I noticed and purchased this book on pure whim, in one of those weird moods we sometimes enter when we want to learn about something of which we have absolutely no knowledge. I did absolutely no background reading, and simply jumped right in. Mistake? I think so. And yet I still feel as though I got a great deal out of this read. "William the Conqueror" is quite fascinating, it's a sort of English/Norman/French who's who in the late 11th century, and you get a great feel for the major players and their vacillating loyalties. On the other hand, there are periodic tangents (of biblical proportions, i.e. this duke married the slave girl of this count, whose mother was involved in the treacherous coup d'etatic plot of so and so, and so on for a while). Sans those occasional outburst of, truly, excess info - this is fantastic stuff. William was able to overcome (what I feel to be) more than insurmountable odds at the beginning of his rule to change the entire face and future of the English monarchy. We can only wonder what might Europe be like today had Harold been victorious at Hastings (he almost was!), and what impact it could have on us.

A Classic in any genre! David C. Douglas has made a contribution to literatrue of monumental proportions. No mater if you are a seasoned historian or will never read another book about eourpean history again. I beg of you to make this the one. The story of a young Duke overcoming insurmountable odds, congueroring a nation, and changing the course of history. Hollywood could not write a better script. And David C. Douglas could not have written a better book.

If you are interested in the history of Norman England, or the impact the invasion of 1066 had on England (and the world!), this is the book for you. While not the 'easiest' reading, this is definitely a book for those seeking details and full accounts of the life and times of the one known by his contemporaries as 'William the Bastard'. I would rank this book right up there with Dungeon, Fire, and Sword on like-ability! This book should be on every medieval historian's bookshelf!

La Fontaine's fables look good. Where do I get more of La Fontaine's fables in French? (en francais?) greggtho@yahoo.com

Shapiro's verse translations are incredible. The same person who has just done the most faithful and most poetic rendering of Baudelaire has no less flawlessly met the very different demands of La Fontaine, with all the latter's elegance (and, when called for, inelegance) of tone, stylistic devices, phlosophical depth, and playful humor. His translations lose nothing of the originals. One even feels that the spirit and voice of La Fontaine are speaking here. A truly remarkable achievement. Bravo!

It is not clear to me whether Shapiro is more poet, translator or scholar, but he is certainly all three. The range of his colorful lexicon, the beat of his hexameters and pentameters strike me as nothing short of phenomenal, making of him the most worthy of translators of La Fontaine.

This guide provides excellent pre-retirement planning suggestions. Has traps, obstacles and helpers outlined for quick review and advice. Has a number of "tools" in the form of worksheets to assist in planning for both before and after retirement events. Presents a number of post-retirement ideas with several suggestions of how to manage and/or increase your income in retirement. Authors are somewhat short on information for the mid 50's retiree concerning how to access 401k and IRA funds without penalty between 55 and 59 1/2. No info on what forms are needed and where they are available, or what needs to be filed and where. Has one slight reference in the appendix on how to accomplish withdrawals without penalty. Having read a number of retirement planning books available on the bookshelf, I found this volume excels in providing useful information not found in similar guide books.

Although this book deals with many aspects of retirement and retirement planning, what distinguishes it from the dozens of similar books I have read is a truly outstanding calculator for determining how much money will be available then and how much needs to be saved or invested to eliminate any shortfall. It includes pensions, social security, and savings and investments. It factors in life expectancy, income sources that will automatically increase with inflation and those that won't, savings and investment growth rates, withdrawl rates that must increase with inflation(which--unbelievably--some calculators don't consider). It allows for early retirement (that is, it doesn't factor in social security until it's available). Similarly, it allows for staggered commencement of retirement income sources (for example, a pension that starts at age 65 while you may start social security at age 62). I've not found another calculator that does ALL of these things! I couldn't recommend it more highly.

This guide really lays out, step by step, how to think and act to plan your retirement. I found this a surprisingly quick read, comprehensive, easy to understand and specific -- from spending, lifestyle, insurance, investing issues. The book makes a great gift for friends or parents because too many of us are not paying attention to the easy "Action Items" that each chapter ends with. Highly recommended!

The book is very nicely written and has lots of practical tips, rule of thumbs which a practicing high speed CMOS circuit design engineer needs. Its conscise and works as good referance.

The IBM authors wrote a concise reference manual on circuit
design, process variation effects on circuits, and time borrowing. What is missing? Sections on sequential circuit design, transistor sizing techniques, or modeling circuits through mathematics, spice and verilog. However, this is among the most lucid texts written on circuit structures to date.

It's concise but deals the topics in depth. It's much better and practical than usual vlsi text books.

I am not as enamored with this book as the other reviewers. Even though the authors tried to simplify statistics, I still found the concepts confusing. The much-praised "humor" I felt was corny and occasionally annoying. I read this book along with a standard statistics textbook, and I didn't feel that it helped to clarify things too much. Perhaps there are no shortcuts to learning statistics.

These guys are great! An easy-to-read, enjoyable stats book. Never seen one like it. Although it's titled 'biostatistics', it's for anyone who wants to actually understand what statistics is.

Norman explains what could be a very boring set of principles in a very effective way...he uses examples that will make you laugh your bag off. He's a good prof too, takes time to explain the concepts {if you ever have the chance to be in his class}.

I gave this book a medium rating not because I felt it was a bad or boring read. It wasn't. Actually it was a very enjoyable read. My main difficulty with this book was that Mr. Howarth, in his effort to counter ancient Norman testimony about the events leading upto the Battle of Hastings has essentially created an account that is equally biased, but from an English perspective. This attitude is apparent throughout the book in various statements. But ultimately Mr. Howarth drives the point home with his final two sentences in the book. I quote, "Yet those children, or their children, won a victory in the end. They never became Norman; they remained most stubbornly English, absorbed the invaders and made of the mixture a new kind of Englishness." As if in Englishness there is some kind of saintlike purity that is better than the rest. That's utter rubbish. And at the risk of taking this analysis too far....It is precisely this type of attitude that has lead to far worse than the writing of biased popular history. Look no further than Bosnia, Kosovo, etc.

David Howarth does a masterful job of bringing the Norman Conquest to life. The collected evidence is fascinating and the way he puts it together makes the story truly compelling--I had trouble putting it down. This book is a wonderful medium for those who like history but have trouble connecting with many of the books available. It is very down-to-earth and easy to read. It sparked my interest in the subject and inspired me to further study of the dramatic events of 1066. Happy reading!

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Howarth paints a compelling picture of the events of 1066. The running discussion of why the central players behaved as they did is facinating and well supported. In particular you get a real sense for just what a gamble William was taking by putting his troops and horses on ships for England as well as an interesting perspective on the underlying cause of his ultimate victory. And while Howarth may suffer a bit from the English over-fondness for a idealize Saxon past, he doies present a believable picture of what 11th century England was like. He tells the story extremely well. So much so that even though everyone knows how it ended, he keeps you reading eagerly right to the end. A good, interesting (and fun) read.

Britain started out ahead, but partly for that reason her carrier forces (and especially planes) were less suited for combat than America's. This is an excellent study of how that came to pass. Sadly missing is an equally insightful look at the Japanese carrier fleet, which in the winter of 1941-42 was arguably the equal of America's.

An intelligent and thoughtful study of how it happened that the United States started late, yet managed to enter World War II with a better carrier force than the Royal Navy. (In part, this was because the US *did* start late, and therefore didn't have an installed base of obsolete equipment.)

The only problem with this book is that it doesn't give equal time to the Japanese carrier fleet, which as it happened was America's only real competitor in this developing science.

I feel that this book truly portrays the life of an African-American superstar in the 60's and 70's. He is a bit egotistical at times, but is always truthful (except for the part about all the women). All through his career, he is called a loser because of what his team is accomplishing and not him. In his first several years, his teams consistently played the Celtics in the playoffs, and instead of the Warriors vs. the Celtics, it became Bill Russel vs. Wilt Chamberlain. Wilt would consistently beat out Russel in every category, yet his team would still lose. When this happened, Wilt was called the loser. He was told that Russel schooled him time and time again, when really, it was the other way around.
This book accurately portrays what it would be like to face the "Loser" label your whole life. It wasn't fair at all, but Wilt successfully had a good season after another. I definately reccomend this book to anyone who likes success stories or if you like sports biographies. In fact, I recommend it to anybody

Over twenty-five years ago, Wilt Chamberlain took the belief that professional athletes are dumb and flushed it like a loose stool. In this book, he shares truths about his groundbreaking NBA salaries, his views on dating, and other famous basketball personalities. His sense of humor entertains his readers, while his intelligence, clearly evidenced by his vocabulary, constantly enlightens. For everyone old enough to vote, this book will be a wonderful experience.

In writing this book, Catholic apologist David Hess has brought forth some fascinating information regarding the papacy. I read it with interest and found it most helpful in understanding Catholic teaching on the pope. However, I was disappointed in the poor layout design, which made things hard to follow. Although the content was good, the physical presentation of the material was disjointed and amateurish (no doubt the publisher's fault, not the author's). But in spite of the technical ineptitude of the publisher and whoever "edited" the work, Hess and his co-authors should be credited with presenting an interesting and challenging case. I hope he writes more.

. . .with a few presentation flaws that prevent a fifth star.

This is an outstanding example of excellence in Catholic apologetics. It is also a compelling argument against those Protestants who believe, for some reason, that Catholic scholars can't, don't, or won't use Scripture.

The book provides a remarkable Scriptural exegesis for the Office of Peter, and supports that exegesis through citations from the Church Fathers (both East and West), from Reformation era Protestants, and even from Eastern Orthodox theologians.

I personally know two of the men who reviewed this book. One, a highly skilled professor of New Testament and Church History has since become a Catholic. (Please see my review of "Mighty in Word and Deed" by James Shelton).

I, myself, used this volume as a secondary source in the preparation of my Master's Thesis.

The minor downsides to this book are that the presentation is sometimes choppy. It's a difficult volume to actually sit and read through -- and this is something which could easily be changed, and that a few of the citations would have greatly benefited from some context.

Other than these minor items, I found this book extremely valuable.

I highly recommed this work.

Well...lightweight pseudo-scholars like James White and Robert Zins will have their hands full for years with this one. This book is one of the best Catholic apologetics around right now. It was reviewed by three hundred and fifty Protestant professors for four years before it was published. Since its publication, forty-two Protestant seminary professors from various traditions have converted to the Catholic faith. I predict that this trend will continue. This easy to follow guide is a must read for Catholics and Protestants; for Catholics to strengthen their faith and to give them ammunition against Protestants, and for Protestants to educate them on what scripture and early Christians really say about the papacy.

The book is good for anyone who wants a quick understanding of certain possibilities of why the North won. However, some of the essays(this is no reflection of the actual book) are not that well justified in my opinion.

Reissue of a classic collection of essays from the 60's...Currents's "God and the Strongest Battalions" is alone worth the price!...Economic, political, social, etc., aspects are all considering by the "big-gun" historians of 40 years past...Scholarly enough for the serious student, yet very reader-friendly for the novitiate...recommended in the strongest possible terms!

This is an excellent book which contains six essays on the various economic, miliary, diplomatic, social, and politiical reasons why the Confederacy lost and the Union won the Civil War. This book saved my butt