If your entire life revolves around action movies chances are (a) you're dumb (b) a virgin or (c) entombed in your own little comic book world. Marshall Julius shows all of these traits in this book. I also suspect that his grasp of beauty anf beauty in film would easily fit onto the back of a postage stamp.

His assertion that 'Singing In The Rain' would have been a better film if it had ended 'in a bloodbath, Gene Kelly's guts exposed in a tchnicolor (sic) flash of violence' is plain stupid. As is his rather immature wish that 'one day all films will have the depth of plot and strength of character' as 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'.

To conclude, this book is to serious film literature what Jackie Collins is to highbrow fition. Makes a great doorweight though!

You know you're in for he-man reading from the pic of Robocop on the cover! Marshal Julius doesn't just give a high- testosterone rating to a movie if it's JUST action; he weighs the pros and cons of what makes an action film bad or good. If the plot or performances are off-key, he tells you---like his review of "The Chinese Connection" mentions that whereas Bruce Lee is extraordinary, the movie's production values are sub- standard. I'll admit I disagree with Julius' high rating of "Flash Gordon" (with Sam Jones and Max von Sydow), but he's well on-the-mark with the rest of the reviews. And check out the action- star bios peppered throughout!!!

"Vengeful cops, and car chases, lunatic villains and martial-arts masters, male-bonding, ginfights and super secret agents, swords and sorcerors, wartime Nazi-bashing, boys' own adventures, casual destruction and general death-defiance..." (from the Introduction).
That's the stuff; over 250 movies reviewed and rated from one mini-gun to the five-gun action whoppers (such as RoboCop and Die Hard). From James Bond to Topper Harley, they're all here in all their butt-kickin' splendor.
Highly recommended for the action movie buff, or student of contemporary American culture.
(The numerical rating above is a default setting within Amazon's format. This reviewer does not employ numerical ratings.)

I left my book at school and have to do a paper using 5 words from it... AHH!!! NOT a good thing... but I'll make it (somehow...). The book really is good, though. I'm not big on learning vocab, but it makes it really easy to learn.

This is a great book that helps you to build up your vocabulary for the exam. These vocabulary words are essential and useful. You will not regret it! IT REALLY HELPS!

Mr. Getman does a good of telling the local union's side of the strike at Internatioal Paper's Jay, Maine mill, however his lack of balance causes him to miss the point. I worked as a consultant at the Jay mill for a year prior to the strike and know all the main characters Mr. Getman describes. He has omitted some key relationships. For example the deep personal dislike between the mill manager and the local president was an important element in the strike. But more important Mr. Getman missed the point he was trying to make. While he concludes that International Paper, the international union, and the law betrayed Local 14, the fact is the real betrayers of Local 14 were the idealists who turned a local labor disput into a crusade. He is correct in that the strike bitterly divided the town of Jay and it is divided to this day. I hope every union official reads this book before they ask their members for a strike vote.

This is an insightful and readable account of an important strike. The local leadership did not go looking for this strike, International Paper did. What they did not count on was the innovative tactics of the workers, and their leadership and advisors, who inflicted a lot of pain on the company. When I lived in Maine, the paper companies got everything just they way they wanted it. When they said jump, everyone from the Governor to the media said how high? And if the paper companies wanted fewer restrictions from environmental laws, even the unions went along with it. But in 1987-8, workers in Jay stood up. And a lot of Mainers stood by them. The strike shook things up in the state. This book is a useful reminder that workers can stand up for what they believe in. They can fight and make a difference. By the way. In other countries, like France, it is illegal to bring in permanent replacement scabs. It should be here.

If you are chartering a sailboat around French Polynesia you should get this book or the Charlies charts book to plan your itinerary. Bring it along and use it too. It helps you navigate, saves you time by pointing out good anchorages, and gives you perspective as to where you are when you are sailing around. If your not sailing, get one of the travel books. Find out which ones by reading my trip report at DiveAtlas.com.

There obviously isn't a large market for books of this kind, which explains why this 1st edition has never been revised and nothing comparable has appeared from other publishers. And Marcia Davock really did create a classic with lots of excellent maps, lively photos, and delightful texts, plus amazingly detailed and useful information on how to stear a sailboat right around Tahiti and Moorea. Back in 1985 when Marcia's book came out, the Leeward Islands (Huahine, Raiatea, Taha'a, Bora Bora, Maupiti, etc) still hadn't developed into the popular charter cruising zones they are today. Thus the Leewards get only 86 pages in the book while the Windwards (Tahiti and Moorea) get 115. If Marcia were writing now, that ratio would certainly be reversed and then some. The Marquesas and Tuamotu islands receive no coverage at all. Nevertheless, as the author of the South Pacific Handbook I strongly recommend this guide to everyone planning a passage under sail through French Polynesia. It will provide stimulating and informative reading matter on the long journey south from Hawaii and lead you into some amazing places later on.

This 1973 book tells of the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Nizer usually wrote about his own cases, but decided to research this case with no opinion as to their guilt or innocence. The reason that truth is stranger than fiction in the courtroom is that "fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; truth isn't" (p.3). A trial is a war fought under civilized rules. Many people have definite opinions about cases from newspaper accounts, but newspapers give only fragments, not the whole case. Judicial opinions are not the means to a conclusion, but a rationalization of a conclusion (p.5). It is possible to take the record of any trial and through post-facto reasoning deduce that the verdict was wrong. But a jury has the right to apply common sense and their observation of the witnesses; this is not recorded. A jury will forgive errors of law, but not of facts. [Do modern trial lawyers concentrate on jury selection to effectively win a case?] Any critic of a case usually has not heard the witnesses testify. [This assumes that the evidence and witnesses were correctly perceived in this or any other trial. Would perjury and planted evidence change this view?]

For Nizer the question should be "do you think there was sufficient evidence to decide they were guilty?" The answer is plainly "yes". But if they had been found not guilty, would the same question apply?

Louis Nizer was a defender of the Warren Commission Report; would he have learned anything afterwards? Page 6 tells of the finding of a Mauser on the sixth floor of the Book Depository Building. Nizer makes the willful mistake of saying it was another rifle! He wasn't there, and didn't see the published picture, yet he claims to know the real truth! So you should know that Nizer has the fault of seeing what he wants to see.

I used to believe that the Rosenbergs were spies and traitors; this book explains that they were never indicted for treason, and never convicted of espionage. I now believe that were scapegoats for a show trial to explain away the loss of America's atom bomb "secret". Russia, like other countries, were involved in atomic research in the 1930s. Some of the scientists at Los Alamos were sending secrets to foreign countries. "The House on 92nd Street" claimed that the atom bomb secret was kept safe by the FBI. There was no mention of Army counter-intelligence. This 490 page book lacks an index and table of contents.

"Blueprints for Utopia never take into account human frailties. That is why they are so alluring in print and so ineffectual in practice" (p.23). This, and other interesting comments on this case and the law in general make this a good book to read.

Louis Nizer brings the perspective of a lawyer to this review of the Rosenberg trial. He takes you through the trial, day by day, discusses the strategy of the opposing sides, and makes a judgement -- the trial was proper, and the jury was justified in coming to the conclusion that the defendents were guilty. He's also careful to warn you about the things you can't know, such as the difference between reading what was said, and seeing it yourself.

The big flaw in this book is the lack of sources. You can't always tell where Nizer got his information. But unless you want to wade through the trial transcript and briefs, this is the best description of the process that led to the Rosenbergs' conviction. It's a fairminded, honest book, and I recommend it.

My 5 year old was only half interested in this book. I think the story was a bit long, and the wording did not flow well. The drawings were nice, but I think they appealed to me more than my son.

Julius Lester's version of the legend of John Henry is well-told. I laughed out loud when Lester described Ferret-Faced Freddy, a man "so mean, he cried if he had a nice thought." Lester also uses marvelous metaphors (next to a large mountain, John Henry doesn't look "much bigger than a wish that wasn't going to come true"). Lester's version is very different from other versions I'm familiar with (such as Ezra Jack Keat's), but I love it.

Pinkney, who has teamed up with Lester on other books (my favorite is "Sam and the Tigers"), provides beautiful illustrations to accompany the text.

Just a word of warning: you can breeze through this book in 15 minutes. It's *very* small, and half of the book is pictures. Also, given the rapidly changing face of Vegas nightlife, it's going to get out of date quite quickly (not to mention omissions). Still, it's an okay little guide that might point out 1 or 2 lounges or afterhours clubs you didn't know about. Still, I would not suggest this as your only guide to nightlife or dining in Vegas. I would definetly suggest pairing this with another book, or even better, going with someone 'in the know'.

Even if you're not a Gen Xer you will love this guide. The photos say it all and the reviews are definetly not your usual boring blahness. A fun book! All you need is this guide and those leather pants your dying to wear and you're set for an all-nighter in sin city!

This is one of those books that is still around because
it fills a niche that no modern book has been able
to fill. It introduces N=1 susy quickly and concisely.
The reader must work through every equation in order
to get something out of this book. The reason why people
continue to use this book of equations is because the
equations are right. If you try other books, they are
filled with typos and sometimes even more serious errors.
Get through the first 8 chapters of this book
may be chapter 22 and 24 then get into Argyres' notes
that delve into the modern aspects of supersymmetric
quantum field theory.

This book is the classic introduction to superfields. It is very elegant an formal, and appeals to the more mathematically minded particle physics student. It contains almost nothing on phenomenological applications of supersymmetry, and keeps it's hands clean by avoiding messy but important topics, such as regularization of supersymmetric gauge theories.

This is a compilation of materials from other sources, most of which are readily available to everyone but it's very convenient to have all the information in one place. However, some of the information is inaccurate, some of the illustrations are out of date, and many are poor copies of photocopies that aren't legible. I find this inexcusable in a book intended for designers and one that is $100+. Unfortunately, it is the only book of its kind. I recommend double checking any information that you take from it. Reznikoff is the only comparable book and that is even more out of date. At least Reznikoff was well produced though.

This is a a "must have" for anyone in the interior design industry. The best book since Architectural Graphic Standards for the Interior Design Profession. Very Specific and all inclusive, excellent details for just about every application.

Required purchase for my Interior Design Students to use through out their educational and professional careers.