If you want a colorful book with heaps of photos and interior shots of the current truck models available, this one will do nicely. many of the pics come from brochures and there is also considerable high Australian content to add flavour and interest.

Big Rigs covers mostly the American and European truck builders.There's some photos and explanations of Australia's roadtrains, the biggest road-going tractor-trailer combinations in the world.It's really awesome.Recommended for anyone who's a hardcore truck fan.

I don't see how this great truck book sells for such a low price. Tons of great photos, tons of interesting information. Very attractive as well.

I am taking it on our upcoming trip along the Interstates so I can check out all the big rigs I see. It seems just right for an amateur like me.

A book for a limited audience. You have got to be interested in some really seminal, currently unresolved issues of how the great invention of the ALU (arithmetic logic unit) still employed in every computer built to the present day, was a compromise effort by this genius. His thought was to model the human brain, and the ALU succeeded in modeling just a small part, but he was totally frustrated and unsatisfied by the result--for good reason. He points out that the very language of the human brain has not yet been discovered--the orders of magnitude by which its process and results exceed the merely digital high speed comparator we call a computer (my apologies to Bill Gates!) clearly demonstrate the existence of a logic and a mathematics, the simplest rules of which as yet defy all our efforts to understand its workings, while we experience its results every time we think. Depth of logical levels, and depth of arithmetic levels necessary to achieve the requisite results we obtain from our Crays and our PCs are scorned by the human brain in a radical simplicity as yet undiscovered (not in that it does it, but in how it does it: therefore he postulates the existence of a radically, essentially different math and logic inherent in its workings). He lays out the discoveries of Turing, McCullough and Weiner in a brilliant tour de force of known (1955)neurological and cybernetic discoveries, and how they charted his course in creating the ALU. He compares analog and digital and mixed models of computing but (in my opinion) oversimplifies the digital aspect of thinking and memory, deeming them to be the route used by the human brain in performing its unruffled magic. He closes by posing two questions that express the wonderment faced by a high level intelligence when accosted by the facts he was unable to wrap mental arms around: 1)"what essential inferences about the arithmetical and logical structure of the computing machine that the nervous system represents can be drawn from these ...conflicting observations? and 2)what are the logics and mathematics in the central nervous system [that must be]structurally *essentially* different from those languages to which our common experience refers? His fellow researcher, Warren McCullough similarly closed out his life and research by repeating a question that plagued him all his life: What is a number, that a man can know it, and a man that he can know a number?

This is a great book that pushed the limits of his time; his swan song, to be delivered as the Yale Silliman lecture, but never was, due to Von Neumann's tragic untimely death in his early fifties.

Perhaps the most famous and often quoted line in this remarkable book appears on page 39, where von Neumann declares that "The most immediate observation regarding the nervous system is that its functioning is prima facie digital."

The "prima facie" modifier is commonly taken to mean von Neumann saw the brain as "obviously digital," or "patently digital," and that it therefore must resemble a digital computer. But as you read the rest of the book, you quickly discover that this is not what John von Neumann intended. Von Neumann uses words cautiously and precisely, and to him, "Prima facie" means exactly what it says: "on its face."

In 1956, the brain appeared digital. But von Neumann thought this impression might be superficial. He thought that deeper biological investigation might well demonstrate that the nervous system is not, in fact, digital, or not completely digital. He believed it might work in some more sophisticated way, and suggests that perhaps some intermediate signaling mechanism, a hybrid between analog and digital, might be at work in the brain. For this and other reasons he actively resisted labeling the brain as a digital computer.

In the mid 90s, evidence began to appear that von Neumann was probably right to reserve his judgment. These curious new results show that a single nerve impulse is somehow able to convey information to the brain. This signal seems distinctly un-digital. A number of theories have popped up, some attempting to explain this whopping new mystery, others attempting to explain it away. But its impact on neurophysiology, and on conventional computer models of the brain, is pretty shocking. Not to say, devastating. (See Spikes, by Rieke et al, for a readable account of this story.) When the smoke clears, it would not be surprising if people go all the way back to John von Neumann, looking for traction, fresh starting points, and for von Neumann's wonderfully broad sense of what is possible in neurobiology - a sense we have evidently lost to progress in the years since he wrote this splendid essay.

Von Neumann did not include in this book his interesting views on the nervous system of the eye. He was an early adopter of visual memory systems in digital computers, and he was evidently intrigued by the way the retinal cells of the eye are arranged to look backward, that is, toward the screen of the back wall of the eye. Possibly he thought the retinal cells saw back there a thin film diffraction pattern. You can find his interest in the nervous system of the eye remarked in his brother Nicholas Vonneumann's book, John von Neumann as seen by his Brother, and this reminiscence is also paraphrased in Poundstone's Prisoner's Dilemma. Finally, some of the worldly story of von Neumann, his digital computers, and their role in the creation of the hydrogen bomb can be found in MaCrae's biography.

Perhaps the most famous and often quoted line in this remarkable book appears at the beginning of Part II, where von Neumann declares that "The most immediate observation regarding the nervous system is that its functioning is prima facie digital."

The "prima facie" modifier is commonly taken to mean von Neumann saw the brain as "obviously digital," or "patently digital," and that it therefore must resemble a digital computer. But as you read the rest of the book, you quickly discover that this is not what John von Neumann intended. Von Neumann uses words cautiously and precisely, and to him, "Prima facie" means exactly what it says: "on its face."

In 1956, the brain appeared digital. But von Neumann thought this impression might be superficial. He thought that deeper biological investigation might well demonstrate that the nervous system is not, in fact, digital, or not completely digital. He believed it might work in some more sophisticated way, and suggests that perhaps some intermediate signaling mechanism, a hybrid between analog and digital, might be at work in the brain. For this and other reasons he actively resisted labeling the brain as a digital computer.

In the mid 90s, evidence began to appear that von Neumann was probably right to reserve his judgment. These curious new results show that a single nerve impulse is somehow able to convey information to the brain. This is distinctly un-digital. A number of theories have popped up, some attempting to explain this whopping new mystery, others attempting to explain it away. But its impact on neurophysiology, and on conventional computer models of the brain, is pretty shocking. Not to say, devastating. (See Spikes, by Rieke et al, for a readable account of this story.) When the smoke clears, it would not be surprising if people go all the way back to John von Neumann, looking for traction, fresh starting points, and for von Neumann's wonderfully broad sense of what is possible in neurobiology - a sense of possibilities we have evidently lost in the years since he wrote this splendid essay. He is eloquent on the problem of selecting a memory "organ," and evidently thought the worst choice would be a neuron.

Von Neumann did not include in this book his interesting views on the nervous system of the eye. He was an early adopter of visual memory systems in digital computers, and he was evidently intrigued by the way the retinal cells of the eye are arranged to look backward, that is, toward the screen of the back wall of the eye. Possibly he thought the retinal cells saw back there a thin film diffraction pattern. You can find his interest in the nervous system of the eye remarked in his brother Nicholas Vonneumann's book, John von Neumann as seen by his Brother, and this reminiscence is also paraphrased in Poundstone's Prisoner's Dilemma. Finally, some of the worldly story of von Neumann, his digital computers, and their role in the creation of the hydrogen bomb can be found in MaCrae's biography.

It has been said that most great men are bad men. Samuel Eliot Morison's superb biography of John Paul Jones supports, if not proves, that proposition. Jones's greatness is undeniable: Although he was the son of an obscure Scottish gardener, he virtually founded the United States Navy, he won one of the most important sea battles of the Revolutionary War when he was only 32, and he later commanded ships in the service of France and Russia. But Jones also was extremely temperamental, excessively vain (after receiving an honor from France, he liked to be addressed as "Chevalier Paul Jones"), and he had mistresses in practically every port. Morison, a longtime professor at Harvard and the author of the authoritative, Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Christopher Columbus, as well as a massive, multi-volume history of the U.S. Navy during World War II, reports all of this in a matter-of-fact fashion. Morison's Jones is a great sailor and a man of the world in every respect.

According to Morison, Young Jones was highly ambitious and went to sea at age 13 "as a road to distinction." During the next 15 years, he learned well his trade and he also became an American patriot. At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, Morison writes that the American navy was "only a haphazard collection of converted merchant ships," and the Royal Navy was probably the most powerful in history. But General George Washington, according to Morison, "had a keen appreciation of the value and capabilities of sea power," and, in October 1775, Congress appointed a Naval Committee of Seven to manage the colonies' maritime affairs. In December 1775, seven months before the American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain, Jones accepted a commission as a lieutenant in the continental navy.

Although Morison is primarily interested in Jones's activities during the Revolutionary War, he makes a number of more generally cogent observations. For instance, the United States government was in a state of nearly constant impecuniousness and was able to afford to build only one of the largest class of naval vessels, a ship of the line, during the conflict. In Morison's view, this was the status of the war at the time of the battle off Flamborough Head in September 1779, which secured Jones's fame: "The War of Independence had reached a strategic deadlock, a situation that recurred in both World Wars of the twentieth century. Each party, unable to reach a decision by fleet action or pitched land battles, resorts to raids and haphazard, desultory operations which have no military effect." That deadlock continued, according to Morison, until 1781. Morison also writes that Britain took the position "since the United States were not a recognized government but a group of rebellious provinces,...American armed ships were no better than pirates."

Morison appears to be deeply impressed by Jones's technical competence: "One of Paul Jones's praiseworthy traits was his constant desire to improve his professional knowledge." That passion for self-improvement reached fruition September 1779 off the Yorkshire coast of east-central England when a squadron which Jones commanded from the Bonhomme Richard defeated the H.M.S. Serapis in a three and one-half hour battle during which those ships were locked in what Morison describes as a "deadly embrace." (Bonhomme Richard sank during the aftermath of the fierce fighting.) It was during this battle that Jones defiantly refused to surrender with the immortal phrase: "I have not yet begun to fight." According to Morison, "[c]asualties were heavy for an eighteenth-century naval battle. Jones estimated his loss at 150 killed and wounded out of a total of 322." Morison writes that Jones was at his "pinnacle of fame" in late 1779, and, when he visited France, which was allied with the U.S. during the Revolutionary War, in April 1780: He became the lion of Paris, honored by everyone from the King down." When Jones returned to the United States in 1781, however, he was unable to obtain what Morison describes as a "suitable command," and he never fought again under the American flag. In 1788 and 1789, as "Kontradmiral Pavel Ivanovich Jones" he swerved in the navy of Catherine II, "the Great," Empress of Russia. When he died in 1792, he was buried in France, but, in 1905, his body was returned to the United States and now rests in the chapel of the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Jones's nasty temper is frequently on display. Morison remarks on various occasions that his crews were "disobedient," "sullen," and "surly." Which was cause and which was effect is difficult to ascertain. Jones clearly was an overbearing commander, which may explain, though does not excuse, his crews' bad attitudes. On one occasion Jones had one of his officers "placed under arrest for insubordination [giving the officer] a chance to clear it up, and Jones was unwilling to admit his error." It is not prudent to compare events during war in the late 18th century to the peace and prosperity of our own time, but no reader of this book will be impressed by Jones's interpersonal skills.

Morison makes numerous references to "prize money," the curious, but apparently then-universal, practice of rewarding captains and their crews in cash for capturing enemy ships. The fact that Jones pursued prize money with vigor may raise additional doubts about his character, but I would guess Morison believed that Jones simply followed a custom which probably motivated many successful naval captains of his time.

Morison held the rank of admiral in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Although the degree of detail in his narrative is fascinating, I found some passages too technical, and I suspect some other lay readers may be baffled as well. (The book's charts and diagrams were, however, very helpful.) But that is a small price to pay for a wonderful biography of one of the most intriguing figures of the American Revolution.

A hero of my youth, this book appears to tell the full story. This is a scolarly work which reads easily. I only wish I would have read this book in my twenties. There are some wonderful life lessons in this biography. If you read it you will learn his flaws, his good and fine attributes, and some mysteries. This is first-rate biography and detective work by the author. I recommend it.

As someone who had recently seen the "John Paul Jones" movie that was made in 1959 with Robert Stack, I was curious to learn more about the man who put the U.S. Navy on the map. Of course, most know him as the one who coined the immortal, defiant phrase "I have not yet begun to fight!" This book delves beyond that, as Morison shows Jones as he really was, a human being born in obscurity in Scotland who developed a love for the sea at an early age. He was simultaneously a shrewd combatant with a quick temper (in many ways the American equivalent of the great English admiral Nelson,) and a gentleman who enjoyed the company of numerous lovely ladies ashore. Morison leaves no stone unturned as he takes the reader on a detailed, captivating journey (from page one, the reader is hooked.) He sailed the waters that bore witness to Jones's battles and drew extensively upon the naval archives of the four primary countries that figured in Jones's life. To give you some idea, the engagement with H.M.S. Serapis is fleshed out in such marvelous detail that one can almost smell the gunpowder, but Morison goes beyond that, explaining what happened before, during, and after, most of which one would not learn in history class. In fact, I would make book that at least ninety percent of what one will read in this book would not be learned in history class. Morison has included pictures, charts, diagrams, excerpts from letters (some of which are in French with English translations), and has deftly blended them and the text into a perfect biography. For anyone who wants to learn more about Jones, this is required reading.

This was a great book, and I couldn't put it down. It is a quick read, if you love mysteries. I was throughly in to it, and I really enjoyed it.

Patsy, 8, and Jim, 6, befriend Miss Slade, a neighbor woman who lives in squalor with her six dogs, six cats, donkey, goats and chickens. This is a lovely, gently humorous story with delightful characters, both human and animal. Readers will rejoice when Miss Slade, helped by the kindness of the children and their parents, decides to "turn over a new leaf" on her 70th birthday. The book is generously and charmingly illustrated, too.

Miss Slade has lived in Blackberry Bottom for as long as anyone can remember...but who is she really? Everyone believes she's a witch, or at least someone who's "a bit touched in the head" and steers clear of her. With a pirate patch on one eye, Maggie lives in a shabby caravan with no electricity or plumbing along with her six dogs, six cats, and other miscellaneous critters, it's no wonder she scares people off -- that is, until a new family moves into town....

This is a funny sweet little book reminding us that not everyone is as they appear on the outside. Maggie lives the way she does because she wants to, not cause she has to...and even after she makes friends with her new neighbors, she remains her quirky wonderful self. I hope you come to love getting to know the surprising Miss Slade as much as I did.

This book is loads of fun to the NFL enthusiast. All eras of the NFL are included (from the 1930's to the present day) as well as all positions (except kickers and punters -- I guess none of them were among the top 100 players). Each entry gets a full two pages -- one a beautiful full-color picture and one a page-long description of that player's special talents and accomplishments. Each player also gets a "Top 10 list" -- a list by a colleague or coach of the best players, most intense players, smartest players, etc. -- including that individual.

The selection and ranking of players was as unbiased as possible. The editors began with 300 names, which they then reduced to 100, and from which each selected his top ten players, without ranking them. After tabulating the results, the editors then ranked the top 10. Then the voters selected their next 15 players, compared notes, and ranked numbers 11-25. They did this with 26-50, 51-75, and 76-100. Is the book still subjective? Undoubtably. You can't objectively compare linemen to running backs to receivers to quarterbacks and objectively identify the overall best players. But the editors did their best to be objective.

The top 10, in order from #1, are Jim Brown, Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Lawrence Taylor, Johnny Unitas, Don Hutson, Otto Graham, Walter Payton, Dick Butkus, and Bob Lilly. I would give this book 5 stars, except that John Elway only comes in at #16, which IMHO is about 15 slots too low (but that shows you where I grew up :-) (Also, Bronco fans should be sure to look on the last 2 pages for an extra special treat.)

All in all, this is a fun book about some great football players. Whether or not you agree with the rankings, you gotta admit: all of the top 100 were/are great players!

How do you go about picking the greatest 100 football players of all time? There are going to be agreements about who should be on it, and lots of disagreements about who should or shouldn't be on it. This book tackles an extremely difficult job and comes out a winner. Whether or not you agree with all the choices here, you have to admit they picked some damn good ones.

Each page contains pics and a bio on the player. They list Jim Brown as number 1. Funny how just the other night I was in a local sports bar, and a man sitting next to me said "Jim Brown was the greatest player I ever saw." Obviously, this book agrees with my "friend." In fact, the book's forword is written by Brown.

In addition to TSN's Top 100 players listed in numercial order, there's also a "timeline" of when these players were active. Also listed are TSN's all-decade teams. Leafing through the pages brought back memories of players I have watched and enjoyed, and of players whose exploits I only read about years after their careers ended.

So do you agree with all the choices in this book? The only way to find out is to buy it and judge for yourself. I guarantee it's well worth the money.

I Enjoyed this Book but Lists aren't Important.Cuz you can never say who would rule any given Time Period.I think all People Selected are Winners.of Course their are some who didn't make the list and therefor they should be acknowledged as well.

Self-help is big business. According to Gerald Rosen (1993) as many as 2000 self-help books are published each year. However, only a very few have been evaluated empirically. This sad state of affairs is a poor response to the appeal made by Rosen (1987) that self-help books should first be evaluated empirically before being sold to the general public. Additionally, the little research that has been done on do-it-yourself treatment books sometimes demonstrates major limitations in their usefulness. Yet psychologists continue to develop and market new programs with increasingly exaggerated claims. This is potentially a problem. Especially as psychologists often use self-help books as adjuncts to their clinical practice (Starker, 1988). The good news from research (e.g. Gould & Clum, 1993) is that certain self-help programs can be quite effective. Fairburn’s Binge Eating Disorder treatment (Carter & Fairburn, 1998) and the Albany protocol for Panic Disorder (Barlow & Craske, 1994) are two good examples. In Gould and Clum’s (1993) meta-analysis, fears, depression, headaches, and sleep disturbances were especially amenable to self-help approaches. Sometimes with effect sizes as large as for therapist assisted treatments.

How can busy clinicians keep up with the flood of new self-help books, and know which to recommend? Guilford Press offers a solution. In an attempt to help the clinicians a guide to self-help resources in mental health has been published. It includes ratings and reviews of more than 600 self-help books, autobiographies and popular films. It also includes hundreds of Internet sites, and listings of online support groups. The book addresses 28 prevalent clinical disorders and life challenges – from Schizophrenia, Anxiety and Mood Disorders to Career Development, Stress Management and Relaxation.

To determine the usefulness of the self-help resources a series of national studies have been conducted over the past 7 years. The methodology consisted of a lengthy survey mailed to clinical and counselling psychologists residing throughout the USA. A total of 2,500 psychologists contributed with their expertise and judgement in evaluating the books, movies, and Internet sites. The self-help resources were rated on a 5-point scale (-2 to +2). These data were converted into a one to five star rating (negative ratings were given a dagger). On this basis, 19% of the self-help books were rated as “very helpful” and fortunately only 1% as “very harmful” [e.g. the assertiveness training book Winning Through Intimidation by Ringer (1973) and the weight management book the Beverly Hills Diet by Mazel (1981). Interestingly, many of the books by Scientologist guru L Ron Hubbard are categorized as extremely bad].

When looking more closely at a specific disorder, let us say for example panic disorder, there are some good books that I feel are missing. This is probably because of the rating criteria. In order for a book to be included in this self-help guide the psychologists used as referees had to know about the book beforehand. It was their rating of previously read books that mattered. Hence, if there were good books out there that had not been read by many referees [like the Australian panic disorder workbook by Franklin (1996)], they would automatically receive a lower rating. Thus, a low rating does not necessarily mean that a book is less helpful than a higher rated book – only that it has not reached a wide audience. For example, an excellent book, An End to Panic (Zuercher-White, 1998), previously recommended in a review article (Carlbring, Westling, & Andersson, 2000) was described as “highly regarded by the psychologists in our national studies but not well known, leading to a 3-star rating.” (p. 79). Another thing that disturbed me was that this particular author’s name was misspelled. Instead of Zuercher the surname appeared as Luerchen. No wonder the book was “not well known”! One wonders how many other errors this survey included.

In a perfect world all self-help books would be scrutinized in the same manner as other treatments. However, as a majority of the published books still have not been evaluated, this new guide to self-help is a step in the right direction. Despite questionable inclusion criteria and a few errors I thoroughly recommend this excellent guide to self-help

From books and movies to the Internet, Authoritative Guide to Self-Help Resources in Mental Health provides a strong survey of self-help resources in mental health which reveals the good ones, bad ones, and how general consumers can tell the difference. Five national studies involving over 2,500 mental health professionals lends to a rating of over six hundred titles and films, along with Internet sites evaluated by a clinical psychologist.

This book contains reviews / lists of the best (and worst) of self-help books / movies and internet resources. It has been compiled using surveys of 1000's of mental health professionals and gives essential guidance on which resources are helpful, and which are best left alone.

The book is clearly-written and well laid out - each chapter relates to a specific problem area eg mood disorders, men's issues, abuse, anxiety etc.

I found the recommendations on books particularly helpful - one can immediately determine which are the best books to read on their own specific problem. Clearly, the input of mental health professionals gives a "scientific" basis on recommendations which in turn leads to a systematic process of choosing which resources should be given credence.

Essential reading if you want to build up a collection of serious (i.e. most useful) self-help resources.

You only thought you knew conspiracies. But in this book, it all comes to light! WAREHOUSE 13 is a light-hearted look at the paranoid that lurks inside all of us. The premise is that somewhere, hidden away in a secluded mountainside, is a darkened storage facility that contains a myriad of things that THEY don't want you to know exist!

And what a collection!

Clones of current and past presidents, androids, mind-control devices, the Ark of the Covenant, the Spear of Logenes, even up-to-date files on YOU! It's all in here! If you have ever imagined that our beloved and benign government might be hiding something from us, this book will put you onto cloud nine!

A wonderfully delightful addition to any conspiracy-based game, or just a rollicking good read!

There's some great stuff for your campaign in here. I've already used it in mine (a government conspiracy / Bigfoot sort of thing). Some of the artifacts could have had a better basis in history (but then again, maybe they do :-)

Do you believe? Whether you are a fringe researcher or you subscribe to Conspiracies Monthly, this book is for you! It is chock full of conspiracies and artifacts from history. More than a simple game product, the book is also a fantastic read.

Packed with gaming information in the GURPS style, Warehouse 23 is also full of behind-the-scenes conspiracy information. S. John Ross is obviously a man-in-black and knows far too much for his own good. From the legendary Ark of the Covenant to clones of world leaders, the warehouse has it all.

It is a very good choice for those who want to learn French.

These tapes are an excellent addtion to(and really a necessity for anyone who uses)the corresponding textbook, HORIZONS. They are fun and interesting in subjest matter. The only drawback to them is that they do not list the vocabulary words from the textbook, that the student might hear each word spoken individually.

This book is a superb textbook for anyone who wishes to study French on their own or for faculty seeking a well written, interesting and asthetically stimulating text for their introductory courses. While I am on the faculty at my college, I signed up for the French I class for fun. The course was cancelled but I was able to teach myself the material, so complete is this book when used with tapes and workbook. It surpasses all of the "teach yourself" books. Excellent!

This book's virtues are obvious. It is a very thorough, well-researched scholarly monograph covering all aspects of the public and private lives of the former Conservative prime minister of Canada. It is factually reliable and stylistically readable, if a touch dull.

But it is so thoroughly, comprehensively, persistently hostile towards its subject that it cannot be considered balanced or fair. It probably contains the truth (and nothing but the truth) about Diefenbaker, but it doesn't contain the WHOLE truth about him. The author is too obviously grinding an axe; his antipathy seems almost personal at times.

The cover is a clue to the contents, since it has a demonic close-up of a glowering Diefenbaker. Basically, the author thinks that the former PM did nothing right, apart from give South Africa a hard time on occasion. According to the author, everything Dief touched went wrong. His account of Diefenbaker's relations with John F. Kennedy are particularly disappointing. Absolutely nothing is granted to the PM's position while the President emerges as the very epitome of cool-headed reasonableness. (We know otherwise now.)

In other words, this is just a long, dull but dependably scholarly version of Peter Newman's anti-Diefenbaker polemics from the 1960s. It is as though the author wanted to make Newman's caricature of Diefenbaker respectable. Measured against that very low ambition, this book must be judged a success. Too bad the author didn't aim higher and produce a balanced picture of Diefenbaker warts and all, rather than just all wart.

This text appeared as I was attending graduate school in Toronto, Ontario. I ended up writing my thesis on a specific part of the Diefenbaker governments and this book is the reason why. (I'd also like to say that I wrote Smith about some of my research and he was very cooperative and professional!) Wonderfully researched and well written, you'll learn quite a bit about Dief the Chief and US-Canadian relations during the dangerous years from the late 50s to early 1960s; but you'll also learn more about the Canadian experience.

This book is simply must for anyone hoping to understand Canadian politics and culture.

This book has all you'll ever need to know about Canada's 13th PM. It is thoroughly (almost excessively!) researched, and covers the Chief's life from start to finish. At no point did I find myself thinking, "gee, I wish Smith could have provided us with more details or factual information". No book has gone this far in providing us with the definitive Dief!

This tape is well done. The sound effects create an atmosphere that draws in the listener. The actors are dramatic, but not overly so. The short stories themselves are well written, delivering edge-of-the-chair suspense (or knee-slapping comedy, as the case may be).

As most net surfers are aware the Sci-Fi Channel's web site has included a section devoted to science fiction radio drama...Seeing Ear Theatre. One aspect of which includes originally produced productions cerated especially for the site and which has featured performances by many well-known SF actors as Micheal O'Hare,Mark Hamill,Marina Sirtis,and others. With a few exceptions, a lot of the dramas are based on recent short stories by SF writers such as Terry Bisson, Allen Steele, John Kessel and Gergory Benford. With the release of this audiobook editon(which includes introductions by SF's resident angry young{sic}man Harlan Ellison)now one can listen to these stories anytime you want. The best stories(IMO)are the Three Odd Comedies and The Death of Captain Future (which despite the pulpish-sounding title is a darkly humorous tale set in the future history of Steele's previous works such as Orbital Decay and Clarke County,Space). If you like audio drama-- especially newly produced audio drama...you'll love this collection and you may also want to check out Vol. 2 which should be on sale soon(I know I can't wait).

WOW what a story! Brian Smith could sell this as a short story by itself it is so good IMO. I just wish they sold a hard copy of these writings--not just audio! I have been reading Sci Fi for a long time. This guy is great! Reminds me of 2001, a space odyssey a bit. Worth the price just for this one folks! I noticed there are no other books by Brian Smith for sale on Amazon. What's up with that? He needs to write books, and Amazon needs to sell them--geez, do I make myself clear?