I thought the book, "A Seal Called Andre," was a great family story. It is a story that I would suggest my future children and grandchildren read. It showed me how man and animal can form such a strong bond. It showed me the meaning of love between two friends and how someone can love an animal like a human being. It also shows how strong two friends have to work together to keep such a special friendship, and the obstacles they sometimes have to overcome.

This is another rather disappointing entry in the BFI Classics series, a padded look at one of European cinema's most famous totems, Bergman's 'The Seventh Seal', that medieval allegory of plague, faith, doubt, death, God and chess.

It is disappoint because it promises so much but doesn't deliver. The opening chapter, 'Art and Religion', looks at Bergman's attempts to return Art, its creation and reception, to the condition of medieval craftsmanship and faith, when to create was synonymous with worship. Bragg, an acclaimed novelist and arts broadcaster (he made a film about Bergman in 1978) has recently produced two major series on religious subjects, but any hope for a serious tackling of this aspect in Bergman's work, and 'The Seventh Seal' in particular, is quickly jettisoned in favour of less demanding chapters on Bragg's first exposure to cinema and Bergman (the usual 'alternative to Hollywood' stuff), and the importance of Bergman's childhood (which is obvious to anyone who's seen a Bergman film, especially 'Fanny and Alexander'; although it's alarming to discover the young Bergman's obsession with Hitler, for whom his stern pastor father was a dead ringer).

Another chapter deals with the genesis of the film in a play Bergman wrote for an acting school, but fails to analyse the way Bergman, in this and all his work, systematically uses theatre and acting as a metaphor.

What is especially disappointing is that the final chapter, a brief synopsis of the film, is brilliant, full of casual asides that are actually dazzling shards of critical insight. Too late, Bragg reveals he has the measure of this dark, enigmatic, unnervingly comic film (one actually dismissed by most Bergmanophiles as superficial and uncharacteristic, but Bragg doesn't mention this) - Bragg's intelligence is dimmed by the rigid format of the series.

This is the worst Seal Book ever written.

Having read my way through a good portion of books on the SEAL mission in Vietnam, I would have to say this one ranks pretty low. The author seems to be unfocused and the story floundering for a bit. Actually, to be honest, i never finished the book, a rare thing for me, but I just couldn't take it anymore. Don't worry about this one for your SEAL list.

This book was OK. I think though there should have been a glossary or something in the back of the book for all the Vietnamese words he used! I couldn't keep them straight. As well as he himself kept jumping inbetween calling his commanding officer Mr. name and Dai Uy. It got confusing as to whether he was talking about the same guy. Enjoyed reading about all of the missions!

I haven't read this book but I've read Krakauer & Boukreev at least 7 times each. It is public knowledge that Lene G. did not pay Mountain Madness the full fee to be guided up the mountain. Ask Karen Dickenson. Maybe that's why Fischer's expedition had few (and inferior) radios. Hopefully LG paid Mountain Madness (after the fact) with the profits from her book. Otherwise she's just a user who used Fischer's good nature to sleaze her way into his expedition. Even if she paid, it's too late. I have zero respect for her. I would like to read her book but I won't buy it.

i agree with the comments above that this is a self-indulgent, really very marginal book. possibly the translation is not quite what it should be, but gammelgard writes as if she's part of an elite [and she certainly writes as if she considers herself elite] "team" on everest, gunning to run up the peak without oxygen, trying to keep up with legends of climbing like pete shoening and the deceased scott fischer, who was at the time one of the strongest american climbers climbing in the himalaya. gammelgard was a _client_. she was on a guided expedition. i found the arrogant tone of the book fairly sickening. for a much more in-depth look at the behind-the-scenes workings of fischer's expedition, "the climb," by boukreev and dewalt, though poorly written, is a much better account, and comes across far more honest and humble. and that from a man who had climbed **numerous** 8000-meter peaks, all without oxygen, as a climber, not a client. krakauer's book is still the best and probably final word on everest in '96, and he has some interesting things to say about gammelgard as well...

a client climbing everest without oxygen... give me a break.

STARRED REVIEW in Publishers Weekly, May 24, 1999

Climbing High: A Woman's Account of Surviving the Everest Tragedy Lene Gammelgaard, Seal, $25 (224p) ISBN 1-58005-023-9

"Months before Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air conquered bestseller lists, Gammelgaard, a member of the 1996 Mountain Madness Mt. Everest expedition, wrote an account of the catastrophe that became a bestseller in Denmark and is at last available in English. Those who have followed the controversy surrounding the tragedy will welcome this even-handed version. A lawyer and psychotherapist, Gammelgaard intended to become the first Scandinavian woman to climb Everest. Her physical and mental training for a grueling ascent without oxygen (a publicity stunt that was later aborted) may have saved her life: she climbed quickly and reached the summit early. During the team's descent in the deadly snowstorm, she was also able to trade her full canister of oxygen for a weaker teammate's nearly empty one. Gammelgaard offers keen insights into the motivations and characters of the lead climbers and guides, and frankly discusses the "megalomania" that drove her to risk her life. Dismissing accusations that hers was a glamour expedition for wealthy amateurs, she emphasizes that her co-climbers were accomplished mountaineers and that the high price of admission paid for the best quality food, equipment and support team. Still, she has powerful regrets about the loss of life, confessing, 'I just didn't know how high a price the Mother Goddess of the World would exact to show us humans the consequences of hubris.'" Photos. 7-city author tour. (July)

i couldn't even get through the 2nd chapter... i started reading this one after the carrier joint operations. i wonder why they can be called joint operations if there is no actual interaction between the characters from the books. the story jumps from place to place. the time frames seem off, and the story seems impossible. the transistions are rarely there, and you can hardly follow the action. earlier books were great. stay away. please, i want to read the books that he put out there before. not these new manufactured stories.

I've been reading Keith Douglass's books since his first SEAL Team Seven novel and in my opinion, they have progressively strayed from a spec ops force to a more spray-n-pray team. He tends to have his team dropped in with some of the most obscure gear (i.e. the Bullpup) and takes away from the clandestine, silent professionals that SEALs are. I would suggest he go back to the originals and start from there. Keep it more realistic in ops planning and equipment, and slow the pace down and increase the intensity of the operations they perform. Take some time to show the teams different abilities and their talents as Naval Special Warfare personnel. These guys are more like Rambo laying down a field of lead instead of the precision SEALs are known for. Give them the gear the typically use - body armor, MP-5s, M-4s, balaclavas, etc. Drop the futuristic weaponry like the EAR or the Bullpup. It takes away from the fun and authenticity.

I did not really enjoy this book. Douglass' writing style is kind of strange to me. The pace of the book is much too fast. By this, I mean that things happen way too quickly as if we are in a time warp. An action that should take a few paragraphs to accurately describe is usually taken care of in a sentence or two. I am a person that likes to have very nice, wel rounded descriptions about what is happening and this book just did not satisfy that requirement for me. It seems like his earlier books were a little better at that. This book seems like a jumbled flurry of activity that just doesn't pay enough attention to detail or description. I just like every move in tactical warfare to be painstakingly described as that is what brings enjoyment for me as a reader as I visualize it in my head.

The Author writes, "he never lost sight of his larger constituency-all Indians, regardless of religion". This is a bare faced lie. In fact Abdul Kalam Azad wanted to have 50% reservations for elected posts for muslims, 25% for hindus and remaining 25% for "ambedkarites", "christians", ... He was caught lying to Congress since he was secretly negogiating with the Britishers.

A great book. It is a very thorough study of the life and times of Maulana Azad. It brings out the contrast in the views held by Jinnah and Azad. It is clear, in retrospect, that Azad had a clearer idea of what the future would have in store if the Nation was divided, but that insight got lost somewhere in the loud rhetoric of the proponents of Pakistan. It is a pity that the book was published by OUP Pakistan and OUP India.

Someone needs to let go of there creative juices. 2000? What's that? How about a stamp that has a "cool" symbol. Maybe something Religious, different choices, How about birth signs, something personal, and how about offering different colors? What if I don't like red! I do! But what if I didn't. Nahh! I like stamps such as this, but this one is boring!

I'm graduating this year and we wanted to do something special so everyone was asked to write a letter for him/herself so that we could read it at the reunion , 10 years from now, so we got this wax seal and sealed all the letters and everything looked really posh,at least that way we can make sure that they won't be opened.

I bought this guide having been impressed by the Diablo II and Jedi Knight II walk throughs. I will say, that this book is better than having nothing, but not much better.

I agree with the other posters who stated that there are misprints, pieces that are just flat out wrong, and incorrect screen captures. Further, when they did get it right, it seems like the advice was too general - they're just poorly organized. I'd have to re-read sections just to see what they were talking about. You can tell someone rushed to make it to print. Shame of you guys...

I'll give an example of what I mean, in Mission 7, the walk through states (essentially) go through and destroy the munitions dumps first then kill the escaping mercs. However, everytime I did that, I'd never make it to killing them all off - they'd escape at the last minute, thus failing the mission. Very frustrating. So, I did the opposite of what the guide suggested. I killed all the soliders first THEN destroyed the munitions dumps and success!

Don't waste your money - you can probably find better advice for free online.

All the strategy in this book is very logic. Something that you will do even if you don't buy this book. I bought this book and play the game without reading it. I stuck only in 2 ocassion and this book help.
All other information is the same with the book that come with the game.

If you want assistance making it through the single player missions, the guide provides a lot of detail in how to get that done. There are a many pages that cover each mission outlining the objectives and hints on how to accomplish each one. Succeeding in each mission is the most detailed part of what's provided in the guide.

As someone already posted, the info on weapons is really just a picture of each one from the game showing the weapon, volume, accuracy, range and fire rate & modes.

Right on the cover of the guide it says "Tips for ONLINE PLAY!". Well, there's not a lot. The last page of the guide (front and back of 1 piece of paper) is where the online tips are. One half of one page tells you how to get online. The rest are just generic hints and nothing to do with specific online maps and strategies for where to go, how to get there, etc.

As you typically go through the single player missions once and likely, assuming you have a broadband connection, play a lot more online with friends (clans), then be warned that you really won't get much, if anything, from this guide book. If you're a SOCOM fanatic, you'll probably want to have it anyway.

Unfortunately, I did not read the reviews of this book prior to purchasing it - I thought it was a factual accounting of US Navy Special Warfare efforts against the drug cartels. Had the author stuck with keeping this factual, it would have been a much more valuable read.

The storyline is quite fanciful. The many factual errors concerning US Navy SEAL organization, operations, equipment, and training reveal that the author's background could not be as stated.
The strategy expounded ("Head of the Hydra") is unworkable. The author fails to understand that the essential nature of organized crime is organization. Eliminating the heads of the drug trafficing organizations will not stop their operations.

I enjoyed this book and the few areas which might be considered discrepancies were little more than a matter of perspective. The author did a great job combining information with a smooth reading experience.

This is the most aweful book on military tactics I have ever seen. I should have known the book would be terrible because the cover has an imitation Trident(Navy SEALS logo). I question the actual tactics mentioned in this book, something seems off. Notice there is no author, just the publisher.

Don't waste hard earned money on this, and don't let somebody buy it for you. If you really want to learn these tactics, properly, join the Armed Forces and get trained to do it properly.

This book is basically an outline of the steps a SEAL patrol leader would use to plan a mission. The book doesn't give any interesting info.

The question is:
What is the meaning of this book?
The answer is:
A very technical issue for civilians to understand!
If you are looking for a Bio like Andy Mcnabb B20, or other special forces around the world books you will be very disapointed! The fact is that is a crime rating this book 1 star if you dont understand the meaning of some concepts refered on the book.This is a very well constructed and complete HANDBOOK , that is a rarity to find outside Military formation , like Seals Training Program, SAS selection! This is a book that is used to give very advanced military planing and preparation before an operation!And of course dont give any details about places , names and persons. Im very admired how this book is published in civilian press because great part of his content is classified!
Thats the reason why you wont see any publisher or signature on it!
Great book for military people not only to read but also to use!