First off, it is important to note that you can find new copies of this book from various Internet sites for much less than the $38 used price. Look around and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

I initially picked up this book on the advice of a friend. We're both heavily involved in search and rescue and we're one of a small group of people working on international search and rescue response capabilities.

Nepal particularly appealed to my friend for spiritual and travel purposes, and he found kindred spirits over there. He also found this book, and immediately sent it on to me.

Simply as a book about one person's adventures trapped in an extremely difficult situation, it's good. But it covers so much more - culture, search and rescue, spirituality, family ties, the changes that all of the participants go through.

I've been involved in several search and rescue missions in similarly difficult situations and this book accurately represents how they play out.

A must read, from my point of view.

-David

Upon lying at home, bored out of my wits, i picked up a book that had been laying on my dresser for as long as i could remember. I had no idea the profound change it would bring about in me...

This book was amazing. I found the entries by James and his sister insightful and realistic. I loved the fact that there was a total honesty about the way they told the story, which propels you to learn more. There was never a time when i felt that i was not a part of the story, i felt as if i was suffering along with the Ryans and the Scotts'. A lovely read!

It has trully inspired me. i would like to know it Andrew converted to Buddism, as the Lama predicted exactly where James was.

Unlike many books on systems analysis, the Robertsons' does not confuse analysis with "design". This book focuses on developing an unambiguous system specification which both the sponsoring end users and the developers can understand.

The examples are clear and well chosen, small enough to be understood, big enough not to be trivial. This is an excellent main textbook for a course in systems analysis.

The documentation methodology is derived from the classic DeMarco "structured analysis". The book's main weakness is insufficient treatment of object-oriented concepts, especially in data definition.

I used this text during a course on Fire Prevention. This field was new to me but Robertson's text made this course easy to understand. Covers many aspects of Fire Prevention.

This book is an excellent collection of descriptions of the episodes of the many incarnations of the Maverick TV show. It features each episode's "Pappyisms" in an easy to find format, and even lists unaired and unfilmed episodes of the later shows.

Though there are quite a few rememberances and inside details on the production of the original series, I would have liked to read more.

Overall, an excellent, and entertaining read, pardner.

"Tenting Tonight: The Soldier's Life," by James I. Robertson, Jr. and the Editors of Time-Life Books, is one of the above average volumes in The Civil War series because it deals with the soldiers who had to fight the great battles that so often are the focus point of these books. Chapter 1, "Answering the Call," deals with the rush to join the army when men on both sides feared that the conflict would end before they got a chance to fight. Chapter 2, "Camp Days," covers both the daily routine of the camps (including sutlers, playing cards and risqué pictures) and the training the new recruits received. Chapter 3, "The Wasted Legions," provides a rather brief examination of how the wounded were treated. Chapter 4, "The Prisoners' Plight," does a similar job for those who were captured during the war, and ends with a series of sketches done by Confederate Private John T. Omenhausser who spent a year at the Federal prisoner-of-war camp at Point Lookout Maryland before dying. Chapter 5, "Tests of Honor," covers a whole series of things soldiers did to prepare for battle, from sentimental songs to regimental mascots as well as shooting deserters and trading with the enemy. Actually, Time-Life could have done better taking two volumes to deal with all of these topics, looking at the life of the soldiers before the battle in camp and afterwards for those who are wounded or captured.

Califronia as it once was. A vast wilderness where the great grizzly bear still roamed free! The author's memories of northern California pioneer life in the 2nd half of the 19th century. Recounted years later for his daughter, Told with wry humor and wisdom. The stories ring true.

The first tale, "Bear on Fire," sets the tone. The author is guiding some artists near Mount Shasta when a wildfire threatens the entire party. Seeking shelter he keenly observes the wildlife as it too flees.

The second story & third stories hark back to the author's boyhood. The rest can be read in any order. Some of the stories range farther afield to Alaska, Louisiana and Mexico.

The tales often speak of the potential diasterous consequences of bad decisions and ignorance. Exciting, yet not gory. Good initiation theme stories for young and old alike.

When I wrote my original review I criticized this book for extremely sparse games coverage. IMHO, those folks who are praising this book for its games coverage either a) have not read the book or b) are affiliated with it in some way!

Just ask yourself, Is coverage of two games enough? I think not!

The book I'd recommend for Flash games development (in addition to Flash 4 Magic) is Flash 5 Actionscript for Fun & Games by Gary Rosenzweig.

With 17 chapters, 11 of which cover an average of 3 games each, this book has something for everyone. No matter what type of Flash game you want to create this book can help you get started!

And, if you want to learn Cartooning you may want to check out Flash 5 Cartooning.

This Flash 5 book is 3.5 stars. Here's what I thought. It totally focuses on Cartoons and Games, just like the title says. I think it's geared towards the intermediate Flash user. For a beginner, I would suggest another book to supplement it, like the Flash Bible or just go through the help files with the software.

The construction of the book is very poor. My book is almost falling apart where it is bound. Pages are ready to fall out if I'm not careful. If I was near a store, I would definately return it for a new one, but since I ordered over the internet, and I'm in Japan right now, that's not an option.

The first few chapters are slow. They deal with story development and character development. I think most people would read the first few chapters and say, "Interesting." But that's about it. The meat of the book starts later with character animation and lip syncing. The book goes on to briefly talk about preloaders etc. I found the most value coming from the cd. The cd that comes with this book is invaluable. It includes the actual source file from Bill Turner's cartoon, along with a percentage preloader. I spent some time, going through the source file and figuring out how he did his tricks. I believe this is one of the best ways to figure out things. I think if the book hadn't included this, it wouldn't have been worth the money. A lot of my questions were answered, especially about a percentage preloader. I couldn't find the specific information on the internet. Only when I went through the example in the source file did I finally understand.

The second half of the book is code intensive, mainly dealing with action script in order to create Flash games. This half of the book I found half interesting, half dry. They once again include the source file for a Trivia Game made in Flash and an Adventure Game. This is a help, because I believe the latter half of the book, you need to read and reread along with rip apart the Flash file to get a good understanding of it.

When they start to get into explaining the code, I think they could do a better job. There isn't any step by step, line by line analysis. The author gives you an explanation, gives you the code and then moves on in most cases. This is especially true when they talk about making an adventure game. My interest is to go to the next level with Flash and to build games, and this book will help, but will need more information, especially with Actionscript, so I'm buying some more books that deal more indepth. This isn't one of those books where you buy it and feel, "I don't need any other books, this will do." I'm still waiting for a book like that.

If you focus is on cartooning or games, I think with the cd, it's worth the money I spent. I wouldn't have learned nearly as much without a cd on this one. If you're into learning the basics or web development, simply by another book. This one is suited for an intermediate Flash level. If you're a beginner, and still thinking about this book, make sure you go through the Flash sample lessons and hopefully have another all-round Flash reference, which there are many available.

Update: September 14th, 2001. My book is really starting to fall apart.

You will need a good grip of the functions of Flash 5 to use this book, but it is well worth it. This book takes the mystery out of how to utilize the Flash 5 actionscript to create terrific games and cartoons..... a great book for getting started on a very ambitious Flash game or cartoon project... mine's already in the making!

Prejudiced and unobjective account of the CAMI joint venture in Ontario. The authors, (two sociology professors and a union bureaucrat) are guilty of sloppy research and pro-union bias. Their much emphasized "unlimited access to the shop floor" was apparently wasted. This book is a golden example of a wasted opportunity. Still, it serves as an example of why transplants usually stay non-union.

Excellent book, very informative and readable consideration of CAMI Automotive and the implementation of "Japanese" style management. Clearly considers the worker responses over several years while describing the basics of the management approaches used. This is a a very solid and informative work.

This review concerns the 6 volume set as published by the Southern Baptist Convention -- via Baker Book House, with the
ISBN being -- 0-8010-7710-9. They are hardcovers, and are smyth sewn. The paper is not ANSI certified. The text is clearly a poor reprint, as the words are not clear and sharp, however it is still readable.

Robertson is one of the best Greek grammarians of the 20th century. His large grammar will forever remain a standard reference, but this work is marred via his theological views, views which are everywhere injected into his text. Hence it is a very subjective work. If this is kept in mind by each reader, then some good use can be made of the work.

Unfortunately, Robertson skips over many important points, and he seems to dwell on many which seem very minor. For example in volume 1 (Matthew page 78, 79) he discusses the message about the "coming kingdom" which was spoken to Israelites by the apostles. Robertson then declares that this SAME message is
needed TODAY. Many Baptists seem to think that the 1,000 year reign is the next event on God's program, but for us it is the "rapture". The message for today is not just to Israelites, but should be for all peoples!

Baptists are also disturbed with the clear literal meaning of Mark 16:16. As a Baptist, Robertson would rather remove this portion of scripture -- thus his religion influences his commentary in these and many other passages. In Acts 2:38 he seems to throw good grammar out the door in order to support (or try to support) his Baptist consorts.

At times his grammatical skill shines through and benefits the reader, but again one is left to wonder why Robertson even composed this work, it is too theologically motivated and hence disrupts an objective use. Great for support of Baptist doctrines, but poor for objective textual data.
courtest of Mr. Gary S. Dykes

You know who A. T. Robertson is. His Greek grammar is the standard against which all other grammars are judged.

In this 6 volume set, Robertson analyzes a key word or phrase from almost every passage of the New Testament. Not only does he give the syntax, but he also gives a good deal of background on each word, such as where else it is found, as well as the connotations of the orginial Greek.

If you are a pastor, this book will be of great help to you in your sermon preparation. It will give you a good amount of material to draw on for sermon illustrations.

James Robertson has collected some interesting if not always believable stories of Scottish hauntings. The author himself says, "I am a sceptic in most things - in the behavior of the living as much as that of the dead - and so I am inclined to believe some of the stories gathered here more than others."

Scottish history with its bloody battles, betrayals, and persecutions lends itself peculiarly well to tales of ghostly vengeance. Several stories in this book describe revenants that arose from the persecutions of the Covenanters, the witches, the Royalists, and the Catholics (depending on who was in power). Glamis Castle gets its own chapter, and haunted lochs and beaches also have their stories told. Some of the scariest hauntings are drowned sailors returned from the sea, and some of the least scary involve Baby Boomer types who treat their ghosts like pets or something deserving of pity. It was enough to make me wish that the smug New Agers would some day have to go a round with 'the Deil of Littledean' or the 'Beast of Glamis'.

The author also makes room for several eerie tales of Gaelic 'second sight'. Scots with this 'gift' seem particularly prone to seeing ghostly funeral processions, sometimes with themselves as part of the funeral cortege!

All in all, "Scottish Ghost Stories" is a worthwhile read for those of you who collect tales of 'true' hauntings.