size of the airship amazed him and he learned a lot!

Kirkus Reviews said of this book: "Compellingly well told, beautifully illustrated, and skillfully designed, this is a work that will find a wide audience."

Kansas Bootleggers presents a criminological view of Kansas during prohibition. It is written in that, "good ol'e boy style," only a history buff could appreciate. The author writes about a time and subject which is not unfamiliar to him. I reccomend this book to anybody interested in criminal justice, Kansas, prohibition, or drinking grain alcohol.

Being a resident of Southeast Kansas, I really enjoyed this book. It told tales that were very interesting and fun to read. This book should be mandatory for all Southeast Kansans!!

This review pertains to the 312-page Concise Edition of the Oxford Atlas of World History with the ISBN 019521921X. The larger original edition has 352 pages and the ISBN 0195215672.

The book is a variation of one of the best (and perhaps *the* best) "atlas of world history" tomes. However, this scaled-down version's text is just not as easy on the eyes as that of the full-size book. The map and text content are the same for both books so the concise version is certainly a real value at about half the price. The Concise Edition does omit the glossary but I do not consider that an essential feature of the original book. The larger original version came out in 1999 (and was reprinted in 2002). The Concise Edition is merely a reprint of the 1999 book and I can find no updated data. An advantage of the Concise Edition (besides the lower price) is its physical handiness; the original is quite close in size to the big Hammond Atlas of World History. Nevertheless, I like to casually browse through atlases so the increased eye-friendliness of the larger type and map detailing in the big version is well-worth its added expense and clumsiness for my purposes.

The Concise Edition is indeed legible and would be OK for just occasional reference but not protracted reads, in my opinion. It is really a 5-star book but I rate it at 4 stars because of this truncated size. I am returning my Concise Edition and keeping its big brother. Both editions are still available from Amazon at the time of this writing.

This atlas is great for looking up those events, both momentous and not-so-momentous, to get a quick grasp and overview of the situation without getting bogged down in some more detailed and ponderous history. If it weren't for John Haywood's Atlas of World History, I would say it's possibly the best one out there in relation to features and price. However, I have a preference for the Haywood volume because I found his writing style more interesting, not to mention the fact that his book is less than half the price of O'Brien's volume. While I would not wish to base a decision just on price, I would point out that I preferred either of these two books to the Hammond atlas, which is even more expensive, and the Times atlas, at almost twice the cost, and the Dorling-Kindersley, which, although a superb atlas, is still 20% higher.

While I'm at it, I'd like to say something about O'Brien's Atlas of World History, published by Philips. I mention it here since no matter how I search, I can't find this atlas listed anywhere, but this is a really superb atlas, and I think exceeds even the present volume in terms of quality and features. So if you can find this one, I'd also pick up a copy. Because it's so good, I'd also like to discuss it here.

All the of the big 5 or 6 major atlases out there have their strengths and weaknesses, and their pros and cons, I've discovered, and this one is no different. This one has one terrific feature that's worth mentioning specifically. At the end of the book O'Brien includes many fine articles summing up the state of the world since 1945 for the major areas and countries of the world, and for topics such as demographic changes, the growth of population, civil rights and women's rights, health and disease, transport and trade relations, the breakup of empires, and so on. O'Brien discusses in the introduction that this atlas was motivated partly by the upcoming millenium year, and because it seemed like such a timely point at which to assess and sum up much of the changes and progress that had accrued during the last half century or century in these articles. O'Brien did a great job in this area, and it's one of the book's many strengths. Overall, an excellent atlas given all the outstanding features, and I'd actually give it 4.5 stars if I could.

Since I started writing this review, I've discovered (through having purchased both books), that the Philips volume and the Oxford atlas are exactly the same book, just by different publishers. The only difference that I can find is that the Philips book is somewhat larger format. I'm comparing them right now, and the Philips book is about 1 inch wider and about 2 inches taller than the Oxford volume. This means the fonts for the paragraph text and the print on the maps are somewhat bigger and easier to read. They both have exactly the same--312--number of pages, and the publication dates are in 2001 and 2002, so they're very close there. However, I just noticed that the Philips book on the copyright page says "This edition published for Borders Books," so it looks like a re-issue of the Oxford volume, only in a slightly larger format.

Well, it looks like I just bought two copies of the same atlas. Hopefully my little review will keep you from doing the same! Anyway, whichever atlas or version you decide to get, happy atlas buying and reading!

The affordable price tag of this set of maps paired with its applications to both home and school library patrons will earn it a place on many a home bookshelf as well as libraries: Atlas Of World History, Concise Edition is the result of over three years of intensive effort by a team of academics and editors, and presents the story of humanity from a physical, cartographic perspective. Five parts correspond with the five eras studied by world historians today, making for a particularly accessible set of maps.

Not only do i have a tremendous distaste for the font of this book, the texture of the pages was such that i needed to wear plastic gloves in order to avoid paper burn. o'Brien's backseat politics are best left for the playground. rather than trying to peddle his ideas as something a person might want to hear, the author should invest in something to keep his mouth closed and his fingers away from a pen. Overall i wish i would have completed the rest of my "ally mcbeal: season 1" dvd, than read this trard.

John O'Brien's masterpiece is the 'Vagina Monologue' of the modern political age. Most books have more fluff than a wookie, but this book is all Skywalker. The insightful jabber in this book will surely unite the bipartisan world. Democrats and Republicans will get along- dogs and cats living side by side as this book is spread across the grassroots of America. This book is clearly the best of his 27 books, the child prodigy has outdone himself again.

This is easily one of the best books I have ever read. John O'Brien's ideas are incredible. This book is a must read for anyone who cares about the state of this country. It is a book that changed my outlook on the way I look at this country.

Most kids have an affinity for dinosaurs and sharks. You see, dinosaurs and sharks don't have to do what anyone is told and if an adult asks them to do their homework, they eat em. With that said, this book is great for the very early Pre-school to second grade readers. More advanced readers will not be challenged by the two sentence per page writing. Much of the artwork is intriguing, using full page watercolor of the prehistoric beast. However, the book devotes many of its pages to other prehistoric animals that are a let-down in a book about huge killer fish. The hardcover book is certainly an early offering of cool.

MEGATOOTH is a great childrens book about the most terrifying creature that ever lived. Imagine a Great White shark the size of an adult Humpback whale- weighing 40 to 70 tons having 6 to 7" triangular, serrated teeth and no known predators!! MEGATOOTH describes this frighting animal of the past with paintings done by the author and informative text about how this huge shark lived and what it ate. MEGATOOTH would make a great Birthday or Christmas gift for that young shark lover out there and i can't imagine any little boy or girl who loves dinosaurs not loving this book as well!

A great book for a history class text. Thia book is full of many great art essays along with detailed explinations of specific events. Kishlansky did a great job.

I bought this book for my son to learn more about pirates in the few weeks leading up to his 4th birthday when we will use a pirate theme. It's more of a factual telling about the life of pirates vs. a story and the violence one reviewer refers to is probably based on a picture of pirates coming over the bulwarks of a boat with cutlasses waving at fleeing victims. The book doesn't sugar coat the fact that pirates were thieves and pretty "naughty." It has really engaged my son in learning lots of pirate lore like what pets they had (parrots, monkeys and cats), what kind of treasure they were interested in, and their code of honor (a great intro for discussing our house rules), among other things. The book prompts lots of questions on his part. He has clearly enjoyed it and asks for it whenever pirates is the bedtime topic of choice. If you want something more playful, try Kathy Tucker's "Do Pirates Take Baths?" or David McPhail's "Edward and the Pirates." They won't be as educational, but they contrast (and complement) the realism of this book with a traditional fantasy-oriented approach.

This is a good kids' book, with beautiful illustrations. It gives a good overview of life among eighteenth-century pirates, at a child's level, and will increase a kid's enjoyment of "Treasure Island" or Howard Pyle's wonderful pirate stories, later. This book's pirates are fascinating, somewhat romanticized, but NOT role-models (they're thieving scalawags! What did you expect?); the mentions of danger and violence were VERY restrained, however, and the sailors' folk songs on the flip side of the audiotape accompanying the book are well done, pleasantly sung and properly censored ("Fiddler's Green" has removed all references to "Hell", etc.). My boy has been singing about "Good Fish Chowdah" for days, and will enjoy this book and tape for a long time to come.

This book has nothing to do with violence as stated by the other review. I am only writing this to tell you that there IS no violence. This book is informative, intersting and factual. It had many new vocabulary for my kids to learn. My 3yr old son and 5 year old daughter beg to hear the tape several times a day. Tape has lively songs on one side and the text on the other - read by male and female individuals.

I just wrote a review of Australia Handbook and decided to have a look at the reviews for Lonely Planet's Australia guide. I bought both books as well as Frommer's and Fodor's guides for my trip to Australia. I have used many Lonely Planet guides through the years, but must agree with the comments of other posted reviews--it is oriented almostly solely to young people out looking for a a job picking fruit and wanting to know the latest nightclub hotspot. I did find the first sections of this book to be thorough on the country's history and what to expect, but as for myself and my wife (40 year olds staying in motels and with a rental car) it was useless once we got there. Lonely Planet is also way behind when it comes to listing websites.

These books may serve budget travelers well, but for my money, it's the Frommer's or Moon book.

Australia is such a vast and diverse nation that it is impossible to cover the entire country in one book.

Lonely Planet was a great starting ground. It gave excellent overviews of all of the major cities, the best of the outback, and the superb national parks. Lonely Planet also publishes guides for every Australian state, a few areas, and many smaller guides to dining, and the cities.

My advice to any traveler to Australia is to read LP Australia before departing. Then, once you have a clear idea of what you want to see, read the LP guides specific to that area. Lonely Planet is by far the best for Australia that I have seen out there.

The new 11th edition (May 2002)of this Lonely Planet Guide is excellent. I grew up in Australia and travel back frequently. The publisher is based in Melbourne, so this book has unique "at the source" information and tips. This updated edition solves most of the problems of previous editions. Yes, things change -- so always refer to the most recent edition available. Australia is a fascinating island continent.

Save your money and purchase the REAL stories 'outlined' in this cheap book put together to ride the wave of The Perfect Storm. The collection of stories is nothing more than a collection of extended abstracts of the real stories. Many of the 'abstracts' are taken out of context and the reader does not get an accurate picture of what and why the nautical situation developed or how it concluded. Pass on this one.

This book is in a series put out by Adrenaline books and each book contains certain selections chosen by the editor. The selections are either excerpts from books, excerpts from diaries and journals, short stories, or an occasional essay. I look at how good the writing is, and how good the stories are.

There are 16 selections in this book. Half of them range from good to great, and the other eight are fairly poor. The writing is okay throughout, with some being more exceptional than others, but it's the stories that differ the most in quality. Six of them, whether written well or not, have virtually no story whatsoever or are very poor. As it turns out, the best stories in this book are also some of the better written. This is where the book's strength shows up. The selections introduce you to stories and books you may have never read and after reading some of the good selections, it makes you want to go read the books they were taken from. So I would mostly recommend this book to people who have not read much or any sea stories. It introduces you to a wide variety of sea literature. But otherwise I would only lightly recommend it by saying that everyone would find some selections that they really like.

Clint Willis has created a fascinating series of books with Epic, Climb, High, Wild, Ice, Rough Water, and The War. Each of these volumes presents the best literature about their respective subjects in a powerful cohesive manner. These books are a quick read, but intricate and spellbinding. I have given many of them to friends and family as gifts.