With his devotion to detail and accuracy Mr. Ross has easily set a new standard for anyone interested in unit histories. "The Supercommandos: First Special Service Force, 1942-1944 An Illustrated History" details the unit history of the First Special Service Force, unquestionably the most elite and little known combat infantry/line unit in the Second World War. Mr. Ross' utilization of Force after-action reports and personal accounts provides a balanced, detailed and indepth narrative, which comprises all aspects of the unit: conception; the recruiting of both US and Canadian forces; training at Fort William H. Harrison in Helena, Montana; overseas deployments; combat; the units break-up in Southern France, and the redeployment of Force survivors. Coupled with this narrative is an astounding assortment of original World War II photograghs, many of which are the most remarkable yet attained by any Force historian in more than fifty-five years. Mr. Ross also capitalizes on many of this units unusual characteristics by providing separate photo sections for specific or various topics: Force weapons; equipment; insignia; uniforms; etc. Also included are many of the original documents and historical facsimiles pertaining to the FSSF, most of which have been unseen for half a century.

For any World War II veteran, historian, re-enactor, or modern Special Force vet researching his/her lineal ancestor, this book is an absolute addition for your personal library.

If only one word could be used to describe Todd Ross's book the Supercommando's, that word would have to be awesome! Ross's book is the most definitive work about the unit known as the 1st Special Service Force since Robert Burhan's book War History of the North Americans. The book contains many never seen before photographs of the force and is worth the price of the book alone. Maps are in vivid color, and are very easy to read and understand. The Force equipment and weapons are authentic and not cheap reproduction look a likes. A real highlight of the book is Ross's attention to detail and accuracy. Ross is to be commended for the outstanding layout of the book and its smooth transition from one point to the next. This book traces the force from its inception to its heartbreaking disbandment and shows the force for what it really was, a tough, daring, resouceful, highly specialized special force that had few equals in WWII. This book dispells the myth created by the highly entertaining but highly inaccurate movie the "Devils Brigade and the book by the same name, No Dirty Dozen here! This is a must have book for those interested in Special Forces, and military history. This book is a must have reference for the professor of military history and historians. This is not a book to be read once and then put away, this is a reference book to be used over and over again. If you have Robert Burhan's book and Ross's book the Supercommandos, you have the history, expolits and unparalleled view of the 1st Special Service Force. I salute Mr. Ross for a job well done!

This is a book about the unit with which I served in World War II. It's the book for which veterans of the Force, like me, have been waiting since Robert Burhans wrote the first Force history in 1947. It's a true successor to Burhans because it contains none of the bombast,mistruths and basic errors of many other writings. Author Todd Ross, in his first book, has proven what a careful, conscientious,and honorable researcher he is, and the book amply demonstrates that. During World War II, there was no other elite unit as unique as the First Special Service Force, if one were to consider only the fact that its Combat Echelon contained trained soldiers from the Canadian Army. They served alongside their U. S. Army compatriots, wearing the same uniform, totally integrated. When I and a fellow Canadian Sergeant walked into our pyramidal tent in 5th Company, Second Regiment, we found two trained American volunteers awaiting our arrival.Within days, it was hard to tell American from Canadian as we learned to parachute together, laughed over trying to integrate basic drill commands and actions. In his text, Ross covers this uniqueness, before moving on to our weapons training, demolitions, mountain climbing, skiing, unarmed combat, the use of German weapons,and the range of other training elements, including development of the Weasel, the first truly effective over-the-snow vehicle. He follows our path into combat, with the dry run at Kiska when the Japanese left before we and others landed. Our sudden shift to Italy: fighting in the mountains leading to Cassino;our 98 days without relief at Anzio holding almost one quarter of the entire Beachhead;the road to Rome--the first Allied troops to enter the Eternal City in force, two days before Normandy; our role in leading the invasion of S. France; and the saddest day of all when the Force was disbanded in December, 1944, in S. France. This is an illustrated history, with photos by Robert Capa, famed WWII photographer, as well as many others; maps which give battle details, charts, reports,an extensive bibliography, and a host of color plates showing our uniforming and equipment. This is the best-appearing and most complete book on the Force ever published. As veterans who lived through the life of the Force, we have nothing but praise for it, and heartily recommend it to Amazon.com readers.

read one of the short pieces in this anthology. They are also incredibly uplifting too. A brilliant bedside companion for any dog lover.

Although each of the pieces in this book was inspired by the loss of a much beloved dog, this is really a book about vibrant, fully-alive dogs: family pets, fellow hunters, soul mates, and best friends. And while none of the dogs remembered so fondly here still lives, Old Dogs affirms the remarkably special place in the heart we reserve for our dogs. My own dog is sturdy in her middle-age, but reading the eulogies and odes in this moving anthology has made me appreciate more all the quirky habits I take for granted, like how she can't resist running off with one of my Reeboks when I'm shoeing up for our evening walk--the little prance she performs when I tell her, "Bring the shoe back!" Not a sad read but a celebratory one, required for every dog owner!

This is a remarkable anthology of stories and poems by outstanding authors of the past, as well as more recent times. Although these moving remembrances are only of beloved dogs, the lovers of any species of pet will find identical sentiments for their own losses. Whatever kind of companion animal you had, you will find your own bereavement and healing tears reflected here, as well.

Care was taken to avoid over-sentimentality, in this assortment of loving reflections of dogs, celebrated here. These accounts are full of love, and are sometimes even funny - and we are thrust into the realization that perhaps that is the most wonderful kind of living memorials we can have for a beloved pet. Too often, we lose this perspective, while trying to keep from drowning in our own bereavement and sorrows.

Rather than being a collection of sad literary memorials Old Dogs Remembered is a joyful celebration of life with pets. This inspires healthy new points of view and adjustments to moving on into our new lives, without them.

Here we are treated to many different outlooks on how they permanently enriched the lives of their owners. Reading these heartwarming pages will broaden the understanding of each reader, concerning his/her own personal bereavement. Here, we are offered the collective wisdom of others, who reminisce on their honored pets. There is much to be shared and learned here, as well as enjoyed.

With so many different authors, one must appreciate that references and styles have changed drastically, through the ages. As an example of this, some might find the essay by the dramatist John Galsworthy to be interesting, but a bit troublesome to read. And, as with any anthology, there may be some accounts not everyone would appreciate. But all pet lovers will readily identify with the overall shared remembrances, here. This is a heartwarming collection, which can be enjoyed comfortably, in several installments.

There will be many an uplifting tear shed in its reading, and we suggest it for your reading pleasure.

This is a book written with empathy and wisdom. It has gifts to give readers who are traveling on the same path. It reminds us that we have the power to transform an experience--whatever the ultimate outcome--and create something of lasting value, in this case, a time of intimacy and true sharing.

This is a wonderful book. I bought it for my husband. And he said it helped him just to see how other people deal with this cancer.

This is a book by and for the partner of someone with cancer. In telling the story of how he and his wife lived together with cancer, and how the experience of dealing together with all the difficulties of her illness brought them closer together, the author comes to the startling discovery that living under the threat of pain and loss actually was like living in the headier times of romantic love. This book is very well written and, although it is the story of sad things, it is not a sad book. I strongly recommend this book for anyone sharing the adversities of cancer with another person.

i am a choreographer, and i bought this book in 1997 during a trip to d.c. my idea was to create transitions to get from shape to shape, so that a really romantic/sensual duet would evolve from the photos.

the images are well designed -- the lush, warm colors evoke a romantic setting, and the models are beautiful. the instructions are clear, and the illustrations demonstrate anything that might be confusing. it's a wonderful book that will get your creative and bodily juices flowing ;)

Hi, my name is Cassandre and I bought this book about a year ago when I first started getting into yoga...it sounded great for me and my husband to turn it into something more fun! I can't tell you how much you will love this book if you are sharing yoga with a loved one. My sister snatched mine off my bookshelf one day and said she would borrow it and now refuses to give it back she's having so much fun with it! It has lovely photos, clear descriptions and great yoga positions that channel amazing energy between you and your mate! It is completely user friendly and can be understood easily for a beginner to a pro at yoga. It simply offers a few more additions to yoga that can include your lover for a completely sensual experience! At any rate, I am now buying myself another copy...these are things I do not want to forget! Wonderful Book! Highly recommended!

As For Me and My House provides a descriptive tale about a preacher and his wife during the depression. Written by the hand of the wife, who remains nameless, the book incorporates vast imagery to help portray the feeble lifestyle they were trapped within. Mr. Bentley, unable to motivate himself to move beyond his unsatisfying profession as a preacher, lives in unhappiness, bringing his wife into oppression with him. Animal imagery is prevalent, as the town and its people are described in such terms. They all cower and protect themselves; with the exception of Judith, who "scales the wind" at the beginning until she discovers her own sexuality and becomes the earth....Can air continue to have 'life' when submersed into the ground?

Through the journal entries of Mrs. Bentley, we are given a beautiful and complex novel of great importance in Canadian Literature. As a story of life during the depression, this book perfectly captures the trials of prairie life during this era. As Mrs. Bentley describes events in her journal entries, we are given a chance to not only accept the text at face value, but to read between the lines. Mrs. Bentley tends to say more by what she doesn't write than what she does. All in all, an incredible book and one which everyone should read.

In Memoriam is a breathtaking poem... written over a period of nearly two decades, Tennyson laments and exorcises the ghost of his friend Hallem, who had died at a young age. He struggles with his religious faith, asking himself, is his friend in Heaven or does Heaven not exist... if not, then what? Tennyson displays an unequaled sensitivity for and mastery of the English language as a tool for expressing feeling and mood, he has created in this poem a thing of great and uncommon beauty.

When I first began to read this book, it was in my Senior English class. At first I thought it would be some dumb poem. But as we read I became so enthralled I couldn't put it down. Alfred Tennyson wrote with such good emotion and truth I felt I knew what he was feeling. He describes so many emotions that most of us feel, and he did it so well. This is a very wonderful book! And although I have only read it once, that is all it took for me to know that it has become one of my favorite.

I am an user of latex on linux for sometime now. The possibillities are uncountable with this excellent software. This book touches on the use of tex and latex for the web. Being not that experienced with all the possibillities this book is very usefull. It is a good introduction for converting latex and tex files to documents for the web. If you can grasp all the stuff in this book you will be able to easily prepare all kinds of documents for the web and in the end save a lot of time lost with programming html yourself.
Don't expect to much examples and user details, it has an excellent index and reference list to get you started.
There is a lot of math stuff in this book, so trying to get a lot of formula's on the web this will certainly be of help. I am not into math so a couple pages could be skipped.
Concluding: want to get started with latex and the web, want to make good documents for the web on a fast and good way, this is the book for you.

I have found this book almost as useful and interesting as the LaTeX Companion. I think that it gives enough information about sharing TeX and LaTeX texts on the web, but the chapters covering pdfTeX and SGML/XML applications could be more detailed.
I have found that there is another big problem - with every day coming the information tends to get older and older. I can fully recommend buying this book today, but I am not sure if I would do it once more after half a year has passed.

If you were interested in transforming TeX into PDF, I would recommend also the LaTeX Graphics Companion, or some other book introducing the problematic of PostScript and PDF.

Volumes VII and VIII of this series deal with early Buddhism a few centuries after the life of the Buddha. These volumes render quite well the early schisms that emerged from the various understandings and interpretations of the followers of what one could call "the original Buddhist teachings" (which we have almost no chance to know what they really were). Buddhism is really that : a bunch of different and sometimes contradictory schisms that each show the particular biases of the members of each schism. However, being aware that the goal of Buddhism should not depend on the means to attain it, one should use his intelligence to determine what statement is due to the misbeliefs or assumptions of each schism to understand its purpose. Don't think that consistency is a good criterion to judge philosophy, scholarly accounts rely on scientific beliefs of consistency and logical thinking. Philosophy transcends such petty intellectual biases modern scientific thinking takes as true.

These two volumes coupled with the volumes edited by Bhikkhu Boddhi (Middle-length, long and connected discourses of the Buddha published by Wisdom books) will provide you with everything you need to undertand what Buddhism is about. Do not let scholars prevent your heart and soul to feel what the Buddhist teachings can provide.

This book is a collection of theoretical summaries, reports, analyses, and strategies all quite useful to anyone interested in generating some thinking and action around change. The team of five writers (Peter Senge, Richard Ross, Bryan Smith, Charlotte Roberts, and Art Kleiner) provide some original work, but also serve as editors to a vast quantity of material drawn from practitioners, theorists, and writers in the field of organizational improvement. According to Senge, "great teams are learning organizations - groups of people who, over time, enhance their capacity to create what they truly desire to create." (p.18) This book is really about creating and building great teams. The learning organization develops its ability to reflect on, discuss, question, and change its current and past practices. To do this, people and groups in the organization need to meaningfully pursue the study and practice of the five disciplines - personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning, and systems thinking.

The learning organization - Senge's vision for the productive, competitive, and efficient institutions of the future - is in a continuous state of change. Four fundamental questions continuously serve to check and guide a group's learning and improvement (see page 49): (1) Do you continuously test your experiences? ("Are you willing to examine and challenge your sacred cows - not just during crises, but in good times?") (2) Are you producing knowledge? ("Knowledge, in this case, means the capacity for effective action.") (3) Is knowledge shared? ("Is it accessible to all of the organization's members?") (4) Is the learning relevant? ("Is this learning aimed at the organization's core purpose?") If these questions represent the organization's compass, the five disciplines are its map.

Each of the five disciplines is explained, and elaborated in its own lengthy section of the book. In the section on "Systems Thinking" (a set of practices and perspectives, which views all aspects of life as inter-related and playing a role in some larger system), the authors build on the idea of feedback loops (reinforcing and balancing) and introduce five systems archetypes. They are: "fixes that backfire", "limits to growth", "shifting the burden", "tragedy of the commons", and "accidental adversaries". In the section on "Personal Mastery", the authors argue that learning starts with each person. For organizations to learn and improve, people within the organization (perhaps starting with its core leadership) must learn to reflect on and become aware of their own core beliefs and visions. In "Mental Models", the authors argue that learning organizations need to explore the assumptions and attitudes, which guide their institutional directions, practices, and strategies. Articles on scenario planning, the ladder of inference, the left-hand column, and balancing inquiry and advocacy offer practical strategies to investigate our personal mental models as well as those of others in the organization. In "Shared Vision", the authors make the case for the stakeholders of an organization to continually adapt their vision ("an image of a desired future"), values ("how we get to travel to where we want to go"), purpose ("what the organization is here to do"), and goals ("milestones we expect to reach before too long"). The section offers many strategies and perspectives on how to move an organization toward continuous reflection. In "Team Learning", the authors rely mostly on the work of William Isaacs and others, and make a case for educating organization members in the processes and skills of dialogue and skillful discussion.

This book is enlightening and informative. It has already found a place on my shelf for essential reference books.

Everyone who reads THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE comes away excited about the benefits of having a learning organization. Yet many get stuck in a rut as they try to implement what they learned in that superb book. THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE FIELD BOOK helps fill in that lack of understanding with dozens of questions, examples and exercises. You'll have a ball with this, even if you only use a little part to focus on where you need help. A great related book for building a learning organization is THE 2,000 PERCENT SOLUTION, which teaches a new thinking process that simplifies and speeds up learning for an organization. It also shows you where you need to get rid of old thinking that is holding you back. You should read and use both.

Bridging the gap between text and context, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook offers everyone a deep and refreshing look at what work can be and should be. The authors ground their stories, examples, exercises in five conceptual touchstones--personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning, and systems thinking. And these disciplines accurately reveal three core tasks in leadership: looking at self, developing others, and seeing the larger picture in order to chart a meaningful course. Stories enliven the ideas while examples and exercises offer practical models to use in any organization. Generous side margins, different colored ink, and graphic icons are visual treats as well as immediate graphic guides. And the narrative references to related issues make reading the book more intuitive, more interesting.

In fact, these physical details model the whole point of the book--that learning is essential for sustainable growth, for organizational and personal development.

National security is a term we're used to hearing in the United States, but with rare exception "security threats" are in fact threats to America's vast informal empire abroad (military bases, troop deployments, the security of client regimes and business interests). As Ross and Nathan ably show, this is emphatically not the case for China. Even though "China is stronger today and its borders more secure than at any other time in the last 150 years", it continues to face a bewildering array of vulnerabilities -- from internal unrest to border insecurity to economic instability.

This book is a good corrective to the growing right-wing trend of playing up the "China threat". Ross and Nathan make clear that China's goals are not particularly ambitious and their capabilities so limited that even if the sinister cabal of Communists plotting against America's beneficent reign were real, it would be hard pressed to act out its evil intentions. Chapter 8, in particular, demolishes the idea that China's military will any time soon provide a real challenge to Japan, much less the USA.

Despite the great service Ross and Nathan provide in refuting the containment school's arguments, this book also has basic problems. Because it is a survey, the authors can only superficially treat each of the many issues raised. They do a good job of integrating history and current events, and the book should be quite useful for those mostly unfamiliar with its topics, but for those with more detailed knowledge it will often by unsatisfying.

Second, the authors use the national security paradigm to orient their analysis, but seem unaware of the drawbacks to such an approach. "National" security indulges the false idea that all groups and individuals within a nation can share the same interests and that national leaders act, fundamentally, on behalf of the whole population. In reality security policies generally hurt the interests of some groups while advancing those of others, and China's leaders act to perpetuate their own power and the power of the Communist Party, and to protect the interests of the increasingly influential business elite. The authors' inability to consider such matters leads them to seriously downplay the ruling class's increasing economic exploitation of workers and its violent domination of ethnically non-Han peoples in East Turkestan/Xinjiang, Tibet/Xizang, and Inner Mongolia.

And finally, the authors approach the subject from the perspective of the engagement school, which has both strengths (discussed above) and very serious weaknesses. Proponents of engagement are ideologically incapable of seeing that the current global economic system is based on inequality, exploitation, and the denial of people's basic needs (food, health care, shelter) and that it is upheld by American military domination of other people. Ross and Nathan's ultimate recommendation, then, is that China be safely integrated into this system -- not because doing so will help the Chinese people, but because doing so removes a threat to the safe operation of a fundamentally unjust world order.

Nathan and Ross have constructed an excellent book discussing the vulnerability of China. The book goes into great depth discussing issues such as: Taiwanese independence, nuclear proliferation, the strength of the chinese military, the necessity of U.S. intervention in Asia, the relationships existing between China and Japan or the two Koreas, Tibetan freedom, technological exchange with Pakistan. Ultimately, Nathan and Ross conclude that China is a weak and vulnerable country that is more concerned with maintaining its borders and internal stability than initiated a policy of imperialism. This book is a great edition for any student of Asian Politics. Easy to read.

Andrew J. Nathan and Robert S. Ross's THE GREAT WALL AND THE EMPTY FORTRESS is a clearly and tightly written presentation of Chinese foreign policy and defense issues. It is as reliable in its treatment of aspects of the pre-modern Chinese state and society that impinged on the course of modern Chinese affairs as it is authoritative (and well documented) in its analysis of the contemporary Chinese situation. With books on contemporary Chinese affairs, one must be concerned with material becoming dated, but though this book is some four years old in content, nearly its entirety is nevertheless very relevant. Its treatment of Chinese-Taiwan relations, for instance, is still on the mark. Since the book was written before the restoration of Hong Kong to China, the reader will not be able to glean anything new about that situation here. However that may be, this book remains as "must reading" for any student of contemporary China. The reader will happily discover that the style is eminently readable.