I love this book! The pictures are wonderful. The authors have taken a very complex ecosystem and presented it in such a way that anyone with an interest in ecology will enjoy this book and find it easy to understand.
I like the way the book is broken down in to large categories. For example, there is a chapter on the sponges common to the fiords, the brachiopods, the echinoderms, the fishes, the mammals and so on. I found the glossary to be helpful when my memory needed a bit of refreshing, and the index is nice because they have listed common and scientific names.
The photographs are amazing. Very high quality and professional. The captions that accompany the pictures are also very well written and informative. As good as they are, however, they almost don't do the beauty of New Zealand justice. The scenery is breath taking and the fiords are a must see should you happen to have the opprotunity to visit New Zealand.

This is a fabulous book to buy if you are interested in learning about the unique ecosystems of the fiords. The pictures are beautiful and the information explaining how this unique enviornemnt exists is easy to read and understand. If you have visited New Zealand and want a book that shows the beauty under the sea, this is a winner.

Tenth man down is the best book I have ever read its a cracker breath taking and "as hard as nails"

Simple. Exciting. Straightforward. And just bloody well gets on with it. Someone described it as 'hard as nails' and they're absolutely right. I've read two of Chris Ryan's books (also Kremlin Device), and he is easily the most pithy bone crunching action writer around. In fact, he reminds me of a young Wilbur Smith. Add to that his real understanding of SAS type covert operations, mercenaries, power-crazy cannibals and every other type of pleasant evil-boosted character you can think of - and you'll quickly demand "Geordie' to soon start thinning them out at her Majesty's service. Ryan's writing is so stark and minimal it's a bit like someone whispering an hair-raising tale straight into your ear. A real crackerjack. Ryan writes it straight. So don't expect happy every-lose-end-tied-up-endings! A totally recommended read for anyone fed up with that pansy tripe dished out from the other side of the pond! Keep at it Chris - no one does it better than you mate!

My daughter LOVED this book. Sometimes I would hear her laughing from the other room as she read it. She would even bring up some of the issues she read about during dinner. She said that even though it was written by adults, it was presented in "her language" (funny, I thought she spoke English like the rest of us). She really liked the chapters by Mark Bernstein and Keith Hawkins in particular. Thanks for a great read. Go MAD is great!

It's one of the best books i have ever read.
I was surprised of the things, equipment and persons was descriped, I could picture it all inside of my head.
It's simply the best book i have ever read.
READ it.

I must admit that Colin Powell was not an autobiography that I would pick up and read. In my fast-paced life even I have formed a mental picture of what Powell is or isn't. I swept through the pages with vigor, as I formed a new image of Colin Powell. I never looked at Powell as a leader. I had stereotyped Powell as just another success story of a son of immigrant parents born in Harlem, New York and a decorated Vietnam veteran that has become on of the United States highest ranking government officials.
The author Oren Harari, a business management professor, did a great job highlighting 18 leadership principals of Colin Powell, before and after September 11, 2001. This book is definitely a clear and well written keeper. I really respect Powell's independence, leadership, and his ability to challenge traditional methods of leadership, and unknowingly created his own style.
What set the pace is how the author explained what the book isn't. I feel that it set the stage for an unbiased and scientific look at Powell's leadership qualities. This book is a good tool for entrepreneurs, business professionals, military personnel, and young people.
Harari is truly a gifted writer, I look forward to adding his books to my library.

I've never been so inspired by an Amazon purchase that I felt compelled to write a review, but "Secrets" is my watershed moment.

As part of my never ending quest to become the best Director of Sales / Manager / Leader possible, I have read countless books paralleling military structure and business structure. For the most part, I digest the material and attempt to adapt it to my personal situation, relationships with my employees, and relationships with my customers. Most often, any direct quote or application is seemingly too obvious an adaption from some military procedure or code. "Secrets", however, was different.

Perhaps because it was written miuns direct contact with Colin Powell (can this *really* be true) that we get the perspective of Harari and his researchers on the relevancy, and not a direct military viewpoint. Perhaps. I can't imagine Harari enlisted the help of an Army platoon to write this book, but probably a young, talented MBA student with little real perspective on military life.

Either way, I earmarked and bookmarked numerous ideas that I'll apply to my work environment and I highly recommend this book to managers who want to be true leaders.

Perhaps no political leader in the United States is more widely respected than Colin Powell, decorated soldier, architect of the 1991 U.S. victory over Iraq, former presidential contender and current Secretary of State. Using anecdotes and quotations from Powell's life, management professor Oren Harari distills leadership philosophies and methods that can be applied to business. The book is written in a short, pithy style, reflecting Powell's own direct approach. While the principles Harari uncovers are not innovative, they are comprehensive and practical. Charged with maintaining an international coalition in the ongoing war on terrorism, Powell has been thrust into one of the world's most important leadership roles. For this reason alone, we from getAbstract recommend Harari's book for its insight into the man's leadership philosophies, which have had a profound influence on U.S. military and government organizations.

If you want a game to melt your mind, pick up Mage. This is the third of five lines of game books in the World of Darkness, and the one with the most hope. In Vampire, Werewold, and Wraith, you play the monster. In Changling, you play the doomed to die crazy hero. In Mage you wrestle with Reality. Your views shape the world around you. You are fighting other views, that clash with yours, to the point where your magic can be harmful to you. Overall, this is a great game. The layout is average, the system is standard White Wolf. The philosophy is fantastic. The world is what you make it. Literally. Things exist and happen because people believe they do. Your job is to change or survive people's beliefs. On the negative, the index is one of the worst I've seen. 1st Edition Mage had a much better index. The index is too short and not nearly complete enough. It even lacks the normal page framing, making it look like the authors forgot to do it before sending it to the printers, and just whipped something together. If you use this book and this game, make sure to use sticky notes for your most common rules...

Thats right. You'd have to be right out of the box of Autumn People if you think this game suxs. Seriously, this game is the best as far as the World of Darkness goes. I mean yeah the others do have some definite things running for them but come on. You get to toy with peoples beliefs here, even if that person happens to be an Atheist. The problem is those types might find this game frightening especially when they realize that reality IS up for grabs and regardless of belief its gonna be exactly the way you percieve it. Maybe some people can't handle that kind of responsibility and try to play ignorant to it. Well the Technocracy likes people like them and I like to watch them squirm to define something vulgar as a rational thing. Some people will never learn. But enough about people who such cause they can't figure a good cronicle to run, Mage: The Ascension is a book worth reading for enjoyment of reading alone. Hell I've been playing the game for years now and I still can't help but pick the book up and re-read it every once in awhile. As player and storyteller of this game I must admit its one of the most fascinating roleplaying game I've ever played.

This is the best game in White Wolf's game universe. I have never played a game with so many possibilities. This book is the core rulebook for Mage the Ascension Second Edition. The book contains everything you need to understand the Mage universe. Every aspect of the game is elaborated on fully or contains enough information for you to come up with the rest of the details. The book focuses on the Traditions but there is also a good amount of information on the Technocratic Union, Marauders, and Nephandi for you to use. The worlds beyond the Gauntlet and Horizon are also touched on along with sample umbrood. With this book any game is possible. You want to play a fireball-chucking mage? No problem. How about a hacker from the Matrix? There's a Tradition available just for that. Want to play a tough martial artist who can catch bullets? There are rules for that too. This is a great book that can stand alone without supplements, unlike its revised edition.

I first heard about Andy McNab's "Bravo Two Zero" in 1994 from a soldier in the British Army. He told me it was an excellent true story about the S.A.S. in the Gulf War. I read it and was amazed by Andy McNab's tale of fighting behind enemy lines during the Gulf War. Quite awhile later, I discovered CHRIS RYANS's book "The One That Got Away". I rushed to buy Chris Ryan's book, since I was now hooked on true tales of the S.A.S., about the Gulf War, and of the British Army in general. I was impressed by Chris Ryan's side the story - it was fascinating, honest, and matter-of-fact. HOWEVER, Chris Ryan does not have the story-telling talent and the quick wit of Andy McNab. I found Andy McNab to be a talented writer with an amazing ability to recall the past with astounding clarity and detail. Chris Ryan's story is no less valid than that of Andy Mcnab's, but his style of writing is not as gripping or compelling

"The One That Got Away" once again tells the amazing story of the SAS patrol Bravo Two Zero, and it is a chilling read. However it suffers slightly from the fact that Ryan makes McNab out to be the main one at fault for the failed mission, and emphasises his own heroics. This maybe true, but it may be some time before the real truth comes out about the mission without someone trying to sensationalise their role. Despite this Ryan keeps you on the edge of your seat, and his personal journey across the desert escaping from the Iraqi forces is something that few could dream of experiencing. This book shows the high level of training that the SAS undertake, and the high risk operations that they go on. This is war in its reality, not the war where soldiers sleep in their 11x11 tents and have cooked meals every night as well as running water. These men are true soldiers, and Ryan has portrayed this very well.

Chris Ryan was a member of the legendary SAS Bravo Two Zero patrol that got trapped behind enemy lines during the Gulf War. This is the story of his trek back to Syria. It is an amazing first hand account of courage and endurance against extreme odds. It is also a very human story as he recounts his fears and doubts and the mental impact of being on the run for 7 days with almost no food or water. I was so engrossed by his story that I read the book straight through. I also really enjoyed the brief flashbacks to other times in his life. Perhaps the biggest shocker for me was that the whole Bravo 2 Zero compromise was really the result of poor planning at the highest levels - improper understanding of the extreme weather conditions, out dated maps, inaccurate emergency radio frequencies and no real cover at the insertion point. You also get the impression that Chris Ryan is not a big fan of Andy McNab (squad leader and author of "Bravo Two Zero"). It is what he doesn't say that is most telling. A must read book.

WROX books used to be the only ones I'd buy; after having a grand ol' time with the ASP and ASP Databases series. The Professional series has been a real disappointment (and waste of money!). The books tend to be more wordy than necessary and spend too much time on the obvious and too little on the abstract. Cold Fusion is a fairly straight-forward programming language. WROX has somehow managed to make it much more. Perhaps too many cooks in the kitchen; looks like they had 18 authors put this beast together.
Look elsewhere...

Being a ColdFusion user group president, I give this book my seal of approval. This book is well written with easy to understand examples. It will help someone with no CF knowledge all the way to the experts. This book is well laid out and is enjoyable to read. I didn't know what to expect from Wrox on this. I have been a huge Ben Forta fan but this book is just as good as his (if not better)! If you want to learn CF, or just want to get better, buy this book. You will be very happy with it.

This is a very good book!
Vale a pena galera!

This book is, without a doubt, the best common-sense book I have yet read on investing in common stocks (and I have read MANY). Although I don't feel O'Neil tries to hype his newspaper (Investors Business Daily) in the book, he does mention it a lot. The reason I say this is because so many other stock market books are really just a bunch of hype to get you to subscribe to investment services, attend seminars, ect. This book is none of that. It is straightforward, common sense ideas stated in terms that can be understood. However, I do feel perfectly comfortable reccomending IBD, I don't think any other financial publication comes close to IBD in quality (even the venerable WSJ). Do yourself a service, buy and read this book and subscribe to IBD. It is money WELL spent !

Bill O'Neil lays out a very objective, acurate and evidence-based method to choosing stocks. He explains 7 key aspects of a stock that you should check off before you should think about buying. He then explains how paramount it is to know the market direction because 3 out of 4 stocks will follow that trend. I'm also baffled with the reviews about people losing money with this book. It's clear they didn't read it to begin with as he explains in clear, everyday english when to cut your losses. He reminds us of the most common mistakes investors make as well. I started picking stocks back in November and 3/4 of them have double digit % gains while the market has tanked. Here's to you Bill O'Neil!

Using William O'Neil's tactics have earned me 140% return on my money in seven months. This when the market has not been rising, but struggling been sideways most of the time. I've only spent a few minutes combing through 'stocks in the news' for each stock pick and I was a winner 10 out of 11 times. I don't see how anybody can create an easier, more reliable system, or a faster easier source to find winning stocks. I paid William O'Neil $200 bucks for his paper and his imformation earned me $31,000 so far this year. Don't be stubborn and don't be stingy. Get the guy's paper, memorize his book and submit yourself to it. Your retirement fund will thank you, and so will your favorite charity.

While the folks at White Wolf have always been a little guilty of playing hack-fiction-writer when they should have been writing a gaming book, the book of Worlds takes the cake. The artwork is mediocre as well. A large majority of the material therein is covered elsewhere better.

A great book which explores the different places you can meet in the Umbra. I specially loved this book because it lets you get your Mages in whole new universes, where rules can be as twisted as you can devise. It also brings information about what Mages seem to know about more obscure subjects, such as the Dark Umbra (Shadowlands) and Maya (The Dreaming), and even information about the worlds beyond the Horizon, which can become a very interesting setting for a chronicle (a deep space etherite exploration vessel chronicle anyone?).

The style is also great, resembling a scientific article compilation made by Alexis Hastings, etherite extraordinare, with the colaboration of several of her contacts. Each section is written by an "expert" in that area.

This book is a must for Mage fans interested in dimensional adventures. Whether you're a Void Engineer, Son of Ether, Dreamspeaker, a sleeper etc, this book has something for you. The book is presented as a guide by a charismatic Daughter of Ether and her associates. Not only is it an entertaining book, it also provides a tremendous amount of information on various dimensions, worlds, starships, and creatures from the Void. Story possibilities are endless. Don't hesitate to obtain a copy of this book.